The Political Whore

By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.

Last Saturday in Brandon’s Clayton Park, approximately 200 citizens gathered for a TEA Party (Taxed Enough Already) organized by conservative activist Terry Kemple, and featuring a rally-the-troops speech by State Senator Ronda Storms (right).

It was one of what was supposed to be over 1,000 such expressions of outrage at government spending under the Obama administration around the country on Independence Day, and followed a similar outburst of conservative sentiment at the first “Teabag” parties held on Tax Day, April 15th.

That day was also dedicated to federal largesse, though you may recall it more as a media battle between the seeming outright advocacy of the Fox News network, and the derision of it by more liberal commentators, including way too many allusions to what the phrase ‘teabagging’ meant. (This Keith Olbermann bit was just part of that onslaught.)

The growing federal deficit was on the minds of most of the citizenry. Despite the fact that a large part of the current deficit can be laid at the feet of former President George W. Bush (as my previous column, referring NY Times columnist David Leonhardt, can attest to), those in attendance on Saturday were of no mind to hear such specific facts. Read the rest of this entry »

That would be activist Lorna Bracewell, Commissioner Kevin Beckner’s proposal last week to simply study the cost of providing domestic partnership insurance benefits to Hillsborough employees and an unknown aide to one of the county commissioners who was (behind the scenes) assisting anti-gay activists.

As I recount in my print CL column this week: Read the rest of this entry »

As I wrote about over the weekend, Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner will ask his colleagues on Thursday to allow staff to prepare a cost-benefit analysis of offering domestic partnership benefits in the county’s current renegotiation of its insurance plans.

That move has set off a firestorm of activity on the Christian Right, if two e-mails that I got my hands on are any indication. The first from the man that Beckner beat, Brian Blair:

From: Brian Blair
Sent: Sunday, January 18, 2009

Subject: Fw: New County Commissioner tries “stealth attack”! Please read and act – THIS IS VITALLY IMPORTANT!

Do you think with $250,000 in campaign donations we should have mentioned he [Beckner} was an Activist on several G.L.B.T. Boards and that a large percentage of his campaign donations came from out of State? I want to personally appoligize to all that suported me! May God Sincerely Bless you in 2009!

Brian

Here's the e-mail he was commenting on, from Terry Kemple's Community Issues Council:

Read the rest of this entry »