No Dull Moments With Sharpe

Republican politicians, including very prominent locals, have been known to pass on the opportunity to speak to the Tiger Bay Club of Tampa. It’s too Democrat friendly. After all, what’s to be gained from unfriendly fire from those whose minds aren’t likely to be changed after a Q&A gotcha session?

Well, Mark Sharpe, the three-term, Republican Hillsborough County commissioner and former Congressional opponent of Sam Gibbons and Jim Davis, spoke at the Tiger Bay luncheon last Friday. But, no, this was hardly stop-the-political-presses stuff. Sharpe is unlike fellow GOPsters in many ways. So many that he’s been called a quisling by Republican insiders and activists. It’s what happens when you don’t toe the party line often enough.

For openers, Sharpe, 53, has favored increases in home-building fees to pay for schools and supports a domestic partner registry and a gun buy-back program. He’s been known to question corporate tax breaks. If he has a mantra, it’s probably: “I didn’t run for office to serve the Republican Party, but to serve the people.” The obvious implication: The priorities of the party and those of the people are not identical. It rankles the usual suspects.

But nothing identifies Sharpe more with government than what he sees at its role in expediting regional progress on transportation. He’s a staunch advocate for meaningful mass transit, including light rail. He’s on the board of directors of the Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority and is a member of HART. This week he led commissioners in a discussion of transit realities–rife with implications for improving the Tampa area as a workplace and lifestyle attraction.

But back to the Tiger Bay luncheon. Ironically, he was late, because he was stuck in Tampa traffic.

Hybrid Republican

Sharpe would later underscore the correlation between the role of modern mass transit and the area’s “tremendous opportunity for growth” and need to lure innovative industries and max out on USF’s vast potential as an “idea engine.” That also means changing our focus away from “corporate relos and call centers,” he added.

Sharpe acknowledged that his party “probably prefers we not use the words ‘referendum’ and ‘taxes’ now” and noted that the GOP was, well, “crazy on transportation.” As if “the U.N. were coming in on sidewalks and rail.”

While Sharpe may be a “traitor” to some Republicans, a curiosity to Dems, and a “contrarian” to himself, he can be refreshing to those weary of paralyzing partisan politics. He’s not a zero-sum player. He respects the Kevin Beckners, Les Millers and Bob Buckhorns. He’d rather stand outside the party-label box as a problem-solver than mount an ideological soapbox on the issues.

He’s Republican-wary of big government, while acknowledging the need for “smart regulations”–from insuring clean air to taking on those responsible for our “financial mess.”  And, yes, he’s no fan of anything more than a “peripheral” role for government in stadium-building scenarios.

So, what lies ahead for Tampa Bay’s pre-eminent, political hybrid when he’s term-limited next year? He wasn’t about to say. Only that he doesn’t have his “eye on future office.” There’s no “master plan,” he said.

While that sounds like a safe political response, this much seems bipartisanly clear. More Mark Sharpes likely would mean less government dysfunction. It would mean more public officials prioritizing what they have in common, not in contrast. It would mean a focus on problem-solving rather than problem-worsening. Brinksmanship in decline. Pragmatism over orthodoxy.

What a concept.