Peter Schorsch
In December, I bid on a charity auction item from Creative Loafing (benefiting The Children’s Home) to enjoy lunch with Mayor Rick Kriseman.
Five months and $172.50 later, Mayor Kriseman, CL Publisher David Warner, CL News & Politics Editor Kate Bradshaw, The Children’s Home’s Irene Rickus, and I sat down Thursday for a delicious, albeit heavy, lunch at Sylvia’s in the heart of St. Petersburg’s Midtown.
The conversation was good-spirited and wide-ranging, shifting from Mayor Kriseman’s work with guide dogs to an appraisal of Tampa’s burgeoning restaurant scene. In between, Kriseman and I exchanged our (more similar than you might think) views on a host of issues related to the ‘burg.
I hope Bradshaw will have a full rundown of the conversation. In the meantime, here are two interesting political tidbits straight from Kriseman.
1. Kriseman is endorsing fellow Democrat Patrick Murphy for the U.S. Senate. I may have caught Kriseman off guard with a question about whether he would be endorsing in the race, but he unequivocally said he would be endorsing Murphy. Before the words could get out of Kriseman’s mouth, erstwhile Kriseman comms gatekeeper Ben Kirby tried to keep the endorsement present under wraps. However, it had been agreed at the outset of the lunch that everything said was on the record, so after a little back and forth among Kirby, Bradshaw and myself, it’s confirmed: Rick Kriseman is supporting Patrick Murphy for the U.S. Senate. Look for a more formal rollout soon.
2. Kriseman, without hesitation, answered a question about whether he would seek re-election with an emphatic “Yes.” That should put an end to all of the chess-boarding about Kriseman possibly running for Congress in 2016.
Just those two news items alone were worth the price of lunch with The Mayor. That the money went to The Children’s Home makes it all the better.
