Jim Davison Archives

Mitch PerryMarch 2, 2018

Only 16 days ago, a mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School took the lives of 14 high school students and three adults. Nevertheless, some believe the gun control debate is “over.” That’s what Cafe Con Tampa head Bill Carlson was told when announcing the weekly lecture series would focus on three Hillsborough County students […]

Mitch PerryMarch 2, 2018

Updated In 2016, Luis Viera defeated Jim Davison by just 65 votes to win Tampa City Council District 7. Could there be a rematch in 2019? “I haven’t decided,” Davison said Friday morning, the day after Viera officially filed for re-election. In fall 2016, the two men engaged in an intense battle for the North […]

Mitch PerryDecember 12, 2016

Bob Dylan opted to blow off the Nobel Prize for Literature awards ceremony in Sweden this weekend, instead opting to have Azita Raji, the U.S. Ambassador in Sweden, read a speech that he composed (And no, I had never heard of our ambassador to Sweden until I looked it up this weekend). Among those who care about this […]

Mitch PerryDecember 7, 2016

“Image is everything” that great philosopher, Andre Agassi, once said in a series of television ads for Canon in the early 1990’s. Though a bit of an exaggeration, there’s no question that the image of the Hillsborough County Democratic Executive Committee has taken a significant body blow following its reorganization meeting on Monday night. To recap: Party Chair Ione Townsend concluded that the party’s by-laws […]

Mitch PerryDecember 6, 2016

By just 65 votes, Luis Viera defeated Jim Davison in the Tampa City Council District 7 special run-off election, taking 50.64 percent to Davison’s 49.36 percent, a difference of only a single percentage point. Viera received 2,588 votes to Davison’s 2,523, just 65 votes out of 5,120 cast. The special election was held to succeed Lisa Montelione, who […]

Mitch PerryDecember 5, 2016

Among the nuggets of information procured by watching the Sunday morning public affairs shows was that David Petraeus was one of the 93 million Americans who didn’t vote for president last month. “I don’t vote,” the retired four-star Army general told George Stephanopolous in ABC’s This Week when asked who he backed for president. “So that’s an easy answer. […]

Mitch PerryDecember 2, 2016

Rick Kriseman’s appointment of former WTFS weatherman Bill Logan to serve in the newly created position of communications director for the public works department is getting (predictably) negative reviews in the Pinellas County GOP world, who think it is more “big government” from the Democratic-leaning administration. It naturally fuels speculation about who will the Pinellas County Republican prop up […]

Mitch PerryDecember 1, 2016

Florida lawmakers have been filing bills this week for the 2017 Legislative Session, and one of the most provocative ones so far is an immigration-related issue from Sarasota Republican Sen. Greg Steube. As initially reported by the Tampa Bay Times Claire McNeill, Steube would repeal the Jack Latvala-sponsored bill that waives out-of-state fees for undocumented Florida high school students. “It is certainly […]

Mitch PerryNovember 29, 2016

The first regularly scheduled flight in more than 50 years flew from Miami to Havana yesterday morning, just in time to begin the formal mourning for Fidel Castro, which leads to the question du jour — What will Donald Trump do with the Cuba-U.S. relations? The President-elect tweeted that “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American […]

Mitch PerryNovember 23, 2016

Florida’s new legislative class of 2017 is presumably back home for the holidays today after spending the first part of this week in Tallahassee. House Speaker Richard Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron welcomed their troops by discussing their respective goals for the 2017 session. In the case of Corcoran, his proposals for lobbying reform have been well publicized […]

Hillsborough students say they’ve only just begun to focus on gun control

Luis Viera files for re-election on Tampa City Council; Jim Davison could challenge

Mitch Perry Report for 12.12.16 – Heroes

Mitch Perry Report for 12.7.16 – The Hillsborough County DEC melts down

By only 65 votes, Luis Viera defeats Jim Davison in Tampa District 7 run-off

Mitch Perry Report for 12.5.16 – David Petraeus, another disaffected voter?

Mitch Perry Report for 12.2.16 – The Rock in 2024?

Mitch Perry Report for 12.1.16 — What does Rick Scott and rest of Legislature do with bill repealing in-state tuition rates for the undocumented?

Mitch Perry Report for 11.29.16 — Will President Trump ‘terminate’ Obama deal with Cuba?

Mitch Perry Report for 11.23.16 – Real reform in Tallahassee