COLUMN

Who Dares Speak To The Powerful Oz?

By STEVE OTTO

Published: Aug 3, 2007

Al Higginbotham seems like a decent sort.

He's a fifth generation Plant Citian, which probably accounts for some of that. Being from Plant City doesn't by itself make you a good person, but Higginbotham is thoughtful and deliberate and at least seems willing to listen to all sides before making a decision.

The fact the county commissioner hasn't always made the best decisions on the board is another issue, but that's politics.

This week, Higginbotham tried to make a gesture. It was not a big deal - almost a symbolic move, in fact, that would demonstrate the county commissioners are just regular people, and they feel your pain.

Naturally, they almost ate him alive. You would have thought he was trying to steal the lunch money from the other commissioners' kids.

There are reasons why things were a little testy. It's budget time down at the County Center. Under normal circumstances, whatever those are, this would still bring about the most contentious sessions.

These happen to be mean times. You probably wouldn't get much argument from the majority of Hillsborough County's citizens that making ends meet is tougher than in past years. Rising insurance rates, gas prices and the cost of just about everything else have hurt.

A Dry Well

The county, like the city, has been forced to eliminate jobs and services, and exactly who and what is still being filtered out. Agencies, especially nonprofit agencies that have depended on the county to put up huge chunks of money, are finding the well dry.

There was already some tension, mostly caused by Commissioner Rose Ferlita, who assumed there might be some balance on the board, and who had the temerity to suggest that instead of killing off programs, it might be more reasonable to cut them back. The rest of the board, which sees things in black and white, was having none of that.

So it was that Higginbotham made a suggestion this week that he and his colleagues put a freeze on their $91,000 salaries (Chairman Jim Norman draws $101,000) and their $600-a-month car allowances.

I mean, you would have thought he had suggested they take public transportation. Commissioner Brian Blair suggested this would take food out of the mouths of his family. They attacked each other over salaries paid to aides and went on about how many miles they have to drive around the county.

Return Of The Blockhead

The whole thing reminded me of my old buddy Melvin Burkhart, who used to work the carny circuit as "The Human Blockhead." Melvin could make one side of his face look one way and the other the opposite.

I had the same feeling about commissioners slashing funds out of one side of their faces while protecting their perks on the other.

These clowns have already set themselves up on pedestals that would make the Wizard of Oz blush. How someone like Higginbotham could suggest they might want to share a little pain was almost too much for them to understand.

Ultimately, they did agree to trim their recently raised car allowances 10 percent next year. At least they didn't want to ride the bus for free.

Steve Otto's column appears Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.