Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryApril 27, 2015

A really unusual thing happened this weekend — ABC’s much-hyped interview with Bruce Jenner wasn’t terrible. If fact, it was riveting, as the former Olympic hero acknowledged what has hardly been a secret during the past year or so – he’s transitioning to becoming a woman. “My whole life has prepared me for this moment,” Jenner […]

Mitch PerryApril 26, 2015

By any measure, Tampa has flourished since its citizens elected Bob Buckhorn as mayor in 2011. Saddled with budget deficits in his first couple of years in office, he put the city’s economy back on solid footing post-recession. There’s been a plethora of new parks and swimming pools built throughout the city, and an expanded Riverwalk has […]

Mitch PerryApril 22, 2015

Three days after the Tampa Bay Times explosive story that blacks in Tampa are being racially profiled and over-policed by law enforcement, Mayor Bob Buckhorn has finally issued a response. The upshot is that he says the Tampa Police Department will implement a new tracking system to monitor “every traffic stop, ticket, and warning issued, […]

Mitch PerryApril 15, 2015

The “Fight for 15” movement for fast-food and retailer workers advocating for higher wages and better treatment has been ongoing for more than two years. On this Tax Day it culminated in a protests in more than 200 cities across the country, including events at city hall in St. Petersburg and in Tampa’s Copeland Park. Although the movement […]

Mitch PerryMarch 2, 2015

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa will be of one of about 100 members of Congress to participate in the 50th anniversary of the march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., this weekend. The original march on the Edmund Pettus Bridge was one of the crucial civil rights march that led to the historic […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 18, 2015

Major League Baseball spring training camps have or will soon open up everywhere in the next week. In Tampa, that means pitchers and catchers for the New York Yankees report later this week, with the rest of the roster due next Wednesday. And that includes Alex Rodriguez, the disgraced star returning to the team after a year-long suspension, […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 17, 2015

FDOT spokeswoman Kris Carson tells the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Danielson that Tampa City Council District 6 candidate Jackie Toledo did not have permission to film her campaign ad inside a construction zone along Interstate 275. “You just can’t go into a construction zone and film a commercial without letting DOT know,” Carson said Tuesday morning. […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 17, 2015

FDOT spokeswoman Kris Carson tells the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Danielson that Tampa City Council District 6 candidate Jackie Toledo did not have permission to film her campaign ad inside a construction zone along Interstate 275. “You just can’t go into a construction zone and film a commercial without letting DOT know,” Carson said Tuesday morning. […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 17, 2015

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Although Democrats Bob Buckhorn and Rick Kriseman are close political allies, they definitely don’t always share the same public policy prescriptions. Throughout much of 2014, there was a demand among progressives in Florida and across the nation to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. The minimum wage in Florida currently is $8.05 an […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 14, 2015

It hasn’t been a great February for Rand Paul, but the GOP presidential candidate bypassed any mention of vaccines or his (lack of) college degrees in a speech in Sarasota on Saturday afternoon, and instead went after Hillary Clinton. Speaking inside an airplane hanger at Dolphin Aviation, the Kentucky Senator spent a solid chunk of his 20-minute address blasting the former […]

Tag: NAACP
Shemiah Rutledge image via campaign

Mitch Perry Report for 4.27.15 — Bruce Jenner’s journey

Bob Buckhorn faces first major test as Tampa mayor

Bob Buckhorn responds to Tampa Bay Times story on TPD targeting black bicyclists

Bob Buckhorn among speakers at Fight for 15 protest in Tampa

Kathy Castor taking part in congressional march on Selma bridge this weekend

Mitch Perry Report for 2.18.15 — Haters gonna hate (on A-Rod)

FDOT says Jackie Toledo didn't get permission to make ad on I-275

FDOT says Jackie Toledo didn’t get permission to make ad on I-275

At NAACP forum, Tampa City Council candidates talk livable wages, red-light cameras and body cameras for police

Rand Paul savages Hillary Clinton in speech in Sarasota