Curtis Stokes is determined to become the next city councilman in his race against Mike Suarez in Tampa's District One City Council race, and this morning went on the offensive, questioning Suarez' leadership abilities by attempting to blame him for an issue that occurred when Suarez served as Chairman of the Hillsborough Democratic Executive Committee( HCDEC) in  2007, a charge that Suarez later dismissed as a "desperate" move by Stokes.

The attack came during a taping of a League of Women Voters debate between the two candidates who are facing each other on March 22. The primary election between the two was the closest of any City Council race last Tuesday night, with Suarez taking 30% of the vote, and Stokes 26%.

During the middle of the 30-minute taping (which will air on the City of Tampa Television's channel the next three Saturday nights at 9 p.m., as well as Monday mornings at 8 a.m. and Wednesdays at 1 p.m. until March 22), the candidates were allowed to ask each other questions. Stokes took the opportunity to reference the fact that in December 2007, the Hillsborough County Democratic Party's treasurer, Tom Squires, admitted that he had used an ATM card to withdraw $1,200 from the party's bank account in October and November.  He ultimately paid the money back and resigned, but then changed his mind.  Party by-laws prevented Suarez from firing him, so Suarez ultimately quit as party chairman.  Stokes said the incident reflected poorly on Suarez' leadership abilities, telling CL after the debate, "As a leader of an organization, we're responsible for everything that happens. If I'm on City Council and a janitor steals a paper clip out of a desk drawer, we're responsible for that. And when Mike was chairman of the HCDEC, money was stolen. And he left and the treasurer stayed. To me that's a serious leadership gap. And we don't need leaders like that with that lack of credibility and that lack of controls over what goes on."

Suarez responded during the taping that he was not allowed to fire Squires, and later told CL that he decided to leave as party chair because he didn't want to serve with someone who flouted the rules concerning party money, something he told the press when the incident occurred three years ago.

Suarez told CL today, "He (Stokes) wants to use you as a tool to get this out in the press, because he's not going to have the resources to really compete in the runoff, and I think he sees that, and I think it's a desperate move on his part."

This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2011.