Gerdes Denies Interest in Mayor's Job

St. Petersburg City Council member Charlie Gerdes is denying that he will make a run for the Mayor's Office.

The attorney from West St. Petersburg issued a statement of sorts in the Comments section of the St. Petersburg Patch. He was taking to task Patch political blogger Gene "Doc" Webb, a regular observer of City Hall.

"Please get off of the 'Gerdes has his eye on being Mayor' schtick," Gerdes wrote. "You started that before Gerdes was ever elected and you continue to spew it despite having been told face to face it is untrue." (For Gerdes' complete remark, please see Webb's blog post, "The Deputy City Attorney and the Red Light Cameras." 

Gerdes' comments also caught the eye of Bay Buzz, in the Tampa Bay Times. Under the headline, 'Charlies Gerdes for Mayor? St. Petersburg Councilman says no way', the Buzz revealed:

"With rumors of more possible candidates entering the race to St. Petersburg’s next mayor, council member Charlie Gerdes says he isn’t one of them. Gerdes issued the declaration Monday in response to Gene Webb, a former city employee and current blogger and writer on St.PetePatch.com.

"Webb wrote Friday about the controversial red light cameras and Chief Assistant Attorney Mark Winn beating two tickets in court. Webb discussed how some City Council members voted Thursday to not kill the contract with the camera vendor. Gerdes and four other council members, Karl Nurse, Jeff Danner, Bill Dudley and Jim Kennedy, voted to keep the cameras working.

Webb wrote: 'Gerdes continues to disappoint. For someone who has an eye on the Mayor's spot down the road he should be taking more of a leadership role instead of pandering to the status quo and tossing the ball to the Mayor.' ”

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