Buckhorn scores at Young Professionals’ City of Tampa Mayoral Forum

At 52, nobody is accusing Bob Buckhorn of being a “Young Gun,” or whatever phrase du jour is applied to the up and coming (such as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who calls himself tha t at the tender age of 47). Nevertheless, the former City Council member is the youngest of the five candidates running for mayor of Tampa this winter, and his campaign shtick of making the city more viable for young professionals so they don’t leave for Austin, San Diego or some other more cutting edge city hit home with an overflow crowd of 20 and 30somethings at the Beck Construction Building near the Hillsborough River Wednesday night.

In what was undoubtedly the most irreverent campaign forum of the season — and at times irritatingly uber-hip (do we really need to know, if all of the candidates go out for dinner, who’s going to be the Designated Driver?) — Buckhorn drove home what seems to be the central mission in his candidacy: to encourage young doctors, lawyers, financial workers and others to continue making Tampa their home.

“This election… is about transitioning from an old economy to a new economy… I know very clearly if we are going to have to keep you here, and attract our best and brightest from around the country, and if my girls are going to come home here someday to raise their family we’ve got to do things differently.”

The first words out of Ed Turanchik’s mouth were, “I’m Ed Turanchik. I had a rough day today,” referring to the stunning news announced early Wednesday morning by Governor Rick Scott that he was rejecting the $2.4 billion that the federal government had already allotted to Florida to begin construction of a high-speed rail line from Tampa to Orlando.  Turanchik last year worked for ConnectUs, a group formed to lobby the federal government to choose the Sunshine State to begin the U.S.’s investment in high speed rail.

“We’re not done, okay?” he told the crowd, who cheered the comment.  “We are not done with high-speed rail, we will not lose hope, we will rally together, we’re going to turn this decision around because it’s for you and your future.”  Who knows if that’s possible, but it felt good to hear.  “We have to take our future now .  We have to tell the governor you just hurt what we need to be.”

One of the moderators of the event zinged Buckhorn for talking about turning over a generational page, saying frankly, “You’re 20 years older than most people in this room. What exactly is the generational page that needs to be turned? And what generation are you talking about?” eliciting raucous laughs.  But the candidate was unbowed, saying, “Every city has a season.  Every person has a time and a place,” as Buckhorn gave faint praise to Dick Greco’s time in office, calling it “yeoman’s work,” but said “it’s our turn now.” He then pounded on the former mayor, saying it takes a different “skill set” and understanding to talk to corporate CEOs that come here “not to build call centers, not to build industrial facilities, but to build IT and CyberSecurity and build defense-related activities, that’s what the future looks like.”

It was not only Buckhorn’s campaign rhetoric that preceded him into the forum.  At one point, Dick Greco was challenged to respond to a question without using the words, “when I was mayor before,” or “I’ve done it already,” when trying to bring new businesses to Tampa.  He lasted about five seconds before he broke that vow, breaking up the house.

But Greco was serious. “It’s very easy to get up there and give a litany of things ….when I was a mayor the first time …the police were having their cars taken away, ” adding “you have to have experience to do anything in life.”

As is the case at other forums, Greco’s sense of humor usually saves him. When discussing the Tampa Bay Rays situation with the city of St. Petersburg, Bob Buckhorn had mentioned that it was like a divorce.  Greco picked up on that and said, “It’s just like divorce, I’ve had more experience than anybody here.”

In discussing transit, Tom Scott said that for any future plan he would give TBARTA taxing power, “because they’re the regional power.”

When asked why he wanted to be mayor, Scott replied, “I’m ready, capable, experienced, and excited about being the mayor of Tampa.” He also gave himself props for his ability to solve problems and provide leadership.  He said as a pastor over the years he’s worked with his constituents to solve problems.

There was a question about Tampa being perceived as a sort of “boys’ club.”  Unfortunately, the only female candidate whose take would have been most refreshing to hear from, Rose Ferlita, did not attend the forum (she was at a Davis Islands event that followed the Young Professionals).

Ed Turanchik was asked about his reputation as a great visionary who seldom sees his grandiose plans come to fruition.  He countered that he helped turn West Tampa around in part  by doing business building homes there, and by talking about his leadership in making sure the Ice Palace (now St. Pete Times Forum) was located downtown.  “We have to make it easy to invest in ourselves, to take assets like a CSX track and put it into a rail transit system.”

But it was Buckhorn who was the aggressor throughout most of the evening, at one point asking the crowd how many had lost friends to other cities because they couldn’t find opportunities in Tampa?  A handful raised their hands. “How many of you are tired of losing our best and brightest to Charlotte, North Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia, Austin, Texas…how ’bout it? That’s what I’m talking about when we talk about turning that generational page and focusing not on the jobs of the old economy but the new economy.”