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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 Monday, April 11, 2005

Term Limits

    Linking term limits to redistricting:
    If the Florida House of Representatives wants the public to allow longer term limits for legislators, it ought to provide some incentive. There is none now.

    The House voted 92-24 last week to extend the term limits set by the Florida Constitution from eight years to 12. If approved by the Senate, it would go to the voters in 2006. ...

    On its own, this is not the kind of issue that's likely to ignite a great deal of public support. But the public might be more inclined to stretch the legislative terms if the change were accompanied by some real reform in the way legislators are elected. That would involve taking the responsibility for drawing legislative district lines away from the lawmakers themselves and giving it to a disinterested panel of distinguished citizens.

    It's a move that is being spearheaded in California by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who says it's undemocratic to allow legislators to draw their own districts, thus pretty much ensuring they cannot be defeated at the polls. Gov. Jeb Bush has been silent on the issue in Florida, although both Bush and Schwarzenegger are Republicans.

    The reason is obvious. Democrats control the legislature and the redistricting process in California, while Republicans are in full control in Florida. Partisan gain trumps the instinct for reform every time.
    "A shift in term limits".

3:56 AM

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