Opinion: The poor take another hit

Nothing unites the Republican majority on the Hillsborough County Commission like kicking around people who can't afford medicine or the rent. They've done it again -- cutting millions of dollars in aid for poor people who face a medical emergency, or who need help buying groceries or keeping the power turned on.

Commissioners Jim Norman, Ronda Storms, Stacey Easterling and Chris Hart must have no grasp of how real people live. Or maybe they don't care. Or maybe they're just protecting their political careers. Conservatives who finance local political campaigns have made reductions in the availability of health and social services a litmus test for their support.

Storms, in particular, has some bizarre idea that poor people are out shopping for extravagances. After wondering aloud how to get them discarded food and second-hand clothes -- as if that isn't happening already -- Storms lost her noodle and called on churches to play more of a role. The private sector already provides much more to the needy than government does at the local level.

Hundreds of people in the last two years have warned commissioners not to cut health care and social services. They were right all along; the slowing economy, together with the commission's decision to reduce the county tax for indigent care, meant less money was coming in just as more families began needing short-term assistance. Giving the needy a hand goes beyond conscience; these programs keep patients out of hospitals, enable the working poor to keep a job and keep underprivileged children in school. Our entire community benefits, and taxpayers save money in the long run.

This commission is quick to fault previous boards for many bad decisions. But make no mistake; it is this commission that is ruining the most progressive and responsible social program the county has created. It is rich watching Norman distort the debate. He warns the county could become "one big social services agency," even though he knows the cuts are a tiny fraction of the county's $1-billion budget. Norman shouldn't lecture about handouts, anyway. One reason the county is so strapped is that the Buccaneers' stadium Norman helped craft has left taxpayers with a $3.5-million annual property tax bill.

Money is not the issue. Storms suggested as much, in what became a rambling attack on the middle-class values of churches. Yet it's hard to make the case on principle when you scheme to gain politically by denying care to those suffering from a debilitating disease. Let's hope the average people the commission majority claims to represent aren't as indifferent to the needs of the powerless as it thinks they are.

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