This is the second year in a row that the Mayor has won this award, so it seemed a good moment to ask: Mayor, what makes you such a good politician? ¨I´m not comfortable really answering that,¨ she replied in politic fashion. ¨I just can´t imagine that any answer would come out right.¨ She´s got a point there. But when pressed, she was willing to list some accomplishments: ¨I´m proud of what police have done in keeping drugs off the street. I´m very, very proud of our commitment to East Tampa — it´s a wonderful part of our community that hadn´t had any development of any sort for decades.¨ And she´s proud of, well, cleaning house: ¨I´ve made more staffing changes than any mayor in modern history.¨ Maybe that´s why she keeps getting the votes of WP readers: They love it when da bums get thrown out.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.