The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce

Two weeks ago over 50 members of the community went before the MPO to denounce the plan, and asked the agency not to include the TBX in the MPO’s Transportation Improvement Plan. The MPO approved it on a 13-1 vote.

Fewer than 10 people came out in support of the plan. One of them was Bob Rohrlack, the president/CEO of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. here

Florida GOP: Shawn Harrison

House Speaker Steve Crisafulli‘s decision to end the legislative session three days early 

“was a surprise to most members, including me, but on reflection, the right decision."

here

: The Tampa Accord

By a 5-0 vote, Tampa City Council on Thursday passed “The Tampa Accord.” (Any major agreement between the Cuban and U.S governments to be signed in Tampa.) The  resolution proposed by Councilwoman Yolie Capin offers the city to host any official agreement signings between the two neighboring countries. here

“It is only natural that Tampa be the location for formalizing the reestablishment of diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba, It has been well established that no city in the U.S. has stronger historic ties with Cuba than Tampa does.” Yolie Capin

Shocker In Tampa

DINO Bob Buckhorn attends and speaks at a Fight For 15 rally in Tampa here

We Want Alan Grayson

Progressives are clearly looking for a bold champion who will inspire and engage voters. 

We can’t afford to run former Republicans or corporate Democrats who consider themselves “centrists” but who are really “Republican lite.” If we do that, we lose.”

Neither Murphy nor Tallahassee area Rep. Gwen Graham fit the qualifications of what progressives are looking for in a candidate. here

Unethical Pam Bondi should be investigated, not relected

"It troubles me to say this, but quite frankly she’s the most unethical Attorney General in my lifetime," George Sheldon declared, reading from prepared notes in a third-floor office inside the Hillsborough County Teachers Association building in West Tampa. here

Endorsed by the Tampa Tribune

"I don't want to be the mayor of some white-bread Southern city,"

Tampa has historically always been a racially diverse city, and never more so than today. Latinos make up approximately 25 percent of the population in greater Hillsborough County, and blacks account for more than 15 percent. 

"When we're out competing for global business, the fact that our city was settled by Spanish, Cuban and Italian immigrants who came to Tampa for the cigar industry, makes us a lot more competitive because we look like the world, with all of its shades and ethnicities, we speak multiple languages as you do here in L.A. That's good." Bob Buckhorn

United We Dream Tampa Bay Crash Hillsborough County Democratic Party Meeting

Latino activists angry with President Obama for failing to halt the deportation of undocumented immigrants clashed with Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee. here

Hillsborough Democrats Want DWS Out

Chris Cano speaks out on her vote a few weeks ago regarding a measure to cut funds for Drug Enforcement Agency raids on medical marijuana operations, in which the South Florida Representative was one of the few Democrats in opposition (It passed on a 219-189 vote in the House). That was before she came out against Amendment 2, the medical marijuana initiative that raised the ire of one of its leading advocates, 

Orlando attorney John Morgan. here

Hillsborough County Corporate Welfare

$300,000

To ensure that two major film productions make their movies in the county.

The vote was unanimous, but the ringleaders were GOP

Ken Hagan who is backing "The Infiltrator"

and Al Higginbotham who is backing "Seven Hindustani"

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Rick Scott Touts New Obamacare Jobs In Tampa

We are blessed in Florida with mild winters, good Cuban food and spectacular, mind-bending politics that turns other states green with envy. Consider Wednesday's big economic story: A company called HealthPlan Services announced it would add 1,000 jobs in Tampa over the next five years. HealthPlan Services is adding people largely because of the new national health-care law pushed by President Barack Obama and fiercely opposed by most Republicans, including (at least initially) Scott. In fact, as the Tampa Bay Times' Steve Bousquet reminds us, Scott called the health-care law "the biggest job killer ever," last year in an interview with FOX News........more
Read what Mitch Perry has to say about it here

Tampeños Say No To Corporate Welfare

according to a survey they say tax dollars should go toward solving the homeless problem and improving transportation not building ball parks for MLB.  Don't listen to Mayor Bob and Ken Hagan, if Pam Iorio runs again Mayor Bob will be looking for a new job. And Hagan's political career is over. Read Mitch Perry's wonderful piece here 

Did They Really Say That?

St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Kathleen Ford told a black audience at the Bethel Community Baptist Church that she once made potato salad and served it in Campbell Park back in the 1990s. This was after she was asked what has she done for the poor residents in Midtown.....more
 Looks like she is after Ted Yoho's spot as Florida's Dumbest Politician. And while we are on the other side of the great pond,  Right Wing extraordinaire David McKalip calls local blogger Peter Schorsch a"political terrorist. At Pushing Rope,  Here is what Mitch Perry had to say.

Kevin Beckner Is Making Progress

The Tampa politician brings some much-needed sanity to the Hillsborough County Commission. Beckner at a victory party celebrating the repeal of Hillsborough gay pride ban at Hamburger Mary’s in Ybor City.

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Democrat Jamie Grant

 Nearly made the professor gag.
“We’re not speeding up the death penalty. We’re just slowing down fraud. We’re just simply saying you can’t abuse rules of civil procedure in the appellate process.”
Stephen Harper a professor at Florida International University’s College of Law, nearly gags when he’s read Grant’s quote. “All litigation is legitimate litigation if somebody’s life is at stake,” he responds. Harper worked for nearly three decades inside the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office. He says if a state has a death penalty system it’s imperative that there be a “significant amount” of post-conviction remedies available, because it’s “very complicated stuff.”
here
Tell Gov. Scott to veto HB 7083 here

It's Miller Time

Hillsborough Commissioner Les Miller’s Redistricting Plan 
could result in the county’s first Latino representative. The plan will call for substituting one at-large commission seat, which is voted on by everyone in the county, with a new single-member district, which would be chosen only by residents of a specific area. That new district would be designed so that a Hispanic could run in it and win.

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“The key to provide for equitable representation is to move away from county-wide districts and have seven single-member districts, where each neighborhood is represented by a commissioner, rather than these million-dollar races that put in so much special interest money that it really becomes prohibitive for someone from a socio-economic area to be able to win countywide,” says Chris Cano, vice chair for the Hillsborough County Democratic Hispanic Caucus and treasurer for the Hillsborough Hispanic Coalition.
Great Job Mr. Miller

Higginbotham, Hagan, Murman, and Crist

The goal, is for Hillsborough County to “stop embarrassing us, and embarrassing itself.
“To stop a bully is really easy. But silence to a bully is encouragement. And right now there are too many people who feel the way we do, who are very silently shaking their head at the County Commission.

And we need them to be vocal and visible.”
Those were the words of Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, speaking at a town hall meeting in Ybor on Tuesday night. The meeting was a response to the controversial 4-3 vote last month by the Hillsborough County Commission, rejecting creation of a domestic partner registry.

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Tampa To Become Gateway To Cuba

In some of her most extensive public comments about Cuba, Tampa area Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor says it's an "exciting time" on the Communist island in regards to some of the modest free-market reforms recently enacted under President Raoul Castro, and she says Tampa can become the gateway to Cuba, but emphasized reforms must continue to happen there.
here

Senator Bob Graham in Ybor City

Tuesday, June 21 · 4:30pm - 6:00pm
Creative Loafing in Ybor City
info

Jacksonville Voters Put Tampa To Shame

The big news out of a Jacksonville this morning is that it's very possible a black Democrat will win the mayor's race, though the race is officially too close to call. But more interesting to this reporter from a Tampa-centric aspect is the voter participation. The turnout, according to the Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland, was 36.81 percent. In Tampa last March in the race between Rose Ferlita and Bob Buckhorn, it was a paltry 22.3 percent.
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Update: Congratulations to Mr. Brown