By Jim Bleyer St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman is a man with ambitions that could reach as far as the Florida Governor Mansion or the U.S. Capitol building. The whispers by insiders on both sides of Tampa Bay are screaming “Governor.” Kriseman and his team, however, can …
By Jim Bleyer There is no shortage of Tampa Bay media lackeys that gladly genuflect for Jeff “Transit Tax” Vinik. “Vinik to relaunch asset management firm: ‘The fire still burns in my belly” bleated the headline dutifully penned by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. This would be …
By Jim Bleyer The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills is in the fight of its operational life in the wake of 12 resident deaths after Hurricane Irma in 2017. Its fate rests in the hands of an administrative law judge who must decide if the facility’s license and Medicaid …
By Karik Krishnaiyer, republished from The Florida Squeeze As we approach another party primary which has been divisive, the calls for unity and coming together are as loud and nauseating as ever. As a longtime active Democrat in Florida, I’ve sacrificed principle and my values before to back deeply-flawed …
By Jim Bleyer With the 2018 general election just three months away, incumbent State Sen. Dana Young has taken to the hustings, appearing at panel discussions, campaign events, and fundraisers. Voters in Senate District 18 have been bombarded with Young campaign literature outlining her accomplishments in the Florida Legislature. …
By Jim Bleyer By any measure, the Janet Cruz campaign for state senate’s so-called “unity” event last Thursday in South Tampa was a failure. Worse, it was an embarrassment. The stunt was necessitated by what Tampa’s progressive community considers reprehensible behavior by Cruz and the Florida Democratic Party. It was …
By Jim Bleyer It was a very good week for Stu Sternberg, billionaire owner of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays. His team won six of seven games vaulting itself into third place in the American League East and into the thick of the wild card chase. But Sternberg …
By Jim Bleyer Alex Sink, the corporatist Democrat who set a modern record for political futility, was a key figure in marginalizing progressive Florida Senate candidate Bob Buesing, forcing him out of a very winnable race, Tampa Bay Beat has learned. The seat was considered a viable flip for …
By Jim Bleyer In the 141 years since Reconstruction, there have been eight black U. S. senators — Cory Booker, Tim Scott, Kamala Harris, William “Mo” Cowan, Edward Brooke, Carol Mosley Braun, Barack Obama and Roland Burris — and two black governors, Douglas …
By Jim Bleyer Bill Nelson’s campaign for a fourth term in the U. S. senate is off to a rocky start. Democratic operatives are duplicating failed strategies of the past, strategies that grow more ineffective with the passage of time. The 2010 gubernatorial campaign pitted Florida’s CFO Alex …
