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High-Profile Pasco GOP Leader Looking For Bigger Challenges

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By Carl  Orth | The Suncoast News

Published: December 27, 2008

HUDSON - He's been a big fish in the relatively small pond that is Pasco County Republican politics. Bill Bunting is now swimming in a much bigger GOP pond.

Bunting had to retire as chairman of the Pasco Republican Executive Committee when he was elected state committeeman for the Florida Republican Party in November.

The Republican stalwart now hopes to get elected to the Florida GOP executive committee during its Jan. 9 elections. That would give him a hand in shaping statewide party policy.

Perhaps a reflection of Bunting's ascending status is his recent appearances on "Florida This Week." The political talk show airs on WEDU Channel 3, the Public Broadcasting Service station in Tampa.

Bunting laughs when he's described as the "token conservative" on "Florida This Week." Its panel is packed more often with guests from academia, usually perceived as liberal leaning. Bunting left his National Rifle Association jacket at home that night.

"I'd tear my hair out first," Bunting said, referring to a discussion on the program about restoring the state's intangibles taxes on stocks and other investments. Bunting considers the levy, which the Legislature repealed in 2007, "double taxation."

He wasn't too fond of most other tax increase proposals to help deal with Florida's budget deficit of more than $2.3 billion for the current fiscal year. Bunting will be in Tallahassee at the same time state lawmakers meet in special session to deal with the budget shortfall.

"I can live with that," Bunting said about increasing documentary stamp fees as one means to deal with the deficit.

The Jan. 9 state executive committee meeting might make headlines of its own if former Gov. Jeb Bush appears to talk about his plans for the future. Bush is toying with a run for the U.S. Senate in 2010. The GOP incumbent, Mel Martinez, has already announced he won't seek re-election in 2010.

"We'll follow his lead," Bunting said about Bush and his political plans.

After the 2008 election debacle for the GOP in many parts of the country, Bunting believes voters "want Republicans to be Republicans." Despite the nationwide trend, Florida Democrats made only modest political gains this year.

Bunting applauded Florida's U.S. representatives who voted against the $700 billion bailout package for the financial industry. Bunting is no fan of the bailout loans for American auto manufacturers, either. If the companies can't make it with shareholder money, there's no reason to expect they will do any better with taxpayer money, Bunting reasoned.

Anti-tax attitudes are nothing new for Bunting. He helped lead the opposition against the Penny for Pasco. Pasco voters approved the special one-cent sales tax levy in March 2004.

Bunting's stock rose as he built a conservative Republican base in Pasco. The county served as an early bellwether indicator for the re-election of President George W. Bush in 2004.

Even so, Bunting has attracted numerous critics for his personality, which some describe as abrasive. "Caustic" seems to be another term detractors use when discussing Bunting.

Some of his antics in 2000 led state Republican Party leaders to banish Bunting and his wife Ann, along with then-Chairman Zoltan Mayer, for two years because the rancor became so great. Bunting staged a comeback and had cemented his lock on power by 2002, the year he became the county GOP chief.

"It's Bill's way or the highway," one disaffected precinct committee worker, John Kennedy, fumed in July about Bunting's style of leadership.

Bunting turns over the county chairmanship to East Pasco businessman Randy Maggard.

"He's a conservative, I'm a conservative," Bunting said.

After six years at its helm, Bunting isn't about to forget the Pasco GOP. He hopes to keep his hand in local politics by asking to be appointed finance chairman for the county party.

Carl Orth can be reached at 727-815-1068 or corth@suncoastnews.com.

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