Tuesday, March 14, 2006

Murphy's chutzpah

Tampa and St. Pete, don't be suckered into thinking that Murphy was honest. He generally was half honest. The other half was -- how do we say -- less than the truth.

I'm not sure most citizens think it matter that Murphy gets to talk in Tampa, now that we are rid of him. Every dog has its day in the sun and people might not like to see the Trib "HOUND" the ex-Mayor now. However, this does present an opportunity to be truthful with history.

Most of the other front-runners in the race, today's race for city council, were in lock-step with Tom Murphy thourghout his career here. They were in agreement with his practices. They didn't speak out against his ways -- like I did.

I was one of the biggest Murphy nay-sayers. I ran a campaign to become mayor in 2001 -- not to be mayor myself but more to get a new mayor, because we needed to knock him out of that office.

I worry today that the others in the race are really just more of what we used to have in Tom Murphy and Gene Ricciardi. (see comments for more)
Murphy's chutzpah - PittsburghLIVE.com Former Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy lectured to about 300 people in Florida on Friday at Tampa's 10th annual Downtown Development Forum. It was a delusional presentation.

The fella who spent 12 years at the helm of government drove the city to the precipice of bankruptcy, left a socialist legacy of failed command economics and was lucky to escape Grant Street without being tarred and feathered.

Yet in Tampa, Mr. Murphy offered a big dose of revisionist history and had the chutzpah to blame others for his failings.

The media, politicians and historic preservationists who opposed his ideas made him unpopular locally, not his failures, Murphy said. And he even appeared to take a swipe at late Mayor Richard Caliguiri when he said it's 'always the people who don't make decisions that have statues built for them.'

1 comment:

Mark Rauterkus said...

And, throught the years, other than M. Waligorski, I didn't notice the other candidates who are now running for office, as friends in that major fight.

The Republican, N.A., worked for the city. He might not like the policies of the past mayor and present council ,and he might not like the authorities, but he was on the city's payroll for seven years. So, perhaps that is what kept him out of the fight. Or, perhaps he'll say he was in the fight.

The Indie, M.B., today sides with me as we both don't like TIFs. But I never knew him to be outspoken before he showed up on the campaign trails. And, like the R, N.A., he worked (and still works) for the city.