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Democrats, Republicans, utility company executives, HRS administrators and virtually anyone else in public life whose nose he's bloodied in the last 18 months probably wishes Howard Troxler had followed his inclination to quit journalism and go to law school.

Troxler is the new bulldog of Tampa Bay journalism. His daily column in the Tampa Tribune, "Palm Tree Politics" has frequently slid the knife into the belly of utility companies such as the Tampa Electric Company ("We're talking about guys who don't use the word 'profit' because it's not nice.") and turned it slowly. He has called the Democrats "weenies" over and over again. ("I've been very, very critical of the Democratic Party. But no matter how much I criticize the Democrats, as soon as I criticize the Republicans, I get letters about how liberal the press is.") He has detailed when Gov. Bob Martinez has spoken out of both sides of his mouth. He has gone into the heart of Florida political darkness and given it heartburn.

Sometimes he passes on to readers the latest gossip or joke making the rounds in Tallahassee. The biggest response a column ever received was when he off-handedly suggested lawyers should be barred from serving in public office. When it was learned that Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies had spent $3,500 on 176 lap dances at one of Joe Redner's nude-dancing clubs, Troxler improvised a conversation among the deputies that included this line: "Gosh, Sarge, I HATE when they do those primordial pelvic thrusts and make me feel their slick bodies."

He began a column on statehouse politics by writing, "Anybody can play house. The trick is playing Senate."

Troxler, 30, brought his now trademark bowtie to the Tribune in 1982, working his way through the bureaus and metro beats to become Tallahassee bureau chief in 1986. After more than a year of Florida politics, he decided to go to law school. Trib management talked him out of it. "Their argument was the job I could do for the newspaper was more unique than being a lawyer," says Troxler.
He says he had no great interest in politics and that a column especially one that had to be reinvented five day a week seemed unnatural. But on July 4, 1988, the Tribune revived Hampton Dunn's Tampa Times column title from the 1950s and "Palm Tree Politics" was reborn.

"Most things you read about politics are pretty boring," says Troxler. "One reason is that politicians want it that way. When I write that these guys ought not to be making deals in private, the responses from my friends in politics is, oh, you're so naive. (But) there's nothing mystical about politics. It's just life. There's no natural reason why the public should be less interested in who's raising their taxes than who won the football game."

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