Terry Kemple Off of the Diversity Council

Via Stogie: This gave me a laugh when I read it on his blog. Hillsborough County commissioners Al Higginbotham and Ken Hagan are shocked that Christian Right activist Terry Kemple was disqualified from the new diversity council. The National Diversity Council disqualified Kemple after he sent an email to supporters disparaging the county's new diversity council for being used to promote homosexuality. Apparently, Kemple fails to understand that the whole point of a diversity council is to not discriminate against people.

“Whether you like Kemple or not, they had no criteria for excluding him,” said Commissioner Al Higginbotham. “I have great trouble with that.”

Actually, there is a good reason not to appoint Kemple to the diversity council. Kemple has a history of being anti-gay, believes evolution is fantasy, has shown racist tendencies towards Muslims and is a silly man.

This is the man that Higginbotham and Hagan feel to they need to back to appeal to the base. Kemple race for the Hillsborough County school board and lost badly. Kemple once held a press conference that was attended by no one. Kemple is an embarrassment. For a guy that is supposed to be the most powerful Christian Right activist in Tampa, you would think he would have more than 167 followers. sOmehow I am not surprised that more people don't want to read tweets like this.

I did

— Terry Kemple (@Terry_Kemple) December 3, 2012

Terry Kemple is the Wile E. Coyote of Tampa political activists.

Hillsborough County Commission Fails on Domestic Registry

The Hillsborough County Commission voted against a domestic registry for same sex couples. The domestic registry would have allowed straight and gay unmarried partners to have hospital visitation rights and involvement in financial decisions.

The board voted 4-3 against creating a Domestic Partnership Registry for Hillsborough County.

Commissioners Victor Crist, Ken Hagan, Al Higginbothom and Sandra Murman voted against the motion. Commissioners Les Miller, Kevin Beckner and Mark Sharpe voted in favor.

Republican Mark Sharpe put the domestic registry up for a vote. Sharpe deserves praise for bucking his party on this issue. The four nay votes were all cast by Republicans. This was a chance for the commission to lead on gay rights. Once again the commission pandered to conservative intolerance.

Meet Vin Marchetti

Via Stoogie: Hillsborough County commissioner Al Higginbotham used land use attorney Vin Marchetti. The latter has hosted a fundraiser for commissioner Ken Hagan. Creative Loafing detailed how Marchetti's (paid for) political ties to the BOCC allowed him to go around the Planning & Growth Management.

He encountered push back from county staff from the very beginning. He also knew that neighborhood residents were dead-set against it, so he had no citizen support. But things like that are only side issues to Marchetti. The Planning & Growth Management (PGM) planner assigned to the case, Susan Mariner, thought it was not compatible. She got shut out of the meetings as Marchetti dealt directly with PGM management. In the end, Mariner refused to sign off supporting it, so Marchetti got her boss to sign off. What he didn’t give enough credence to was the determination and energy of the neighborhood residents, led by Deborah Humphreys and Lynea D’Angelo. They contacted the press, ran extensive letter writing campaigns, held traffic rallies along Lithia Pinecrest, posted signs and made sure they filled county center to overflow capacity during the rezoning hearing and the BOCC land use meeting.

Marchetti thought he could rely on his Team Sprawl associates to bail him out of this difficult scenario. He made subtle threats to the commission that he’d see them in court if they didn’t approve it. He gave both the Zoning Hearing Master and the BOCC copies of case law. He lectured the ZHM that he can’t use “need” as a criteria for determining whether or not to recommend approval (because, obviously, there was no need and everyone knew it). One of his land use attorney friends even lectured the rezoning opponents just before the start of the hearing at county center, saying that if they didn’t agree to this rezoning, they would end up with Section 8 housing in their neighborhood.

So in effect, Marchetti relied on a number of tried and true tactics for winning – intimidation, escalation and political connection.

Hillsborough County Commission Chairman Al Higginbotham thought it would be a great idea if Marchetti interview potential members of the city-county planning commission. Short version: Higginbotham is letting Marchetti pick the people who would regulate land use issues. As if Marchetti did have enough sway over Hillsborough County government.

Jan Platt explains why Marchetti picking members of the city-county planning commission is a glaring conflict of interest.

"It's entirely inappropriate," said former county commissioner Jan Platt. "The law provides that the commissioner makes the appointment; it's not intended that developers -- a single developer or a committee -- makes recommendations to elected officials."

Jan Smith, former chair of the planning commission, agreed. She said choosing Marchetti to interview planning commission candidates shows Higginbotham is trying to "stack the deck in favor of development interests.

"It concerns me that you have someone who is such a well-known land-use attorney making recommendations to county commissioners as to who the planning commissioners should be," Smith said.

It is too much for Florida Republicans to even maintain the false pretense that they are not lackeys of developers. Republicans are just doing this in the open. This is what happens when Democrats can't win elections.

From the Mouth of Babes

Via TampaBay Democrat: Brian Blair shows how out of touch he is with reality. Blair nearly blurted out, during Hillsborough County Commission meeting, that a temporary freeze on his $91,000-a-year salary and $600-a-month car allowance will take food away from his children. Blair his under the delussion he is a character in The Grapes of Wrath

County Commissioner Al Higginbotham's suggestion that he and his colleagues freeze their $91,000 annual salaries drew a quick rebuke Tuesday from Commissioner Brian Blair.

Blair said the commissioners' pay and their $600-a-month car allowance paled in comparison with what some county department directors make. He stopped short of saying that cutting his pay would take food out of his children's mouths.

"I wake up every day to try to make a difference in this community, but at the same time, I don't want to take food out of my …" Blair said before mentioning his children and trailing off on another tangent.

According to a 2004 Census, the median household income in Hillsborough County in 2004 was $44,850. It's safe to safe the median icome didn't rise above $91,000. Higginbotham wasn't suggesting the Commission work for free. Just not give themselves raises and anymore to the redicious car allowance. Blair suddenly had visions that his kids were going to be characters in Oliver Twist.

Buddy Johnson Is Busy

Hillsborough Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson told Taking Back Hillsborough that he was too busy to review their petition. He did not return their phone calls or letters. What kept Johnson's time preoccupied was selling 22,500 shares of Star Buffet stock for a profit of $64,032.

Johnson did have a 27-year-old clerical worker, with no college education, to review every petition by herself. It turns out the count was screwed up badly. Petitions were lost and valid signatures were not recognized.

There is also the matter of Johnson hiring the law firm of Broad & Cassel. The firm is well known for donating to the campaigns of Republicans. Johnson is a Republican and GOP members of the Hillsborough County Commission have been firmly against the county mayor petition.

There is also the issue of County Commission candidate Al Higginbotham's company building Johnson's home. Higginbotham has worked on a Johnson campaign.

The Johnson-Higginbotham Connection

Democrat Lisa Rodriguez is running against Al Higginbotham for the District 4 seat in Hillsborough County, Florida. Rodriguez wants Buddy Johnson to step down from the Canvassing Board. The board's job is to authorize ballots. Rogriguez is concerned that Johnson will favor Higginbotham. There is good reason to be concerned.

Higginbotham’s company built Johnson's home.

Buddy Johnson's brother, Fred, was Higginbotham's college roommate.

Buddy Johnson ran Higginbotham's campaign for the Florida State House.

Higginbotham wrote a letter of recommendation to Jeb Bush for Johnson.

It gets even more silly. Higginbotham denied he had any ownership of the construction company that built Johnson's house. Reporter Jeff Testerman reminded him that 25 percent of the company.

"I guess I am an owner," Higginbotham said.

You think Al? If you don't even know you own a construction company - you have no business running for public office.