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Adding insult to bigotry

Put aside the emotional debate over gay rights: Hillsborough County commissioners are showing increasing contempt for people before them with contrary views.

The latest example occurred Wednesday, when commissioners, without prior notice, changed the order of a meeting agenda to discuss the county's antigay stance. The change denied scores of citizens the chance to respond to last month's commission vote banning any county acknowledgment of gay pride events. The crowd - thinking an agenda meant something - was caught off-guard, rallying outside as the commission dispensed with the matter.

Commission Chairman Jim Norman tried to defend the trick by blaming "public safety." That red herring is a double-insult, for it paints gay rights supporters as violent while giving board members a way to dodge defending their June vote.

Commissioner Brian Blair also pushed a measure Wednesday that could slash county-paid advertising in a Tampa trilingual weekly, La Gaceta, which has criticized the new commissioner. Blair denies payback. In April, he called for firing County Administrator Pat Bean, after inferring Bean slighted him in a Tampa Tribune article. "I hope (this) sends a clear signal to the administrator," he said then, warning her to use "more discretion in her comments . . . both privately and publicly."

This board has no idea how arrogant it looks.

[Last modified July 23, 2005, 00:53:16]