FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
"every political insider should be reading right now."

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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

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The Blog for Thursday, December 16, 2004

DJJ Drug Tests Violate Constitution

    A Department of Juvenile Justice policy that subjects all employees to random drug testing is unconstitutional and a 17-year state employee shouldn't have been fired when he refused to be tested, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

    Roderick Wenzel, who worked as a long-term planner at the department's Tallahassee headquarters before being fired in September 2003, can't be forced to take a drug test because his position didn't bring him into contact with children nor was directly related to law enforcement, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled.

    "Random drug testing is for people who do dangerous work, employees who carry guns or fly planes," said Wenzel's lawyer, Rick Johnson. "People who are number crunchers like Roderick Wenzel do important work, but it's not dangerous work."

    The department, however, said it will continue testing all employees, whether or not they deal directly with children, said spokesman Tom Denham. Asked if Secretary Anthony Schembri would fire employees if they refuse tests, Denham said, "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."
    "Drug test policy unconstitutional".

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