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New GOP Chairman: Loss 'Won't Happen Again'

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By WILLIAM MARCH

wmarch@tampatrib.com

Published: February 8, 2009

TAMPA - Debbie Cox-Roush, new chairman of the Hillsborough County Republican Party, ran for the post because she wasn't happy the county voted for Barack Obama, and vows local Republicans won't let that happen again.

Before Obama's win, Hillsborough went Democratic for president only twice in 40 years, for Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Bill Clinton in 1996.

In an interview last week, Roush rejected the idea that Obama's success indicates any trend or Democratic tide. Republicans, she said, didn't do their grass-roots organizing as well as in 2004.

Her slogan, she said, will be, "There's no past in politics."

Roush is taking over a local party organization that has surged in membership and activity for about five years, partly with an influx of conservative Republicans from eastern Hillsborough County.

Former Chairman Al Higginbotham, now a county commissioner, and his successor, David Storck, have been credited with that. In their tenure, the county Republican Executive Committee - the local party's governing body, consisting of representatives from each voting precinct - became the state's largest.

Some think that dynamism has hit a plateau, but Cox-Roush says it's continuing.

Nonetheless, there are problems she'll have to deal with.
Storck chose not to seek re-election in December after a controversy over an e-mail perceived as racist that he forwarded to political associates during the presidential race. Carol Carter, a top official of the local executive committee, resigned her post last week because of a similar incident.

Cox-Roush calls herself a conservative and names Higginbotham as one of her political mentors.

But she says she's "an open-minded conservative," and won't tolerate racist expressions or attitudes in the party. She emphasized the GOP commitment to family values, but said she wants the party open to all kinds of people, including gay people.

Cox-Roush runs the Tampa arm of a family catering and event management business, headquartered at the Blaise Alfano center near the University of South Florida. That business grew from the ice cream truck her father drove in her native Ohio and now operates in six states.

Will the local party's dynamic growth continue, or has it made all the gains it can?

"Actually it is continuing. Since taking over as chairman of the party, we have had hundreds of calls from new persons in Hillsborough County wanting to get involved, wanting to take action, wanting to become part of our grass-roots. As of our January meeting, we inducted 72 new executive committee members."

When inductions of new members are completed, she said, the total will be 427.

Does Obama's win mean there's a pro-Democratic or anti-Republican tide?

"One of the reasons I ran for chair, when I saw the I-4 corridor go blue, I was not a happy person. It almost made me sick to my stomach because it should have never happened.

"We forgot where we came from, that we need to get our grass-roots strong again, that we need to follow our Republican principles and values, that we need to get out and knock on doors. You know, Barack Obama did everything right. Anyone who says they can't learn from his campaign is wrong.

The local Democrats are expecting a resurgence on their side.

"We have a Democratic president, so that's just a normal statement. But I can tell from my phone ringing there's a resurgence on the Republican side. ... Republicans want to stay in office. They're not going to let this happen again."

You've said Obama won with superior campaign techniques. What about the philosophy, the message?

"Our message has not changed. Our message is still less taxes, less government, family values. I think how we present our message has changed. We need to be more technologically savvy, we need to reach out to our youth. ... Our grass-roots effort needs to be just as strong as it was in 2004.

"Do we have philosophies that people believe and are our values still the same? Absolutely.

"I have picked the slogan, 'There's no past in politic, there's only a future' for my chairmanship. It does none of us good to look back. We can only look forward."

Is there a moderate-conservative split in the local or state party? East Hillsborough conservatives seem to have led the local party in recent years, while most people consider Gov. Charlie Crist and state Chairman Jim Greer as moderates.

"The majority of the Republican vote is in East Hillsborough County. ... What makes us strong is the differences of opinion. It's the fact that at the end of the day we can all come together with a unified message. We do have moderates, we have conservatives, we have very right-wing conservatives. I think that the Republican message is a conservative message, but a tolerant conservative message."

Where do you place yourself on that spectrum?

"I feel I'm a conservative, but I'm an open-minded conservative."

Do the incidents involving alleged racist e-mails indicate any underlying problem within the party?

"Absolutely not. This is individuals, and I don't think it's a reflection of the Republican Party whatsoever. ... These do not stand for the values of the Republican Party or the majority of our Republicans in Hillsborough County. The party has zero tolerance level for any racial e-mails or conversations from our elected offices.

"As chairman ... I've reached out to our black community, to our Hispanic community, to women, and have made great strides in my first eight weeks. ... I take this very, very seriously. We are making great strides ... to reach out, and I'm not going to let anything set that back.

"I want people to be part of our party because they're Republicans. ... It doesn't matter the color of their skin, their race, their gender, their sexual orientation. As long as we all have the same values, that's what's important to the Republican Party."

Reporter William March can be reached at (813) 259-7761.

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