Hart Performs Moral Courage Encore Act

If this quintet of clueless bobblehead dolls had their way, the Nobel Peace Prize would be named after Pol Pot, the Pulitzers after Clifford Irving, the MacArthur genius grants after Archie Bunker.

But this is what happens when abject hubris collides head-on with 10 tin ears.

There is a temptation to say that what Eileen Hart did the other day was her encore act of public moral courage. But really, how much bravery does it take to stand up to five hapless dopes and say, in effect, you can take your award and shove ..., well, you get the idea.

After all, by this point the plaque in her hands wasn't worth, to paraphrase the late Vice President John Nance Garner, a bucket of warm spit.

Hart had appeared before the Hillsborough County Commission to protest the renaming of the Moral Courage Award, which she had received back in 1996, after the late Daddy Warbucks of local politics, Ralph Hughes, who went to that stock portfolio in the sky a few months ago.

Until Commissioner Jim Norman, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hughes, decided to turn the Moral Courage Award into a shrine to cronyism, the selection of the honoree had been largely and surprisingly apolitical since former Commissioner Jan Platt came up with the idea in 1991.

And the list of winners has represented a diverse group of people driven by an idealistic belief that government can serve the greater interests of the citizenry.

A Water Creation

Hart championed the effort to persuade regional water authorities to diversify the region's water supply.

Her dedication paid off with the creation of Tampa Bay Water and the justly deserved Moral Courage Award recognition.

It meant a lot to her, to her family - until Jim Norman decided to taint the honor by naming it after Hughes, who was little more than "Blazing Saddles'" Mongo with a checkbook.

Norman ham-handedly tried to justify his air kiss to Hughes' grave by arguing that his owner had proved his own moral courage by opposing the county's indigent health care plan, as if being against poor people was some sort of Nelson Mandela moment.

Ethical Value Plunges

It was all too much for someone like Hart, someone with a sense of dignity.

Hart showed up at the commissioners' weekly sweat lodge meeting and told Hughes' five toe-rings - Norman, Al Higginbotham, Brian Blair, Ken Hagan and Kevin White - that they could have their Moral Courage Award back, since it now had all the ethical market value of the Order of Merit from Sudan.

Then she was blithely dismissed by commission Chairman Hagan with "Thanks for the history lesson."

Are there larger issues facing this community than an award named after a dead political wheeler and dealer?

Sure, but the Moral Courage brouhaha also offers a window into the commissioners' inner lap dancer, willing to sell out folks like Hart and other recipients of the award to appease the likes of Hughes and the development interests he represented.

Would it surprise anyone if Hart's selfless gesture sets off an assembly line of Moral Courage plaques piling up on the commissioners' desks?

Not that they would care, anyway.