Say this for Pam Iorio’s speaking engagements to talk about STRAIGHTFORWARD:Ways to Live & Lead: She’s still doing it by the book. The one that says: “Stay on message.”
She gives bare lip service–or no service–to those dying to know what the political-arena sequel will be. Her stock answer is that anything other than the book tour and leadership lectures at UT is “not what I’m focused on right now.”
I’ve gotten that answer too, and I understand it and respect it. It would be unwise and maybe unseemly to be giving voice to, say, gubernatorial ambitions for 2014 during a 2011 book tour on leadership and doing things the right way.
But a governor’s race is not to be confused with a mayor’s race that a candidate can jump into with three months to go–and win. Getting that statewide name recognition–and sending signals to would-be, you-had-your-chance primary opponents to do the right thing can’t wait till the last minute. But, no, she doesn’t have to come clean just yet.
That was evident at her STRAIGHTFORWARD talk at last Friday’s Tiger Bay Club of Tampa luncheon. Hovering in the back hoping against hope that the popular ex-mayor would say something minimally quotable about her political future was Tampa Tribune political beat reporter Windy March.
The best he got: “Nothing newsworthy. Sorry, Windy.”