Rose Ferlita has kept a very low profile since losing her bid for Tampa mayor four years ago, so it got heavy play in political circles last week when Ferlita told the Tampa Tribune’s Chris O’Donnell that she wasn’t backing fellow Tampa Republican Jackie Toledo in the District 6 City Council race because of her association with campaign consultant Anthony Pedicini.
But apparently that’s no longer the case, as Ferlita has now endorsed Toledo in the March 24 runoff against Democrat Guido Maniscalco.
“It is accurate that I did not return phone calls from Jackie nor did I return calls from her opponent,” Ferlita said in a statement today. “I wanted to do some research first. Jackie is my choice and I hope she will be the choice of the voters of District 6. They will not be disappointed.”
But eight days ago O’Donnell reported that Ferlita said she regretted using Anthony Pedicini as her campaign consultant in her losing race to Bob Buckhorn, and refused to return calls to Toledo once she heard that she was employing him in her bid for council.
“When you look back at your own race and you make some mistakes about the consultant you had and confided in, you’d hope the next generation would not make the same mistakes,” Ferlita told the Trib. “I think this will be a difficult race for her.”
Pedicini is the controversial GOP political consultant who works with many Republicans in the Tampa Bay area and up and down the state.
Meanwhile Maniscalco and Toledo have agreed to participate in a debate this Thursday night on on the Tampa Bay Community Network (TBCN) channel in Hillsborough County at 7 p.m.
