News & Public Affairs

Local women activists speak out

12/06/08 Mary Glenney and Arlene Engelhardt
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Local women activists talked about their work in the Tampa Bay area. Participants were: Sally Phillips, HCDEC state Rep. and LGBT Chair; Grace Maneri, The Spring; Sarah Romeo, Crossroads; Terry Binder, SOA Watch; Pat Kemp, HCDEC Chair; Betsy Davis, WOMEN.

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Pasco DEC chair defends her tenure

12/05/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, Democrats, Pasco County, Allison Morano, Jose Pena

Tomorrow in Pasco County, Democrats will decide whether to retain their current chair, Allison Morano, or vote for her challenger, Jose Pena.

We heard from Pena last night; tonight, we hear from the incumbent.

Allison Morano has been in the Sunshine State for nearly a decade. She ended up leading the Pasco County Chamber of Commerce from 2001 to 2004. She then got involved with the Pasco Democrats, saying that the party wasn’t very strong. She was elected chair of the Party in early 20...

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Betty Reed weighs in on Ray Sansom listen

12/05/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Politics, Betty Reed, Ray Sansom

Florida’s new Speaker of the House, Ray Sansom, has been criticized for accepting a position with Northwest Florida State College on the day he became House Speaker. Sansom, a Republican from Destin, helped funnel $25 million to the school earlier this year. Because of that, some have called for Speaker Sansom to resign from one or both of his new positions.

Rep. [Betty Reed](http://www.myfloridahouse.gov...

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Race for Democratic Chair in Pasco County heats up listen

12/04/08 Mitch E. Perry

Tags: Politics, Pasco County, Democratic Party, Alison Morano, Jose Pena

On Saturday, Pasco County Democrats will vote on whether to retain their current chair, Alison Morano, or to replace her with challenger Jose Pena.

Pena was elected as a precinct man in Pasco in 2004. He got involved in politics in his native Ohio starting in the late 1970s, supporting Dennis Kucinich in his race for mayor of Cleveland.

Pena has been telling Pasco County Democrats that although change came to America last month, it stopped at the Pasco County line.

Pena says that d...

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Discussion on expectations of the Obama presidency listen

12/04/08 Seán Kinane
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Tags: Politics, USF, Barack Obama

How will President-elect Barack Obama tackle the critical issues facing America? The University of South Florida’s Department of Africana Studies and Institute on Black Life attempted to answer that question today in a roundtable discussion called “A Change Has Come.”

Rhetoric doctoral student Kendra Bryant read her work, “We Be Theorizing,” that catalogs accomplishments of people ...

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Pinellas DEC race - Part 3 listen

12/03/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, Pinellas County, Democrats

Last night in Tampa, Hillsborough County Republicans elected Deborah Cox-Roush to be their new Chairperson.

Meanwhile, Pinellas County Democrats will vote for a new chairman tomorrow night.

Ramsey McLaughlin, Mark Hanisee and Jack Killingsworth are the candidates.

Tonight, we speak to Jack Killingsworth, who was just on the ballot in Pinellas County last month challenging longtime incumbent Supervisor of Elections Deborah Clark. He lost.

Killingsworth is an electrical engineer; h...

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Survey on women's views of the election published listen

12/03/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: 2008 election, politics, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, pollsters

As part of its nonpartisan Every Woman Counts campaign to engage women in the political process, Lifetime Networks today announced the results of a national poll of women on the historical presidential election and its impact on the future of female political leadership.

The poll found that two-thirds of all women polled said that President-elect Barack Obama should not consider gender at all when appointing his Cabinet and should focus just on qualifications, while 27 percent said he shou...

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House Speaker Sansom urged to choose a job listen

12/03/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, Ray Sansom, Karen Thurman, Northwest Florida State College

Florida Democratic Chairwoman Karen Thurman today called for House Speaker Ray Sansom to step down as Speaker, or leave his controversial new job at Northwest Florida State College.

Her call comes after several Florida newspapers have charged the new speaker with a gross conflict of interest for his role in providing funding this year for his new employer.

The St. Petersburg Times reported last week that Sansom has been able to provide more than $25 million to his alma mater, formerly...

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Hillsborough Democrats elect new officers listen

12/02/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, Democrats, Hillsborough County, Pat Kemp, James Randolph

Last month, Hillsborough County Democrats voted for Barack Obama for President, and knocked out key Republicans Buddy Johnson and Brian Blair in local elections.

Still high off that success, last night an overflow crowd of Hillsborough Democrats voted to elect Pat Kemp their new chairperson. She defeated Brandon-based consultant James Randolph.

Kemp has been involved in county politics for two decades, while Randolph is not as well known, working in eastern Hillsborough. But in his br...

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Mel Martinez won't seek second term listen

12/02/08 Mitch E. Perry
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Tags: Politics, GOP, Mel Martinez, Alex Sink, Allen Boyd, Ron Klein, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Robert Wexler

Florida Republican Sen. Mel Martinez stunned the political world today when he announced that he will not seek re-election in 2010.

Speaking in his hometown of Orlando, Martinez said he wanted to spend more quality time with his family. Martinez said he had spoken earlier in the day with Gov. Charlie Crist.

Recent polls had shown the Cuban-born senator to be vulnerable as he faced re-election. No Democrat has been mentioned more frequently to oppose him than Florida Chief Financial Offi...

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