Once-fringe ideas now sail through GOP-controlled Hillsborough commission
Tensions among Republicans that have roiled the state Legislature and the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners have, for now, subsided, and the effects of that unity are starting to show at the local level.
Why it matters: Proposals from the commission's conservative hardliner, Commissioner Joshua Wostal (R), until recently were often met by resistance, including from fellow Republicans.
But the GOP supermajority, once out of step, now moves as a bloc — and those ideas have resurfaced and passed with little resistance.
Flashback: Wostal tried to stop adding fluoride to Hillsborough County's drinking water in February, an idea that sailed through other cities and counties under GOP control.
But even with one of the board's two Democrats absent, Wostal couldn't find the votes; he took to X afterward to question whether those who voted against him were even Republicans.
Then, in March, GOP Commissioners Ken Hagan and Christine Miller broke ranks to defeat another one of Wostal's resolutions — this one inviting a state DOGE audit.
Driving the news: Miller later brought forward her own resolution, which committed the county to work with the state DOGE and created a local review panel to examine its spending. Her motion passed.
Then, last week, commissioners scrapped the HOPE trust fund, a Democratic-era affordable housing program that Republicans had long opposed but hadn't managed to kill until now.
What's next: Commissioner Chris Boles (R) is set to follow through with another one of Wostal's priorities: slashing funds for nonprofits.
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