The Political Whore

It started a few weeks ago, rumors flying that perhaps Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan was eyeing a jump to another seat on that board in 2010 in order to overcome term limits, which he would face in 2012. The story went that he would jump to the departing Jim Norman’s seat and state Sen. Victor Crist, term limited in Tallahassee in 2010, would run for Hagan’s seat.

I mentioned the possibility that Hagan could jump seats (and it is possible, legally that is) and about a week later, Patrick Manteiga at La Gaceta reported that the two actually had arranged the switcheroo.

But Crist, no relation to the governor, tells me no deal.

“I have to leave [the Senate] because of term limits,” Crist said by telephone from his Tallahassee office, where he had just finished up the special session on budget cuts. “I love public policy. I have options. I have my own political base, accomplishments and track record that I don’t need to cut any deals.”

Crist said he has not committed to any race or campaign and is keeping all his options open. But he did say he wants to stay in public office and continue working on issues he cares about, including improvements in the Suitcase City neighborhood near USF and criminal justice.

(Hey, I forgot when I posted this to add my disclaimer, that I represented Crist in one of his Senate races when I was a political consultant. Sorry about the omission.)

This just in:

From: Buddy Johnson
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 3:41 PM
To: (HaganK@HillsboroughCounty.ORG); (NormanJ@HillsboroughCounty.ORG); (SharpeM@HillsboroughCounty.ORG); (FerlitaR@HillsboroughCounty.ORG); (WhiteK@HillsboroughCounty.ORG); (HigginbothamA@HillsboroughCounty.ORG); BecknerK@hillsboroughCounty.ORG
Cc: (BeanP@HillsboroughCounty.ORG); (LeeR@HillsboroughCounty.ORG); (JohnsonE@HillsboroughCounty.ORG); Daniel Klein; Kathy Harris; David Parks; Stacie Poppell; Mia McCormick
Subject: Withdrawal of SOE Budget Amendment

The purpose of this letter is to formally withdraw the request for a budget amendment to the Supervisor of Elections FY 09 Budget.

As you know when we submitted the 2008 and 2009 budgets we could not predict the full impact of transitioning to a new voting system during a presidential election year.  We trusted the County Budget director and staff when throughout the budget process we were assured they understood we were submitting our best estimate. We were told by your staff we could not add a contingency to our budget but would need to request a countywide fund budget amendment when we could define the actual expenses.  As your staff is aware throughout the Election Cycle we used the required county process to adjust our 2008 and 2009 budgets several times to cover unforeseen election expenses.  We were extremely transparent in all of our dealings with the budget office and with the Office of the Clerk regarding these budget adjustments during these difficult economic times.

Our goal in submitting the budget request was to finalize the election cycle before leaving office so that the incoming Supervisor could focus on the future.  I feel it is best to withdraw the request so that Mrs. Busansky can review the budget and make her own decision about the amendment.  Any delay in making the request is attributed to carrying out the 2008 yearend audit and finalizing all expenditures related to the election cycle.  There is a very short period of time between Election Day and the end of the year.

Also, unbeknownst to me, without the knowledge of my general counsel or Sr. Chief Deputy Supervisor of Elections, I found out today that Mrs. Busansky and the County Attorney have initiated an investigation into the current voting system provider.  This matter needs to be completely transparent and reviewed by the Board of County Commissioners.  I have not been made privy to these discussions but have complete confidence in the current provider’s willingness and the current CIO and general counsel’s ability to respond to any technical or legal questions raised during this surreptitious investigation.

Finally, I want to express my appreciation to the Board for the elections partnership we shared these past years.  It was my pleasure to serve this community.

Respectfully submitted Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Buddy Johnson

Today is investiture day for county commissioners on both sides of Tampa Bay. The contrast between what these new additions to the county boards means is stark.

In Tampa, where the Hillsborough County government has veered irresponsibly to the right over the past decade, the election of one man is going to make a huge difference. Kevin Beckner beat Brian Blair, who had formed a bloc with commissioners Ken Hagan and Jim Norman, often picking up votes from Democrat Kevin White and GOP colleague Al Higginbotham to approve pro-business, pro-development and anti-tolerance measures. Already, however, that power seems to have shifted, if only on certain issues. Beckner would vote with commissioners White, Rose Ferlita and Mark Sharpe to put a sales tax increase for rail transit on the ballot in 2010, a progressive move sought by Mayor Pam Iorio that the conservative bloc on the board fought against for years.

The new additions to the centrist Pinellas County Commission move that board further to the right, with one bringing a strong fiscal conservative bent (Neil Brickfield) and the other bringing social conservative credentials (Nancy Bostock). Don’t expect to see the Pinellas board ever become as intolerant or destructive as the 1996-2008 Hillsborough boards were, but an inexorable shift toward less government is definitely in the cards.

Investiture details after the jump.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s November 6, 2008 in Hillsborough: Do you know who your county commissioner is?

No, you don’t. And that’s exactly what Kevin Beckner’s campaign manager, Mitch Kates, predicted. He’s currently slightly ahead of incumbent Brian Blair, who has yet to concede as early votes are still being counted.

Check out Kates’ prescient concerns from this video, shot at 10:30 p.m. on Election Night at Gaspar’s Grotto in Ybor City:

The counting of more than 80,000 early votes continues today, and at the latest tabulation (from late last night), challenger Kevin Beckner has opened a 22,839 vote lead over incumbent Brian Blair, who may have attended his last meeting as a commissioner:

Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair said this morning he is not ready to concede defeat in his race with Democrat Kevin Beckner.

… “I’m an athlete,” Blair said this morning during a break in a commission meeting. “I’m running until the race is over.”

Commissioner Rose Ferlita, who has often crossed swords with Blair over environmental issues and other matters, wished Blair well if the ultimate vote total went Beckner’s way.

“In the event you are replaced by someone else, I want to thank you for your service and say good luck and Godspeed,” she said.

It might be a little premature, but some local wag circulated this email inviting folks to the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners’ meeting today to celebrate the putative last day of Brian Blair, even though the vote-counting isn’t yet complete in the race between him and Kevin Beckner, who is currently in the lead:

Fellow Celebrators,
Tomorrow is what I’m calling the Not-So-Regular BOCC Meeting.  You may not have realized it yet, but it will be Brian’s last meeting as commissioner.  Beckner will be sworn-in on November 18 and he will assume full duties as of that date.  I confirmed this with Commissioner Ferlita’s office this morning.

So what should we do tomorrow to mark Brian’s passing???  Should we bring in a cake???  Should I bring my guitar and we sing, “For he’s a jolly good fellow”???  Should we pass around copies of the want ads???

It might be better if we use this as an opportunity to educate and motivate the others on the board, kind of like a “lessons learned” session.  In other words to convey to them that having powerbrokers with money behind you sometimes leads to a false sense of security, and that as powerful as the special interests are, they can’t save you if the public believes that you’ve betrayed their trust.

Remember, it’s your last chance to say goodbye to him as a commissioner.
And don’t forget, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the evil-doers show up to pay their last respects and tell him what a wonderful job he’s done.  I know the rest of he gang of 5 will be singing his praises tomorrow.

It would be interesting if he didn’t show up tomorrow, fearing that he might have to face those goodbye speeches from the diehards.

(Read all of our coverage last night at Election Central.)

With only seven precincts left to be counted, Kevin Beckner has a nearly 20,000 vote lead and appears to have won the Hillsborough County Commission seat now held by Brian Blair. One big caveat: Those “precincts” are mostly absentee and early vote totals, which mean tens of thousands of votes remain outstanding. The Hillsborough elections office stopped counting at 3:30 a.m. with 6,000 absentees and 86,000 early votes left to be tallied, according to the St. Petersburg Times and online elections returns.

TBO.com reported this morning:

First, the issue of uploading early votes must be addressed. As of early Wednesday, only half of the 26 early voting machines had been tabulated. The county received 146,332 early votes, but it is not known how many remain to be counted.

Next, officials must access votes from machines in the outstanding precincts, Temple Terrace Presbyterian Church, a combined precinct, and New Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Tampa. One machine in each precinct was causing problems, Dominguez said.

Then officials also still have to count 6,000 absentee votes received Tuesday which weren’t scheduled to be counted until today. [Canvassing Board chairman Judge James] Dominguez estimated that counting the votes from the precinct machines and the absentee ballots would take about four hours.

But based on Beckner’s performance in early voting and his large lead, we project him the winner in this seat. According to the elections office tablulations, 60,384 early ballots had been counted when the count was halted early this morning. That would leave about 86,000 left to count. To close the 20,000 vote gap in early returns, Blair would have to win 62 percent of the outstanding early ballots, where Beckner has won 68 percent of the early vote counted so far. That dramatic turnaround in early voting results seems extremely unlikely.

Here are the most current vote totals from the Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections:

Brian Blair (REP)		47.38%	180,599
Kevin Beckner (DEM)		52.62%	200,586

How did Beckner do it? Early voting and staying close in the absentees, which usually break big for Republicans. Beckner built his 20,000-vote lead among early voters, a group that appears to be only partially counted still this morning. Blair is beating Beckner in absentees by only 158 votes.

Choice Polling Absentee Early Vote Prov Unscan Total Percent
Brian Blair 113,48 47,981 19,129 0 0 180,599 47.38%
Kevin Beckner 111,508 47,823 41,255 0 0 200,586 52.62%

At nearly 2 a.m., it still wasn’t clear, owing to another massive screwup by Hillsborough Supervisor Buddy Johnson that saw elections returns trickle out of his office when almost everyone else in the state had the job done.

Kevin Beckner was ahead by nearly 18,000 votes with 312 out of 323 precincts reporting. Republican pro wrestling veteran Brian Blair had run behind from the first returns, a surprise given the fact that the absentee ballots were among the first counted and they run heavily toward to the GOP. Beckner and his troops had set up a party at Gaspar’s Grotto in Ybor City, hoping to celebrate a win. They settled for watching Barack Obama’s victory speech and then huddling around a few laptops trying to figure out why the county race wasn’t settled yet. Beckner ended up leaving after 1 a.m. without a conclusion to his quest.

The race between the progressive Beckner and social conservative Blair dramatically illustrates the split that exists in Hillsborough County, shown in this map from the elections office; Beckner’s winning precincts are in blue, Blair’s in red and the outstanding precincts shown in grey:

Controversial Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair sent out this e-mail to supporters this morning:

A Special Election Day Message From Brian Blair

Dear Friend,

As a child, I remember the feeling I had on Saturday morning heading out to the baseball or football field to play.  It was Game Day and the anticipation of the start of the game was exciting and euphoric.

Read the rest of this entry »

The activists at U-CAN (United Citizens Action Network) are starting to issue report cards for all of the Hillsborough County, starting with their favorite target, Republican Brian Blair.

He got eight F’s, one C and one D. Something that surely won’t look good on his permanent record:

“Brian is goal oriented and has worked tirelessly to achieve certain goals, however, the goals he strives to achieve are not in alignment with what citizens want — improving quality of life, making growth pay for itself, maintaining our community’s way of life, reducing traffic, reducing the overcrowding in our schools, carefully preserving our environment, managing growth to reduce the shortage of potable water.”

The renaming of the Hillsborough County Moral Courage Award in honor of power broker Ralph Hughes claimed another victim today: 1996 winner Eileen Hart gave back her award in an emotional moment at the start of this morning’s county commission meeting.

This from the tbo.com coverage:

Eileen Hart wiped tears from her eyes minutes after she gave back her Moral Courage Award at today’s Hillsborough County Commission meeting.

Two weeks ago, the commission voted to rename the award, which is given to citizens who challenge government, for controversial political activist Ralph Hughes. When Hart, who won the award in 1996, learned Hughes was a conservative power broker who helped finance commissioners’ political campaigns, the award lost its meaning, she said.

“It’s pathetic that they would name an award for a person when it’s a nonpartisan award,” Hart said outside the commission chambers. “It should have nothing to do” with politics.

Now, that took moral courage!

Hart is now a contender for our own Moral Courage Award, which CL took over after the county sullied it beyond repair. Here are the details on how you can nominate someone for their moral courage.

UPDATE: Neither Blair nor Beckner has spoken to Creative Loafing about this story, but a Tampa Tribune reporter tells me Blair has now produced a campaign check cut to CBS Outdoor on Sept. 19 and insists he paid for all his campaign advertising himself.

–

In the aftermath of my story yesterday about Brian Blair and who is paying for his campaign billboards, several activists showed up at the Hillsborough County Commission meeting this morning, with one reading my story into the record and at least one other demanding Blair resign.

The Kevin Beckner campaign, which is challenging the Republican Blair for his county commission seat, picked up the ball from there, issuing this news release this afternoon:

BLAIR BREAKS LAW
Brian Blair violates election law- Beckner campaign calls for Blair’s resignation

TAMPA: According to a disturbing news article in the weekly newspaper Creative Loafing, it appears that Brian Blair has violated campaign finance laws by participating in an ethically and quite possibly legally challenged campaign activity.

In the news story titled, “Who is behind commissioner Brain Blair’s campaign billboards?” it is revealed that “according to an invoice… controversial and prominent developer” Stephen Dibbs actually paid for the billboard. Contradicting the invoice the billboard’s disclaimer clearly states “Paid political advertisement paid for and approved by Brian Blair, Republican, for Hillsborough County Commission District 6.”

“Throughout this campaign I have focused on the real issues we face in Hillsborough County. I have also expressed that we need real change in our county that focuses on the people and not Special Interests,” stated candidate Kevin Beckner. “This unfortunate indiscretion that my opponent is involved in not only shows a violation of the law and the public trust but is a glaring example of how connected Mr. Blair is to self interest developers.”

“It is obvious that the self interest developers who support Mr. Blair will do whatever is necessary, legal or illegal, to re-elect Mr. Blair and maintain their power and influence over county government,” stated Beckner.

According to campaign finance laws individuals are limited to a $500 maximum contribution by individuals or $500 for corporate contributions. The news article states that the cost of the billboard in question was $2,500.

“Brian Blair should be begging the voters of Hillsborough County for their forgiveness instead of their votes right now,” stated Mitch Kates campaign manager for Kevin Beckner. “Mr. Blair not only broke the law, he violated the public’s trust. If Mr. Blair had any moral courage he would not only suspend his campaign he would step down from his seat on the County Commission immediately.”

It sure looks like that could have happened. In a story to be published in our print edition tomorrow, I write about how at least one invoice for a Blair campaign billboard was sent directly to a company owned by developer Stephen Dibbs:

The billboard on Ehrlich Road in north Tampa touting the re-election of Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair reads, in fine print at the bottom, “Political advertisement paid for and approved by Brian Blair, Republican for Hillsborough County Commission, District 6.”

It appears, however, that his campaign did not pay for the billboard advertisement. Blair’s campaign finance reports show no such expenditure. And according to an invoice obtained by Creative Loafing, the bill for the $2,500-a-month roadway sign was sent to North Dale Development, which is owned by Stephen Dibbs, a controversial and prominent developer who has supported Blair in the past.

If Dibbs did pay for the billboard, it would appear to exceed the limits in the state campaign finance law, which caps direct or in-kind contributions to candidate campaigns at $500 and requires disclosure of any contributions.

Among Dibbs’ various holdings is the Bourbon Street Plaza shopping strip center where the billboard is located. It is not clear from the invoice whether Dibbs paid for the board. The invoice was provided to CL by a source who requested anonymity because the source was not authorized to release the document.

The invoice, from CBS Outdoor, which sells the billboard’s advertising space, was dated Aug. 20, 2008, for use of the billboard in the month of August. The 10-foot-by-36-foot sign is highly visible to anyone driving west on Ehrlich from North Dale Mabry Highway. It was still in place last week when CL visited the site.

Neither Dibbs nor Blair responded to numerous telephone and e-mailed requests for comment for this story.

Who paid for this campaign billboard on Ehrlich Road in Tampa?

Read the entire story, which is already on our website.

UPDATE: Neither Blair nor Beckner has spoken to Creative Loafing about this story, but a Tampa Tribune reporter told me Tuesday that Blair has now produced a campaign check cut to CBS Outdoor on Sept. 19 and insists he paid for all his campaign advertising himself. Blair spoke to reporters with the Trib and Times after he was criticized during Tuesday’s county commission meeting about the subject of the story.

In the highest profile one-on-one meeting in the campaign so far, incumbent Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair and challenger Kevin Beckner have taped an appearance for Sunday’s Flashpoint with Brendan McLaughlin on ABC Action News Channel 28.

The interview gets real lively about halfway through when the topic turns to social issues. Blair, a conservative, has fought against gay pride and the anti-bullying “Day of Silence” in public schools, gets an earful from Beckner, who is preaching more tolerance and fiscal planning.

The show airs on Sunday at 11 a.m.

Been covering politics or in it for nigh on to 25 years in Florida and I have never seen anything like last night’s candidate forum at the Metropolitan Community Church in Tampa. Don Kruse, who is running in the primary against anti-gay rights Commissioner Brian Blair, showed up to speak to a storm-dwindled audience of about 35 people at the event co-sponsored by Equality Florida.

A few days ago I asked in a blog post, “What does somebody have to do to lose newspaper endorsements to Blair?” Last night I might have received my answer.

So let me set this up: I was a panelist at the forum, along with EF Executive Director Nadine Smith and moderator Chris Krimitsos of The Bleepin’ Truth on public access. It was later in the evening that Kruse’s turn came, and he was solo on the stage, as Blair did not show up to the gay-friendly event.

So I asked the first question: Given Blair’s anti-gay record (voting against gay pride displays, criticizing the anti-bullying Day of Silence in public schools), where did Kruse stand on gay rights?

Kruse started in explaining that he wanted some enlightenment from the audience. “Educate me,” he said. Then he veered to the issue of hate crimes. Crimes are crimes, there are no distinctions of shades of right or wrong depending on the skin color or sexual orientation of the victims involved. “They are crimes against humanity,” he said.

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… is not the run-of-the-mill redneck you might suspect. He’s Marion Lambert, a college-educated beekeeper who sells honey from his home in Ballast Point. He lives pretty much off the grid on his urban farm.

Our former staff writer Max Linsky profiled Lambert in 2005, writing:

Lambert is skinny and leather-skinned, his voice gruff through a wad of Levi Garrett chewing tobacco. He moves fluidly around the farm, stepping around his old welding equipment as he leads a pony to his stall. The agrarian life, he says, is in his blood.

Lambert grew up in Pensacola, and kept chickens from the age of 10, selling eggs to his neighbors. From there he went to the University of West Florida, and was a step away from getting his masters is psychology when he abruptly quit. “I realized it wasn’t worth it,” he says.

He and his wife found the farm, which was then just a house with a big backyard, during a search for her runaway albino skunk, Berkley (they didn’t find him). Lambert contacted the land’s owner, and brokered a deal. He would farm the land, keeping it “greenbelted” and exempted from normal property taxes. And that’s how it’s stayed for 30 years.

Lambert makes his money off the honey, grows his own greens and has chickens to lay fresh eggs. He heats the water in his house by wood fire and does his business through trade when he can.

He doesn’t go to movies. Doesn’t own a TV. He avoids restaurants – “I’d rather eat out here by the campfire,” he says.

He even barters at 7-Eleven, where he brews the morning pot of coffee in exchange for a free cup.

It’s a different life, in a different world.

Lambert is a proud Southerner; the confederate flag is incorporated into his honey website’s beehive logo. And he digs a rural lifestyle despite having a place well within the urbanized confines of the city of Tampa. As Linsky pointed out three years ago:

Block out the old pickups strewn around the farm and the Air Force jets flying overhead (Lambert’s place is next door to MacDill AFB) and it could be 1865. Lambert, who is the Commander of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans’ chapter, likes it that way. Chickens run around the yard, a cow grazes in a pasture, and seven goats roam the back of the property, chomping away on a Brazillian Pepper tree.

Oh, and he sells his honey on the honor system:

Lambert says he eats what produce and meat he needs, and gives away the rest. His honey, which comes in bakery grade (darker color, more moisture) and table grade (lighter color, more expensive), is the cash crop. If the market’s right, he can make up to $45,000 a year selling barrels to health food stores and factories.

And there’s the stand at Second Street’s dead end.

Lambert leaves out the jugs and expects customers to slide their money through a slot, on the honor system. Pay what you got; take what you need. He’s been ripped of a few times, but that’s to be expected, he says.

Lambert was before the Hillsborough County Commission today, where he heard a report from county attorneys that he was within his legal rights to fly the battle flag at the intersection of I-4 and I-75 showed today. But Lambert slipped in speaking with a reporter, letting us know that it is not, as previously stated, all about historical pride; it’s about revenge at being ignored. This from the Times account:

He said he has been seeking since 2006 to have commissioners sign a simple proclamation to honor confederate history. Commissioners refused and so he has resorted to this.

“We’ve been marginalized, put off the table,” [Marion] Lambert said. “Now they want to talk to us? Hey, your wife’s done left you.”

Oh no they didn’t.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans have displayed their southern pride, or maybe demonstrated their racist ignorance (depending on whom you ask), by flying a massive Confederate flag near the I-75 and I-4 intersection.

God bless America. These rednecks have the right to fly their flag, at least temporarily.

While I totally disagree with their ideology and am suspicious of their motives, unpopular ideas should not be censored. The flag merely represents their ideas and is akin to a demonstration, which is constitutionally protected. To prohibit this group from flying the flag because of what it stands for would amount to a content-based restriction of free speech, which is a road we do not want to start down.

In addition, there doesn’t seem to be anything, at least so far, that the county commission can legally do to get the flag taken down.

And they should, because leaving the flag up permanently would be an eyesore and wouldn’t be beneficial to the overall community any more than any other hideous eyesore would be. In the same way that we wouldn’t let any other group assemble permanently in a public place, we shouldn’t let this abominable symbol be on permanent public display. It needs to come down eventually.

In the meantime, however, it should be treated as a free speech or a right to assemble issue.

(photo credit: juxtapose^esopatxuj via flickr)

Denise Layne, a Lutz civic activist instrumental in such recent causes as the EPC wetlands issue, says she will announce her candidacy for the Hillsborough County Commission next week in the seat being held by EPC foe Brian Blair. She is a Democrat and will face a primary against Kevin Beckner and Joe Redner. Story is developing …

It ain’t sexy stuff to write about Hillsborough County’s urban services boundary, but the imaginary line that is supposed to contain suburban sprawl around Florida cities is important nonetheless. Around these parts, it is under assault:

[Hillsborough County] Commissioners allowed a last-minute continuance of another bid to breach the county’s growth boundary, a move that angered 50 or more citizen activists who traveled from far-flung areas of the county to oppose the development on Lutz-Lake Fern Road near the Suncoast Parkway.

Developer Stephen Dibbs, who was not at the meeting, sent a letter this week to the commission asking for a delay on his proposal for a 36.6-acre development on Lutz-Lake Fern Road and Suncoast Parkway.

Dibbs wants to increase the density on his property tenfold, from one house per 5 acres to two houses per acre, and build a shopping center.

The continuance was the second granted by the commissioners this month after dozens of residents turned out to fight growth plan amendments that would push high-density development into rural areas.

“They’re making a mockery of this process,” said Kelly Cornelius, who then turned to the audience and asked, “Who else is tired of these continuations?” The crowd answered with a roar.

That’s the Trib’s account. The Times downplayed the vote and didn’t mention the dissension:

Commissioners were scheduled to vote on two other controversial amendments, but hours earlier, developer Stephen J. Dibbs withdrew his request to remove 305 acres from the Keystone-Odessa Community Plan, which governs growth in the northwest Hillsborough community, and asked commissioners to postpone until 2009 considering a proposed denser development near Lutz-Lake Fern Road and the Suncoast Parkway.

Dibbs is particularly well connected to the commissioners, raising thousands of dollars in commission races and serving on host committees for high-powered fund-raising events. He just missed making my list of 10 “Money Men” in 2006, raising a litle more than $10,000 for county candidates (including 6 of the 7 current county commissioners — Ken Hagan, Mark Sharpe, Jim Norman, Al Higginbotham, Kevin White and Brian Blair) since 2002.

The only person he didn’t give to was Commissioner Rose Ferlita:

Commissioner Rose Ferlita, who didn’t arrive at the meeting until after the vote to give Dibbs the continuance, asked chairman Ken Hagan to hold the vote again so she could record her disapproval.

The vote was held again, with Ferlita and Mark Sharpe voting no.

“I think this has been done before, and it … beats down our citizens,” Ferlita said.

Dibbs was also the driving force behind a move to gut the county’s environmental protections for wetlands.

So let’s face it; it’s hard to say no to a guy who has raised thousands of dollars for you. And that’s why our urban services boundary is susceptible to change and further sprawl.

On the upside, commissioners did vote 6-0 against extending the growth boundary out east of Tampa, along I-4, when they turned down a request by an Orlando company that wants to build an industrial park:

Orlando’s M.L. Carter development wanted a land use change on 94 acres near I-4 and McIntosh Road. Representatives of the developer said that was the perfect spot for an industrial park and could draw high-paying jobs to Hillsborough.

“The county’s missing many opportunities,” attorney Vincent Marchetti said.

But commissioners said they wanted to wait for the county staff to complete its study of the I-4 corridor.

About 20 people spoke against M.L. Carter’s proposal, which they said would jeopardize the county’s rural communities.

“This is absolutely outrageous that you would even consider this,” said Terry Flott, president of the Seffner Community Alliance.

The commission voted 6-0 against the land-use change. Commissioner Kevin White left before the vote.

I don’t find any record of the Orlando firm contributing to county commission races, but its attorney, Vin Marchetti, is a major local donor, contributing more than $12,000 in city and county elections. He has donated $7,000 total to all seven current county commissioners.

So is the lesson the Hillsborough County Commission can’t be bought with campaign contributions? Or that contributions from a developer carry more weight than those from a land-use lawyer?

(I’m going to post a spreadsheet of Dibbs’ and Marchetti’s campaign contributions and other documents about Dibbs’ request to push beyond the growth boundary over at Fix It Now Tampa Bay, our civic journalism website.)

And that is a big fat raspberry and a moral lesson in doing what is right. On Friday, Mayor Pam Iorio made a stand that is the best thing she has ever done in her political career: She told county leaders she won’t even consider merging or consolidating functions with them because of their anti-gay stance. As she wrote to Times reporter Bill Varian in response to county commissioners’ overtures about merging parks and recreation departments:

We should not merge any services where our values are not compatible. The County’s lack of tolerance towards a segment of our community cannot be allowed to affect the services provided by Parks and Recreation.

Yes, Ronda Storms’ crusade of intolerance back in 2005 lives on. It is county policy not to recognize gay pride events, a policy that Storms made sure can only be overturned by a supermajority vote of the County Commission. As Iorio rightly points out in her e-mail, merging with the county parks department could endanger some city-support gay events:

The county took over the library system many years ago. (It has its own county-wide millage rate) This worked well until a few years ago when the BOCC decided not to allow any Gay pride displays at the libraries. This I very much disagreed with and thought it sent the wrong tone for the entire community. The City co-sponsors through our Parks and Recreation Department many special events as I mentioned above. One for example is Winter Pride at Al Lopez Park.

In my recent “Fix It Now” column, item No. 9 was “Stop beating up on gay people:”

We waste far too much time, energy and newsprint writing about the battle over gay marriage or transgender firings. Richard Florida was right; communities that embrace tolerance and diversity outperform those that don’t. Even if you aren’t down with homosexuality because of your religion or whatever psychosexual hang-ups you have, just walk away from this fight.

Iorio shows why this is so important. No matter what you think about the mayor, take time today to send her an e-mail of support for her strong stance and for the warning shot across the bow of the county leaders. There is a price we pay for intolerance, in lost economic growth, in government efficiency, and in creative and cultural richness. (While you’re at it, send some love over to the county commissioners and urge them to repeal their hateful gay pride resolution.)

Times is reporting that Republican Ken Hagan, long known for staying out of the spotlight and away from the news media, won’t be able to keep that up any longer; he’s been chosen as the new chairman of the Hillsborough County Commission.

Hagan replaces Jim Norman, who is still stinging from the defeat of his $40 million Championship Park proposal. That puts Hagan front and center for the run-up to the 2008 elections, with some controversial transportation and planning questions ahead, not to mention the resolution of the Environmental Protection Commission wetlands fight and god knows what else will come in front of that dysfunctional board.

Commissioner Rose Ferlita, at the same meeting in which Hagan was chosen chairman, was essentially stripped of her seat on the Tampa Port Authority, which was given to Commissioner Brian Blair. Unsurprising given that Ferlita has been an outspoken critic of several of her colleagues’ actions, including Norman, Hagan and Blair. Norman kept the key perc of a seat on the Tampa Sports Authority, where members get free tickets to Bucs games and get to spend our tax dollars on flat-panel HDTVs for the luxury suites and club level.

The one spot of good news from the county commission today: the pragmatic Mark Sharpe was chosen vice chairman.

(addendum disclosure: forgot to add that Ferlita was a client of my political consulting firm in the 1990s and that I was consultant to the Jim Davidson campaign against a field that included Hagan in Hagan’s first campaign. Davidson lost in the Republican primary.) 

A packed classroom at the Hillsborough Environmental Protection Commission yesterday afternoon showed just how much energy the push to preserve what’s left of Tampa Bay’s wetlands has gathered.

The government officials, lawyers, activists and farmers were there to review new rules being written by EPC regulators that would provide specific exemptions for farmers to disturb wetlands, generally if they are less than one-half acre. The rules are the result of a desperate attempt by the EPC and activists to prevent the abolition of local wetlands laws when county commissioners earlier this year tried to wipe them off the books, under the guise of cost-savings and eliminating duplication.

EPC staff said the new rules were better than the current vague guidelines for farmers, which leads to uneven enforcement. The activists weren’t buying it.

“If you start whittling away [wetlands protection] piece by piece, quarter acre by quarter acre, why have the EPC?” said Denise Layne, who has followed the issue locally and in Tallahassee for many years. She promised “a war in front of the county commissioners” if the EPC moved the proposed changes forward to a planned Nov. 15 commission vote.

EPC lawyer Andrew Zodrow, however, said the new rule is better, more professional and gives the EPC a seat at the table when regional water management officials approve overarching wetlands permits for farmers, something EPC doesn’t participate in at the present. “It’s a great leap forward in the rule to have a process that defines ‘farmer,’” he added as an example of the lack of specificity in the current regs.

The problem, activists said, is that the new rules may open more doors for development lawyers and allow for more destruction of smaller wetlands, which would be remotely possible under the new guidelines. “The last thing we want to do is encourage farmers to convert their land to developers,” EPC chief Rick Garrity promised the activists — to little relief.

Especially troubling to the environmentalists in the crowd was not being able to get an answer to their question of why the rules were being rushed to the county commission, without a review by an as-yet-unformed Technical Advisory Group or another advisory committee. In the end, Garrity acknowledged that the EPC is under the gun to get these changes finished because of promises made in presenting the hybrid plan, which was what commissioners agreed to try before re-evaluating whether to kill wetlands rules next year. County commissioners gave the EPC until May 2008 to streamline and change its processes (to a more developer-friendly mode, opponents argue) or face another discussion about elimination.

“We’re not off the hook,” Garrity admitted.

To see the proposed agricultural wetlands changes, click here for a .pdf. For a look at activists’ objections to the new rules, there are two .pdfs at this location.

As the WellCare federal investigation just starts to unfold (WellCare CEO Todd Farha, in his best Kevin-Bacon-Animal-House-”All-is-well!” imitation, finally issued a statement) and its market value falls off the table, it is good to recall that WellCare is the No. 1 campaign contribution bundler at the county commission level in Tampa Bay.

My story last year detailed how the Medicare and Medicaid provider donated $32,000 to local candidates in the 2006 election cycle, mostly Hillsborough County Commission candidates, at the same time it is trying to break into the ranks of providers who feed at the county’s lucrative indigent health care plan.

Two years earlier, it bundled up $10,000 for Commissioner Brian Blair, who is running again in 2008 and has received $2,000 so far in this campaign from four different WellCare corporations. In 2005, Blair raised the issue of opening up bidding for the indigent health care bucks but denied that it had anything to do with all the greasing he’s had from WellCare.

Just at the end of last week’s meeting on wetlands in Hillsborough County, as many in the audience had left and the cameras were just about to blink off, commissioners Rose Ferlita and Ken Hagan got into over a remark that Ferlita made in the Times critical of some of her colleagues skipping out on a meeting to attend the funeral of a well-connected developer. I didn’t get my hands on the closed-captioning script until the weekend, so here’s the [edited for clarity] exchange between the two:

Hagan: I received a few minutes ago an e-mail on the funeral arrangements for Sergeant Ronald Harrison [who was slain last week by a racist gunman], and the funeral is scheduled for 1:00 on Tuesday, and I think we should consider rescheduling our land-use meeting that day. I don’t know the board’s position on this. Judging by Commissioner Ferlita’s comments in yesterday’s paper regarding rescheduling our Wednesday meeting, I know she feels it’s bad government and inconsiderate and we should just send a designee or a card. I think sending a card or designee —

Ferlita: Mr. Hagan, you are absolutely out of order in terms of the questions of what I said. That is very, very unfair.

Hagan: — I certainly think it’s not good enough for Tuesday, and so I think we should make every effort to attend Sergeant Harrison’s funeral. And it’s the least we can do to show respect for this man.

Ferlita: Mr. Hagan, your comments directed to me were absolutely inappropriate. The difference between the majority of this board going to an individual funeral of somebody you have attachment to as opposed to deciding to have government continue while you paid your respects through a [designee] is hardly the same ….

Sir, nobody is stronger here than me for public safety. I was chairman down the street [of Tampa City Council’s public safety committee] of that for a long time, and to say that in the same breath — yeah, keep your smirk — to say that in the same breath that you talk about the death of a deputy sheriff who died in the line of duty for us, you are absolutely hitting below the belt, Mr. Hagan.

That is not fair to me, to them and to the gentleman who died.

Chairman Jim Norman: Folks, folks, folks.

Ferlita: That is very, very rude.

[applause]

Hagan: I just want to state that I’m reading directly from the papers yesterday that we should — other ways to express sympathy such as sending a designee from the board or a card, and I’m simply stating — I simply want to say that’s inappropriate, and the board should go, all of us.

Ferlita: … For Mr. Hagan to continue quoting me when it comes down to the service that this gentleman gave us, Mr. Hagan, I have no respect for your comments. You better correct what you’re thinking because you’re way out of line.

The Hagan-Ferlita intraGOP tiff follows another public fight between two other GOP County Commissioners, Brian Blair and Al Higginbotham, in which Blair attacked Higginbotham’s spending habits after Higginbotham suggested that commissioners might consider freezing their salaries in light of budget cutbacks that are costing public and private workers their jobs.

Tampa Bay visual artist and video filmmaker Dee Hood has posted a short clip lampooning the four Hillsborough County commissioners who voted to do away with county wetlands protection. It’s on YouTube and below: