Commission fights county mayor idea

The county attorney will draft a formal objection to next year's Hillsborough ballot proposal.

By BILL VARIAN, Times Staff Writer
Published December 7, 2007

TAMPA - Hillsborough commissioners intend to challenge a proposal to create an elected county mayor on grounds that it will weaken the political voice of minorities.

Commissioners cleared County Attorney Renee Lee Thursday to draft a formal objection that would be sent to the U.S. Justice Department. The board must still approve the objection with a future vote.

Leading the charge, Commissioner Jim Norman said failure to challenge the proposal would make it look as though the county did not care about minority voters.

"Let's put it all on the table: Our County Commission consists of six whites and one black," Norman said. By not challenging the initiative, "we're not doing our job for all the people."

Because of voting rights abuses in decades past, Hillsborough is one of a handful of counties in Florida that must win permission from the Justice Department before enacting any changes that affect voting.

The group Taking Back Hillsborough County Political Committee Inc. has won approval to ask voters in November whether they would like to replace the appointed county administrator with an elected mayor.

A second ballot question seeks permission to give that nonpartisan mayor veto power over commission decisions.

Opponents have said the changes, if approved, would shift power to one person and away from a more accessible seven-member commission.

Taking Back leader Mary Ann Stiles said the proposal does nothing to weaken minority voting rights, but rather gives everyone another person to elect. She said it is no more harmful than having an appointed county administrator beholden to commissioners who hired her rather than the public.

"This is just self-preservation, and the Justice Department will see through it," Stiles said. "To take efforts at this early stage to try to kill something without letting the people decide what they want to me is a sign of why we need a county mayor."

The issue came up for discussion during the board's annual retreat, where formal votes are not permitted.

Initially, County Administrator Pat Bean was gauging whether board members still want her to actively share possible drawbacks of the proposal with the public.

Commissioners previously gave her that authority, and they told her to keep it up Thursday.

Backup material for the discussion included a letter from Gerald White, a community activist who is black and has urged commissioners to take a more active role in opposing the idea to protect minority influence. Norman took up his cause.

Lee, the county attorney, said she could craft a letter of opposition on those grounds. Hearing no dissent, and mostly encouragement, she said she would bring something back to commissioners for a formal vote.

Commission Chairman Ken Hagan said not making the case to the Justice Department "would be derelict on our part." Kevin White, the commission's lone black member, was absent.

Gerald White, who attended the meeting, noted that the county has little history of electing African Americans to countywide offices. Under a county-mayor system, blacks elected to the commission would have less power to shape the county's future.

"I think they made the correct decision today based on history," White said.

It was not immediately clear when an objection would be filed with the Justice Department, assuming a formal go-ahead by commissioners.

Kathy Harris, general counsel and chief of staff for the Hillsborough supervisor of elections, has previously said she would submit ballot language to the Justice Department for approval in coming weeks.

But she said Thursday that department officials have told her to wait until after the election if the measure is actually approved. Only then would they review it.

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

[Last modified December 7, 2007, 00:41:45]