The first-ever meeting of the nonpartisan political organization happened on Sept. 3, 1982, with the St. Petersburg Times reporting that the group’s guest, then-comptroller candidate Ralph Haben, took jabs at his opponent over the troubled Metropolitan Bank of Tampa. Fittingly, members of the club (125 at the time) didn’t let Haben off easy, and asked him about potential conflicts of interest related to some of Haben’s acquaintances.
That was 40 years ago, when Hillsborough County Commissioner Charlie Bean (who famously confessed to taking bribes) was Tampa Tiger Bay president, and while the political landscape has only grown more strange, the conversation at Tampa Tiger Bay is still spicy as ever (look no further than October when Tampa Bay Young Republicans President Brittany Lakhani dominated messaging in a conversation alongside Hillsborough County Young Democrats President Michael Womack).
On Friday, to celebrate the club’s 40th anniversary, Tampa Tiger Bay welcomes Pulitzer-winning columnist Daniel Ruth as special guest, then dishes out birthday cake, coffee mugs and the club’s coveted Garfield award.
This article appears in Dec 15-21, 2022.