commissioners play when we step away

When the dust settled, and Championship Park was no more, most of the citizens left the meeting of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners to allow the board to finish up whatever it is that the commissioners do when the public is not annoying them by offering opinions.

So with the place so empty that voices could echo off the walls, Brian Blair thought this would be a good time to ask for changes to the way amendments are passed. From the Transcript (I have edited and made highlights to make it easier to read, but you can download the unfettered version at the county website).

PAT BEAN: I FAILED TO REMEMBER THAT COMMISSIONER BLAIR HAD ASKED FOR A POINT OF PERSONAL PRIVILEGE, AND YOU HAD ASKED HIM TO WAIT UNTIL THE END.
JIM NORMAN: COMMISSIONER BLAIR.
BRIAN BLAIR: CAN WE CALL THE FULL BOARD BACK?
I THINK THEY’VE LEFT.
OKAY.
BOARD MEMBERS, THIS ISSUE CONCERNS A LETTER THAT WE JUST RECEIVED.
YOU KNOW, OUR CHARTER CURRENTLY STATES THAT THE AMENDMENTS — OUR AMENDMENTS ARE APPROVED BY A SIMPLE MAJORITY VOTE, AND AS YOU KNOW, THE LEGISLATURE OVERWHELMINGLY REQUIRED A 60% VOTE FOR A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS, INSTEAD OF A SIMPLE MAJORITY.
THEREFORE, I’D LIKE THE BOARD — THE BOARD TO DIRECT THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO BRING BACK A PROPOSAL — ORDINANCE WHICH WOULD PROPOSE AN AMENDMENT TO THE COUNTY CHARTER REQUIRING A 60% VOTER APPROVAL TO AMEND THE CHARTER, AND I WOULD ALSO LIKE THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO SCHEDULE A PUBLIC HEARING ON THE MATTER.
IT’LL ONLY TAKE FOUR VOTES TODAY TO GET THIS ISSUE REFERRED AND THE PUBLIC HEARING SET, BUT THEN IT WOULD TAKE FIVE VOTES TO PASS.
AND THE REASON THIS IS FAIR IS IF OUR CHARTER REVIEW BOARD, WHICH MEETS EVERY FIVE YEARS, IT TAKES TWO-THIRDS TO CHANGE OUR CHARTER, SO BASICALLY, WHAT WE’RE DOING IS BEING CONSISTENT.
CONSISTENCY IS REALLY THE FOUNDATION OF DEMOCRACY.

Whaaaaat? Consistency is the foundation of ice cream, maybe.

Anyway, Blair thinks amendments to the county charter should need 60 percent of voters, rather than a simple majority. He suggested that the BOCC put this idea to voters on the January ballot.

Blair says he got the idea from a letter from Joe Chillura: “If voters believe it is prudent to require a 60 percent margin to amend the state constitution, should it not also be prudent to amend the county charter by the same margin?” (by the way, you can see that Blair stole the ridiculous “consistency” line from Chillura).

So, do you think that Blair just wants to have the same standards as the state? I don’t think so. He is simply aware that in November ‘08, you will once again be asked if you want a county mayor. Requiring a higher majority (before that vote) would make passage of this county mayor amendment more difficult.

You can believe that Jim Norman wants the county mayor issue to disappear too, but Norman is not an idiot. He told Blair to delay the motion until a later meeting, because “That’s a very hot political potato.” Blair – intelligent leader that he is – ignored his buddy and made the motion anyway. According to an email exchange with Tribune reporter Anthony McCartney, Ken Hagan and Kevin White (both obviously more in line with Blair’s level of intelligence) voted in favor of the motion. Realizing that passing this would look “self-serving” at best, Norman voted against it (along with Sharpe, Ferlita, and Higgonbotham), and it did not pass.

Most board members seem to realize that more people are attuned to county politics lately. I think they are finding it a bit more difficult to do whatever they want, whenever they want. I really hope that residents like you ARE paying more attention to this stuff, and encouraging others to be aware.

By the way, we’re very happy that Anthony McCartney of the Tribune sticks around to the end of these long and horribly boring county commission meetings, otherwise, this uninteresting but insightful action may have been buried somewhere in County Transcripts instead of page 3 Metro.

Update 11:00am: Andrew McCarthy is an actor. ANTHONY is a writer for the Tribune. I corrected that ridiculous error.