According to the Tribune, City Council member and Seminole Heights business owner (Rose Drugs) Rose Ferlita announced she is running for Kathy Castor's seat on the County Commission.
Kathy Castor is running for U.S. Representative Jim Davis seat. Jim Davis is running for Governor.
I believe Rose has a good chance of winning. Her citywide seat has allowed her to come in contact with many Tampa residents. District 1 is South Tampa, West Tampa and South Hillsborough County west of I-75. Rose lives in South Tampa. She is of long time Tampa hispanic descent and so should help her with the hispanic West Tampa residents. Her toughest area will be the rural residents of South Hills. County, but being a Republican should help there.
Her political consultant is heavyweight Adam Goodman. Mr. Goodman is a Tampa Media consultant and incidentally a long time friend of Congresswoman Katherine Harris. His clients have included New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Loot and New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman
Her opponents are Republican Gary Santti and Democrat Deborah Cope.
Gary Santti is the President of East Bay Engineering Inc. and as far as I can tell he has never run for office.
Deborah Cope previously ran for State House District 57 against Faye Culp and lost. She is the chair of the Tampa Bay Sierra Club.
Rose has been good to Seminole Heights. As a political leader she is one of the most accessible, as all you have to do is go to her drug store to talk to her.
I think she will have an interesting time on the County Commission. Her Republican background should help her to get along with the conservatives on the commission, but her life experiences and activism in an urban neighborhood will put her at cross purposes with them. She would not have supported the Storms intolerance stances.
I think Rose is going to handidly beat her opponents. She has good,well tested political skills. She also has good fundraising skills, having raised $113,000 in her bid for reelection in 2003, more than any of the other City Council Members in that election.
Of a side note is that Kevin White, City Council member District 5 (East Tampa and SE Seminole Heights) and Seminole Heights resident, is also running for the County Comission District 2 seat held by Thomas Scott. If Kevin were to win, it would mean 2 Seminole Heights friendly people on the commission. (See prior postings on the subject - Politics, Outing Thomas Scott, Election Poll )
And based on her Patriot Act vote, she doesn't care much about the Constitution. I worry that she will turn into a Bush bot, so we will suffer one in the White House, one in the governor's mansion, and our county commission will be stacked with them.
ReplyDeleteWhy isn't it good enough just to be a pharmacist for a while? Is she really a career politician at heart? We'll know what to expect in terms of her decision-making: whatever will get her elected the next time....and getting elected next time means she'll represent the money and the power, not the citizens.
David, you seem to like Ferlita. are you endorsing her? Do you think she would be as good for Hills. county as she has for Seminole Heights? I don't know much about the election and am wondering if you recommend I vote for Ferlita.
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful to see so many people intersted in serving. However, it would be great to have new blood with fresh ideas, and not "career politicians." This may lead to "common sense" prevailing in the decision making process. A rather interesting thought, eh?
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