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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 09, 2004

End it, Don't Mend it

    Gov. Jeb Bush doesn't make a secret of his disdain for state government. At his second inaugural address, he capped an emotional speech with the bold statement: "There would be no greater tribute to our maturity as a society than if we can make these buildings around us empty of workers; silent monuments to the time when government played a larger role than it deserved or could adequately fill."

    Even in his first term, Bush put his words into action, directing an increasingly large portion of state responsibilities into private (often for-profit) hands, usually with the acquiescence of the Legislature. He pushed through legislation authorizing public-school funding for private-school vouchers. He handed administration of the state's employees over to a private firm. He spearheaded efforts to divert foster care to private agencies.

    But the efforts repeatedly faltered. The state sank millions into a computer system meant to track child welfare, but it still isn't performing all the functions it was supposed to handle. The personnel-outsourcing project has become another fiscal black hole: Since 2002, the project cost had swelled by more than $70 million by October and will be at least two years late.

    Predictably, the increasing role of non-governmental contractors -- and the staggering heft of tax dollars shifted to the private sector -- leads to a concern that state government is more vulnerable to cronyism and corruption. "Worth a second look".

9:10 PM

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