After attempting to shuffle the date of a Tiger Bay debate between congressional candidates David Jolly and Alex Sink, organizers have pulled the plug on the program entirely.
“Unfortunately, we are not able to go forward with the program on that date,” wrote Tiger Bay VP Pat Gerard, a Democratic candidate for the Pinellas County Commission, to Jolly’s campaign. “We are, therefore, canceling.”
Jolly and, presumably, Sink had agreed to participate in a February 5th Tiger Bay program. However, nearly three weeks after that date was set, the organization reached out to Jolly to ask that he agree to reschedule the event. Gerard wrote to Jolly, “… we have a problem with Tiger Bay on February 5th.”
That problem, Gerard couldn’t/wouldn’t say was that the Tiger Bay debate on February 5th interferes with a fundraising reception for Sink in Washington D.C. (the invite is below.)
Gerard originally emailed both campaigns on December 30th to inform them — she really didn’t ask them if they could participate — of the February 5th program.
“Suncoast Tiger Bay will be hosting another program for District 13 candidates (Alex Sink and the winner of the Republican primary) on February 5th at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club,” wrote Gerard. Jolly’s camp confirmed its participation that day.
It’s not clear if Sink’s campaign ever committed to the February 5th date, but it took Tiger Bay until last week — three weeks after the original debate date was set — for the organization to inform Jolly’s campaign that the February 5th date was no longer viable.
Perhaps the D.C. fundraiser was already on Sink’s calendar. That could be the case.
Or she could have shuffled a Tiger Bay appearance to raise money from D.C. lobbyists so that she can air more television ads attacking Jolly for being a D.C. lobbyist.
