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Candidates avoid tough questions
By LENNIE BENNETT © St. Petersburg Times, published February 10, 2001
Pat Fulton, president of Suncoast Tiger Bay, was not asked by the group's members during a candidate forum why she did not resign from her post when she entered the race for City Council, a move some consider a conflict of interest. "I didn't ask because I'm still angry and I don't know how I would have said it nicely," said Beverly Mitlin, a member of Tiger Bay and one of about 200 who attended the lunchtime session on Friday at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club. "I did expect the question to come up," said Cory Adler, a board member who moderated the forum, usually the job of the president. Even Fulton, who plans to moderate other forums not related to her council race, said, "I was nervous about it." Instead, no member of the group, which prides itself on no-holds-barred questioning, raised the issue. "Maybe people felt that because she was up-front about it, they weren't concerned," Adler said. Fulton, 60, is one of five candidates for the District 4 seat being vacated by mayoral candidate Kathleen Ford. Other candidates are Chris Eaton, 43; Douglas Every, 31, who did not attend the forum; Virginia Littrell, 50; and Grace Harris, 39, a write-in candidate who appeared unexpectedly. The motto of Tiger Bay could be "Carve up a politician for lunch," but Friday's forum was more like the smooth key lime pie served for dessert than a mixed grill of issues, especially among the District 4 candidates, who seemed to share similar concerns and took no hard questions from the audience. District 4 includes the heart of the downtown redevelopment area and the Old Northeast and North Shore neighborhoods. Surrounding them are pockets of less affluent business and residential zones. The key issues mentioned by the candidates present were zoning and permit policies that thwart redevelopment. During the 90 seconds allotted to each, they spoke about those and other issues, including water and power use. The two candidates with the most experience and fullest grasp of the issues were Fulton and Littrell, each a native of St. Petersburg who has a network of business, civic and social affiliations. Eaton, a businessman and first-time candidate, said he wanted to bring "a fresh perspective" to the council and "restore (its) relevance, stability and dignity." Fulton, a contract technical writer and founder of the Downtown Core Group, said she would create "a customer-friendly city government." Littrell, executive director of a consumer lobbying group and chairman of the city's Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Commission, said she would seek "an overhaul of the zoning, land development and permitting process." -- Times staff writer Waveney Ann Moore contributed to this report.
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