During the Tampa City Council campaign this past winter there were numerous young, first time candidates who participated in the elections, in which all seven council seats were on the ballot.
One of those young candidates was Michael Ciftci, a 27-year-old who's only involvement in politics prior to the 2011 race had been his work involved locally in John MCain's campaign for president in 2008. Ciftci did poorly in his race for the District 3 Council seat, failing to make the run-off.
At one point in the campaign, Ciftci got into a verbal war with Tampa Republican political consultant Chris Ingram, with the Bay News 9 analyst writing a caustic take down of the candidate on his Irreverent View blog.
Ciftci took exception, and responded by releasing a statement calling the comments a "bizarre rant," before adding the blow that Ingram "seemed to agree with our positive vision for Tampa when he pitched me his political consulting services."
But the GOP political consultant said that never happened. And when Ciftci didn't take the comments back, he sued.
Monday afternoon on his blog, Ingram released Ciftci's statement, where he admits that he "misspoke" about that pitch.
This article appears in Sep 15-21, 2011.