It's the holiday season, always a busy time of year. It's also prime time for candidates running for public office in Tampa to raise funds and get their name better known in the city. Tonight, three such candidates are doing so, holding campaign events.
Beginning at 5 p.m. Mary Mulhern will hold her first formal event for her re-election campaign in Tampa's city-wide District 2 race at Pane Rustica.
A few miles to the east, District 5 candidate Carrie West holds his first fundraiser of his nascent campaign, at Hamburger Mary's in Centro Ybor. And a few blocks to the west in the historic entertainment district, Jason Wilson, the 32-year-old emergency room doctor at Tampa General Hospital, will also be holding a campaign event.
Meanwhile, District 3 candidate Michael Ciftci will be leaving the campaign trail immediately after the holidays. Ciftci, the founder of the nonprofit United for a Sustainable America, which advocates environmentally friendly business initiatives, will be departing with other members of his group for a trip to Haiti from January 2-7.
The group has put together several Green Energy Summits in Tampa and across the country, but the Haiti trip is a bit of a different event for his organization,which they are calling the New Beginnings for Haiti:
The 27-year-old Ciftci is one of the new batch of young City Council candidates. He's been involved in political campaigns previously, working on the John McCain effort in Florida back in 2008.
This article appears in Dec 9-15, 2010.