Over the years, the aversion to tax increases amongst Republicans has hardened. Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe knows that as well as anyone, which is why he increasingly must be feeling ostracized as an intruder in his own party.
Last night in Tampa at the Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee's monthly meeting, a straw poll was conducted after an approximately 45 minute debate between Sharpe and anti-tax advocate Doug Guetzloe. The results?
32 yes, 115 no, and 2 undecideds.
For Commissioner Sharpe, it was the 2nd time in three weeks in which he faced a somewhat hostile crowd in the Blaise F. Alfano Conference Center arguing for the merits of supporting a 1 cent sales tax that would pay for light rail, expanded bus service and road improvements. The last time he debated David Caton in an event hosted by a local Tea Party group; last night it was in much warmer environment for Sharpe, but nevertheless he was again swimming upstream against a group skeptical to say the least about the merits of a light rail system in Hillsborough.
This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2010.