Opinion: Kleman's incompetent critics

The Hillsborough County Commission should fire the county administrator or get on with real business. Jerking Dan Kleman's chain may seem fun to some commissioners, but the power play is having a damaging effect on county government. The episode is the latest example of incompetence by a board that is moving the county backward.

Kleman must feel like a kindergarten teacher being graded by the toddlers in his class. His critics have yet to express specific complaints, because character assassination requires less work and is harder to defend against. From what's available on the record, Kleman's deficiencies are two-fold: He doesn't do Commissioner Jim Norman's bidding quickly enough and has -- here's the catch-all -- "communication" problems. In other words, Kleman doesn't cloak the dumb ideas of the reactionary triumvirate -- Norman, Storms and Hart -- with false legitimacy.

Kleman doesn't always help his case. He is too accommodating to the tactics and scorched-earth priorities of the Republican-majority board. He doesn't adequately protect his staff. Though public administrators serve at their boards' pleasure, each has a duty to keep elected officials from injecting politics in day-to-day operations. Kleman deserves credit for pushing a transportation initiative the county needs, but on other issues -- health care, water, the availability of social services critical to the community -- he has not guided the board with enlightened leadership. This lack of strength is disappointing, for Kleman is honest, competent and forward-thinking -- traits county government direly needs given the lack of vision on the elected board.

The county, like most institutions, doesn't revolve around a single person. But the blood sport over Kleman -- the lack of direction from the board, the on-again, off-again contract talks, the implication that Kleman better whack county spending in the upcoming budget to save his job -- sends a disturbing message to the entire staff, and to potential recruits for top county jobs. Who'd want the hassle? It has proved impossible in this climate to craft an approach to health care, growth management or transportation.

The county's relationship with other local governments in the Tampa Bay region has soured because of the board's personalities. If Kleman's critics on the board have specific complaints, they should air them, take a vote and move on. Their comfort with leaving him hanging shows the challenge faced by any administrator whose board seems blind to the reality of a growing urban county.

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