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Commissioners Blair, Hagan Picky On Forums

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By MIKE SALINERO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 14, 2008

TAMPA - On Friday, a dozen candidates for local government will appear at the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa forum, where they're expected to face a crowd that prides itself on asking tough questions.

Hillsborough County commissioners Brian Blair and Ken Hagan won't be among those being grilled. Blair and Hagan are the only two candidates out of 14 invited to the Tiger Bay forum who are not planning to attend.

Brian Blair

Their absence continues a trend where the pair are carefully picking the voter forums they attend, mostly avoiding those where they'd share the floor with their challengers in the Aug. 26 primary.

Their opponents charge the two Republican commissioners are afraid to face tough questioning about their records. Even fellow Republicans are saying Blair and Hagan's habit of skipping many of the forums is denying many voters the chance to fairly assess all the local candidates.

"It's unfortunate - more so for the voters than for me. They're trying to make a decision," said April Schiff, president of the Tiger Bay Club and a Republican. "This is an opportunity to influence voters, and I think it's unfortunate if they don't come."

Hagan, running in District 2, which includes much of northwest Hillsborough and New Tampa, said there is no advantage in attending Tiger Bay.

Ken Hagan

"For a northern Hillsborough County district, there is absolutely no value in attending a South Tampa event," Hagan said. "My time is better utilized by going door to door in my district."

Blair, who is running for re-election in countywide District 6, said he's not attending Tiger Bay because he has other things to do.

Blair and Hagan also skipped a high-profile League of Women Voters forum this past month that is currently running on three local government cable TV stations.

Mark Hart, the League's chairman of voter services, said most of the candidates invited to the forum attended. They included Don Kruse, who is challenging Blair in the Republican primary, and Tom Aderhold, Hagan's Republican opponent.

Hart said the forums are important, not only to illuminate the candidates' positions on the issues, but also to give voters a sense of the character and poise of the people vying for public office.

"It's helpful to voters to see how you bear up under tough questioning," Hart said. "Do you have grace under pressure? Can you articulate a position?"

Blair said he's not afraid to answer tough questions, noting he attended a county Republican Party Executive Committee event in the spring and two recent meet-the-candidate events at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz and Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon.

Kruse, who also attended the Republican Party forum, said the candidates were asked "softball, Larry King-like questions." No questions were asked at the two Baptist church events, he said.

Kruse and the three Democrats running for Blair's seat, say they haven't seen him at any other forum-type events.

"I've been to about six forums - every one I've been invited to," Democratic candidate Joe Redner said. Blair "doesn't come to any of them."

Blair said his county commission duties keep him busy. Like Hagan, Blair said he tries to reach out to voters by going door-to-door.

"I do my campaigning on the weekends and the evenings when I'm not taking care of county business," he said.

Hagan and Blair hold significant advantages in name-recognition and campaign donations because of their incumbency. It's not unusual for a candidate with those advantages to avoid debates and public forums where they might commit a gaffe, said Scott Paine, a former Tampa city councilman and a professor of government at the University of Tampa.

But Paine said such a strategy could backfire.

"I think it always strikes the voters as troubling, especially the ones who take the time to go to the forums," Paine said. "And at least for some voters, this kind of behavior by an incumbent smacks of arrogance."

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303 or msalinero@tampatrib.com

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