The Political Whore

A curious piece of political literature has been hitting South Tampa homes over the past few days as a handful of County Commissioner Ken Hagan’s supporters do what is called a “lit drop” of campaign literature.

Only it is not really campaign literature, or at least, it doesn’t carry the necessary campaign disclosures that a campaign advertisement would carry. Nor is it a county government piece, as it points out that it was “Not produced at taxpayer’s expense.”

That left some Democrats e-mailing me furiously about how this was akin to the stealth campaign that Buddy Johnson ran with federal dollars in 2008, the one being probed by the Feds and the St. Pete TImes’ Jeff Testerman. And it caught the attention of at least one Democrat who has been thinking about running against the Republican Hagan in 2010.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Dan Sullivan
PoHo contributor

Dear Attorney General Bill McCollum,

There’s no easy way to tell you this, so I think I’ll just go ahead and say it: I think we should see other people. Don’t get me wrong, you’re a great guy and all, but I’m just not so sure I can handle a serious relationship with you for governor. It’s not you, it’s me. Well, actually, it’s just you.

Read the rest of this entry »

Ready to run and Democratic? Two local consultants, Larry Biddle (a veteran of online fundraising and social networking in the Howard Dean presidential year) and Mitch Kates (who has won some big upsets in Tampa Bay, including Kevin Beckner’s and Mary Mulhern’s wins in Hillsborough) are offering a seminar on how to prepare to run and win.

The announcement of their $65-a-head workshop, however, set off the buzzing-gnat comment-ers over at Buzz blog, who launched into a wild attack against Biddle, his party, his mortgage and house and his age (which they overstated by 14 years). When somebody came to Biddle’s defense, the crowd turn on Kates as an alternative. Nothing like a digital mugging.

Details on the workshop after the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

By Peter Schorsch
PoHo contributor
Peter Schorsch is a political consultant and writes St. Petersblog 2.0.

Two of my passions are gourmet food and politics. When I’m not walking door-to-door for a candidate, I’m in front of a stove or near a wine bin or doing something otherwise epicurean. So the fundraising event for a candidate running in Dunedin I recently attended was a real McFlurry, a seemingly contradictory juxtaposition that comes out wonderfully by the time you’re finished. Read the rest of this entry »

It sure looks like that could have happened. In a story to be published in our print edition tomorrow, I write about how at least one invoice for a Blair campaign billboard was sent directly to a company owned by developer Stephen Dibbs:

The billboard on Ehrlich Road in north Tampa touting the re-election of Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair reads, in fine print at the bottom, “Political advertisement paid for and approved by Brian Blair, Republican for Hillsborough County Commission, District 6.”

It appears, however, that his campaign did not pay for the billboard advertisement. Blair’s campaign finance reports show no such expenditure. And according to an invoice obtained by Creative Loafing, the bill for the $2,500-a-month roadway sign was sent to North Dale Development, which is owned by Stephen Dibbs, a controversial and prominent developer who has supported Blair in the past.

If Dibbs did pay for the billboard, it would appear to exceed the limits in the state campaign finance law, which caps direct or in-kind contributions to candidate campaigns at $500 and requires disclosure of any contributions.

Among Dibbs’ various holdings is the Bourbon Street Plaza shopping strip center where the billboard is located. It is not clear from the invoice whether Dibbs paid for the board. The invoice was provided to CL by a source who requested anonymity because the source was not authorized to release the document.

The invoice, from CBS Outdoor, which sells the billboard’s advertising space, was dated Aug. 20, 2008, for use of the billboard in the month of August. The 10-foot-by-36-foot sign is highly visible to anyone driving west on Ehrlich from North Dale Mabry Highway. It was still in place last week when CL visited the site.

Neither Dibbs nor Blair responded to numerous telephone and e-mailed requests for comment for this story.

Who paid for this campaign billboard on Ehrlich Road in Tampa?

Read the entire story, which is already on our website.

UPDATE: Neither Blair nor Beckner has spoken to Creative Loafing about this story, but a Tampa Tribune reporter told me Tuesday that Blair has now produced a campaign check cut to CBS Outdoor on Sept. 19 and insists he paid for all his campaign advertising himself. Blair spoke to reporters with the Trib and Times after he was criticized during Tuesday’s county commission meeting about the subject of the story.

This week, Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas will introduce H.R. 5699, which has been hailed as the “Blogger Protection Act of 2008” (CL blogophiles can breathe a sigh of relief).

Right now, “uncompensated Internet activity” is protected by a Federal Election Commission regulation that allows linking to campaign websites and writing about the views of federal candidates—which, without the regulation, could potentially be considered a campaign contribution or expenditure on the candidate’s behalf. Basically, blogs currently share the same protection from campaign finance restrictions as other media outlets.

The problem is that since this protection is regulatory, it can be changed without congressional action. Rep. Hensarling will introduce legislation that will create statutory blogger protections in the hopes of creating a more permanent solution for our online “pajama journalists.” Forge on, brave bloggers!

Speaking of Brian Blair (see previous EPC post and story), the most conservative of the Hillsborough County commissioners has drawn an opponent for his 2008 re-election bid. Democrat Kevin Beckner, a financial planner with offices in Ybor City, has filed and is running hard already.

To that end, Beckner has hired political consultant Mitch Kates to helm (love using nouns that aren’t verbs as verbs, sounds so insider-cable-newsy) his campaign. Kates has a short, but strong, record of taking underdogs to victory in Tampa Bay (Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern and state Sen. Charlie Justice).

So, is Tampa Bay — land of the banning of Gay Pride displays in Hillsborough public libraries — ready to replace Blair with Beckner, who is gay and has worked actively in both progressive campaigns and GLBT issues? Kates says yes and points to races in Oklahoma and Alabama where openly gay candidates beat Republicans as evidence that it can be done.

Plus, Beckner already seems tireless in the race and has raised an impressive $36,000 in his first partial quarter of fundraising, Kates said. That money came from about 200 contributors in both parties, Kates added.

I hope to get together with Beckner soon to talk about his platform and ideas, but in the meantime, I am more intrigued with the possibility of Kates and Blair meeting to settle this in the squared circle instead of at the ballot box. Both are former professional wrestlers: Kates as Jason the Terrible (left) and Blair (right) as a member of the tag team duo The Killer Bees.

This is the biggest staff I’ve seen for a City Council race, but former legislative aide Gershom Faulkner seems ready for battle after announcing five appointments this morning.

Coming aboard are two campaign managers (Jett Jackson and Mitch Kates), a communications director (Peter Schweitzer) and two consultants, the mother-daughter team Ana Cruz and Janet Rifkin, both prominent Tampa Democratic consultants.

Faulkner, who was chief of staff for St. Pete Democratic state Rep. Frank Peterman and a campaigner for Congresswoman Kathy Castor, is running for Rene Flowers’ District 7 seat. Flowers is term-limited.