Although Al Higginbotham has served on the Hillsborough County Commission for eight years, he's only represented one quarter of the county during that time, in the more conservative District 2 regions of Riverview, Brandon and other far eastern parts. That's why it's no shoo-in that he'll take the countywide district 7 seat, where he faces a formidable Democrat in attorney and activist Pat Kemp.
Whether Kemp can get the Democratic vote out is a big question, of course, as the two candidates engaged in an oh-so-civilized debate on Friday afternoon at Maestro's Restaurant inside the Straz Center, where the conversation mostly centered on transportation and economic development — or the frustrating lack of both, according to Kemp.
Her message is clear and simple: Changes need to be made in Hillsborough County, and to buttress her argument she referred to a damning report issued last month that showed the Tampa Bay area's median income among the top 25 metro areas of the nation to bedead last.
Earlier this week, Higginbotham joined his colleagues on the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners to vote in support of a domestic partner registry, a breakthrough of sorts after the same seven members opposed a similar proposal in 2013 on a 4-3 vote.
John Desmond, the president of PFLAG Tampa (the nation's largest organization of parents, families and straight friends of LGBT members) said he had attended a meeting with Higginbotham around the time of his 2013 vote against the DPR, where the commissioner had mentioned that he had an LGBT family member. "I was wondering what happened between then and now that changed your mind about the subject?"
Higginbotham said that family member was his sister, who was married last November. And he confessed his grave disappointment that he wasn't invited.
"It broke my heart," he confessed, denying that his change of position on a DPR was a political vote. He said it was truly a genuine change of heart that had a lot to do with a family member, adding that too many cynics were quick to pounce on a politician's change of position on issues, which Higginbotham definitely has in running countywide this year. He said that his stance voting for a DPR would hurt more than help with voters, an opinion that Kemp didn't share.
"I'm glad that you have evolved,"she said."I think it sent the wrong kind of message [to oppose a DPR]."
Another evolution that Higginbotham has made from the last time he was running for office in 2010 is regarding his support for a likely referendum on public transit in 2016. But he stressed that that was a very different time in terms of the economics in the county. "We couldn’t afford it four years ago," he said. "It was the wrong time to venture into a big ask." But he said he's been a big supporter of BRT, and he said that the community will learn where rail might work in the county coming out of the Transportation Economic Development policy group, "which I started four years ago."
That wasn't quite accurate. That group didn't start up until 2013 .
Kemp went back to the report on Tampa Bay's low GDP growth, and said every other metropolitan area ahead of Tampa "all had a rail plan. They all had an investment in transit." She said the county is "so far behind" too many other communities.
But Higginbotham isn't buying the notion that Hillsborough County has lost businesses from relocating here because of a lack of a robust transportation system. "We've never lost a corporate relocation because of rail," he declared. He added that his vision of how a transportation system could be wasn't as important as what "the people think," saying that the 2010 transit referendum was conceived behind closed doors without any significant public involvement.
Later Kemp kept up her message that Hillsborough needs leadership to cultivate a better business climate, quoting from a recent Tampa Bay Times story penned by Robert Trigaux regarding the thoughts of some of the nation's top site selectors — people who tell corporations where in the country to put their next expansion or relocation — on a recent visit to Tampa. The story quoted one official as saying that "instead of aiming too high," the region should target "middle-market" and family-owned companies from New York or Chicago.
"We haven't made the investments that we need to make to transform ourselves," she said.
Higginbotham didn't disagree, but said that the county has started to move in a different direction from a construction-based economy, but "it doesn't happen overnight."
Kemp has run hard on her opposition to Higginbotham's support for $6.25 million of county road work to bring Bass Pro Shops to Brandon (a vote that only Kevin Beckner on the board opposed). But Higginbotham said not every company coming in to do business in the county would or could be just high-paying jobs, saying that developer Jeff Vink's plan in Channelside certainly won't all include high-wage positions.
The ride-sharing services Uber & Lyft made appearances in the discussion. Higginbotham said if the taxicab industry didn't wake up, "they're going to be dinosaurs," but added the question of a solid insurance policy for their drivers was crucial, referencing his spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down. "My concern is insurance, and we're working on it."
Kemp agreed that insurance and a credible background check system was important, but expressed impatience with how slow negotiations have gone on between the companies and the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission. "I don't understand why we're putting up so many barriers. There needs to be more leadership on this issue," she said.