I didn’t know Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky well. My loss. But I thought our last conversation, however brief, was telling.   Last fall I was at a fundraiser at a neighbor’s – and Busansky, the big woman with the little-people constituency, was musing beyond campaign rhetoric and the unconscionable Buddy Johnson incumbency.    Busansky, [...]

Alas, Tampa’s All-American City Award shot fell short. Now on hold: all those marketing upgrades, such as changes to the city’s web site and around-town signage.   Tampa might have been victimized, ironically, by a home-field “disadvantage.” The other 31 cities had more logistical and budget challenges, which may have been over-compensated for by judges. [...]

Not unexpectedly, those out-of-district, Ken Hagan survey fliers have created a political flap. The fliers – “not produced at taxpayer expense” – were passed out by Hagan and staff to voters in Seminole Heights and South Tampa. North Hillsborough resident Hagan currently chairs the County Commission. Next year he’ll be running for a countywide commission [...]

Finally.   Enough of bending over backwards to be cultural contortionists. Enough of misplaced, colonial guilt and ethno-centrism paranoia. Enough of appeasement in our time.   Nicolas Sarkozy has declared the burqa, the face-covering, body-length Islamic shroud for women, formally unwelcome in France. It is, he underscored, a symbol of subservience and, as such, at [...]

It’s not Hernando’s hide-away any more. The times have apparently caught up.   The Brooksville City Council recently voted to approve an updated city dress code that, among other directives, requires employees to wear underwear and use deodorant. You read that right.   By way of explanation, Brooksville Mayor Joe Bernadini offered this rationale: “There [...]

At last week’s Tiger Bay Club of Tampa luncheon, Mayor Pam Iorio was notably adamant about three issues:   *She will go to the mattresses to sell light rail. *She won’t be visiting Cuba any time soon. *She won’t be publicly addressing her political future for a while.   If Iorio could choose her legacy, [...]

This much we know:   *Hillsborough County Administrator Pat Bean’s budget proposal includes a tax hike, the first one in 14 years. *Bean’s plan also proposes to slash the budget by some $140 million and eliminate hundreds of employees and as many as 1,000 positions. *Bean had given her top six deputies, each of whom [...]

Suffice it to say, anyone who writes for a newspaper is acutely aware of the challenging – OK, scary – times now upon us. And, yet, as I settle in with my Cuban coffee to savor my morning papers, I increasingly find myself doing as much wincing as reading. And it has nothing to do [...]

Good think-piece penned by Fred Karl, the former Florida Supreme Court Justice, in last Sunday’s Tampa Tribune. He made the point, and he would know better than most, that “There is nothing involved in being appointed to the court, or being enrobed as a member, that changes a person’s critical attributes or purges one’s mind.” [...]

Here’s a suggestion, but it would take media collusion. It would also require a modicum of good taste and a departure from pandering. It is: a complete moratorium on any more stories about the low lives lived by the Hogan/Bolleas. And apologies for having had to reference the aforementioned to make the point.