At anti-Scott rally in Tampa, a reminder of the fragile economy

Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern was the lone elected official to speak at the event. Pointing across the street to City Hall, she told the audience that there was a platform there available for them every Thursday during the Council's weekly meetings. "I need your help to continue to watch what we're doing over there."

The chief organizer of the event was the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, whose members offered free blue t-shirts that read "I make a difference every day." The HCTA's president, Jean Clemens, blasted Governor Scott for cutting billions of dollars in public education, while at the same time "he supported massively unfunded mandates for schools that led to thousands of lost jobs, and turmoil in classes from one end of the state to another." Clemens was skeptical about Scott's call now to increase education spending, insisting that it's "miles from where we need to be."

Although the crowd was more intimate than a similar rally held last March, one new element was the inclusion of members from Occupy Tampa. Two members of the group addressed the crowd, including Samantha Bowden, who in classic Occupy fashion eschewed the electronic microphone and called out "Mic check" twice before giving her speech in short sentences, which were repeated by the crowd.

Occupy was mentioned by several speakers, including the last one, Randy Pines, an organizer and political liaison with Teamsters Local 79. "The 99 percent movement has changed the conversation in this country," he said. "But it's not enough to change the conversation. ...if we don't take to the streets, we're done! If we don't make them uncomfortable, they will not stop!"

Other speakers included the Reverend Charles MacKenzie, from the Rainbow/Push Coalition, who said, "We want a big-tent state, not a pup tent."

Not all the criticism of Scott was policy-oriented. FCAN's Tim Heberlein even called out the governor for spending so much time discussing donuts in his State of the State address.

Heberlein also announced a unity event being held at Voice of Freedom Park on Saturday, January 14th at 4:30 p.m. as one of the next steps of the movement. That's the West Tampa park owned by Joe Redner that has recently become the new home of Occupy Tampa.