This column is a vehicle for a number of items in a bits-and-pieces, strictly opinion, sometimes irreverent format. Look for "Just Sayin'" to run once a week in this spot.
Peter Schorsch: Charlie Crist's White Knight
Much as I admire Florida's new-media mogul Peter Schorsch, I really wish he'd remember that it's his outfit that has paying clients, not ours.
His Wednesday column was the second time in a month he defended Charlie Crist and blasted Sunshine State News for being mean to the politcal hermaphrodite-congressman from St. Petersburg.
Come on, Peter, we heard you the first time.
When he says Sunshine State News was "the de facto house organ for the Rick Scott campaign in 2010 and 2014," he forgets to mention SSN leans conservative, Scott is conservative, we generally like Scott's priorities and all we did is say so -- even though the guy never gave us a dime, never bought the smallest of ads on our website, never returns our calls and never, ever answers our questions, even when we mail them in.
I wouldn't be writing about Schorsch's column(s) except for two things.
Usually, when he rubs me the wrong way, it isn't because he totally misled his readers. This time he did. And that's the first thing.
He says, "Smith writes about a 'constituent' of Crist’s who was upset to have received a fundraising solicitation from Crist before he'd served his first day in Congress."
His next sentence: “'This is some serious bull! It hasn’t even been 10 days and you are already asking for money and talking about re-election.'”
By saying "Smith writes about ..." Schorsch makes it sound as if those words in the next sentence were mine. They were not. I was directly quoting from Michael Hepburn, who forwarded me a copy of the email he sent to Charlie. There was no mistaking Hepburn said it.
You made an error, Peter. It looked deliberate -- not nice and not necessary.
The second thing is Schorsch's unfair attack on Democratic African American Women Caucus President Leslie Wimes. He says, "But SSN’s coverage of Crist is a blind spot for the organization. It’s given Democratic bomb-thrower Leslie Wimes a platform to sound off again and again about Crist."
Apparently Leslie doesn't know her place -- an incredibly smart woman who has a pretty solid handle on what drives votes in the black community -- and shame on us for letting her speak her mind.
Sit down and shut up, Leslie? Do what your party tells you, Leslie? Oh, I don't think so. Whether SSN lets her put her opinions here or she publishes them on her own website, Leslie will speak out on Charlie Crist or anything else she believes will serve her community.
I'm surprised Leslie hasn't written about Charlie's latest. She's the one who told me about it Friday morning, and the NAACP-St. Petersburg's Maria Scruggs confirmed it on Facebook:
Charlie fired Vito Sheeley, his only African American employee after the Martin Luther King Parade on Monday. Then -- pressured by African American leaders -- Charlie rehired him Thursday. If Sheeley was good enough to be rehired, why was he fired in the first place? Inquiring minds ...
I bow to your superior Charlie Crist sources, Peter. Maybe you made note of this somewhere and I missed it?
Instead of knocking us for our Charlie Crist coverage, I think Charlie and his entourage owe Sunshine State News. Yes, owe. Would he have won without us? By writing as much as they did about him, Leslie and SSN reporter Allison Nielsen put a stick of dynamite up Charlie's backside. It wasn't until then he began campaigning in neighborhoods he previously had ignored and ultimately pulled off the win.
You're welcome.
Didn't Take Long ...
One of the first acts of Donald Trump's presidency -- get ready for it -- was terminating the White House’s global warming website. It took the new commander-in-chief less than an hour after he'd been sworn into office to dump it.
Now, instead of Obama's global warming webpage, that same link redirects to a Trump transition webpage, reports redstate.com.
In fact, the new White House energy policy page does not mention global warming or climate change at all, but pledges to bring the U.S. “An America First Energy Policy” and notes, “President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule.”
Hold on to your hat. The 45th president of the United States has clocked in.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
