The Political Whore

Mayor Pam Iorio has taken what I can’t help but think is an unprecedented step in trying to halt the Tampa City Council’s push to change the composition of the county Environmental Protection Commission.

Iorio had previously announced that she wouldn’t support the Council’s vote in July to ask the county to reconstitute the EPC to include a seat for a city appointee. Saying you won’t back the plan is one thing; writing a letter to state legislators in an effort to torpedo the legally voted action of an elected board is quite another.

Iorio wrote to all members of the Hillsborough Legislative Delegation this week:

I know you have many issues on your agenda right now with the special session, but I did want to write to make clear that the City of Tampa does not support changing the composition of the EPC. The City is comfortable with the historic make-up of the County Commission acting as the EPC Board. While some of the recent decisions of the Board may be controversial, the voters can decide at election time who will serve on the EPC Board.

Iorio went on to mention that she has been meeting with County Commission Chairman Jim Norman and County Administrator Pat Bean to “iron out” longstanding differences about money and equal representation on other government boards, such as the city’s Community Redevelopment Agencies. In July, the council’s chairwoman, Gwen Miller, sent a letter to legislators asking for the EPC law to be changed to better represent the cities of Tampa, Plant City and Temple Terrace, none of which has a direct seat at the table.  Miller’s letter specifically cited the EPC attempt recently to kill its local regulations that preserve wetlands.

State Rep. Rich Glorioso was set to introduce just such legislation — until Mayor Pam’s letter hit. It is sure to infuriate newly elected City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern, who led the fight to change the EPC, if not all of the council members. This may prove to be Iorio’s first real stumble, since the EPC wetlands fight has left many in Tampa livid with the county’s control over that vital function.

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