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Some see leader's quiet as weakness

Tampa council member Gwen Miller's opponents think she doesn't do much for the city.

By JANET ZINK
Published January 29, 2007

TAMPA - City Council member Gwen Miller stood at the top of the stairs of a historic Ybor City building, welcoming people to a campaign party.

Some of the bay area's most prominent power brokers hosted the event, including developers, lawyers and retired business owner John Sykes.

Her backing is not limited to the silk tie set, however.

A 12-year veteran of the City Council, Miller is the only African-American in the District 1 race, and her campaign signs dot yards in east Tampa's black neighborhoods.

With all of that support, could she be vulnerable? Five people seem to think so.

That's how many opponents she faces in the city's March 6 election, making the race for that citywide seat the most crowded on the ballot.

Miller said she has no idea why she has so much opposition.

"It's a free country. Anybody can run," she said. "I think I've done a very good job."

But critics call Miller, 72, a do-nothing council member and a weak chairwoman who rarely says more than, "There's a motion on the floor."

"There's a reason people run against a three-term incumbent. It's because they don't seem to be doing everything they should be doing," said Randy Baron, 45, a computer programmer and president of the Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association. He's one of the five taking on Miller.

Other council members make their views known, he said. He pointed to Linda Saul-Sena, a citywide incumbent who faces no challengers, and Shawn Harrison, who has only one opponent.

Saul-Sena is vocal about making the city pretty and protecting the environment, and she vehemently opposed cutting property tax rates. Harrison, of New Tampa, pushed the tax cut and tougher residency limits for sex offenders.

And Miller?

"I don't know what she stands for," Baron said.

The wife of former state Sen. Les Miller, Gwen Miller acknowledged that she is the quietest council member.

"I get things done without a fanfare," she said.

In recent weeks, she prodded the administration to do something about Gene's Bar, an east Tampa crime spot. The city is negotiating to buy the property.

And she regards the construction of a district police headquarters in east Tampa as one of her biggest accomplishments, she said.

What was her role in that?

"The mayor asked me if I thought it was a good idea, and I said yes," she said.

Land use lawyer Mark Bentley, a familiar face to the City Council, said Miller is not much for public speaking, but she has helped him get things done. He described her as fair.

"She votes her conscience," Bentley said.

He hosted one of Miller's campaign events, along with developer Carl Lindell, former Mayor Dick Greco's boss.

Redner tries again

The outcome of County Commission elections in November inspired strip club owner Joe Redner, 66, to run for the City Council, his fifth bid for elective office.

He lost to Jim Norman countywide but beat him among city voters.

Redner said he opted not to run against Saul-Sena because he likes her politics. Ditto for Mary Mulhern, who faces Harrison in the District 2 citywide race. Miller emerged as the target.

"I picked a person that I thought had very little to contribute to the city," Redner said.

South Tampa's Rick Barcena, 43, a restaurant owner, is rallying a West Tampa contingent of backers for his race against Miller.

"What about the job that she's done? My intentions are to run a nice, clean campaign. I'm not going to answer that question," he said.

Julie Jenkins, 45, of South Tampa, a former Virgin Atlantic Airways saleswoman, also declined to comment on Miller's record.

If Miller has served so long, she "must have done something right," Jenkins said.

The property tax cut

In September, Miller missed a historic vote to roll back Tampa's property tax rate for the first time in nearly 20 years.

She was on a taxpayer-funded trip to Tampa's city sister in Spain.

When Miller came back, she remarked that it was refreshing to see the other city's government operate without the watchful gaze of the public and the media.

Although she missed the vote on the tax rate, she said, she was present two weeks later for the vote on the budget.

At a recent candidates forum, restaurant owner Denise Chavez, 59, who is also running against Miller, asked her why the City Council waited until "a citizens' revolt" in September to even consider a tax cut, which resulted in an eleventh hour standoff with Mayor Pam Iorio, who opposed it.

Miller answered that the cut was in the works "for years."

But she was part of a coalition that in June killed even discussing property taxes.

Her vote on the rollback wouldn't have made a difference; it passed 4-2, with Saul-Sena and outgoing council member Mary Alvarez voting no.

Floods, taxes, housing

If re-elected, Miller will work to cut taxes, she said, and the mayor will be "on with us." She also pledged to stop flooding and start talking about affordable housing.

"When a developer comes before us, my first question is going to be, 'How much affordable housing are you going to have in there?' If they say none, I'll say, 'Why not?' " she said. "You can keep talking to them and talking them until they give in."

Miller has posed no such question in the past three years. And she couldn't recall once in the past 12 years that she publicly pushed for new or revised legislation, one of the council's fundamental duties along with setting the city budget. Miller said she prefers to work behind the scenes with constituents.

Lawyer Sean Donnelly, who recently helped Hillsborough County property owners annex nearly 400 acres of undeveloped land into the city, said Miller has done a "fantastic job."

She gives everyone a chance to speak and never tries to influence votes, he said.

But Vicki Pollyea, president of the Bayshore Gardens Neighborhood Association and a City Council regular, said Miller has a hard time keeping control of meetings. Pollyea also said she rarely gets to talk with Miller outside meetings.

"I send e-mails to City Council fairly often, and I've never gotten a response from her," she said.

Janet Zink can be reached at 813 226-3401 or jzink@sptimes.com.

[Last modified January 29, 2007, 08:18:31]