After declaring for the second time in as many meetings that the Tampa City Council should not send a letter to the Cuban government acknowledging the fact that direct flights have resumed after a a near 50 year absence, Mike Suarez was blasted in the editorial pages of the St. Petersburg Times this weekend, as well as verbally slapped down by Patrick Manteiga in his weekly column in La Gaceta.
The Times wrote on Saturday that:
Suarez jumped the shark, protesting that the letter would constitute a political overture to the Communist government. "Our role as city council is not to make international policy," he thundered. But it is Suarez, not Mulhern, playing politics here.
In La Gaceta, Publisher and Editor Patrick Manteiga wrote,"It's embarrassing when the business community can't get simple support from local government because someone has to grandstand."
This article appears in Sep 15-21, 2011.