In the event that Tampa's Mayor Bob Buckhorn decides to make a rumored gubernatorial run in 2018, the position of mayor would automatically be filled by the chair of the Tampa City Council.
With this in mind and after rumors of back room deals, political maneuverings and butt-kissing a la House of Cards, as Tampa Bay Times columnist Sue Carlton put it, the election of the City of Tampa Council Chair had all the makings of a real humdinger of a match early Thursday morning.
Current Chair Frank Reddick has been known to clash with Buckhorn with little love lost between the two men. Reddick, whose district comprises Ybor City as well as east Tampa, an area with a predominantly African-American population, has stood up to city administration over its treatment of poor black residents, and was never concerned over what the political consequences may be.
As happens with the council chair position every year, his colleagues had to confirm or deny his incumbency. After a tumultuous serious of votes, the latter happened.
City Clerk Shirley Fox-Knowles, started the process with a simple question: "Is there a nomination for chair?"
Ding, ding, Round One.
Councilman Charlie Miranda nominated Councilman Mike Suarez. Councilwoman Yvonne Capin nominated Reddick. Councilwoman Lisa Montelione, who is leaving to run for the legislature this year, nominated Councilman Harry Cohen. After voting in the first round all three nominations received three votes, although it was unclear if Capin voted twice.
A majority of four votes for one candidate was needed to pass.
In true Hunger Games, fashion the jovial tone of round one was broken as round after round the same three candidates were nominated, though none received four votes.
By the time we reached Round Seven it was clear to all that unless someone broke ranks and changed their vote we could be here a very long time. The crowd was getting restless, a member of the public shouted "seriously?!" which prompted Reddick to remind the audience of the virtues of the democratic process no matter how long it takes.
The stalemate continued and by Round 14 tempers were starting to fray with council members trying to think of creative solutions such as drawing names from a hat or nominating new candidates, to no avail.
The contentious issue of 'rotating chairs' was brought up by Miranda.
"I have nothing against Mr Reddick," Miranda, himself a former Council Chair, said. "And I have nothing against Mr Cohen. My expression of fact and feelings are, and if my memory serves me correct, its not about me personally or anything else. It's about memories and what this council wanted to attain a year or so back."
Reddick, who bested Miranda last year in the vote for council chair to the surprise of many, said it was strange that someone who never supported the idea of rotating is now suddenly all about it.
"My first four years on this council I served under one chair, and that's Mr. Miranda," he said. "I put up the issue about rotating [chairs] and this council voted it down. And now to come here today and use that as a justification why we don't want to move forward is basically a disservice to everyone on this council. Because we had an opportunity to vote for the rotation and they turned it down."
After discussions with the City Attorney it was decided to move ahead with electing the down-rank officers as a way to perhaps break the deadlock and at the very least provide the council with a vice-chair, thereby enabling the meeting to move forward.
Miranda was nominated but declined the nomination, Cohen was nominated and Montelione nominated herself. Cohen received a majority of the votes and was duly elected to the post.
This now precluded Cohen from becoming chair so back it went.
With the nominations closed in Round 16, Suarez and Reddick were nominated, with Suarez receiving the majority of votes and was thus elected chair.
"I know this was a lot more work than we have done in the past for chair," he said. "I appreciate the support that I've gotten. First time I've ever been nominated for chairman and I appreciate what Mr. Reddick and Mr. Cohen have said. Mr Reddick has served well as a chair as did our previours chair Mr. Miranda and thank you all very much and I think that we'll, let's put this behind us and let's go forward with the meeting and do the business of the people."
Finally, the meeting moved forward and after a few back slaps from prominent local figures we were on to public comment. Most came from members of the African-American community who were disappointed in the vote and saw the vote as purely political and a way to silence Reddick.
Many saw it as a snub to Tampa's African-Americans, who have been targeted unfairly by police for "biking while black," among other things, and have experienced disproportionately more poverty. Reddick himself appeared visibly disappointed, his body language and tone sombre from this point on.
This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2016.