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Whistle-blower wins top county award

By JUSTIN GEORGE
Published July 28, 2005

TAMPA - John Dausman, a whistle-blower, rose to the Hillsborough County Commission lectern Wednesday and spoke about being ostracized after he raised concerns.

He was fired. Few friends called him. No one listened to him.

Until, he said, he received three minutes before the County Commission during the public comment portion of a board meeting.

"I had nowhere else to go," Dausman said.

He came before them waving documents that he said proved financial irregularities by his former employer, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit; allegations that led to his firing.

Commissioners listened that day. And Wednesday, they awarded Dausman with the Moral Courage Award, considered the commission's highest honor.

Dausman, 56, onetime economic development coordinator for the county and a planner for HARTline between 2001 and 2003, has charged that the agency illegally spent money on the operation of the Channelside streetcar.

He found a sympathetic audience with the commissioners, some of whom have been critical of HARTline's spending on the streetcar line. A county audit has supported his claims, but the matter remains far from settled.

HARTline has said its own audit found the same problems and fixed them, and that nothing illegal took place. The agency says Dausman was fired for improperly grabbing another employee, not for exposing mismanagement. He denies this.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement also has an open investigation of the streetcar's financing under way. And HARTline and Dausman are squaring off in civil court, where he has sued to regain his job.

During his speech, Dausman lauded commissioners for encouraging free speech, putting public comment near the front of their agenda and addressing public concerns.

He said this even though he does not support the commission's recent decision to not recognize gay pride events. Dausman said he has never been discriminated against by commissioners, who have long known he is gay. His award, voted on June 15, came the same day commissioners passed its controversial policy.

The timing thrust Dausman into the spotlight for reasons other than HARTline, and he touched on the gay pride issue by saying his generation has left a cavernous hole in society - from the Enron scandal to HARTline mismanagement to a lack of concern for human rights. "It's just not the gay rights issue," Dausman said after his speech. "It's everything in our society."

Justin George can be reached at 813 226-3368 or jgeorge@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 28, 2005, 01:09:17]