In the earlier part of this decade, fairly or unfairly it was thought that much of the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners was controlled in part by two influential Republicans – Ralph Hughes and Sam Rashid.
But Hughes died last year, and his reputation has taken a bit of a hit after it was reported that the former head of the Caste-Crete concrete company owed the I.R.S. a mind boggling $300 million (the Hughes family steadfastly denies that, saying that all taxes owed had been paid for).
Rashid was also vacant from Hillsborough politics for awhile, but with the possibility that three Republicans on the BOCC have (so far) shown support for a referendum that would ask voters to raise their sales tax by a penny for light rail, he's springing back into action.
It was reported earlier this month that Rashid (as well as Florida Family Association head David Caton) has begun a campaign targeting Republican commissioners on the BOCC that "it's not too late for these guys to think about the promises they made in the past to their constituents."
Now Rashid is turning up the heat in an op-ed published in today's Tampa Tribune. In it, the Brandon based power broker writes,
How ironic that Republicans, one of whom I first supported over 20 years ago, and one who pledged never to impose new taxes when he came seeking my assistance in running his first campaign several years ago, would be the leading proponents of a new tax that could siphon as much as $300 million per year from the residents of Hillsborough County.
Rashid questions the math proposed by Commissioner Mark Sharpe on what the costs will be for Hillsborough citizens. He's not the first to do so, as CL contributors Kelly Cornelius and George Niemann have also written stories on how much the 1 cent sales tax increase could mean for county taxpayers.
Rashid says it is "absolutely foolish" to presume that Hillsborough voters will approve of the referendum in the current economy, and thus the BOCC will have tossed away the serious need to secure funding for the county's transportation needs in the future.
But he also seems to take it personally in his last paragraph, when he writes,
Since the three Republican supporters of the $300 million-per-year rail tax – Sharpe, Hagan and Rose Ferlita – all believe that this new tax is the "holy grail" for transportation, one is left to wonder why they don't simply bypass the referendum process by calling for a vote to directly enact this tax. In this manner, they would be standing firmly on their beliefs, and the referendum results would be evident in their re-election to office or failure thereof.
As anybody who has lived around these parts for any duration of time knows, it has been a long, long time coming for the BOCC to even be close finally approving language to allow voters to weigh in on such an important issue. The community needs to weigh in on it. There are critics left and right criticizing the proposal. There are also a lot of people enthusiastic about it. Anything this significant needs to have the taxpayers decide, and I'm sure deep down Sam Rashid knows that.
The BOCC is scheduled to vote tomorrow morning at 11:15 a.m.on the resolution that states their intention to put the referendum on the 2010 ballot. It will not be the final vote on the matter, but the 2nd in a process that will carry into 2010.
The Tampa Bay Partnership, the leading regional business group showing support for the measure, yesterday sent out an e-mail alert to its members encouraging them to attend the discussion on Wednesday.
Last month's vote on the matter was 5-2, with only Jim Norman and Al Higginbotham resisting the proposal. If that vote count remains the same, the measure will get on the ballot next November.
This article appears in Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2009.