HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Our elected officials are in a tough spot, as they’re put in the position to make hard decisions on policy changes due to the coronavirus pandemic.
With the Tampa Bay area’s rising number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, commissioners are having to pass ordinances or implement mandates.
Les Miller, a Hillsborough County Commissioner and commission chair, says he understands you can’t make everyone happy.
“Some people just do you not want government telling them what to do,” Miller said. “OK, I get it. But believe me folks this is not a hurricane coming in that we see, and it’s gone. This is a virus that we didn’t see, we still can’t see it, we can’t put our hands on it, we can’t put our arms around it, and there’s no books to tell us what to do.”
We’re in new territory to say the least, with a virus that doesn’t want to go away. And with certain decisions made throughout the pandemic, like a curfew and a mask mandate, people are taking their frustration out in an ugly way.
Miller says he’s received more than 600 hateful messages.
“Some of them have been downright racist emails,” Miller said. “And some people are just downright angry, they are nasty, they feel like we are violating on their rights on what they can and cannot do and we get these emails.”
Many commissioners in several counties tell 10 Tampa Bay they experience the hate, but Miller is experiencing the brunt of the racist attacks.
“As one email said, and I’m paraphrasing, here we are with a leader that happens to be the N-word and he doesn’t know what he’s doing, he can’t be told what he’s doing and we all know the N-word doesn’t have the brains to do what he has to do,” Miller shared.
Even though this virus is a health-related issue, many are bringing racism into the mix.
“It’s because that’s unfortunately the settlement of this country right now,” Miller said. “We’ve taken many steps backwards instead of going forward.”
He says all the troubling situations during this pandemic, like the death of George Floyd, have divided this country.
“And unfortunately, some of the leaders of our country have perpetuated that, and here we are,” Miller said.
But still, Miller says he’s sometimes surprised by the words people choose to send him.
“I’ve gotten emails like this before, but not the extent of the nastiness where they are now,” Miller said.
He admits, sometimes he gets concern that these emails will turn into more than just emails.
“This past April one of the emails stated that I could not get away.”
But even through the hurtful words he reads in his inbox, Miller says he won’t let them stop him from doing his job. He puts on a strong face and continues making decisions for Hillsborough County.
“I took an oath to do this job,” Miller said. “This is not the first oath that I’ve taken, and every oath that I’ve taken whether it’s as an elected official or the oath I took in the military, I promised to do the best job I possibly can for the better of the people that I represent and that’s what I do.”
He says, all the decisions he makes is based on the information he’s getting from the experts.
“We get the expert opinions that we have from infectious disease doctors, we get the opinion from epidemiologist, we get the opinion from Dr. Holder who’s doing the very best he can from the health department,” Miller said.
“And you have some people say well bring me the facts, bring me the numbers,” Miller said. “There’s no facts and numbers that can be brought because we never had this before!”
Miller says he and his fellow commissioners are doing the very best they can to protect those who want to be protected. He says he’s trying to save lives, and if you don’t agree, that’s your prerogative,” Miller says.
He also wants to say a big thank you to those that have sent him emails of support.
“I truly appreciate them. I can’t respond to each of those emails, but I truly thank each of those persons,” Miller said.
Going forward, Miller says he is going to keep doing what is necessary for the health and well-being of the people he represents.
“Regardless of what people are going to say about me and the emails they send me, I’m going to still do my job until I’m not in office anymore,” Miller said.
“And for those of you who are saying you hope I don’t run again, I can’t run again, I'm term limit but for the next 143 days Les Miller is going to do his job.”
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