Political club needs shaking up, leader says

By ALICIA CALDWELL

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 13, 2001

Pat Fulton promises to put the growl back in the Tiger.

As new president of the Suncoast Tiger Bay Club, Fulton acknowledges the 25-year-old political club has gotten a little too comfortable.

Fulton, a technical writer for Nielsen Media Research, wants to do some cutting-edge programs, perhaps even bring in controversial guest speakers who might cause a few forks to drop during the club's lunch-time events.

Topics and guests she and vice president Keith Bailey have in mind include a program on politics of the homeless, and guests such as Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris and "Doc" Dockery, the Lakeland businessman behind the state bullet train initiative.

Fulton also wants the club to conduct some of its events in north Pinellas, which it used to do, and expand the membership base. But don't expect radical change, Fulton said.

"It's time to fine-tune," said Fulton, who also is president of St. Petersburg's Downtown Core Group, a business association. "No revolution here."

The group is venturing west of downtown for its next forum, which is at noon Wednesday, at the St. Petersburg Suncoast Association of Realtors auditorium at 7655 38th Ave. N.

State Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, and Pinellas Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark will talk about what went wrong with the Florida presidential election. Tickets are $15 for members; $20 for non-members. For more information, call 822-1001.

Everybody makes mistakes.

The key is to own up to them and move on.

That's how Pinellas County has chosen to handle an unfortunate faux pas committed when it got the date wrong for Martin Luther King Day on 300,000 county calendars.

For the record, the holiday is Monday, not Jan. 22, as noted on the calendars, which cost $100,000 to produce.

"It is an error that we deeply regret," said Lori Hudson, who works for the county's public affairs department. "No slight was intended."

County Commissioner Calvin Harris said the error was not intentional and the county has changed its proofing procedures so it won't happen again.

Not everyone is willing to let it go that easily. It's not as if they got Christmas or Labor Day wrong, said Tony Collins, who does real estate consulting and works on local political campaigns.

"I'm trying to figure out just how insensitive you have to be to miss that," said Collins, St. Petersburg's former economic development director.

Sevell Brown, president of the local branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, said it's always the third Monday in January, which shouldn't be too difficult to remember.

"We're shocked that anybody could get it wrong," Brown said.

A footnote: County offices will be closed for the holiday on Monday.

The basketball hoops were pulled up at the University of South Florida activities center and piano music wafted over the gathering crowd that quickly numbered more than 200.

The Friday evening fundraiser for St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Rick Baker largely drew the blue-suit crowd you would expect. The real difference, apparent to anyone who has followed city politics, is one of magnitude.

Baker's fundraiser, at $200 a person, is one of the more expensive such events, and had the added cachet of having Gov. Jeb Bush as a speaker.

As St. Petersburg evolves into a true strong mayor form of government, we'll see more big-money events, and campaigns that will begin ever-sooner.

"I've seen a lot of mayoral campaigns and I've never seen anything of this magnitude," said retired businessman John Cannon, an event host who stood at the door greeting guests. "We're growing up."

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright