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<\/a><\/p>\nI am going to use my prerogative to congratulate my wife on a perfectly executed launch of Crist\u2019s highly anticipated campaign.<\/p>\n
Crist filed to run for Mayor<\/a> last Monday and rolled out his campaign, with a full website and a launch video following two days later. The gap between filing and rollout was intentional in order to adhere to campaign finance law.<\/p>\n To understand how important that is, look no further than Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan\u2019s recent re-election campaign launch.<\/p>\n She began<\/a> her campaign April 16, complete with a professionally produced launch video. The next day, the Republican Party of Florida said it was filing an ethics complaint<\/a> against her campaign. The complaint argued, among other things, her campaign approved expenditures before a campaign account was opened. Under Florida election law, campaigns cannot make or authorize expenditures before filing paperwork and opening a campaign account.<\/p>\n Google Deegan\u2019s name and the top news result remains, more than two weeks later, reports about the GOP\u2019s claim against her. Simply put, her campaign launch, which is supposed to be the first official marketing of a candidate, got completely trampled.<\/p>\n Crist, meanwhile, filed Monday and spent that afternoon, all of Tuesday, and Wednesday morning organizing his campaign, raising money, and slowly building his campaign infrastructure. By doing so, he was able to avoid facing the same trouble Deegan now must combat, even as I\u2019m sure some Crist critics would have loved to have filed some sort of complaint against him.<\/p>\n Thanks to the diligence of my wife, there was nothing to complain about.<\/p>\n Instead, it felt to me, a once-bartender, like the soft opening of a highly anticipated restaurant. It was no secret Crist was going to run, yet expectations were sufficiently managed, and sloppy mistakes were skillfully avoided.<\/p>\n All the while, Crist followed his Wednesday launch with a packed fundraiser at the downtown St. Pete office of law firm Older Lundy.<\/p>\n Kudos are in order, even if you don\u2019t like Crist.<\/p>\n Ken Welch and Brandi Gabbard get salty<\/p>\n The day after Crist filed to run for Mayor, before he even rolled out a campaign, incumbent Mayor Ken Welch and St. Pete City Council member Brandi Gabbard, who is also running, were already directing their barbs at him.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no surprise that neither are happy about Crist\u2019s entrance into the race, but their attacks are curious, and could backfire.<\/p>\n Welch\u2019s campaign sent an email blast with the subject line \u201c$1.1 million before a single door knocked,\u201d a clear reference to anyone who has been paying even a little attention to the amount of money a committee supporting Crist\u2019s candidacy has already raised.<\/p>\n While the email blast did not mention Crist by name, the charge was rich coming from a candidate not exactly known for his aggressive boots-on-the-ground campaign tactics. But the hilarity doesn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n The email blast goes on to describe \u201cwhere that money is coming from and why it\u2019s showing up here,\u201d not so subtly insinuating it came from \u201cRepublicans in Tallahassee and Washington.\u201d First of all, the bipartisan show of support for Crist even as he was merely mulling a bid is a point of pride, not a political mishap. It shows he\u2019d be a Mayor for all constituents, not just the city\u2019s Democrats. But make no mistake, Crist has plenty of liberal bona fides \u2014 he was previously endorsed by former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also rich that Welch\u2019s email went on to name the ways in which said \u201cRepublicans in Tallahassee and Washington\u201d have targeted St. Pete.<\/p>\n \u201cThey tried to remove our murals,\u201d the email reads.<\/p>\n Correction, they *did* remove our murals, and Welch did little to stop them.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s Gabbard, who has been peeved with Crist since he was first mentioned as a possible contender. Her email, also sent the day after Crist filed, isn\u2019t as bad as Welch\u2019s, but it further highlights Crist\u2019s perceived threat.<\/p>\n Her blast against Crist \u2014 also without mentioning him by name \u2014 proudly announced, \u201cWe deserve a Mayor who shows up 365 days a year \u2014 not just when it\u2019s election season.\u201d A look at Crist\u2019s record as an elected official \u2014 he has served as Governor, Florida Attorney General, U.S. Representative and state Senator \u2014 will dispel any sense that he didn\u2019t show up.<\/p>\n Be careful with those jabs<\/p>\n The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as the saying goes, and Welch\u2019s campaign might just be on that path. His campaign spokesperson, senior advisor Adrienne Bogen, commented after Crist filed that his \u201cjumping into another race is about as predictable as it gets, the same hamster wheel, just a different election cycle.\u201d Fair enough, if she had stopped there. But she didn\u2019t. \u201cNow he\u2019s trying to come back to a city he\u2019s left behind,\u201d her statement continued.<\/p>\n That last addition is about as dangerous a statement you could make in this race. Why? Because Crist didn\u2019t leave St. Pete behind, his home was destroyed by a hurricane. That puts Crist in an unenviable class of St. Pete residents whose homes faced the same devastation, and it opens the door wide open for Welch\u2019s critics to remind voters that it was Welch\u2019s administration that dropped the ball on hurricane recovery following both Hurricanes Helene and Milton in late 2024.<\/p>\n It also reminds voters that Crist, for all the hemming and hawing about him running for office again, is human just like them. By criticizing Crist for being displaced by a storm, Welch\u2019s team is insulting everyone else who had to make tough decisions about where to lay their heads after losing their own homes.<\/p>\n Way to self-own, guys.<\/p>\n Tropicana Field likely won\u2019t be Welch\u2019s legacy<\/p>\n Last week, developers displayed information<\/a> and fancy graphics highlighting their pitches for redeveloping the Tropicana Field site now commonly referred to as the Historic Gas Plant. It was the city\u2019s third attempt in just six years to identify a developer to reimagine the 86 acres of prime real estate currently home to the Tampa Bay Rays and a sea of asphalt parking.<\/p>\n Yet the entire production, complete with 20-minute presentations from four development teams short-listed from eight total bidders, was not only bizarre, it was Kabuki theater.<\/p>\n The City Council voted in February<\/a> to slow down the developer selection process and instead study the plan first, a decision that led to Welch\u2019s administrations saying that even as it planned to select a developer this Summer, a contract won\u2019t be ready until next year<\/a> \u2014 after he is either re-elected (which is looking more and more unlikely) or someone else takes office.<\/p>\n The City Council\u2019s original vote displayed its intent, and strongly suggests a majority of the board recognizes the political reality that a second Welch term isn\u2019t looking so great.<\/p>\n Even if Welch is re-elected, the proposals presented last week will be practically obsolete.<\/p>\n Instead, it looks as though Welch is rushing through the redevelopment decision to bolster his re-election bid. If he can get some pretty graphics floating around out there, it gives him plenty of fodder to create the image that his administration is working.<\/p>\n Whether Welch or Crist wins, the Mayor in 2027 will be in a stronger position with any potential developer because time will be on their side. In fact, developers who sat out the current rushed process may even emerge to bid because they could do so with the peace of mind that their work wouldn\u2019t be undone by an election.<\/p>\n Either way, the redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District needs to be decoupled from any electioneering.<\/p>\n Mahaffey Theater debacle punctuates Crist\u2019s opening message<\/p>\n Crist made the point in his launch video that Welch\u2019s administration has been unable to \u201cget the basics done.\u201d The same week, the administration corroborated the claim.<\/p>\n As of next month, there won\u2019t be anyone to run the Mahaffey Theater.<\/p>\n The city established an evaluation committee, including city staff, to review a sole proposal to manage the Theater after current manager Bill Edwards leaves his contract five months early<\/a> in May. The city, through the committee, rejected<\/a> the proposal from St. Petersburg Arts Partners, a group run by St. Pete Catalyst Publisher Joe Hamilton.<\/p>\n In all fairness, Hamilton\u2019s proposal might not have been the best route. The city claimed there weren\u2019t formalized agreements with management partners, including Vinik Sports Group and Oak View Group, which is the venue management firm for Live Nation. But I trust Hamilton\u2019s ambition more than I trust Welch\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n And in any case, how did the city find itself in this predicament in the first place? The Mahaffey Theater is perhaps one of the most idyllic arts venues in the state, perhaps even in the nation, situated on the pristine downtown waterfront just steps from the award-winning<\/a> Dali Museum\u2019s iconic building.<\/p>\n Yet here it is, another city asset not performing to its own potential. It\u2019s a terrible look for the Welch administration.<\/p>\n And a bonus sixth thought \u2026<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/FFB-Digital-Ads-728-x-90-1.jpg\")
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