St. Petersburg City Council Member Brandi Gabbard is making a direct appeal to St. Petersburg’s municipal workforce, asking city employees who live within city limits to support her bid for Mayor.
Gabbard, a City Council Member who is seeking to replace Mayor Ken Welch, released an open letter Monday asking for the vote of the city’s more than 3,400 employees as mail ballots begin arriving.
The open letter — which was distributed via a campaign press release and a post on her campaign social media account — promises a more collaborative relationship between the Mayor’s Office and the people who keep the city running.
Gabbard noted that she has built a track record of collaboration, fiscal stewardship and advocacy for employee pay, safety, morale and departmental resources during her nine years on City Council.
“Our city is entering a new chapter where we have incredible opportunities ahead and challenges that we must face head-on if we are to remain the amazing city we all know and love,” Gabbard wrote in the letter. “In a democracy, public employees who live in our city are given a rare and profound opportunity: the power to elect their own boss. This makes us unique from private business, and it is a responsibility I know that none of you take lightly.”
Though Gabbard did not name Welch directly, the letter repeatedly presented her candidacy as an opportunity to change the culture inside City Hall. Gabbard promises a greater voice for employees in city decisions, continued support for compensation and benefits, a safer and more respectful workplace, and an administration that would more clearly explain how and why decisions are made.
“Today, I come to you humbly asking for your vote because I believe in what we can accomplish together when city employees bring the strength of a truly collaborative partnership with the Mayor’s office to their roles each day,” Gabbard said.
“You need a leader who already knows the weight of your responsibilities and respects how you navigate those decisions every day. You need a leader who is ready to get to work on day one to create a culture of transparency, proactive decision-making, and accountability to ensure that we move our city forward together.”
She also pledged to personally accept responsibility for decisions made by her administration, indicating that “at the end of the day, the buck will stop with me. I will take ownership of our collective decisions and stand with you in both good times and bad.”
The pledge follows Gabbard’s recent defense of city employees caught in renewed controversy over $250,000 in bonuses connected to the failed Tampa Bay Rays redevelopment agreement.
After mayoral candidate Maria Scruggs called for a full accounting of the bonuses and publicly identified employees who received them, Gabbard said Welch could fairly be held accountable for the decision but argued city workers should not be publicly targeted for accepting payment.
Gabbard acknowledged that city employees may not feel comfortable publicly supporting a candidate, but urged them to make their preference known through their ballots.
“With the utmost respect, gratitude, and shared pride, I ask for your support, and I ask for your vote. I know the position you are in and that you cannot be vocal about your support, but you can and should exercise that voice at the ballot box,” Gabbard wrote in the open letter.
She clarified to Florida Politics that the letter was never sent directly to city email addresses, and that her campaign has worked to ensure stpete.org email addresses “are not receiving campaign correspondence as that would be inappropriate use of taxpayer-funded systems. So far media email addresses are the only ones this has gone out to.” A records request has been submitted to the city to verify the statement.