While most observers and interested parties were curious about what Mulhern would do in the way of a Cuban follow-up, that was hardly the focus of one of the dailies. The headline on page one (Tampa Bay) of last Friday’s St. Petersburg Times was “Taxpayers Pay Cuba Tab.” The sub-head read: “Tampa council member Mary Mulhern uses a discretionary fund for her trip.” The jump head was: “Official uses taxpayer money for trip to Cuba.”
A couple of points.
The Times has long courted — and often earned — a watchdog reputation. This has been recently evidenced by the Ray Sansom, political frequent flyers and Davis Islands’ teen, hit-and-run stories. This isn’t one of those. Not remotely. But it still got the newspaper nanny treatment. It was journalistic overkill with a supermarket-tab headline. The “out somebody” culture in the name of governmental oversight. Ray Sansom Community College this was not. The Times knows better. Surely.
The actual story, for those who obviously missed it, was that a local politician was showing some initiative, guts even, on a (still) politically sensitive issue during the worst recession in memory. And the fallout – from pressuring Mayor Pam Iorio to lobbying U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor – is hardly without legitimate interest or ramification.
As to the matter of using about $1,300 from her city council member discretionary fund: it had already been reported. It was neither new nor news nor illegal nor inappropriate. Mulhern’s use of the aptly-named discretionary fund had already passed muster from City Attorney Chip Fletcher.
“No, I have no regrets,” says Mulhern. “It was a business trip, and I told the press (Tampa Tribune) about it the week before. Two attorneys gave me the go-ahead.”
Mulhern says she is hoping that the net result of the trip will be eventual economic benefits to Tampa and its port.
To be sure, normalized Cuban-American relations will happen some day in the not-distant future, but it won’t happen as soon as it can to Tampa without relationships. And follow-up. That’s why the operative question was: “Now what?” Not: “Could you tell us, yet again, how you paid for part of your ‘jaunt’”?
“I want Tampa to be the first partner in trade,” points out Mulhern. “That’s what this is about. It’s about economic development. That’s why I went there.”