How Not To Get Elected In West Tampa

How Not To Get Elected In West Tampa

Guido Maniscalco celebrated a big victory over Jackie Toledo on Tuesday night. It was a big win for grassroots over money, Democrats over Republicans, blue collar over silk stockings, West Tampa over South Tampa and honesty over ugliness. It also was a chance, once again, for a La Gaceta-endorsed candidate to beat a Tampa Tribune-backed one.

We didn’t predict in this race. We were too emotionally involved. We knew it would be close, and it was.
Maniscalco had 3,731 votes to Toledo’s 3,580, a difference of 151 votes.

Just three weeks ago in the first election, Jackie Toledo had 3,720 and Maniscalco had 2,350. Tommy Castellano, who placed third and therefore did not make the runoff, had 2,017.

Toledo’s lead was huge and most did not believe Maniscalco could catch up in just 21 days. The hole got deeper for Maniscalco when the money is considered. Toledo raised $161,000. Her alleged secret PAC must have spent close to $50,000, which brings her total $211,000. Maniscalco raised $56,000 and the Democratic Party spent $3,500 to help him. That’s a total of $59,500.

This upset started several months ago when Toledo hired the first consultant she met – Anthony Pedicini.

Pedicini wasn’t good with City Council races. He blew a big wad of dollars Shawn Harrison raised against Mary Mulhern in a City Council race eight years ago and was the architect of Rose Ferlita’s failed mayoral campaign four years ago.

He has a bad habit of running nasty races, no matter the circumstances. He went negative early in the first election against Castellano and Maniscalco. His attack, poorly hidden behind a secret political committee, guaranteed Maniscalco would back Castellano in a runoff or, as it turned out, Castellano would back Maniscalco.

The ugliness wasn’t just in the mail. The campaign was rotten in every aspect. There was cheating when it came to the campaign’s financial reporting, violating campaign laws and city rules, trespassing on FDOT property, Maniscalco and his family being followed, sign stealing and lying about party affiliation. You name it; it happened in this race.

As Toledo and Pedicini sunk lower, the unity between Maniscalco and Castellano strengthened. Also, Tampa Latins started to take notice that their own were being attacked and the race became personal. Toledo’s campaign woke West Tampa’s Latin Democratic base, which started to go door to door. They called on their large families to come out and vote, and they did.

Tampeños who slept through the first race and voted for Toledo changed their votes or stayed home because they could no longer stomach the attacks.
The group who voted earliest were those who voted by mail. Toledo won that group 2,555 votes to Maniscalco’s 2,088. The next group to vote cast ballots at early-voting sites. Maniscalco won that group 347 to 226, but his big win was Election Day voting. He attracted 1,296 votes to her 799.
As the election wore on, Maniscalco grew stronger and Toledo’s reputation became more tattered. Had the election gone on longer, we are sure his margin of victory would have increased.

The final blow to the Toledo campaign came when a piece was mailed, full of lies against Maniscalco. The piece blamed Maniscalco for some financial trouble his grandmother had years ago.

Pedicini and Toledo’s alleged secret political committee attacked a Latin family’s 87-year-old grandmother – they might as well have burned the American flag.
Four City Council members authored a letter condemning the nasty campaign tactics. Newspaper columnists penned articles critical of Toledo. The Tampa Bay Times doubled down its endorsement while the Tampa Tribune became very silent. This column launched a full-out crusade for Maniscalco.

If a candidate could sue a consultant for malpractice, this is surely a gold-plated case.

Toledo spent between $30,000 to $40,000 to lose 140 votes between her first election and her second. Maniscalco’s campaign gained 1,381 votes over the same period with half the money.

Pedicini and Toledo made the mistakes that gave Maniscalco a chance and his campaign tooled up to take the advantage. One plus for him was that the local Democratic Party, which has been ineffective over the past few political seasons, got its act together. The new chair, Elizabeth Belcher, wasn’t afraid to get involved in this non-partisan race. Her vice chair, Ione Townsend, drummed up volunteers to make calls. The local party’s newly hired fundraising guru, Mark Hanisee burned up the phone lines so there was money to spend in this race.

Loyal local Democratic electeds and former candidates such as Bob Henriquez, Mary Mulhern, Albert A. Fox, Jr., Pat Kemp, Yolie Capin, Susan Long and Ed Turanchik, pitched in to help.

Maniscalco’s campaign started to hit 500 to 800 houses a day in its walks and remained positive and focused. It was a Herculean comeback.

We were with the Maniscalco family on election night and it was a sweet victory, like David defeating Goliath.

Charter School Explosion: On the Fringe of Legal?
(Part 7 of 7)

By Patricia W. Hall

This is the last of our series of seven articles regarding Charter schools and their changing relationship to our community.

As we complete the series of seven articles in La Gaceta today, the study of charter schools by the League of Women Voters of Florida gives direction regarding education principles. Public education is required by the Florida Constitution and recognized as a paramount duty of the state. The constitution establishes local school boards who are accountable to the electorate and are audited for compliance to statute and rule. They should be the sole agency with authority to contract with charter schools to complement the public school system within a district. They should have oversight and enforcement authority and be held responsible for meeting the needs of the students residing within their districts. (more…)

Charter School Explosion: Accountable to Whom?
(Part 6 of 7)

By Patricia W. Hall

This is the sixth in a series of seven articles regarding Charter schools and their changing relationship to our community.

The scariest thing about the charter school industry is the move toward for-profit management, possible influence peddling in Florida government and the lack of transparency. The “Wild West” business model doesn’t work for education. Ample warnings exist in large cities like New Orleans, Chicago and Philadelphia about where this privatization issue is headed. The issues of profit are trumping the public good. Recently at the National Convention of the League of Women Voters (LWV) of the United States, I met the president of the Louisiana LWV. Shocking as this sounds, by September of 2014, ALL public schools in New Orleans will be charter schools! (more…)

Charter School Explosion: Following The Money
(Part 5 of 7)

By Patricia W. Hall

This is the fifth in a series of seven articles regarding Charter schools and their changing relationship to our community.

Although charter schools must, by Florida law, be overseen by a non-profit board of directors, there are many ways in which for-profit organizations have begun to highjack the charter school movement. For-profit management companies frequently provide everything from back office operations, including payroll, contracting with vendors for food services, textbooks, etc., to hiring principals and teachers and curriculum control. So what was sold to parents and children as a local public education innovation now looks more like national charter-chains, the “Walmart-ization” of public education. According to education expert Diane Ravitch, “nearly half of all charter school students are enrolled in a charter chain school” in the United States. (more…)

Charter School Explosion: Doing It Better
(Part 4 of 7)

By Patricia W. Hall

This is the fourth in a series of seven articles regarding Charter schools and their changing relationship to our community.

This week’s article focuses on three of the 42 charter schools in Hillsborough County that the League of Women Voters of Florida Statewide Study included in its final consensus report. Our Hillsborough League, after analyzing all the data available to us, chose to highlight Learning Gate, Pepin and Brooks DeBartolo as good examples of the original mission of charters as incubators of public school innovation. These schools, while extremely diverse in goals, curriculum and student bodies, all emphasize the unique skills and strengths of students by creating inspiring learning experiences to the benefit of all children who attend. (more…)

Charter School Explosion: Are they Fulfilling the Promise?
(Part 3 of 7)

By Patricia W. Hall

This is the third in a series of seven articles regarding Charter schools and their changing relationship to our community.

Charter schools were created as complements to the public schools, where educators and parents could apply innovative teaching strategies for children not well-served by the traditional publics. They would receive public funds and be freed of many of the district’s regulations, but they would be held accountable for the results. The promise of charter schools was that they would be “effective” (children would learn more) and “efficient” (they could target resources on student learning). (more…)