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Busansky spoke for those who couldn't

Tribune file photo by CLIFF MCBRIDE

Phyllis Busansky was elected supervisor of elections last fall.

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By STEVE OTTO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 23, 2009

TAMPA - There is chasm in our lives today. We have lost someone special, someone with that singular ability to bring us together.

I was sitting in a hospital waiting room with a relative Tuesday when I heard about Phyllis Busansky. A few minutes later it came over the news on the waiting room's TV. A knot of people stared at the broadcast, most I think recognizing her from her recent winning campaign for the Hillsborough County supervisor of elections job.

I thought back to when I met her, more than 30 years ago.

Phyllis Busansky, the county's director of aging services, had called me up. She wanted to show me some of the facilities for seniors in the county.

It sounded like a dreary afternoon. I had this vision of getting picked up by a little old lady, sort of like Mary Worth in the comic strips, and shuffled off to a senior center in an old Rambler.

The first thing that struck me when she drove up to -- and slightly over -- the curb in front of the Trib was a woman with an Afro hair-do about the size of a beach ball. She was sitting in a battered sports car of undetermined origin. On her stereo she was playing a Bob Marley reggae song at full blast. We drove out to the interstate. She was talking over the stereo and waving both hands at the same time. I knew I was going to die.

We didn't die. We pulled into a senior center in West Tampa and I learned something else about Phyllis. Everyone in the place – everyone – knew who she was. It was sort of like Auntie Mame coming to visit. She not only knew the names of the staffers and the clients, she knew most of their stories.

And it was more than just knowing the people. She knew about senior services; about health care costs and the world of growing older. She had ideas on how to turn things around.

Nobody had heard of Phyllis when she decided to run for county commissioner. But it turned out she had another talent. She could stand in front of a crowd and speak with passion about what she believed. She cared deeply about health care and housing. She understood there are so many voices that go unheard, and she was determined to speak for those people.

She was not the only person responsible for putting together the county's health plan, but she was the passion behind the effort. It was Phyllis who convinced not only her fellow commissioners but ultimately the voters to create what became a national model.

Her eight years on the commission were marked by a solid group of commissioners including Ed Turanchik, the late Sylvia Kimbell, Jan Platt and Pam Iorio, who now is Tampa's mayor.

She left politics to do consulting work with foundations and some teaching at Columbia University, but she couldn't stay away. She decided to make a run for Congress and lost a close one to Gus Bilirakis a couple of years ago.

When she decided to try one more time, this time because she was appalled at what she saw happening at the elections' office, I told her it was a bad idea. It had been years since her days as an elected official, her opponent was well financed and she didn't need it. So much for my political expertise.

It was the old Phyllis, speaking with the same passion for honest and efficient elections that she had for the rights of the poor and elderly. I think it was Phyllis's win last year that did more to restore the faith of voters in Hillsborough County than any other race.

Phyllis was and is what public service should be about. It is that passion to speak for and represent all the people that bring us into government. Phyllis spent countless hours trying to convince others to get involved. Hopefully some of those whose lives she touched will follow her example.

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