Why do I do this to myself? I get a call from perfectly nice people at the Greater Pinellas Democratic Club asking me to speak at one of their meetings (tonight at 6:30, to be precise) and I agree and then I am asked what topic, and I choose to speak on “Fixing Tampa Bay Politics.”

I should have opted for “Getting the Palestinians and Jews Together for Middle East Peace” instead. Tampa Bay politics are hopelessly damaged, so where do I even start?

You’ll have to attend to hear. And no, one of my suggestions will NOT be a plea for kumbaya-like bipartisanship or the like.

The social hour starts at 6 pm (let’s hope for the Club’s sake and listeners’ sakes that they’ve stocked a lot of vodka for me) and the meeting lasts until about 8 pm. It is at Banquet Masters in Pinellas Park, 8100 Park Boulevard. For reservations, call 727-360-3971.

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:

Workshop to Prepare Potential Candidates on the Realities of Running for Office

“Walk Before You Run – A Primer on Running for Political Office” to be held March 28 in downtown St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, Fla. (February 23, 2009) – If the thought of running for political office has ever crossed your mind, then don’t miss the workshop, “Walk Before You Run – A Primer on Running for Political Office,” hosted by Common Language, Think Big! and PlanningWorks. The program was designed to offer people who’d like to run for elected office valuable insights into what it’s like to be a political candidate and help them determine if they have what it takes to launch a campaign.

“Walk Before You Run” will be held on Saturday, March 28, from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. at Studio @620 in St. Petersburg.

“It’s been our experience that most people have a lot of unreal expectations when it comes to running for office. They don’t really understand what they’re getting themselves and their families into,” said Larry Biddle, owner and principal of PlanningWorks. “This workshop will enlighten potential candidates about the realities of running for office, like asking people for money and building a support system of volunteers.”

“Walk Before You Run” will feature numerous local elected officials, party leaders and political commentators sharing their advice and experience on a variety of topics, including:

·         Overview of criteria for a viable political candidate
·         What challenges can you expect as a candidate, and how would you overcome them?
·         What it takes to get started:  determining if you’re qualified, testing the waters, and getting candidate training
·         Initial campaign planning

At the end of the day, attendees will break out into groups for an exercise on designing a campaign for a fictitious “Candidate Joe” to understand how what they learned is applied in practice.

“We want to make sure people have an understanding of the process as well as the role of the office for which they’re considering a run,” said Mitch Kates, political consultant and principal of Think Big! “You’d be surprised how many people actually get into office and once there, think, ‘Gee, this is not the job I thought it would be.’ It’s really important that candidates ask themselves if they fully understand what their responsibilities would be and if they’re running for the right office.”

Confirmed speakers at this time include Kevin Beckner, Hillsborough County Commissioner; Mary Mulhern, Tampa City Councilwoman; Rep. Bill Heller; Alison Morano, Pasco County DEC chair; Patricia Kemp, Hillsborough County DEC chair; Ken Quinnell, Florida Progressive Coalition and Mark Ferrulo, Executive Director of Progress Florida.

The cost of the full-day workshop is $65 and will include lunch. To register, visit:

http://common-language.com/index.php?option=conference&action=conference.

(Disclosure: Larry Biddle is the domestic partner of CL Editor David Warner, who did not participate in the selection or editing of this blog post.)

So what happened? Did Vote Local fail?

Yes and no.

From a standpoint of getting local Democrats elected, yes, it failed. An underlying cause, however, is likely that the candidates, with a few exceptions, just weren’t that good or funded enough to be competitive. It also appears that there was not an overwhelming sentiment for change on the County Commission, despite the Jim Smith scandal last year. Where Vote Local had successes down ballot, in the apparent Hillsborough victory for Kevin Beckner and the Pinellas School Board seat captured by Nina Hayden, the candiates were energizing, articulate, good on camera and got the Democratic voters excited.

“Our job was not persuasion but just to convince people to vote the whole ballot,” said Larry Biddle, a Democratic consultant in St. Petersburg who worked on the Vote Local effort.

Vote Local did manage to increase voter participation down ballot in Pinellas, but only by a few percentage points in some of the races. Raw vote totals are more impressive: 14,000 more Pinellas voters cast ballots in the Supervisor of Elections race in 2008 than in 2004; 10,000 more voted in the County Commission District 3 race.

Jack Killingsworth, a Democrat running against Clark, sent out this news release today:

Candidate, community leaders and disgruntled voters will be unveiling a giant “Wait Clock” in front of Debra Clark, Pinellas County Supervisor of Election office on Wednesday.  All in an effort to encourage her to respond to the continuous calls from voters as well as local papers to expand early voting locations and address the unreasonably long wait times.

Jack Killingsworth is introducing giant “wait clocks” at the three early voting sites beginning on Wednesday morning at 10:30 AM. These clocks keep track of the wait times of voters at each early voting location to show voters how long they must wait to cast their ballot. A reminder for voters that Mr. Killingsworth is committed to setting up voting procedures where each voter can votes in 15 minutes or less. “The hour plus wait times in Pinellas County are unacceptable,” Mr. Killingworth stated. “And for the first time since 1976, I am giving voters a real choice,” reminding voters that he is the first Democrat to run for Supervisor of Elections in 32 years.

At a recent meeting with the ACLU and members of the public, Supervisor Clark was asked if she had a time goal for the maximum amount of time a voter should wait to vote. She said she didn’t and commented to several people attending the ACLU event that they were “lucky” to “only” spend 45 minutes waiting to early vote in the Presidential election four years ago at an early voting site she has since closed. “It’s not a question of funding,” Mr. Killingsworth challenged, “it’s about competent administration and a question of commitment to voter convenience.”

Molinaro wrote:

The $2,240 given to the Pinellas Republican Party by disgraced former candidate Angello Cappelli should be donated to charity, said local Democratic Party chair Toni Molinaro. She asks the Republicans, and its chairman Tony DiMatteo, to return the money.

Cappelli, a former wealth and investment adviser, is charged with first-degree grand theft and perjury.

Police say the one-time bank trust officer and failed State House District 52 candidate admitted stealing more than $100,000 from a client, keeping money intended for charity to pay off his own credit card bills and homeowner’s insurance.

Public records show that Cappelli gave the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee $1,000 on Jan. 26, 2006, $240 on Aug. 26, 2006 and an additional $1,000 on Feb. 2 of this year. Those contributions are reported on the Pinellas Supervisor of Elections website.

The St. Petersburg client from whom Cappelli is accused stealing died in February. The client’s will intended the money go to a local charity.

“The Republican Party should give the $2,240.00 it received from Cappelli to the Pinellas County Community Foundation since that is the charity that Cappelli tried to steal more than $100,000 from,” said Molinaro. “If we are going to rid our community of political corruption, the place to start is to return ill gotten gains.”

Unfortunately for the citizens of Pinellas County, we have a series of scandals with which to deal,” said Molinaro. “Pinellas Democrats intend to make political corruption one of the issues in the 2008 elections.” The Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s office and a Grand Jury are looking into a questionable county land purchase involving Republican Property Appraiser Jim Smith and whether he received favorable treatment at the direction of Republican County Commission chairman Ronnie Duncan.

Leaving aside the issue of Cappelli being innocent until proven guilty (he’s reportedly confessed), Molinaro is not only morally right on target but strategically firing on all cylinders. The Pinellas GOP (like the national GOP) has a cleanliness problem that it needs to deal with. Ongoing arrests and scandals such as the Rep. Bob Allen solicitation for prostitution bust are only keeping that public perception alive.