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Moral Courage Award May Get New Name

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By WILLIAM MARCH The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 13, 2008

TAMPA - Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman is proposing renaming the county Moral Courage Award after the late Ralph Hughes, a political supporter of Norman and other conservative Republicans on the County Commission.

Hughes, owner of a company that casts concrete products for the construction industry, died in July at age 77 of a heart attack.

Former County Commissioner Joe Chillura nominated Hughes for the award shortly after his death. At the suggestion of a citizen review committee, however, it went to Dave Brown, a Sun City Center resident who opposed county regulations on residents with alternative water supplies.

Hughes owned Cast-Crete Corp., but was known locally chiefly for his political activity.

He frequently argued before the county board against impact fees on development and against county government spending and taxes.

He spent $150,000 of his own money to pay for a study by an anti-tax watchdog group on county spending, and successfully campaigned for a county performance auditor.

He also devoted substantial amounts of money to backing candidates he liked, including Norman and three other current commissioners.

The award is intended to honor citizens "who demonstrate exceptional ethical behavior and the moral courage to challenge the actions of government," the county Web site says.

Former County Commissioner Jan Platt, who originated the award in 1992, said she doesn't favor naming it for Hughes or any single recipient.

Platt said she proposed it after the 1983 arrests of three county commissioners and other county officials on corruption charges.

"I saw citizen after citizen stand up before those corrupt commissioners and speak their minds, regardless of the consequences," she said. "I thought they should get an award for it."

The first recipient was Cam Oberting, who led a crusade against the county's illegal toxic dumping in a landfill that polluted groundwater supplies. The commissioners failed to act, Platt said, but the landfill ultimately was declared a federal Superfund site.

She said Hughes, by comparison, "wasn't known for standing up to the board on issues."

Clerk of Court Pat Frank, also a former commissioner, said Hughes' arguments against impact fees would have benefited his own industry: "He was a lobbyist for his own self-interest."

In contrast, Norman said Hughes argued many causes, not just impact fees, and that it required moral courage for Hughes to take such stands as opposing the county's health care plan for the poor, which most commissioners favored.

"I think he embodies the award," Norman said. "I couldn't care if Ralph was for me or against me," he added, noting that Hughes opposed Norman in a Republican primary in his first run for office in 1992.

He called Hughes "the only guy I ever met who actually put his money where his mouth was."

Commissioner Al Higginbotham, whom Hughes also supported, responded, "I think it's a good idea. He was one of the pioneer advocates, whether you agree with him or not.

"The things he advocated for were things that everybody benefited from."

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761 or wmarch@tampatrib.com.

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