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County moves toward center

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published November 13, 2006

Last week's election moved Hillsborough County politics closer to the center. Whether local Republicans realize it remains to be seen. While voters went with household names and big spenders, and increased the Republicans' commission majority to 6-1, the results are not a conservative mandate. Four of the five who won board seats campaigned to improve mass transit, better manage growth and refocus county government on serious issues. Most are moderate on taxes and social issues and come to office with a deep base of bipartisan support. They also want to improve the county's image and relationship with other local governments.

Voters took to Republicans who put aside labels and sold their ability to get things done. Rose Ferlita and Mark Sharpe appealed across party lines with positive and balanced agendas. Their calls to better contain sprawl helped them peel away liberals and beat strong Democratic challengers. More conservative candidates saw their popularity slip. The 14-year incumbent, Jim Norman, lost 40 percent of the vote to a strip club king in a year when Republicans put nude dancing on the ballot to turn out conservatives. A former GOP county leader, Al Higginbotham, beat a lesser-known Democrat in a Bible-belt district where he outspent her 4-1. Norman and Higginbotham had easier races but did not win as convincingly as Ferlita and Sharpe, moderates who faced tougher Democratic challengers.

Hillsborough showed other signs, too, of political moderation. While Ronda Storms won her state Senate race, her 52-48 margin against a 28-year-old political unknown shows that her divisiveness and histrionics are running their political course.

Republicans who ran as moderates and addressed transportation, health care and jobs led their party's performance. The party already had a supermajority on the commission, so its 6-1 makeup means little. The real news is how these personalities will make the board more fluid. The majority elected Tuesday promised to deliver tangible things and to govern with an open mind. Members of the old guard who think the party label is their meal ticket should take note.

[Last modified November 13, 2006, 00:45:40]