An audit expected to be released today blasts the Department of Management Services for letting a contractor control a private bank account containing state fees, for dissolving a budgeted program and shifting the money to pay a consultant and for a host of other problems in its $92million online procurement system.

a voucher "accountability" bill dramatically less stringent than the one filed by former Senate President Jim King to crack down on abuses in the programs.

King, the legislature's main proponent for a bill last year when he sat as a presiding officer, saw it die in the final days of an acrimonious legislative session. He vowed then to push the bill again this year to avert "a disaster waiting to happen."

But as he did last year, King faces the opposition of state education officials appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush, who are instead pushing a proposal with features favored by the de facto manager of the corporate income tax voucher program and some of the private schools that rely on vouchers for much of their business.

King's bill would ban vouchers for home school "consultants" who are getting state money for helping parents home-school their disabled children, but ["Jeb!"'s] measure would allow the practice to continue.

Starting on a sour note, lawmakers holding the first congressional review of the 2004 vote were upset by the absence of top election officials from Ohio and Florida, states with many balloting complaints.

The chairman of the House Administration Committee said he would hold hearings away from Washington and continue to seek testimony from Ohio's secretary of state, Kenneth Blackwell, and Florida's Glenda Hood.

"I am disappointed that they are not here," said Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio. "We can have disagreements, but you can't run and you can't hide."

plan to get private insurers to take on Medicaid patients and share in the costs of their care is receiving some skeptical second opinions from Democrats in the Florida Legislature.

But rather than blasting the governor's proposal to privatize Medicaid as a heartless move against the state's vulnerable population, Democrats are carving out a new political strategy for protecting the $14.7 billion health program.

Several South Florida legislators cautioned Tuesday that Bush's plan is such a strong dose of medicine for Medicaid that it will raise taxes on the middle class. They also argued that his proposal empowers health maintenance organizations while weakening the Legislature.

Florida lawmakers are considering legislation that would give voters a chance to keep their legislators for up to 12 years, instead of the eight-year limit now in place.

"It's very difficult to learn the process," Bense said, noting that many lawmakers have other careers. "I'm not implying that our members -- please don't read this into it -- don't know what's going on" It's very difficult to learn the process," Bense said, noting that many lawmakers have other careers. "I'm not implying that our members -- please don't read this into it -- don't know what's going on."

a State Technology Office with sweeping power to direct how state agencies purchased everything from computers to telephone systems to software.

Now he wants it all undone.

Defense is Florida's third largest economic sector with a $44 billion annual impact. It employs more than 714,000 Floridians.

Four years ago, before the state signed a $350 million contract with Convergys to privatize the state personnel system, a top official in the administration of Gov. Jeb Bush raised a warning flag.

Kathleen Kearney, then the secretary of the Department of Children and Families, had a team from DCF trying to assist with the design of the payroll outsourcing project.

In a March 5, 2001, letter obtained by the Tallahassee Democrat, Kearney suggested the procurement process for the project was riddled with flaws.

The governor knew of her warning but didn't heed the advice. Later that month, an "invitation to negotiate" for outsourcing payroll, benefits and employment services went out from the Department of Management Services.

Some of the things that HB 711 would require, like making agencies show a "business case" for each privatization project, are already being done without a new law. Cost-benefit analyses, performance monitoring and "contingency planning" for late or lousy service are already being done - but Ryan's bill would require such lifeboat drills before racing into ice fields.

It also calls for annual reports to the House and Senate on which services agencies are privatizing and what measurable savings, or service improvements, they are getting. Agencies would also have to disclose "which work formerly performed in this state by state employees is being performed in other states or out of the country" by contractors.

Once a deal is made, its cost couldn't rise more than 10 percent and its term couldn't be extended by more than a year without approval by the joint Legislative Budget Commission, under Ryan's bill.

- require that the private company performing the work does the work in Florida with Florida workers (as proposed, only "disclosure" of out-of-state work would be required.

- do not permit companies with records of violating enviromental, labor and other laws to bid on, let alone perform, the work.

- track the impact of any proposed outsourcing on incumbent employees, and ensure that senior employees aren't dumped on the street"

- track the political contributions - via PCs, CCEs, and federal PACs - of the companies seeking to perform government functions via privatization.

- determine whether the companies seeking to do the work offer equivalent health insurance, pensions and other benefits to their employees, as opposed to being a financial drag on their communities.

two-hundred-employee Wal-Mart store, the government is spending $108,000 a year for children's health care; $125,000 a year in tax credits and deductions for low-income families; and $42,000 a year in housing assistance. The report estimates that a two-hundred-employee Wal-Mart store costs federal taxpayers $420,000 a year, or about $2,103 per Wal-Mart employee. That translates into a total annual welfare bill of $2.5 billion for Wal-Mart's 1.2 million US employees.

saluted his new Department of Management Services interim chief, Robert Hosay, as an "accomplished contract attorney whose significant experience in state purchasing and large-scale procurements will continue to serve the department well."

What most state employees probably would rather know is whether Mr. Hosay is equally able to grasp small-scale problems: for example, the abrupt and accidental insurance cancellation of a longtime state employee with an illness, which may be terminal. He is now struggling to not only get well, but also get his health insurance restored.

Sen. Al Lawson ... expressed justified skepticism, tinged with outrage, last week at Mr. Hosay's appointment, questioning whether he will be looking out "for the interests of the state and its workers, and not the interest of Convergys."

That's because Mr. Hosay was a major player in designing the outsourcing contract with Convergys, the largest privatization contract in state government, and which has produced what might be called a comedy of errors if not for the utter despair caused by some of the human and systemic errors. ...

Likewise, while Mr. Bush calls his latest appointee "accomplished," the fact that Mr. Hosay has been out of law school only four years suggests a kind of "accomplishment inflation" that's faintly alarming when it comes to management of huge, high-stakes systems.

During his tenure as governor, Jeb Bush has disparaged slot machines as a dangerous expansion of gambling, but since the approval of the amendment that authorizes a vote on them in South Florida, the governor has engaged in some high-stakes gambling of his own.

Bush must decide soon whether to open negotiations with the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians -- and concede that the passage of Amendment 4 allows them to operate slot machines at their gaming parlors -- or he can delay the talks, continue his fight to challenge gambling on Indian land, and risk launching an expensive legal battle with the well-financed tribe.

The private contractors that run Florida's programs for juvenile offenders pay their workers some of the lowest wages in the nation, a problem child advocates say is causing crippling staff turnover and putting teens in danger.

What's out of control is the growing numbers who turn to Medicaid because costs of private insurance are out of control.

The best spectator sport for political junkies may be watching Republicans squirm over the 2006 governor's race.

A whirlwind celebrity road show with headliner George W. Bush brought its finale to Tampa Friday afternoon.

It was part scripted play, part rock concert, packaged together to make a modern day political campaign rally.

One hint of the difficulty Bush is facing came from U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., who was applauded by Bush for his support of the president's proposal. But after the event, Martinez said he supports private accounts but needs more detail before he can make a final decision.

While Bush spoke and took about a dozen questions from his [approx 1000] supporters, about 200 opponents rallied several blocks away at Curtis Hixon Park.

Protesters marched down Ashley Drive toward the Tampa Convention Center but circled back when police stopped them at Brorein Street. Some passing motorists gave thumbs up to the marchers; others [exposing the essence of the GOoPer "values voters]flashed the middle finger.

Steve Uhlfelder, torn between lobbying and serving on the state board that oversees universities, has made a decision.

Uhlfelder, 58, a Tallahassee attorney and fixture in government circles for almost 30 years, on Friday sent Gov. Jeb Bush a letter asking not to be reappointed to the Board of Governors. He cited as one factor in his decision a move by Senate President Tom Lee to ban members of that board and some other powerful state boards and commissions from lobbying lawmakers.

For the third year in a row, state Rep. Anne Gannon, D-Delray Beach, is asking lawmakers to turn back the clock and ratify the U.S. Constitutional amendment that would protect women from discrimination.

With new leadership in the legislature, Gannon said she is cautiously optimistic that this year the measure will at least get a hearing.

Feminists who have spent more than 30 years pushing for the ERA's passage say if Florida acts, the measure could be well on it's way to become law — or at least the subject of heated national debate.

A state panel rejected environmentalists' pleas Thursday for more study before implementing new rules they fear may reduce or eliminate protection for some endangered animals, including manatees and bald eagles.

Sally Bradshaw and Karen Unger, veterans of Bush's governor's races, began calling other members of Bush's inner circle of political advisers last week to let them know Bush is privately supporting Jennings, sources said.

Unger is expected to be [Jennings'] day-to-day campaign consultant, and Bradshaw is to be the campaign's overall strategic consultant.

Gallagher is expected to add Brett Doster to his campaign team. Doster was President Bush's Florida campaign manager last year and worked for the president in the 2000 campaign. He also worked on Jeb Bush's campaigns.

Another Bush loyalist, Arlene DiBenigno, who worked on Bush's campaigns, is working with Crist.

And David Johnson, the former state GOP executive director, said he expects to begin work with Gallagher when the campaign formally begins.

Some of those who received calls from Bradshaw and Unger said they were surprised by the effort to rein in Bush's top advisors. And not everyone was receptive to the calls.

"For some people, there is a lot of panic over who the next nominee is going to be," said one Bush insider. "People have to make a choice, and it's hard."

One of those who got a call complained that Bush is saying publicly he is neutral in the race while privately working to defeat Crist and Gallagher.

"When Bush tells people he's going to stay neutral, you take him at his word," one Gallagher supporter said.

tapped by the governor to introduce President Bush today at a rally in Tampa, where he will promote his plan to overhaul Social Security.

In defending the nomination of Judge Alberto Gonzales as U.S. attorney general, however, Florida's new junior senator made a statement that symbolizes over-eagerness and inexperience.

[t]he state lost 1,100 manufacturing jobs, continuing a steady slide in that category. ... In an economy too dependent on low-wage work, losing manufacturing jobs is especially painful. Manufacturers in Florida -- making everything from consumer items to construction materials to high-tech devices -- pay wages 22 percent higher than the state's average. Their production ripples through the state's economy, boosting exports, attracting investment and creating more jobs.

As President Bush visits Tampa today to promote his plan for a partial Social Security privatization, both his backers and opponents have started public campaigns on the question.
Florida, with 3.3 million Social Security recipients, second-most among states, will be a battleground in an argument that will spill out of Congress and into the general public.

A coalition of unions and a consumer action group plan a rally downtown today to protest Bush's plan and his appearance here. Organizations as diverse as labor unions and the AARP plan campaigns to oppose it.

Legislative leaders worry that Dedge's case could set a precedent, with new DNA technology pointing out the errors of an earlier age. Currently, some 98 percent of the 82,000 inmates in the state prison system have had samples of their DNA added to a state crime database.

"Wilton Dedge has been vindicated and he is now free," Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, said in a statement. "He has the right to seek damages - but it must be in the context of the legislative process. To ask the Legislature to function as an investigator, judge and jury has implications that stretch far beyond this case."