Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Bean questioned on lobbyist contact

The administrator is asked about trying to broker a meeting between two opponents of the county mayor initiative.

By BILL VARIAN
Published March 24, 2006

TAMPA - Hillsborough commissioners took pains at their most recent meeting to say that County Administrator Pat Bean will only provide information to residents about a proposal to let voters elect a county mayor.

She won't get involved in campaigning against the measure that would do away with her job, they said. That way she won't violate the county charter's provision barring her from engaging in political activity.

But one former county commissioner says she was already involved.

Jan Platt said Bean called her two days before that meeting on behalf of an influential lobbyist forming a group to fight the mayor proposal. As Platt recalls it, Bean said the group was hoping to enlist Platt as a front person for the opposition.

"It was weird," Platt said. "I was surprised by the whole conversation. Here the county administrator was acting as an intermediary for a political group that was forming to take on the issue."

Bean confirmed that she called Platt. She said she did so at the request of Louis Betz, a garbage, cable television and ambulance industry lobbyist.

Betz wanted her to ask Platt whether she would meet with him to talk about the group he is forming, she said. Bean said she never mentioned Platt becoming a front-person or anything like it, and she was merely trying to facilitate a meeting.

"I was just trying to connect two people," Bean said. "I have nothing to do with what he's doing other than I made that one call."

Even that is troubling to some supporters of the mayoral question.

"It's inappropriate activity on the part of the county administrator," said Mary Ann Stiles, who heads Taking Back Hillsborough County Political Committee Inc. "The charter is clear that the only thing she can do is vote."

Stiles' group is collecting petition signatures in an effort to place two questions on the November ballot. One would replace the county administrator with an elected mayor, if approved by voters. The second would give the mayor veto powers over commission decisions.

Both proposals seek to amend the county charter, a constitution of sorts, which spells out how the government is structured and what the duties and limitations are for each branch. One of those limitations reads: "The county administrator shall not hold any political office nor take part in any political activity other than voting."

Hillsborough County Attorney Renee Lee has issued an opinion saying the provision was meant only to prevent the county administrator from participating in campaigns of people running for office. She says it doesn't apply to issue campaigns.

County Commissioner Kathy Castor, a lawyer who supports the mayoral initiative, said she thinks the charter language is clear, and called the phone conversation troubling. She was the lone vote against the commission's decision March 15 to have Bean provide information about the mayoral question.

That decision was the second time this year that commissioners directed Bean to embark on an information campaign. In the other case, they asked Bean to share with residents of Ruskin the potential downside of a proposal to incorporate the community.

Bean and a dozen other top county officials will attend a meeting March 30, armed with a position paper titled "Why Incorporating Ruskin is a Bad Idea. . . ."

Castor, who also opposed that decision, said if nothing else, the votes distract Bean from pressing county problems, from transportation to preparing for the upcoming hurricane season.

"That's the overriding issue, taking the county administrator away from all these critical issues facing the community," Castor said. "Participating in a political campaign? That's not appropriate. That's not what taxpayers are paying for."

Commissioners have taken no official position on the mayoral question, though a majority have expressed personal opposition to it. Commissioner Tom Scott, who made the motion to have Bean distribute information, asked the county attorney repeatedly whether that would violate the charter.

There's no problem, as long as Bean only provides information, said Mary Helen Campbell, one of Lee's chief attorneys. In that context, Scott said he would like to hear from Bean about her conversation with Platt.

"In that case, she probably should have said (to Betz) you need to make your own call," Scott said.

Betz is a longtime lobbyist who enjoys a close relationship with several commissioners. He may be best known for joining commission Chairman Jim Norman for a highly publicized trip to Las Vegas in 1999.

"I've never talked to Louis about this," said Norman, who was out of town during the March 15 meeting where Bean's actions were authorized. He added that he believes at most Bean should be distributing information.

Betz confirmed he is organizing a group to oppose the mayoral question, but said he doesn't yet know what form it will take. He said his involvement has nothing to do with his relationship with commissioners or Bean, but because he believes strongly in the current county administrator form of government.

He said his request of Bean came up as a tangent in a conversation about something else. He was hoping to set up a meeting with Platt, who also opposes the mayor proposal but hasn't always seen "eye to eye" with Betz on other issues.

He said he's not looking for a spokesperson for the effort, but simply to add numbers to his group.

"Bean told me, "I can't get involved in this,' " Betz said. "But she said, "I do owe Jan a phone call.' "

Platt initially told Bean she would meet with Betz, mainly, she said, to find out what he was up to, but later thought better of it, calling Bean back the next day to say forget it.

"I told her that, "No, I oppose the county mayor, but I speak on my own,"' Platt said. "I do better on my own, and I don't want to be the front-person for any group. I'm independent."

Bill Varian can be reached at 813 226-3387 or varian@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 24, 2006, 02:15:43]