{"id":349216,"date":"2026-07-22T23:20:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349216\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T23:20:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T23:20:33","slug":"with-his-campaign-out-of-money-ken-welch-is-using-city-resources-to-boost-id-and-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/349216\/","title":{"rendered":"With his campaign out of money, Ken Welch is using city resources to boost ID and image"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch is essentially out of money in his campaign to retain his current job. So he\u2019s turning to City Hall to make sure voters know who he is and what he\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

The city of St. Pete recently placed 16 banners on public utility properties across the city promoting the St. Pete Agile Resilience (SPAR) program. The banners proudly announce \u201cResiliency Upgrades Happening Here!\u201d According to documents Florida Politics obtained through a public records request, they are intended \u201cto indicate that SPAR projects are occurring behind the fences that (residents) can\u2019t see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s make a few things clear. There is nothing illegal about the city funding banners promoting projects at its facilities, and public records reviewed don\u2019t indicate any direct coordination between the city and the Welch campaign. But \u2014 and this is a big but \u2014 the banner placements smack of using the mayoral bully pulpit in furtherance of campaign goals, and the optics are just terrible.<\/p>\n

And this is not the only example of Welch using his office to reach voters with positive messaging. His social media channels \u2014 personal, mayoral and campaign \u2014 have all ramped up activity recently. In some cases, that activity looks suspiciously familiar. But more on that in a moment.<\/p>\n

As it relates to the SPAR banners, it\u2019s important to remind residents what SPAR actually is, and what it is not. SPAR is a plan, not an action.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the city\u2019s own description<\/a>, it\u2019s \u201cthe city\u2019s framework for prioritizing and accelerating resilience work,\u201d including upgrades to \u201cstormwater, wastewater, and drinking water infrastructure.\u201d The SPAR projects listed on an interactive webpage<\/a> still require funding, which would come from a proposed<\/a> general obligation (GO) bond raising $600 million. The GO bond requires voter approval.<\/p>\n

While there likely are some \u201cresiliency upgrades happening\u201d at the facilities where the banners are placed, the SPAR projects, at this point, are merely proposals, making the banners at least slightly misleading.<\/p>\n

Now, back to social media.<\/p>\n

On July 17, Charlie Crist \u2014 Welch\u2019s top opposition in his re-election campaign \u2014 posted a video<\/a> \u201chunkering down and talking hurricanes\u201d with Don Germaise, the locally famed meteorologist widely known for keeping locals prepared and calm during the active 2004 hurricane season, including Hurricane Charlie. The 27-minute video includes important hurricane preparedness information.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today, July 22, and Welch has a video<\/a> up on his official Mayor\u2019s Facebook page similarly sharing hurricane tips.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On July 14, Welch posted a video<\/a> urging residents to vote in the upcoming Primary, including information about how to vote by mail, when early voting starts, and how to track a returned mail ballot.<\/p>\n

Crist has also been promoting, through his campaign and affiliated political committee, voting by mail. That includes a six-figure campaign<\/a> sharing fliers with voters urging them to request mail ballots and providing information on how to do so.<\/p>\n

The difference is, Crist is getting out the vote as a candidate. Welch is getting out the vote as Mayor. Again, it\u2019s not illegal. It\u2019s not even necessarily uncommon. But utilizing his platform as Mayor to do things Welch the candidate should be doing smacks of desperation.<\/p>\n

For good reason, he\u2019s essentially out of money.<\/p>\n

Welch has less than $27,000 in his campaign<\/a> account, and less than $137,000 in his political committee, St. Petersburg Progress<\/a>. The combined total, less than $164,000,\u00a0won\u2019t buy Welch much between now and the Primary \u2014 maybe a single mail campaign and staff salaries \u2014 and it doesn\u2019t look like he\u2019s going to be able to fill his coffers at any reasonable rate.<\/p>\n

In the most recent fundraising period for state political committees, St. Petersburg Progress raised just $15,000. Crist\u2019s St. Pete Shines<\/a> raised $61,000 in the same period. Welch\u2019s campaign raised less than $8,000 in its most recent reporting period, covering June 27 through July 10. Crist raised nearly $11,000.<\/p>\n

Overall, Crist maintains nearly $57,000 in his campaign<\/a> and nearly $989,000 in his PC, more than $1 million combined in spending power.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s no surprise Welch is using his bully pulpit and a handful of dogged supporters to do for him what he lacks the cash to do for himself, optics be damned.<\/p>\n

Take Lisa Wheeler-Bowman, for example. She has been ferociously promoting Welch on her social media. Voters are free to support whomever they choose, but as a city employee, her over-the-top public support could make other city employees who don\u2019t support Welch uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

When I called this out, she went so far as to block me on Facebook, publicly announcing the move with an AI-generated image of me looking like Shrek<\/a> and named \u201cPetroll Schortman.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a reason the federal government has the Hatch Act. In place since 1939, the law restricts most federal employees from engaging in political activity while on duty, in uniform or while utilizing a government vehicle. The law extends to social media activity, prohibiting employees from advocating for or against a candidate.<\/p>\n

While there is no such law on the books for local governments, Wheeler-Bowman\u2019s activity could be construed as an infringement on other employees\u2019 right not to be bullied into supporting the incumbent.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, these examples collectively spotlight a campaign in trouble. Once upon a time, $164,000 would have been plenty of cash to wage a competitive campaign for Mayor.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not \u201conce upon a time\u201d anymore. Nowadays, winning a mayoral race in a mid-sized city such as St. Pete, particularly in the state\u2019s largest and most expensive media market, easily requires seven figures.<\/p>\n

The fact that Welch has been unable to raise it tells voters everything they need to know about Welch\u2019s first term. As the incumbent, he should easily have the funding advantage. But he has squandered relationships and has left himself with nothing but a core base of support while the coalition that put him in City Hall in the first place is hemorrhaging.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Ed. note:\u00a0Michelle Todd Schorsch\u00a0is the Chair of St. Pete Shines, a political committee backing Crist for St. Petersburg Mayor. Todd Schorsch is married to\u00a0Peter Schorsch, the publisher of Florida Politics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch is essentially out of money in his campaign to retain his current job.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349217,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3347,2346,142888,202,204,18455,203,37378,199,201,200,102069],"class_list":["post-349216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-charlie-crist","tag-ken-welch","tag-spar-program","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-mayoral-election","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-pete-shines","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news","tag-st-petersburg-progress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}