Category: Florida

What to make of the seemingly vindictive, all-but-double-jeopardizing re-arrest of Youssef Megahed, 23, earlier this month? Three days after the former USF student was found not guilty of explosives possession he was arrested again, this time by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. A deportation hearing is still pending.

The rationale for the feds’ immigration charges surely seems like legal vendetta. Upon further scrutiny, however, it doesn’t seem that nuanced. Appears more like a legal system temper tantrum. In effect:

“We have a 2 ½ -week trial with bunches of witnesses and more than 100 pieces of evidence. This is after this guy’s USF buddy, Ahmed Mohamed, pleads guilty to providing material support to terrorists and gets 15 years in a plea deal. But Megahed? He was just cruising aimlessly and cluelessly in South Carolina with his Muslim pal, the  convicted terrorist wannabe? And they buy it? You gotta be kidding. Let’s go the civil route this time. He’s over at Wal-Mart. ICE him.”

This column has periodically railed on about the dysfunctional relationship between the U.S. and Cuba. Actually, “dysfunctional” is too euphemistic. Make that stupid. Notably, the counterproductive, 47-year-old, economic embargo that only made sense during the height of the Cold War, when Cuba became a Soviet satellite.

            But administrations through Bush II — plus Congressional delegations from Florida — have been cowed by the Cuban exile community to the point where South Florida and Little Havana have exercised a de facto veto over U.S. foreign policy when it comes to Cuba.

            However, generational changes, the Castro Brothers’ biological inevitability and the Obama Administration’s reset button have now created the elements of a perfect geopolitical storm over Cuba.

            Many political observers see the easing of Cuban family travel and remittance restrictions as the first step toward normalization. Indeed, more changes are expected, although they will be incremental – which is, candidly, a point of contention among many insiders.

            The impetus for one such pragmatic change comes from our own back yard. Congresswoman Kathy Castor, who obviously understands political caution and pragmatism on this volatile topic, has earned plaudits for asking President Obama — via a letter to U.S. Customs and Border Protection — to include Tampa International Airport on the list of airports approved for charter flights to Cuba. The others are Los Angeles, Miami and New York-JFK. As long as opportunities for U.S. travelers to Cuba are likely to increase, reasoned Castor, TIA makes eminent sense as a departure point.

            Does it ever.

            Not only is TIA logistically helpful to those directly impacted, but it looks progressively to the future. When Cuba opens, Tampa needs to be re-positioned, via port and airport, as the real gateway to that island – with all the historical and economic implications that entails. 

            However incremental, this helps.

You would have thought the notorious, presidential-campaign declaration “Read my lips: No new taxes” — uttered by George H.W. Bush in 1988 — would be sufficient warning to future candidates. Don’t go on record with pledges that can never account for unforeseen circumstances – and could come back and haunt you politically.

And by the way, swearing allegiance to Grover Norquist’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” is not just a symbol of ideological commitment. It’s also a graphic example of irresponsible policy – and blatant pandering.

And Florida has its share of state legislators (seven senators, 22 representatives) — plus Gov. Charlie Crist — who are now on the spot because of a seemingly safe Norquistian pledge made during better times that they “will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.” And for good measure, they put it in writing.

Many pledgers — all but one, Republican — are now anxiety ridden as Florida confronts a $3 billion budget deficit. They have several options:

*Break their pledge and vote for some tax increases and say, in effect, “times had changed” but they meant well in a Ronald Reaganesque way.

*Break their pledge but try — hypocritically and disingenuously — to wiggle around it by labeling their votes as favoring hikes in “fees” and the additions of “surcharges.”  

*Keep their pledge, hope others’ revenue-raising votes will make up for it, and further hope that voters will remain gullible about their self-serving motives.

So, Florida now has a “stimulus czar.” That’s the unofficial handle given to Don Winstead, who is actually on indefinite loan from the Department of Children and Families. He’ll be a special adviser to Gov. Charlie Crist. His charge will be to oversee that $13.4 billion in federal stimulus money the state expects over the next three years.

A key priority: making sure that Florida gets all the stimulus money it’s entitled to – and that it’s spent properly. A key variable: the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature.

While Crist’s response to the stimulus money was, in effect, “bring it on,” there is a certain sticking point. The Legislature might decline more than $1 billion in extended unemployment benefits because it wouldn’t want to be obligated to pick up additional costs, including a slightly expanded pool of beneficiaries. Florida, which would have some legal “sunset” options, could be looking at an additional $70 million in outlays.

This could be another opportunity for Gov. Crist to bring that heretofore unused, bully pulpit out of storage and help his “czar” — and tens of thousands of Florida’s unemployed — by leaning on the Legislature. Every dollar in unemployment benefits is worth double that when it ripples into the economy. And somebody needs to say that leaving as much as $1 billion on the table to potentially save $70 million is both economically dubious and unfair to those most in need of unemployment “stimulus.”

The following seems unlikely to result from the current Tallahassee Legislative session: meaningful revenue reform. 

 

That’s despite the fact that Florida’s go-go-growth era is over. That’s reflected in several ways, most notably Florida’s tax (read: sales) collections, which have declined four years running – and the stabilizing end is not yet in sight. It’s also known that this state’s share ($13 billion over three years) of the federal stimulus package will still leave next year’s budget unbalanced. In fact, the deficit could balloon as high as $3 billion.

 

But the following seems likely: the outlawing of bestiality.

 

You can’t make this stuff up.

It’s a given that those politicians making the case for maintaining Cold War relations with Cuba make no sense from the standpoint of what’s good for the United States. For those in South Florida, it’s personal. For others, it’s pandering. But it’s assuredly not what’s best for the U.S.

Exhibit A: The man behind last year’s Florida law that made it more expensive for travel agents to book trips to Cuba. That’s State Rep. David Rivera, a Miami Republican. He couched his Sellers of Travel Act as a “homeland security” issue.

Say what?

            We’re in a civilizational war with al Qaeda extremists. We’re increasingly imperiled by the narco murderers from Mexico. Cuba? “Homeland security” issue? They were never even an “axis of evil” hinge.

Specifically, Rivera’s measure requires such travel agencies to post a $250,000 bond and ante up as much as $2,500 in yearly registration fees. It would be ruinous – not just unfair – to a number of those agencies. Last summer, after numerous lawsuits, a federal judge said the Florida law was probably unconstitutional and issued a preliminary injunction. The injunction is still in effect even as the U.S. Justice Department chimed in this week with a report that said, among other things, that Rivera’s act interferes “with the federal government’s ability to speak for the United States with one voice in foreign affairs.”

This really does cut to the geopolitical chase. For too many years, the South Florida exile community – in collusion with feckless Florida pols and their timorous counterparts in Washington – has exercised a de facto foreign policy veto when it comes to Cuban-American relations.

            Rivera’s recent response was predictably off the wall. The Justice Department’s opinion, he asserted, “demonstrates that the Obama administration is obviously only interested in kissing up to the Castro regime rather than protecting Florida consumers from the abuses of these travel agencies.”

This isn’t even quality prevarication. In fact, it gives lying a bad name.

            As if we needed further convincing. Anyone not envision Gov. Charlie Crist running for the U.S. Senate in 2010? Especially now that he’s appointed black Judge James E.C. Perry to the Florida Supreme Court? 

            Crist, who didn’t mind sharing that Fort Myers stimulus stage with President Obama, is the Democrats’ favorite Republican. He’s also lionized by lots of independents and increasingly popular with minorities. Remember, his previous Supreme Court appointment was Jorge Labarga, the lone Hispanic member.

            And yet Crist can still claim enough Republican bona fides by his staunch stand against tax increases. That’s how the critical issue of revenue-reform is being framed in a state that desperately needs it. Crist would rather raise fees, raid trust funds and re-allocate stimulus money. And while nobody’s property taxes “dropped like a rock,” Crist really, really wanted it to happen. Close enough.

Don’t you get the sense that a state that won’t tax services or skybox tickets or charter-boat excursions is living on borrowed fiscal time? With flat-lined growth replacing go-go scenarios and hurricane bullets to be dodged annually, Crist might want to move on while he still has a record that’s toutable.

For Charlie Crist, whose political track record is a paean to opportunism, this is probably as good as it will get on his watch.

Former South Florida congressional candidate Joe Garcia was one of Daniel Erikson’s interviewees for his book “The Cuba Wars.” Garcia, a former director of the Cuban American National Foundation, addressed America’s economic embargo and likened it to a religious experience for its hard-line adherents.

“Cuba is almost a quasi-religious issue,” said Garcia. “The problem with that religious element is that it can’t be tested because it has no give-and-take. The embargo is more a religious creed than an effective U.S. policy. The good thing about a creed is that you don’t have to prove it. The problem is, how do you change it?”

     The following seems unlikely to result from the current Tallahassee Legislative session: meaningful revenue reform.

     That’s despite the fact that Florida’s go-go-growth era is over. That’s reflected in several ways, most notably Florida’s tax (read: sales) collections, which have declined four years running – and the stabilizing end is not yet in sight. It’s also known that this state’s share ($13 billion over three years) of the federal stimulus package will still leave next year’s budget unbalanced. In fact, the deficit could balloon as high as $3 billion.

     But the following seems likely: the outlawing of bestiality.

     You can’t make this stuff up.

            Granted, the Obama Administration has a lot on its domestic-agenda plate right now. An unprecedented, historic amount.

            So, it’s understandable that, except for Iraq, Afghanistan/Pakistan and Secretary of State Clinton’s sortie to the Orient and the president’s Canadian cameo, foreign policy is a lesser priority than it would otherwise be.

            Latin America, for one, largely remains ignored.

            Cuba, specifically, is being addressed gingerly, even though that island represents the administration’s best opportunity for early, high-upside success. As in economic and geopolitical benefits. As in humane considerations.

            Legislation is now coursing through Congress that will essentially undo what President George W. Bush did to tighten travel restrictions to Cuba – for those of Cuban descent. It’s thought that the move likely presages others later in the year that would involve broader travel opportunities and some easing of the economic embargo.

            Here’s hoping Gov. Charlie Crist takes off his Cuba blinders and finally grasps the significance of ending that 47-year-old Cold War relic. He needs to apply his well-honed opportunism skills and fully leverage his support for the administration’s stimulus package. The cause is worth it: the Florida economy.

            Here’s what he can do. Tell lame duck Sen. Mel Martinez to take an early hike. Then “the people’s governor” needs to align himself with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Republican, Richard Lugar. The Indiana senator wants to rethink the Cuban embargo.  

            The timing would be propitious for the Sunshine State.

            According to a study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, an end to the Cuban embargo would be worth at least $1.2 billion in U.S. exports, a sizable chunk of which would accrue to Florida. And not incidentally, to the Port of Tampa.

            Among those who would really appreciate some leadership from Crist on Cuba: local Tampa officials. The Tampa Port Authority, which includes Mayor Pam Iorio, awaits a green light from Washington to get aggressive about trade possibilities with Havana.

            The embargo is going to end sooner or later. And sooner makes much more sense during a brutalizing recession.

            Locals need political cover, and Crist is in position to help provide it. And it wouldn’t hurt if some members (or at least one) of this state’s Congressional delegation would finally show some guts and jump on board. Why should the Obama administration hurry to do the right thing and end the counterproductive embargo when Florida’s own politicians still act as if they’re intimidated by the grievance-clinging, clout-diminished Cuban exile community? That’s not even “smart,” self-serving politics any more “Insane,” is how Port Authority Commissioner Carl Lindell described U.S.-Cuba policy.

            Indeed, now more than ever.

All that’s at stake are jobs, Americans’ right to travel freely and the opportunity for America’s standing in the world to be immediately improved.