Contrary to what was reported in La Gaceta today, Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern says that she is not running for the Tampa City Council District 4 seat currently held by fellow Democrat Harry Cohen — at least not at this moment.
In his column, "As We Heard It," La Gaceta editor Patrick Manteiga wrote that Mulhern had "told her closest supporters" that she would run against Cohen, and reported that it comes as a "complete surprise to her friends and especially Councilman Cohen."
But Mulhern says that's not completely accurate. She says that after the rumor began circulating over a week ago in City Hall about a direct challenge with the colleague that sits to her immediate left in Council meetings, she had lunch with him to float her ideal scenario — that she would run in Cohen's District 4 City Council seat next year, and Cohen could then run for her citywide District 2 race in 2015.
But Cohen wasn't and isn't interested. He tells CL that he likes representing the neighborhoods in South Tampa, and also has no desire to run against current Council Chairman Charlie Miranda, strongly rumored to be considering running for that District 2 seat himself next year.
Mulhern says she has had voters ask her to stay on Council, concerned that the city will lose her progressive voice on certain issues. Mulhern herself says she is concerned about that, and that while she believes Bob Buckhorn is doing a "great job" as mayor, she thinks it's important to have voices like hers to stand up to him from time to time. But she is term-limited out of her current seat next year, which means her only options is to run in District 4, where she resides.
Mulhern was a bit mystified how her contemplating running for another office became a full-on declaration that she was running, at least according to Manteiga, who never called her to confirm or deny the rumor with her.
Mulhern announced nearly two years ago that she would run for the Hillsborough County Commission District 7 countywide seat being vacated this year by Republican Mark Sharpe, where she was going to be challenged for the Democratic nomination against Hillsborough County School Board member April Griffin. But she got out of that race in January, announcing that her health prevented a countywide run (she has multiple sclerosis).
Mulhern says although she occasionally feels a little more run-down than before, her ailment has never really changed since she's been in public office beginning in 2007. But she says running in a countywide contest where she would need to raise a tremendous amount of money was simply too daunting a prospect for her at the time, and hence her withdrawal (Griffin dropped out of the contest last fall; Pat Kemp is now the Democratic Party nominee in that contest and faces Republican Al Higginbotham in November).
"My health isn't an issue," she says now. "It was an issue for that huge race."
This rumor was originally reported on by the Times' Rick Danielson eight days ago, and Cohen told CL today a variation on what he told the Times back then: "I hope that won't happen, because I think we have a collegial relationship on City Council, and that I don't give other people political advice about what they should or shouldn't do. But if she decides to do that, I think it's a democracy, and the voters will make the decision on who they want to represent them, but in the meantime, she's my colleague and I like her and I certainly wish her well."
Cohen says the La Gaceta article is accurate in describing his "complete surprise" upon hearing the rumor that Mulhern was contemplating a potential run against him, alluding to the fact that she had been previously quoted as saying that she would not challenge any of her city council colleagues in an upcoming election.
But he said he certainly didn't want to "fuel this fire," a sentiment that Mullhern is also maintaining. "I hope that cooler heads will prevail and that there will be a way for everybody to serve the community in their own way," he says.
(Update: An earlier version of this post suggested that Mulhern could run citywide, but in fact she cannot. Her only option is to run next year would be in District 4).
This article appears in Sep 4-10, 2014.