Category: Florida

Imagine, it’s still legal to text and drive in Florida. Beyond outrageous.

By all accounts–not just those emanating from the Bay Area–incoming Florida House Speaker  Will Weatherford is a welcome break from brazenly partisan, ideological business as usual. He’s known as even-handed, savvy and approachable and is liked on both sides of the aisle. He even earned plaudits for his work in the otherwise thankless role of House redistricting chairman. It spoke volumes that the Florida Supreme Court found no problem with the House map, but ruled against the Senate version.

Moreover, he stood up for USF during its budgetary put-down crucible and even managed to steer nearly $7 million to USF to help establish a heart institute. No one expects Weatherford, still only 32, to peak politically with the House Speakership.

But on one issue he still can sound doctrinaire.

While Weatherford has publicly stated that he will “very seriously” look at a sales tax on Internet purchases next year, he has a big qualifier. He’s not out to add net revenue for the state, even though budget-deficit projections have now become Tallahassee staples.

“If we’re able to get more revenue from something like an online sales tax,” he has stated, “what we should do is pay off other taxes that are hurting businesses and making it harder to create jobs in our state. I’m not interested in doing that to grow government. I’m not interested in doing that to create more revenue streams for the state.”

Alas, Gov. Rick Scott could have said that, even though jobs-related, infrastructure improvements–from transportation to higher education–need more attention than business-related taxes that are already among the lowest in the country. Bringing the tax code into alignment with the 21st century is a necessary end in itself–not some strategic, tax-policy trade-off.

The hot-button parent-trigger proposal, the one that would have allowed parents to convert some low-performing public schools into charter schools, didn’t pass this Legislative session. It failed on a 20-20 vote. But it will be back, especially if Jeb Bush has anything to say about it, which he will. His Foundation for Florida’s Future was a strong advocate for the proposal, and Bush even penned op-ed pieces that exhorted “moms and dads” to get involved and appeared in major newspapers around the state.

Among the former governor’s key references is the California model where parents have successfully negotiated “as equals with the school district,” he wrote. This strikes a populist chord and reminds parents that their direct involvement can make a difference in their kids’ quality of education. Of course it can.

But “equals” is a loaded word. No one, of course, is in favor of inequality. But does giving birth and raising a child equate to equal status with professional educators? Vested interest is not a synonym for professional judgment. Many parents, in fact, are not experts in child-rearing either.

As stakeholders, parents have a duty to be on board and an obligation to be involved in their kids’ education. But they are not “equals” with professional educators.

More than 500 pilots turned out for a two-day job fair in Miami last week. Who was hiring? China. From budget carrier Spring Airlines to the nation’s flagship carrier, Air China. About a dozen airlines in all. The Chinese fleet is expected to grow more than 10 per cent annually through 2015, and the pilot shortage has been growing increasingly acute.

Whatever way this is spun, Lake Wales Republican JD Alexander, the arrogant, term-limited, legacy-lusting chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, has gotten what he wanted most: Senate approval (35-4) of his improbable plan for an immediately independent Polytechnic University in Lakeland. No matter that Polyahoo makes no sense academically or economically.

Those “draconian” budget cuts initially imposed upon USF were Alexander’s considerable leverage. The Senate-approved plan for 2012-13 has resulted in a more equitable $45 million loss to USF Tampa. To its credit, USF rallied its community and united this region. In the end, sighs of USF relief were audible.

But celebratory face-saving was also in evidence. The Alexander-USF clash was not a zero-sum game, but close enough. To be sure, there was a losing side: USF Poly students and faculty and Florida taxpayers. That remains an outrage. An unaccredited, STEMless, benchmarks-be-damned, throwing-good-money-after bad outrage.

Along the way, a couple of sub-plots have been developing. Most notable: the unlikeliest of white knights riding to the aid of a budget-bludgeoned USF. The less-than-distinguished, ethics-challenged Sen. Jim Norman, R-Tampa, who was a late addition to the budget committee after Mike Fasano was kicked off, became USF’s legislative voice. He did his homework, filed amendments and was effective behind the scenes and outspoken at hearings. Ralph who?

And thanks for nothing, Jack Latvala. The Clearwater Republican stood up for Alexander and stood down for USF.

Ultimately, the House and, likely, the governor will be weighing in. Interestingly enough, Gov. Scott is on the record as a skeptic about creating a 12th state university while the state remains in slow, economic-recovery mode.

But Scott was pretty skeptical about SunRail too.

Thomas Jefferson, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Marion Hammer, Hannah Kelley. They all have something, alas, in common. They are all constitutionally connected.

Founding Father Jefferson once noted that every constitution “naturally expires at the end of 19 years.” Change is a constant, Jefferson believed, so adapt. Even the most visionary among us need periodic updating. “Don’t channel me,” he was saying, in effect, to future generations.

Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg recently upped the ante on constitutional context. “I would not look to the United States Constitution if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012,” she soberly noted. “Who back then could have envisioned violent video games, freedom-of-expression lap dances or automatic weapons for citizenry sale?” she might be asking rhetorically.

Marion Hammer is an ardent gun-control opponent, the first female president of the NRA and currently a high-profile NRA lobbyist in Tallahassee. She (along with Florida Carry Inc.) recently complained to state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam that the Florida State Fair was not allowing those with a concealed weapon permit to legally enter with their firearm. The Fair is now enforcing Florida’s carry law and replaced its “No Weapons” signs with those that say: “No Unlawful Weapons.” Thanks again, Marion.

Hannah Kelley is the pastor’s daughter who was tragically killed in a gun accident at the Grace Connection Church in St. Petersburg.

They are all connected through the Second Amendment to the Constitution. The personal right to “bear arms” one. The one that begins with: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state… .” The much abused, politically galvanizing one. The one every yahoo knows as soon as he graduates from a sling shot. The one that the Florida Legislature keeps whoring out to the gun lobby over.

Exhibit A: Since 1987, Florida has been allowed to pre-empt the whole field of local gun and ammunition controls. Last year, however, the Legislature finally imposed serious fines for those who understandably hadn’t been enforcing it. The threat of tough penalties was the incentive for the State Fair to comply.

The issue is a microcosm of what happens when the constitutionally self-serving misread and mislead. The “carry” envelope keeps being pushed. How dare carry advocates deign to channel the Founding Fathers who were wise and enlightened, but hardly clairvoyant? How dare they do it with the one Amendment that is literally lethal?

Where will this carry insanity end? With some liquored goofball calling out a State Fair concessionaire? “You call that a corn dog, pal?”

It’s a mindset, a mood, a political climate and, worst of all, a rallying mantra. If you traffic in the words “right,” “constitution” and “Founding Fathers,” you can’t possibly be wrong.

Wrong.

Just ask the fiancé of Hannah Kelley. He was inexplicably in the market for a handgun for his birthday, and a fellow Grace Connection congregant accommodated by bringing his piece to church. Why not? Sacrilege is so old school, plus he had a license to carry. And then, as we know, a tragic, round-remaining-in-the-chamber accident happened.

But gun accidents are not supposed to happen in church. Unless, of course, constitutional revisionists can successfully cherry-pick their way to a society that can rationalize heat-packing at the workplace, on campus, in a park, at a State Fair–or, ultimately, in church.

If vindictive, influential Florida Sen. JD Alexander, the Senate Budget Committee chairman, has his way, the USF budget would be gutted and an independent Florida Polytechnic will open this fall. If that were to happen, his true, lame-duck legacy would be realized: A chastened, diminished USF and Florida Polynothing.

The latter is what you get with a faculty-students-board of trustees-board of governors-benchmarks-be-damned, unaccredited institution sans students and absent buildings. If this should stand, USF could establish an endowed chair in political retaliation and arrogance in the reviled name of Alexander the Grate.

Polls now show that Florida voters overwhelmingly support a ban on text-messaging while driving. This comes after U.S. Transportation Secretary Roy LaHood called on Congress to enact a national ban on texting while driving.

So, could this be the session when Florida’s Legislature finally decides it’s time to join the other 35 states who now ban some form of phone use and driving? This isn’t taxing services or taxing internet sales, mind you. This won’t bring down the wrath of Grover Norquist. Public safety is surely not a partisan issue.

Put it this way: We already know that drivers are better off (legally) drunk than electronically distracted when it comes to behind-the-wheel awareness. To at least ban texting while driving is doing something that common sense tells you will help prevent accidents, injuries and loss of life. Surely, there’s no constituency, at least one that drives, on the other side of this issue. Surely.

But check out the take of House Speaker Dean Cannon. He’s got more problems with the ban than with the accidents waiting to happen. “I’ve got personal liberties concerns,” nobly noted Cannon, the poorest man’s Patrick Henry.

Then there’s Rep. Brad Drake, House Transportation and Highway Safety Subcommittee chairman. His laissez un-faire reasoning is this: “There are bad things that occur all over this world, and the government will never be able to solve all those behaviors.” Thanks for nothing.

It’s enough to drive voters, if not drivers, to drink.

Look what popped back into the news again: high-speed rail. And just when we had become emotionally resigned to the railroading reality orchestrated by Gov. Rick Scott.

We now know that late last year the state Department of Transportation sent a report to the Federal Railroad Administration with revealing projections on Tampa-to-Orlando ridership and operational costs. The numbers, which were based on findings of two consulting firms hired by the very state that Scott is governor of, project an annual ridership of 5 million and a surplus of $30 million to 45 million within a decade of start-up. The DOT also estimated 3 million passengers and a $4.3 million surplus in that initial (2016) year.

We know, of course, that Tea Partiers and the Reason Institute had ultimate input into the ideologically-skewed decision to turn down the $2.4 billion from the “socialist” Administration of Barack Obama. But what we are reminded of, again, is that the bidding consortiums–all the major global players–were never even given the opportunity to present their building bids. Instead, the mantra of “on the hook” taxpayers and a specious comparison with California trumped everything, including input from those who would actually build the line along the shovel-ready corridor connecting the budding Tampa-Orlando megalopolis.

Here’s more relevant context. The bid winner would have realized a major marketing coup: It would be heralded as the one that built America’s first dedicated high-speed rail line. Any chance that winner would have agreed to make up ostensible deficits and overruns to get the contract? You think? And perhaps, just perhaps, the winner might have had an inkling of the sort of numbers the Florida DOT has now proffered?

Some things you don’t forget.

Scott will be gone after 2014. But the incalculable damage done–from short-term jobs to the long-term development and redevelopment of the Tampa-Orlando axis of synergy–will linger on.

Plaudits to the Tampa Tribune for staying on the public-records-request case and unearthing the report that the Florida Department of Transportation sent to the Federal Railroad Administration a few months back regarding the high-speed rail project that is no more. Illuminating.

And, as a result, even more infuriating.

In short, FLORIDA’s DOT–not to be confused with an evergreen, liberal think tank or a Washington bureaucracy run economically amok–projected an annual ridership of 5 million and a surplus of about $30 million to $45 million within a decade of start-up. And not that it would have had to climb out of a red-ink sinkhole at the get-go. The DOT estimated 3 million passengers and a $4.3 million surplus the first (2016) year. These Tampa-to-Orlando numbers were based on the finding of two consulting firms hired by the STATE of FLORIDA.

Would that this were a game-changing update instead of a maddening postscript, but the unveiling does underscore what was done last year in the name of keeping Sunshine State taxpayers from being “on the hook,” to repeat Gov. Rick Scott’s mantra. It’s also a reminder that just because the good names of fiscal responsibility and budget accountability are invoked, good things do not necessarily result. Especially if your priority constituency consists of Tea Partiers, the right-wing Reason Foundation and anyone from The Villages who thinks Barack Obama is a socialist. All the while, ironically, when thousands of jobs are on the line in the Great Recession that bludgeoned Florida.

Predictably enough, the governor’s office blew off the DOT report as inconsequential and then referenced the cost-overrunning, politically eclectic California experience as vindication. As if the subplots of California were comparable to the shovel-ready corridor connecting the budding Tampa-Orlando megalopolis.

And even if capital-cost overruns and possible subsidies, indeed, looked plausible last year, what was the harm in seeing how such scenarios would be addressed by the bidding international consortiums? Apparently there was harm in truth. As many as eight–all the major global players–were preparing bids. The winner would have realized a marketing coup: the one that built America’s first dedicated high-speed rail line. Any chance the winner would have agreed to make up ostensible deficits and overruns to get this contract? You think?

Not only was this DOT report a confirmation of what non-Reason Foundation and non-NoTaxForTracks observers thought of the Florida High-Speed Rail proposal, it’s a reminder of the failed vision that will haunt Florida long after Scott is voted out in 2014. The $2.4 billion from the Feds would have underwritten construction and engineering jobs in the short term, to be sure, but it would have advanced the development and re-development of the critically important Tampa-Orlando axis of synergy. Critical to Florida and critical to Tampa Bay–if you care about the future and an alternative to overburdened Interstate 4. But that would have taken a big-picture mentality and allegiance to something other than Tea Party acolytes.

But, hey, there’s always SunRail. But that’s another (political) story.