You might not have heard, but St. Pete's having a primary this month.
Most observers say they'd be surprised if turnout is north of 10 percent. Nevertheless, three men of differing abilities, generations and backgrounds are going door to door in District 1 (representing the city's western edge), hoping to be one of the two candidates vying for the district's City Council seat in November. (The other Council races have already been set, with incumbents Bill Dudley, Steve Kornell and Wengay Newton each facing a challenger.)
Even if the majority of St. Pete voters aren't aware of them, the three men on the Aug. 30 ballot already know their competition: They live within just a few blocks of one another in the Holiday Park area of St. Pete.
Here's an introduction to all three.
Josh Shulman
Shulman is the youngest, greenest candidate in the race; his candor is one of his most refreshing qualities. The 35-year-old financial planner was born in El Paso and raised in the Northeast, first New Jersey and then Philadelphia. He moved to Pinellas County in 1998, and has been a St. Pete resident since 2004.
Not as well-known or well-connected as his opponents, Shulman thinks his energy level gives him the edge. He also takes pride in his ability to listen and learn from citizens and weigh their varying perspectives.
But get him talking about an issue that he feels strongly about, such as the fate of the St. Pete Pier, and his feelings about the voters can get a little complicated. Aware of the fact that a certain subset of the electorate is not happy with the Bill Foster-led plan to raze the current structure, he says a part of him wouldn't mind the issue going before voters in a referendum. "As an American, I want it to go to referendum. I want people to have a say." But a few moments later he says that should be the case only if the voters are well-informed and have taken time to understand the issue in full, adding that it bothers him that some citizens vote based solely on emotion, and don't take the time or care to learn about an issue.
Asked about the Bill Foster era vs. Rick Baker's Seamless City regime, he says Foster works hard, but Baker was more of a visionary.
"You know, if it were the other way around, if Bill Foster was mayor over the last eight years, we probably wouldn't have grown," he says of the current mayor's more laid-back style. But in trying to praise Foster now, he takes a shot at his predecessor: "If Mayor Baker was mayor now, I think I'd be terrified," he says without elaborating.
He ends his thoughts on the two by saying, "I feel that Mayor Foster is just too much into just the operation of government, and not the potential of the city."
That sentiment is not exclusive to Shulman. Activist Darden Rice says Foster likes to lead as if "he's a likable small-town mayor in a homogenous city. This approach has left citizens to fill in the blanks on what the overall plan and vision is for the city," which she says most certainly doesn't consider itself homogeneous, static or small-town.
When it comes to the question of what to do about Tropicana Field and its tenants, the Tampa Bay Rays, Shulman says his financial planning background requires him to take a long-view perspective on the Rays' agreement with the city. He says he's disappointed the Rays haven't accepted Mayor Foster's offer to sit down and talk about options (though those options are limited, as the mayor has refused to allow the Rays to look for a new stadium site outside of Pinellas County).
And he says he backs the ABC Commission report that says that a mid-county location (read: the Gateway) would probably be ideal for a new stadium.
As a first-time candidate, Shulman says he doesn't have a problem per se in asking for campaign contributions, but admits his lack of name recognition makes it a bit problematic. But he says that people have told him if he survives the August 30 primary, they'll begin to dish out money for him.
Bob Kersteen
After speaking with Shulman at a Panera Bread off of Ulmerton Road, we headed southwest, where we met 73-year-old Bob Kersteen and his campaign manager at another Panera, this one off of 66th Street.
To say there is a clash in style between the intense Shulman and the measured cadence of Kersteen — who in addition to his five years on Council (1995-2000) has also run and lost races for Council back in 1991 and 2007, as well as losing a race for the House to Democrat Charlie Justice in 2000 — would be an understatement.
Kersteen is emphasizing his alliance with Bill Foster — and his conservatism, which he says is simpatico with the mayor. "Bill is conservative and I would be complementary toward his direction," he says somewhat gruffly.
But some question whether wearing a conservative flag on your sleeve might be a little passé in 2011 in St. Pete. Former USF-St. Pete Political Science Professor Daryl Paulson says the demographics of the electorate have substantially shifted since Kersteen last served, "and the voters are likely to be less inclined to support someone who sells himself as an ideologue."
Among the documents he hands me is a list of current and former lawmakers and community leaders who support him, though the list is conspicuous by listing "Mayor______." Foster has not endorsed anyone in the race, but Kersteen says he believes the mayor will if and when he makes the runoff.
His platform is based around the idea that folks in the western part of the city are being shut out of what's going on downtown and the "fact that money doesn't flow this way."
When asked if he believes there's too much bureaucracy at City Hall, he says yes, but again references how he'll work with Foster on that initiative. "The mayor and I are going to have to work on that. We have a good relationship. There's an open line of communication there, and Bill will listen." He says that Foster saw the "valid points" in zero-based budgeting when he served on the council. "He calls it service budgeting."
But one policy position on which he does cross with the mayor is the Pier. Simply put, Kersteen is predicting the $50 million in tax increment financing earmarked to rebuild the iconic structure won't suffice. "When we come up with that realization, then that's a game changer," he says.
Kersteen also wants to end Pinellas County's contract with the private company Sunstar that is used to provide ambulance services; instead, he'd have the city's fire department and EMS personnel take over. Pinellas County administrator Robert La Sala is recommending an EMS fee increase of approximately 41 percent.
Charlie Gerdes
Ask this longtime St. Pete resident (who turns 56 next month) why he's cleaning up in fundraising in this sleepy campaign and he'll modestly reply it's because he's just "around," and has lots of friends and family. He does have six siblings in the area, and he seems to have engendered considerable good will in the community.
This marks the second time the commercial litigator is running for public office. In 2006, Gerdes lost badly to Rick Kriseman in a race for the heavily Democratic House district 53 seat in what everyone describes as a noncombative race. Once defeated, Gerdes cut a campaign check for his erstwhile opponent, and Kriseman returned the favor recently, endorsing him at a local fundraiser in early July. In a statement, Kriseman said, "His passion for people and policy complements his longtime involvement in our community."
In our interview, Gerdes seems the most polished of the three, and says one of the chief reasons he's running is because the public doesn't feel government is working for them. He stresses that, even though he needs to sell himself to the voters on his persona, "I'm not here to do Charlie Gerdes' agenda," saying he wants to reconnect disaffected voters back with City Hall.
That's his first response to the question about where he stands on the St. Pete Pier. Essentially he agrees with Bill Foster that the days of the inverted pyramid are over, and that it's time to make the structure work with the new dynamism in the rest of downtown.
But despite that sentiment, "If the voices of my constituency say we want the Pier to be more of a symbol of St. Pete's legacy, I'm going to honor their voices."
Among the frustrations that he says some of the citizens of District 1 have shared with him include absentee landlords and the quality of tenants in some apartment buildings, something he says he hadn't been aware of until he began campaigning. He says he's studying ordinances in New Port Richey regarding code enforcement laws.
Gerdes served as a member of a subcommittee on the ABC group that was commissioned to study options for a new ballpark for the Tampa Bay Rays. But after the report was produced, listing the best options as being outside of downtown St. Pete, the mayor and City Council shunned it, refusing to invite an ABC representative to present the report. Gerdes was "really disappointed at the total rejection," he says. He believes that outcome might have led to the absence of comity between Foster and Rays owner Stuart Sternberg. "It really disappoints me that this hardball stuff is going on."
Gerdes is a big baseball fan. He's coached the game and his sons play it. So he says, unlike some other folks, he wasn't that put off when the Rays and Mayor Baker unveiled a plan in late 2007 that would have residents vote on a rezoning of the waterfront that would have permitted the team to build a new ballpark on the site of Al Lang Field. Opponents blasted the council for their backdoor, secretive plans, but Gerdes says he believes there was a silent majority of people who would have at least liked the opportunity to vote on the proposal.
And he can't avoid the irony that, while the Rays have indicated they would like to play anywhere but in downtown St. Pete, that was their own idea in 2007-2008.
Gerdes. Kersteen. Shulman. Two will survive and live to run again in three months.
This article appears in Aug 4-10, 2011.