Like many of our St. Petersburg-based readers, I observed last night's mayoral debate at the Palladium. Who won? All three candidates had their moments — good and bad — but I would like to revisit what happened at the end, when moderators Al Reshel and Adam Smith allowed the candidates to fire a question at one of their opponents.
When it came time for Kathleen Ford to pose a query, she called on Rick Kriseman. Apparently, back in the day, Kriseman and Bill Foster circulated a Krispy Kreme calendar, which featured large women, around City Hall. Ford asked Kriseman what lessons he and Foster learned from the incident.
Although the situation occurred in the last decade when I was in town, I must admit I never heard about it — and surely there were others in the audience, or those watching at home on Bay News 9, who Googled it and came up with Cristina Silva's original piece in the Times, which she wrote during the last campaign between Foster and Ford.
Kriseman seemed dumbfounded to have to answer the question, saying he couldn't believe of all the things going on in this campaign Ford would resort to bringing up that golden oldie.
But I suppose the Ford camp thought it was worth it, as it compelled people like myself to ask, "What was the Krispy Kreme incident?" and frankly, no one comes out of that exchange looking very good.
The fallout was that members of the council ultimately had to get sensitivity training. What does that have to do with who should be the next mayor of St. Pete? Well, some people say that character matters. The question today for those who care might be, who (if anyone) comes out looking worse? The fact that this incident happened (years ago), or that Ford brought it up?
Moving on. In Tampa, Police Chief Jane Castor is having a moment, and it isn't a good one. Yesterday, the chief announced that she named a team of professionals — both in and outside her department — to review the DUI arrests made by Ray Fernandez and his partner. Fernandez has been part of (at least) two controversial arrests, including the setup of Tampa attorney Phillip Campbell.
Congresswoman Kathy Castor went off on NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden yesterday. Actually, I don't think she thinks he's a whistleblower.
Castor was also out in the field this week, touting comprehensive immigration reform with a group of extremely accomplished local business people, all of whom happen to be immigrants who made something of themselves after becoming part of the American dream.
And here's our review of a less covered St. Pete mayoral debate this past Monday night.