Former state Senator Mike Fasano, a Republican from Pasco County, gets passionate when he talks about Governor Rick Scott.

Fasano, a strong supporter of former governor Charlie Crist's campaign against Scott's re-election, was often a voice of dissent (or reason) when he was a leader in the state Senate. It bothered him when the legislature, led in both chambers by Republicans, sided with monied interests — utilities, for example — over voters whose wallets suffered from the actions of said interests. Fasano, now the Pasco County tax collector, spoke at a Suncoast Tiger Bay Club forum Tuesday.

“I saw my party at times, many times in fact, not put the consumer first," he said. "Not put the ratepayer first. Not put the small businessman first."

Suncoast Tiger Bay Club is a largely Democratic organization that holds events  — luncheons, usually — wherein club members are asked to "carve up a politician for lunch." While that suggests a tough interrogation, all but one of the questioners was complimentary of Fasano, whose message was overwhelmingly populist.

Fasano had been a Republican lawmaker for years — House, Senate, then House again — when Governor Scott appointed him to lead the Pasco tax collector's office. He said he believes the appointment probably had something to do with his vocal opinions on issues that affect consumers. He likes his new gig, though he still weighs in on what's happening in Tallahassee, albeit from a couple hundred miles away.

At times, you could hear rage in his voice as he stood at the podium, especially when the governor was mentioned. 

"Not one time during the election, or the campaign, did we hear from the Scott campaign about Duke Energy," he said. "Do you know how frustrating that is? …He was silent on it the entire time on those issues. And whether you're a Republican or a Democrat you should care.”

The one tough-ish question Tuesday came from an audience member who wondered why he voted for the advance nuclear recovery fee — commonly called the nuke tax — in 2006. 

It was a long story. He said the provision was attached to a larger bill, and that no one ever saw the final version. Plus, at the time, he said, nuclear was all the rage with utilities, which understated the cost of building such a plant.

"And as soon as I found out I made a mistake I began to file legislation to repeal the tax," he said. "Unfortunately I couldn't convince my colleagues to follow me.”

Fasano also criticized his fellow Republicans for their failure to expand Medicaid.

“My colleagues, including myself for 20 years, enjoyed full health care for $8 a month in the Florida House, and I think $30 a month in the Florida Senate, and free dental," he said. "No charge for dental. And they laugh. They laugh about expanding Medicaid.”

While his outlook on Florida politics in the near future was not exactly optimistic, he said there were a few bright spots, namely in bipartisan efforts to rein in utility industry billing practices.

He said he found the actions of freshman lawmakers in recent days refreshing. First, it was newly elected Republican State Rep. Chris Sprowls' sponsorship of a bill that would impose some reforms on the Public Service Commission, the agency that is supposed to regulate utilities but doesn't. The next was Republican State Rep. Chris Latvala and Democratic State Rep. Amanda Murphy's bill that would repeal the utility companies' ability to charge customers for planned power plants that might never get built. The bill would also refund affected ratepayers.

Democrats, he said, have an excuse for not getting bills passed, given that they're in the minority. Not so for GOP lawmakers, he said.

“You have no excuse," he said. "Put Republican leadership to the fire. Force them, challenge them, to do what is right for the consumer or the ratepayer. Unfortunately we have a governor who doesn't do that."

This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2014.