Scionti's old Tampa style

Mike Scionti, the Democratic Party boss in Hillsborough County, who died unexpectedly Thursday, was one of the last links to the old world of rough-and-tumble Tampa politics. His idea of running a campaign was not to sit in some bunker punching numbers into a computer. Scionti rustled together everyone he knew, stuck a sign and a Cuban sandwich in their hands and expected their precinct to come in. And when it did, neither Scionti nor anyone else forgot.

Of course, anyone who plays the political patronage game is not without his enemies. Scionti made plenty. He relished confrontation, even if it was for sport. A couple weeks back, over Cuban coffee in West Tampa, he gave the Scionti treatment to an ex-commissioner who had switched to the Republican Party. He banged on the table until his cell phone danced. Finally the ex-commissioner caved and bemoaned what theretofore seemed like the right decision. Scionti, ever generous, threw his friend a lifeline: "You were duped!"

Scionti took over the party several years ago when local Democrats were lifeless and adrift. He energized the meetings, rebuilt the organization and through the strength of his personality made Hillsborough a force on the statewide scene. I wasn't a Scionti admirer at first. But over time his strategic skills became clear. Even as politics in Hillsborough moved away from the city and toward the suburban political center, Scionti strengthened a farm team of young Democrats and imbued them with respect for old Tampa's progressive, melting-pot values.

Behind the partisan bull was a generous man who loved company and friends and who never slighted the immigrant experience. He'd be in your face as he was grabbing the check. Scionti's sense of loyalty made him think nothing of putting anyone on the spot. Political candidates, in a reporter's company, would squirm when Scionti was indiscreet. To him there was no wall between the political and the personal. What good are you, he'd ask, if you won't even help your friends?

I last talked to Scionti the afternoon before he died. He called from his cell phone to complain about a candidate recommendation. But the real purpose of the call was to remind me of the huge event he was putting on for Bill McBride, the gubernatorial candidate. He had already lined up the buses, the unions and 1,000 Cuban sandwiches. "This is going to make H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, my friend," Scionti said. "And you need to cover it. Or you'll look like an idiot."

Scionti collapsed on the tennis court, just days before the Sept. 10 primary. His death is a reminder of how political competition these days has been taken over by direct-mail artists. Anonymous attacks weren't Scionti's style; he rebuilt the party by emboldening Democrats to challenge head-on and win. And that's how I'll always picture him -- rushing the net.

-- John Hill is a Times editorial writer in Tampa.

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