by PTRIC
JAS W H ARD ITMNTIG


 (Continued from page i)
 Yago has heard the concerns and
 is scheduling next year's Knight
 Parade.on February 20, two weeks
 after Gasparilla and completely
 out of Valentine's weekend.

 When Carol Carter resigned as
 Hillsborough County Republican
 state committeewoman under the
 dark cloud of her racist comments,
 she said her resignation was for
 the good of the party. She is now
 running for the same job she re-
 signed from just three weeks ago.
 Should we take it, based on her
 past comments, that her reelec-
 tion bid is for the detriment of
 her party?
 Carter's reelection bid should
 be viewed by dedicated party
 members as a foolish attempt to
 put the genie back in the bottle
 but some are embracing the
 tragic effort. Republican party
 corresponding secretary Janice
 Torgersen is making calls to drum
 up support for the disgraced Carol
 Carter.
 The Democrats' hope for gains
 in this county will soar if Carter
 and Torgersen are joined by other
 Republicans in turning back the
 clock on the GOP by reelecting a
 leader who shares no commitment
 to diversity.

 Greg Truax was rumored to be
 a potential candidate for House
 District 57, which will be an open
 seat in 2010 when Faye Culp is
term-limited. He's now made it
clear that he's not running by en-
dorsing Republican Todd Marks
for the seat.

 Aloft Hotel, a division of Star-
 wood Hotels, is one step closer
 to building a 125-room boutique,
 style inn at the corner of 5th
 Avenue and 14th Street in Ybor
 City. The interior style is urban,
 high tech, sleek and designed to
 appeal to Generation Y. It will
 have a grab and go health food
 restaurant and will meet all of its
 parking needs on site.

 Congresswoman Kathy Castor
 represented her district very well
 by including.needed local projects
 in the 2009 appropriations bill.
 These federal dollars will stimu-
 late our local economy and help
 the needy in our community. The
 list includes:
 *Port of Tampa: $4.6 million.
 Port of Manatee: $2.5 million.
 Summer youth employ-
 ment program for at-risk youth:
 $190,000.
 Mary Lee's House Program to
 help child abuse victims: $250,000.
 HCC's dental training clinic
 serving low income adults and
 children: $285,000.
 Hispanic Youth Gang Preven-
 tion Project: $250,000.
 Hillsborough Avenue beauti-
 fication: $237,000.
 Restoration of historic Jordan
 Elementary School: $190,000.
 Phoenix House, residential
 treatment: $200,000.
 Ex-offender re-entry initia-
 tive: $ 300,000.
 HART bus acquisition: $2.2
 million.
 Water- taxi feasibility study:
 $475,000.
 Ophelia Project and Boys Ini-
 tiative: $ 167,000.

 Tampa Hispanic Heritage Inc.,


celebrating its 30th anniversary,
swore in its new board on Febru-
ary 22. The members are Maria
Teresa Owens, president; Patri-
cia Gomez, vice president; Rosa
Quintela, treasurer and Maria
Vizcarra, secretary.

 The legislative session starts on
March 3. Here are some bills that
we feel are of interest:

 .Senate bill 2108 would transfer
the majority of the Clerk of the
Circuit Court duties to the Court
Administration. Pat Frank, as the
elected Clerk of the Circuit Court,
has responsibilities to county gov-
ernment and to the court system.
The bill would take her court sys-
tem duties away. These include:
maintaining public records, court
files and evidence; collecting fines;
calling jurors; assigning cases
to judges; processing domestic
violence complaints; collecting
delinquent child support and
handling foreclosure and eviction
paperwork.
 If some in the Legislature have
their way, these functions would
come under the control of the chief
judge and the court administrator.
 Contrary to the bill's propo-
nents, the change would save no
money, but, would in fact, create
more duplication of services. The
Clerks of the Circuit Courts offices
would still exist to serve the coun-
ty government, but a majority of
its personnel and duties would be
assigned to the court bureaucracy.
The transition costs would be im-
mense and would come at an in-
opportune time during the state's
financial crisis. In this county it
would also move employees out
of civil service allowing for hiring
and firing based on patronage.
 We have great respect for Chief
Judge Manny Menendez and his
staff, but inflating his responsi-
bilities from dealing with 250 em-
ployees to over 850 doesn't make
sense. Judges should be free to
deal with the matters of law, not
the flow of paper, the collection of
funds and the long term protection
and storage of documents.
 The most compelling reason
to kill the bill is that it removes
170 years of checks and balances
engrained in our state and county
court system. Judges set fines,
clerks collect them. Changing the
system could lead to cash register
justice. Judges should not have
the ability to set the fine, collect
the fine, record the collection and
use the money to pay for their
salary, their staffs and the cost
of their office. Having judges re-
sponsible for maintaining court
records would undermine the
independence our state's founders
envisioned. Judges having their
decision appealed and reviewed
would be in control of the docu-
ments that the appeal would be
based on. Not smart. Permanently
sealing files would be too easy to
do without independent scrutiny.
 This bill harms the public's best
interest to please some judges in
south Florida who lust for power.

 Senate bills 360 and 630 by
Senator Mike Bennett of Braden-
ton are gifts to developers and a
stab in the back to responsible
growth and community planning.
 Senator Bennett wants us to
believe that removing reasonable
costs and restrictions from devel-


opment will restart the construc-
tion industry, but we weren't
born yesterday. Impact fees and
complying with comprehensive
plans didn't kill the construc-
tion industry. Bad loans and the
lack of credit did. The only. real
solution to the state's building
problem is to free up credit. Ben-
nett wants to take advantage of
his peers' desperation in hopes
they will-eliminate impact fees
imposed'by local governments and
allow developers to skirt trans-
portation and school concurrency
rules. Developers could once again
build where there are no available
classrooms nor road capacity to
absorb population increase. These
changes make existing taxpayers
pay for growth. The bill also tries
to exempt large scale development
from state review.
 Bills 360 and 630 are a danger-
ous pair.

 Senator Charlie Justice has
a couple of winners in his list of
bills.
 Senate bill 660 requires com-
panies who automatically renew
service contracts to notify their
customers in advance of the re-
newal. This consumer protection
bill gives customers the chance to,
review the service and an oppor-
tunity to cancel without penalty.

 Senator Justice's other good bill
is to make counties' Supervisor of
Elections a "nonpartisan" elected
office and prevents political par-
ties from supporting candidates.
 Party labels do create a situ-
ation where every decision of a
supervisor of elections is viewed
with suspicion and perception
has a way of becoming reality.
The public and many candidates
would feel better if the Supervisor
was nonpartisan.
 Does the bill go far enough?
Why not make all the consti-
tutional officers nonpartisan?
What's the difference between
a Republican or Democrat tax
collector or property appraiser?
Can a'Clerk of the Circuit Court
conduct record keeping in a liberal
or conservative manner? Does a
party label give any insight to the
voter in how a sheriff will conduct
himself? We support Senate Bill
536 (SB536), but want more of it.

 Last week Tampa Port Com-
missioner Carl Lindell was so mo-
tivated by a three-minute Al Fox
speech issued on Tampa's need to
trade with Cuba, that he made a
motion at the end of the Port Au-
thority's monthly meeting to have
port emissaries travel to Cuba.
You could have heard a pin drop
after the motion due to the uncom-
fortable silence. The next sound
was the squeal of the brakes on
any such adventure. Mayor Pam
lorio, County Commissioner Rose
Ferlita and port authority mem-
ber,Hoe Brown quickly turned the
discussion to their concerns of all
the problems, real or imaginary,
with such a trip. The motion was
withdrawn lacking a second. But
the staff was asked to report back
on the issue.
 If the report is an honest assess-
ment of the benefits of establish-
ing a relationship and dialogue
with Cuban officials on current
and future trade opportunities,
then the staffs conclusion should
be to launch a trade mission
immediately. Only a blind man
would not see that Tampa, the
closest major U.S. port to Havana,


should, if it plays its cards right,
be THE port for trade with Cuba.
We have the history, the location
and the infrastructure to take
full advantage of the current but
limited trade opportunities with
Cuba. When the U.S./Cuba rela-
tionship normalizes, Cuba should
be a busy destination for Tampa's
cruise, container and cargo ships.
 The only thing that stands in
the way is our leaders. Tampa
has been slow to-make friends in
Cuba. Jacksonville, Pensacola,
Mobile and New Orleans all have
sent enthusiastic delegations to
open the doors and keep them
open with continued dialogue.
Tampa's visits have been tepid
and these weak efforts unsus-
tained.
 There are many people in the
shadows who keep derailing ef-
forts to keep Tampa in the fore-
front of U.S. trade with Cuba.
They use fear, misinformation
and procrastination as their tools
to advance their political views
over the best interest for Tampa's
economic future.
 The port's commissioners are
wise to gather the information
on current U.S./Cuba trade- op-
portunities. If the staffs report
is free from the influence of these
shadowy forces, the commission-
ers will have plenty of documented
support to launch a positive trade
mission to Cuba.

 Congressman Adam Putnam,
who is running for Agriculture
Commissioner, might have prob-
lems in his own backyard. Senator
Carey Baker, who is opposing Put-
nam in the Republican primary,
had a fundraiser attracting local
Republicans Louis Betz, Andy
Scaglione,.Tony Muniz, Joe Capi-
tano, George Lorton, Stephanie
Agliano and Rose Ferlita.
 S*****
 Behind every successful female
exotic dancer is a man. In Tampa
that man is Joe Redner. The
Gasp.arilla Film Fest will host
the Florida premiere of "Strip
Club King: The Story of Joe Red-
ner," a full-feature, independent
documentary directed by Shelby
McIntyre and produced by Chris
Woods. The showing is on March
6 at 10:40 p.m. at Channelside
Cinemas and costs $10. For list-
ings for this year's film fest, go to
www.gasparillafilmfestival.com.

 As Republicans yell and scream
denouncing the stimulus plan,
about how it's just throwing
money at the problem, they should
reflect where they invested all of
our money. President Obama and
the Democrats in the House and
Senate are investing $787 billion
in America to prop up our econo-
my, rebuild infrastructure, expand
healthcare coverage, invest in
schools, the arts and tax cuts.
 President Bush and the Repub-
lican House and Senate invested
$597.4 billion on the War in Iraq
to find WMDs, drive out terror-
ists, eliminate Saddam Hussein,
establish democracy in the Middle
East and to rebuild Iraqi infra-
structure.
 So far we're a lot happier with
the Democratic plan of investing
here than the Republican plan of
investing over there. Hopefully
the "Ds" accomplish more with our
money than the "Rs" did.
 ******
 Read this week's Silhouettes on
local Dr. Jose Montero, specialist
in infectious disease.


Page 12/LA GACETA/Friday, February 27, 2009