Author: opinionstogo

Only for politicians and death-row inmates would a year and a half from now seem soon. We are almost that far removed from Tampa’s 2003 mayoral election, and already there are at least eight declared or well-publicized, potential candidates to replace Dick Greco. Not including Ed Turanchik.

It does, however, include maybe the most intriguing putative candidate: Francisco Sanchez.

He doesn’t, however, have the name recognition of other would-be mayors. He doesn’t have a long, continuous residence — and political presence — in the city. And he doesn’t have the experience of having previously held — or even run for — public office.

“To move from not being a public-office holder to mayor is a pretty dramatic move,” points out John Belohlavek, political consultant and USF history professor. “But his roots are deep, and he’s worked in politics enough. Frank understands how the game is played, and what it takes to be an effective leader.”

What the 42-year-old Ybor City native has besides roots are a resume, looks, a quiet charisma and a coterie of cronies and associates who think he would be the perfect successor to Greco. It’s heavily speculated that Greco would agree.

“I’m very serious about running for mayor,” says Sanchez, who expects to make a formal announcement early in ’02. “I look at the candidates, and they’re all good and honorable people. But I have a desire to be of service and a unique set of experiences and skills.”

Indeed.

Start with his education. Your basic George Washington Junior High-Hillsborough High- Harvard University connection. At Harvard, he earned a master’s degree in public administration. Previously, he had received undergraduate and law degrees from Florida State University. He’s fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

He was hooked on politics as a college freshman and worked on Bob Graham’s first gubernatorial campaign — back when Graham’s name-recognition numbers were negligible. He became an assistant to Gov. Graham and later the first director of the state’s Caribbean Basin Initiative program.

He has been assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs for the U.S. Department of Transportation and a special assistant to the president of the United States, Office of the Special Envoy for the Americas. He has practiced corporate securities and administrative law in Miami.

Currently, Sanchez is the Tampa-based managing director of Cambridge Negotiation Strategies, where his work for corporations and governments ranges from labor-management negotiations to alliance management. He frequently pivots out of Tampa for trouble-shooting sorties in Latin America.

His domestic political message is steeped in economics.

The “centerpiece” of a Sanchez campaign, he says, would be the “maintaining and improving of the quality of life” of Tampa. “That means maintaining a solid economic base. To Greco’s credit, he did that. You can’t pay for public safety, public housing and the cultural arts without it.”

To that end, Sanchez has a five-bullet short list:

 Promote international trade and investment.

 Find Tampa’s high-tech niche, using USF as an anchor.

 Continue the development of downtown, a “diamond in the rough.”

 Build stronger relationships with Hillsborough County

 Be a collaborative regional player, especially with Pinellas County.

“We should see ourselves as a city that can attract regional, national or Latin American headquarters,” says Sanchez. “Let’s not denigrate ourselves because we didn’t get an Olympics. This is a pretty good city. The infrastructure is here, yet there’s a small town feel. We’re unique. We have to capitalize on that.”

And as to his electability?

“Frank had lots of options,” says USF History Professor Paul Dosal, a long-time friend, “yet he chose to come back home. People remember and respect him. He transcends party lines. I’ve been apolitical for years, but this is the one candidate I would work for.”

Sanchez seems sanguine enough.

“I can be very competitive in terms of raising money,” he states. “As for name recognition, remember who it was that I cut my political teeth with. People said Bob Graham didn’t have a prayer.”

So, is Mayor Greco praying for Sanchez?

“I just hope there’s a lot of interest in the race,” demurs Greco. “It’s important for the voters to have a real choice.”

But Greco does offer this: “Frank Sanchez is a very impressive young man. I think he’s serious about wanting to do something here. He understands the system; knows the city; is articulate in three languages; a Harvard grad. Yes, he can be formidable.”

A recent column sparked a spate of (ok, seven) emails responding positively to the comment by psychologist Alan Lewis that the attack on America presents, among other things, a “critical learning experience” for our children. “Maybe we need to remind our kids of what America is and what’s worth protecting,” opined Lewis.

His words certainly struck a chord with me. The only thing worse than the atrocity of September 11 would be a failure to respond properly. We are already doing it militarily and diplomatically. The propaganda front is more problematic.But the opportunity to imbue a sense of what it means to be an American in our children mustn’t be missed. And it has nothing to do with jingoism; nor is it the stuff of raw consumerism.

Being an American kid must mean more than parroting patriotic phrases and having a lot of stuff. It must mean more than a birthright entitlement program for the latest and greatest from the worlds of fashion and entertainment. If we as a country fight for individual opportunity and freedom, we win because our cause is just. If we fight for bigger and better stuff, our cause is less noble and our victory less assured.

Being an American kid must mean an understanding that having stuff is a byproduct of a free enterprise system that is highly productive. It’s where opportunity abounds, but success is not guaranteed. Somebody worked hard for that stuff, and America is a country that rewards such efforts. Often handsomely.

Others have bequeathed that to America’s kids through their work ethic. The Latest Generation is fortunate enough to have been born into such a system, but soon it will be their turn to link into that legacy and measure up. Right now it means doing their part to properly equip themselves by taking advantage of their educational opportunities.

Being an American kid must also mean an appreciation of what freedom actually means. It’s not an abstraction; it’s not a buzzword.

Generation Next lives in a democracy. Before too long, these kids will be old enough to vote in their government leaders — because they can. And they must. It’s not a perfect system, just the best one yet. They also live in a land where the rule of law prevails, and a Constitution and a Bill of Rights protect us all. Innocent until proven guilty is legal bedrock. The press is not a government mouthpiece, and the practice of religion is personal and protected. God blesses America, but God is not an American. He also helps those who help themselves.

America’s kids must never forget that where there are rights, there are responsibilities. The other guy has rights too. And as a melting-pot nation, we are tolerant — but not stupid.

Put it this way.

Wave the flag. Please. And wave it on high and proudly — and not just during a crisis, a World Series or an Olympics. But remember that freedom had to be won; that’s how this country started. And once won, continuously affirmed and defended.

In a world where envy and enmity are our enemies, the status quo is no ally of freedom. Affirming and defending will be your responsibility too, because you benefit most from living here.

Now go out and play.

Gunshine State update

Across Florida, as we have seen recently, more people are buying handguns and requesting applications to secretly carry them. Apparently it has nothing to do with crime stats, most of which are down. It has everything to do with an overreaction to terrorism.

The imminent enemy right now is fear. It is the calculated game plan of bioterrorism. No Islamic fanatics are coming to our houses. It’s hardly the modus operandi of despicable, theocratic cowards. But jittery folks with guns are downright scary.

So what does the chairman of Florida’s Senate Select Committee on Public Security and Crisis Management do? If you’re Sen. Ginny Brown-Waite of Brooksville, you start packing heat, as in a Colt .38 caliber handgun. Never know when you might have to shoot a spore.

Thanks for the leadership.

While America strikes back at terrorism and rallies around the notion of normalcy, there remains among many of us a disquieting sense of foreboding. What will the other shoe look like? Where will it drop? The scenarios are as varied as they are virulent.

Amid all the anxious conjecture, however, is a constant. Our lives will never be the same again. And that includes dealing with the knave new world of terrorism with our children. Their lives, of course, will never be the same again either.

Tampa psychologist Alan Lewis offers some observations and advice, some of which may surprise you. Lewis, a native New Yorker whose counseling experience ranges from anxiety-ridden, post-robbery bank tellers to traumatized paramedics and firefighters, suggests a combination of common sense and “critical learning experience” in helping our kids.

“The most important thing for parents to do is reassure their children that they’re safe,” advises Lewis. “For kids, their own safety is paramount. Reassure them that the people around them will keep them safe. Reassure them that what they’re going through is normal.”

He urges “circumspection” in front of children, which is what “parents should do anyway,” he adds. Ditto for monitoring the violence — whether in videos or in horrifically real newscasts — they are exposed to.

But Lewis also reminds parents that there is “nothing wrong with the opportunity to display emotions.

“Kids take their cues from their parents, whether they’re 9 or 19,” he points out. “It’s not inappropriate for kids to realize that this is important, and there is a sense of anger. Don’t try to be overprotective. Kids invariably understand more than we think. Just keep it on their level. And remember that grief is normal.

“You know, and this will sound funny coming from a psychologist, but ‘grief counseling’ almost implies that it’s abnormal and therefore requires a counselor,” notes Lewis. “What we have been going through — since the unthinkable occurred — is a normal process.”

Lewis also advocates using the terrorist attacks on America as a “launching pad” to talk about things we normally don’t discuss with our kids. For example: “This country needs to be defended.”

He draws a geopolitical parallel, which lends itself to a critical learning experience.

“Muslim kids, as we’ve seen, are indoctrinated at an early age,” says Lewis. “Maybe we need to remind our kids of what America is and what’s worth protecting.”

Could it be that the Florida A&M-Bethune Cookman Florida Classic, formerly held in Tampa, has been replaced by the Punch Bowl?

Some would say so, including at least one “progressive” religious leader, who sees a continuum of racial slights and insults. Same racist game, but different visiting teams.

By now, we’re all too familiar with the recent incident, the anatomy of a rumor and the birth of an indignation, over at downtown Tampa’s Marriott Waterside Hotel.

A member of the predominately black Progressive National Baptist Convention saw a melanin-challenged Marriott staffer spit into a fruit punch bowl. Or maybe he took a sip. Or retrieved a ladle. Or dropped in a Baby Ruth bar for comic relief. Moreover, he then tainted a 1,000-person, sit-down meal of grilled salmon and filet mignon. Or not.

Whatever, by the time the general manager, who was not on site, could be summoned, the Rev. C. Mackey Daniels, head of the PNB convention, had issued marching orders. The group then walked out on the pricey repast. They marched to the nearest, next-biggest hotel, which mercifully wasn’t an Adam’s Mark. Presumably, they didn’t call ahead requesting a table with a viewpoint for 1,000. The downtown Hyatt Regency should be commended for scrambling to put out the mother of all chicken wing spreads.

The person, later identified as the Rev. Frederick Jones, who saw whatever it was that was to be seen at the Marriott is not talking. Except to PNB lawyers. Certainly not to anyone in Tampa, including the Marriott, the mayor, the media and the police. In fact, Jones checked out of his hotel early and left town.

The person, later identified as Istvan Kovacs, who was seen doing whatever it was that was done, says he merely retrieved a ladle, taking pains to avoid dipping any digits into the punch.

The truth is out there somewhere, but the staffer’s credibility is understandably — and likely irretrievably — undermined. Not only is he white, but he unfortunately hails from that hotbed of racial intolerance — Hungary.

Bigot-guilty until proven otherwise.

Only reinforcing the Napoleonic code was Paul Catoe, the untenably positioned president of the Tampa Bay Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. “Until someone comes forward to prove to us something didn’t happen, we’ll assume it did,” Catoe told the St. Petersburg Times.

It’s come to this. City officials, including Mayor Dick Greco, apologizing for whatever, if anything, happened. And it’s incumbent upon the city to prove a negative. It’s not incumbent upon the PNB convention, however, to even help clarify the matter, except to its legal counsel.

Since the case for black victimization is so easy to make in politically correct America, including, some would contend, in racially retro Tampa, then it must be true. Whatever “it” is.

As a city, Tampa is racially profiled. Call it hosting while white. It’s based on incidents past, some legitimate and some not. It now feeds on itself.

For example, notice how the first Marriott media accounts also referenced the complaints of black Florida Classic visitors in 1994 who were angry that Tampa Bay Center, across from what was then Houlihan’s Stadium, closed early on game day.

The ensuing racial flap, which made the rounds again last year during the FAMU Law School site-selection charade, led to the game being moved to Orlando. What’s never mentioned in the media mantra is that TBC merchants welcomed the middle-class, middle-aged fans in town for reunions and shopping — but not the problematic onslaught of unaffiliated teenagers who historically flock to major “black events.”

Interesting that when the Rev. Daniels convened an ad hoc board meeting a couple of days after the Marriott incident, he presented a list of 20 racially charged incidents in Tampa’s past.

And it was current enough to include the racial discrimination lawsuit involving black women basketball players at the University of South Florida. He had no details about the damning allegations the PNB convention had made, but he had his show-and-tell Top 20.

His moral high ground was a sinkhole, but it didn’t matter. This is no more about M.L. King and Rosa Parks than Sean King and Bert Parks.

What seemed paramount to Rev. Daniels was leverage not enlightenment. For all of its civil rights lingo and the rhetoric of outrage and humiliation, The PNB Convention is after a financial settlement. Somebody will get stiffed because rumor-mongering must be a sacred calling.

The PNB Convention is playing the extortion game because it can. Tampa will be held hostage to further soiling of its reputation as a convention city unfriendly to blacks, whatever the merits of the Great Expectoration incident.

But give the Rev. Daniels credit for something. He is pursuing restitution, if not the truth, religiously.