The St. Petersburg Times' David DeCamp has a follow-up today to his stunning expose of Pinellas County Commissioner Norm Roche's use of an alter ego to write snide and in some cases homophobic and racially charged comments on the Times website over the past several years — including the last year when he has been an elected official, representing Pinellas County as a commissioner.
DeCamp's story, which exposed the fact that Roche has essentially acted two-faced with his fellow board members by saying nasty things online under a different name, may be the political story of the year in Tampa Bay in 2011.
Some would argue that Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White's final fall from grace, his arrest and subsequent conviction on public corruption charges that could put him in the slammer when he is sentenced next winter, has to take precedence, but the Roche story is about a couple of developments in the culture, one that's been a problem for years, the other a reflection of what's been happening in the county politically in 2011, that bear further scrutiny than another tale of a dirty pol.
This article appears in Nov 17-23, 2011.