The Times doubled-down on its support of Mayor Kriseman's negotiated deal, endorsing no-name Philip Garrett in District 5 over heavily-favored incumbent Steve Kornell, a liberal councilman the paper has long-supported. Acknowledging the endorsement was purely about baseball, the Times picked Garrett over "obstructionist" Kornell.
ALSO READ: Kornell will switch vote for $55 million
Other Times endorsements include incumbent Charlie Gerdes and embattled newcomer Lisa Wheeler-Brown. Supporters of the Rays deal are hoping either Garrett or Wheeler-Brown can win and give Kriseman the fifth vote he needs to break the stadium stalemate and allow the Rays a chance to look at sites in Hillsborough County.
ALSO READ: In Trying to Advance Stadium Interests, Newspapers May Do Opposite
Just how surprising were the Times' endorsements?
Times recommends: Gerdes, Garrett, Wheeler-Brown for St. Petersburg City Council http://t.co/Ah79UG9Wzp via @TB_Times
— Tim Nickens (@NickensFL) September 29, 2015
Depends whom you ask, but here's one observer's reaction:
Tim, you’ve really jumped the shark here. https://t.co/aS4LXH0rMU
— Peter Schorsch (@SaintPetersblog) September 29, 2015
A brief history of Times editorials on the Stadium Saga:
- 8/2/15 - Times: We Want Rays to Look in Tampa, but Pinellas Should Raise Taxes Now Anyway Just in Case
- 7/23/15 - In trying to advance stadium interests, newspapers may do opposite
- 6/14/15 - Opportunity cost of keeping Rays costing St. Pete big
- 6/4/15 - Council blind to economic opportunities at Trop
- 5/30/15 - Times cranks up pressure on opponents of Rays compromise
- 5/28/15 - Hurry up and pass MOU or else we'll have to hurry up in a few years
- 3/31/15 - Times suggests replacing councilmembers who oppose MOU
- 3/28/15 - Maybe council will finally listen to us?
- 2/23/15 - Sternberg wrong to hate on St. Pete council...that's our job!
- 2/20/15 - St. Pete should just give up now
- 12/10/14 - It's in St. Pete's financial interest to let the Rays go to Tampa
- 11/7/14 - St. Pete should amend contract b/c Rays lost their manager, GM
- 10/3/14 - Cheers, warning on Hillsborough negotiations
- 6/30/14 - Save Pinellas tax money for new stadium
- 3/31/14 - Hurry Up! Only 14 More Years to Solve Stadium Stalemate!
- 1/1/14 - Kriseman Should Solve Stadium Stalemate Within "Months"
- 12/1/13 - Message to Kriseman: no time to waste
- 11/12/13 - New mayor will bring an open mind to the negotiations
- 11/6/13 - New mayor should renew discussions with Rays
- And a bevy of Bill-Foster bashing too: Oct. 2013 | Sept. 2013 | Sept. 2013 | Feb 2013 | Feb 2013 | Jan 2013 | Jan 2013 | Oct 2012 | April 2012
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Ho hum... another 6 years before anything gets traction....
ReplyDeleteInteresting very people are reporting that Lisa Wheeler-Brown was caught in several campaign lies.... she'd be perfect to get this stadium stalemate moving with all her lying
ReplyDeletehttp://www.saintpetersblog.com/archives/241406
In a single sentence regarding looking in Hillsborough, there is a reference to unquantified "enormous benefits" for the region and a casually quantified $1B for Trop redevelopment. This is the laziest cost-benefit analysis ever written.
ReplyDeleteShilling. So. Hard. The Times' business is inextricably linked to the Rays. This obvious nonsense is just self-preservation masked as journalism. In other words, nothing more than dogsh*t.