One of the lasting legacies of Jim Norman's 18-year reign on the Hillsborough County Commission was his call for his colleagues in 2008 to rename the county's Moral Courage Award after the late Ralph Hughes.
At the time, the just deceased Hughes had contributed financially to everyone serving on the Commission, with the exception of Rose Ferlita (Ferlita and Mark Sharpe voted against renaming it after the former concrete mogul).
Several environmentalists and community activists denounced the Commission for honoring Hughes with the award, but the board blew off those objections regarding the conservative power broker, leading to the 1996 winner of the award, Eileen Hart, showing her displeasure by returning the award back to the board.
Realizing their folly after it was reported that Hughes owed an astounding $300 million in back taxes to the I.R.S., a year later the board rescinded their move, and removed Hughes name from the award.
This article appears in Jul 21-27, 2011.