Scott Powers
Political tongues are wagging in Central Florida, trying to guess the identity of an Orlando radio station caller who claimed to be a local “lawmaker” seeking dating help.
On Tuesday morning’s “Second Date Update” segment of the Obie and Ashley Show, on Orlando’s country station K-92.3, someone identified only as “Ricky the Politician” called in and spoke with the radio hosts, and the woman involved, for about seven minutes.
His problem: his first date with the woman didn’t go as well as he had thought it did. He wants a second date. But she wasn’t returning his calls or texts.
“I would really very much like the opportunity to speak with her and hopefully set up another date; but she’s not reaching out to me,” he said.
He wanted his identity protected. The station did so, and got the woman on the phone, though she nearly outed him at one point.
Who is Ricky the Politician? And why would a lawmaker call Orlando’s No. 1 country station to try to get help to fix a date gone bad?
On what clearly was a slow news day, Florida Politics wanted to know and called around on Wednesday.
Clues were few, but there were some.
Ricky the Politician called himself a lawmaker. He acknowledged he was a “known community figure.” He said he was from Winter Park. The woman, once the station got her on the phone [much to her apparent chagrin,] called him the BEEP “of Orange County” [with the show’s producer beeping out whatever title she used.] She complained that their dinner date was largely ruined because he ignored her; all he wanted to talk about was his campaign; and that there were people interrupting them, even taking pictures.
“It was like a circus,” she said.
But he and the show’s hosts, Obie Diaz and Ashley Stegbauer, wore her down. Finally, she said, “I’ll try one more.”
With whom?
What we know for sure:
He’s not a lawmaker from Orange County, at least not a current or recent one. The voice is nothing like state Sens. Randolph Bracy or Victor Torres, nor state Reps. Bruce Antone, Carlos Guillermo Smith, or Rene Plasencia. All the other state lawmakers of Orange County are women. Nor does the voice sound like any recent Orange County legislators from the past few years.
He’s not the Mayor of Orange County, Jerry Demings; nor the Sheriff of Orange County, John Mina; nor the Tax Collector of Orange County, Scott Randolph; nor the Property Appraiser of Orange County, Rick Singh; nor the Comptroller of Orange County, Phil Diamond; nor the Supervisor of Elections of Orange County, Bill Cowles.
None of the School Board Members of Orange County are men. None of the Commissioners of Orange County are men.
Florida Politics played parts of the recording to few Orlando-area politicians and political operatives, Democrats and Republicans. They all agreed the voice did not belong to any of the above people, or anybody else they knew well.
Some had guesses. But generally, those guesses required Ricky to do more than just give a fake name, because some of the other detail clues wouldn’t fit.
Among the guesses: Ricky might not be anything he claimed to be.
“I don’t know any serious politician worth a damn that would do something like that,” said one longtime Orange County politician.
