Advice for Sanchez Campaign

A lot of politicians — George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter come readily to mind — are much more impressive one-on-one and in small gatherings than they are in more formal presentations. It’s a personality and a persona thing. It shouldn’t matter as much as it does — but it does.

It’s not an issue for Pam Iorio, the mayoral frontrunner and a media maven.

She’s as good on camera as off. As good with a small group of true believers as with a pack of chad-chary journalists. As good in front of a big audience as a more intimate candidate forum. Everything about her presence says she cares and she’s credible. She’s also positive — and often positively visionary and vague.

It is, however, an issue for Frank Sanchez. Especially after Iorio jumped in and skewed everything.

Not that Sanchez isn’t well spoken. Not that he can’t connect. But there are times when it appeared he hadn’t run for office since his student council days. As when he was the only candidate not looking at the camera at a recent televised debate. As in those flat television ads meant to introduce him to the voters. As in showing up at the Mayor’s roast sans jokes.

For all the money his campaign raised, one wonders why it wasn’t better allocated to making sure the messenger was as well prepared as the “growing the economy” message. Why, frankly, he didn’t get more video work. He’s telegenic, well informed and a quick study. He didn’t need an overhaul, just help.

And when the inevitable gaffes occurred, such as the Ye Mystic Krewe flip-flop flap, why wasn’t he counseled to do the obvious? To wit: Reiterate that on principle you believe discrimination is always wrong and that won’t change, and you’re not ducking the question like the other candidates, including the lone female. Hear out the YMK callers, let them vent and remind them that as mayor you can’t do anything about it anyhow. Wink over the phone, if you have to. Trust that they — as business pillars not ersatz pirates — have nowhere else to go.

I was reminded of all this at a recent Sanchez rally at Stump’s Supper Club in Channelside. Thurgood Marshall Jr., a Sanchez colleague from the Clinton days, was in town to endorse his friend. The crowd was animated and the (wine) bar open.

And Sanchez hit his marks — and stride. From “West Wing” tales that were genuinely funny to a blueprint for Tampa’s economy and community investment that was impressively impassioned and forceful. A killer resume working the house.

Here’s some campaign advice. If this happens again, bottle it.

Better yet, videotape it.

Car Crash: Draw Conclusions, Not Memorials

Plaudits to Bill Maxwell for telling it as it needs to be told. The St. Petersburg Times columnist zeroed in on the most pertinent question that needed to be asked in the immediate aftermath of the car crash that killed three black juveniles in St. Petersburg. What were two 14 year olds and a 15 year old doing out at 5 a.m. Monday morning?

Of course it’s a rhetorical question; they were stealing cars. Moreover, all three had criminal records.

Maxwell assigned blame where it belonged. In the home and in a black community that is too tolerant of dysfunctional behaviors and too easily intimidated by teenagers with attitudes.

“I am angry that we black people continue to defend the indefensible,” said Maxwell. “At least two of the parents of the children are questioning police procedure.” Reports, as Maxwell pointed out, indicate police followed proper chase procedures, and their actions didn’t have anything to do with the fatal crash.

One other thing that surely makes Maxwell even angrier. Not enough people in the black community are as angry as he is.

One more thing. The driver was a ninth grader at Northeast High School. Yesterday, his classmates spent time drawing memorials.

Better they had spent the time drawing conclusions. Such as: Nothing good can happen to a 14 year old at 5 a.m. And nothing good can come of an attitude that says I want what’s yours. In fact, it’s a deadly combination.

Sami In Slammer: Mosque Man Unmasked?

Here is what we know about Sami Al-Arian, Judy Genshaft’s least favorite computer science instructor.

The Kuwait-born Palestinian Muslim was a respected, even award-winning, professor with unpopular but constitutionally protected views. Not everyone, for example, agreed that “Death To Israel” was mere rhetorical flourish, but that’s the First Amendment for you.

By all accounts, Al-Arian never brought his polarizing politics into the classroom. Even Jewish students would agree.

He is not a member of al-Qaida.

He founded the World and Islam Studies Enterprises, an Islamic think tank, at USF. In 1991 he recruited Ramadan Abdullah Shallah to run it. Shallah would later surface in Damascus as the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a by-the-numbers terrorist organization.

Although controversy has been swirling around him for the better part of a decade, he has been convicted of nothing. Sami may be Al-Arrogant and a WISE guy, but that’s not a crime.

But now he’s been charged. Big time.

After an 8-year investigation that was accelerated after the 9/11 atrocities and the Bill O’Reilly ambush, Al-Arian has been indicted. Not for killing anybody, but for a lot of stuff that amounts to helping those who do.

Charges in the 121-page federal indictment include being the North American leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian is also charged with overseeing PIJ’s property and finances, which included funneling funds used to underwrite, among other things, suicide bombings in Israel. Among the more than 100 victims were two Americans.

In the context of this 50-count indictment, we now know that USF President Genshaft was not exactly running roughshod over academic freedom when she initially wanted to fire Al-Arian. She just made the mistake of citing the wrong reasons. She charged that Al-Arian didn’t make clear whether he was speaking — in inimitably inflammatory fashion — for himself or the university. Moreover, he was a one-man, campus safety hazard.

Such policy-and-procedure rationales made it easier for the faculty union to claim discrimination, and for the American Association of University Professors to try and extort a retraction. They also provoked the union to target neo-McCarthyism as the real enemy. The elbow-patch crowd is always ready to go to the mattresses to defend the right to live in the abstract. But they posted their flag in a cloud. Tenure over national security? Not even close.

Genshaft’s approach was like going after Ted Bundy for jaywalking or suing Joseph Mengele for malpractice. It demeaned the issue. The ultimate American civil liberty is the right to remain alive. Now what, within the law — including the Patriot Act — and parameters of fairness, are we willing to do to ensure it?

In retrospect, Genshaft would have been well within her presidential purview to have simply laid down these criteria for firing a tenured professor with unpopular views: “Anyone who sponsors or hires terrorists or fundraises for them is fired.”

Now that the feds have indicted Al-Arian, it finally happened. Now it’s officially what it’s always been — much more than a fire-able offense.

Friedman On Iraq: “Do It Right”

Tom Friedman, the New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, brought his first-hand, even-handed Middle East observations to town last week and spoke to a crowd of 1,500 at USF. Too bad his $45,000 speaking fee couldn’t have been picked up by the Bush Administration. They were the real target audience.

Friedman framed the impending war-in-Iraq issue in a broad, post 9/11 context. The Cold War status quo of two super powers, he noted, has given way to the “World of Order” and the “World of Disorder.” The latter includes “failed states” such as Liberia, rogue states such as North Korea and Iraq, “messy states” such as Colombia, Pakistan and Indonesia, and “Mafia and terror groups” energized by “super-empowered, angry persons,” of which Osama bin Laden is the archetype. Such individuals, he stressed, are the “real weapons of mass destruction” because, as opposed to Saddam Hussein, they are not deterrable. These “undeterrables” hate us more than they love life.

The daunting task facing the “World of Order,” i.e., the United States, emphasized Friedman, is to “lift up the “World of Disorder.” And that starts with Muslim nations that spawn those super-empowered and angry enough to have perpetrated 9/11. Such anger, stated Friedman, is grounded in three factors: U.S.-Israeli foreign policy, Arab humiliation for falling so far behind the Judeo-Christian world and rage at their own repressive governments.

The onus is on the U.S. to be “the best global citizen we can,” stressed Friedman. We also need to make the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis a priority and “get our own energy house in order” and stop treating Middle Eastern countries like “a big, dumb gas station.” And it’s counterproductive “to come at the world with a sense of contempt.”

For their part, the Islamic nations need an “authentic Muslim progressive ideology.” Staying mired in “awful, authoritarian governments” is an unacceptably dangerous status quo.

As for Iraq, per se:

*”Iraq has the greatest human and economic potential in the area.”

*”Iraq has everything to do with regime change — not weapons of mass destruction.”

*”Taking Saddam out is a war of choice — but it’s a legitimate choice. It is because he is undermining the UN; it is because if left alone, he will seek weapons that will threaten all his neighbors; it is because you believe the people of Iraq deserve to be liberated from his tyranny; and it is because you intend to help Iraqis create a progressive state that could stimulate reform in the Arab/Muslim world, so that this region won’t keep churning out angry young people who are attracted to radical Islam and are the real weapons of mass destruction.”

*”(Intervention) is worth doing if we have the support of the American people and the United Nations and allies. Iraq is all about day three. Just like Pottery Barn, if you break it, you own it.”

*”The U.S. can destroy any country on its own, but the U.S. can’t build any country on its own…We need a long-term partnership with the Iraqi people.”

*”Bush’s aspirations in Iraq are audacious, and he has prepared us for Granada.”

*”The Arabs will get behind this, if we do it right. While Osama bin Laden has authenticity, he’s no longer seen as a Robin Hood. Saddam Hussein may be more popular in the streets of Paris than Cairo.”

As for the Bush Administration, Friedman didn’t agree with the rush to massive troop build-up. He’s also concerned about “prehistoric” ideologies reminiscent of the Cold War.

He has, however, “no beef” with the FBI, CIA or Tom Ridge about domestic security. “They are doing the best they can,” he averred, “and we have to do ours — the press and the public.” Friedman’s advice: “Suck it up and learn to live with it. Let’s leave the cave dwelling to bin Laden.”

Friedman underscored that he has taken his own advice. “The only survival purchase I’ve made since Code Orange is a new set of Ben Hogan Apex irons.”

Outtakes From A Candidate-Forum Junkie

Not long ago Pam Iorio jokingly accused me of “stalking” because she kept seeing me at all these mayoral candidate forums. Bob Buckhorn, in turn, wondered if my ubiquity meant I was now a candidate myself.

No, the body politic will be spared that.

Such light-hearted observations, however, are a likely sign that you’ve been seeing more than your share of these things. It means they’re starting to play like a continuous loop.

As with pornography, you know it when you see it. Manifest signs that you may be a candidate-forum junkie:

*You already know, for example, that when Iorio talks about her vision for downtown, there will inevitably follow countless ways to integrate “catalyst” into her remarks. Always looming is the observation that Tampa is “the only city that puts a parking lot on its river.” Generally speaking, there will be a lot of generalizations. A lot of them impassioned.*You steel yourself for the Buckhorn reminder that he has been getting up “every morning for the past 16 years trying to make this a better place.” You’re tired, frankly, of feeling like an ingrate for not fully appreciating that kind of single-minded dedication over these last 5,800 days. You know “monument” building, a certain CIT vote, “platitudes over potholes” and “trains running on time” will eventually surface. As will a flattering comparison to Rudy Giuliani. When he references residential needs, you know what’s coming: “Eight hundred people live in downtown Tampa, and 400 of them are in jail.” It’s still a solid laugh line.

*You’re prepared for your Miranda rites. That’s when the 64-year-old City Council chairman waxes wistful. You know it’s coming, and it won’t be just drive-by nostalgia. Some of the references will evoke smiles and nods. Others will prompt a quizzical reaction because the reverie rendered the question incidental. Miranda will remind you, more than once, that he is stingy with money — his and yours.

*You expect Frank Sanchez to work in “growing the economy.” Ironically, you’re continuously amazed that he doesn’t do it more frequently and more fervently. It’s his trump card — from better jobs to paved potholes. You also know Sanchez will make a pointedly fervid and direct commitment to somebody about something. At some point, he’ll turn a potential home run of an answer into a scratch hit.

*You’re ready for the square-peg, “fit, fun, free and functional” candidacy of Don Ardell. His asides, you know, will be variations on an iconoclastic theme. He’ll remind you, directly and indirectly, that it would take a miracle for him to be mayor. In what would otherwise be political heresy, he’ll likely “pass” on a question at some point in the interests of saving time and limiting redundancy. Somewhere in the forum, however, Ardell will reveal a seriously Libertarian side that is out of synch with what real cities with real challenges really need.

*You hope write-in candidate Neil Cosentino will be a no-show. When he isn’t, anticipate references to the Convention Center and the German-American Club, no matter the question.

Finally, you start to compile a mental memo. Maybe it has merit; maybe it’s just good therapy. Maybe it’s something to do when Cosentino is droning on. But after a recent mayoral forum on the arts at Tampa Theater, sound bites never seemed so good. It was easy to see how this democratic staple just might share a short list with news, laws and sausage: stuff you might not want to see in process. At least not this often.

With that bias in mind, these sausage-inspired thoughts and recommendations:

*Six — or more — is an unwieldy number at a candidate forum. But sometimes democracy is unwieldy.

*Candidate quality notwithstanding, forums are as good as their moderators. Their preparation includes being armed with a number of relevant queries plus clear instructions for candidates, timekeepers and audience members.

*Suggestion: Moderators should consider asking a given question to a pair of candidates. One responds; the other, in effect, rebuts. It saves time and tedium. (When everyone answers the same question, even the clueless can cobble together a respectable answer.)

*Sure, there’s a luck-of-the-draw element here, but it’s not bad preparation for the City Hall hot seat. The mayor never knows what the next phone ring will bring. For candidates who want a piece of questions not asked them, they will be encouraged to work it into their concluding remarks instead of soaring, all-things-to-all-people, boilerplate rhetoric. Conversely, they can remain conspicuously silent on questions they would prefer to duck.

*Moderators must discourage — no, ban — applause after each candidate answers. It should be obvious why.

*If questions are solicited from the audience, moderators should preface them with this admonition: If you haven’t begun to formulate a question within 30 seconds, expect the hook. You’re not a candidate; we already have enough of those.

Campaign Trail Mix: Roaster’s Choice

Recently the mayoral candidates had a chance to roast outgoing mayor Dick Greco. While the roasting didn’t unearth any Improv talent, it did provide an opportunity to respond in kind to Greco’s remark at last month’s Mayors Beautification Program breakfast.

Greco used the occasion to offer some unsolicited advice to the candidates. “Don’t promise a lot of stuff to the people,” cautioned Greco. “Believe me, I spent all the money.”

*Most mayor’s forums aren’t conducive to candidates directly criticizing each other. That happens between forums and sometimes through surrogates. Ironically, the lone direct exchange at the mayoral forum at Tampa Theater was between Ardell and Cosentino, the long-shot and no-shot candidates, respectively. It was about the USS Forrestal , the aircraft carrier that was once promoted as a tourist-attraction museum for the Port of Tampa. It has seemingly run aground over fund-raising, port logistics and maintenance costs.

Ardell summarized his objections by referring to the Forrestal as a “bloody war symbol.” Cosentino, taking immediate umbrage, shouted across to Ardell that he was proud to have “served on one.”

Times Holds Nose on City Council Recommendation

“She is a nice person in over her head, with little in the way of vision or accomplishment.”

That’s what the St. Petersburg Times said of incumbent Mary Alvarez last week in its Tampa City Council opinion piece. And Alvarez is the one the Times is RECOMMENDING for District 6.

That’s how much it helps to have Joe Redner as an opponent.

German Court: A Life-Demeaning Sentence

If nothing else, German law can be forgiving. It’s just that some things are unforgivable.

To wit: The maximum sentence under German law for accessory to murder is 15 years. As a result, that’s what Mounir el Motassadeq got last week. He’s the Moroccan convicted of helping the Hamburg-based al-Qaida cell that planned the Sept. 11, 2001 atrocities.

Proportionally, that means el Motassadeq will serve approximately 1.5 days for each of the nearly 3,000 victims. Moreover, under German guidelines, this best buddy of lead hijacker Mohamed Atta could be released in 10 years and deported back to Morocco.

For those not too incensed and appalled to be scoring at home, that figures out to less than a day per death.

Democrats’ Candidate Conspiracy?

Here’s the most recent sign that President George W. Bush, although perilously positioned beneath the Damoclean swords of a troubled economy and a controversial foreign policy, is still on track to be re-elected in 2004. By default.

Rep. Dick Gephardt just announced yet another son-of-a-Teamster, populist bid for the presidency. Much more telling, however, were the formal papers filed with the Federal Election Commission by former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

Mosely-Braun and Kucinich? Why not George McGovern? He’s still alive. Why not Jimmy Carter? He’s still has eligibility left.

These most recent candidacies, especially Mosely-Braun and Kucinich, represent more than the usual political grandstanding. They also constitute a vote of no-confidence in the previously declared candidates: former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Why not Ted Kennedy? He still has the Camelot connection. Why not Jesse Jackson? He still has but one illegitimate child.

Or is this all part of a vast, left-wing conspiracy to draft Al Gore?

Entitlement Buster: Can’t Subsidize Pride

Among the myriad problems associated with public housing is image.

As in stereotypes.

As if those living in heavily subsidized — or free — housing, where curb appeal is non-existent and drug-related crime pervasive, somehow deserve to be there. As in being part of the problem.

Which brings us to recent happenings in East Tampa, where “distressed” — a bureaucratic euphemism for decrepit — public housing units have been razed and replaced by attractive, mixed-income housing. The architecture of the new “Belmont Heights Estates” is not neo-barrack. These 860 rental units — subsidized as well as market-rate — and 36 owner-occupied homes are not the “projects.”

It’s all part of the city’s $32.5-million federal HOPE VI grant to help revitalize a blighted area.

Arguably enough, the folks most in need of such housing upgrades are those who used to live there, back when it was the “distressed” College Hill and Ponce de Leon complexes. Notably enough, however, most of those former residents will not be moving back in.

That’s because standards for readmission are higher now than they used to be when the Tampa Housing Authority was running things. And there’s a pretty good, non-bureaucratic, non-entitlement reason. Tanya Street, property manager for Interstate Realty, the company that will oversee Belmont Heights Estates, explained. Bluntly.

“If we let everybody back in, then we’re just going to have what we had before,” she told a reporter. For good measure, Street added: “They don’t have to be brain surgeons, they just have to have a little bit of desire to make their lives better and stick to it.”

As in some things you can’t subsidize.