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Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Saul-Sena bashes Hagan in Brandon- Hagan calls it "a sign of weakness"
Posted by Mitch Perry on Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 8:00 PM
One of the most anticipated races this fall in Hillsborough County is in the District Five County wide race between Republican Ken Hagan, Democrat Linda Saul-Sena, and independent Jim Hosler.
Speaking at an event sponsored by the East Hillsborough County Democratic Club's June meeting in Brandon Tuesday night , Saul-Sena began her remarks by admitting the obvious: "This is one big county." She added that she also thought it was "complex, fascinating, varied and diverse." Because of that, she said she needed to meet as many people as possible, and urged the three dozen or so in the banquet room at Giordano's (home of the famous stuffed pizza) to invite her to speak to any groups that could be assembled.
Saul-Sena said her priorities are transportation, international trade (including creating closer ties with Cuba), and education. And she said it was important for County government to be creative, and not just stand behind the "one-trick pony" of more development.
But her most newsworthy quotes came when she was asked about her opponents, and specifically County Commission Chair Ken Hagan.
"He doesn't show up for things. He is not a good guardian of the public's money or trust," she said, adding that much of his prodigious fund raising to date has come from developers (his current overall totals in the campaign are just less than $250,000, while Saul-Sena has slightly less than $75,000).
"His strength is that he's beige. He's one of these truly forgettable people, as opposed to Brian Blair, who was like, really easy to notice and dislike. I think he's more invisible. ....and if you don't pay attention, because he never says anything, and doesn't show up all the time, it's easy not to notice how badly he votes."
She also mocked Hagan for taking credit for saving Cone Ranch, saying "it's amazing with a straight face he purported that he was the savior of something that he almost gave away."
And she criticized the state of the County Commission, where currently Administrator Pat Bean and Attorney Renee Lee are on paid suspension. She said Hagan, who is the county Chair and who called earlier this year for the resignations of Bean, Lee and Internal Performance Auditor Jim Barnes (who has been dismissed), deserved blame for the situation. "If he was competent, the county would not be in the state it's in."
When contacted Wednesday afternoon, Commissioner Hagan responded by saying, "It's unfortunate that Ms. Saul-Sena is already getting into negative campaigning," saying that he thinks "that's a sign of weakness."
On her charge that he doesn't say much during commission meetings, he admits that "I am a man of few words, and I try to be thoughtful and methodical in my comments. And frankly, most folks I speak with find it refreshing to have an elected official who listens more than than he speaks."
(Full disclosure: This reporter was invited to speak at the meeting and did so, mainly on the Florida U.S. Senate race, and some other trends in local/state/national politics in 2010).
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