Opinion: Problems unresolved at THAP

This week's belated resignation of disgraced director Chet Luney does not fix the problem at the Tampa-Hillsborough Action Plan. THAP's board did a lousy job of supervising Luney, and replacing him with another insider hardly breeds confidence the agency can ably provide housing to low-income residents. The city of Tampa and Hillsborough County should sever their links with THAP, find a new non-profit group to provide this range of social services and beef up their own controls to prevent future scandals.

THAP's board destroyed its credibility by waiting four months to move against Luney, by refusing to address his financial and ethical decisions publicly and by failing to deliver on promises made to THAP's clients and sponsor-governments. The board hasn't even acknowledged its own culpability for THAP's cowboy-management and the appearance of insider dealing between Luney and ousted city housing chief Steve LaBrake.

This public-private partnership has run its course. The agency's image is ruined. What little focus exists on the board will be sapped by two ongoing criminal investigations. The city and county need a new housing partner that is free of this considerable baggage. We still have no clear picture of THAP's financial health, no picture of its management team and no picture of how it would account for millions of dollars in new tax subsidies.

The city and county must share in the blame. Neither did a solid job of overseeing THAP. In the future, nonprofit agencies should be required to deliver annual audited financial statements. The nonprofits need to ban gifts to government officials, and both sides need to disclose their financial interests. Members of the state Ethics Commission struck the right tone last week in criticizing LaBrake and Mayor Dick Greco's administration for ignoring obvious ethical conflicts. Ethics rules may not have stopped the favors, gifts and flow of money between LaBrake and Luney's offices, but the scandal likely wouldn't have gone on as long.

Removing LaBrake, and now Luney, from the picture was more difficult than it should have been. But now that it's done, the goal should be to rebuild the low-income housing program with fresh leadership. The city and county should sever their relationships with THAP and transfer those duties to other agencies in the public and private sectors. The government also should pursue all legal means to recover monies improperly spent.

THAP's institutional problems threaten to harm the legitimacy of the housing program over the long term. Other nonprofit agencies that receive public funds also should see from this example that accountability is important.

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