Last summer Bob Buckhorn made a prediction: Speaking to this reporter at a campaign fundraiser at Mise en Place when only Thomas Scott had officially declared himself a candidate in the race, the former aide to Mayor Sandy Freedman and two-term city councilman said that if Dick Greco got into the race (which was only a rumor at that point), he would receive lots of financial contributions, perhaps more than anyone else in the race. But some of those donors, Buckhorn believed, would not be scribbling in the bubble next to his name on the ballot come election time.
Whether there was a discrepancy between those who gave money to the former mayor and those who actually voted for him, the fact of the matter is that despite his considerable financial prowess and overpowering celebrity, 384 more people selected Buckhorn over Greco, and the four-term legendary Tampa icon is now just an interested observer for the March 22nd runoff.
Buckhorn now takes on Rose Ferlita, who received nearly 1,000 votes more than Buckhorn (25.9 percent of the total vote to Buckhorn's 23.5 percent) and proved for one night at least that among the four candidates who received substantial support, she was able to get more of her voters to the polls. (Only 22 percent of registered voters turned out for the election.)
Finishing a disappointing fourth was Ed Turanchik, who received broad support from Tampa's progressive community as well as some establishment quarters — none more traditional than the Tampa Tribune's editorial board, who wrote, "Turanchik's innovative ideas to energize the economy give him the edge."
Nobody was more stimulating to listen to at the myriad campaign forums that took place over the past six weeks, or more spontaneous (and even a bit goofy) than the former County Commissioner.
Speaking to CL at his election-night party at the Centre Club on Westshore before the final votes came in Tuesday night, the 55-year-old said, win or lose, he planned on being a major player in discussing public policy in Tampa. When asked if he thought the campaign process, which mostly consisted of public forums seen by only a small sector of the voting public, was the best way to elect a mayor, Turanchik said Tampa should mimic St. Petersburg and hold elections in November of an off year (in fact, St. Pete will vote for four different city council races this fall, and will conduct its next mayoral election in November of 2013). Tampa's election cycle, he said, was "very truncated."
Finishing fifth in the voting was Tampa City Council Chair Thomas Scott with 8.6 percent of the vote. With his term on the Council expiring at the end of this month, Scott for the first time in nearly 15 years will not have a job in local government. But he leaves the public arena with his reputation at a zenith in Tampa, as he ran a strong campaign and, as the sole African-American at the table, brought a dose of reality to sometimes airy discussions of race in Tampa in 2011.
In writing the political epitaph of Dick Greco, rightly or wrongly, race will be part of that narrative. His age was rarely discussed in public circles (much less so than John McCain's in 2008, though McCain is five years younger than Greco). But his description of a Tampa racial riot in the late 1960s as a "panty-raid," as well as a later stumbling attempt at a joke that, out of context, sounded as if he'd offer Thomas Scott the job of driver in his administration, showed voters that he was capable of slipping up in prime time in a way that the other candidates weren't. Nobody — certainly not Thomas Scott — ever took away that his remarks were intentionally racial. Yet the fact that he was forced to play defense in both cases showed that his political reflexes weren't up to the job.
Speaking to a stunned crowd at Higgins Hall at St. Lawrence Catholic Church Tuesday night, Greco sounded literally defeated when he held up his iconic sign with the orange hand behind black background and explained that what the sign "means tonight is, politically, goodbye."
Like Greco, Rose Ferlita has a powerful last name in Tampa circles, and the longtime pharmacist and former neighborhood civic association leader gave her a broad level of support before she ever entered into local politics 12 years ago.
She ran a strong, conservative, some would almost say bland mayoral campaign, eschewing the specifics that Turanchik and Buckhorn gave, instead playing the steady hand that allowed her to cultivate her support.
But her maddening lack of specifics is something that she and Buckhorn agree won't work in the runoff. After his speech to supporters at JJ's Cafe in Ybor, Buckhorn told CL, "Platitudes is not a plan for the future," adding, "We've been very specific what we plan to do. We've put it in writing, and I'm looking forward to hearing what Commissioner Ferlita has."
At her election night party at Timpano Chophouse & Martini Bar in Hyde Park, Ferlita owned up to that in part. "The issues were known, we all discussed them and I am here to tell you this is a new day, this is a new race and now it's just two people on the stage — everyone will know what Rose Ferlita's about."
And later she said, "Now we go forward with a plan. Our leadership, our commitment, our consistency, our experience; We know what the job has to be. Keyword, job. Jobs, jobs, jobs."
The question now is: Who will award the job of "mayor" to Ferlita or Buckhorn?
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2011.