Holiday Ritual Abuse

Here are two holiday rituals we could do without.

 

First, free-lance fireworks – notably at odd hours and on dates other than July 4th (or December 31st) by those who couldn’t name two signees of the Declaration of Independence – if you spotted them George Mason. Most of us can tolerate the inconvenience of the inevitable sound track of the cluelessly inconsiderate, but it’s not fair to pets. In fact, it’s often traumatic. And, yes, I have one.

 

Second, the high-profile, nationally televised (ESPN), live-from-Coney Island, Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. But if there really must be this perverse salute to gluttony, could the promoters at least have the good taste, as it were, to not play the Star Spangled Banner at the end?  Americans are pretty liberal with their patriotic backdrops, but can’t we draw the line with the guy who inhaled 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes? 

Cuba Conference: Who Shows And Who’s A No-Show

The recent Tampa seminar on United States-Cuba relations and related issues — trade, politics and perspective — was as notable for who was there as who wasn’t.

 

Among the 150 attendees at Ybor City’s Italian Club: Tampa City Council Chairman Tom Scott and Council members Mary Mulhern and Linda Saul-Sena. Clerk of Circuit Court Hillsborough County Pat Frank and Tampa Port Authority member Carl Lindell were also on hand at the Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy-hosted seminar: “Rapprochement With Cuba: Good for Tampa Bay, Good For Florida, Good For America.”

 

Among the no-shows: anyone from the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, the Iorio Administration, World Trade Center Tampa Bay and the office of Tampa-based U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor.

 

The event was by invitation, which targeted public officials and the business community, as well as via public notice. According to Alliance president Al Fox, anyone who called and wanted to attend, even staunch opponents of rapprochement with Cuba, were to be admitted. The one proviso for Cuban hardliners, and Tampa still has a few, was that they give assurances of “no disturbances,” including banners. Few took him up on it, said Fox, including several demonstrators in front of the Italian Club, who opted to remain outside.

 

Cuba-related gatherings have their own unique dynamic. Palpable political overtones and subplots are a given. It often gets personal. Where else could a half century’s worth of counterproductive, Cold War atavism even be up for debate?

 

Agendas and rationales run the political-ideological-venal gamut. Some public officials, notably Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, don’t want to appear to be meddling in foreign policy.

 

Others, such as some members of Florida’s Congressional delegation, are in the pocket of Miami-area, exile-community power brokers, such as U.S. Representatives Mario and Lincoln Diaz Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, when it comes to Cuba. U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Kendrick Meek come readily to mind.

 

A familiar refrain from those opposed to normalized relations with Cuba, especially the lifting of the trade embargo, is that to do so would be to reward a repressive regime. One that won’t make meaningful moves on political prisoners and democracy.

 

“Democracy in Cuba is not the issue,” underscored Fox. “The issue is what is best for America and not having individual rights suppressed by a handful of Batistianos. Can you imagine Taiwan telling America not to have normal relations with China? Why should that (South Florida) family feud influence anybody else’s thinking?”

 

No matter the obvious upsides — increased trade for Florida during a recession, unfettered freedom to travel and badly needed credibility in America’s own hemisphere — personal politics and PAC dollars still exert inordinate leverage. A prime example is HR 874, the “Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act,” which would open up travel to Cuba for all Americans.

 

It has more than 150 Congressional signatories. Significantly — and confoundingly — none are from Florida. HR 874’s sponsor, Congressman William Delahunt, D-Mass., told the conference attendees (via speaker phone) that it was “important for those in Florida to lead the way.”

 

Indeed, how could anyone seriously expect the Obama Administration to move at more than an incremental pace on Cuba when the 27-member Congressional delegation from Florida, the state with the most to gain, remains on the sidelines? Ironically, Americans can travel freely to Iran, but not Cuba. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, si, but the Castro Brothers, no.

 

“U.S. foreign policy shouldn’t be manipulated to serve a political agenda,” said Florida attorney Tony Martinez, a conference speaker. “The majority of all Americans want the ending of the embargo and the lifting of travel restrictions.”

 

The embargo, moreover, is the single most important factor that has “kept Cuba from evolving from its status quo,” observed Alfredo Duran, a Bay of Pigs veteran and the former head of the Democratic Party of Florida. The embargo has also turned America into Uncle Scapegoat for all that is inherently wrong with Cuba’s failed economic system, he added.

 

“There’s nothing that (Fidel) Castro has loved more,” stressed Duran, who’s also an attorney. It has enabled the government to, in effect, depict Cuba as “at war” with the U.S. The rationale: “No friendly country embargoes another friendly country.”

 

For the Port Authority’s Lindell, the matter of traveling to Cuba and doing business on the island is no longer a debatable subject.

 

“It’s been 50 years of this,” reminded Lindell. “Let’s make something happen. Cuba’s not a threat to us. It’s not a terrorist state. It (ending the embargo) would be a great gesture to all of Latin America. We have nothing to lose, but lots to gain.”

 

And Lindell will soon get an up close and personal look at Cuba.  He and City Council member Mulhern will not be no-shows when a Tampa Bay delegation visits Cuba later this month.

Time To Push Leaders On Cuba

The message at Saturday’s travel-and-trade seminar on Cuba was clarion clear – even if a key contributor, Congressman William Delahunt, D-Mass., had to speaker-phone it in.

 

That message was this: The Cold War-relic relationship between the United States and Cuba is worse than stupid. It’s manifestly counterproductive geopolitically, especially in our own hemisphere, and economically, especially in our own state, region and port. It’s been inhumane in its travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans and anti-American in its travel restrictions on everyone else. Americans, ironically, can travel freely to Iran – but not Cuba.

 

Attendees were told that nothing less than concerted efforts — from political contributions to letters to the editor to e-mails to incumbent office holders — will do to push leaders, local to national, to do their part in helping undo a half-century of failed American policy toward Cuba. With all the attendant upside.

 

“Foreign policy shouldn’t be a domestic political issue,” said Florida attorney Tony Martinez, who was an advisor to New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson on U.S.-Cuba relations. “The Cuban-American issue is so enmeshed in politics and money. One million dollars in political money is what’s keeping the embargo going. U.S. foreign policy shouldn’t be manipulated to serve a political agenda.”

 

Some 150 business and political leaders — including Tampa City Council members Tom Scott, Linda Saul-Sena and Mary Mulhern, as well as Clerk of the Circuit Court Pat Frank — heard a series of speakers address the opportunities and benefits of normalized Cuban-American relations. The gathering at Ybor City’s Italian Club was hosted by the Alliance For Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation. Rob Lorei, Managing Editor of “Florida This Week” on WEDU and co-founder of WMNF 88.5 FM, did the moderating.

 

Rep. Delahunt is the sponsor of the “Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act” (HR 874), which would open up travel to Cuba for all Americans. It has more than 150 Congressional signatories. Significantly none are from Florida. Nada. “It’s important for those in Florida to lead the way,” underscored — and understated — Delahunt.

 

Indeed, the question is begged as to what incentive the Obama Administration has to move faster on Cuba if no member of Florida’s own delegation can’t muster the political cojones to sign HR 874? Compared to America’s myriad of parlous, geopolitical challenges, Cuba is low-hanging, foreign-policy fruit. 

 

Alliance president Al Fox was noticeably disappointed that neither U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor nor a representative from her office was in attendance. “Kathy Castor is supporting direct (charter) flights from Tampa (to Havana) but doesn’t support the law for most Americans to buy a ticket,” noted Fox. “She’s being very coy here.”

 

By pushing TIA as a gateway airport to Cuba, Castor is still doing more than her fellow Florida-delegation members. South Florida’s three hardliner amigos, Republican Reps. Diaz Balart, Lincoln Diaz Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, still — despite an eroding, generational base and an evolving Cuban American National Foundation — exercise inordinate leverage when it comes to preserving the status quo on Cuban-American relations. Take Florida Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Kendrick Meek, to name just two.   

 

It’s simplistic to break this issue down to partisan politics as usual, emphasized Fox. “The top of the Democratic Party and the top of the Republican Party are the same on this,” he said. “They’re both in bed with the crazies in Miami.”

 

Trade Impact

The economic implications, especially during a recessionary spiral, are considerable. Exports to Cuba were a token $1.3 million in 1992. After the U.S. eased restrictions on food, agriculture and certain medical supplies in 2000 (while stipulating cash on the barrelhead), the numbers ratcheted up. They were $718 million in 2008. Experts at the University of Florida have estimated that Cuba’s agricultural trade could be worth more than $1.7 billion. With its population of 11 million, Cuba is the largest sovereign market in the Caribbean.

 

And obviously Florida – and the Port of Tampa – stand to benefit more than most. The most modest estimates for Florida are well into nine figures. Currently Florida ports handle about 6 percent of U.S. agricultural and medical products shipped to Cuba.

 

Ports such as Mobile, New Orleans and even Corpus Christi effectively promote themselves by visiting Cuba regularly. Their obvious game plan: capitalize on near-term opportunities and establish relationships for the post-embargo era that beckons.

 

No one has ever accused Tampa of such a resourceful strategy.

 

Rancher John Parke Wright of Naples shared an anecdote from a Corpus Christi colleague with a vested-interest perspective on the Sunshine State and trade with Cuba. “The best thing to happen to Texas is Florida,” noted the Texan.

 

Tampa Port Authority member Carl Lindell, however, was on hand. Moreover, he’s scheduled to visit Cuba himself later this month along with City Council’s Mulhern. The Port of Tampa, fortuitously enough, is in the process of a major expansion of its container cargo facilities.

 

“We have no official (Cuban) policy at the Port, but we’re moving in that direction,” said Lindell. “I’m definitely pushing to get the embargo lifted. I will persist. The people should let the politicians know what they want. It’s been 50 years of this. Let’s make something happen. Cuba’s not a threat to us, and it would be a great gesture to all of Latin America. We have nothing to lose, but lots to gain.”

 

Notably, no one from either the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce or World Trade Center Tampa Bay attended.

 

First-Hand Experience

One man who knows the potential — and the potential pitfalls – of doing business with Cuba is Richard Walzer, the president of Ft. Lauderdale-based Splash Tropical Drinks. His juice and daiquiri concentrates have found a profitable market in the Cuban tourist industry the last seven years. His multimillion-dollar business has grown by 20 percent annually.

 

“You have to get to know the system,” he told attendees. “It can be a maze.” It’s critical,  stressed Walzer, to “build political relationships and trust with the Cubans. It’s a step-by-step process. And tourism is where the economy is going.” He envisions, he said, a Vietnam (communist-capitalist) model.

 

“It will be more difficult after the transition (from the Castro brothers),” he cautioned, “for those who hadn’t established a foundation. The Cubans want to deal with individuals that they’ve been dealing with.”

 

Another entrepreneur who has experienced success in trading with Cuba is Mike Mauricio, owner and president of Tampa-based Florida Produce Co. “I found the Cubans very loyal,” he said. “They will treat you like family. Sometimes I bring my wife.

 

“I’ve never been yelled at or blamed for the embargo,” he pointed out. “Never any ‘Yankee go home.’ But I’ve been talked to badly around Tampa and Miami.”

 

Mauricio got off on the right foot, he explained, when he satisfactorily answered the Cubans’ question as to whether he was a Democrat or Republican. “I said ‘I’m not a Democrat or a Republican,’ he recalled. “I said, ‘I’m a capitalist.’ That broke the ice…Everything you can think of is needed in Cuba.”

 

Smith Weighs In

And no serious gathering on the subject of Cuban-American relations would be complete without the eminent presence of Wayne Smith. The former chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana (under both Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan) is a senior fellow and director of the Cuba Program at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for International Policy. He’s lived much of the history that haunts yet another American Administration.

 

“I feel like we’ve been down this road before,” intoned Smith, who acknowledged a level of disappointment with President Obama’s minimalist approach, especially his ball’s-in-Cuba’s-court response to the “everything’s on the table” talk from Raul Castro. Obama made it clear that the 47-year-old trade embargo was not negotiable until Cuba makes progress in human rights and democracy.

 

“That’s never going to work,” stated Smith, meaning that such a quid pro quo amounted to a slap at Cuban “sovereignty.” He also called the Supreme Court’s refusal to review the (espionage) convictions of the “Cuban Five” a “national disgrace” despite calls from Nobel Prize winners and international legal groups to do just that. Something about a fair trial in Castro-hating Miami.

 

“Easing restrictions on travel and remittances for Cuban-Americans and planning talks on migration are virtually the only thing the Obama Administration has done,” added Smith. “We expected more. He could lift all travel restriction with a stroke of a pen, for example. And he could take Cuba off the terrorist list, because there’s no shred of evidence that Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism.

 

“We need to insist that something more be done,” urged Smith. “We understand Cuba is not a priority matter, but it could be so easily handled. Let’s hope for the future and push in that direction.”

Busansky Valued Every Vote

I didn’t know Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky well. My loss. But I thought our last conversation, however brief, was telling.

 

Last fall I was at a fundraiser at a neighbor’s – and Busansky, the big woman with the little-people constituency, was musing beyond campaign rhetoric and the unconscionable Buddy Johnson incumbency. 

 

Busansky, the avatar of public service around here, was concerned that even with a reset button for the Supervisor of Elections Office, there was a much-broader, more existential issue that needed addressing. “I’m afraid that not enough people truly value their vote,” she said away from the crowd of well-wishers and political insiders.

 

She had said that in the context of well-chronicled, chronically low voter turnouts. But she was also pondering the prospect of votes cast based inordinately on negative campaigning. She segued into the necessity of an “informed electorate” for meaningful democracy to prosper. Typical, elected-office, fund-raiser chit-chat this was not.

 

We agreed that after the election – win or lose – we would find time to explore this further. To delve more into the philosophical than the pragmatic. Were she to win, hers would be an occupation preoccupied with logistics, budgets, paper trails, voter education and post-Buddy clean-up. And hardly insulated from politics.

 

And yet. What of that office’s role in doing something about a process that has been becoming less participant than spectator sport? An electorate that arguably is too often more reflexive than reflective when it comes to actual ballot casting?

 

We never did have that follow-up chat. My loss again.

All-American Consolation Prize

Alas, Tampa’s All-American City Award shot fell short. Now on hold: all those marketing upgrades, such as changes to the city’s web site and around-town signage.

 

Tampa might have been victimized, ironically, by a home-field “disadvantage.” The other 31 cities had more logistical and budget challenges, which may have been over-compensated for by judges. A number also had sexier projects with more wow factors.

 

So be it.

 

What is more than consoling is this: Tampa’s three (submitted) community projects — the East Tampa initiative, the 40th Street Enhancement Project and the Annual Sulphur Springs Children’s Holiday Event — spoke volumes about priorities and partnerships. Neighborhood input was tapped – and lives were touched. The signs that really matter — those of change and inclusion — are more than manifest.

Flier In The Ointment For Hagan

Not unexpectedly, those out-of-district, Ken Hagan survey fliers have created a political flap. The fliers – “not produced at taxpayer expense” – were passed out by Hagan and staff to voters in Seminole Heights and South Tampa. North Hillsborough resident Hagan currently chairs the County Commission. Next year he’ll be running for a countywide commission seat.

 

Hagan calls the fliers — with his visage prominently displayed — “constituent-service oriented” even though they’re going to voters outside his district. He says they’re not “campaign-related.”  Maybe Buddy Johnson would agree, but critics note that the county is not behind these survey fliers. They also say campaign literature by any other name is still campaign literature.  

 

Actually, Hagan need not resort to such “constituent-service” ringers. Instead, he should re-examine his previous campaign modus operandi. It would help if he were to make himself more available to voter forums – and cut out the cherry-picking. There will be plenty of opportunities — should he avail himself of them — for voters to assess Hagan’s countywide candidacy beyond a self-serving, “not campaign-related” survey flier.

Iorio’s Take On Rail, Cuba, Career

At last week’s Tiger Bay Club of Tampa luncheon, Mayor Pam Iorio was notably adamant about three issues:

 

*She will go to the mattresses to sell light rail.

*She won’t be visiting Cuba any time soon.

*She won’t be publicly addressing her political future for a while.

 

If Iorio could choose her legacy, it would likely be “light rail visionary and initiator.”

 

Not that the Riverwalk won’t be in the mix, but others, notably her predecessor, had a major role in securing requisite waterfront land. But if next year’s referendum vote – and accompanying tax hike – get passed, it will be in large measure because Tampa’s two-term mayor mustered all her remaining political capital and maxed out on her bully-pulpit forum. And as she reminded Tiger Bay attendees, her podium skills, engaging repartee and powers of persuasion are formidable.

 

“We have it all,” said Iorio. “The only thing we don’t have is light rail. It’s the missing link. I mean, Detroit (currently the only other major market sans light rail) is now working on it. We also need a more robust bus system.”

 

According to Iorio, much will ride on how light rail is “presented.”

 

“It’s not a frill,” she noted. “It’s not ‘icing on the cake.’ We have to get past the ‘It doesn’t just help me’ mentality. The demographics are changing. Mass transit is not just for people who can’t afford a car.

 

“To not consider rail seriously is not 21st century thinking,” stressed Iorio. “It will set us back as a region. We can’t say: ‘If you move to Tampa, you better own a car.’ No more. We can’t afford to have nothing more than a HARTLine bus system. I can’t be a part of it.”

 

She also referenced the Interstate system begun by the Dwight Eisenhower administration in the 1950s. “We need this just as much as we needed the interstate system,” she said. Indeed, Iorio also pondered the viability of the interstate system had it been subject to regional referenda.

 

And she’s obviously heard her share of cost-benefit ratio and subsidy arguments proffered by small-government advocates.

 

“All transportation is subsidized,” underscored Iorio. “Dale Mabry is subsidized. And why do we subsidize things? Because we think it’s for the community good. If we only have HARTLine buses, we’ll be so far behind – and pay for it in so many ways.”

 

Cuba: Todavia No

 Even though Florida – and Tampa – are uniquely positioned to take advantage of normalized relations between Cuba and America, Iorio is not about to be any bolder than the Obama Administration when it comes to making it happen. She can see the incremental changes occurring in the Cold War-relic relationship between America and Cuba, but sees no need to get out in front on this one. She’s certainly not about to emulate the plans of some other locals, including at least one Tampa City Council member, who hope to visit Cuba this summer.

 

“If the private sector sees opportunities, it should act on it,” said Iorio. “But I could go and make a big splash, and it will change nothing. This is a federal issue. It’s not appropriate for me to embark on my own foreign policy.”

 

No Post-Mayor Talk

Now is not the time for Iorio to be musing in public about where her post-mayoral, public-service career may take her. There are too many political subplots beyond her control next year and too much on her lame-duck plate to entertain such speculation.

 

“I don’t know what my future holds,” stated Iorio. “I don’t worry about it. I don’t want to short-shrift this job.

 

“The county-mayor? There is no county-mayor position. It doesn’t exist.”

Bean-Beckner-Ferlita Flap

This much we know:

 

*Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean’s budget proposal includes a tax hike, the first one in 14 years.

*Bean’s plan also proposes to slash the budget by some $140 million and eliminate hundreds of employees and as many as 1,000 positions.

*Bean had given her top six deputies, each of whom makes six figures, raises ranging from 7 to 17 percent. There was no public notice. Some had taken on extra duties; some had received promotions.

*To a skeptical County Commission, Bean recently explained: “I had to be able to compensate them in order to get them to take on the additional work.” She also noted that even in a down economy employees are not precluded from receiving raises.

  She may want that public rationale back – certainly in the context of those who are flat-out losing their county jobs in a region with 10 per cent overall unemployment.  

*Rookie County Commissioner Kevin Beckner, who wasn’t on the board when those Bean pay raises passed county muster, recently called for a comprehensive analysis of how exactly Bean goes about — and gets away with — her down-economy pay raises.

*Fellow Commissioner Rose Ferlita took considerable umbrage at Beckner’s call for a public vetting. After condescendingly addressing him as “young man,” she accused Beckner of “grandstanding” and not seeking information in an “adult way.”

Not unlike Hillsborough Administrator Bean, Ferlita may also want an ill-advised public utterance back. But it’s too late. Look for it to show up in some form on somebody’s mayoral-candidate brochure next year.

 

That much we know.

End-of-Life Dilemma

There’s no lack of vested interests weighing in on health care reform. Among locals offering input is Dr. Stephen Klasko, dean of the College of Medicine at USF and CEO of USF Health. Dr. Klasko recently noted that health-care providers now have “incentives to do more and more.” Klasko was zeroing in on a huge — and hugely sensitive — health-care cost driver.  

 

He was referencing the inordinate amount of medical expenses incurred in a patient’s final months. Nobody wants to talk in terms of the ultimate bottom line when it’s a loved one at death’s door – with the prospect of buying a few more months of marginal quality of life at extraordinary cost. It’s a touchy subject, but no longer too touchy to talk about.

Devolution of “Fit”

Devolution of a candidacy? Bill Foster is a major candidate for mayor of St. Petersburg. In a 2008 letter to the Pinellas School Board, he suggested that the teaching of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution contributed to the Holocaust and the Columbine mass murders. Indeed, this card-carrying, social conservative actually made that connection. Of course, such comments could now haunt him. Indeed, they should.

 

He recently pondered the predictable controversy he had created. “If I had to do it over again, I probably would have toned it down,” he said. “I don’t regret writing it.” Oh.

 

Should Foster be elected, it would arguably refute most “survival of the fittest” applications.