With Florida's Atlantic coast facing Hurricane Matthew's wrath, even on the Gulf Coast it seemed weird to be talking about partisan squabbles.
Maybe that's why former Governor Charlie Crist, a Democrat running for the U.S. House District 13 seat against Republican incumbent David Jolly, kept it relatively low-key Thursday at a Suncoast Tiger Bay Club forum.
Sure, there were some memorable moments, like when Jolly explained why he crashed Crist's announcement last year (even though Jolly wasn't running for reelection at that point — thanks, Marco Rubio): “I don't believe Charlie Crist and I don't trust Charlie.” Or when asked by St. Pete Councilman-turned-Dem House candidate Wengay Newton to rate their respective parties' presidential nominee, Crist gave Secretary Hillary Clinton a nine while Jolly declined to rate GOP nominee Donald Trump while simultaneously rejecting Clinton.
Recurring themes included infrastructure, healthcare and campaign finance reform.
One of the tougher questions came from Susan McGrath, head of the Pinellas County Democratic Executive Committee as well as the Pinellas Stonewall Democrats. She asked Jolly about his having been a registered lobbyist and whether he regrets having (allegedly) lobbied for Social Security privatization and offshore drilling, something Jolly called "a false narrative," adding that he'd even voted against his own party on a measure that could have impacted Social Security.
The two also sparred over recent sewage dumps into Tampa Bay and other bodies of water.
At a debate a few weeks ago, Jolly said he didn't seek federal help for St. Pete because Mayor Rick Kriseman (a Democrat) hadn't asked for it and it wasn't in his purview anyhow, essentially handing Crist an opportunity to ask him if he thinks he needs an invitation to serve.
The theatrics weren't exactly dialed up on Thursday, but the two managed an exchange over the dynamics of the highly politicized controversy.
“We need to have an advocate from this district, from this county, that understands that when sewage is pouring into, over 200 million gallons of it, we better speak up and get something done," Crist said. "Now, I am glad that David has come around to that position, and he has requested the EPA to do so. But frankly as a constituent I was disappointed that I had to remind him of it during our last debate, and that's what brought him to do it.”
Jolly shot back, reminding Crist that the "action" he subsequently took was to ask the EPA to investigate the city's actions, including those of Mayor Rick Kriseman, an ally of Crist.
"There is a role for the federal… EPA to investigate Clean Water violations that we saw here in the City of St. Petersburg as the result of the mismanagement of the city, which is why I asked for an investigation," said Jolly. "There are clean water standards that need to be faithfully abided by. And I believe that as the result of a very courageous whistleblower, we will determine the mismanagement was not a result of the U.S. Congress, which has nothing to do with the sewer system, but as a result of the mismanagement of city leadership that Charlie continues to stand by."
The forum came the same day as results of a poll showing Crist with a comfortable lead over Jolly. The poll, commissioned by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, an entity trying to help Crist get elected to the seat, suggested Crist is leading Jolly 50—39 percent among the district's voters.
Later in the afternoon, a bizarre development broke in Crist's favor, sort of.
Beverly Young, widow of longtime Congressman Bill Young (Jolly's Republican predecessor/former boss, who died in 2013) posted to social media a photo of a ballot with the oval next to Crist's name filled in. Since her husband's death, Young has been a friend to neither candidate, first announcing to the media that Crist was not invited to the wake/funeral, then condemning Jolly for laying off her husband's longtime staffers after he took office.
This article appears in Oct 6-13, 2016.