page 27


has had a honeymoon with the press for a year, and for the first time, they

said, "Uh-oh, she's not a housewife from Maitland, she is a tough politician."

When you start trying to block bank charters and using Public Service

Commission stationery to do it and telling how many businesses you regulate

and so forth they took it a little bit out of context. Reading the

whole letter wasn't as bad, but it is the first severe rebuke that she has

had. I agree with what she said in a lot of ways. You know, we don't have

branch banking in Florida, but we might as well have it. Because we are

getting too many little banks. I mean, you know, we have got banks in

places like Orlando that are like the Seven to Eleven grocery store.

And that doesn't make sense. You know, you can have too many of everything.

As Odando found out, they've got too many motels. Way too many.

W.D.V.: How is the press in this state, say the state capital press?

Thomas: I think that generally speaking, very good. We only have one

bad paper, and that damn thing, I'm telling you the truth, it's unbelievable.

The St. Petersburg Times. I mean, God Almighty, how they twist things.

I really think that they are unfair and I think that it is the only one

in the state that's unfair. The Miami Herald is pretty damn liberal, but

I think that they are fair. It's a Knight newspaper and like your

Charlotte Observer, but I think, you know, they do a good job, they have

been on Gurney's back for a year, but they've had something. Now, they've

been awfully repetitive about it, I mean that they have kicked the same

damn old mule, they warm him up every week, you know. Every Sunday they

take the same thing and hash it over again, you know and from that standpoint,

I think that they have overdone it a little bit. But generally speaking, I

think that the Miami Herald is generally fair.


From the Southern Oral History Program, #4007, Interview *-&6 in the Southern Historical Collection,
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT.