Margarella flies solo in non-debate

Posted Mar 13, 2007 by Laura Kinsler

Updated Mar 13, 2007 at 03:53 PM

It was one of the longest hours of Frank Margarella’s life.
He accepted an invitation to take part in one of the city’s first-ever online political debates, hosted by TampaGold.com. But as the 10 a.m. starting point approached, his runoff opponent, Joseph Caetano, still hadn’t arrived at Tampa Digital Studios on South Howard Avenue, where the debate was to be held.
The two face each other in a March 27 runoff for the District 7 council seat, which covers north Tampa, including the University of South Florida and New Tampa.
The forum moderator, Bill Sharpe, called Caetano to see if he was running late. Only then was he informed that the leading vote-getter wouldn’t be participating.
“He said he won’t be here because he’s not feeling well,” Sharpe said. “Frankly, I’m insulted.”
So Sharpe made an executive call: He gave the panel a full hour to grill Margarella on topics ranging from voter participation to McMansions. At one point, panelist Jim Johnson ran out of questions, so he asked Margarella, “What do you do for fun?”
Caetano said he has been troubled by a cold for more than a week. “I just couldn’t make it,” he said.
About 35 people tuned in to the live webcast, which will be available on the TampaGold.com Web site until the election. The site also is holding an online forum for District 1 candidates Gwen Miller and Joe Redner this afternoon that started at 3 p.m.

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In District 7 Runoff, Perkins Endorses Caetano

Posted Mar 12, 2007 by Laura Fiorilli

Updated Mar 12, 2007 at 03:43 PM

By LAURA KINSLER
The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Charles Perkins, who finished third in last week’s District 7 city council race, has endorsed Joseph Caetano for the runoff.

Caetano placed first in the close three-way race March 6. Real estate agent Frank Margarella placed second, 90 votes ahead of Perkins.

Perkins met with both candidates last week. His endorsement came at a price. Perkins demanded that the candidate donate his $40,000-a-year council salary to crime watch groups in north Tampa.

“I said they needed to make a sacrifice,” he said.

Caetano and Margarella face each other in a runoff for the District 7 seat March 27. In the March 6 election, Caetano won all of the Tampa Palms precincts. Margarella took Hunter’s Green. The two were virtually split in the rest of New Tampa.

Forest Hills resident Perkins won all of the precincts outside of New Tampa and garnered 29 percent of the total vote.

“I won everything south of Fowler,” Perkins said. “The big issue in those neighborhoods is crime.”

He ran an unconventional campaign, avoiding the media and refusing to participate in any candidate forums. Instead, Perkins said he walked the blue-collar neighborhoods of north Tampa every day for two months, knocking on doors and talking about crime. He spoke to crime watch groups and told them the rich people of New Tampa didn’t care about their neighborhood.

Perkins, who owns a media production company, raised no money because he didn’t want to be “corrupted” and he promised to donate his council salary to the police department.

“Nobody’s ever done something like this,” Perkins said.

Caetano owns three New Tampa businesses and several rental properties. He is 73 and has a net worth of $1.6 million.

Margarella, a commercial real estate agent, makes about $60,000 and has a net worth of $114,500, according to his public disclosure. He told the Tribune that financial troubles led him to refinance his Hunter’s Green house five times in the past seven years.

Reporter Laura Kinsler can be reached at (813) 865-4844 or lkinsler@tampatrib.com.

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Runoff candidates to hold online debate

Posted Mar 12, 2007 by Ellen Gedalius

Updated Mar 12, 2007 at 03:04 PM

Candidates for Tampa City Council Districts 1 and 7 will participate in debates Tuesday held by tampagold.com.

Joseph Caetano and Frank Margarella will square off at 10 a.m. They are running to represent North Tampa’s District 7 seat.

Gwen Miller and Joe Redner will debate at 3 p.m. They are running for the District 1 citywide seat.

The debate can be viewed live at www.tampagold.com.

The runoff election is March 27.

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Former foes back Miller

Posted Mar 12, 2007 by Ellen Gedalius

Updated Mar 12, 2007 at 01:27 PM

Former city council candidate Julie Jenkins and former county commissioner Tom Scott are backing Gwen Miller in her re-election bid.

Jenkins ran against Miller for the citywide District 1 spot but did not receive enough votes to qualify for the March 27 runoff. In a news release, Jenkins said Miller is committed to regional transportation, government efficiency, economic development and the environment.

Scott ran successfully for the District 5 city council seat - the East Tampa seat once held by Miller.

“She’s the best qualified candidate,” Scott said Monday. “It would be prudent to have someone calm, to have someone rational, to have someone with experience on the council.”

Miller faces Joe Redner.

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Miller, Redner Headed To Runoff

Posted Mar 6, 2007 by Alex Vila

Updated Mar 6, 2007 at 11:47 PM

By ELLEN GEDALIUS and NEIL JOHNSON

TAMPA - Tampa’s best-known strip club owner and perennial candidate Joe Redner will face incumbent Councilwoman Gwen Miller in a runoff for the District 1 citywide seat.

In six other attempts at public office, Redner had not made it to a runoff election.

“This is a first for me,” Redner said.

Neither Miller, seeking her second term in the District 1 seat, nor Redner gathered enough votes for an outright victory and will face each other in the March 27 runoff.

The District 1 race drew six candidates, but Miller and Redner easily distanced themselves from the other four candidates.

Miller drew 27 percent of the vote, and Redner gathered 23 percent.

None of the other candidates gathered more than 15 percent of the vote.

Miller wasn’t surprised the race didn’t yield an outright victory and said her second campaign begins today.

“I’ll just go out there and start working, maybe harder than I worked before. Maybe I didn’t work hard enough,” she said.

In his seventh political race, Redner said that maybe the public was beginning to listen to what he had to say.

Part of that message is to control growth.

“Growth has to pay for itself. That will free money for all the other things the city needs,” Redner said.

The candidates were: Rick Barcena, owner of an Italian restaurant on Kennedy Boulevard; Randy Baron, president of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association; Denise Chavez, owner of a restaurant on South Howard Avenue; and Julie Jenkins, a neighborhood activist.

During the campaign, candidates characterized Miller as a do-nothing councilwoman who skipped a key budget vote last year to instead go on a partially taxpayer-funded trip to Spain.

Miller countered that she quietly works behind the scenes.

Reporter Ellen Gedalius can be reached at (813) 259-7679 or egedalius@tampatrib.com. Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (352) 544-5214 or njohnson@tampatrib.com.

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