Republicans Hate Florida, Poor People, the Future

Orlando Sentinel:

Indeed, during the past nine years, lawmakers haven't raised a single tax and have approved a cumulative total of $20 billion in tax cuts, mostly benefiting corporations and wealthy Floridians.

In the process, they've made Florida even more reliant on the sales tax. Collections now total almost $20 billion -- or 75 percent of the state's recurring annual revenue.

So tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, tax increases for poor people and horrible fiscal stewardship that sets up the state to either destroy education and other services in the future, that's Republican economics for you. Shifting taxes from the rich to the poor is not only un-American, it's bad policy. What happens when the economy stalls and the middle and lower classes can't afford to buy big-ticket items? Oh yeah, you lose billions in revenue and everything gets worse.

Florida State Senate Part 2: The Swing Districts

This is Part 2 on a series focusing on the Florida State Senate and our efforts to take back the chamber. In Part 1 of the series, the current state of the Florida Senate was discussed, districts were put in categories based on Democratic strength, and our chances of picking up seats in those various categories was discussed.

Part 2 will focus on the “swing” or Category 4 districts for which elections will be held in 2008. These are districts where Gore took between 47-53% of the vote in 2000. There are four of these such districts that will have elections in 2008. They include the 7th, 11th, 13th, and 25th districts. At this time, it looks like Republican incumbents will be running for re-election in all of them, but this could change, particularly if Bill Young (US FL-10) were to retire from Congress. Two Republicans on this list could conceivably run for that seat.

State Senate Map Above

There are a couple things to keep in mind. It's not necessarily true that these will be our best pickup opportunities in 2008. There is at least one race that I know of in Category 5 that surely will be a prime target for Democrats in 2008, probably moreso than at least a couple of these. Category 5 races and other possibilities will be discussed in Part 3.

Also keep in mind the Democratic performance is based on Gore's results from 2000. The categories do not reflect on Nader's vote, which could possibly add to our total. In many districts, demographics or voter trends have changed since 2000. In some cases like the 25th district, as I discuss below, the area has trended more Democratic. In other districts, like the 11th, the area may be trending more Republican, based on other recent elections.

Finally, one thing that all these Republican incumbents have in common is that they were first elected in 2002, a year that favored Republicans in the state and nationally. This was the year Jeb Bush went on to beat Democrat Bill McBride 56 - 43% in the Governor's race. This likely gave lower-tier candidates a boost by several points. Unfortunately for us, many of these districts were open that year.

But now on to the future, which is looking very bright for Democrats. For a quick reminder, the Senate currently has 26 Republicans and 14 Democrats. We would need to pick up 6 seats for a tie and seven seats for a majority. We have until 2010 to take back the chamber before redistricting and many more seats will be open or contested in 2010, since senate elections are rotational, with half contested every two years.

25th district
Incumbent: Jeff Atwater

2000 Democratic Performance
Gore: 50%
Bush: 48%

Past State Senate Elections and Expenditures

2002 (Open)
Atwater (R): 55%, $748,000
Butterworth (D): 45%, $401,000

HD-25 Wiki

This is a district we can win and it has turned increasingly blue over the past few years. Al Gore actually won this district in the 2000 election and on top of that 2% went for Nader. It takes in the 22nd Congressional district, which was won by Democrat Ron Klein in 2006. In addition, the 22nd district actually went for Kerry stronger than it did for Gore, with both winning it. The district consists of eastern Palm Beach and Broward counties, including West Palm Beach, Boynton and Pompano Beaches, as well as the eastern stretches of Ft. Lauderdale and Oakland Park. Atwater won the seat in 2002 in an open seat election against the popular former Attorney General, Bob Butterworth. Atwater outspent Butterworth $748,000 to $400,000 in that election, a likely cause of our election loss, as well as the Republican-favored sentiment that year. If Atwater were to win re-election in 2008, he would likely become the Republican Majority Leader for the 2008-2010 session. In 2004, he faced no opponent in his second election to the Senate. Previously, he had won one term in the State House.

Robert Ostrov, an attorney, has already stepped up to challenge Atwater and former State Senator Skip Campbell and 2006 Democratic Attorney General nominee is considering a run. If Campbell were to run, he would offer a strong challenge with financial resources. In 2006, he actually won the district in his campaign for attorney general. He has also hinted that polls show that he could beat Atwater. Out of all the Category 4 seats, I would put this seat as our best pickup opportunity, especially if Campbell runs. Our major problem would be facing the Atwater fundraising machine. He’s already raised $564,000, of which $96,000 has been spent. Any Democratic candidate would need to be able to raise a good amount of money to compete. Campbell would likely be able to meet that challenge, so he definitely would be a good recruit. Our candidate would also likely have national Democratic sentiment and a strong candidate leading our ticket that would benefit them in this Democratic-leaning district in a year with no statewide races. I really think we can win this district and I would put it at “tossup” with a Campbell candidacy.

13th district
Incumbent: Dennis Jones

2000 Democratic Performance
Bush: 48%
Gore: 48%

Past State Senate Elections and Expenditures

2002 (Open)
Jones (R): 60%, $436,000
Kennedy (D): 40%, $53,000

HD-13 Wiki

The district consists completely of western Pinellas County and takes in parts of the 9th (Clearwater) and 10th (Seminole, Largo, and Dunedin) Congressional districts. Jones won the seat in 2002 in an open seat election and subsequently served as Majority Leader from 2002-2004. In his election win, he benefitted from the coattails of the state ticket and outspent the Democrat more than 8:1, so he has never been given a strong challenge for the seat. He has yet to face re-election in the Senate, though he won 11 terms in the State House. Jones has reported raising $153,000, of which $17,000 has been spent.

As of yet, no Democrat has entered the race. Jones has a long history in the district, so from that perspective challenging him could be difficult. However, there are many unknowns in this district. Despite being heavily outspent in 2002, Kennedy was still able to pull in 40%, so I would put that as our cellar support. If we financed a challenge against Jones, we could do much better than that and maybe even pull out a surprise, as Jones hasn’t faced an election since 2002 and doesn’t have the biggest fundraising numbers right now. It has also been widely rumored that Bill Young in the 10th district may retire and DCCC is poised to field a strong challenge to Gus Bilirakis in the 9th district. Democratic runs in those Congressional seats and national Democratic sentiment in 2008 could help a challenge in the state senate seat. This is a race we might want to start looking at.

7th district
Incumbent: Evelyn Lynn

2000 Democratic Performance
Bush: 51%
Gore: 47%

Past State Senate Elections and Expenditures

2002 (Open)
Lynn (R): 57%, $274,000
Ward (D): 43%, $226,000

HD-07 Wiki

The district consists of parts of Clay, Marion, Putnam, and Volusia Counties. It takes in pieces of the 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 24th Congressional districts. Lynn won the seat in 2002 in an open seat election battle in a year that favored Republicans, statewide and nationally. She had also served in the State House for four previous terms before running for the Senate. In the 2002 election, both parties spent about the same amount of money, but it's likely Lynn received a boost of a few points for statewide Republican sentiment. So far she’s amassed nearly $195,000 in fundraising this time, $13,000 of which has been spent. She raised around $136,000 of that money in the third quarter this year.

At the moment, there is no challenger in the district. The seat leans Republican for 2008, assuming Lynn runs. However, given the nature of the district, if a strong Democrat were to step up that could raise a large amount of money, then we could make this race competitive, especially since the presidential ticket will likely favor a Democrat, which could boost us up a couple points over that 2002 result. Some other factors that could favor us are a strong challenge to Feeney in the 24th district (New Smyrna Beach, Edgewater) by Suzanne Kosmas and strong spending and a big grassroots presence by Democrat Corrine Brown in the 3rd congressional district, which encompasses most of the state senate district. This is definitely somewhere where we should be able to compete and since Lynn hasn’t faced a challenge since 2002 this is a district we might want to challenge in 2008, when national sentiment should favor us.

11th district
Incumbent: Mike Fasano

2000 Democratic Performance
Bush: 49%
Gore: 49%

Past State Senate Elections and Expenditures

2002 (Open)
Fasano (R): 63%, $422,000
Cannon (D): 37%, $104,000

2004 (I)
Fasano (R): 65%, $272,000
Mattingly (D): 36%, $4, 600

HD-11 Wiki

The bulk of the population resides in western Pasco and northern Pinellas counties, with some population in western Hernando and Citrus counties. The district is within the 5th, 9th, and 10th Congressional districts. Bush did win those districts by greater margins in 2004 than 2000, so it’s possible the area may be trending more for the Republicans. Fasano first won the seat in 2002 in an open seat election in a year that favored Republicans, statewide and nationally. In that election, Fasano outspent the Democratic candidate 4:1 and basically in 2004 the Democrat spent nothing. Fasano gained 2% on his performance in 2004, in another year that favored Republicans statewide and nationally. Before entering the Senate, he won four terms in the State House.

There are currently two Democratic challengers for 2008, Richard Skandera and Fred Taylor, a Vietnam veteran, who applied in December to run. Neither has reported raising any money yet, though Taylor just entered the race. Fasano has raised $183,000, $2,400 of which has been spent. I would put this seat as likely Republican, assuming Fasano runs. Like several of the others in this category though, we’ve never really given the Republican a real challenge and if 2008 favors Democrats, then we could have a chance if we field a strong challenger. Other factors that could help our nominee would be Bill Young retiring in the 10th congressional district, which consists of the population center of Palm Harbor. A strong performance in the 9th district against Republican Gus Bilirakis could also help us in this district.

The End

That's it for this edition. I think we should definitely compete in all of the above districts. In 2008, we are going to have a strong candidate, who I expect to win Florida, leading our national ticket and there will be no statewide elections. This by itself would give us an advantage over 2002, when Republicans were elected in open seats upon a Jeb Bush route in the Governor's race. Republicans will no longer have this luxury, so we should make sure we take advantage of it and give them the challenges of their lives. In 2006, now State Senator Charlie Justice won in one of these Category 4 "Swing" districts. It's clear sentiment and momentum are now favoring us and in 2008 we can win more of these seats.

If anyone has anything to add or comments, that would be greatly appreciated.

Florida Senate Wiki Pages
Florida Senate District Information
Florida Fundraising Numbers
Florida Election Results

Florida State Senate Part 1: Background Information

This data is for the Florida Senate. Information on the Florida House Numbers can be found here.

The Florida Senate currently has a 26 – 14 Republican majority. This means we need to pick up 6 seats to reach 50% in the chamber and 7 seats to win back the majority. We have two election cycles to accomplish this, but we will only have an opportunity at each Senate seat once, since only about half of the districts are up for grabs in any given election (except for years ending in 2).

Something that should be noted is that winning Senate seats can be much more difficult than winning House seats. Open seat contests are less frequent. In some cases we are facing entrenched incumbents who have already served for many years. In other cases, the districts are served by high-ranking officials (President, Pro Tempore, Majority Leader, etc..) and finally often it is the case we must take on candidates who were very popular in their State House districts. For all these reasons, I think our chances at taking back the Senate are lower than the chances of taking back the House, though it's close because we only need six or seven more seats in the Senate. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to take a look at the partisan appeal of the districts first to see where our best chances of potential victory could be. In part 2, I’ll take a look at individual districts in the swing categories, examining past performance by our candidates in the most recent elections, possible retirements, and our top likely targets.

Here's a district map of the Florida Senate.

2000 Democratic Performance (Presidential)
# x 2008 signifies the number of races that will be contested in 2008

Statewide Performance: 49 %
Category 1: 70 – 100, 3 districts (2 x 2008), 3 D, 0 R

Category 2: 60 – 69, 8 districts (5 x 2008), 8 D, 0 R
Category 3: 54 – 59, 2 districts (1 x 2008), 2 D, 0 R
Category 4: 47 – 53, 7 districts (4 x 2008, all R), 1 D, 6 R
Category 5: 41 – 46, 12 districts (6 x 2008), 0 D, 12 R
Category 6: 31 – 40, 5 districts (1 x 2008), 0 D, 5 R
Category 7: 0 – 30, 3 districts (1 x 2008), 0 D, 3 R

Due to gerrymandering, we already face a field of seats that is stacked against us despite the even split in the state. Democratic voters have mostly been thrown into the 11 districts that make up the first two categories, while Republicans have been spread out mostly into Category 5 districts, which favor the Republican Party. Democrats hold all 15 seats in the lean-Democratic districts and one seat (Charlie Justice in the 16th district) in Category 4. Republicans, likewise, hold all 20 seats that lean to their side. They also hold six of the seven swing districts in Category 4. Basically, if we want to win back the Senate we are going to have to win as many of these as possible and for every seat we don’t win in Cat. 4, we’ll have to win one in Cat. 5. Remember we need to take six seats from the Republicans.

Democrats have shown the ability to compete in some of the category 5 races, so certainly we could a have a shot at a few of these. In 2006, for example, the Democratic candidate lost by only four points 52 % - 48 % in an open seat contest in the 10th district (Gore – 41%). In this case, Democrats faced very controversial Republican Rhonda Storms. In 2010, I’m sure Democrats will also give her another strong challenge.

If seats open up on the Republican side our chances of winning seats will naturally increase. In the 25th district (Cat. 4) represented by Jeff Atwater, Democrats did not even bother to field a challenger in his most recent re-election battle in 2004. Several high-profile Democrats may be stepping up to take him on in 2008, however, and it looks like there is a good chance he could be taken down if former state Sen. Skip Campbell runs. If well-financed Democrats were to step up in any of the incumbent-held districts, then that would give us better chances of winning. More on this in Part 2.

That finishes this part of the analysis. Now we have some data on districts, so we can make better judgments on what districts we should be challenging in the future. In part 2, I’ll actually take a closer look at the individual districts that will have elections in 2008, particularly in categories 4 and 5.

Election results can be found here and FPC Wiki Pages are here.

Category 1: 18, 29 (x), 33 (x)
Category 2: 01 (x), 19 (x), 30, 31 (x), 32, 34, 35 (x), 39 (x)
Category 3: 06, 27 (x)
Category 4: 07 (x), 11 (x), 13 (x), 14, 16, 25 (x), 28
Category 5: 03 (x), 09 (x), 10, 12, 15 (x), 17 (x), 20, 21 (x), 22, 23 (x), 24, 26
Category 6: 02, 08, 36, 37 (x), 38
Category 7: 04, 05 (x), 40

Republicans Hate Rule of Law, the State Constitution

Naked Politics:

Judge Kevin Davey on Thursday week struck down as unconstitutional a new system of public defenders to handle conflict cases that can't be handled by elected public defenders. The GOP-controlled Legislature during the 2007 session created a system of regional conflict counsels as a way to cut down on the costs of hiring private outside attorneys.

But the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers sued and Davey ruled that the Legislature exceeded its authority by requiring the new offices and that Gov. Charlie Crist exceeded his by appointing the five special public defenders. The court also quashed the appointments of the five attorneys who were tasked with setting up law offices.

Republicans don't have the power to do something like this. They don't care, they think that the rules don't apply to them, that they are allowed to do whatever it is they want to do. They're wrong.

Haridopolos Hates America, Reality

The Buzz:

State Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Indialantic, is jumping aboard team Huck: "I support Mike Huckabee because of his positive, optimistic message," Senator Haridopolos said. "He, better than any candidate on either side, is listening to the voter and projecting a message that communicates with all Americans."

Huckabee, obviously, would be a terrible president and it's sad that Haridopolos wants to foist this brand of religious extremism on America. And the idea that Huckabee is "communicating" better with the American people than any other candidate is rejected by 100% of the available polling out there.

Gaetz Hates Kids, Voters, Rule of Law

Instead of even attempting to comply with the will of the voters and the Florida Constitution, Gaetz wants to change the law without even trying to make it work:

Rep. David Simmons, R-Maitland, said he will push for changes during the Legislature's spring session, hoping to "smooth out the rough edges and the inflexibility" of the current law.

...

His solution likely will be to continue calculating class size as a school average rather than count children in each classroom. That should meet the intent of the amendment, he said, while injecting it with a dose of realism. He thinks it could be done without asking voters for their approval.

State Sen. Don Gaetz, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, has already suggested going back to the voters with a similar plan, but he said he would consider Simmons' idea, too.

Republicans Hate Fiscal Responsibility

A great post at Florida Netroots details the legislature's horrible practice of screwing local governments:

What happens when the Florida Legislature, which is in charge of the state budget, can't afford to pay for everything? It shifts the burden to city and county budgets.

According to the Florida Association of Counties a number of unfunded mandates are passed down to our 67 counties:

Medicaid - $213 million

Department of Juvenile Justice - $100 million

Revenue Sharing Loss - $262 million - Since 1999, tax cuts by the Legislature have resulted in a series of revenue cuts to county budgets

Court Facilities - $83 million

Solid Waste Recycling Grants Loss - $17 million - Counties are mandated to do this and costs initially were picked up by grants – which were later cut from the state budget.

Special Risk Retirement, Disability and Workers Compensation - These costs cover the special needs of firefighters and law enforcement personnel

Mental Health Treatment in Jails - actual dollar amount unknown, but this is a significant recurring impact to county budgets.

Environmental and Growth Management Compliance - actual dollar amount unknown but this is a significant recurring impact to county budgets - Completion of each county’s comprehensive land use plan requires that the plan has built-in financial feasibility

Zero Tolerance - $100 million

The quantifiable total is close to $1 billion in unfunded mandates - yet the financial impact of three mandates highlighted above cannot be quantified.

In other words, each year local governments are covering $1 billion of expenses that were historically the responsibility of the state, with no state funding support attached.

And while the Legislature is currently debating the largest local government revenue cut in state history, they are at the same time discussing additional unfunded mandates.

Read more...

Webster Hates Religious Freedom, the Constitution, Reality

Otherwise, why would he "love" Mike Huckabee? The Buzz:

"I love Mike Huckabee...I haven't made anything public yet but it's pretty obvious why I'm here,'' said Webster. "...He's a breath of fresh air, and I think he's got the ability to build a coalition similar to what Ronald Reagan built."

Fasano Hates Ethics

One ethics complaint is enough for Sen. Mike Fasano. He has two. Naked Politics:

Sen. Mike Fasano is being hit with two separate ethics complaints _ including one that was filed directly with the Florida Senate Rules Committee _ over his push to break the state's contract with National Safety Commission, which prints the Official Florida Driver's License Handbook for free. The contract has come under fire from rival traffic schools because NSC places large ads for its own traffic school in the handbook that is circulated widely throughout the state.

Good Posey? (Probably Not)

This sounds like the right thing for Sen. Bill Posey to do:

Posey his bewildered as to why Allen hasn't stepped down. Posey has been in politics long enough to know that public humiliation does not equate into the decision-making process of politicians.

Posey rightly wants Bob Allen out of office because Allen is a convicted criminal and doesn't want Allen to follow him into the Senate (Posey is term-limited and can't seek his seat again). Is it because Allen is doing a bad job of representing the people of Brevard County and can't do the job in the Senate? Probably not:

“I don’t think there’s any chance that that’s going to happen,” Posey said Tuesday. “There’s probably only about 500,000 people in Brevard County (population 550,000) that would have a better chance of winning at this point.”

Ahhhh, it's all about Republicans retaining the seat. He doesn't want Allen to run because Allen would lose. The Republican Party -- Partisanship above all else!

Ken Pruitt Hates Personal Responsibility

The Buzz:

Senate President Ken Pruitt: “Today's announcement just confirms the important fact that we cannot continue to rely on home sales and construction to fuel Florida's economy . It’s why we are working hard to diversify our revenue base and attract high tech businesses to Florida. We are in a painful transition period, and it's going to mean some tough fiscal decisions in the short term in order to keep our state fiscally sound."

Hmmm... I wonder who it is that is behind the diversification of our revenue base? I wonder who it was behind arbitrarily cutting our revenue base during a time of fiscal crisis? I wonder who undercut the education system in Florida so that we don't have enough workers qualified to work in the high tech industries that aren't coming to Florida? It wasn't Pruitt alone, but he certainly didn't help the situation.

Yeah, Right

Sen. Lee Constantine is taking a free trip to "learn" about nuclear power:

State Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, is one of four lawmakers from Florida, Maryland, Maine and New Mexico leaving Saturday on a seven-day trip to see how the Melox and La Hague nuclear plants operate.

The legislators and nuclear experts will stay in the Hotel du Louvre in Paris near the famous museum, visit the U.S. Embassy and travel to the northern coast to visit the plants.

Sounds fishy to me.

The Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade group made up of companies that own nuclear plants in the United States, had planned to pay $60,000 toward the trip.

To make sure the trip didn't violate Florida's law banning gifts to legislators, the Senate's chief lawyer has worked out a deal with the National Conference of State Legislatures to cover Constantine's $6,000 expense.

Sure, but won't the NEI still be donating money to Constantine's next campaign for office? Also, couldn't the NEI just donate some of this money to the National Conference of State Legislatures? Complying with the letter of the law is not good enough, since there are always loopholes.

Constantine Takes Cue from Kottkamp

Senator Lee Constantine has learned the art of wiki vandalism from Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp:

If you hadn't heard, there is a new tool called Wiki Scanner that shows the IP addresses of changes to Wikipedia entries. You can trace the IP address back to the location where the edit was made.

Anyhow, I was just playing around with it and did a search on "Florida Legislature" to see what edits were made. There wasn't anything of note really, except one thing: someone at a Florida Legislature computer removed an external link about Lee Constantine's DUI in 2004 from his Wikipedia page.

207.126.1.7 [wp] Lee Constantine [cur] 122345275 deleted negative press 2007-04-12 22:41:42

There is a common misunderstanding of Wikis that permeates on the right. They constantly talk about how "anyone can edit a Wiki," which actually isn't the way they work. The way Wikis work is that anyone can contribute valid information to a Wiki. Deleting unfavorable, but accurate, info about yourself is not a valid use of a Wiki.

Republicans Abandoning the "Kill Florida's Future" Amendment

The horrible tax plan they've spawned now isn't good enough for some Florida Republicans:

Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Osprey, on Thursday told a Sarasota audience that she is "leaning no" on the Jan. 29 constitutional amendment, concerned the proposal does not go far enough to fix Florida's property tax problems.

Other Republicans who are waffling on their own idiotic plan:

Mike Bennett
State Rep. Doug Holder

Their explanation? It doesn't go "far enough." It certainly goes far enough in destroying the future of the state. So, good for them, I guess, for doing the right thing, even if it is for the wrong reasons.

Sneak Attack

We really need to keep an eye on this guy:

Sen. Don Gaetz,a Niceville Republican and chairman of the Senate Education Committee, this morning asked a committee of the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission to put a constitutional amendment on the 2008 ballot to overturn the state Supreme Court decision that outlawed one of Florida's voucher programs. Gaetz also suggested offering voters a swap: Freeze class size reduction efforts at their current levels to offset the projected loss of money for schools that may occur if voters approve next year's supersized homestead exemption. That exemption goes before voters next Jan. 29.

Gaetz also railed against the Board of Governors, which has just recently asserted that it has the power to set university tuition rates. He said the Board of Governors should not have the power to "tax students and parents" while also forcing the Legislature to spend more money on Bright Futures scholarship programs. "They become the automatic pilot on appropriations," said Gaetz, who urged an amendment to make it clear that lawmakers should control tuition.

Gaetz really does appear to be a bad guy. I really am tired of these Republican "double jeopardy" attacks on progressive policies. We need to enact at least a 10-year moratorium on making the public re-vote on an Amendment. And maybe we should actually put a stipulation in there that the government has to actually try to achieve the amendment before we repeal it.

Welcome

This is a new state blog for Florida's Senate, designed to keep an eye on the activities of the Republicans who misrepresent us in Tallahassee.

If you are interested in posting at Florida Senate Watch, drop me a line at quinnelk@hotmail.com with some idea of your Democratic and/or progressive credentials and I'll add you as a blogger.