Author: Gary Nager

Long-Time Investigative Journalist & Congressional Candidate Says His Qualifications Set Him Apart 

Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist. Local TV news personality. Two-time candidate for the U.S. Congress. Sixteen-year New Tampa resident. Proud husband and father who cares enough about his community to want to serve it in a new way. 

Those are the qualities 16-year Grand Hampton resident Alan Cohn hopes will earn him enough votes to win the District 7 Tampa City Council seat that fellow New Tampa resident Luis Viera has held for the past nine years. 

Originally from Pearl River, NY, Cohn, 63, acknowledges that Viera has done “a terrific job” of not only representing, but also fighting for the needs of New Tampa — and he plans to continue to fight that good fight for the people of his community. Cohn says that no matter who else also runs for Viera’s seat, he believes he is uniquely qualified to achieve results for the people who live and work in District 7. 

“I’ve raised my family in New Tampa,” Cohn says of his wife, Patty (who also is a former journalist) and their son Aaron, 27 (a former Minor League pro baseball player), and daughter Ann, 29, both of whom graduated from Wharton High. “We’ve been ingrained into this community, so not only do people know me as a friend and neighbor, they know that I care deeply about where we live and the obstacles and the issues that we’re facing.” 

He also believes his background in investigative reporting will help make him a successful City Councilman. 

“I was an investigative reporter for 30 years,” Cohn says. “I’ve covered presidents, governors’ races, Senate races and Congressional races. I was confronted in my first TV job in Massachusetts with a corrupt district attorney who was in bed with the mob. I helped break that story and this guy who had been in that office for 30 years ended up having to leave office.” 

He won the 2007 George Foster Peabody Award, one of journalism’s highest honors, for uncovering that Stratford, CT-based Sikorsky Aircraft, which makes Blackhawk helicopters, was allowing defective parts in its aircraft. 

“I had the facts in black and white because Sikorsky employees snuck documents out of the factory to give to me,” Cohn says. “What Sikorsky did, in the name of efficiency, was lay off their quality control inspectors who inspected subcontracted parts. I was given Department of Defense (DOD) documents saying that they were seeing increased cases of major defective parts on aircraft. I credit my (TV station) management that allowed me to stay on that story for three years until I was able to prove that those aircraft were crashing. And, once that happened, I actually had the George W. Bush administration on my side and Sikorsky had to change what they were doing. And, that probably got me the job down here at ABC Action News.” 

Within a couple of months of starting at that new job, Cohn says, “I found out about a guy who was going around the entire area dressed in a full Marine Corps uniform with the Navy Cross and I discovered that he had never served a day in the military. I thought he was living near the VFW hall off I-275, so I went there, gave the bartender my card and said, ‘If you ever see this guy around here, call me.’ And, that Friday night, he called me to say, ‘He’s here.’ I rushed over, interviewed the guy on my phone and he wound up being charged and convicted federally.” 

An Aspiration To Serve 

Cohn worked at WFTS-TV Channel 28 in Tampa until 2012, but took a break for a few years, until WWSB-TV (ABC7) in Sarasota created an interview show for him. He left that job in 2020 for his first U.S. Congressional District 15 run, where he defeated State Rep. Adam Hattersley and Marine Corps vet Jesse Philippe in the Democratic primary, earning 41% of the vote. 

“That District 15 race was targeted by both sides from the get-go,” Cohn says. “The incumbent, Ross Spano, was a first-term member of Congress. He also was under criminal investigation. So, I saw it as an opportunity. I thought it would be a first-term member of Congress under criminal investigation against an investigative reporter who had sought out corruption. The problem was that Spano was defeated in the Republican primary (by Lakeland City Commissioner Scott Franklin), so that changed the narrative of the race.” Cohn lost to Franklin 55%-45%. 

Then, in the 2022 election, Cohn again won the Democratic primary for the newly redrawn 15th District, finishing first out of a five-candidate field with 33.1% of the vote. He went on to lose the general election for the District to Republican Laurel Lee by 17 percentage points. 

“My aspiration has always been to serve,” he says. “I look at the role of City Council as where the ‘real work’ is done. This is where you can have a profound impact on your community. And, that’s why I’m running.” 

Cohn also believes that this is a critical, important moment for the City of Tampa. 

“We’re at a point in time, which is almost like a tipping point, not only for New Tampa, but for the entire city,” he says. “I want to be a part of that. I want to make sure that hard-working families can afford to live here and can enjoy living here. I believe City Council is where I can have the most impact at this point in time.” 

As for what he hopes to accomplish for New Tampa on City Council, Cohn wants to make sure that the projects Viera has been working on, but may not see through to fruition before he leaves office, don’t go away because someone new is elected to fill his seat. 

He wants to make sure the city finds the funds necessary to build the under-design, but not-yet-funded city park in K-Bar Ranch that Viera has championed, as well as find a way to put either another fire station or at least an emergency rescue vehicle in K-Bar, “because the response times there aren’t acceptable.” 

In fact, Cohn says, public safety is a top priority for him. “We don’t have a police department location in New Tampa, so TPD officers who patrol here have to check in by Busch Blvd. And, when their shifts end, they have to exchange paperwork in parking lots. That has to stop.” 

He also says that although coalition-building is important, “I have been, throughout my journalism and political career, an advocate who knows how to push properly and knows the tactics and the methods to bring about change. I have always been able to shine a spotlight on whatever is needed, and push until it’s done.” 

Cohn adds that it’s still all about communication. “You can have the greatest ideas in the world,” he says, “but you have to be able to communicate them in an effective way. And, that’s the advantage I think I have over anyone else.” 

Although Viera isn’t making any endorsements in the race to replace him (see pg. 10), “at least not until the race is down to only two candidates,” he did recently appoint Cohn to the city’s Charter Review Commission, which meets every seven years to propose changes to the city’s charter, which Cohn says is akin to its “Constitution.” 

“The Commission is difficult and time-consuming work,” Viera says, “and I thank Alan and all of the other Council and Mayoral appointees who will dedicate a great deal of time to this endeavor. I was proud to appoint him to this position. It is important to have people who are responsible and quality on this Commission and Alan fits that bill. He is a good man and I know he will do an amazing job.” 

Cohn says that there is a constant struggle in Tampa about our form of government. 

“We have a strong mayor form of government,” he says. “I know there are people on the City Council who are frustrated that our Mayors can do whatever they want. And I know Mayors who have felt like Council meddles in what they’re doing. I think that we need to bridge the gap here and create a situation where there’s a much better working relationship between the City Council and the Mayor, because it has been incredibly divisive for too long. And, as to how the City Charter could have an impact on [that relationship] is part of what we want to work at, to make sure that it meets the moment. It’s no coincidence that people who have served on the Charter Review often become City Council members afterwards.” 

Cohn also says that he would love to help the Rays Major League Baseball team move to this side of Tampa Bay and that he definitely supports the recent development of downtown Tampa. “I would like to see more of it, but I’d like to see it be affordable to most people. I also want to help bring more family-friendly things and restaurants to right here in New Tampa, so you don’t always have to go downtown.” 

And, although he is Jewish, Cohn says, “I’ve always had strong support in the local Muslim community because it’s been based upon a shared dedication to civil liberties. The last few years have definitely put strains on those relationships, but I will seek to open that dialogue again. As Luis says, New Tampa is a very diverse community of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, so we all need to start talking to each other.” 

And, speaking of dialogue, he says, “I will be pesky in terms of my invitations to other City Council members to come up here because even though I’d be representing New Tampa on City Council, I’ll still also responsible for making decisions for South Tampa and Seminole Heights. We all have a responsibility to know how our issues impact the other areas of the city. I’m going to use my energies and my voice to do that.” 

In conclusion, Cohn says, “Patty and I love our community. I’m blessed with not only an understanding wife, but with someone who also has her finger on the pulse here. We complement each other that way.”