This is just a gut feeling. I think Mayor Bob Buckhorn privately hopes the media will crop extra close those photos where he shares a forum with Gov. Rick Scott. Case in point, Scott’s hyper-inflated, “Million Miles for a Million Jobs” bus tour that recently brought him–along with Lt. Gov. Carlos López Cantera–to Tampa.
All but hard-core Scott supporters see through this self-congratulatory drive-by that makes no acknowledgement of context: most notably the national economic recovery and the dubious quality of many of the jobs added in Florida. No reason to think the mayor has been sipping the gubernatorial Kool-Aid just because he periodically pops up at Scott’s local appearances.
But Mayor Bob, a fiscally-prudent Democrat with designs on being the next governor, is also a political hybrid and pragmatist–and loyal. He can attend fundraisers for Pam Bondi and Hillary Clinton. And he will do what he has to–shy of recruiting a Cuban consulate–for the sake of his city. He goes after the business–from Riverwalk grants to Bollywood conventions.
He appreciates that Tallahassee was a necessary partner in TIA expansion. Ditto for a key role in USF Medical School’s plans to relocate to downtown. And the mayor approves of the $250 million in economic development spending that Scott has been pushing. But, yeah, there’s some stuff, including a certain high-speed rail project and a gun-free zone around the 2012 Republican convention, that didn’t go well.
Pols remember all that–but they also know that carrying a grudge can only make it worse. This governor, who hasn’t always been helpful and has earned the rebuke of many, is also in a position to help the cities of some mayors. That’s all that matters. Even if it requires all those enabling photo ops.