*If it’s Friday, it must be–yet another of the countless mayoral forums now playing out across the political landscape. This day it was the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa hosting the five-candidate road show. It made no headlines. It was gaffe free.
*For those paying attention, the candidates have largely made their cases. And this much seems evident: All are smart and experienced. A lot of cities would settle for that. And all have established their identities. Have they ever.
Dick Greco and Rose Ferlita have iconic Tampa names, the former even has his own statue. Greco can say what no other candidate can say: “I’ve done it.” Or, to be more specific: “I’ve done it, gang.” Ferlita, she reminds us, is about “transparency and integrity.”
Ed Turanchik has transitioned from intellectual dreamer to “pragmatic visionary.” Bob Buckhorn is the well-packaged rhetorician who can “give us our wings” and help expedite “Petri-dish-to-marketplace” scenarios. Tom Scott is the “consensus building” black minister.
*But who expected Tom Scott to get the biggest laughs? His presentations tend toward the bureaucratic. He knows his MPOs from his CRAs. But when he gave his closing statement, he seemed to morph from the Rev. to the nearly irreverent.
He said he had no “canned speech,” but he did know everybody else’s. From Greco’s “500 years” of experience to Buckhorn’s photogenic daughters to Turanchik’s “vision.” It drew as many nods as laughs.
*Best lines: “I don’t need this job. I want it. I love this city.”–Dick Greco. : “CSX tracks and no train.”–Ed Turanchik’s response, in part, to a question on Tampa’s most underutilized assets.