Talk to folks who follow local politics in St. Petersburg, and you're told the story is the lack of intensity leading up to the races for the three competitive City Council seats on November 8.
But then you recall that was the same story in Tampa this past winter — when there was the added bonus of a competitive mayoral election to stoke the voters' interest. So what is it with the Bay area and local elections? Are people obsessed with the GOP presidential race? Too down and out financially to care about their local government?
We don't know the answer to that question, but here's a rundown of the issues and candidates, all of which warrant voters' attention.
District 7: Wengay Newton vs. Gershom Faulkner
Perhaps the most competitive race on the ballot is for the Midtown representative, a rematch of the 2007 contest.
The challenger is Gershom Faulkner, 40. He possesses a smooth, almost mellow presence, and has mega connections in Tallahassee and elsewhere (largely obtained from his work as chief of staff to former St. Pete-based state representative Frank Peterman and as outreach director for Congresswoman Kathy Castor). Four years ago he was considered the favorite for the open seat against Wengay Newton, but the 48-year-old Newton essentially outworked him and was the surprise victor.
Now Newton is considered the favorite, though not by some in the local establishment. Which is fine with him. Ask him about council decisions for which he was the lone vote in opposition, and he'll proudly discuss each and every one.
Take the issue of the St. Pete Pier. Newton would prefer that the citizenry get the opportunity to weigh in on whether the iconic structure should be razed or just given a modest restructuring. (The latter's not going to happen, though a BayNews9 St. Pete Times poll taken last January indicated the public was divided on the issue.)
Newton says he's hardly embarrassed to be a lone voice on the issue, comparing the use of taxpayer funds to the bonds that helped build Tropicana Field. He says if there is a referendum and the public votes to raze the Pier, "I'll drive the bulldozers."
Looking back at his unsuccessful run four years ago, Gershom Faulkner confesses to having depended too much on others to get his message out, but says this year's effort is more grass-roots. But is it any more effective? In endorsing his opponent, the St. Petersburg Times wrote that Faulkner's performance on the campaign trail has been "lackluster," and a recent candidate forum provided an example: like a man with a mantra, he repeatedly said he wanted to help boost small businesses, without giving any specifics on how. Over the telephone, he does get more specific, talking about pairing new business owners with mentors.
Faulkner has also had to do some damage control with the LGBT community. Four years ago, when asked if he would attend the St. Pete Pride Festival, he said no, that he could not support "the gay lifestyle" because of his religious beliefs. According to Rick Boylan of Stonewall Democrats, Gershom said at the time that his views on gays weren't really that relevant anyway, since he was just running for City Council.
When Boylan is asked how he would characterize Faulkner today, he diplomatically responds that the candidate is "evolving on LGBT issues."
Faulkner downplays the controversy, saying that he does believe that "all citizens deserve equal rights," and that some of his remarks were exaggerated. But he does admit, "There were some things that I presented that I definitely learned from," and adds that he is continuing to learn from meeting with LGBT leaders in the community.
On the campaign trail, Faulkner has hammered Newton for being the odd man out on the council with those 7-1 votes, claiming that the discrepancy shows how ineffective he's been on the board.
Mention that to Newton, though, and the response is volcanic.
"Mr. Faulkner has been MIA for four years — M.I.A. Google his name to see anything he's done for the last four years, other than get arrested and get sued. But to pop up now and say all I do is vote no, that's a pretty good platform," Newton said, sarcastically.
Newton was referring to the fact that Faulkner was once sued for not paying his rent, and was arrested for driving with a suspended driver's license and writing a bad check, issues that came out in the 2007 race but have not received much mention this time around.
Other members of the establishment have criticized Newton. In September, Times columnist Bill Maxwell chastised the councilman for being indifferent in the wake of a violent act committed near Choice Food Store on Fifth Avenue S., which occurred after police had been called well over 100 times in the last year on nuisance-related matters.
In the piece, Maxwell wrote that Newton "lacks a sense of social capital." Newton responds, "If he had done his homework… he would have found out that we have been proactive," and says people came up to him blasting Maxwell. Newton went on to criticize the Times coverage, saying the paper uses a "horrific" picture of him.
"He's saying I should use my office to shut this business down? If you've got a law-abiding operating business, why should I come and shut you down? Hell, you're providing jobs and economic impact to that area."
District 3: Bill Dudley vs. Brent Hatley
A most interesting race is taking place here — or should we say the incumbent has drawn a very interesting opponent.
Bill Dudley, 67, is a retired teacher and coach at Northeast High School who mostly votes the status quo at City Hall. One of those votes included buying into the idea that the city should vacate the sidewalk adjoining Baywalk. You might recall that the former owners of the virtually defunct shopping complex complained that they couldn't find anybody who wanted to do business there because of the weekly anti-war protests held there on Saturday nights. A majority of the council, including Dudley, opted to give the owners the sidewalk, all under the guise of helping spur economic development.
He does have an original concept regarding the Rays and Tropicana Field. He suggests that the city raze the Trop and build a new park on the current site along with a convention center and a hotel, which he says would generate a "tremendous amount of revenue."
But the wild card in the race is Brent Hatley, 40, executive producer of Bubba The Love Sponge's nationally syndicated morning radio program. Hatley also happens to be a former student of Dudley and his wife, and there appears to be nothing but love between the two men when they debate, as they did at Lakewood High School in South St. Pete earlier this month. Instead of a handshake after sharing the stage, the two embraced, and then later sat together with their wives watching the other candidates.
Hatley says he has nothing personal against Dudley, but he thought it was wrong that his former driver's ed teacher was running unopposed. He calls himself a "Center-Libertarian," and is passionate on some issues, such as red-light cameras (a bone of contention in each of the three City Council races), which he strongly opposes.
He says that he would support building an energy-efficient, solar-powered ballpark, and says that White House officials have told him federal grant money could be used for such a project. When asked whom he has spoken with at the White House, he mentions press aide Josh Earnest. Hatley says he and Bubba are big fans of the Obama administration.
Hatley doesn't back away from Bubba's savaging of former top administrator and Police Chief Goliath Davis for his failure to attend the funerals of slain city police officers earlier this year.
"I was very disappointed with Goliath Davis," he says in a phone conversation. "I thought he should have been [at the funerals] and him not going there was kind of weird."
Although considered a long shot by the experts, Hatley smashed Dudley in a vote at the Mount Zion forum. But even though Hatley is fresh and full of ideas, he avoids making comparisons between himself and Dudley, who at a recent Tiger Bay forum did make such a distinction, saying his experience trumps his much younger opponent.
District 1: Charlie Gerdes vs. Bob Kersteen
Although officially nonpartisan, this race for the seat that represents the western edge of the city is easily the most
ideological, with Democrat Charlie Gerdes, 55, opposing Republican Bob Kersteen, 75.
Gerdes, an attorney, is the prohibitive favorite. He took 52 percent of the votes in a three-way primary in late August, compared to Kersteen's very distant 28 percent, with third place finisher Josh Shulman — the most impressive of the candidates — tallying 22 percent.
The only thing that might stop Gerdes is himself. Earlier this month, the Times' Michael Van Sickler reported that the attorney failed to pay $22,493 in federal income tax in 2009.
On the eve of that story's publication, Gerdes channeled Jimmy Carter by telling a campaign forum audience that he would "always be honest with you, whether it's going to be good for me or not."
Both candidates support building a new headquarters for the St. Pete Police. Kersteen supports the controversial policy of high-speed chases, whereas Gerdes says he "trusts" the police to make the right call on when to make that decision. "If it's 2:30 in the morning and there's not cars in the street, fine. If it's 5:00 and you're on 34th Street, it's probably smart not to continue the chase."
Gerdes was also the candidate at a recent forum who said he could support a tax increase – but only if public safety would be cut.
"I think it would be the responsible thing to consider raising revenue in some way to make sure that service does not suffer," he said at a League of Women Voters forum, referring to any possible cuts to the police department.
District 5: Steve Kornell vs. New Election
It was only in the waning hour of the qualifying deadline for candidates this summer that District 5 incumbent Steve Kornell learned that he would have an opponent, businessman Bill Protz. But Protz has since left the race, so voters face a choice between the Pinellas County school social worker and "New Election."
Kornell, 45, has impressed many in his two years on the board, and he has been an activist on a couple of issues, such as getting the Council last month to vote to ban city government from using electronic devices manufactured with minerals that fuel deadly conflicts in the Congo.
Kornell has also been a strong advocate against illegal guns, a big issue in the city following the deaths of three of St. Petersburg's police officers earlier this year.
"I don't think St. Pete has any more of a problem than other cities, but I think we have a problem," Kornell says, citing Police Chief Chuck Harmon's comment that one illegal gun per day comes off the streets. But what really irks him is the shutdown of dialogue on the provocative topic.
"That was a huge disappointment for me that we didn't even vote to send it to a committee for a discussion," he says.
Kornell is also passionate about partnering with St. Pete College and trying to make the city a hub for the music industry. He hopes to work on the project seriously after the election, and aspires to bring something like a South by Southwest Festival to town.
This article appears in Oct 27 – Nov 2, 2011.