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2 conservatives lead effort to defeat tax increase for rail

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By MIKE SALINERO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 13, 2009

TAMPA - Two well-known Hillsborough conservative activists have begun campaigning to defeat a one-penny sales tax for transportation, putting themselves at loggerheads with Republican county commissioners who support the measure.

Sam Rashid, a Brandon-area businessman and top GOP fundraiser, and David Caton, head of the Florida Family Association, are spearheading opposition to the tax. They began waging an e-mail campaign days after the county commission voted Nov. 4 to draw up a resolution supporting a referendum on the tax. The vote would be next November if commissioners put it on the ballot in the spring.

Rashid and Caton, though acting separately, are basing their opposition on economics, specifically that raising taxes during a recession is a bad idea.

"We've got 67,000 unemployed in Hillsborough County and an 11 percent unemployment rate," Caton said. "Taking 1 percent more out of consumer spending at this time is not a responsible move."

Caton blasted his anti-tax message to about 35,000 subscribers to the association's e-mail list a day after the commission voted. The message included e-mail addresses and phone numbers for all seven county commissioners.

Rashid, in addition to sending his message to fellow conservatives, also e-mailed the five Republican commissioners, warning them that supporting the tax could spell defeat for them at the ballot box.

"Remember, at the end of the day, this is still a swing county," Rashid said in the e-mail. "A few points either way can make the difference in any elected official's chances of re-election …"

Four of the five Republican commissioners are either campaigning for re-election or expected to seek another elected post in the coming two years. However, two of the Republicans, Jim Norman and Al Higginbotham, oppose the tax.

Rashid said the warning doesn't mean he will actively oppose any of the commissioners in next year's election, but he will join in a "pushback" effort against the tax. He said he intends to remind the county's conservative voters that the Republican commissioners pledged in past campaigns not to raise taxes.

"It's not too late for these guys to think about the promises they made in the past to their constituents," Rashid said in an interview.

The county's Transportation Task Force recommended a tax referendum after two years of hearings and study.

The proceeds would be split: 75 percent of the money would go to mass transit, including doubling the number of buses in the county, and a light rail system connecting downtown Tampa with the University of South Florida and the West Shore Business District. The first leg of the line is projected to be operational in 2018. The remainder would be designated for roads, bridges, bike paths and trails.

Commissioner Ken Hagan, who chaired the task force, could not be reached for comment Friday. But he came out wholeheartedly for the tax when he joined fellow Republicans Mark Sharpe and Rose Ferlita in voting for the resolution supporting it.

"Addressing our transportation issue is not just important but critical to the county and region at large," Hagan said.

Sharpe, an outspoken advocate for the tax, says he values Rashid's counsel as a "respected voice of conservatives." But Sharpe said the county's economic future hinges on a drastically improved mass transit system.

"My stand has been clear as a fiscal conservative," Sharpe said. "If you have a problem, you deal with it and deal with it in a fiscally conservative way. We're not expanding entitlements, we're talking about infrastructure, roads."

Ferlita, who is considering running for mayor of Tampa in 2011, acknowledged that Rashid's and Caton's objections to the timing of the tax have merit. But like Sharpe, she said political leaders must consider the county's long-term economic well-being. Snarled traffic and an anemic bus line are roadblocks to economic growth, she said.

"To me, instead of a tax it looks like an investment and a return on investment for generations to come," she said.

Whether the anti-tax insurgency represents a real danger to the Republican commissioners' political fortunes remains to be seen. Hagan has been elected handily three times, but is moving beyond the friendly confines of his northwest and north-central district to run countywide. Two other candidates are contesting the seat: Republican Don Kruse and Libertarian Brandon Newton. Neither has held public office.

Sharpe has won two elections and has no opposition currently for his countywide seat.

Ferlita, should she choose to run, would probably be a strong candidate to succeed Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio. Ferlita has run successfully in three elections, two for Tampa City Council and once for county commission. But the field for the mayoral contest is expected to be crowded, with two announced candidates already: councilman and former county commissioner Tom Scott and former Tampa police Capt. Marion Lewis.

The potential damage from a pro-tax stance could depend on whether the economy has rebounded by next November, said Susan MacManus, professor of political science at the University of South Florida. And recent national polls show an anti-incumbent fervor running across the country.

"The roller coaster nature of public opinion, depending on the status of the economy, makes it hard to predict what's going to happen," MacManus said. "But this is an issue that people are paying attention to and people on both sides of the issue know that."

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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