Terry Kemple Off of the Diversity Council

Via Stogie: This gave me a laugh when I read it on his blog. Hillsborough County commissioners Al Higginbotham and Ken Hagan are shocked that Christian Right activist Terry Kemple was disqualified from the new diversity council. The National Diversity Council disqualified Kemple after he sent an email to supporters disparaging the county's new diversity council for being used to promote homosexuality. Apparently, Kemple fails to understand that the whole point of a diversity council is to not discriminate against people.

“Whether you like Kemple or not, they had no criteria for excluding him,” said Commissioner Al Higginbotham. “I have great trouble with that.”

Actually, there is a good reason not to appoint Kemple to the diversity council. Kemple has a history of being anti-gay, believes evolution is fantasy, has shown racist tendencies towards Muslims and is a silly man.

This is the man that Higginbotham and Hagan feel to they need to back to appeal to the base. Kemple race for the Hillsborough County school board and lost badly. Kemple once held a press conference that was attended by no one. Kemple is an embarrassment. For a guy that is supposed to be the most powerful Christian Right activist in Tampa, you would think he would have more than 167 followers. sOmehow I am not surprised that more people don't want to read tweets like this.

I did

— Terry Kemple (@Terry_Kemple) December 3, 2012

Terry Kemple is the Wile E. Coyote of Tampa political activists.

Hillsborough County Commission Fails on Domestic Registry

The Hillsborough County Commission voted against a domestic registry for same sex couples. The domestic registry would have allowed straight and gay unmarried partners to have hospital visitation rights and involvement in financial decisions.

The board voted 4-3 against creating a Domestic Partnership Registry for Hillsborough County.

Commissioners Victor Crist, Ken Hagan, Al Higginbothom and Sandra Murman voted against the motion. Commissioners Les Miller, Kevin Beckner and Mark Sharpe voted in favor.

Republican Mark Sharpe put the domestic registry up for a vote. Sharpe deserves praise for bucking his party on this issue. The four nay votes were all cast by Republicans. This was a chance for the commission to lead on gay rights. Once again the commission pandered to conservative intolerance.

Meet Vin Marchetti

Via Stoogie: Hillsborough County commissioner Al Higginbotham used land use attorney Vin Marchetti. The latter has hosted a fundraiser for commissioner Ken Hagan. Creative Loafing detailed how Marchetti's (paid for) political ties to the BOCC allowed him to go around the Planning & Growth Management.

He encountered push back from county staff from the very beginning. He also knew that neighborhood residents were dead-set against it, so he had no citizen support. But things like that are only side issues to Marchetti. The Planning & Growth Management (PGM) planner assigned to the case, Susan Mariner, thought it was not compatible. She got shut out of the meetings as Marchetti dealt directly with PGM management. In the end, Mariner refused to sign off supporting it, so Marchetti got her boss to sign off. What he didn’t give enough credence to was the determination and energy of the neighborhood residents, led by Deborah Humphreys and Lynea D’Angelo. They contacted the press, ran extensive letter writing campaigns, held traffic rallies along Lithia Pinecrest, posted signs and made sure they filled county center to overflow capacity during the rezoning hearing and the BOCC land use meeting.

Marchetti thought he could rely on his Team Sprawl associates to bail him out of this difficult scenario. He made subtle threats to the commission that he’d see them in court if they didn’t approve it. He gave both the Zoning Hearing Master and the BOCC copies of case law. He lectured the ZHM that he can’t use “need” as a criteria for determining whether or not to recommend approval (because, obviously, there was no need and everyone knew it). One of his land use attorney friends even lectured the rezoning opponents just before the start of the hearing at county center, saying that if they didn’t agree to this rezoning, they would end up with Section 8 housing in their neighborhood.

So in effect, Marchetti relied on a number of tried and true tactics for winning – intimidation, escalation and political connection.

Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Al Higginbotham thought it would be a great idea if Marchetti interview potential members of the city-county planning commission. Short version: Higginbotham is letting Marchetti pick the people who would regulate land use issues. As if Marchetti did have enough sway over Hillsborough County government.

Jan Platt explains why Marchetti picking members of the city-county planning commission is a glaring conflict of interest.

"It's entirely inappropriate," said former county commissioner Jan Platt. "The law provides that the commissioner makes the appointment; it's not intended that developers -- a single developer or a committee -- makes recommendations to elected officials."

Jan Smith, former chair of the planning commission, agreed. She said choosing Marchetti to interview planning commission candidates shows Higginbotham is trying to "stack the deck in favor of development interests.

"It concerns me that you have someone who is such a well-known land-use attorney making recommendations to county commissioners as to who the planning commissioners should be," Smith said.

It is too much for Florida Republicans to even maintain the false pretense that they are not lackeys of developers. Republicans are just doing this in the open. This is what happens when Democrats can't win elections.

Phyllis Busansky RIP

Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky is dead. Busansky was missing and her staffers became worried. She was found dead in a St. Augustine hotel room. She was in St. Augustine for the Florida State Association of Supervisor of Elections conference.

The Hillsborough County Supervisors of Election released this statement.

It is with great sadness the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office announces the passing of Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky. Mrs. Busansky, 73, was attending the Florida State Association of Supervisor of Elections conference in St. Augustine with members of her staff at the time. She passed away sometime during the night. The cause of death is not known at this time.

Authorities do not suspect foul play. The St. Petersburg Times reports Busansky has a history of lung cancer. Supervisor of Elections spokesperson Sigrid Tidmore was with Busansky the night before she was found dead.

Tidmore was with Busansky last night, before she went to sleep about 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. She said Busansky was not complaining of any pain. When Busansky didn't respond to phone calls this morning after not showing up to today's conference meetings, hotel security went to check on her and found her dead, Tidmore said.

St. Johns County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Chuck Mulligan said his deputies responded to a call around 9 a.m. this morning from the Renaissance Resort at World Golf Village. Busanksy was found dead on the floor of her hotel room with no trauma to her body, he said, and there didn't appear to be any foul play or struggle. She appeared to have died of natural causes.

Republican Ken Hagan praised Busansky's reforms of the Supervisor of Elections office.

In her too short tenure in that office, Ms. Busansky had already greatly opened access to citizens, improved communication with the public and worked tirelessly to restore the people's confidence in the election process.

At some point in time an election will be held to fill Busansky's position. No word on that. People are absorbing the shock of Busansky's passing. She had an impressive career in Hillsborough County politics and will be missed.

Friends In Low Places

A major point I stress on this blog is to follow the money. Hillsborough County Commissioners Brian Blair and Ken Hagan make it easy.

Stephen Dibbs led the charge to abolish to eliminate the EPC Wetlands Division. Blair and Hagan were all too happy to go along. Until the political pressure became too much. Blair moved to have the Wetlands division with a smaller budget and less enforcement teeth. He sold this as protecting the environment.

We now know that Dibbs is raising campaign money for both Blair and Hagen.

Stephen Dibbs is on the host committee for two commissioners, Brian Blair and Ken Hagan, who had key votes that decided the fate of the county's $2-million wetlands program.

Another major player is developer Hung Mai. Blair and Hagen appointed Mai to the Planning Commission. Mai is fundraising for Blair and Hagen. He is helping Dibbs with the country club fundraisers.

None of Blair's or Hagen's complaints about the wetlands division were really about being fiscally conservative. It was all about cronyism. Pure and simple.

Why can't Hillsborough County have a commission that isn't dysfunctional and openly hostile towards their constituents. Rose Ferlita said it best: "Sometimes I feel I went from city council to kindergarten."

Props to Miranda Smith and Tampa Bay Blue for following this story. The reason I don't cover the HCC more is because they drive me insane. I would lose it if I blogged about them everyday. I (God help me) believe the Bush administration is less corrupt and incompetent.