Musical chairs at the trough, heterosexual parenting and the new Johnson!

By Kelly Cornelius on Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 10:43 am

4. Bill McCollum, R thinks gays shouldn't be allowed to adopt or foster children. Does this mean he thinks heterosexuals can do a better job? Just guessing, but the people giving up those kids for adoption in the first place were more than likely heterosexual.

[image-1]5. Now here is a fine example of the results of heterosexual parenting. The son of ex-Commissioner Brain Blair, R who is now running for State House, was arrested .......again. This month it is on a grand theft charge; he was also arrested back in July on drug charges. I am pretty sure no self-respecting gay father would have let their son wear that wife-beater seen on this mugshot.

6. Making Pat Bean look good......this former city manager in California hauled in $1.5 million a year in a city of only 40,000 residents.

7. Speaking of wasting your tax dollars, while the country suffers with out-of-control unemployment and no change in sight for a dismal economy, First Lady and now PR disaster Michelle Obama jets off to Spain for a lavish vacation with a taxpayer-funded entourage. Where are you going this summer? Arkansas? Spain?

8. And the whiny bitch award of the week goes to Congressman Charlie Rangel, D as his disjointed ramblings on Tuesday must have top Dems shaking their heads since he isn't circling the drain very quietly. His Blair-esque speech left little doubt why Washington is dysfunctional.

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1. County Commission hopeful and State Senator Victor Crist, R was exposed by the Times this week for his last-minute amendment that cost taxpayers $48 million for a 'Taj Mahal' type court building in Tallahassee equipped with granite counters and big screen TVs for the lobbyists judges. The Times also recently endorsed Crist for a Commission seat..................wonder what he will spend to decorate his office if he wins? And we thought the Pimpin Commish was expensive! Crist is running for the seat that County Commissioner Ken Hagan,R is vacating in order to run for the seat that current Commissioner Jim Norman,R is term-limited (there is a GOD!) out of.

2. Speaking of the Pimpin Commish, it looks like nobody running against him will bring up his shortcomings, according to this report from Mitch Perry. Okay, allow us to do it, he has cost taxpayers around $500,000 (or 9.1 hookers) for his sexual harassment case, and fellow Commissioners voted to sue him in an effort to get him to pay up. Prior to that he got in trouble for using campaign funds on Italian suits and there were questions about his service record and endorsement claims. He also raised eyebrows when it seemed to some that he was tossing favors in the form of multimillion-dollar contracts from the county to his fundraisers. Don't forget the other people he has been linked to, including swindlers in jail. If you dare to point this out, his supporters play the race card. If District 3 wants him back, then they should be saddled with his bills.

3. Outgoing Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman is still in the news for his wife's expensive vacation pad in Arkansas. This piece by Daniel Ruth is a riot. With the volume of bad press this issue has generated, it sure looks like Norman is the new Johnson! (recall the Times single-handedly took down former Supervisor of Elections Buddy Johnson by hammering him in the press almost daily). This article mentions that while Norman's Salvation Army lobbying community liaison job paying $95,000 a year is footing the bill for his ride in the form of a Camry, he stills sees fit to take a car allowance from taxpayers for his County Commission job. Well, at least he doesn't have a driver like former County Administrator Pat Bean did. With these kinds of financial deals it looks like he should fit right in to Victor Crist's seat (see #1) which he is now running for. And yet another article this week has the Salvation Army defending Norman's full time lobbying job with the non-profit organization. And while they say he is not a lobbyist, they also admit they don't know how Norman can avoid a conflict of interest should he win. I am betting they see their Hillsborough contributions dip significantly this year; that $95,000 might be better spent on a PR person.