Car troubles prevented me from attending Wednesday's Tiger Bay Debate in St. Petersburg between mayoral candidates Bill Foster and Rick Kriseman (Kathleen Ford was a no-show), but thanks to a video feed from the Tampa Bay Times website, I was able to catch the last few moments of the forum after I got my tires mounted and realigned.
I tuned in right when Pinellas County school board member Linda Lerner asked Mayor Foster about the city's relationship with local developer and music impresario Bill Edwards, who has become a sort of patron saint to the city in recent years with his private investments in a number of city projects, including trying to redevelop the moribund BayWalk shopping complex downtown.
Last month the Federal Trade Commission placed a $7.5 million fine on the Edwards-owned Mortgage Investors Corp,, the largest ever for a violation of the "Do Not Call" telemarketing rule. Mortgage Investors Corp. is one of the country's biggest refinancers of vets' home loans.
