This week, the Capital Tiger Bay Club is hosting three speakers to discuss Amendment 3, the referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot asking voters whether to legalize recreational pot for adults aged 21 and older. The panel will consist of Jessica Spencer, director of advocacy for the No on 3 campaign opposing the amendment; Steve Vancore, representative for the pro-Amendment 3 campaign Smart & Safe Florida; and News Service of Florida senior reporter Dara Kam.
- Tiger Bay clubs are Florida-based non-partisan political gatherings. There are groups with similar-sounding names in many Florida cities, but no official relationship exists between them and the original. The organization is open by membership to professionals interested in political dialogue and discussion.
Our area once had a robust such club – the Panhandle Tiger Bay Club. It was formed in October 1977 with State Sen. John Broxson as its first president. The speakers at its inaugural meeting at the Sheraton Inn were syndicated columnist Charley Reese and State Department lawyer Geraldeen Chester. They debated the proposed Panama Canal Treaty.
Subsequent meetings offered speakers on both sides of political issues. Gradually, the club’s leadership switched to a single speaker but tried to rotate Democrats and Republicans, such as Hodding Carter III, Sen. Bob Graham, President George H. W. Bush, radio personality Larry King, and pollster George Gallup Jr. By the 2010s, the Panhandle Tiger Bay Club shifted to be more conservative and less bipartisan. At times, it seemed more like a chamber event. Its audience got older, and many lost interest.
In 2019, the Panhandle Tiger Bay Club merged with the University of West Florida Downtown Lecture Series. While the speakers have been diverse and exciting, the events don’t have the debate on topical political issues like Amendment 3.
2023-2024 Series:
Oct. 24, 2023: Athens, Greece-based, Anglophone band StarWound presenting “Interiors.” The show included poetic collaborations with UWF faculty and students and work from previous collaborations on StarWound’s tour of U.S. universities.
Nov. 16, 2023: featured UWF Professor and Chair of the Department of Art & Design, David Earle, discussing flapper authors of the 1920s and Where All Good Flappers Go, his recent collection of flapper stories principally sourced from jazz age magazines.
Feb. 29, 2024: For the Seligman First Amendment Lecture Series, reporter and author Alex Berenson has emerged as one of the most prominent advocates of First Amendment principles against 21st-century modes of censorship. In his lecture “How to Stop the Internet from Killing Free Speech,” he told the story of his experience in the courts and what has come to light because of his case.
Mar. 5, 2024: Peter Kraska, Ph.D., is an eminent professor in the School of Justice Studies at Eastern Kentucky University and adjunct faculty at the University of West Florida. His lecture: “ Police Militarization and America’s Punitive Turn: Lessons from the Field.”
Mar. 14, 2024: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jefferson Cowie offered an interactive Q&A and a book signing of Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power.
April 1, 2024: Professor Patrick J. Deneen, a renowned political commentator and author of Why Liberalism Failed and Regime Change, delivered a lecture on “After Liberalism.”
Pensacola needs more debates – civil, educated and informed discussions of issues.