Mitch Perry
Who says bipartisanship is dead in Pinellas County?
On Friday morning, members of the Pinellas County Republican Executive Board delivered potted flowers, via courier, to the Pinellas County Democratic Party headquarters located at 2250 1st Ave. N. in St. Petersburg.
“After our incredibly successful Reagan Day Dinner last night with Gov. Rick Scott, we felt that our centerpieces should not go to waste,” said Pinellas Republican Party Chairman Nick DiCeglie. “After learning about the Pinellas Democrats desperate need to improve their landscaping, we felt that we could help them out with an ‘in-kind’ contribution to their beautification project.”
Th flowers are a reference to the $531 Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) grant the St. Pete City Council originally awarded to the Pinellas County Democratic Party to landscape its headquarters last month. After a firestorm of criticism, Pinellas Democratic Party Chairwoman Susan McGrath declined the funds.
“We believe that taxpayers should not be funding any aspect of a political party so we decided to ensure that Chairwoman McGrath and her friends won’t feel the need to request taxpayer funds in the future,” said DiCeglie.
The Pinellas County GOP Chairman also announced the local party had taken in more than $20,000 on Thursday night at their event featuring Gov. Scott, former St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker and Councilman Ed Montanari. The only Republican on the council, Montanari was also the only council member to oppose the DEC grant. All three men signed the flower pots given to the Pinellas Democrats on Friday.
SPB has reached out to McGrath for comment. Upon returning the grant last month, she said,“the Pinellas Democratic Party pays thousands of dollars in local property taxes each year to the city of St. Petersburg and simply applied for a grant; getting back a few hundred of our tax dollars to pay for this neighborhood betterment program.”
