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Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner said yesterday he has asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review the 1 percent pay raises that County Administrator Pat Bean and County Attorney Renee Lee approved for themselves in 2007.

The Commissioner dropped that bomb during the discussion about what to do about the pay raises, which has already led to an ethics complaint (filed by CL contributor George Niemann).

Beckner failed to get his fellow Board members to look into a comprehensive review of who else in County Government received raises under an incentive program.

Commissioner Mark Sharpe had previously announced that he was hoping that perhaps the Clerk of the Circuit Court's office could investigate.  But at yesterday's meeting it was declared that Pat Frank's office conducts audits, not full on investigations of the type that Sharpe was asking for.   Nor did he get support for an outside attorney to look at whether Bean's raise violated her contract.

The Board ultimately decided to look at its management compensation policies, with Commissioners Rose Ferlita and Jim Norman leading the way in saying it was simply time to move on from the ongoing controversy.

Speaking of controversy, there could be some developing in the case of a new sexual harassment policy that the Board has needed to approve for their aides after being chastised in Federal Court (in the Kevin White case) for not having an adequate policy.

For the 2nd straight BOCC meeting, Commissioner Beckner said it was time to include sexual orientation in their policies.  But again, Commissioner Jim Norman dissented.  Two weeks ago, Norman accused Beckner of trying a "back door way" of trying to change the policy without going through public hearings.

As the Tampa Tribune reports this morning, the Hillsborough BOCC voted to eliminate gay rights protections from their human rights ordinance in 1995, which was a big deal at the time.

Yesterday the board voted to have the County Attorney review their employment policies and come back before them in December.

Also at the County Commission meeting yesterday, as we reported the Commissioners voted unanimously to investigate the possibility of creating a homeless shelter in a former strip mall in Tampa, but the thrust of the debate sounded like they were just going through the motions.

That's because after Commissioner White brought up the proposal, which he and Al Higgenbotham announced separately they wanted to bring before the Board (Those two were part of 4 Commissioners who rejected a proposal last week by Catholic Charities to build a 'tent city' like structure off of East Hillsborough Avenue).

But Commissioner Norman jolted White by saying that without going before the local community,  he was going about the issue the wrong way.

Oh, and add the fact that a representative for the owners of the property aren't too keen on the idea, and one could get the sense that the whole discussion was more for show.

The St. Pete Times slams the idea in today's paper, calling it half-baked.  I have to admit that I thought I heard echoes of former President George H.W. Bush, when he famously said "Message: I care", when Commissioner Higgenbotham declared, "If nothing else, this shows that we care about the homeless."