If there’s a takeaway from Monday night’s City Council candidate forum among the two less competitive races for District 1 and 5, it’s that incumbents are playing on a key weakness their opponents share – inexperience.
During the one-hour debate moderated by the League of Women Voters at City Hall, both Charlie Gerdes and Steve Kornell showed off their insider-knowledge of city workings.
The first question of the night went to Gerdes and his opponent, Monica Abbott, vaguely asking how to continue improving St. Pete for residents.
Abbott gave an impassioned retort about driving by St. Vincent DePaul on Fifth Avenue on her way to the forum and seeing all of the homeless people lingering under the I-275 overpass.
“It’s gotten worse,” she said.
But then when later asked about addressing the city’s homeless problem, Abbott fumbled.
“We’ve got to get all of the diff groups together,” Abbott said in what seemed a logical enough idea on collectively addressing the thousands of homeless individuals throughout the city and county.
But Gerdes pounced.
“The Homeless Leadership Board already serves as the coordinating agency,” he said immediately after his opponent’s response.
Where Abbott toed the familiar line pointing to better mental health programs and the blanket “more could be done” argument, Gerdes expanded by talking about the County’s 3,700 homeless children – most of whom are bouncing between homes or cars in St. Pete.
“They can’t do good in school unless they have a roof over their head,” Gerdes said. “Their life is starting out behind already. We need to focus on homeless families.”
It’s still a fairly vague answer and one that comes with far more nuance than can be addressed in a 60-second debate question. But his point was made.
Immediately following that question, Kornell slayed his District 5 opponent, Philip Garrett, for repeating the same rhetoric over and over without actually addressing all of the issues.
Asked about how to improve the city’s aging stormwater system, Garrett complained about the early August dump of raw sewage into Clam Bayou. He called for better leadership.
Kornell fired back by telling viewers what won’t work – sound bytes.
“I’m going to cut your taxes and fix every sewer pipe right now – that’s a good sound byte, but [it’s] not feasible,” Kornell said.
The cutting taxes line is common in Garrett’s talking points. At least twice during the debate he said the exact same thing – “we must assure that all residents are provided quality services, less taxes and less fees.”
And it wasn’t the only time Kornell made Garrett look inept. When asked about how to reduce the city’s growing problem surrounding auto thefts, Garrett strayed from the, topic addressing instead early childhood education. Not once in his response did he specifically mention auto thefts.
“It’s really important to make a distinction,” Kornell said. “Pre-K is important, but I doubt there’s very many 3- and 4-year-olds stealing cars.”
He then expanded on what Garrett was probably trying to get at; that early childhood education and adequate after-school care will give troubled youth a better shot at success.
In a recent poll, both Kornell and Gerdes were comfortably leading their opponents with double-digit margins.
Both emerged as clear winners over their opponents in Monday’s debate.
The election deciding the races is November 3.
