SAM RASHID
Politics 2000-2002
In 2000, he then challenged the Tampa Democrat's 100+ year majority rule on the County Commission by his hand-picked and managed Republican candidate’s 0.5% victory in a heavily Democratic-registered district allowing the Board of County Commissioners to obtain a majority of Republicans for the first time since the incorporation of the Hillsborough County.
This majority put county Republicans in charge of the redistricting process for the first time in the history of Hillsborough County and allowed for a complete overhaul of the entrenched administration and its liberal taxing policies.
This monumental shift on the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners moved the power base to the suburban residents of the county as opposed to the heavily Democratic residents of the city of Tampa, that had previously controlled five of the seven elected county commission seats and, as a result of this victory, in 2002, the county was fairly redistricted by a super majority of Republicans and has since held a majority or super majority of Republicans on the dais.
In July, 2000, Sam Rashid was appointed by Florida Governor Jeb Bush as his small business representative to the Board of Directors of Workforce Florida, Inc., an entity created by Federal and Florida State Statute to act as the principal workforce policy organization for the State of Florida with its primary responsibility to design, implement and manage strategies that help Floridians enter, remain in and advance in the workplace. Chaired by Senate President Toni Jennings, Sam was then appointed by President Jennings to the Executive Committee and Chairman of the Finance Committee with a charge to ensure fiscal accountability in the oversight of the significant fiduciary responsibility given to the Board by the State of Florida.
In November 2001, Sam Rashid was nominated by Congressman Michael Bilirakis, the ranking member of the Florida delegation to the United States House of Representatives, to represent Florida's small business community at the 2002 White House Summit on Small Business issues in Washington, D.C.
In November 2002, Sam was nominated to Vice-Chairman of Workforce Florida, Inc., and in January 2003, Sam was asked by Governor Jeb Bush to Chair the Joint Council on Unemployment Compensation. Recognizing that the State of Florida was expending Unemployment Compensation funds at a remarkably high rate (approximate one million dollars per day), the Governor approved the formation of the Joint Council to oversee the operational funding of the UC fund as well as ensure that the trust fund for Unemployment Compensation is guarded against potential losses which would automatically mandate rate increases on businesses in Florida.
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