Category: Florida

Commentary on statewide issues.

Will Legislature Ever Get The (Text) Message?

“A student at the University of Wisconsin in Madison spent 90 days technology-free. He went without a cellphone, Facebook, Twitter or any social media of any kind. And you know what really improved? His driving!”

That was a recent Jay Leno line. It was funny because it’s well within the realm of ironic truth.

What’s not funny is the deadly serious subject it parodies. Cell phoning and driving. It’s a subject of legitimate lampoon–until someone is injured or killed by a technologically distracted driver, which, of course, has happened. And that’s why 35 states now ban some form of phone use and driving. Alas, Florida is one of the unfazed 15.

Heretofore, even text messaging while driving, a manifestly obvious, accident-waiting-to-happen scenario, has eluded Florida state legislators presumably charged to look out for the rest of us. For what it’s worth–and it should be worth a lot–U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has publicly called out Congress to enact a national ban against texting while driving. It’s that serious; it’s that necessary.

But for now, it’s still up to the states. However, something could change in this Tallahassee session. Legislators are well aware of public sentiment, with polls showing seven in 10 voters in favor of banning text messaging while driving.

And yet.

If House Speaker Dean Cannon is a barometer of ideological sentiment, this is certainly no “gimme” vote for common sense. In fact, a somewhat diluted text-ban bill has been stalled in the House for a while. The Speaker says such a ban would infringe on personal freedom and be tough to enforce. “I’ve got personal liberties concerns,” said Cannon, a very poor man’s Patrick Henry.

And here’s the less-than-laissez faire take of Rep. Brad Drake, House Transportation and Highway Safety Subcommittee chairman: “There are bad things that occur all over this world,” reasoned Drake, “and the government will never be able to solve all those behaviors.”

Thanks for nothing.

Put it this way. It’s been proven that drivers are better off drunk than electronically distracted when it comes to behind-the-wheel awareness. That’s how scary–and urgent–this issue is.

Right now it’s enough to drive voters to drink.

Florida Primary’s Impact

So much material, so little space. Here goes:

The Republican presidential candidates are long gone (for now), but in their wake this much was evident:

* Florida matters. Does it ever. And, yes, it was well worth nose-thumbing the RNC to move up the primary. It’s where the country’s most representative battleground state belongs. Just ask Mitt Romney. Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina were seen for what they are: regionally and demographically skewed audience warm-ups for a prime-time event.

* Thanks, Super PACs. However constitutionally confounding and repellent for the democratic process, they were largely responsible for a political stimulus package of more than $20 million in TV ads in Florida. The Tampa Bay market, the biggest and most politically determinative in the state, benefited the most.

* Balmy, January Florida was on constant display. Palm treed backdrops for the national media were gratis, ad hoc commercials no chamber of commerce could afford. Fox News Channel talk-show host Bret Baier, who did his “Special Report” show from Harbour Island last week, summed it up succinctly. “I could do primaries in Florida all the time!” gushed the weather-smitten Baier.

* Florida, we were reminded by local and national media, has a “closed” primary. Only registered Republicans can vote. Note the connotation of exclusion. But shouldn’t this be a non-issue? Who else should be weighing in on a party’s primary candidates other than party members? Should those who are not affiliated, presumably because their values and priorities are not addressed by the party in question, be permitted to weigh in? Moreover, this can–and has in “open” primary states–lead to non-party members voting an agenda to gin up the numbers of a candidate ostensibly benefiting the other party. There’s already enough subplots.

* In GOP We Trust: It’s practically de rigueur for conservative candidates to make the political pilgrimage to the Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz. But, no, they don’t deliver speeches inside nor do they get a bully pulpit endorsement. What they do get is the next best thing: Implied support for their conservative views and access to the Tampa area’s biggest church with the largest congregation, one that can easily morph into the sectarian version of a political rally. And one that will draw free media hordes. Call it what you will, but partisan politics is played religiously at Idlewild Baptist.

* Three words that should make even Newt Gingrich supporters cringe: First Lady Callista.

* Gov. Rick Scott was at neither of the Florida debates. Likely Republican establishment response: “Thanks. And could you arrange a late August vacation or maybe a trade mission?”

GOP Show Time At USF

They came. We saw. Now what?

We’ll find out on Jan. 31, but say this for that GOP presidential debate at USF: the Gang of Four made for pretty decent, occasionally contentious, political theater.  Mitt Romney got downright feisty, Newt Gingrich got coyly civil and, what the hell, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul got a chance to speak too.

And let’s hear it for moderator Brian Williams, the NBC Nightly News anchor. He wasn’t about to lead with his rhetorical chin the way John King of CNN did in South Carolina. He opened with an “electability” question couched in character terms aimed initially at Gingrich and never lost control. Better yet, he underscored the rules of engagement that are too frequently unaddressed in such forums.

This wasn’t audience-participation night, Williams made clear from the get-go. The applause proscription obviously didn’t please Gingrich. His few red-meat lines couldn’t prompt any Jerry Springer outbursts. He later labeled it a “free speech” issue and vowed to lobby, as it were, for a no-gag order on audiences of future debates. So much for the deportment department.

Also to Williams’ credit, he didn’t relegate Cuba to a back-burner topic, even if the rest of the country remains largely clueless about the national and international implications. But it surely matters to Florida–from the familial to the economic.

Ironically, the only candidate who showed historical perspective and enlightened American self-interest on Cuba was Ron Paul, the libertarian outlier who is not even contesting Florida aside from the debates. His manifestly obvious statement that “The Cold War is over” was juxtaposed to the pandering, jingoistic boilerplate of the three amigos. South Florida’s Diaz-Balarts and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen must have been beaming. The differ-with-us-over-Cuba-at-your-own-peril formula still works.

Romney said now was not the time to “relax relations or open up travel.” He contended that such a scenario would constitute “giving in” to a Cuban leadership nearing its “final days.”

Gingrich spoke in behalf of an “aggressive” U.S. policy–one that could include covert operations–with a goal of “overthrowing the Raul Castro regime. … A Gingrich presidency will not tolerate four more years,” he promised. Or threatened.

Santorum made sure he shoehorned in “dictator” and “tyrant” numerous times in his comments. And as for that counterproductive, half-century embargo: “Continue the sanctions until the Castros are dead.”

Paul pointed out that U.S. policies have actually helped “prop up” the Castros, who have played the Uncle Scapegoat card for two generations. “We’re living in the Dark Ages when we can’t even talk to the Cuban people,” added Paul. “It’s not 1962 anymore. We don’t have to use force and intimidation and overthrow other governments.”

What a concept.

*While Romney needed that improved performance at USF, he still has that pre-vote cushion. It’s assumed that he has a sizable lead in early voting–more than 200,000 votes already cast by now.

*”Go, Bulls.” Williams’ USF shout-out at the end of the debate.

*”Protests Are For Hippies! Real Men Buy Elections!”–Among the Occupy Tampa signage outside the USF Marshall Student Center before the debate.

* As noted, Williams was good. But I still miss Tim Russert.

That Other FSU

Looks like Mitt Romney wandered off the rhetorical reservation again–this time plugging the sometimes dubious merits of for-profit colleges as a marketplace solution for the soaring cost of higher education. That’s what happened in New Hampshire and Iowa where the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination gave endorsements to Winter Park’s own Full Sail University. Full Sail, which specializes in training students for careers in various entertainment-related fields, is not cheap, sports a spotty graduation rate, and is run by Bill Heavener, a campaign donor and co-chair of Romney’s Florida fund-raising team.

Some advice for Gov. Romney. Do your homework. There’s a reason why for-profit colleges are under siege in Washington. And next time you want to give a Sunshine State school a public shout-out, try that other FSU.

Disband The Band At FAMU?

The hazing death of FAMU drum major Robert Champion has resulted in the suspension of the FAMU Marching 100 and the dismissal of its band director. The president was reprimanded and remains in the cross hairs of accountability, disgrace and legal liability.

The real-world impact on that Tallahassee campus, however, remains problematic. You can suspend the band. You can replace a band director. You can initiate an anti-hazing campaign. And you can play the “zero tolerance card.”

But can you replace a culture?

That’s the question, because that’s the source of the problem, one that is hardly without precedent–especially at historically black colleges and universities.  Ask officials at Morehouse College in Atlanta. They know what school–and what school’s violent “hazing” tradition–was parodied in Spike Lee’s School Daze. They knew Lee, a graduate of Morehouse, didn’t make it up.

But no school has had a more notorious–nor acclaimed–marching band than FAMU. It is both scoundrel and exemplar.

This sick sort of “hazing”–physical pounding–within factions of the band has been going on for so many years that it’s become institutionally embedded. But it’s hardly FAMU’s dirty little secret. There’s also a public record. It’s well documented, for example, that FAMU has had to settle more than once over band members being seriously injured in the euphemistic name of “hazing.” The reality is they were pummeled to the point of kidney failure. The “hazing” ignominy also includes a FAMU clarinetist who was hospitalized just a couple of months ago after a beating by fellow band members.

Then a few weeks back, the ultimate dread was realized. This time a pummeling resulted in a homicide. And given the cautionary tales preceding it, it was inevitable. This culture of “hazing” as felony, moreover, is perversely complemented by the “no snitch” ethos still prominent in many black communities. You protect your own, however short-sighted and counterproductive. As a result, witnesses are hard to come by.

There’s only one way to get the attention and cooperation of band members, current and future. Disband the band. If not forever, a least for a couple of years. Put it this way: If the NCAA can impose the so-called “death penalty” by shutting down a football program (e.g. SMU) that goes rogue with its recruiting tactics, a university can shut down a band that marches to the beat of a homicidal drummer.

Straw Poll Folly

In case you missed it, Pasco County’s first Republican Party straw poll was held last week. It was won by Ron Paul. He garnered 171 votes to easily outdistance Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

It prompts two questions.

First, how did this happen? Answer: The Paul people took it more seriously than the other candidates did–seriously enough for supporters to drive in from as far as Daytona Beach and Miami for “Pasco” poll.

Second, Florida has already had its straw poll back in September. What does this one in Pasco mean? Nothing–except that it was an opportunity for Paul to actually win something.

No More Band of Blood Brothers

Enough. Actually, way beyond enough.

When you look up “hazing” in the dictionary, you’ll find variations on an “initiation” (as in college fraternity) theme that references the exacting of “humiliation” or the playing of “rough practical jokes.”

We all get it. Rites of passage underbelly–but more goofy than gory. Boys will be boys. Pay some dues. Nobody wimps out. Don’t mind the blindfold or the giggles. Of course, these are really worms.

We all thought we got it.

But “hazing” as shorthand for assault? As a euphemism for paddling and pummeling that can maim or kill?

When FAMU drum major Robert Champion died following a suspected hazing ritual, the whole parallel universe of netherworld hazing went public the only way scandals and tragedies go public these days: in a constant loop of 24/7 outrage and finger-pointing. As a result, the FAMU Marching 100 has been suspended indefinitely, its band director fired and four students expelled. The president is in the cross-hairs of accountability, disgrace and legal liability.

Part of the outrage is that Champion’s death was an extension of unconscionable tradition not an isolated, tragic incident. At least twice before FAMU band members paid their hazing dues with “paddling”-induced kidney failure. Earlier this fall a FAMU clarinetist was hospitalized after beatings by FAMU band members.

There was no lack of cautionary tales. If for no other reason, someone should have paid more attention to those kidney-failure settlements. Or made sure that third-degree felonies weren’t countenanced–let alone institutionalized. Or maybe someone should have paid more attention to School Daze by Spike Lee. It portrayed violent fraternity hazing at an all-black college that could have been Morehouse. It was, however, a parody. Lee didn’t just make it up.

Two points.

First, the irony. Imagine a number of institutions of higher learning, especially historically black ones, with a culture that actually lionizes marching band members more than football players? How refreshingly contrarian is that? Music majors as big men on campus. Only one downside: Too many of those bands, most notably FAMU’s, have institutionalized hazing that can–and has–severely injured and killed.

Put it this way. Your kid’s a clarinet player–not a contact-sport jock or a drop-out gang banger–and is beaten to death while representing his school? How incomprehensibly sick is that?

Second, it’s past time to dismantle this obscene paean to unconventional thuggery. It gives “hazing” a bad name. It’s time to look at giving the Marching 100, despite its renown, its marching orders.

We know what can happen with banks too big to fail. Is this a band too famous to disband.

Walter Kimbrough, president of the historically black Philander Smith College in Arkansas, put it into the only perspective that now matters.

“We’ve got to really ramp up the sanctions,” Kimbrough has said publicly. “Your chances of having a marching band hazing incident are zero if you don’t have a functioning marching band.”

It’s a shame it’s come to this. But it would be inexcusably shameful to let it happen again.

Romney Talks–And Talks Around–Trade At Port

Mitt Romney’s recent drive-by appearance at the Port of Tampa was classic orchestration–and classic Romney. With the port as backdrop, Romney was able to highlight its vital role as a “major economic engine.” Indeed, the port is worth an estimated $8 billion in annual economic impact to the region.

Romney used the killer photo-op to underscore his business background and reiterate criticism of President Barack Obama for not being more pro-active on trade agreements and pushing U.S. exports. It was Romney talking about the economy, his perceived strength. He was introduced by Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who knows a thing or two about agricultural exports.

“We have a president that doesn’t understand the power of trade for enhancing American employment and American prosperity,” Romney said in his public remarks.

Also notable was what Romney didn’t say. Nary a reference to the economic elephant on the dock: trade opportunities between the Port of Tampa and nearby Cuba. It begs mention if you’re seriously advocating for American exports, market outreach, jobs and the best interest of the regional port you’re literally speaking at.

The next president of the United States can look at the near half-century, counterproductive Cuban embargo as low-hanging, economic-impact fruit that he could help pluck. Or he could continue the panderfest to venal South Florida pols more interested in their vendetta agenda than what’s best for Florida and America.

Romney’s South Florida photo-op earlier that same day said it for him.

He shared a stage with Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, former Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Rep. Ileana Ros Lehtinen. The hard line trio backed John McCain four years ago, and now they’re supporting Romney. And Romney knows what not to do–and say–to keep that support.

State Priorities Questioned

If Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican Legislature wanted to do themselves and, much more importantly, Floridians a favor in the upcoming legislative session, they could take the initiative on two increasingly critical issues: a sales tax on Internet sales and a ban on using a hand-held phone while driving.

It’s now estimated that Florida will lose about $450 million this year in lost state revenue because of the sales-tax loophole. How long should this be countenanced–especially during Florida’s Great Recession? If not now, when? As for the drive-and-phone ban, which exists in 10 states, it would save lives. Obviously.

And these, ideological talking points aside, aren’t priorities?