The race for Hillsborough County Commission in Countywide District Five , already on paper to be an interesting one between Republican Ken Hagan and Democrat Linda Saul-Sena, just became more provocative today when former Hillsborough county planner Jim Hosler announced he will run as an independent in the race.
Hosler has been a registered Republican, but says that actions in how both the state and the Hillsborough Republican Party has governed in recent years have turned him off, and thus he's running officially as NPA, or non-party-affiliated. He's been prominent in recent months in advocating against the proposed one cent sales tax referendum that Hillsborough Commissioners approved ballot language on just last week.
"You have three Republicans on the board who are not acting with the fiscal constraints that they should," Hosler said in an interview with CL Tuesday afternoon. Obviously, he was referring to Hagan, Mark Sharpe and Rose Ferlita, who have all voted to put the measure on the ballot.
But he emphasized that he's not against light rail per se, just the financing mechanism that local officials have rallied behind to pay for the measure. Hosler says that in these recessionary times, relying on a sales tax to pay for the rail project won't be sufficient, and that ultimately the county will need to find another revenue source – such as property taxes – to pay for the project.
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2010.