Bob Merkle for U.S. Senate? "Mad Dog" on the Loose (Tampa Bay Weekly)

U.S. Senate image via Wikipedia

By Bob Andelman

(Originally written in August 1993 for Tampa Bay Weekly)

There's a story former United States Attorney Bob Merkle tells as a part of his stump speech that neatly sums up his campaign for the Republican nomination for U. S. Senate.

"My wife told me that my two daughters were in the backyard one day. The younger one was crying and the older one said, 'What's the matter, Rita, why are you crying?' No answer, continued sobs. Finally, my wife stuck her head out the window in exasperation and said, 'Why are you crying?' Rita said, 'Nobody loves me.' And Teresa laughed and said, 'That's okay. Nobody loves daddy, either.'"

He's an engaging speaker, with lots of colorful experiences and characters to draw on. He's a little heavier than perhaps he was when playing college football at notre dame. His cheeks are red and chubby, not unlike those of Florida's junior senator and former governor, Bob Graham. Small audiences make loud noises in support of his candidacy.

Why did you decide to run and why did you get in the race so late?

Well, there's two ways of looking at that. I'm not late in the sense I filed before the deadline and I'm certainly in the race before the votes have been cast. I'm late only in the sense that you've got to have several million dollars to make a race. The reason that I filed when I filed and not a year later is I had the Carlos Lehder case to prosecute, among other reasons. In fact, I was approached a year earlier by the National Republican Committee in Washington, asking me if I'd be interested in running and I said no. Lehder had to be convicted and I -- rightly or wrongly -- perceived myself to be the best prosecutor in the office. It was a very difficult trial, it took seven, eight months, the jury was out for five days. So I didn't think anyone was going to hold it against me.

But politically, it hurt you because your opponent, Connie Mack had already lined up major Republicans to support him and could not turn back and say, "Okay, Bob, I'll support you."

Yeah, I know. But I think Mr. Mack is in for a surprise.

Take a look at it objectively. Mack has been campaigning for the better part of a year and he's spent a couple million dollars. He still couldn't even muster 50 percent of the vote among Republicans! Sure, he was the selected candidate (but) I know, contrary to Republican statements, that there are other arguably qualified Republicans who wanted to be candidates and they were actively discouraged by the party.

My late entry into the race is not going to be a handicap. In fact, It highlights the main distinctions between myself and Mr. Mack. Mack is perceived as the money candidate. He has not had anything to say of substance at all. His campaign is one of slogans and I think that's a smart decision on his part or his manager's part because his record has been very lackluster, to say the least.

This is your first run for elected office. Above the Senate there's only one elected office. Why not start a little lower, work your way up, get a little experience?

I always aim high. (And) I don't lack experience. I'm more experienced than anybody in the field. Don't forget I was a presidential appointee in 1982. A lot of people don't understand what a U.S. Attorney does. My job is to enforce all the laws of the land. I had responsibility in areas such as health care, the environment, civil rights, crime, you name it. The whole fabric of our social life was my responsibility. I probably know more about the federal laws and the problems of them than anyone else in the race. I was an administrator, a conciliator, a leader. I had to work with diverse federal, state and local agencies. ... To do that, I had to be an effective administrator, I had to be good at dealing with people. That's why, among other reasons, I served under three different attorney generals.

Do you see yourself as a more traditional Republican candidate than Connie Mack is?

I see myself as the more modern Republican. Mack is a guy who, in my opinion, has not had an original thought in his head since he got into public life. He rode on Reagan's coattails in 1982. He is preaching a knee-jerk, conservative philosophy which is not the product of any independent thought on his part. Most of what he says you could probably find in the Heritage Foundation pamphlet, "A Guide to the Conservative Platform."

I am a conservative man. I am fundamentally conservative in my approach to government. But by the same token, I think the problems of our day ... require that we all grow. There are certain things that require bi-partisan approaches. The environment, for example. The environment is something that we are stuck with. It's either going to be good for us or it's going to be bad for us. ... The breakup of the family, which has been accelerating rapid in the 1980s is a time-bomb waiting to go off in society. It's a direct predicate to drug trafficking, it's a direct predicate to crime.

I believe society has an obligation to address the root causes of these things. The question that separates liberal from conservative in the traditional sense is, how do we do it? I do not believe the govt is the repository of compassion, to the extent that the old-time liberal approach to welfare has been ineffective. I think it has served to discourage private initiative, private compassion. It's served to discourage responsibility in private enterprise. It's served to encourage the attitude, "That's not my problem."

***

Do you think you have a credibility problem in Tampa and St. Petersburg?

Only with a couple of editorial writers.

You've had a jagged history with the press. Was there a point at which you think the press turned against you?

I have always taken the position that I have not maligned the press. I have always said, "Ask them." Only they know.

After the Italiano trial last year, in which Governor Martinez testified for the defense. Every time the St. Petersburg Times has written an article about that, it says, "Merkle has accused (Martinez) without bringing charges." I didn't accuse anybody. That was sworn testimony in court under oath. The chief judge in that trial commended me for the manner in which that trial was conducted. I didn't put Governor Martinez on the stand; the defense did. The Republican party paid the governor's expenses, which is highly unusual. I did my job of cross-examination. The press, rather than focus on what was happening in the trial, was helping the defense attorney make his claims on the courthouse steps. So much so that the Times editorialized at least twice -- perhaps three times during the course of the trial -- that I should be fired because of my insolent, arrogant and unfair manner in the courtroom, culminating with an editorial cartoon showing me physically pummeling a witness on the stand. Now, you know, this is an attack directly on my integrity, my ability, my reputation. The very same day the Times ran (the cartoon) the Tampa Tribune carried an article in which they interviewed the jurors in the trial right after the verdict. The jurors commented on how professional and gentlemanly I was -- and courteous -- toward Governor Martinez. So why do they do those things?

Maybe it's because they believe their own clippings.

***

Carlos Lehder's name popped up a lot today. What do you make of him as a man?

Carlos Lehder. (Merkle takes a long pause.) I described him several ways to the jury. I described him as a man whose life demonstrated, ultimately, a total absence of any love or regard for others. He used people, discarded them. Some people described him as brilliant but, I think, in the final analysis, he was not so brilliant. He was reckless. He made stupid mistakes, he alienated a lot of people. And he himself fell victim to drugs. But for that, he might well have succeeded beyond the time that he did. We had evidence we didn't use in the trial. He became almost an embarrassment in his own world. Just imagine, if you will, a meeting of the Medellin Cartel, most of whom don't smoke, or anything else. Carlos Lehder is sitting there, doing drugs. These are hard-eyed businessmen who didn't appreciate that.

Lehder -- I described him also as an empty suit. He hid behind his charm,
which he did have. He hid behind the money and his guns. He was not a real
courageous guy. He had bravado. But he was an empty suit.

Did you have an opportunity to talk to him, face-to-face, the way we are now?

No, I never talked to him. He yelled at me several times.

Occasionally, I would come into court and sit down. Nobody would be in court and Lehder would be sitting across the way. Lehder turned to (my assistant) and said, "That agent is here. He said he was here and now he's gone. (My assistant) said, "Well, maybe he's sick." And Lehder said, "I hope he's got AIDS."

Lehder suggested after his conviction that you had used him for political gain. I imagine there's a number of people who may have looked at it that way.

That accusation is pure claptrap. Those who suggest that are engaging in what psychologists would call projection. They're projecting their own crass motivations.

I was working 16 hours a day, minimum, seven days a week. Away from home. If anybody thinks I would do that for some political purpose -- I can't even believe that kind of accusation.

I would say this: I perceive that it's not going to hurt me when they compare the performance of Mr. Mack and my performance during the exact period of time, being paid by the same employer -- the taxpayers -- they're going to see that I was working doubletime, overtime, and Mack -- who was making more money than me -- missed 41 percent of the votes. So just from the prospect of which public officials are going to roll up their sleeves and work for you, Mack's going to stand in my stead.

The St. Petersburg Times did a profile on Mr. Mack and the reporter said Mr. Mack never sweats. Well, if I missed work half of the time, I might not sweat, either.

***

When the Nelson Italiano trial ended, you got the conviction, Italiano went to prison. You were probably feeling pretty good, receiving a lot of positive attention. After a few months though, the Supreme Court made a decision which reversed the mail fraud conviction and Italiano was booted free. How did you feel to know he was out?

I think the Supreme Court decision was an unwise decision. I can understand the philosophy of it -- it's a very rigid, almost pristine approach to the issue taken by a conservative majority. But it effectively ignored decades of precedent in every court in the United States and had a certain surreal quality to it which, while perhaps being comfortable in the ivory tower of conservative thought, did not translate well into the real world. And, compounding the problem in regard to Mr. Italiano particularly, the Times always (writes about) "The Nelson Italiano trial, in which Merkle made accusations against Governor Martinez and the conviction was overturned." Period. No explanation. The way it's put, the way it's written, suggests that Merkle's misconduct was the reason for it being overturned. And it had nothing to do with it.

It was my recommendation (before leaving office) that Mr. Italiano be re-indicted because the evidence was overwhelming. The jury was only out three hours.

Do you have a sense that there is more corruption going on, either in Hillsborough, Tampa or Pinellas?

Its a problem. It's endemic.

Is something going to happen here in the near future?

I can't comment on that. You see, one of the things I decided early on -- and I think properly so, it's a question of ethics -- there are things I knew as U.S. Attorney which I could capitalize on for political pureposes. But I can't. And I'm not going to say anything.

When I say that, that's not to suggest there's going to be some giant case, or anything like that. ... I do know there will be major cases coming into the public's eye over the next six months, which I basically developed, worked up.

***

Do you think of yourself as a smart man?

Oh, yes. Indeed.

Are you a calculating man?

I reflect. I am calculating in the sense that I do not act irrationally. I consider what I'm going to say, I consider what I'm going to do. For example, when I made the statement I made about Martinez and Mack. ... carefully thought out, carefully written. The words may have been strong but they were not the product of anger or spoken in anger. They were meant to say exactly what they said, to accurately describe what I know to be the case.

I have no effective way of rebutting the accusation that "Merkle's a hothead" and "Merkle should think before he speaks." I point to my record. I'm not a hothead. I do think before I speak. And I could not have accomplished what I accomplished in the U.S. Attorney's Office if I were the caricature that a lot of people accuse me of being.

***

Let's talk about Joe Magri, your former chief aide and the man you hoped would succeed you as United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida. The thing that strikes me about the situation is this: How many people in the United States Government get to name their successor?

It's not the issue of me naming my successor at all. The issue is whether politics is going to be used as a weapon of reprisal. Attorney General Meese's assurance to me was not predicated on any right of mine to name my successor. It was predicated on legitimate law enforcement concerns and that this particular U.S. Attorney's Office -- because of certain salient facts -- must be protected against political reprisals. And it was not protected. That's the issue. Joe Magri was the first assistant in my entire (term) in that office, basically. He deserves equal, if not more credit than I for the accomplishments in that office.

The statements which have come out about not knowing Mr. Magri was interested are flat disingenuous, to put it very mildly.

Do you think Meese was too far out of the decision-making loop by the time this came up, making him unable to back up his assurances to you?

There are things about that that I am not willing to comment publicly on. I will at a later time.

How do you feel about Ed Meese's term in office as Attorney General?

I never criticized Meese. I also pointed out that my dealings have been limited to law enforcement matters. I always found him to be very amiable, very supportive of me. And I think the political criticism of the Department of Justice has ignored the reality and, to that extent, been unfair, to the U.S. Attorneys across the country who do 90 percent of the work. I would agree that there was a tremendous demoralization in the department in Washington. And there were some effects in the field. I found, in the last six months, a lack of coordination at the top, the Noreiga case as an example. When I find out from the press the offer to Noreiga is on the table.

How do you feel about the oft-repeated charge that Meese is morally bankrupt?

I think Meese is fundamentally a very decent man. I really do. He struck me as being an extremely nice person, without a mean bone in his body. Maybe he was disorganized. Maybe he was careless. ... My perception is that he was not the dynamo at Justice. He was a figurehead in many respects.

How did Meese compare with his predecessor, William French Smith?

In many respects, my contacts with Meese were more than with Smith. Both shared somewhat of a distance from the day-to-day operations although Meese was more involved in the criminal aspects of the department.

***

Were you ever face-to-face with Panamanian strongman Manuel Noreiga?

No.

Would you describe Noreiga in terms similar to those you did Carlos Lehder?

I think Noreiga -- at least from what I've read about him -- there's a lot of difference. Noreiga is not a man of any charm, whatsoever. No grace. And, apparently, a brutality that Lehder is capable of but it's more on the surface with Noreiga.

Do you think Noreiga will ever stand trial?

I consider it a very likely possibility if he's not killed by political opposition or the survivors of those he has destroyed or if the administration doesn't cave in.

The situation has been quiet for awhile; I wonder if the further we get away from the announced indictment if its become less and less likely he'll be tried.

I wouldn't say that at all. The situation in Panama is not going to get far away from the conscience of the American people. It took us 7 years to get Lehder.

Are there more big fish we'll be getting after Lehder? Are they becoming more touchable or more untouchable?

I think they're becoming more touchable. The rhetoric down there suggests the contrary but they're becoming more touchable. They are more clearly perceived as at odds with the people of their own countries down there and the fact that Lehder was convicted and didn't get out. I think that has to be an inducement to further efforts along those lines.

Do you think the Vice President has actively fought drugs or has he been paying lip service to the South Florida task force?

I believe he's actively fought drugs. From what I know - you've got to recognize, the Vice President occupies a very sensitive position. A lot of people criticize ... but I think the other side of that coin is that the Vice President lent the prestige of his name and his office, which served to focus nationally on a problem a lot of people didn't want to recognize existed. I think he deserves a lot of credit for that.

Let's say you beat mack. Who do you see as your opponent on the Democratic side?

I'm not even going to venture to guess. I'm focusing on Mr. Mack. I have a very tough race with Mr. Mack. It's going to be close. When I beat him, if that's in the cards, then I'll worry about who's next.

If you beat him, do you see yourself drawing heavily from Democrats as well as Republicans?

It is my belief -- I'm in the toughest race I'll have right now and I will handily win the general election. And I don't think Mr. Mack has a chance in the general election.

If you beat Mack, you've got a Republican Party that's been up in arms with you ...

It won't be the first time they've shot themselves in the foot.

Are you someone who can bring them back together?

Let's put it this way. I am not in the business of running a devisive campaign. The inflammatory rhetoric has been coming from the other side. ... I don't plan, after I win, on going around the state and extending olive branches. I am able, and have in the past, patched up wounds, been conciliatory. But what you're seeing in the Republican Party is great disaffection with the way the Party has been run. Their real animus against me is they perceive I'm going to upset that applecart. And they're right.

I'll be conciliatory, but it's not going to be on their terms.

Did you ever experiment, in high school or college ...

I don't have any problems like that. That is not an issue in this campaign. I have not addressed that in regards to Mr. Mack.

How do you feel about the constitutionality of drug and/or AIDS testing in the work place?

I believe it's constitutional. Drug testing -- there's a split of opinion in the courts about this. But it's a balancing of interests, just like anything else. I do not believe that the federal government has a right to mandate drug testing.

For its own employees?

Not a blanket mandate. There has to be some official considerations to pass constitutional muster. If you have employees involved in national security, national transportation, public safety, air traffic controllers, you've got an obligation to the public. People who take those jobs do not have an entitlement to those jobs so they can't say that a fundamental right is being deprived of them. They go into those jobs with the knowledge that they're going to be subject to that kind of scrutiny.

I'd pee in a bottle anytime. And have always been able to do so. ButII don't believe patriotism is that sublime. In private industry the experience is that drug screening is good if done compassionately, with the recognition that the drug user is a threat to himself, fellow workers and the economic survival of the business itself.Don't eliminate the person; eliminate the problem.

You graduated Notre Dame in '68. That was not quite the height of the war. How did you feel about Viet Nam then and how do you feel about it now?

Well, I tried to go. I was in ROTC in college. I was in football. I tried to sign up for the warrant officer program but couldn't pass thephysical (because) I injured my leg and my back.

You were willing to go -- how do you look back at it now?

I've had some close friends that did go and I've seen the problems they suffer. Had I gone, I probably would have come back feeling that I'd been screwed by a government, and a people that really wasnt supportive.

Who do you look to for political inspiration?

Lincoln. Theodore Roosevelt. Even Eisenhower.

You still smoke in a time when a lot of people are giving it up. How do you feel about all the legislation banning ...

That really isn't relevant. I hope we don't see that in this interview.

But people are voting on it in the Senate and in the House -- smoker's rights, smoking bans, government subsidies.

I hope they raise taxes 100 percent on cigarettes and that will certainly give me incentive to quit smoking.

I don't smoke heavily at all. In fact, I'm going to quit. I am quitting.

I don't particularly dig zealotry in an area. I can see some people are allergic and I have no prob with smoking and non-smoking areas. I don't object to not smoking on an airline. But there are a lot of people whose perfume or cologne is a lot more offensive than cigarette smoke.

I don't think smoking should be a federal offense, let me put it that way.

If it doesn't hapen for you on the sixth -- if Connie Mack wins -- have you thought about what you might do?

I really haven't thought about it. I've always just lived my live kind of a day at a time... That goes back to your question, "Am I a calculating man?" I don't chart out my life.

Have you had an opportunity -- either formally or informally -- to devise a plan or program that would keep people who commit crimes, violent, white or blue-collar, in prison longer? Do we need more prisons?

There's no question in my mind we must imprison violent criminals. We must imprison persons convicted of drug-related offenses. And we must accomplish a status quo in the system whereby that sentence is definitive, it is equitable and it is something other than an accepted cost of doing business as a drug trafficker. And it has to have a deterrent factor. The statutes that we have now are amply strong enough with regard to imprisonment. It's just a question of putting them into practice. We don't have enough prosecutors, we don't have enough judges...

Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

Best and Worst of 1991 (Tampa Bay Life)

Image via Wikipedia By Bob Andelman
(Originally published in the Tampa Bay Life, 1991)

What makes something the best? What makes it the worst?

Why, we do, of course.

This is the third year Tampa Bay Life has contributed to the local culture by stepping out on a palm frond to pronounce "The Best and Worst of Tampa Bay."

Putting aside all risks to their persons and professional reputations, Bobs Casterline and Andelman have once again searched (and scorched) the earth and sea for the finest and crummiest our community has to offer. And unlike amateur compilations offered elsewhere, the Bobs go beyond the easy ones like best pizza or best doughnut. Where else to find "Best News About Pinellas Park" or "Best Meteorologist, Cooking Division"? Or "Worst Father" and "Worst Art Show"?

(The Bobs' enthusiasm for their task was dampened only when plans for a new category - "Worst Restaurant Larger Than One City Block" - had to be scratched when The Kapok Tree in Clearwater closed.)

As is a Tampa Bay Life tradition, our readers have chimed in with their two grouper fingers' worth. So please, without further ado and self-aggrandizement, meet this year's winners and losers.

Best Reason to Start Watching the Local Evening News Again: Kelly Ring, co- anchor of WTVT Ch. 13's "Eyewitness News"

Best Track Event: 2nd Annual University of Florida Nude Relays

Best Business Name: Spurt & Squirt, Inc., Pinellas Park

Best Bite: St. Petersburg's Dogwater Cafe serves its meals in dog food bowls

Worst Tabloid (But We Read It Cover to Cover): The Tatler, Saint Pete's most anticipated and feared birdcage liner. Mike Allen lives in Pinellas Park but for some reason publishes a free rag that is distributed only in St. Petersburg's better neighborhoods. He is vicious and unrelenting towards city officials, Bay Plaza, the Times and anyone who won't buy advertising. His spelling and grammar stink, too.

Best Name for a Failed Business: Classic Casket Galleries, Largo

Sheryl Browne Knows Noose: The WTSP Ch. 10 news anchor wore a noose around her neck during a news update on Halloween.

Best Sports News: Three new sports franchises: The Tampa Bay Lightning (National Hockey League), Tampa Bay Storm (arena football) and Suncoast Sunblasters (United States Basketball League).

Worst Sports News: No baseball franchise. Drat! Drat! And double-drat!

Most Gratuitous Sex Video: Pinellas County Commissioners asked Vision Cable not to broadcast its "frank and candid" debate of an ordinance to regulate nude dance clubs and theaters.

Smith WAS Overhead Saying "Gobble, Gobble": Gov. Lawton Chiles nearly ran over Secretary of State Jim Smith in the wee hours of the morning while on a turkey hunting trip in a rural area outside Tallahassee. Chiles was trespassing on Smith's property and didn't see his secretary. Or so he says.

Best Art Show: Gasparilla, Tampa. Innovative artists, genres and variety.

Worst Art Show: Mainsail, St. Petersburg. Booooooring. It becomes more like a senior citizens' crafts show each year. We're curious about the upcoming show by artists whom the Mainsail selection committee rejected.

Biggest Coup: The St. Petersburg Times hired political columnist Howard Troxler away from the Tampa Tribune.

Persian Gulf Update #1: A Dade County judge said babies whose parents were deployed for months to the war in Kuwait should be put up for adoption if a relative can't care for them.

Best Neon: The surfer in the window of On The Beach Sports and Swimwear, Madeira Beach.

Kill All the Lawyers But This One: Richard Reinhart, a Bradenton assistant public defender, said not one word in defense of his client, prison escapee Thomas Edward Clements. It took a jury just seven minutes to convict Clements.

Best Garage Sale: Tampa Palms developer Ken Good's.

Persian Gulf Update #2: After three months without receiving a payment on his car loan, Barnett Bank of Tallahassee sent a threatening notice of delinquency to Anthony Giugliano. In Saudi Arabia. Giugliano was an Army reserve sergeant called up during the early stages of Operation Desert Shield. (The bank later froze the loan after a barrage of negative publicity.)

Worst Place to Skinny Dip: Madeira Beach. Lt. Matthew McShane arrested Roxanne Murasso and Gunther Fick for taking a midnight swim in the buff. Fick was allowed to put his clothes on for the trip to the police station; Murasso was not. McShane handcuffed the naked lady, put the naked lady in the back of his cruiser and paraded the naked lady through the Madeira Beach police station before being allowed to dress. The naked lady is now in therapy and will probably sue.

Best Bridging the Bay News: The new span of the Howard Frankland Bridge finally opened and construction began on the 49th Street Bridge.

Best Business Strategy: A record 13,251 bankruptcies were filed in Hillsborough County in 1990, an increase of 34% over the previous year.

Best Business Editor: After the St. Petersburg Times fired Len Apcar due to an alleged conflict of interest, the New York Times snapped him up as assistant business-finance editor. "We're satisfied there was no conflict," said his new Times boss.

A Horse is a Horse, Of Course, Of Course: Dr. Edward and Patty Kampsen of Tampa bought a horse for $18,000. It was intended to be used by their two children for show jumping but the horse was blind. They returned it. Horse #2 was too tall to qualify for youth shows. They returned it. Horse #3 had damaged ligaments and couldn't be riden at all. They returned it. Horse #4 was a thoroughbred the Kampsens hired to sue the seller of horses #1-3.

Persian Gulf Update #3: Two weeks before the outbreak of hostilities, U.S. Sen Connie Mack (R-Fl.) sent a letter to supporters asking for campaign contributions. He said sending money to him would "show support for our troops and our president."

Best Break: Roger McGuinn hired Largo-based band The Headlites to support and open shows for him on his 1991 world concert tour.

Best News About Pinellas Park (Gateway to Largo): They're improving their image; they're waxing the cars that are up on blocks.

Worst Father: A St. Petersburg man allowed a friend to rape his mentally retarded 9-year-old daughter in exchange for cigarettes. The girl's mother was in love with the man and held her daughter down for him.

Worst Road Hog: Traffic along the Howard Frankland bridged creeps along on a daily basis, but it came to a full stop for hours when a 500-pound pig named Goober escaped from the rear door of his owner's pick-up truck.

Best Excuse to Ride a Bus: The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority re-painted one of its buses to look like a '59 pink Cadillac.

Best-Kept Secret of Tampa's Neighborhoods: Police raided a "medieval dungeon" on Armenia Avenue where bizarre sex rituals were performed. Confiscated items included racks, whips, chains, masks, paddles, enema bottles and devices used to crush male genitalia.

Separated at Birth #1:
Developer Ken Good and Exxon Valdez Captain Joseph Hazelwood

Most Promising TV Personality: Kathy Fountain, WTVT Ch. 13. The midday talk show "Eye on Tampa Bay" would be "Murphy in the Morning" without Fountain's warmth, sincerity and journalistic technique. She's been at the station for years but is only now in full bloom.

Racial Intolerance #1: Wendell Bennett Jr., a reserve deputy in the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department, used a racial slur during a conversation inadvertently broadcast over a main dispatch radio channel. He was suspended for 14 days and ordered to attend ethnic sensitivity training.

Best Meteorologist, Cooking Division: Laura York, WFLA TV Ch. 8. She's won more state fair blue ribbons for her recipes than Ch. 13's Roy Leep and Ch. 10's Dick Fletcher combined.

Weirdest Sign: Hemmorhoid Clinics of America: "It's So Much Easier," Henderson Blvd., Tampa.

Best Mom: Rosa Martinez. After the agonizing tragedy of daughter Eliana's death from AIDS, Rosa took in two orphan sisters diagnosed with the deadly disease.

Best Mexican Restaurant/Convenience Store: El Sombrero, Largo

Worst Local TV News: WTSP's "Newscenter 10."

Best Line: To prevent men from using snakes as a way of meeting women on its beaches, the Madeira Beach City Commission passed an ordinance prohibiting reptiles on the beach. Turtles are advised to swim north to Indian Shores.

Best Sandwiches, Health Food Division: Caryl's Natural Foods, 121 Ft. Harrison N., Clearwater. Great shakes, too.

Dumbest Counterfeiter: Joseph T. Hill of Orlando became the first U.S. citizen ever convicted of counterfeiting Polish currency. The feds say Hill printed 3 million zlotys - worth about $316 - on his laser copy machine.

Best Autograph: On the wall of Magadan's Sports Cafe is a picture of one-time Tampa Bay Buccaneers first-round draft choice Bo Jackson. The inscription reads: "To Doc Gooden - Tampa Bay ain't shit. Bo Jackson."

Best Fight: Clearwater resident and Philadelphia Phillies catcher Darren Daulton went after St. Petersburg resident and New York Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.

Worst Potential In-laws: A St. Petersburg couple was arrested after the husband picked up his step-daughter's boyfriend, held him overhead and tossed the boy off a 12-foot balcony. The parents were upset when they found their daughter, who is 12, alone with the boy, who is 14.

Best Burger Alternative: Gregory's Flame-Broiled Chicken, Clearwater and St. Petersburg

Best Magazine Selection: BookStop, Countryside Square, Clearwater.

Best Buns, State Attorney Division: The jury convicted Brian Keith Smith of first-degree murder for shooting a motel clerk to death. But before reconvening to decide whether Smith deserved life in prison or death in the electric chair, they asked a bailiff to deliver a single rose to Assistant State Attorney Robert Heyman. It seems the female jurors had enjoyed watching Heyman's backside during the trial. They even developed a nickname for him: "Bunsy."

Best Buns, Toy Division: A "Ken" doll - as in "Barbie and Ken" - purchased in a Tampa toy store was rather unusual: Ken was wearing women's clothes. The unique find was featured in Newsweek and Fortune magazines, as well as the Joan Rivers Show until a store clerk admitted it was just a late night prank. Ken is not - we repeat, not - a transvestite.

Separated at Birth #2:
St. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler and late Times Publisher Nelson Poynter

Catchy Title: Both the Times and Tribune retitled their annual guides to the bay area "Discover Tampa Bay."

Best Way to Make Friends with Advertisers: After Creative Loafing Music Editor Tom Roe wrote about concert promoters in his weekly column, legendary promoter Jack Boyle of Cellar Door responded: "Dear Mr. Roe - Since you are so busy writing editorials about 'slimy promoters,' we will save you some time. In the future, don't call us for advertising ... we will call you. Sincerely, Jack Boyle."

Worst Job Candidate: Safety Harbor was interested in hiring Charles Dubyak as its new city manager. The city offered him a $58,000 salary - $17,000 more than he was making as manager of the small Panhandle town of Mary Esther. That wasn't enough for Dubyak. In his counter-offer, he asked for a $61,500 salary, use of a new car every three years (or a $500 monthly vehicle allowance); six months of severance pay regardless of why he might leave the job; life insurance of $100,000 on his wife and $75,000 on his three sons; and closing costs on the sale of his current home and on the purchase of a new one. Dubyak didn't get the job.

Most Annoying Columnist: Neil Cote of the Tampa Tribune's Pinellas/south regional edition. An endless whiner.

Best 3 out of 5: Nick Kordas and Scott Wilson agreed to flip a coin to decide who would win a hotly contested seat on the Redington Beach City Commission after each received 307 votes. Kordas won on the flip of a Canadian coin. As one woman told the Beach Beacon, "Only in American can an election be decided with a Canadian coin."

Worst Luck: A new newspaper, The Informer, vows to print the names of everyone arrested in Pinellas County. Sometimes they even print one that wasn't arrested, as in the case of a St. Petersburg carpet installer and father of three whose name was listed under cocaine busts. The man's employer saw the listing and fired him. "Unfortunately," said Publisher Ray Aden, "some people might be hurt by this."

Worst Credit Risk: Dixie Lee Dorsey, an unemployed Winter Haven woman whose only income is $480 a month from Social Security, ran up $43,714 on seven American Express cards during a whirlwind tour of Europe.

Best Reason to Buy Disposable Diapers: Ten-month-old Brandi Lynn Ford was saved from harm by her Huggies diaper when two men burst into her parents Riverview home and fired three shots during a robbery. One of the shots tore through Brandi Lynn's diaper and stopped. "It was a really thick diaper," said her mom.

It's the Real Thing: The Pinellas County Sheriff's Narcotics Bureau traded two tractor-trailers filled with 5,000 cases of Coca-Cola to Largo drug dealers for 350 pieces of crack cocaine and $13,000 in cash. (The drug dealers were later arrested.)

Best Reason to Advertise: Lonely convenience store manager John Young, 45, put a "wife wanted" sign on the side of his car. The Tribune wrote about the Clearwater man and the story was reprinted across the U.S. and Canada, prompting hundreds of calls. That's how he finally met Marilyn Dozier of Lake Charles, La., who began their first conversation, "Have you found any woman who wants to marry you yet?"

Sweetest Money Pit: With honey oozing out of every nook and cranny in their new home in northwestern Hillsborough County, Allen and Annette Clausen discovered 300 pounds of honeybee hives in the walls.

Best New Radio Station: SportsRadio 910 AM, WFNS. All sports, all the time.

Best Disc Jockey: Alicia Kaye, Q105, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. The first new talent hired at the Q after the Mason Dixon purge. Great pipes, she's funny and sexy.

Worst New Radio Station: Mix 96 FM, WMTX. All Mason Dixon, all the time.

Oh, That Gay! Parochialism is alive and well. Gay Culverhouse, president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, told W magazine all about the differences between Tampa and St. Petersburg. "No one I know ever crosses the bridge that connects the two towns," she said. "I'm dead in the water there (St. Petersburg). I have no idea where I am. The two areas just don't mix." Except when buying over-priced tickets and concessions at Bucs games, of course.

Tribune Makes Everything Clear: "Tampa is a city, the location of Tampa Stadium, the location of Super Bowl XXV. Tampa Bay is a body of water between Tampa and some other places across the bay. So, if you're in Tampa right now, so far so good. If you're in Tampa Bay, your week is off to a bad start; get out before it gets worse. Tampa. ... Tampa Bay. ... Any questions?"

Racial Intolerance #2: Indian Shores Town Council member Jane Hawk referred to Martin Luther King Day as "National Nigger Day" and called blacks "spuds." She said King Day was a holiday for blacks and since Indian Shores had no black employees, the town shouldn't observe the federal holiday.

Worst Surgeon: Pennsylvania heart surgeon Dr. Horace MacVaugh was granted a Florida medical license despite being the subject of 18 malpractice suits since 1979. Nine of the patients in the suits died and nine of the suits were dropped.

Best Sounds: The Southeast Music Conference showcased 60 local rock, jazz and alternative bands at three venues over two days and was an incredible success for both music lovers and musicians.

Let's See, If He Didn't Mean Men, He Must Be Referring to ... : Florida Gov. Lawton Chiles urged young men at a Panhandle high school to respect the rights of "the weaker sex."

Let's See, If He Didn't Mean Buddhists, He Must Be Referring to ... : Along with special messages of congratulations for two members of St. Joseph's Church in Zephyrhills celebrating their 101st and 105th birthdays, an aide to Gov. Chiles inadvertently included a cover letter in which Chiles wrote, "Another special favor for the fish-eaters."

Best Billboard: "We Are Growing: LARGO - Home of 70,143 Nice People and 15 Old Grumps."

Best Book By an Ex-Buc: "Quarterblack, Shattering the NFL Myth," by Doug Williams.

Welcome to the 20th Century (You Almost Missed It): Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla accepted its first black members. Women, you're next (if you live that long).

Best Columnist: Chef Miles, Creative Loafing

Best Local Band Name: Liz Back on Booze
Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

Baseball in Tampa Bay? Credit Chicago's Jerry Reinsdorf (Southpoint Magazine)

Image via Wikipedia

(The following stories appeared in Southpoint in 1990.)

By Bob Andelman

If Major League Baseball awards a franchise to Tampa Bay this summer - as many observers in and out of the game expect - credit or blame will lie with a man from Chicago.

But first, a few words about the Hatfields and McCoys of Florida politics.

St. Petersburg's Bill Bunker and Tampa's Cedric Tallis have been attending baseball's annual winter meetings for the past decade, setting up booths at the sport's trade shows, handing out Florida oranges and begging for a team of their own. Each has his own impressive credentials: Bunker had been Florida's spring training liaison to baseball for a dozen years before organizing the Pinellas Sports Authority in 1978; Tallis spent 22 years as a top executive with the California Angels, Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees until Tampa auto dealer Frank Morsani recruited him to head the privately-held Tampa Bay Baseball Group.

Each year the friends were cast as rivals, speaking for their respective side of Tampa Bay - a region the U.S. Census officially identified as a common market in 1980. And each year, the czars and czarinas of baseball gave them the same message: nice demographics, but don't expect us to get serious until you get your own act together. Baseball owners, the most elite club in professional sports, spent years trying to convince the Bunker and Tallis delegations to swallow the bitter pill of parochialism and practice teamwork.

Baseball in the 1980s had become an issue that bitterly split the 2-million people in America's 13th-largest television market. The Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times led cheers for their home teams, and aimed Bronx cheers at the boobs across the bay.

A standoff might still exist today if it weren't for Jerry Reinsdorf, co-owner of the Chicago White Sox.

Reinsdorf, who had long been dissatisfied with Comiskey Stadium and fan support in Chicago, announced in '88 his intention of moving to St. Petersburg's domed stadium if the Windy City did not build him a new ballpark. He agreed to terms with St. Petersburg officials and began discussing radio and television deals.

St. Petersburg went wild. "Florida White Sox" bumper stickers and T-shirts were everywhere.

Meanwhile, Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko was outraged by St. Petersburg's pirating of his White Sox; he declared war on Florida and implored readers to flood St. Pete Mayor Bob Ulrich with dirty socks in protest. They did. The Tampa Tribune - in its first demonstration of solidarity with St. Petersburg after years of pronouncing Tampa as the only acceptable site for baseball - took out full page ads in response. "Next time you finish a delicious Florida orange, spit the seeds in an envelope and send them to Mike Royko," asked the Trib. (The seed spitting campaign was short-lived; the Florida Dept. of Agriculture, attempting to control the spread of citrus canker, objected strenuously to the mailing of orange seeds.)

In the end, the Illinois legislature voted the funds to build Reinsdorf a new stadium. Tampa Bay went through a period of extreme disappointment then recognized how close it had come. The White Sox had done what the shuttle diplomacy of Henry Kissinger could never achieve: they brought Tampa and St. Petersburg to the realization that together, they could attract baseball.

"Chicago legitimized St. Petersburg's efforts," according to Neil Elsey, president of Bay Plaza, the company recruiter to manage St. Petersburg's stadium and re-develop the city's waterfront business district. "Baseball and the Sox looked at this market and said it was good. Reinsdorf left $6-million on the table by taking the deal in Illinois."

The mayors of the two cities began to make appearances together, setting the tone for what has become known as "Hands Across the Bay." The Tampa Bay Baseball Group came to the Florida Suncoast Dome and signed an agreement to place any franchise it might land in St. Petersburg.

"St. Petersburg has the stadium and we have the ownership group," Tallis say today. "One complements the other."

In October 1989, St. Petersburg launched "Join the Team," a 30-day season ticket reservation campaign to show regional support for Tampa Bay baseball. Nearly 800 people a day placed $50 deposits for a total of 22,697 reservations. By comparison, Washington, D.C. has sold an estimated 15,000 reservations in four years and Orlando has picked up just 4,000 in a year.

"For years we heard baseball people say, 'You've gotta get together down there or there's never going to be a team,'" says Bunker. "Now we are together. We are now one group speaking with one voice instead of one for St. Petersburg and one for Tampa. People came up to me at the winter meetings this year and said, 'I see you finally came together - those season tickets, that's amazing.'"

Civic, community and business leaders on both sides of the Bay took the agreement on playing ball in St. Pete as a sign they could work together on more pressing issues such as transportation, education and cultural affairs. A tri-county economic development coalition, the Tampa Bay Partnership was formed to market the entire region. And people across the region are anxiously gearing up to host Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium in January.

"The goal from the beginning was to get baseball in Tampa Bay, baseball being good for Tampa Bay no matter where," says Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman. "The fact we've resolved where lets us move on and build bridges in other areas. We've done a lot of things collectively that had never happened before."

"People who thought they had dissimilar efforts and goals have now found they're in it together," says Elsey. "The quest for baseball did more than bricks and mortar and bridging the bay. It won a new feeling of what Tampa Bay's potential is. This will drive other projects."

It's too soon to say the fairy princess will live happily ever after - many people still perceive St. Petersburg as an old grey-haired lady balanced by an aluminum walker - but there are further signs of optimism.

Bay Plaza has finally begun to see activity in St. Pete's once desolate waterfront business district. A new 26-story class A office building will open in late '90, as will 139,000 square feet of new retail space and a six-story parking garage. AMC has plans to build the southeast's largest movie complex - 18 screens - in the downtown area and both Jacobson's and Parisian have looked at established department stores there. Bay Plaza has plans to build its own hotel across from the stadium - 440 rooms if a baseball team is awarded, 200 if its not.

If Tampa Bay does finally get its team this summer as it believes it will, credit will be shared by many people in both St. Petersburg and Tampa. But the real hero will always be a man from Chicago. Jerry Reinsdorf.

SECOND DRAFT OF SAME STORY:

There are a lot of things Americans will go to war over: taxation without representation, ethnic and racial oppression, drugs, communism and major league baseball. Baseball? The quest for a franchise between Tampa and St. Petersburg bitterly split the 2-million people in America's 20th-largest market for more than a decade, turning Tampa Bay into a watery Berlin Wall of east/west parochialism.

Tampa Bay became a leading contender for baseball - alongside Denver and Buffalo - about the same time it outgrew its Shady Grove Retirement Hotel image as God's waiting room. Its population now tops Miami/Ft. Lauderdale's and doubles Orlando's. Its untapped television market ranks 13th in the country. And St. Petersburg opened the 43,000-seat Florida Suncoast Dome in March as a baseball companion to Tampa Stadium, home of the NFL Bucanneers.

But the Bay area's largest cities were so antagonistic toward one another they couldn't agree on the time of day, let alone where and how to play ball until just recently. Even the czars and czarinas of baseball told the two sides of Tampa Bay to start acting like a team if they ever wanted a franchise to call their own. Not that expansion has had anything resembling a timetable; the last time baseball added teams, Jimmy Carter was president and two northern cities (Seattle and Toronto) got the nod.

A standoff might still exist today if it weren't for Jerry Reinsdorf.

Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox, announced in '88 his intention of moving to St. Petersburg's under-construction domed stadium if the Windy City did not build him a new ballpark. St. Pete had rolled the dice on a $100-million stadium to take advantage of just such a situation. The city went wild on Reinsdorf's declaration. "Florida White Sox" bumper stickers and T-shirts were everywhere.

Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko was outrage. He declared war on Florida and implored readers to flood St. Pete Mayor Bob Ulrich with dirty socks in protest. They did. The Tampa Tribune - in its first demonstration of solidarity with St. Petersburg - urged its readers to spit orange seeds in an envelope and send them to Royko. (The spitting was short-lived; the Florida Dept. of Agriculture, attempting to control the spread of citrus canker, objected strenuously to the mailing of orange seeds.)

In the end, Illinois gave Reinsdorf a new stadium. Tampa Bay was depressed; even the water tides seemed low. But the White Sox had done what the shuttle diplomacy of Henry Kissinger could never achieve: they brought Tampa and St. Petersburg to the realization that together, they could attract baseball.

"Chicago legitimized St. Petersburg's efforts," according to Neil Elsey, president of Bay Plaza, the company recruiter to manage St. Petersburg's stadium and re-develop the city's waterfront business district. "Baseball and the Sox looked at this market and said it was good."

The mayors of the two cities took the reunification initiative and began to make appearances together, setting the tone for what has become known as "Hands Across the Bay." The Tampa Bay Baseball Group - a potential franchise ownership group led by developer William Mack and auto dealer Frank Morsani previously committed to Tampa - came across the water and signed an agreement to place any team it might land in St. Petersburg.

"St. Petersburg has the stadium and we have the ownership group," says Cedric Tallis, TBBG executive director and former New York Yankees exec. "One complements the other."

In October 1989, St. Petersburg launched "Join the Team," a 30-day season ticket reservation campaign to show regional support for Tampa Bay baseball. Nearly 800 people a day placed $50 deposits for a total of 22,697 reservations. By comparison, Washington, D.C. has sold an estimated 15,000 reservations in four years and Orlando has picked up just 4,000 in a year.

It's too soon to say the fairy princess will live happily ever after - many people still perceive St. Petersburg as an old grey-haired lady balanced by an aluminum walker - but there are further signs of optimism.
Bay Plaza has finally begun to see activity in St. Pete's once desolate waterfront business district. A new 26-story office tower will open in late '90, as will new retail space. AMC has plans to build the southeast's largest movie complex - 18 screens - in the downtown area. Bay Plaza has plans to build its own hotel across from the stadium - 440 rooms if a baseball team is awarded, 200 if its not.

"People who thought they had dissimilar efforts and goals have now found they're in it together," says Elsey. "The quest for baseball did more than bricks and mortar and bridging the bay. It won a new feeling of what Tampa Bay's potential is. This will drive other projects."

Even if baseball doesn't come, civic, community and business leaders on both sides of the Bay took the agreement on playing ball in St. Pete as a sign they could work together on more pressing issues such as transportation, education and cultural affairs. A tri-county economic development coalition, the Tampa Bay Partnership, was formed to market the entire region. And people across the region are anxiously gearing up to host Super Bowl XXV at Tampa Stadium in January.

"The goal from the beginning was to get baseball in Tampa Bay, baseball being good for Tampa Bay no matter where," says Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman. "The fact we've resolved where lets us move on and build bridges in other areas. We've done a lot of things collectively that had never happened before."

Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

97 of the 99 Best Things About Doing Business in Tampa Bay (Florida Business Tampa Bay)

Image by Eyeshotpictures via FlickrBy Bob Andelman

(Originally published in Florida Business Tampa Bay, 1990)

A
The first sight of Tampa Bay most business travelers, visitors and new arrivals enjoy is the magnificent Tampa International Airport. It ranked second in the world in a 1987 poll by the International Federation of Airline Passenger Associations. (Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam was first.) What's not to like? The hub-and-spoke design makes for short walks between airline gates and baggage claim. Even the airport food is quite good. Completely remodeled in the late '80s and keeping up with increased demand though perpetual expansion, TIA is a delightful gateway to Tampa Bay.

There is more than one airport in Tampa Bay, however. St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport has a thriving charter business after years of serving commercial carriers. Private and executive airplanes also enjoy easy access to Albert Whitted Municipal Airport in St. Petersburg, Clearwater Executive Airpark, Plant City Municipal Airport, Tampa Bay Executive Airport, and Peter O. Knight Airport, Vandenberg Airport and Zephyrhills Municipal Airport.

Advertising products and services is at once easy and complicated across the bay. There are more than 200 media outlets between newspapers, magazines, radio and television. While broadcast's message stretches across the two counties, print offers a more selective sell. The daily newspapers offer neighborhood editions; weekly community papers do the same. And magazines specializing in lifestyles, homes, business, computers, music, disabled workers, parents, women and new age interests offer niche targets.

A rash of acquisitions and mergers in the late 1980s has resulted in most of Tampa Bay's fine homegrown advertising agencies gaining national affiliations. Earle Palmer Brown, Fahlgren & Swink, Bozell, Jacobs, Kenyon & Eckhardt, Young & Rubicam are all represented locally.

Abilities Inc. of Florida is an aggressive, not-for-profit Clearwater-based organization that has been a national model in providing skills training for the emotionally and physically disabled in electronics assembly. Abilities students also learn desktop publishing, computer-aided design (CAD), computer programming, and clerical skills. Clients for graduates include Critikon, E-Systems, GTE, Honeywell, IBM, and AT&T/Paradyne.

Affordable housing makes Tampa Bay attractive for new workers, professionals, and management executives alike.

Audio/video production in the Bay area offers quality commercial, corporate and technical know-how and facilities at a reasonable cost.

B
Banking is big business in the Bay area. Two nationally recognized financially institutions - NCNB National Bank and Chase Bank of Florida - run their Florida operations from Tampa headquarters.

In downtown St. Petersburg, a revolution is underway, led by master planner Neil Elsey and his Bay Plaza Companies. A 10-year plan for rejuvenating the city's waterfront business district as an upscale retail center is well under way.

Bridging the bay, hands across the bay ... whatever you call the recent trend towards one-market thinking, its long-range implications for the Tampa Bay area can be nothing but positive for business and our general quality of life.

Beaches. Isn't that the number one reason anyone comes to Florida? Whether we actively use them for relaxation or entertainment, it's always comforting to know they're there when we need them, hot, sandy and near the cool blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico. They also contribute mightily to the local economy as millions of tourists flock here from points throughout the United States, Canada and, more recently, Europe.

There's a general list of fine restaurants under "R" but Bern's Steak House in Tampa merits individual attention. Its world-renown wine cellar and fabulous steaks make it a "must-eat" destination of most business travelers and well-to-do tourists. And it's even more deliciously wacky-tacky in its red velvet walls and sculpture than the Kapok Tree in Clearwater.

Baseball, baseball, baseball. Unless the area is wiped out by a tsunami, Tampa Bay will be the site of Major League Baseball's next expansion franchise.

Business news is easy to come by. Tampa Bay has four major monthly magazines: Florida Business, Florida Trend, The Maddux Report, and Urban Business; a quarterly, Excel; four tabloid weeklies: the Tampa Bay Business Journal, the Pinellas Review, and Monday supplements to the St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune; weekday Wall Street reports on WSUN and WFLA radio; and the "Suncoast Business Journal" on WEDU-TV.

As for business schools, the University of South Florida College of Business Administration is accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business. The school offers both MBA and Ph.D. programs and is headquarters for the Center for International Business, the International Language Institute, the Center for Free Enterprise and Economic Education, Small Business Development Center. The University of Tampa, which also has a distinguished business program including MBA studies, is home to the Center for Ethics.

C
The Center for Training and Business Development in Tampa was originally formed to assist in the relocation of Citicorp Travelers Checks from New York to Tampa and in massive training of new employees. Funded by a public/private partnership, the Center has gone on to provide training for new hires at Chase Manhattan, Time Inc. and Leslie Controls, among others.

Tampa Bay encourages corporate relocation but only clean industry need apply. Leave the smokestacks at home.

Concurrency and its seven circles of infrastructure requirements - roads, water, sewer, drainage, mass transit, recreation and solid waste treatment - which must overlap and encircle any future proposed development area, may or may not belong on this list. Check back in 10 years.

A slump in the construction industry has caused a number of out-of-town builders to flee and even one or two local firms to call it quits. That's not a plus for construction, but anyone needing to build should be able to find favorable terms.

Corporate headquarters in the Bay area include: Jack Eckerd Corp., Milton Roy, Home Shopping Network, Florida Progress, Homestyle Family Buffet, Kash n' Karry, Tech Data, GTE, Raymond James and Associates, Spalding & Evenflo, Hillsborough Holdings, Jim Walter Corp., Times Publishing Co., Trader Publications, Lykes Bros., Florida Steel, Tampa Electric Co., Maas Brothers.

Corporate sponsorship opportunities abound, from sporting events such as the annual collegiate Hall of Fame Bowl football game and St. Petersburg Grand Prix to Shakespeare in the Park and Clearwater Jazz Holiday.

D
Competition between discount office supply warehouses like St. Petersburg-based Workplace and Miami-based Office Depot has enabled even small businesses to buy Fax machines, PC clones and other technology and paper goods at rock-bottom prices.

Centrally located on Florida's west coast, Tampa Bay is ideal as a distribution point for the entire state. Oil products intended for all of mid-Florida enter the state through Port of Tampa and Port Manatee.

Driving across Tampa Bay to get to work in the morning is a small pleasure - the water beginning to glisten as the sun rises. But driving across the water to get home at sunset is even better, thanks to the celestial explosion of colors as the sun sinks to the horizon. Traffic be damned - there's no better place to get stuck.

E
Economic development organizations such as the Tampa Committee of One Hundred, Pinellas Economic Development Council, Tampa Bay Partnership, Pinellas County Industry Council play a major role in stimulating growth, attracting new companies and creating opportunities.

Tampa Bay's effective buying income of $33,436,603,000 in 1988 ranked the region 24th nationally.

Enterprise Village is a novel experiment developed by Pinellas business leaders in conjunction with the county school board to give elementary school students a real taste of America's free enterprise system. The kids spend six weeks in the classroom learning about buying, selling, check writing and balancing, wholesale and retail, payrolls and other facets of daily business. Then they put it all into practice at Enterprise Village in Largo, where local businesses such as WRBQ Radio, Florida Power, McDonalds and Eckerd Drugs have established miniature replicas of their operations.

Ethnic diversity is strong throughout the area, from the Greek community in Tarpon Springs and African-Americans in St. Petersburg's Southside and Tampa's College Hill to the Latin, Spanish and Italian influences upon Ybor City.

F
It's a great place to raise a family. Maybe even a dynasty.

Foreign trade includes sending frozen chickens and butter to the Soviet Union, citrus to Japan, building materials to the Caribbean. Pinellas County has permanent trade missions to Amsterdam, London and Germany. Trade is also encouraged and supported by the Tampa Bay International Trade Council, Super Task Force for Internationalizing the Tampa Bay Area and Pinellas County Industry Council.

Nearly 200 of the Fortune 500 companies have affiliations in the Bay area. Three of these are companies with corporate headquarters here.

The opening of the Florida Suncoast Dome (see 'B: Baseball, baseball, baseball') should continue to revolutionize the way the world sees St. Petersburg. And it will create new opportunities downtown.

G
Growth management. It stings today, but in the long run, we'll be glad we did it.

Rand McNally's Vacation Places Rated ranks the bay area fourth nationally for golf.

H
Health care and its ancillary industries employ tens of thousands locally and pump millions into the economy.

Higher education institutions include the University of South Florida, University of Tampa, Eckerd College, Tampa College, Hillsborough Community College, Florida College, Clearwater Christian College, and St. Petersburg Junior College.

Believe it or not, we're putting the Home Shopping Network on the list. It's weird, it's tacky, it's the cubic zirconia of broadcasting, but HSN and top gun Roy Speer have put the "Clearwater, Florida" dateline on news and feature stories around the globe, from the Wal Street Journal to TV Guide. And, more importantly, the cable channel brought Farrah Fawcett to Pinellas County. That's worth something.

Another Clearwater innovation, Hooters, might debate that it is infinitely weird and tackier than Home Shopping Network. Whatever. The wing, breast and surf music restaurants are the antithesis of formal dining for business lunches; that's why so many suit-and-tie types take out-of-town guests here.

I
There is no state income tax in Florida. Many would argue its needed to pay for infrastructure, schools and other necessities, but so far, no tax.

Which leads to impact fees for new development. They are rising, rising, rising ... but so is the population and the traffic caused by growth.

Industrial revenue bonds have been a major contributor to the attraction of new business to Pinellas County and the expansion of existing business. Originally set to sunset in October, the bond program is expected to receive a reprieve and be extended for two more years.

Average per capita personal income in Hillsborough County is $14,821; in Pinellas County, it's $19,091.

Growth in international air travel has led to expanded direct and non-stop flights from Tampa to Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, Mexico, Bahamas and Canada.

The interstate highway system throughout Tampa Bay is one of the few joys a commuter can find. I-75 connects Tampa with Miami to the south and leads all the way north to Canada. Along the way, it intersects I-10, America's favorite east/west freeway, linking Los Angeles to Jacksonville. And, finally, there's I-4. It starts in Tampa, cuts across Orlando and runs into I-95 on Florida's east coast. I-95 connects Miami to Maine.

L
An ever-growing, abundant and affordable labor force of 1.4-million prevails in Tampa Bay, presenting skilled and unskilled, union and non-union workers. The number of engineers, for example, is projected to increase 79 percent from 8,402 in 1986 to 15,012 by the year 2000.

Luxury homes can be found in patches throughout the Bay area, from the waterfront to the edge of wilderness preserves, with prices running from a few hundred thou to multi-millions. Belleair, Snell Isle, Terra Ceia, Davis Islands, Hyde Park, and Tampa Palms are but a few of the places to invest a mint in shelter.

M
MacDill Air Force Base means $1.6-billion to the local economy and is responsible for more than 10,000 jobs.

Magnet schools in Pinellas County - specializing in the performing arts, mathematics and science, liberal arts, and an early graduation program.

Bob Martinez, governor of the State of Florida, hails from Tampa and ... waitaminnit ... Sorry, wrong list.

Author John Naisbitt recommended Tampa as one of the 10 great cities of opportunity in his book, Megatrends.

Minority media outlets are varied and strong here. The African-American community supports two radio stations, two newspapers and a monthly business magazine. Latins have two newspapers, one television and two radio stations. There is also a Greek newspaper and radio station.

Participating in one of the Bay area's museums is both good for the soul and the pocketbook. Volunteers and contributors gain both good will and valuable contacts from being involved with the Tampa Museum of Art, Salvador Dali Museum, Great Explorations-The Hands-On Museum, Children's Museum of Tampa, Henry B. Plant Museum, Ybor City State Museum, St. Petersburg Historical Museum, Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Science and Industry.

N
Miami, Orlando and Tallahassee only have one good newspaper a piece. Tampa Bay has two, the St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Tribune.

O
The one-penny optional sales tax approved by Pinellas County voters in 1989 should make driving there a little easier in the future.

Thanks to a building glut and more downtown towers coming on line in both Tampa and St. Petersburg, there is an office glut that has created a buyer's market.

What would Orlando be doing on this list? Well, when Tampa and St. Petersburg set aside their differences to work towards common goals, it was helpful to have someone to turn our collective antipathy towards. And we like having the Orlando attractions just 90 minutes away so when we do need a mouseketeer injection, we need not stay overnight.

P
Not everyone lives a typical life. At Paradise Lakes Resort, normal means nude. The 40-acre alternative lifestyle community in Land 'o Lakes is more than just a topless beach; it's a thriving real estate business offering 340 single family homes, mobile homes, town homes, condominiums and an RV park. Non-resident couples are invited to visit.

How about plenty of pawn shops and package stores for that business downturn that always lurks around the corner.

A wealth of over-planning has gifted Tampa Bay with three of the south's greatest performing arts centers, Ruth Eckerd Hall, the Mahaffey Theater, and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

Planned communities are all the rage. Tampa Palms may be the best-known, but Hunter's Green, Avila, Cheval, The Villages at Cypress Creek, Walden Lake, and Andalucia are growing in popularity.

Port of Tampa and Port Manatee are out of each other's league in terms of size - Manatee does just a fraction of Tampa's shipping tonnage - but the two are fiercely competitive and the business community benefits.

While the St. Petersburg Times and billionaire industrialist Bob Bass scrap for control of the newspaper publishing company, the non-profit Poynter Institute for Media Studies continues to be a beacon of integrity in the journalism world. Poynter - named for the Times' late editor - draws reporters and editors from around the world to take part in studies of the whys, wherefores and howtos of modern media.

Both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are sprinting toward individual population counts anticipated to exceed 1-million by the end of this decade. But the Tampa Bay metropolitan statistical area, which includes Pasco and Hernando, already put us over 2-million. Tampa Bay is second only to Atlanta in population, households and effective buying income.

One of the great conveniences of living in Tampa Bay is the 24-hour Post Office at Tampa International Airport.

Some publishers do, admittedly, send their work out of town, but virtually any printing need imaginable can be handled locally, from web offset presses to glossy four-color jobs.

Private clubs aren't for everybody - heck, they aren't even just for men anymore. But membership in the Tampa Club, University Club, Presidents Club, Cherokee Club and Centre Club is still pretty exclusive.

Public relations specialists abound. John Heagney, for example, is Mr. Real Estate. And Sherry Wheatley Sacino has made a name for herself working with companies dealing in the Soviet Union, Caribbean and Third World countries. Hill & Knowlton

R
Freight and passenger rail service - including CSX and Amtrak - are still available in the Tampa Bay area.

Florida passed the "Solid Waste Management Act" in 1988 and it is finally spurring Tampa Bay's municipalities to push active recycling. The counties must achieve 30 percent recycling of all solid waste by 1994. Several businesses are springing up to capitalize on the requirements of the new law.

Just when you think you've got trouble, Joe Redner gets arrested again for trying to keep his businesses open. Redner is king of adult entertainment in Tampa Bay, the kind of guy you love to hate. He's colorful, articulate and probably making bond even as you read this.

Economic development agencies got a boost in their efforts to relocate businesses to Tampa Bay in 1989. Pollster Louis Harris surveyed chief executives of the nation's largest companies for Cushman & Wakefield and asks them to grade 31 cities in categories such as labor, access to markets, quality of life and attitudes of government. Tampa ranked fifth in the survey.

Research is crucial to large and small industry. Tampa Bay is home to accomplished and respected facilities at the University of South Florida, Showa University Research Institute (cancer research), Commerce Clearinghouse (law), and Poynter Institute (media).

This is America's 20th largest radio market. Approximately three dozen AM & FM stations are licensed to the Tampa Bay area.

U.S. News & World Report ranks Tampa as the 16th hottest real estate market in the United States. West Palm Beach ranked first; Ft. Lauderdale was 24th.

Restaurants: Armani's, Eugen's, Lobster Pot, Donatello, Il Nido, Mise en Place, Oystercatchers, Black Swan, Bentley's, r.g.'s, Wine Cellar, Le Bordeaux, Le Pompano, Bella Trattoria, Basta's, Dolce Vita, Lauro Ristorante ....

The Rutenbergs, Arthur and Charles, have been among the most consistent, respectable and successful developers in the Bay area. Arthur, whose trademark single family residences are renown across America, and Charles, who developed Countryside Mall, continue to call Clearwater their home.

S
Hillsborough and Pinellas have tens of millions of square feet in industrial, office and commercial sites ready and approved for development.

Some skeptics might say there's only one game in town, but sports represent a major part in the way Tampa Bay works and plays. Buying season tickets to see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is virtually de rigeur for prominent businesses. Motorcar racing has taken off locally with two annual events, the World Challenge of Tampa and St. Petersburg Grand Prix. Four major league baseball teams come each year for spring training; those four and two more have minor league operations in Hillsborough and Pinellas. The University of Tampa and University of South Florida have consistently ranked in national collegiate baseball polls and USF's basketball team qualified for the NCAA tournament in 1990 for the first time. Besides providing thrills, local sports provide a tremendous number of spinoff business opportunities from concessions and uniforms to transportation and lodging. They also send Tampa Bay datelines around the world via TV, radio, newspapers and magazines.

Speaking of sports, the biggest name in the world of Tampa Bay athletics has to be shipping magnate and New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Not many people in these parts can make both the sports and business news on the same day. This Tampa resident also been generous to local charities and community organizations with his time and money.

When the question of recession comes up, Tampa Bay economists and bankers frequently point to the region's senior citizens as one cushion against a local downturn. The line of thought is that between Social Security checks, pensions, military benefits and investment income, the area's older resident will always bring a guaranteed volume of dollars that other communities can't count on.

St. Petersburg-based Stetson University College of Law - Florida's oldest law school - has become a significant legal resource for Tampa Bay and the entire west coast of Florida.

The home team may not play in it, but Tampa Stadium will still put on its best face to host its second NFL championship game, Super Bowl XXV, in January 1991.

T
A coalition to watch is the Tampa Bay Partnership. An informal amalgamation of economic development groups from Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough, TBP is marketing a Bay area without county boundaries to the outside world.

The Tampa Convention Center - which still needs a more distinguished name - should finally be on-line this fall. Located on the city's downtown waterfront opposite Harbour Island, this spectacular, world-class building offers 200,000 square feet of exhibit space and a 36,000-square foot ballroom. Anyone with deep pockets looking for business opportunities should examine the convention center: when it opens, downtown Tampa will face a dire shortage of business-class hotel rooms.

A Moran, Stahl & Boyer study reported that the tax situation in Tampa Bay - moderate corporate income tax, no inventory tax, no personal income tax, no sales tax on business services and low personal property taxes - mirrors the advantages other areas of Florida have over neighboring states.

A number of economic reports have proclaimed this to be "Technology Bay" in deference to the fast-growing high technology, communications and advanced medical industries that have developed and relocated here.

This is America's 13th largest television market. Viewers are served by four network affiliates, two public broadcasting stations, two independents and a cornucopia of cable companies.

Rand McNally's Vacation Places Rated ranks the bay area third nationally for tennis. Teen sensation Jennifer Capriati trains at the Saddlebrook Resort.

The 41 miles that stretch north and south through Tampa have taken on an identity as the Tampa Parkway. It has become home to thousands upon thousands of square feet of office, commercial and industrial space, plus high-quality residential developments.

U
Even without a football team, the University of South Florida has topped Florida State as the Sunshine State's second largest school. It is based in Tampa, but the St. Petersburg Bayboro campus continues to increase enrollment and facilities. USF also has branches in Pasco, Polk and Ft. Myers.

Upscale retail stores are not yet abundant here but are growing in number. Old Hyde Park Village has the best collection, including Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, Ann Taylor, Williams-Sonoma, Crabtree & Evelyn, Jacobson's, and The Sharper Image. Downtown St. Petersburg's redevelopment plan centers upon attracting more of the same, including a major anchor or two that would be unique to the area, perhaps Macy's, Bloomingdale's or Parisian.

V
Anyone with an office in a downtown Tampa, St. Petersburg or Clearwater tower would be hard-pressed to disagree that the Bay area's office buildings offer some of the best views of land and sea available anywhere.

Vocational and technical schools have grown exponentially on both sides of the bay in answer to the needs of new and existing industry. These county-operated programs can train high school students or adults in dozens or regularly scheduled programs or can accommodate special needs.

W
Weather? The weather is great. Only California would be better and you can't breathe or see the weather there.

Y
Youth is on the march. Once a victim of its demographic perception, Tampa Bay has 685,046 men and women between the ages of 15 and 44. By contrast, there are only 315,911 people age 65 and over.

Ybor City is the perpetual city of hope. A new redevelopment agency and a wave of ambitious young entrepreneurs, restaurateurs, and artists have taken root and are beginning to attract a crowd.

Z
And finally, Tampa has two zoos, one world class (Busch Gardens), one on its way (Lowry Park). In the works: the Florida Aquarium, largest marine aquarium in the United States, perhaps by 1993.

end

Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

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Clay Bennett, CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS editorial cartoonist: Mr. Media Interview

Of the nine books I’ve written, it just occurred to me that the first and last have Pulitzer Prize connections—not for my work, unfortunately, but still…

The last was Will Eisner: A Spirited Life, a biography of the American master artist and writer, which featured an introduction by Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Michael Chabon.

And my first book, Stadium For Rent, features dozens of editorial cartoons drawn by future Pulitzer Prize winning artist Clay Bennett.

Back then, Bennett was poking fun at local issues and political figures for the St. Petersburg Times. I’ve always regarded his style as sneaky—the clean lines and bold images let him club you over the head with his message while you’re still chuckling.

Bennett left the Times for the Christian Science Monitor, where he ultimately won his Pulitzer. Today, he’s with the Chattanooga Times Free Press, of all places, and we’ll certainly talk about that, I’m sure.

You can LISTEN to this Mr. Media interview with editorial cartoonist CLAY BENNETT of the CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS by clicking the BlogTalkRadio.com audio player below!

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Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman. Click here for copyright permissions!

Charlos Gary, CAFE CON LECHE, WORKING IT OUT cartoonist: Mr. Media Interview

The only thing tougher than being a black man trying to hail a cab in Manhattan might be being a black man trying to sell a comic strip into a daily newspaper that already has a strip created by an African-American cartoonist.

Charlos Gary knows how tough it is – he’s the man behind two daily strips, the single panel “Working It Out” and the multi-panel “Café Con Leche.”

And he’s found an unusual twist: "Café Con Leche" is about the lives of young African-American man and his Latina wife. Sometimes it’s political, sometimes it's as everyday as Blondie. But it’s never dull and it’s always good for a laugh.

You can LISTEN to this Mr. Media interview with CHARLOS GARY by clicking the BlogTalkRadio.com audio player below!

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Copyright 2008 Bob Andelman

Bill Adair, POLITIFACT.com, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES editor: Mr. Media Audio Interview

If you wanted to pick a good presidential campaign upon which to launch a political web site devoted to truth, justice, and the American Way – and those are my words, not there’s – this would be the one.

You’ve got a man running as the candidate of one party who was in Vietnamese prisoner of war camps for five years, plus the first woman and African-American man to ever challenge for a major party’s nomination – and one of them will win it, one of these days.

And before we reached this point, there were so many candidates on both sides that we needed scorecards to keep track.

If you haven’t visited it before, take a minute and surf over to www.PolitiFact.com while you listen to this podcast.

The site is an online extension of the St. Petersburg Times daily newspaper and Congressional Quarterly and it is just what an election of this magnitude and complexity needs: a lie detector!

Literally!

Joining me today is the editor of Politifact.com – and Washington bureau chief for the St. Petersburg Times – Bill Adair. (And in the interest of full disclosure, let me say that my wife is a long-time editor at the Times.)
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Lawyer Profile: Darryl Rouson (Tampa Bay Review)

(The following profile was published as the front page story in the January 3, 2003 edition of the Tampa Bay Review.)

By Bob Andelman

Some attorneys are born into the right families and the right social circles. They attend the right schools, and their careers become a series of wide open doors with huge retainers waiting on the other side.

Other attorneys scrape and struggle for every lump of cubic zirconia, looking for an enchanted door that will open just enough to slip a pauper's boot in.

The story of St. Petersburg attorney Darryl Rouson, who in 1981 was the first African-American assistant state attorney in Pinellas County and is now president of the St. Petersburg chapter of the NAACP, combines elements of both. And when he finally found the right door, he exploded noisily through it.

Newspaper stories in 2002 often featured the exploits of the senior partner in the law office of Rouson & Dudley, P.A. He represented troubled former baseball star Darryl Strawberry when the former Yankees star was accused of violating his parole by getting thrown out of a drug treatment center. And incoming Florida State Attorney General Charlie Crist put Rouson on his official transition team.

As head of the NAACP, he made headlines by demanding a "fair share agreement" for African-American and other minority contractors on the $41 million rebuilding of Gibbs High School in St. Petersburg. And when the city announced in December that a new cruise ship would be docking in the municipal port, Rouson wasted no time calling for minority representation on the ship's board of directors. Of course, that call was made on the heels of one of his biggest successes: pushing the parent company of the St. Petersburg Times to honor a long-standing commitment to diversifying its own board.

"As I told Darryl, no one likes to be crowded," says Andrew Barnes, chairman of the board and chief executive of Times Publishing Co., "But if you're being crowded in a direction you'd like to go, that's OK."

Barnes says it's fair to give Rouson a share of the credit for moving the Times to appoint Karen Brown Dunlap, dean of faculty at the Poynter Institute - eight years after Barnes himself made a commitment to minority participation on the board. But Barnes says it was the newspaper's diversity officer, Sebastian Dortch, who looked him in the eye earlier this year and said, "Let me tell you how it seems in your organization to be African-American."

"That happened before Darryl surfaced," Barnes says. "But when someone's prodding you, it's a factor. All of that conspired to move it up a notch."

Unlike others before him who raised the issue with Barnes, Rouson's credibility in making his argument and getting results was enhanced by two factors. Number one, according to Barnes: "Darryl's family has a huge history with the Times. His mother was a stringer for the Evening Independent. She was an immensely attractive and vital, able person. Two of his sisters, Janine and Brigette, interned at the Poynter Institute. And Brigette went on to write for Congressional Quarterly and later became a lawyer for the American Newspaper Publishers Association."

Second, and perhaps more important, was Rouson's personal friendship and professional history with St. Petersburg attorney and developer George Rahdert, who represents the Times on First Amendment issues. Rouson wasn't above lobbying his friend for support on minority representation and Rahdert wasn't above working the issue with Barnes.

"George and I agreed that (minority representation on the board) was a desirable purpose," Barnes says. "Sure, we talked about it."

"Andy knows that Darryl is an extremely good friend of mine and someone I also have a professional relationship with," says Rahdert, senior partner in Rahdert Steele Bryan & Bole. "I suppose it's possible that my acknowledged friendship with Darryl added some credibility to what he had to say. But Darryl makes a good point."

Nothing is as neat as that when it comes to Darryl Rouson. Because in the midst of his campaign to pressure the newspaper, the Times reported that Rouson - revealed several years earlier by the paper as a recovering cocaine addict - filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

"He didn't feel we should do it," Barnes says. "But Darryl is a public figure. And I'll be goddamned if I was going to hide it."

o o o

Born in New Orleans, raised in St. Petersburg and a graduate of Xavier University and the University of Florida Spessard Holland Law Center, it is difficult to imagine Darryl Ervin Rouson ever doing anything quietly.

When he came back to St. Petersburg in 1998 after an absence of more than a decade - during which he was in and out of treatment centers, worked as a counselor himself and also did a stint in Chicago with Cook County Government) - Rouson studied the legal landscape.

"I asked myself, 'What is it about me that distinguishes me from the rest? How can I impress upon people that I care about their problems and legal matters?"


For a man whose mantra comes from the title of Wall Street lawyer Reginald F. Lewis' 1994 posthumous autobiography, Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun?, it didn't take Rouson long to settle on high visibility as a way of hitting the ground running.

He concluded that few black lawyers in St. Petersburg immerse themselves in hard community issues and problems. "It also occurred that I could make my weakness, addiction, a strength. If I chose to keep it secret, it could be used against me," Rouson says. "I think it's always going to be a part of who I am. I'm no longer ashamed or embarrassed. My journey is what made me who I am today, in all its ugliness and beauty."

He put himself front and center as a leader in efforts to take back neighborhoods in south St. Petersburg from drug dealers. Rouson challenged the owners of retail outlets to be accountable and responsible for what he calls "negative items" such as drug paraphernalia sold on their premises. He sued several motels for creating public nuisances. He bought an entire block of crack houses.

"I can't stop a person from getting high," Rouson says. "But I can use my legal talents to stop people from profiting off the illnesses of others."

o o o

So how does Darryl Rouson make a living?

"Unfortunately," he says, "I'm in what you call a hustle practice, which is 55 percent personal injury, 30 percent criminal, and 15 percent probate and civil litigation, nuisance suits. What I want to develop, like any other firm, is steady work. Steady retainer work."

Reaching that goal demands a greater focus on relationship building with area corporations, community leaders, and his fellow attorneys.

"You can't build very good relationships in the community by suing everybody," Rouson says. "And it's not attractive to always be engaged in defense of criminal activity. My prayer is that our community, the black community, stands up and supports us by bringing the good cases to us. That's how Willie Gary made it big. We are also available to co-counsel on good cases and issues where it may make a difference that we are involved."

Rouson can stand on a street corner or in a court of law until he is blue in the face, saying the right things, even the politically correct things. But he admits there will still be firms that won't touch him with a 10-foot sterilized pole. The fear of backsliding will always be in the room with him.

"There wasn't a self-respecting firm that would have given me a job when I came home in 1998 given the issues is my life at that time," Rouson says. "I couldn't have survived as long as (judges) Charles Cope or David Patterson if I had those same issues and it had been me. I'm not naive about that. But I take my sobriety seriously and do not compromise it for any issue or any person."

o o o

The big stick technique that Rouson applied to the St. Petersburg Times and Pinellas County School Board is the same one he beats corporations with every day in search of more "fair share" opportunities. Those opportunities could be for the greater good of the African-American community, or just for one of its favorite sons - Darryl Rouson. Just depends upon which hat he's wearing at the time.

"As a lawyer, my strategy is to build powerful relationships," he says. "I believe that I have to go to the big companies like Echelon or Sembler, and all the Tech Datas of the world, and tell them my services are available and competitive and of quality. I can't just sit back and wait for someone to give me something because of past exclusionary issues."

That approach sometimes carries over to Rouson's role as president of the St. Pete NACCP chapter. But not always.

"You want powerful relationships as NAACPers," he says. "But you have to maintain a real sense of independence so you can challenge these powerful relationships when negotiations fail. We prefer negotiations. But we realize it sometimes takes agitation to move institutions and people from zones of comfort to zones of righteousness."

o o o

Challenging 73-year-old Garnelle Jenkins for the top post in the St. Pete NAACP in November 2000 put Darryl Rouson on the Tampa Bay area political map. And when he stunned the 21-year incumbent and won election to the chapter's presidency, Rouson's message was clear: If you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch.

"We're living in exciting and challenging times in Pinellas County. A new standard of leadership amongst African-Americans is being raised up. We have Calvin Harris, Ken Welch, Renee Flowers, Earnest Williams, Frank Peterman, Mary Brown. The old guard is changing. I'm not surprised at some of the success we've enjoyed at the NAACP."


Apparently the membership of the St. Pete chapter is pleased; Rouson was re-elected, unopposed, to a second term on November 19. It may, however, be his last term.

"I'm challenged to really make my mark," he says, "because I can't do this forever. I have to make a living again, practicing law. I want to slow down a little bit from some of the community stuff and secure financial independence for my family."

o o o

Rouson's biggest nemesis remains the one he sees in the mirror every morning. He has caused himself more damaged over the last two decades than any one client or community leader could ever single-handedly cause.

His first marriage, to Adrienne, collapsed when he became a drug addict. "My first wife kicked me to the curb and ran over me with the bus because of addition issues," he says. "I lost everything I had." They had two daughters; one is a sophomore at his alma mater, Xavier; the younger girl is a junior in high school. Rouson was estranged from the girls until recently.

He subsequently cleaned himself up and remarried in 1990, only to fall back into bad habits when his second wife, Ruby, was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer. Rouson, who had a son with Ruby, endured a second round of rehab after Ruby died in 1997.

He married a third time, to Angela, in 1999, and now is the father of two more boys, ages 2 and five months.

Rouson, who has been clean since March 17, 1998, is now an aggressive anti-drug crusader, one who wears his rehabilitation as a badge of merit. He makes no effort to hide this ugly part of his past. The walls of his office lobby include a St. Petersburg Times story in which he was photographed in one of the crack houses where he once bought cocaine and got high. There is also a profile from Recovery magazine (January 2002): "Rebel with a Cause: Darryl Rouson."

"When I first started with him," says Rouson's partner, Tamara Felton Dudley, 34, "he would take me into the community, to places where there were a lot of drug dealers. He would say to them, 'Why don't you get off the street? Get a job!' Then he would give them his business card. We would leave court to do that."

State Rep. Frank Peterman (District 55) is an old friend and fraternity brother of Rouson's.

"Darryl is on a mission," according to Peterman. "He's been wanting to make up for a time earlier in his life. He's running fast to get to higher levels that he believes god has taken him to. He's redeeming the time."

o o o

The question any reasonable person might draw from reading about the never sedentary life of Darryl Rouson is this: How do addiction, bankruptcy and community leadership play in the daily struggle of running a Tampa Bay area law firm? And what kind of lawyer is Darryl Rouson?

Let's look at the second question first.

David Demers is chief judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit in Pinellas County. He saw Rouson in action, pre-addiction and three marriages ago.

"When he was a state attorney, he was a phenomenal trial attorney," according to Demers. "He represented the state and did a great job. He certainly wasn't bombastic. He was an advocate in the finest sense of the word, an effective cross-examiner. He had all the skills that a good litigator should have."

More recently, attorney George Rahdert has seen Rouson in action on his behalf. "He's a highly principled individual, on a personal level as well as on a professional level," Rahdert says. "He's a guy you can really trust with your friendship. I'll also testify that he's a very good lawyer. I've hired him to represent me, personally, and he's done a very good job. What gets lost in all the hoopla is he's a very skilled lawyer."

As for the way Rouson conducts his business and whether or not he is reliable, Rahdert offers his unconditional endorsement.

"I think I'm a pretty good judge of legal skills," he says. "The times he has represented me, I've been very pleased with his ability and outcome. If there's a perception in the community that he should be avoided because of his past, I think it's a misperception. He's really gifted."

Andy Barnes has also experienced Rouson up close and person. "He's a guy who has immense charisma," the top executive at the Times says. "Just exactly where he's going to fit in, I'm not sure."

©2003 by Bob Andelman. All rights reserved. No portion may be reproduced without the express written permission of the author.