Joe Henderson: Hey, guess what? Hillsborough transportation is an issue!

I’m going to take a guess, but it looks like Ken Hagan has made Hillsborough transportation his signature issue in what is starting to look like a lifetime term on the governing body.

Take the colorful mailer that said, “Ken Hagan’s plan to invest infrastructure will create jobs, improve safety and improve our quality of life.” 

Or the one that said, “Last year Ken Hagan helped steer $800 million into projects currently underway that will help relieve some of Hillsborough’s most congested roadways.”

Or the one that boasts Ken Hagan “is the only candidate who has invested billions in our county infrastructure.”

And I shouldn’t leave out his fellow Commissioner Victor Crist, who brags in a mailer about delivering “billions” in new road construction to “alleviate traffic.”

Well, OK.

But both men have been on the Commission for a long time, and if they’ve directed so much dough and effort into upgrading Hillsborough transportation, shouldn’t our traffic be “alleviated” by now — at least a little bit?

But we know why it isn’t, don’t we?

Because, the governing agency has actually never addressed Hillsborough transportation in a systematic way, and long-serving commissioners like Hagan and Crist have exacerbated the problem by allowing unchecked growth that brought more congestion to roads that simply can’t handle the stress.

This might be a good time to note that thanks to loophole wide enough to drive a semi tractor-trailer though in the county’s term-limit rule, Hagan and Crist are essentially trying to swap seats.

Hagan, who is term-limited for his countywide seat, is running the District 2 chair in northern Hillsborough that Crist currently holds, while Crist is running for a countywide spot.

See how that works?

Interesting that Crist notes his “new” plan involves “getting Tallahassee and Washington to send us our fair share of road money” and “forcing developers to pay their fair share of road improvements when they develop, not after.”

You know, Mr. Commissioner, a good time to collect the “fair share” from developers might have been many years ago. Crist has been on the Commission since 2010, and development has exploded without the roads to handle the growth. And why is that?

Well, you can’t be a Republican these days without being pro-development and in favor of low taxes, and it’s impossible to build a comprehensive system to handle the mess we have here without the money to pay for it.

Other than a lot of “harrumphs” and some serious hand-wringing, the traffic problem has been allowed to keep expanding until now voters are going starting to ask tough questions to the people in charge while this happened. And that’s why a citizen’s group got enough signatures on a petition to put

It probably won’t keep Hagan from extending a stay on the Commission, where he has served since being first elected in 2002.

You know those mailers I mentioned earlier? He can afford them because he has raised more than $500,000 to fuel his campaign, much of it coming from (surprise!) developers, real estate interests, and construction companies.

By contrast, his Democratic opponent, Angela Birdsong, has raised only $30,000 and is almost out of cash.

Crist faces a tougher test against Democrat Mariella Smith. The Tampa Bay Times, in endorsing Smith, noted she is “among the most informed and articulate candidates for local office this year.”

There also isn’t much of a money gap, and Smith is well known and outspoken on transportation needs, so it could be tough for Crist to get any traction on that issue.

And transportation is the issue.

The guys who were in charge when it became one promise, now, to fix it.