Gillum coy on governor's run

Downplaying talk of a potential 2018 gubernatorial run, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum said a lawsuit involving the power of the state to pre-empt local gun laws would be a bad platform to make such an announcement.

Tuesday, on the steps of the First District Court of Appeals, Gillum said the lawsuit, filed by the Second Amendment Foundation and Florida Open Carry, was "insider baseball" not a ploy to succeed Gov. Rick Scott.

“I’ve heard that bandied about,” Gillum said to reporters of the chatter. “The truth is that if I were running for governor, this would be a bad strategy for a launch.”

The lawsuit, which names Gillum, former Mayor John Marks and City Commissioners Nancy Miller and Gil Ziffer, is over the city commission’s refusal to repeal a ban on gunfire in a city park set forth in municipal ordinances approved in 1957 and 1988.

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Gillum last year flirted with a run for Congress in Florida’s redrawn 5th District and made Hillary Clinton’s list of possible vice presidential candidates.

In November, a group of college students circulated an online petition hoping to goad him into a run for governor.

Other Democrats, including former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, who decided not to run for reelection in the 2nd Congressional District, have expressed interest in running for governor when Scott's second term ends in two years.

Contact Karl Etters at ketters@tallahassee.com.