Delightful

"State workers have moved too slowly in rescinding the gun licenses of people arrested or convicted of crimes in many cases sampled by outside auditors, according to a critical review of Florida's concealed weapons program."

As a result, the newly released report by Florida's Auditor General states that there is "an increased risk that unqualified persons may remain licensed to carry a concealed weapon or firearm."

The report raises questions about how effective the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has been in administering Florida's system of licensing people to carry handguns and other weapons, concealed for self-defense purposes. More than 468,000 people hold such licenses.

FCAT Follies

"Florida's all-important test for public-school students is losing popularity, results of a new survey released Friday indicate."

A majority of state residents don't think the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is an accurate measure of what kids learn in school, according to the poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research.

Overall, 52 percent said the "FCAT is not necessary," while 39 percent stood behind the decade-old test that has become the standard for evaluating Florida schools as well as students.

It was the second year for the survey and the second time the FCAT question had been asked. Last year, 48 percent found the FCAT unnecessary.

Pollster [Brad Coker, a partner in the Washington firm that conducted the survey] said it was significant that a majority now feel that way. That could reflect both public and political opinion, and could portend changes in the law, he indicated.

Coker said the FCAT was the centerpiece of education reforms during Jeb Bush's two terms as governor, but now that Bush is gone, support may be waning.

Next thing you know ...

... they will be teaching education in our public schools.

"Bringing the Max Planck Society to Florida is "a big deal ... a really big deal," Gov. Crist said Tuesday. He's right. Really right." "Commitment to Planck, commitment by Planck". See also "" and "".

Not half bad

"The part of the Florida's embattled investment fund for local governments that remains open received the best possible rating Friday from Standard & Poor's."

The rating, which was sought earlier this month by the State Board of Administration's trustees, could restore some faith in the investment pool, which had to be shut down for a week in November after a run on the fund. The run was caused by fears over the quality of certain investments in the pool that were tied to mortgages.

The Holidays ...

... in Florida: "Police Taser holiday shopper", "Police say girl and mom were taken to ATM before killings", "Authorities: Boy threw football at pregnant teen, baby died" and "Angry driver shoots mother with toddler in 'road rage' incident".

Whatever

"Brown-Waite wants facts on Haley care".

While Jebbie cut taxes on the folks who take ski trips out West, ...

... Florida's park systems fell into decline:

"State and local leaders suffered sticker shock on seeing the $10.5 billion price tag attached to the needs of Florida's local parks. But policymakers should remember this: Parks are a smart investment. Ecotourism is the fastest growing sector of tourism, attracting more and more visitors to Florida. A study last year found state parks pump nearly $1 billion into local economies each year. This is direct impact, money spent by park operations and out-of-town visitors. At the same time, natural lands serve the public in others ways, storing and filtering water, recharging the aquifer, sustaining wildlife and helping communities avert growth problems." "Florida Leaders Must Confront Backlog Of Local Park Needs".

"Not so fast"

"Regional counsels open for business," 'the Florida Bar News Dec. 15 headline read."

Not so fast.

Late Thursday, a Leon County judge struck down the law that allowed Gov. Charlie Crist to appoint five men to take over conflict-of-interest cases from public defenders' offices.

Circuit Judge P. Kevin Davey ruled the regional counsels are essentially public defenders and should be elected, not appointed. He said the law, touted as a cost-saving measure when it passed this year, "amounts to an attempt to amend the Constitution by legislative fiat."

DCF's strategy was expensive, costing more than $250,000. And, in the context of child-custody cases, it was unusual.

''I've never seen a case like that,'' said Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Jeri B. Cohen, a nearly 10-year veteran of child-welfare court. She was referring to DCF's request to strip Izquierdo of custody of his daughter, even though he was declared a fit parent. ``Ever, ever, ever, ever.''

As a child custody case involving a then-4-year-old girl from Cuba was taking shape in early 2006, a spokeswoman for Florida's child-welfare agency sent word to the highest levels of state government: The case had the potential to get ``very public.''

'I imagine both parties will likely try to involve the `court of public opinion,' '' wrote Flora Beal, a Miami spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families. ``This could become an Elián-like situation.''

Her e-mail, among documents in the case obtained by The Miami Herald, referred to Elián Gonzalez, the Cuban boy at the heart of a 2000 custody controversy that ended explosively when federal agents seized him from his relatives' Little Havana home. And the administrations of both former Gov. Jeb Bush and his successor, Charlie Crist, took unusual steps to make sure that didn't happen again, sources told The Herald.

Crist's general counsel, Paul Huck, directed DCF Chief of Staff Jason Dimitris on how to handle the case, according to sources close to the matter. And highly unusual for a custody case, the governor's office was kept informed of developments, the e-mails show.

Said one source: ``Nothing is done without first running it through the governor's office.''

Criticisms of the state's legal strategy were abundant in court, where the judge repeatedly chided DCF during the trial to determine the father's fitness.

Among other criticisms, Cohen noted that DCF asked her to leave the girl with the Cubases under a permanent guardianship -- a custody arrangement virtually unheard of for a young child with a fit parent.

And she noted that it took DCF about three months to formally notify Izquierdo in Cuba that his daughter was in state care, and that he was at risk of losing custody.

''The department had phone numbers and didn't call him,'' Cohen said during the trial's closing arguments.

''If the father lived in Alabama, we would not have this situation, because you would have contacted him immediately,'' Cohen told DCF attorney Rebecca Kapusta. ``You would have handled it differently if the parent lived in Switzerland.''

Note to headline writer: try "Democratic

"Times: Fasano gets new Democrat challenger".

Late to the game

"The second most popular Republican presidential candidate in Florida has yet to open a single state campaign office." "Lack of a Florida staff could hurt Huckabee".

The "merit" pay system

The dopes behind all this are getting bonuses: "SBA investment managers received bonuses totaling $50,000". Believe it or not, "Investment managers at the State Board of Administration have been awarded performance bonuses even though their decisions caused the state's investment pool for local governments to flounder this year."

Former Executive Director Coleman Stipanovich received $14,000 in bonus pay, almost 8 percent of his $177,000 salary, according to an executive-compensation study the SBA commissioned.

Stipanovich resigned two weeks ago after local governments yanked $14 billion from the local-government pool, prompting a freeze on withdrawals. The balance had been as high as $27 billion before word got out that money managers had sunk money into shaky mortgage-backed investments. ...

The 25 SBA investment managers drew $193,000 in incentive bonuses in the fiscal year that ended in July.

A suppression thing

"Florida plans to seek a stay while it appeals a federal judge's ruling against a state voter-registration law challenged by civil-rights groups, a spokesman for Secretary of State Kurt Browning said Thursday." "State appeals voter-registration ruling".

This is a laugher of an excuse: "Florida's election chief warned Thursday there could be 'confusion' among voters unless a federal court reconsiders a decision to block enforcement of a 2-year-old voter registration law." "Elections boss warns about confusion".

Water war

"The best way to conserve a commodity is to use less of it. We don't know if that idea came up at the Monday summit on water between Gov. Charlie Crist and the governors of Alabama and Georgia. But more conservation measures will surely have to be part of the solution to an 18-year, ongoing battle over water sharing between the three states." "Try conservation in three-state scrum".

Seminoles

"Attorney General Bill McCollum sued the federal government Thursday to prevent approval of Gov. Charlie Crist's controversial casino compact with the Seminole Tribe until the Florida Supreme Court rules on the governor's authority to make the deal." McCollum sues to halt casino compact"".

FCAT follies

"Ask the Governor: Let's examine the FCAT".

"If Florida could follow New Jersey's lead . . ."

The News-Journal editors: "Practicality. Justice. Morality. These three forces combined this week in New Jersey, when Gov. Jon Corzine signed that state's historic ban on the death penalty. It is the first state in the nation to legislatively abandon the death penalty as an antiquated, arbitrary and illogical penalty. It should not stand alone. Unlike Florida, New Jersey hasn't conducted an execution since 1963 and seemed unlikely to do so any time soon. Yet the state -- like Florida -- has spent millions in death-penalty litigation, sending families of murder victims on a seemingly never-ending emotional roller coaster." "Toward justice".

Off topic

"The rhetoric of the 2008 presidential campaign is tough for historians to stomach." "Politicians fail History 101".

Our green Charlie

"Crist joined colleagues across the nation Thursday in condemning a decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to block states from imposing tougher auto emission rules than the EPA requires." "Crist blasts EPA's ruling". See also "EPA ruling threatens Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's plan to cut pollution".

Jim Riches, a New York deputy fire chief whose firefighter son was killed on Sept. 11, said the group aims to raise doubts about the central premise of Giuliani's presidential campaign - his leadership role in the aftermath of the attacks. "If we have to follow him around all 2008, we'll do it," Riches said.

Lauded as "America's Mayor" for his blunt talk and compassion amid the attacks, Giuliani's political stock soared and he went on to build a multimillion-dollar consulting group emphasizing his leadership skills. ... the former New York mayor's frequent references to Sept. 11 on the campaign trail have infuriated Riches and about 20 activists who lost firefighter sons. The New Yorkers blame Giuliani for decision-making failures that they think contributed to the deaths.

After protesting near Giuliani fundraising events in New York to little fanfare, they plan to raise their voices in Florida, South Carolina and other primary states seen as essential to Giuliani's path to the GOP nomination. "When he announced his plans to run for president, we felt he was doing it on the backs of our dead sons," Riches said.

"A $2.4 billion shortage"

"Faced with a $2.4 billion shortage, House and Senate money managers have warned Florida lawmakers that election-year goodies will be in critically short supply during the coming legislative session." "House, Senate face $2.4B budget shortage".

A Florida thing ...

"Florida asked a federal judge Thursday to stay his decision against a state voter registration law being challenged by civil rights groups while the ruling is under appeal. If granted, the stay could prevent thousands of people from casting ballots Jan. 29 in Florida's presidential primary and a property tax-cutting referendum because registration books will close Dec. 31." "State appeals voter registration ruling, still trying to comply". See also "Election officials: Business as usual".

"Huckabee's breakneck rise"

"Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's breakneck rise in the national polls has reached Florida, prodding a fledgling band of supporters to throw together a ground game in the nation's fourth-largest state."

Three Florida polls in the past week put Huckabee in first or second place, jockeying with longtime front-runner Rudy Giuliani. That's a stunning turn of events for a candidate who ranked near the bottom just last month and has invested little time and no money in the state.

No match

The Miami Herald editors: "In the bad old days, state and federal election officials demanded that voters pay a 'poll tax' or pass a 'literacy test' to register for voting. Today, Florida has a 'no match' law, which requires voters to provide information that matches data in state and federal databases. Seeing the 'no-match' law for what it is -- an obstacle to voting -- a federal judge on Tuesday ordered Florida to stop enforcing the recently enacted registration law. U.S. District Judge Stephan Mickle obviously understands that the role of government in a democracy is to eliminate barriers to full participation by citizens, not to erect barriers to discourage voting." "Voting rights".

On the trail again ...

"Republican presidential hopefuls Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee are planning only a brief Yuletide respite before hitting the campaign trail in Florida." "Giuliani, Huckabee plan Florida swings".

Seminoles

"The state's attorney general filed suit on Thursday to delay the Florida compact permitting expanded gambling by the Seminole Tribe. The U.S. Department of the Interior was poised to approve the plan, though the Florida Supreme Court has not yet ruled on its validity, according to a statement from Attorney General Bill McCollum. The suit seeks an injunction against the U.S. Department of the Interior to prevent the compact's publication before Florida's highest court makes a decision." "State files suit to block gambling compact with Seminoles". See also "AG suing federal government to stop gambling agreement".

And your point is ... ?

The Sun-Sentinel editors: "Let's call this proposed state constitutional ban on gay marriage exactly what it is: unneeded, divisive, and a transparent attempt to get out the ultra-conservative vote." "Proposed gay marriage ban unneeded, insulting".

Immigrants

"State and local taxes paid by illegal immigrants fail to offset the cost of public services that state and local governments in Florida and elsewhere provide, a new study done for Congress says." "Illegal Immigrants Costly To States, Study Says".

Discount

"Florida will begin offering a discount card for people 60 or older who can't afford prescription drugs, Gov. Charlie Crist says." "Crist Presents Plan For Prescription Drug Discount". See also "Drug discount plan will cover 4 million in Florida, Crist says", "State will offer prescription drug discount cards" and "New state program will help people buy prescription drugs".

'Ya reckon?

"The era of low-cost living in Florida is over." "Opt For Quality, Not Cut-Rate".

"Retooling"

"Now, with his lead shrinking in national polls, and even in Florida, according to some measures, Rudy Giuliani is retooling. " "Giuliani forges revisions in his campaign".

The poor thing

"AP: Yecke out as Florida's K-12 chancellor".

Curious

"Hialeah Housing Authority chief Alex Morales insists that it was his passion for politics that drove him recently to request a computerized list of every voter in the congressional district represented by U.S. Rep. Lincoln Díaz-Balart. He smirked at the idea that he was doing the bidding of former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, who gave him his current job and has openly flirted with challenging Díaz-Balart in the district that spans much of Hialeah and West Miami-Dade and creeps north to Miramar." "Ally of Raul Martinez requests voter records".

OK, I won't

"'Don't tase me, bro!' among top 10 quotes of 2007".

Water war

"Any meeting that ends with plans for another meeting can't be a total success, but the governors of Florida, Alabama and Georgia claimed this week that they made progress toward ending a 17-year water war. And they may be right. For now, thanks in part to a two-day downpour which kept water flowing in areas all three states could use, the governors have a plan. Each will send experts to Washington next month to complete a new water-sharing plan by February that federal regulators can approve by March 15." "Florida won this round".

In a suing mood

"Crist said Wednesday that he wants three trial lawyers to review documents for a possible class-action lawsuit against property insurers, alleging that the industry hasn't passed on savings to consumers as required by a new Florida law." "Insurers defend themselves as Gov. Crist says review may lead to lawsuit". See also "Crist considers suit against property-insurance industry".

"Heavy lifting"

The Orlando Sentinel editors: "Once lauded nationally but now lampooned regularly by developers and local government officials alike, the state's growth-management act badly needs a boost. Tom Pelham, Florida Department of Community Affairs secretary, is ready to do the heavy lifting." "Our position: If Florida's to grow right, the Legislature can't dance around DCA Secretary Tom Pelham's plan".

Florida's booming economy

"The number of visitors to Orlando tumbled by 1.5 million people in 2006, according to data included in a report released Wednesday by the region's tourism bureau." "Number of visitors to Orlando down in 2006, new report says".

Merit pay

It will be curious to see how this impacts the editorial content of the Orlando Sentinel: "With Sam Zell, Orlando Sentinel's parent company goes private". After all, "nearly 70 percent of prospective Tribune Co. owner's donations to Republicans". "In Political Contributions, Zell Leans Right and Wife Leans Left". And we've seen this before, haven't we?

Graphically demonstrating the change in culture at the company, Zell was tieless and wore jeans and cowboy boots in his appearance at buttoned-down Tribune Tower.

will leave the company with $38.3 million in severance and stock holdings accumulated over a 25-year career with the company.

Fuzzy math

Jac Wilder VerSteeg: "The Legislature has pretended to pay for the class-size amendment that by 2010 will require that each individual class through third grade have no more than 18 students, through eighth grade no more than 22 and in high school no more than 25. So now, the latest plan is to pretend that an average class size of 18 is the same as an actual class size of 18. Averaging is a wonderful way to count. On average, the Dolphins and Patriots together are winning more than half of their games." "School districts' selective math".

The rift

"Rubio pushes 'other' tax cut".

Making sausage

"An Oklahoma senator wants an investigation into a disputed $10 million congressional earmark for an Interstate 75 interchange in Southwest Florida."

Republican Sen. Tom Coburn said Tuesday he wants a special committee to investigate the earmark to a 2005 transportation bill that provides money to connect Coconut Road to I-75 in Lee County near Fort Myers.

The earmark was inserted into the bill by U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, even though local lawmakers did not ask for it.

Watchdog groups have charged that he did it to benefit a developer who owns land around the interchange and who hosted a $40,000 fundraiser for Young in 2005.

Patricia Levesque, a commission member who runs Bush's Foundation for Florida's Future, is pushing two voucher-related proposals to undo court rulings that found vouchers unconstitutional. ... [She] is soliciting help from the same pro-voucher groups that helped create, run and defend Bush's vouchers during his two terms as governor. ...

[T]he commission's chairman, former House Speaker Allan Bense, said he agrees with Levesque that a constitutional ban on sending money to religious institutions is within the commission's purview. "That deals with the budget," he said. "That deals with spending."

It would eliminate the state constitution's prohibition against sending state money to religious institutions and would instead explicitly permit the practice. In 2004, the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that Bush's signature Opportunity Scholarship Program for children at failing schools violated that ban because it specifically allowed religious schools to get vouchers.

About three-fourths of the schools in the remaining two voucher programs are religious. A 2003 survey of voucher-taking schools by The Palm Beach Post found that administrators at 60 percent of those responding believed that religion was as important as or more important than academics for their students' parents.

The majority of those schools were of evangelical Christian denominations. The Post found many where religious instruction permeated the curriculum - with some teaching that Jews and other non-Christians were bound for hell.

Levesque's second proposal would undo the Florida Supreme Court's ruling last year that ultimately struck down Opportunity Scholarship vouchers after finding that the legislature did not have the authority to set up a parallel system of funding private schools outside the public school system. The ruling did not address the appellate court decision regarding the religious language, meaning the appellate court ruling also remains the law.

Levesque was appointed to the commission by House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, who worked with Levesque and Bush to hire in the House many in Bush's staff when he left office.

And while they're at it ...

"Critics will try to weaken Florida's rules on limiting school-class sizes": "Key Republican state lawmakers -- among a group that was never a fan of the class-size amendment -- say they want to give schools more wiggle room. In short, they are looking to delete the strictest parts of the law."

Why is this still an issue?


The Miami Herald editors: "No one should be denied the right to vote because an elections clerk mistypes a name or gets the digits in a driver's license mixed up. Such mistakes are common, everyday occurrences and should not be an obstacle to anyone's ability to exercise their most basic right as a citizen -- voting."

Unfortunately, thousands of Florida residents have been denied a chance to vote because of errors like these since new procedures were adopted in 2006. ...

Florida has a duty to make sure that every name included on its rejection list is, in fact, an unqualified registrant. Doing anything less than that would disenfranchise qualified voters. Florida has gone a long way to implement reforms since the debacle of hanging, pregnant and dimpled chads of the 2000 election.

Now is the time to clean up the state voter-registration database, before voting begins in the 2008 presidential election.

Getting on the bandwagon

"In the two years since immigration reform legislation stalled in Congress, many states have passed their own laws targeting illegal immigrants. And soon Florida could join them." "Illegal workers on state agenda".

More "traditional values" from the Jebbites: "Traditional bigotry"

"A group anointing itself the Florida Coalition to Protect Marriage has gone to the considerable trouble and expense (about $443,000) to collect enough signatures to put on next year's ballot a measure that would amend Florida's Constitution to ban same-sex marriages. "

Last week, the group claimed success. Apparently, though, that group and others like it have failed to notice that, judging by rates of adultery and divorce, opposite-sex couples also pose a threat to traditional marriage. By the way, same-sex marriage already is illegal under Florida law.

The real purpose of the campaign, which needs 60 percent to prevail, probably is to motivate like-minded voters to get to the polls, where presumably they will support Republican candidates. That's why the state Republican Party gave the group $300,000 of its total.

That was under Jeb Bush.

that's just because it was written by a lawyer [John Stemberger] whose field of expertise is suing the Orlando Hertz if you accidentally slam your dick in the door. Besides, it's not meant to be a practical. It's just a con. ...

[I]t's probably a little unfair to suggest that this whole thing is just a political loss leader for the Republican presidential candidate to get the hateful simpleton vote. I only think that because I'm an old cynic, and John Stemberger is the former political director of the state party, and the party provided the majority of the funding ($300,000) for Florida4Marriage.

"Open, honest answers ... might have averted the panic"

"The panic that led to a run on the Local Government Investment Pool wasn't caused by widespread losses -- the bulk of the state's investments are safe and sound. Cities and counties began pulling their investments because they couldn't get straight answers to basic questions about how the subprime-mortgage crisis was hurting the money they'd entrusted to the state's money managers. Open, honest answers from former State Board of Administration Executive Director Coleman Stipanovich might have averted the panic and saved his job. Reform No. 1 needs to be the addition of transparency, or there's no reason to expect local governments will return to this important investment fund." "Our position: Secrecy was big part of problem with state investment fund".

Shifting political winds

"A new generation of Americanized Cubans has grown up and registered to vote. More recent Cuban exiles are expressing more moderate views than those who fled during Fidel Castro's early years. Even some Cuban Americans who used to toe the hard line are having second thoughts about so many years of U.S. isolation that has yet to topple Castro's regime." "Little Havana's political winds are shifting".

Fickle GOPers

"Six weeks from Florida's presidential primary, Republican voters are seeing that pattern played out. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found a wide open contest with former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani leading at only 30 percent. Twenty percent of the respondents did not identify a favorite or don't plan to vote and 59 percent were 'very' or 'somewhat' likely to change their minds." "Swing voters still up for grabs".

Portability

"If voters approve a property-tax amendment Jan. 29, Maloney and other Florida homeowners could transport the tax savings they now get on their homes to their next address." "Keep tax break when moving to new home?".

'Sters

"The endangered mussels are dying. Salt water parches the tupelo trees bees use to make honey. And the commercial shrimp harvest has faded along with many of the once-rich oyster banks where Bruce Rotella has scraped and scrapped a living for three decades. Video Available" "Water crisis threatens Apalachicola oysters".

"Fluff and spin"

The Palm Beach Post editors: "Nine days ago, The Post published a commentary by an assistant deputy secretary of the U.S. Interior Department. Kameran Onley wanted to rebut a Nov. 30 editorial criticizing the Bush administration for its failure to keep the federal government's deal with Florida on Everglades restoration. But Ms. Onley offered fluff and spin, not answers." "Still no case that Bush is Everglades 'partner'".

Sweet irony

"Cities near the Seminole reservation and casinos are worried that property will disappear from their tax rolls as the tribe, flush with cash, seeks to acquire more tracts and turn them into trust land." "Cities worry about losing land as Seminoles buy property".

Off topic

"Lieberman Endorses McCain".

One man's terrorist ...

The Sun-Sentinel editors write that "the poor handling of the Luis Posada Carriles case makes America look like a country talking out of both sides of its mouth, and that looking the other way is counterproductive to the goal of a democratic Cuba."

Right now, Posada is walking freely in Miami. A federal judge released him from detention on immigration-related charges.

What about the airliner bombing? Who knows?

Federal prosecutors don't appear to be building a case. In fact, the Bush administration has not shown much interest in the issue ... In not aggressively pursuing the truth in this case, the message sent is that it is only terrorism when people do bad things to governments we like.

Water war

"Crist turns diplomat today when he hosts the governors of Alabama and Georgia in hopes of putting an end to a tri-state water war." "Crist hopes to end stalemate in tri-state water war".

Livin' large

"Some involved in an international scandal live large in Florida." "Politically connected Venezuelans live high life".

Giuliani, once the hands-down GOP presidential front-runner in Florida, delivered a repackaged campaign speech that evoked his post-Sept. 11 accomplishments in an attempt to rekindle voters' affection for the former New York City mayor.

Although Giuliani's campaign staff touted the debut of his "Tested. Ready. Now" speech as a new message, it included much of the same talk heard previously on the political trail. But it had a few new elements, anchored by an optimistic tone, even as at least one recent poll showed Giuliani's popularity waning in the Sunshine State.

Yet "another indicator of the state's slumping economy"

"Florida's public school enrollment dropped by nearly 8,000 students compared with last year, another indicator of the state's slumping economy." "Florida school attendance drops for 2nd straight year".

"Troubled securities lurk in the state's own funds"

"As Florida tries to restore calm to its investments for local governments, the same troubled securities lurk in the state's own funds, particularly those used to pay hurricane claims. A review of public records shows both Citizens Property Insurance and the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund have another $1.5 billion in troubled mortgage-backed investments managed for them by the state, under names like Countrywide and Citigroup." "State has its own securities headache".

It was all about vouchers? Who knew?

"Students take the FCAT, but the test - as Florida has come to use it - isn't really about students. The state uses it to assign school grades, which are a Jeb Bush brainstorm originally intended as a means to provide vouchers to private schools. " "Post-Jeb FCAT reform".

That's our Mel

The Orlando Sentinel editorial board issues rare criticism of their beloved Mel, writing that "in passing its farm bill, the Senate rejected the most promising alternative, from Republican Richard Lugar. It would have replaced subsidies with insurance for farmers who truly need help. Florida's senators split on the proposal: Democrat Bill Nelson voted for reform, and Republican Mel Martinez voted for the status quo." "Our position: U.S. senators, including Martinez, should have OK'd improved farm bill".

Meanwhile, "With GOP burden lifted, Martinez focuses on Senate".

"80 percent increase in deaths from child abuse"

"Officials are attributing an 80 percent increase in deaths from child abuse and neglect in Florida last year mainly to changes in reporting criteria including the addition of drowning victims." "More child deaths being attributed to abuse, neglect in Florida".

Immigrant bashing

The Palm Beach Post editors: "It took uncommon courage for public officials and community do-gooders to come together in Jupiter and create a day labor center for immigrants. Apparently, it will take even more courage to keep the center going, because some cowards want to close it down."

El Sol, Jupiter's Neighborhood Resource Center opened 15 months ago in response to complaints about immigrants soliciting day jobs on busy Jupiter streets. Against all odds, the center has succeeded. Workers and employers have a place to meet, and the center has provided English classes and services to hundreds of immigrants - most of them illegal. Jupiter residents have seen their gutsy, creative government deal with a problem that Washington created and still won't face.

Given that success, it probably was inevitable that El Sol would find itself in the cross hairs of the xenophobic demagogues who can't get enough of Tom Tancredo and CNN's Lou Dobbs. Last Saturday, about 20 protesters picketed El Sol and harassed people who were trying to use it. Police arrested a man who came to hire workers; he got into a shoving match with a protester from Pompano Beach who was filming him with a video camera.

"Fun with numbers"

"The savings from the property tax amendment headed to voters on Jan. 29 is $9.3 billion over five years. That's the latest number from frazzled state economists. But the fun with numbers is just beginning." "Fuzzy math".

Go-to-guy

"The new Man To Call is Bob Milligan, the retired three-star Marine general who served as state controller from 1995 until 2003, then came back to public service this year under Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink as Florida's insurance consumer advocate. That job will have to wait. Last week, Ms. Sink, Gov. Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum chose Gen. Milligan to be interim director of the Local Government Investment Pool." "General's new assignment".

A little history . . .

Randy Schultz: "In 1982, Mr. Reagan signed a bill that allowed savings and loans to get into the same high-flying ventures as banks. No longer did these "thrifts" face such outdated rules as having enough assets on hand to balance the risk from loans."

Here, though, was the big part: The public paid for it. The legislation, named for a Democratic House member and a Republican senator and passing with big bipartisan support, raised the limit on federally guaranteed savings-and-loan deposits from $40,000 to $100,000. Mr. Reagan said the country "hit the jackpot."

Very soon, Mr. Reagan was right - for a few people. Owners of savings and loans that began as strip mall-sized operations began doing big real-estate deals and paying depositors unheard-of returns. A few killjoys wondered whether the numbers added up. They didn't.

In state after state, con men bilked depositors who handed over their money believing that good times couldn't end. The agency that bailed out depositors was broke by the middle of the decade. In 1989, after hardly mentioning the crisis during his campaign, President George Herbert Walker Bush signed a savings-and-loan bailout - remember all those guaranteed deposits? - for $183 billion, plus interest that could triple the cost.

One year later, the U.S. went into the recession that cost Mr. Bush his reelection. For Florida, it was the last real-estate recession until this one, which is more like a depression.

Flip-flop

Can you imagine John Kerry having done this:

On Cuba, Huckabee did a complete U-turn from his position in 2002, when he urged President Bush to lift the embargo. Bolstering the rap that he's a know-nothing on foreign policy, he said Monday: ``I really wasn't that aware of a lot of the issues that exist between Cuba and the United States. Being in Arkansas, it's not something that there's a close proximity on. . . I would call it the simple reality that I'm running for president of the United States, not for re-election as governor of Arkansas.''

Fees

"With more property-tax changes possible next month, many Central Florida cities are trying to find new ways to drum up revenue, and new fire taxes seem to fit the bill. But one local property appraiser questions whether the fees are legal and is asking the state to weigh in. Such fees would be based on something other than property values and would be exempt from recent caps imposed by the state Legislature." "Florida cities study fees to replenish property-tax losses".

Whatever

"Mary Bono, who was married to late singer-turned-politician Sonny Bono and replaced him in Congress after his death, has married U.S. Rep. Connie Mack." "Reps. Connie Mack and Mary Bono marry in private ceremony".

Who does it help?

"With a same-sex marriage ban all but certain to share ballot space with presidential candidates in Florida next year, Democrats and Republicans are trying to sort out which side the measure helps. Conventional wisdom says Republicans. But some election analysts say the issue may not be the magnet it once was for social conservatives." "Same-sex marriage and property taxes headed for the ballot".

Florida's wingnuts find their candidate

A new Rasmussen poll has Huckabee ahead in Florida. Is this the man Florida wingnuts can coalesce behind? Yes, he is.

"Huckabee, who attributes his rise in the polls to divine intervention, cloaks his conservative social values in a soft blanket of reassuring rhetoric that hides the rough edges. He strongly opposes the constitutional right to an abortion and as governor refused to approve a Medicaid payment for an abortion for a 15-year-old whose stepfather had been charged with incest - even though the payment was required by federal law. He is not just a vocal opponent of gay marriage; he has opposed gays in the military and called homosexuality "an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle.' The narrow-mindedness extends beyond abortion and gay rights. As an unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate in 1992, Huckabee advocated isolating AIDS patients from the general public and has not retracted that statement. In that same campaign, he opposed using women in combat or giving workers unpaid time off for the birth of a child or health issues - a year before Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act. He still supports teaching creationism in the public schools. ... For months, Huckabee was the nice guy to the side of the Republican stage who lost more than 100 pounds, played bass guitar and relied on his preaching skills to tell a good story. Now he has moved to the front in Iowa and opened campaign offices in Florida. Serious candidates for president require closer scrutiny, and Huckabee's record in Arkansas, an overt mix of religion in government policy and a fuzzy vision for the country's role in the world raise serious questions about his fitness for the White House." "The real Mike Huckabee".

"Battle lines" forming on tax reform

"The battle lines have been drawn once again on the future of Florida's sales tax system, and they look very familiar."

On one side is John McKay, a Bradenton real estate broker and former Senate president who has argued for years that Florida's sales tax base is much too narrow for such a big state.

On the other side are many of the same business interests who have fought McKay in the past, mobilizing once more to stop him and his allies in their tracks. They say taxing services or closing exemptions would shift a bigger chunk of the sales tax burden to businesses, put Florida at a competitive disadvantage with neighboring states and create a bureaucratic nightmare.

The battleground for these clashing forces is the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, a panel of 25 prominent citizens formed every two decades to comprehensively study the state's tax system. McKay, a Republican who served as Senate president from 2000 to 2002, is one of its members.

McCain turns over a rock ... and Al Hoffman slithers out

"If southeast Florida developer Al Hoffman, one of the most elite and courted Republican fundraisers in America, only bet on winners, John McCain would seem an unlikely horse to back in the presidential race. But perhaps rumors of Sen. McCain's demise have been exaggerated, because Hoffman has cut short his ambassadorship to Portugal so that he can help out McCain's presidential campaign. It's a huge coup for McCain." "Top moneyman goes to work for McCain".

"Speak up, Charlie"

The Tampa Trib editors:

Crist, the self-proclaimed "people's governor," says he believes in open government.

Yet he's not talking about a $491 million deal the state secretly struck with CSX Transportation that will benefit the railroad and the Orlando area but could adversely affect much of Polk County and communities from Plant City to Alachua.

The deal was negotiated in secret, without the knowledge of many state and local lawmakers. People whisper it's a done deal, but it will come up for final review during next year's legislative session.

So Crist still has time to prove his open-government bonafides. It's scandalous that people who deserve a say in the matter were not given the opportunity. Yet so far, Crist has ignored a large bloc of Central Florida voters and lawmakers who feel railroaded.

Does this deal represent good government? Speak up, Charlie.

Jebbites ain't on board

"The same conservatives who relished their role during Bush's era have been silent or even hostile toward the property tax cuts pushed by Gov. Charlie Crist this year, potentially the biggest in state history."

Their support grows more critical as a Jan. 29 referendum on a property tax cut nears. To pass, the tax cuts must win 60 percent of the vote.

That plan would allow residents to keep accrued Save Our Homes tax savings if they move and get a near doubling of the $25,000 homestead exemption. Businesses would get a $25,000 exemption on property such as office equipment as well as a promise of a 10 percent limit on future annual assessment increases that would also apply to part-time residents.

The hostility from some Republican leaders to the tax proposal comes at a time when Crist is actively campaigning for its passage and when Floridians, in a recent poll, rated property taxes as their No. 1 concern.

Indeed, Florida residents said that rising property taxes have been a greater onus than hurricane insurance, $3-plus a gallon gasoline or even their credit card debt.

If approved, the proposal would cut taxes $9 billion over five years and would follow another tax cut already in place that forced local governments to cut $2 billion in property taxes just this year.

Yet instead of embracing the cut, as they did under former Gov. Bush, conservative Republicans have become unlikely allies with groups such as the Florida Education Association against the plan.

House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, bitterly said the Jan. 29 referendum will do little to help taxpayers. Heralded by Bush as his ideological successor, Rubio has heartily endorsed a number of other plans, including the Cut Property Taxes Now constitutional amendment that would cap all property taxes at 1.35 percent of assessed value.

That group's Web site mocks Gov. Crist's vow that taxes would "drop like a rock," calling the claim "empty promises."

Similarly, the most recent quarterly journal of the James Madison Institute, Tallahassee's pre-eminent conservative think tank, features a cover photo of a large rock ready to crush a Florida home with a fake For Sale sign that reads, "Re/Tax."

Rep. Frank Attkisson, R-Kissimmee, is among the most conservative House members. He said that the cuts during Bush's tenure reflected a philosophical victory lap for conservatives eager to shrink government.

Another one

"A new lawsuit challenges existing and proposed state property tax laws, alleging they discriminate against recent homeowners. The case concerns top policymakers because it seeks to unravel a popular tax cap enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of Floridians. Attorneys from Alabama and Florida have been trying for months to eliminate the Save Our Homes tax cap that only permanent Florida residents enjoy. They have been blocked in lower courts, but are back at it again." "New lawsuit alleges Florida's property tax laws hurt recent buyers".