Column

No secret, he's ready for heat of campaign

By SUE CARLTON, Times Columnist
Published September 7, 2007

The latest press for Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair makes the candidacy of his challenger all the more interesting.

Kevin Beckner, a 36-year-old financial planner and Democrat, is running against Blair, a conservative Republican and former pro wrestler who appears to be in the process of slow implosion, politically speaking.

First came news of an awful lot of county attention paid to the little lake on which Blair's home sits.

Then came fallout from the fight over protecting local wetlands. While Blair and a majority of commissioners first voted to ax the Environmental Protection Commission's wetlands office, the voices of all who showed up to protest were too much to take. The board voted for a slimmed-down plan and assured folks that's what they wanted all along.

It doesn't help that at contentious meetings, Blair can go from fumbling to sarcastic to over-the-top. He indicated a one-year freeze on commissioner pay raises would steal food from the mouths of his children, and threw a fellow commissioner to the wolves at the very suggestion. At times, his skin seems so thin you can see right through him.

So here is Beckner, an Indiana-born former police officer hoping to oust Blair in 2008. His Web site touts environmental protection, regional transportation, a comprehensive plan against irresponsible growth.

There is much discussion to be had in coming months on the candidates and the issues. There is also this: Beckner happens to be gay, vocal on human rights issues and involved in a long-term relationship.

He does not mind talking about this, but he hopes it won't define him, either.

"It would just be nice as we're going forward that I'm not always 'the openly-gay candidate.' I'm the candidate who happens to be gay," he says.

Does it matter? Around here, it would appear so.

Remember, this commission infamously voted to ban gay pride celebrations or displays, a backward leap that got us unwanted attention as one backwoods burg.

Mitch Kates, a political consultant working for Beckner, points out that gay candidates have won in Alabama, Oklahoma City and Tennessee.

This is a countywide race, not just for voters in some far-flung conservative corner. And he calls Blair "one of the most polarizing figures" in local government.

"This is a very important race at a really interesting time in history," he says.

And what will it ultimately say about how far we have or haven't progressed?

Maybe Blair rallies. Maybe raising big money, which he can do, matters most.

Maybe other names jump into this race and change the face of things.

But some people will tell you privately that they do not think voters will see past that detail about Beckner, that out in the open.

Is Hillsborough ready?

We're ready for a competent person in that seat, Beckner tells me patiently.

Being gay "is not part of my campaign, not part of my platform," he says. "I'm still trying to figure out what 'the homosexual agenda' is myself."

But when I ask if the campaign will get ugly because of that aspect of his life, he laughs a little .

"Oh," he says, "there's no question about that."

[Last modified September 6, 2007, 23:56:09]