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.