Hillsborough County Latest Anti-Strip Club Push

According to Wayne Garcia, Hillsborough County tax dollars are being used to get private investigators lap dances.

"I accompanied 'Sage' to the 'Private Dance' area," he said. "During the 'bed' dance, I laid on a small mattress area and 'Sage' straddled me, grinding her groin and buttocks against my groin area. After engaging in this contact for the length of one song, I paid 'Sage' for the 'bed' dance."

Garcia reports that he can't find out who commissioned this use of tax dollars. Luke Lirot suggests it's Ronda Storms. None of this is surprising. The county hired big-time anti-porn lawyer Scott Bergthold. Who just won a legal victory in Utah. The county may be trying to get evidence that Bergthold could use in court.

Storms departure from the Hillsborough County Commission will not make life easier for porn businesses. Jim Norman has been an anti-porn crusader.

Jim Norman was the only one of the quartet to return my phone calls on the matter. He has a specific goal. Closing down Tampa's roughly 30 strip clubs and other sex businesses "is not my dog in the hunt," he says.

There is exactly one adult business in unincorporated Hillsborough County. "However, there are 19 other approved sites," Norman adds. "I'm trying to prevent a proliferation of these places throughout Hillsborough County. I want the number to stay at one and not turn into 20."

Side note: a political consultant by the name of Wayne Garcia was interviewed for the 2003 Weekly Planet article. This is a man with a lot of background knowledge on strip clubs. Maybe Wayne should take my suggestion and work on Joe Redner's campaign.