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Ex-mayor rejected for unity assembly
By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer PINELLAS PARK -- City council members last year spurned a chance to join the American Assembly, a gathering designed to plot future relations between the cities and the county. Council members changed their mind last week. They chose council member Sandra Bradbury and City Manager Jerry Mudd to represent them. They also chose former Mayor Cecil Bradbury as a citizen representative. Mudd suggested former Chamber of Commerce president Housh Ghovaee as the other citizen representative. The next day, members of the American Assembly welcomed Ghovaee, who neither lives nor has his business in Pinellas Park. Cecil Bradbury was not so lucky, the Assembly rejected him three times. The decision to exclude Cecil Bradbury was not personal, said Lance deHaven-Smith, a professor of public administration at Florida State University. DeHaven-Smith is one of the facilitators for the assembly. Bradbury's rejection, said deHaven-Smith, has its roots in the politics of the assembly, whose 150 members will meet as a whole in Clearwater on May 16-18. The assembly is the brainchild of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who formed the first one in 1950, to bring people of diverse backgrounds together to discuss important questions. Last year, county officials decided such a group would benefit Pinellas as it faced issues ranging from annexation to the delivery of such services as fire protection. The county and cities were asked to join and suggest elected, staff, community and business members. Pinellas Park was the only city that refused to participate. As Pinellas Park sat out, a steering committee was formed. The goal of the committee was to enunciate the goals the entire assembly would work on. The steering committee was also instructed to choose who would serve on the American Assembly itself. One issue that immediately popped up and threatened to derail the process was the mistrust between representatives of cities and unincorporated areas, deHaven-Smith said. Representatives from the unincorporated area did not want committees stacked so that the cities would have full sway over decisions. Likewise, the city representatives did not want the county folk to have too much power. "The process of getting to the assembly has been perilous at times," deHaven-Smith said. "The various sides have all been fearful that the process would be hijacked by one interest or another." So a delicate balance was struck when it came to representation. "It was a sensitive issue," deHaven-Smith said. "We had worked out this balance carefully." Then, the night before the final steering committee meeting, Pinellas Park decided to participate. And the assembly allowed Mudd, Sandra Bradbury and Ghovaee to serve. Mudd and Bradbury made the cut because they clearly qualified as an appointed and an elected official. Ghovaee qualified, deHaven-Smith said, because he was a business person and, being of Iranian background, also added diversity to the group. But Cecil Bradbury was so closely identified with the Pinellas Park city government, that members were reluctant to see him as a plain citizen, said deHaven-Smith. "The concern was this was going to tilt it in favor of the cities when a balance had been achieved," deHaven-Smith said. That reasoning made some sense to Pinellas Park Mayor Bill Mischler. "I can look at both sides of it. I can agree that, yes, maybe Cecil would bring the political aspect (to the assembly). I can see their point," Mischler said. "We didn't know the parameters." Mischler said he was "absolutely" not upset enough to recommend the city withdraw from the assembly, but said, "I think we ought to have another representative, a citizen's representative." Sandra Bradbury, Cecil's daughter and a council member, said she thought the assembly had misjudged her father and his ability to be fair. However, like Mischler, she did not think Pinellas Park should withdraw from the group over the issue. "I think we need to participate in one form or another," she said. "This may be our opportunity to make sure communities work together." However, two other council members were more upset by the decision to exclude Bradbury. One of those, Rick Butler, originally had opposed Pinellas Park's participation in the group but changed his vote last week. He changed his vote after hearing that items before the assembly might later be introduced in the state Legislature or elsewhere as law, a caution he termed a "threat" and "blackmail." "I just thought that this process was all-inclusive. Gee," he said. "I thought this was the way to go, but maybe I missed the mark." Also disappointed at the decision to reject Cecil Bradbury was Ed Taylor. Taylor had been the lone holdout vote against joining the assembly, which he called a "bureaucratic mishmash." He said he has not changed his position. "I've really got to wonder what kind of process that is that wouldn't allow one of our community's most experienced citizens to participate in it," Taylor said. "The council wanted Cecil there." Taylor said he does not plan to urge other council members to withdraw from the group, but would support them if they decided to take a stand over Cecil Bradbury's participation. Other than that, Taylor said, "I'm going to sit there with my hands folded."
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