This time the mayor will make the meeting

On this much we can agree: Mayor Dick Greco is not an ordinary politician.

While the usual public servants were attending an Aviation Authority meeting last week, the mayor was jetting back from Cuba after meeting for nearly six hours with Fidel Castro.

After arriving from Cuba late at night, Greco wasn't back at work for an 8 a.m. airport meeting.

One of the subjects on the agenda was a vote on which company gets to build the airport's new security features.

Boring, but important.

With Greco missing, the board split 2-2. So they re-scheduled an emergency meeting for 6 p.m. the same night.

By that time, Greco had finished a lengthy and emotional press conference on the Cuba trip. Apparently, no one notified Greco about the 6 p.m. meeting, and he missed it, too.

Tomorrow, the board will give it a third try. To make thing easier for most of the board members, the meeting will take place downtown rather than at the airport.

This time, Greco can't miss it. It's supposed to be held at his City Hall office.

Speaking of Greco, mayoral candidate Frank Sanchez sent out a press release this week touting the number of city employees backing his campaign.

Sanchez's release says more than 200 city employees will host a free reception for him at 6 p.m. Friday at the Fireman's Benevolent Hall at 201 E Yukon St. One of the hosts, arson investigator Al Alcala, surprised us.

Alcala had been close to City Council member Bob Buckhorn and had served on the host committee for one of Buckhorn's mayoral campaign fundraisers.

"He assumed I would be on his campaign," Alcala said. "But then I met Frank Sanchez. What a nice guy."

That's not how fire investigator Mike Gonzalez and firefighter Joe Perez remember it. Gonzalez said Alcala handed out Buckhorn campaign literature and both said he gave a rousing speech for Buckhorn at a meeting held to organize a fundraiser.

Alcala called us back late Thursday after getting an angry call from Gonzalez. Indeed, he said, he had supported Buckhorn and then changed sides.

Buckhorn's campaign staff said they had been told Alcala was on their team. They don't know why he switched sides. Buckhorn said Alcala hasn't called him.

"These things happen in politics," Buckhorn said. "You find out who your true friends are pretty quickly."

Some of the state's top political women are rallying around Democratic state Rep. Sara Romeo in her bid for re-election to her District 60 seat.

Romeo narrowly won the seat representing an area roughly north and east of Tampa two years ago in a campaign against Republican orthopedic surgeon Ed Homan. She faces Homan again this year, but the district has been redrawn by the Republican-dominated Legislature to make re-election tougher.

The troops are rallying. An Aug. 20 fundraiser at the University Club in downtown Tampa has a host list that includes former University of South Florida president Betty Castor; Alex Sink, the wife of gubernatorial hopeful Bill McBride; Democratic Party executive director Anna Cruz; Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, who dropped out of the governor's race; former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman, Rep. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa; Deanna Roberts, the next chair of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce; and Lois Gaston, president of the Hillsborough Community College Ybor City campus.

At the Tampa Bay Black Republican Club's luncheon Thursday at the Doubletree Hotel on Cypress Street, Commissioner Tom Scott stood before a crowd of 500 and gave thanks to God, the nation, and a series of politicians, including, "our mayor" and "our governor."

When asked after Gov. Jeb Bush's speech how he felt about being a campaigning Democrat at a Republican event, he said, "I gave the invocation."

He laughed loudly. "Check the program," he said, and walked away.

Scott is seeking re-election to the heavily Democratic District 3 seat representing mostly central Tampa. Four years ago, he repeatedly blasted his Democratic opponent, James Hargrett Jr., for endorsing Bush in his first bid for governor, a stinging association given the makeup of the district. Yet Scott's own campaign account then and now has included several contributions from active Republican fundraisers.

This year Scott is facing Republican Jacqui Knight, who runs a communications business. She was not at the luncheon Thursday.

-- Staff writers Kathryn Wexler and Bill Coats contributed to this column. Got a tip? Call David Karp at 226-3376 or karp@sptimes.com, or Bill Varian at 226-3387 or varian@sptimes.com.

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