The Political Whore

Been covering politics or in it for nigh on to 25 years in Florida and I have never seen anything like last night’s candidate forum at the Metropolitan Community Church in Tampa. Don Kruse, who is running in the primary against anti-gay rights Commissioner Brian Blair, showed up to speak to a storm-dwindled audience of about 35 people at the event co-sponsored by Equality Florida.

A few days ago I asked in a blog post, “What does somebody have to do to lose newspaper endorsements to Blair?” Last night I might have received my answer.

So let me set this up: I was a panelist at the forum, along with EF Executive Director Nadine Smith and moderator Chris Krimitsos of The Bleepin’ Truth on public access. It was later in the evening that Kruse’s turn came, and he was solo on the stage, as Blair did not show up to the gay-friendly event.

So I asked the first question: Given Blair’s anti-gay record (voting against gay pride displays, criticizing the anti-bullying Day of Silence in public schools), where did Kruse stand on gay rights?

Kruse started in explaining that he wanted some enlightenment from the audience. “Educate me,” he said. Then he veered to the issue of hate crimes. Crimes are crimes, there are no distinctions of shades of right or wrong depending on the skin color or sexual orientation of the victims involved. “They are crimes against humanity,” he said.

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A fitting video of the arrival of Fay, a storm we in the CL Weathercenter 4000 find highly suspect. Stay dry, folks.

• A weakened Fay lands at Cape Romano as a minimal hurricane (at worst).
• The NOAA storm track predicts a hard left turn near the FL/GA border.
• Large swath of Florida under tornado a tornado warning (but not the Bay area).
• Hillsborough and Pinellas counties call off evacuations.

And in non-storm news:

• The choice is made.
  
• Tampa Bay’s water supply sure is leaky.
• College presidents rethink the drinking age.
• The Rays win again.

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Fully 40 percent of the locally experienced work force there over the age of 50, reports the Times media critic Eric Deggans:

In a memo to staffers this morning, St. Petersburg Times editor, CEO and [c]hairman Paul Tash tells staffers that strong response to the company’s early retirement incentives means “we can avoid the general layoffs I warned might be coming” when the voluntary retirement offer was closed.

Tash says 200 staffers across the company, 150 full time and 50 part time, accepted the enhanced retirement benefit, or 40 percent of all staff aged 50 and up with five years’ service or more.

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Today’s feature presentation: Baracky II. (Which somehow uses Rocky III as its inspiration, skipping Rocky II entirely.)

• The latest on Fay.
• Down goes Pakistan’s Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
• Who’s it gonna be for V.P.?
• The candidates give their opinion on how much income makes you “rich”? Obama: $250,000. McCain: $5 million.
• Obama rakes in $51 million in July.
• Did McCain rip off one of his prison camp anecdotes?
• R.I.P. Jerry Wexler.
• The Bucs beat down the Patties.

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Charles McKenzie is a Democrat trying to unseat brand-new state Rep. Darryl Rouson in District 55, including St. Pete south of Central and parts of Bradenton, Sarasota and Hillsborough, and logged three new endorsements today.

This from the campaign:

Three additional civil rights organizations have announced their support of Charles S. McKenzie, Jr. in the House District 55 race.  The Florida Chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW PAC), Equality Florida PAC and the Suncoast Stonewall Democrats have announced their support of McKenzie.  McKenzie was also endorsed by the Stonewall Democrats of Pinellas County a few weeks ago.  These endorsements come on the heels of two large newspaper endorsements this past week, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

In their recommendation of McKenzie, the Tampa Tribune praised McKenzie’s record of community activism and his service in defense of civil rights.   According to the Tampa Tribune recommendation, “McKenzie has an impressive civil rights resume.”

Upon hearing news of the endorsements, McKenzie said, “My life has been committed to protecting civil rights and rooting out discrimination wherever it exists.  I do not believe the law should ever discriminate against anyone and I will work to see that all people are treated fairly and with dignity and respect in the eyes of the law.”

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Cut Taxes Now, the anti-tax effort fronted by St. Pete neurosurgeon David McKalip, has issued a “Final Report” wrapping up its efforts to put tax-cutting referenda on the ballot. McKalip writes:

It is a bittersweet moment for me and for Cut Taxes Now.  In August of 2006, a small number of fed up taxpayers met in the City Council Chamber of St. Petersburg.  We quickly grew into a new grassroots organization that joined with others around the state to work for smaller government and lower taxes.  Today, it is time to close one chapter and begin a new one.  Cut Taxes Now is officially disbanded as an organization.  The www.CutTaxesNow.com website will remain open for a month or two so anyone who likes can copy the files and research freely and use in any way.  This it the last email from Cut Taxes Now.

Full text after the jump:

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Obama does a little social work, helping care for — and foster a sense of community in — a certain elderly gentleman. Have a good weekend everyone.

• Welcome back Cold War. We apparently missed you.
• Obama camp swings back hard at The Obama Nation author Jerome Corsi.
• Despite being less popular than a smallpox outbreak, President Bush can still rake in the cash.
• Cable companies turn to the McCain campaign to hand them full control of the Internet after the election.
• Peter Pan hauled off in cuffs!
• At Oakland, The Rays pull out a 7-6 win in the 12th.
• Donald Trump (!) comes to Ed McMahon’s rescue.
• Sorry kids, Harry Potter’s next big screen adventure has been bumped to 2009.

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It’s hit two blogs already, so I thought I would briefly mention our change at film critic as we will be using a CL staff film critic instead of freelancer Lance Goldenberg. We’re getting beat up pretty badly in The Feed and Scribe Life:

 Yes, sure, the paper is likely to cite sound “financial” reasons for this decision. But, really, THIS from a publication that has regularly (and rightfully) taken local daily newspapers to task for the same type of decisions? Hmmmm.

Are the short-term savings really going to trump what CL will lose, over the long haul, in terms of its credibility as a reliable, authoritative source for quality arts and entertainment reporting?

Isn’t A/E reporting one of CL’s strengths?

I’m waiting to speak to our higher-ups about the change from Lance to a CL staff reviewer and will get you that info once I can.

UPDATE: Here’s what editor David Warner shared with the staff late today:

Dear CL Staff:
As some of you know, Lance Goldenberg will no longer be our weekly movie critic come September.
The news has been greeted with alarm in some quarters (including the St. Pete Times’ media blog). The concern is understandable. Lance has been a reliably expert voice on film in Tampa Bay for many years, one with an engaging writing style and a clear love for the medium.
However, Creative Loafing must deal with the fiscal realities that are facing everyone in the newspaper business. We have to find ways to economize while still bringing high-quality coverage to our readers.
As it happens, our recent expansion into Chicago and Washington, D.C. has accordingly expanded our access to talented writers and editors. Among them is J.R. Jones, an AAN award-winning, nationally recognized critic who has been the chief a film reviewer for the Chicago Reader for 11 years since 2002 and the chief reviewer since February. Like Lance, he has a strong, distinctive voice and a deep knowledge of film. Unlike Lance, who was a freelance reviewer throughout his time here, J.R. is a full-time staffer at the Reader, which means his reviews are available to other CL papers either free of charge or at a substantial reduction in expense.
We expect that with J.R.’s reviews, plus reviews by other CL critics and writers in Atlanta, Charlotte and Washington, we will be able to review more rather than fewer movies than we were able to do with one freelance writer.
In addition, we remain fiercely committed to reviewing and reporting on the local film scene and the many film festivals Creative Loafing has always covered in depth. Staff knowledge and enthusiasm for film is deep; please assure any readers or advertisers that this enthusiasm will continue unchanged. We as a paper believe in the importance of a thriving film scene to Tampa Bay’s cultural life.
We’re sorry that the relationship with Lance is coming to an end. But we’re excited about the new and expanded possibilities that have opened up to us.

Thanks for your understanding.
David

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I was just looking at the daily stats on early voting from the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office and it appears that the shine has worn off of early voting.

In the first three days of early balloting in 2006, 5,491 people voted in Hillsborough. This year, the figure is  2,818. That is a drop of precisely 51.3 percent.

I’ve got a call in to the Supervisor’s office to see if they know why — beyond the fact that there aren’t many exciting races or fantastic candidates to vote for on this primary ballot.

UPDATE: Pinellas is low, as well. Just 386 early votes there so far.

FRIDAY UPDATE: Jennifer Marks at the Supervisor of Elections Office left me a voice mail just now, and she said a more accurate comparison would be the 2004 election, and that early voting totals are up over that year.

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Barack Obama continues to ratchet up the heat on John McCain’s economic record, with this ad running across FLA (I saw it this morning) and key battleground states:

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Let’s check in with our friends at Fox News. The first 2:30 of this clip are maddening, but then Alan Colmes (yeah, Colmes, really) flips the script on his conservative cohorts, leading to much stammering, yelling and Sean Hannity’s contention that McCain’s time as a POW gives him a free pass on marital infidelity.

• Only the French could negotiate a cease fire that allows one side to continue attacking.
• Who will the U.S. be backing, Russia or Georgia? The Russians would like to know.
• More Fox News: Bill Kristol says Colin Powell is going to endorse Barack Obama and speak at the convention. Powell immediately denies everything. It’s a