During the recent primary, there seemed to be a political forum every evening. On many nights, there were multiple forums scheduled with candidates rushing from one neighborhood association to the next. Rarely was something said at one forum that wasn’t heard at a previous meeting. It was deja vu over and over again.
Well, it appears Kathleen Ford and Bill Foster are putting a stop to the insanity. Apparently, the two candidates have agreed to limit the number of debates and forums at which they both will appear. And no more double-dipping; if one neighborhood association invites the mayoral candidates to speak, they’ll need to coordinate with adjacent neighborhoods to avoid the kind of situation where the candidates had to leave the forum at Harbordale to be on time for the one at Coquina Key.
The first victim of this arrangement may be the West St. Pete forum hosted by Rep. Rick Kriseman. I have not confirmed this yet, but neither Ford nor Foster agreed to participate in this forum and both are considering not attending.