"There's a lot of concern out there that this isn't really about the courts. That this is about redistricting and this is about trying to make things happen before redistricting," said Rep. Richard Steinberg, D-Miami Beach.

Cannon's proposals include expanding the current seven-member Supreme Court into two five-justice divisions, one for civil cases and one for criminal. That change will require a constitutional amendment approved by 60 percent of Florida voters.

As written, HJR 7111 could go before voters as soon as Florida's presidential primary, scheduled for Jan. 31, 2012.

New voting district lines — developed every 10 years — are scheduled to be drawn by lawmakers in early 2012, followed by a Supreme Court review of the proposals.

If voters approve Cannon's measure in a primary election, Gov. Rick Scott would then have three appointees on a remade court that will play a definitive role in redistricting — a significant concern for Democrats.

"Slashing funding for classrooms"

"Both the Republican-led House and Senate budgets make about $4 billion in spending cuts by slashing funding for classrooms, raising tuition at state colleges and reshaping the $21 billion Medicaid health-care program for the poor." "Florida schools, health care face about $4 billion in cuts as protesters gather".

Budget blues

"Setting up tough negotiations for the next four weeks, the House and Senate on Thursday voted out competing spending plans. Both the House and Senate versions of the budget eliminate state jobs and are expected to cause layoffs." "House, Senate budgets differ".

"The state House and Senate pass budgets with deep cuts for schools and health care. Neither includes corporate income tax and property tax cuts proposed by Gov. Rick Scott." "Senate, House approve budgets". See also "State House, Senate pass differing budget bills". More: "Florida House Passes $66.5 Billion Initial Budget" and "Florida Senate Passes $69.8 Billion Budget".

Today in Tally

"A controversial bill that would deregulate 20 professions passed the House on Thursday by a 77-38 vote. ... Senate bill nixes SunPass discount ... Sexting measure creeps along ... A House plan to end tenure in state colleges could be dead." "THE STATE REPORT".

"The Florida Senate is not scheduled to meet at all. Several committees will take up bills in the House, including a proposal to broaden the criteria to qualify for a school-voucher program." "Today in Tallahassee: Pace slows, vouchers get a hearing".

Never mind the Constitution

"School classes will get bigger under bills approved Thursday by the state legislature. Republican lawmakers said the measures will give school districts flexibility implementing class-size limits set in a 2002 constitutional amendment, removing the limits from hundreds of subjects and allowing them to sometimes go over the limits in the classes still included." "Lawmakers OK higher class sizes for hundreds of classes".

"A complete, certifiable, illiterate dimwit"

Daniel Ruth: "First, let's dispense with the obvious issue. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, including the freedom to publicly proclaim that one is a complete, certifiable, illiterate dimwit."

Shttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifo it was perfectly appropriate for U.S. District Judge John Antoon to rule that it was unconstitutional for the Florida Legislature to decide which groups, such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans, should be permitted to have their own specialty vanity license plate. But it must be noted that wanting to promote one's ignorance about the Civil War is a rather perverse definition of vanity.

In a state with hardly the most sterling record of race relations, this went over about as well as having an Andrew Jackson Trail of Tears license plate created just for American Indian reservations.

Even the Florida Legislature, which has never been averse to exposing itself as a carpetbag of special interests, found a license plate honoring the stain of slavery about as misguided as creating a University of Georgia Bulldog Day and allowed the bill to die.

But because of Antoon's ruling, based on the same U.S. Constitution that Jefferson Davis would have used to line a birdcage, the "Confederate Heritage" plate could be coming to a pickup near you.

The timing couldn't be more ominous.

"Pink slip Rick!"

"Hundreds of union members and unemployed workers flooded the Capitol Thursday, protesting Gov. Rick Scott with chants of 'Pink slip Rick!'." "Union, Unemployed Workers Hold 'Pink Slip' Protest of Gov. Rick Scott".

Hiding homeless people

"Florida bill would crack down on panhandling".

Scott mothballs programs

"Pushing back on Gov. Rick Scott’s decision to mothball a handful of programs housed within his office, some members of the Florida Senate on Thursday told the governor in no uncertain terms that he has other responsibilities than just bringing jobs to the state." "Senators Quibble With Rick Scott on Office Reorganization Issues".

Pension deform

"The Florida House passed a reform measure to newly hired state employees' pensions Thursday, backing the measure on a 78-to-39 party lines vote. The initial measure called for a 5 percent contribution, but the new version requires a 3 percent contribution. The bill that passed the House, which has the support of Gov. Rick Scott, would also terminate the state Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) for new workers and would raise the retirement age from 62 to 65." "House Backs State Employees' Pension Reform on Party Lines Vote".

Form over substance

"Senate plan would slash university system chancellor's salary".

Wingnut wet dream: Schools without teachers

"A pair of lawmakers and former Gov. Jeb Bush’s foundation are pushing to allow private providers offer online classes. Starting next year at least one online course would be required to graduate from high school." "Lawmakers push for private online education". See also "Expand 'virtual' schools, say lawmakers".

Hawkes, Ross ... a delightful couple

"Lawyers for a Lakeland firefighter have asked the Florida Supreme Court to step into yet another decision made by the 1st District Court of Appeal in a case heard while the appeals court was building a controversial $50 million courthouse."

Firefighter David Bivens and the city of Lakeland had appealed a lower court decision in 2008. The 1st District Court, in a decision written by Judge Paul Hawkes, refused to approve workers compensation medical benefits for Bivens.

Lakeland was represented by Dennis Ross, a Lakeland lawyer who was a member of the state House of Representatives at the time. Ross has since been elected to the U.S. House.

Ross is the connection between the Bivens case and the much-criticized "Taj Mahal" courthouse.

The appeals court judges named Ross as one of several "heroes" who greatly assisted the court in its lobbying efforts, in part because of his help in getting money for the new courthouse.

Geoffrey Bichler, the Maitland lawyer representing Bivens, contends that the court ignored evidence presented in the case and should have disclosed the relationship between the judges and Ross.

Keep your hands off my fertilizer ban

"Lawmakers change bill to allow Pinellas County sales ban on nitrogen fertilizers".

When you've lost the Trib editors ...

... you're in trouble, if you're a merit pay lapdog, that is.

The Tampa Trib editors: "Florida Gov. Rick Scott and members of the Legislature have been patting themselves on the back for quickly adopting legislation to evaluate teachers based on student test scores."

Although the right wing Trib editorial board

long supported merit pay — rewarding teachers for performance, rather than seniority. But while the legislation's goals are correct, the measure reflects the arrogant "Tallahassee knows best" attitude that prevails in the Legislature these days.

Rather than establishing broad goals and letting local school districts devise a merit-pay system that works best for them, Scott and lawmakers insisted on a state-controlled system that values student test results above all.

The potential dangers of this test-score obsession can be seen in Washington, D.C., where an investigation by USA Today reporters Jack Gillum and Marisol Bello found widespread irregularities in school test scores. The head of Washington public schools has requested an investigation.

USA Today reports, for instance, in 2006 only 10 percent of students in S. Noyes Education Campus scored "proficient" or "advanced" in math on standardized tests. Two years later, 58 percent achieved that designation.

How long until Florida's knuckle-draggers go after emails?

Bill Maxwell: "Now we turn to Florida, where the GOP rules, where Gov. Rick Scott has shunned the universities and has turned to conservative think tanks for advice and policies."

According to a St. Petersburg Times article, Scott has aligned himself most notably with the Cato Institute, Reason Foundation and Heritage Foundation [as well as the knuckle-draggers at Florida's own, bizarrely named James Madison Institute*].

How long, then, will it be before Scott and his think tank advisers start going after the e-mails of Florida professors with whom they disagree

"And they ought to know"

"Republicans pushing for changes in the state’s health insurance program for its employees have complained the state may be spending too much money for a program that is out of line with what private companies offer. And they ought to know." "Who gets cheap health insurance? The Florida Legislature".

Dereg madness cools down a bit

"Florida House passes bills eliminating, reducing state licensing requirements for professions".

Gamblin'

"Florida bills may slow dog racing, boost other gambling".

That's our Haley ...

"Likely presidential candidate Barbour visits Tallahassee".

One suspects Mr. Barbour won't be talking about race issues. See "Barbour Praises Civil Rights-Era White Supremacist Citizens Councils". See also "Why Haley Barbour whitewashes history".

The Senate budget is $700 million less than the current budget, but $4 billion over the budget recommended by Gov. Rick Scott. It incorporates several of Scott’s suggestions for consolidating state agencies, but senators also added amendments Wednesday that change Scott’s preferences for agencies under his own office. ...

Florida's Medicaid program, which is funded at $20 billion this year, taking up nearly 30 percent of the state budget, is in line for an overhaul in separate legislation tracking through the Senate. It also received $1 billion in cuts Wednesday.

The majority of the cuts came in the form of slashing the Medically Needy program, which provides medical services for those who would not otherwise qualify for Medicaid, but whose medical condition causes financial strain. Patients in the program who currently receive benefits like eyeglasses and hearing aids would only receive funds for simple physician care.

Today in Tally

"Today in Tallahassee: House, Senate votes on budgets".

Cannon reworks court packing scheme

"House Speaker Dean Cannon overhauled his proposal for court reform amid criticism from judges, lawyers and other lawmakers." "Cannon waters down proposal to reform court".

RPOFers raiding Pensions

Update: "The Florida Senate is poised to pass a pension plan today that would set escalating rates for public employees as they earn more and postpone the demise of the Deferred Retirement Option Plan." "Fla. Senate to vote today on pensions".

"Bowing to the demands of both Democratic and Republican senators, the Florida Senate did another turnabout on its plan to overhaul the state pension plan."

The Senate on Wednesday voted to do away with a proposal in SB 2100 that would have required 655,000 teachers, state workers and firefighters to contribute 3 percent of their salary to the state pension plan.

Senators instead opted for a proposal offered by Sen. Charlie Dean, R-Inverness, to stagger the contribution amount based on how much an employee earns annually. Employees would pay 2 percent on their first $25,000 worth of salary, 4 percent on anything earned between $25,001 and $50,000 and 6 percent on any salary above $50,000.

The average state worker earns roughly $38,000 and under the new Senate plan they would pay $1,020 a year for their pension.

Senators didn't stop there. They removed a provision that would have extended the retirement age from 55 to 62 for firefighters, police officers and others in the special risk class. They also agreed to delay for five years the closing of the alternative retirement program known as the Deferred Retirement Option Program. Additionally, the new pension plan would only require high-paying state workers and elected officials who are hired or elected past July 1 to enroll in a 401 (k) styled private pension plan. New hires would have to work for 10 years before they would be vested in the state pension plan.

PIP fraud

"PIP Fraud a Threat to Florida Consumers".

Medicaid deform

"Inching toward agreement on a Medicaid overhaul, a Senate committee Wednesday eliminated a proposal that would have required HMOs to spend 90 percent of the money they receive on patient care. Instead, the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee approved a profit-sharing plan backed by the managed-care industry." "Senate Moves Closer to House on Medicaid HMO Profits".

Yet more from the "values" crowd

"Historic Wakulla Springs State Park lodge could close under budget proposals".

It’s not easy being David Rivera

"It’s not easy policing the image of a member of Congress — especially when your boss is Rep. David Rivera, the Florida Republican freshman beset by so many public controversies that Majority Leader Eric Cantor declined to meet with him when he visited Miami last month."

So, on March 16 at 6:40 p.m., a Wikipedia editor with the handle “Lmveiga” decided to do some maintenance to Rivera’s Wikipedia page. First, Lmveiga removed a précis of the congressman’s legislative career, replacing it with a six-point list of “Rivera’s Legislative Accomplishments,” taken directly from his campaign website.

Then, Lmveiga removed the entire “controversies” section.

The deleted text included accusations that a David M. Rivera was named as the defendant in a domestic abuse case in 1994 (both the congressman and the victim have said he was not the defendant named.) The entry also included an allegation that Rivera was involved in a 2002 traffic accident with a truck that was moments from delivering fliers detailing the domestic abuse case. (Rivera said he was meeting the truck to pick up his own fliers.) The section also said Rivera amended his state financial disclosure forms after one of his primary listed sources of income, USAID, said it had no record of working with him. (Rivera said he had worked for subcontractors to whom he had promised anonymity.) And it said state law enforcement agencies were investigating $500,000 in payments to Rivera’s mother for work with a dog track for which Rivera, then a state lawmaker, had lobbied.

Wikipedia editors quickly restored the controversies section. And “Lmveiga” again deleted it.

Lmveiga is the twitter handle of Rivera’s press secretary, Leslie Veiga.

Obama's Q poll numbers

"President Barack Obama has some work to do with Florida voters if he hopes to win the state's 29 electoral votes next year, a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday shows."

Slightly more than half of registered voters said they disapprove of the job Obama is doing and that he doesn't deserve a second term, according to a random telephone survey of 1,499 registered voters March 29 to April 4.

While 52 percent of Florida voters disapprove of Obama's job performance, 44 percent approve, the poll found. Only 42 percent favor a second Obama term, compared to 51 percent who do not.

The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points, also shows any unnamed Republican challenger would be in a dead heat with the president.

But there was a bit of a silver lining for Obama, pollster Peter Brown noted.

"Despite questions about his policies, the president is personally popular with Floridians," Brown said, noting that 70 percent responded they like Obama personally, a figure that included 30 percent who disagree with Obama's policies. Obama carried Florida in 2008 by nearly 250,000 votes over Republican John McCain.

Florida a "sponge" state

"Florida ranks in the middle of the pack when it comes to how much money it gets back from the federal government, a new analysis done by the Daily Beast shows. The analysis shows that between 2007 and 2009 Floridians paid $126.99 billion in federal taxes but during the same time period the state got back $157.24 billion." "Analysis contends Florida gets more federal tax dollars back than it sends to DC"

Funny how Red states tend to be subsidized by blue states: "out of the 10 states that have benefited most from federal money since 2007, seven sent their electoral votes to John McCain in 2008."

RJ Eskow puts it this way:

Southern states have been benefiting from Northern taxes for years. If they start another War Between the States, the Federal gravy train might suddenly stop at the Mason-Dixon line.

Studies by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation have consistently shown that these Senators' states receive far more from the Federal government than they pay back in taxes. That's an irony that could lead to some Blue State bitterness: They love to preach about fiscal responsibility and lower taxes, but they keep dipping their beak into the Federal trough.

I believe the applicable Southern phrase is "a handful of gimme and a mouthful of much obliged."

Legislators resist pension changes, to THEIR pensions

Gary Fineout writes that "lawmakers clashed over a proposal by Sen. Don Gaetz to force all elected officials -- including legislators and judges -- to pay 7 percent a year for their pension costs."

Gaetz argued that if legislators were going to mandate changes they should pay more than rank-and-file employees.

"This Senate will lead from the front, we will lead by example," Gaetz said.

But Gaetz was peppered with questions on how his proposal would impact those who had been enrolled in the Florida Retirement System for many years, and what would happen if someone was not fully vested. Sen. Mike Fasano tried to emphasize that no one ran for public office for the salary, but some senators suggested it was too high since legislators make just under $30,000 [as do many state employees who work a full year]. Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, said he didn't mind paying more as a legislator but he questioned a 7 percent contribution rate for other elected officials such as judges and state attorneys.

Gaetz ultimately withdrew his amendment, but promised to bring it back on Thursday and apply it just to legislators.

Republican political science professor fails

"Rep. John Tobia, a second-term Melbourne Republican, violated the state Constitution by filing incomplete financial disclosure forms over a three-year period of 2007-2009. The Commission on Ethics announced the finding Wednesday against Tobia, 33, a political science professor, who submitted amended fhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giforms in September and agreed to a settlement in the case." "Tobia's disclosures called incomplete".

Never mind

"Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton and chairman of the Senate Committee on Community Affairs, said last week that the 'enviromental community has really gone along with us.' Environmentalists say they support some changes to streamline growth management but that the House and Senate bills go too far." "Environmental groups say Bennett is wrong about their support for his bills".

"Will Judge For Food"

The Palm Beach Post editors: "Scott acted recklessly by waiting to deal with the problem until chief judges were planning how to operate on an emergency basis if the money didn't arrive."

It has been embarrassing to see the third branch of government have to hold a "Will Judge For Food" sign to get attention.

Trump yet to speak to the Posey issue

"Trump said"

he's looked into it and believes "there is a big possibility" Obama may have violated the Constitution.

The little uterus that could

"Democratic state Rep. Scott Randolph couldn't have realized when he uttered the seemingly benign word while making a point on the House floor two weeks ago that he was giving his party new life." "Dems' rally 'round the 'Uterus'". The sensitive Mr. Cannon backtracks: "Dean Cannon: I didn't try to ban use of word 'uterus'".

Background: "The Manchurian Uterus" and "Hey Cannon! Your epidermis is showing!"

Yacht brokers in a tizzy

"Sink bill to deregulate yacht brokerage industry".

"We have met the enemy and he is us"

Fred Grimm writes that we "Gotta have us some enemies. Enemies being ‘bout as necessary to politicking as money."

Judging from the targets of legislation percolating through the Florida Legislature, we’ve got ourselves a passel. Enemies lurk everywhere. And, oh my, retribution looks like a fast train coming (but not of the bullet kind).

Public school teachers, known saboteurs of our American way of life, were at the top of the hit list. Lawmakers this session worked quickly, yanking away tenure and tying pay raises to a new array of test scores, though without bothering to fund those mythical raises. ...

It must be a struggle for dutiful legislators just keeping track of who to punish: teachers, judges, foster children, environmentalists, state workers, prison guards, probation officers, the mentally disabled, school kids, immigrants, college students, school board members, nosy doctors, the poor (especially if they’re sick), state regulators.

So many adversaries. It’s as if the wild and vengeful 2011 Legislature has adopted the old Pogo observation as the state motto: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Slowing down privatization

"On the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, scored a partial victory on the issue of expanding privatization of the state prison system. By a voice vote, senators voted to eliminate language that would privatize probation services in an 18-county region of South Florida, from the Keys to Bradenton." "Fasano closer on jail privatization".

"Judicial Workload Incentive Plan"

Steve Otto's "favorite idea of the week comes from Republican Senator J.D. Alexander of Lake Wales"

who also happens to be the budget chairman.

His plan would be to give trial judges bonus money, adding up to as much as $12,000 a judge for speeding up the process and moving trials along a little faster. He calls it the "Judicial Workload Incentive Plan.''

Maybe you understand it. I always figured judges, like most everyone else, worked about as hard as they could to get a job done. Trial judges in Florida earn around $145,000, which ought to be incentive enough. Of course at the same time as Alexander is trying to push this thing through, prosecutors and public defenders are facing budget cuts of around six percent, which is only going to slow the process down even more.

Would you want to be charged with a crime in Florida and find yourself facing a judge who stands to make a few extra thousand dollars by getting your shot at justice made by someone who doesn't have time to read all that paperwork about your case? Good luck.

White collar crooks look to catch a break from RPOFers

"Florida's decades-old, tough-on-crime laws may have helped cut the crime rate, but legislators now say such policies put too great a burden on taxpayers and are too harsh, especially for drug addicts."

The backswing of the public safety pendulum in the Capitol mirrors a conservative national reassessment of sentencing policies known as Right on Crime, led by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist.

In Florida, Republican legislators want to eliminate minimum mandatory sentences for nonviolent offenders — mostly for drug abuse. Among their arguments is the epidemic of prescription drug abuse at storefront clinics known as "pill mills."

"We have an awful lot of people out there who are simply drug addicts who need assistance. We need to figure that out," said Republican Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale. "I'm just trying to make sure that drug addicts get help, and drug traffickers go to jail."

But Gov. Rick Scott opposes any changes in sentencing laws that would keep some people out of prison.

"I don't want to change any of the sentencing guidelines," Scott said. "I think where we are is fine, and it's what's fair if someone commits a crime."

Run on bulldozers

"Among other things, the critics say, the measures speeding through the House and Senate (HB 7129 and SB 1122) would radically shrink the Department of Community Affairs in size and authority, make it more difficult to challenge development plans, and allow local government to let developers off the hook when it comes to helping to foot the bill for adequate roads, schools and parks." "Critics say lawmakers had bulldozing day".

The unregulated flock to "gusher of raw sewage"

"Gusher of raw sewage explodes onto streets".

More from the "values" crowd

"People who care for the developmentally disabled say their clients and family members risk losing critical services in the biggest budget cuts they've faced in two decades. ... The money is for home and community services for people with autism, Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy and other disabilities, to keep them out of institutions." "Cuts concern advocates for developmentally disabled".

Foreclosure court lawsuit

"The American Civil Liberties Union is filing court papers Thursday asking a state appellate court to review the procedures used in foreclosure courts covering southwest Florida." "ACLU challenges Fla. foreclosure courts". Meanwhile, "In era of foreclosure sales, sellers still slashing prices" and "Foreclosures drive the market".

Wingnuts go after LeMieux

Sorry, George, but this is your Republican Party: "Hasner slams LeMieux, calls him untrustworthy and a 'Charlie Crist Republican'".

Dennis Ross, R-Fla., embarrasses himself

"At a congressional hearing last month, Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., said the average federal worker earns $101,628 in total compensation - including wages and benefits- compared with $60,000 for the average private employee. He was citing data from the federal Office of Personnel Management."

"Our taxpayers can no longer be asked to foot the bill for these federal employees while watching their own salaries remain flat and their benefits erode," said Ross, chairman of the House Oversight subcommittee on the federal work force.

But federal employee advocates claim a straight-up comparison of average total compensation is misleading. A disproportionate number of federal employees are professionals, such as managers, lawyers, engineers and scientists. Over the years, the federal government has steadily outsourced lower-paying jobs to the private sector so that blue-collar workers cooking meals or working in mailrooms now make up just 10 percent of federal employees.

That argument is backed up by a 2002 study of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. It found that federal salaries for most professional and administrative jobs lagged well behind compensation offered in the private sector.

DWS

"As DNC chairwoman, she will be expected to fight not only against Obama's Republican opponents, but against GOP congressional candidates."

This could cause her some conflict. In 2008, she did not campaign against Republican U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami because of her friendship with them.

"Influential developer and lobbyist" gives up post

"Influential Miami developer and lobbyist Rodney Barreto is stepping down as chairman of a small but powerful commission that oversees fish and wildlife statewide." "Barreto to step down from state post".

Cuban entrepreneurs

"The Washington-based Cuba Study group and several nonprofits on Thursday will lay out proposal including websites to match independent Cuban businesses with donors, and programs to allow people in the U.S. to take out loans on behalf of relatives on the island." "Experts seek to help Cuban entrepreneurs".

Only 35 percent voters give the Republican newcomer a positive job-approval rating, according to the survey of 1,499 Florida registered voters conducted by Quinnipiac University.

The reasons for Scott's popularity problems are varied: an economy on life support, power scuffles with lawmakers from his own party, a newly energized left that deeply dislikes him and a hard-right governing style that seems to estrange middle-of-the-road independent voters who swing elections.

"Today, Scott is a four-letter word to many Florida voters, but political popularity can change with time," Quinnipiac pollster Peter A. Brown said.

"Lawmakers accelerating Florida's decline into mediocrity"

Update: "Budget cuts to dominate Legislature".

The Saint Petersburg Times editorial board: "The separate state budget plans that the Florida House and Senate will start debating today are shortsighted and irresponsible in every respect. Instead of investing in Florida’s future, lawmakers are accelerating a decline into mediocrity." "Irresponsible budget plans".

Pension battle

"Pension debate to get heated again during Senate floor action today".

"Hey Cannon! Your epidermis is showing!"

Update - Cannon relents on the "U" word: "Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, has garnered a national media audience since he was scolded last week for suggesting his wife should 'incorporate her uterus' to get Republican legislators to leave her alone."

Randolph used the phrase during a House floor debate on a union bill and said he was challenging Republicans like Cannon to stay true to their stated beliefs about relaxing regulations. Randolph suggested they start by not adding new ones to his wife's uterus, a reference to the 10 anti-abortion bills moving through Tallahassee.

He said House Republican leaders later sought him out, telling him not to use the word without first warning those who might be offended. ...

Randolph said he was in fact told through his party's leadership that Cannon's office was unhappy with the use of the word. He also refuted the speaker's claim that he was ineffective as part of a minority-party with less than one-third of the 120 seats in the House. The GOP has an 82-38 majority in the chamber, which allows Republicans to steamroll whatever they want through the chamber.

"I think I'm the most effective at calling out their radical agenda," Randolph said. "A Legislature that is bought and sold by the Florida Chamber of Commerce will not let us pass bills that effectively protect the middle-class and effectively protect women from their radical agenda."

It's a pretty common word when talking about reproductive rights — one that probably wouldn't even make your average middle-schooler giggle.

And yet it set off a firestorm in Tallahassee.

House Republicans sent word to Randolph, a Democrat from Orlando, that he should no longer say the word without first warning those who might be offended.

"Actually, they said I was no longer allowed to say any body parts," Randolph said.

Holy fallopian tubes, Batman.

Here's a good rule of thumb: If you can't say a word, don't try to regulate it.

When I first heard this story, I wondered if perhaps House Speaker Dean Cannon genuinely didn't know what uterus meant.

Maybe he was that kid from second grade who always teared up and ran to hide in the bathroom when some other kid said: "Hey Dean! Your epidermis is showing!"

Today in Tally

"Today in Tallahassee: Budget, budget and Medicaid".

"Make way for Florida, Foghorn Leghorn"

Daniel Ruth: "There is an understandable reason why Florida Republicans are quite correct in insisting the state hold its 2012 presidential primary early in the election cycle, much to the pouting, whiny consternation of Iowa and South Carolina. "

Florida is simply more important to the presidential nomination process than two states populated by Mr. Green Jeans and Foghorn Leghorn.

This may offend Iowa and South Carolina. But really now, who cares?

So while various party fussbudgets in Iowa and South Carolina stomp their feet and hold their breath and ask for their mommies merely because they might lose what precious little influence they have in picking the GOP nominee, Florida Republicans have essentially extended the international hand gesture signifying "have a nice day."

Rail blunder

"States, Amtrak vying for Florida's rejected high-speed train money".

"Scott has a clear conflict of interest"

The Saint Pete Times editors: "Scott has a clear conflict of interest between his public job and his private finances. The controversial policies he is pursuing as governor clearly would benefit the health care company he co-founded and increase the value of his family's investment. Such a blatant example of a public official pushing changes that would financially benefit himself is banned by the federal government and most other states, but in Florida anything goes." "Scott's financial conflict: unethical, legal".

"Immigration Bill Rammed Through Committee"

"After introducing an 11th-hour amendment and taking no testimony from opponents, Senate Judiciary Chairman Anitere Flores on Monday rammed through quick party-line approval of an immigration bill."

Passage of Senate Bill 2040 was immediately hailed by Senate President Mike Haridopolos as "the first significant step in stopping illegal immigration in Florida." Others begged to differ after the panel's hurried vote.

Late amendments created a loophole in what was initially a tight E-Verify bill requiring employers to use the federal database to screen job applicants. The adulterated measure now offers employers the alternative of verifying applicants' driver's licenses.

Though Republicans called the amendment an improvement, the driver's license provision fueled more controversy. An eclectic coalition of immigration advocates and businesses still opposes any state-imposed eligibility requirements, while immigration-control groups seethed over what they called betrayal by GOP leaders.

After the vote, some frustrated attendees in the packed committee room loudly chanted "Let Us Speak," and the panel quickly adjourned.

Gambling bill, except in Orlando

"A reconstituted casino gaming bill emerged Tuesday in the Senate, allowing for a casino to be built in each of five regions of the state, but forbidding casinos in Orlando's tourism havens. It also provides sweeteners to the parimutuel industry." "Bill to expand casino gaming makes headway". See also "Senate Panel Wants All-In on Gambling, Casino Resorts" and "Bill to allow 'destination resort' casinos clears Florida Senate committee".

Voucher madness

"School-choice advocates hailed this week's U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Arizona's tax-credit scholarship program. The 5-4 ruling affirmed a 2002 high court decision for a Cleveland voucher program, and gives added support to the 10-year-old Florida Tax Credit Scholarship (FTC) program which awarded $106 million in private tuition grants to 28,927 last year." "Suddenly, Opportunity to Expand Tax-Credit Scholarship Program?".

Big Tobacco

"Big Tobacco Companies Rally Workers for Taxing Dosal".

RPOFers can't find a candidate

"Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connections to prominent Democrats, unveiled a poll Tuesday that showed that Republican voters in Florida have not found a front-runner in either the race to see who the GOP’s presidential nominee will be or who will emerge to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson." "PPP Poll: No GOP Favorite in Florida Presidential, U.S. Senate Field".

Republicans undermine state minimum wage

"The state’s constitutionally mandated minimum wage would grow at a slower rate under a measure that narrowly passed a House committee Tuesday allowing the state to take into account years in which the cost of living goes down. By a 13-11 vote, the House Finance and Tax Committee approved a bill (HB 1425) that changes the way the state calculates increases in the state’s minimum wage, part of an index that was added to the Florida Constitution in 2004 after being approved by 72 percent of voters." "Minimum Wage Bill Advances in the House".

"Sweeping Florida property insurance changes"

"Sweeping property insurance reform bills that critics deride as a gift to the industry are getting blessed by Florida lawmakers." "Lawmakers move forward with sweeping Florida property insurance changes".

Does DWS have what it takes

It is all well and good that "U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is new DNC chair", but does she have what it takes to do the job?

Remember back in 2008, when Wasserman Schultz said her relationship with Republican Congressional incumbents, Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and his brother Mario, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen precluded her supporting any of their Dem challengers? On top of that, Wasserman Schultz played a leading role in persuading the new Democratic majority to sustain the economic embargo against Cuba, and she apparently established close ties to the staunchly pro-embargo U.S.-Cuba Democracy political action committee. "Enough to make you sick".

School boards are special

"A proposal to scrap salaries for school board members got its first public airing when it was introduced into the Senate's Education Committee. Though the bill — put forth by Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville — did not come up for a vote, it drew a robust audience." "School board pay bill draws protests".

Teabaggers can't find the word "water" in the Constitution

"As environmentalists increasingly sound the alarm over proposed budget cuts for the state's water management districts, Gov. Rick Scott's administration is considering adding a tea party leader to the board of governors of the South Florida Water Management District." "Scott administration interviews tea party leader for South Florida water district".

Trump laff riot

"Stone: Trump sees Florida edge". See also "The Donald to stop by Boca Raton".

Big of him

"Chief Justice Charles Canady and Gov. Rick Scott's office have agreed on a plan to loan money from reserves to Florida's court system to avoid furloughs and curtailing some legal services through May." "Chief justice, Scott agree on Florida court loan". See also "Courts get funding reprieve through end of May".

Trump drinks the tea

"Trump tea-ing off in Florida".

"Incredibly oddly drawn"

"Want a lesson on redistricting? Just take a look at Florida House District 78." "House District 78: A lesson on redistricting".

Video schools

"Bill would expand virtual schools in Florida; educators ask if it lowers standards".

"Scott is precipitating a crisis"

The Saint Pete Times editors: "Scott is precipitating a crisis that will cause the courts to shut down for days in April and May if he does not agree to an emergency $28.5 million loan to cover a shortfall. The governor may not be fond of the courts, but it would be a mistake to force the courthouse doors to close." "Don’t close doors at Florida courthouses".

Big plans

"Martinez, Penelas weighing Miami-Dade mayoral bids".

Poor George

"George LeMieux would not have made it to the U.S. Senate in 2009 but for his long friendship with Charlie Crist, the governor who appointed him to the job after Mel Martinez resigned. Now that LeMieux is running for the Republican Senate nomination in 2012, that long friendship looks like his biggest liability." "LeMieux's Senate hurdle: Crist". See also "Post On Politics: LeMieux enters U.S. Senate race" and "LeMieux enters U.S. Senate race".

Them lawyers use big words

The Orlando Sentinel editors: "Florida legislators who would shake up the state Supreme Court insist it's all about efficiency. And who could be against more efficiency in any part of government?"

But longtime followers of the annual antics in Tallahassee have heard this song and dance before when other politically motivated "reforms" to the high court have been proposed.

In 2000, then-Rep. Dudley Goodlette, a Naples Republican, called for adding two justices to the seven-member court, including a chief justice who would be chosen by the governor. He said his proposal would help the court keep up with a steady increase in its workload — his own efficiency argument.

But Goodlette unveiled his proposal soon after a Tallahassee circuit judge riled GOP lawmakers by striking down a statewide school voucher plan from then-Gov. Jeb Bush. A senator at the time, South Florida Democrat Walter "Skip" Campbell, called the proposal "an attempt to intimidate the courts." It failed to pass.

In 2001, legislators again targeted the Supreme Court for an extreme makeover. That was just weeks after its 4-3 ruling in favor of Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore in his battle over election results with Republican nominee George W. Bush.

Legislators discussed expanding the high court from seven to nine justices to give Jeb Bush two new appointments. They also considered creating a separate court to handle criminal appeals.

This year, House Speaker Dean Cannon, a Winter Park Republican, has proposed dividing the Supreme Court into separate criminal and civil branches. Cannon has said this reorganization would mean death penalty cases — a small part of the high court's caseload, but a majority of its workload — would be turned over to a panel with special expertise to prevent civil cases from backing up.

But the speaker's plan also would create three new justices for Republican Gov. Rick Scott to appoint. And it would likely exile the three senior justices on the current court, all chosen by former Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles, to the criminal panel.

Cannon's proposal came after the Supreme Court struck from last year's ballot three constitutional amendments proposed by the Legislature. One would have undercut two citizen-proposed amendments to clean up the Legislature's process for drawing legislative and congressional districts. Cannon personally made the case before the court to keep the Legislature's amendment on the ballot, but was rebuffed in a 5-2 ruling. He blasted the decision in his first speech as speaker.

Net tax

"The Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee voted 5-1 to allow Florida to join with 20 other states in a compact that will make it easier for businesses to impose Florida sales tax on goods sold to Floridians online." "Bill to broaden sales tax advhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifances".

Oops!

"Damages from legal advice that led to Sunshine Law violations and the breakup of the merger between Bert Fish Medical Center and Adventist Health System could reach into the tens of millions of dollars, an attorney said Tuesday night. The toll from the voided merger continued to be added up Tuesday as the Southeast Volusia Hospital District board took its first formal steps to take back the New Smyrna Beach hospital it last controlled June 29. " "Lawyer: Merger damages may cost millions".

Bad poll questions, good poll results for Florida's unions

Regarding Florida's public employee unions, the poll shows surprisingly strong support for the unions' positions on several key pieces of legislation. This despite the fact that the questions appear to have been poorly formulated. First the results:

47% think it is a bad idea, while 43% think it is a good idea, to ban public-sector unions from using automatic payroll deductions to collect union dues. 74% think it is a good idea to require unions get individual member's approval before using their payments for political purposes.

The bill would ban public-sector unions from using automatic payroll deductions to collect union dues. Do you think that banning these automatic payroll deductions is a good idea or a bad idea?

The bill also would require that those unions get individual member's approval before using their payments for political purposes. Do you think that requiring individual member's approval before using payments for political purposes is a good idea or a bad idea?

The bill would ban public-sector unions from using automatic payroll deductions to collect unionhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif dues for those employes who voluntarily choose to pay dues and who authorize such deductions in writing. Do you think that banning these automatic payroll deductions for just union dues, while at the same time permitting deductions for other things, like the United Way, is a good idea or a bad idea?

The bill also would require that those unions get individual member's approval before using their payments for political purposes. Recognizing that employees have no obligation to join a union or pay dues, and employees may quit a union at any time, and that employees who are members have the right to attend union meetings where political endorsements are discussed, do you think that also requiring individual member's written approval before using voluntary dues payments for political purposes is a good idea or a bad idea?

The Judiciary Committee will consider a proposed constitutional amendment that would require appeals judges to receive a vote of 60 percent to remain on the bench when their terms expire. The same panel will also take up a bill that would make it easier for the Legislature to repeal Florida Supreme Court rules, and more difficult for the court to readopt rules that have been repealed.

A rules subcommittee will hold a confirmation hearing for Secretary of State Kurt Browning, who also served under Crist.

And a measure that would allow utilities to raise rates to pay for renewable energy will also get a hearing, as will a plan to restrict communication between utility regulators and the companies they oversee.

"Bad news for the state workforce"

Bill Cotterell: "As the Florida Legislature enters the second half of its session this week, the pace picks up, and all eyes are on the budget. Both the House and Senate versions of next fiscal year's spending are bad news for the state workforce, differing only in how many positions will be lost and how deeply cuts will be made in one agency or another." "Facing uncertainty with dedication". See also "State cuts bad for Pensacola, even worse for Tallahassee".

"Remember King's fight for workers' rights"

Leonard Pitts Jr. reminds us that "Martin Luther King’s last public actions were in defense of labor and union rights." "Remembering MLK and the rights of labor". See also "Brevard events will remember King's fight for workers' rights". Related: "Activists to invoke MLK during WPB rally against Scott" ("Union activists will invoke Martin Luther King Jr. - and, more pointedly, his assassination 43 years ago today - to rally in West Palm Beach against Gov. Rick Scott's budget proposals and to show solidarity with stagehands who have been embroiled in a long-running dispute with the Kravis Center. ... King Center spokesman Steve Klein said the organization founded by King's widow is 'very comfortable' with linking the protests to the anniversary of King's slaying.")

Crap jobs

"When the leisure-and-hospitality sector statewide added 26,100 jobs last month compared with February 2010, the industry eclipsed education and health services as the sector adding the most jobs in Florida on a year-over-year basis."

However,

the region's job growth is being driven by the leisure-and-hospitality industry — the bars, restaurants, hotels and theme parks that typically rely on an army of low-paid workers to serve beer, sling nachos and clean rooms.

It's a sector dominated by young people and unskilled labor making relatively little money and, in many cases, working without benefits.

"Florida reporters and legislators don't spar, they frolic"

Nancy Smith: "You think the Capitol press corps is tough? Mean?"

Not here. Not even close.

In Florida -- in the 21st century, anyway -- reporters and legislators don't spar, they frolic. They share jokes in the rotunda, leak secrets to each other in the food line in the Capitol's lower lobby, succumb to each other's relentless Tallahassee schmooze. They're all pals at the palace.

Smart legislators in Florida don't fear the press. They take reporters out of their pocket when they feel like it, dance them around on a string for awhile, then stuff them back in.

Rubio embarrasses himself ...

... on Fox News no less.

"A whole new meaning to the slogan 'Just say No'"

The Miami Herald editors: "Mr. Scott’s executive order [mandating that all state employees be drug tested] gives a whole new meaning to the slogan 'Just say No.' Only in this case, “No’’ is exactly where the federal courts have come down on the issue of random drug testing for public employees. It’s not permissible to test randomly, except for those in jobs that affect public safety and in cases where a reasonable suspicion of abuse exists, according to a 2004 federal court ruling in a case involving Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice."

Mr. Scott is the same governor who, despite vocal opposition even within his Republican Party, stubbornly maintains it is too costly and an invasion of privacy for the state to create a planned database to track oxycodone sales at Florida’s notorious “pill mills.’’ The information would help curb doctor shopping, where drug addicts get prescription pills from multiple physicians.

When asked why privacy is an issue for pill mills but not for random drug testing of state employees, Mr. Scott said Monday: “It’s not a database that’s being put out to the public that can be hacked.’’

What bunk. The prescription tracking database would not be public. What it would be is a good use of public money to aid law enforcement, regulatory and healthcare professionals, ultimately saving lives. The same cannot be said for litigating unlawful rules forcing state employees to take drug tests to keep their jobs.

No choice

"With economic issues dominating Florida's political rhetoric, little was heard about abortion during the November election, but the results may profoundly affect abortion rights in the state. At least 18 measures that would restrict abortions have been filed in the Legislature and sponsors are optimistic about their chances of passing because of the Republican sweep in Florida." "Fla. Legislature likely to curtail abortion rights".

"Only 7 current House members have drawn opponents"

Kevin Derby: "While the 120 members of the Florida House of Representatives are primarily focused on the current session, the overhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifwhelming majority of them are getting ready for 2012. The next general election may still be 19 months away -- and redistricting will impact a number of the current members -- but 101 House incumbents have already filed to run next year. With redistricting still up in the air, only seven current members of the House have drawn opponents so far." Much more here: "House Incumbents Gear Up to Run Again in 2012".

About that pill mill database ...

"Drug Databases Fail to Halt Abuse, Studies Find".

"The political crony who came to dinner"

The Saint Pete Times editors: "Carl Littlefield is Tallahassee's version of the political crony who came to dinner, "

a discredited bureaucrat with a shameful record of permitting the sexual abuse of the developmentally disabled on his watch as an official with the Agency for Persons with Disabilities. But Littlefield will not go away. Instead, Gov. Rick Scott created a soft landing by creating for him a $78,000-a-year Department of Children and Families' paper-pushing job in Tampa as thousands of other state workers are facing the prospect of pink slips. Now that's real job creation. ...

The post comes just in the nick of time for Littlefield, who complained in his e-mails that his wife was getting concerned about a possible lack of health insurance. Scott vigorously opposes federal health care reform that will make it easier and less expensive to help people get coverage than by creating a state job, but that's another story.

Finding a job for an obsequious political foot soldier armed with more connections than competence is nothing new in Tallahassee. And the appointment of Littlefield appears to be little more than Scott thumbing his nose at Storms over not having his first choice to run Agency for Persons with Disabilities. But this is at odds with the governor's pledge to reduce the state work force and run government more like a business.

During his campaign, Scott promised he would create 700,000 jobs. One down, only 699,999 to go.

Dems chagrined

"Rubio rejects 2012 vice president spot".

And so it begins

"Almost every potential or actual presidential candidate — most with names unknown to all but avid political junkies — is quietly slipping into South Florida." "Presidential candidates quietly court support in South Florida".

"Legislation that is a gift to the utilities"

The Saint Pete Times editorial board: "Market forces and competition are favorite conservative watchwords, except when it comes to public utilities. Bills that would give the state's largest electric companies incentives to essentially monopolize the renewable energy market are on the move. Lawmakers are embracing legislation that is a gift to the utilities, leaving it to the companies to make decisions on their renewable energy commitments while making it harder for the little guy to enter the field." "Utilities overpower the little guy".

The other side of the tracks

"UCF's Hitt among 10 highest-paid public-university presidents".

Gettin' mighty crowded ...

"Class sizes in Florida public schools may be getting much larger again next fall despite voter-mandated restrictions that went into effect just this year. Calculus, analytical geometry, anatomy, zoology, Spanish and dozens more of the toughest courses offered in high schools no longer would be considered "core" courses under a new interpretation of the class-size amendment to the state constitution that state lawmakers are pursuing." "Many classrooms in Florida could be getting more crowded again".

Good luck with that

"Appeal made to Gov. Scott to clear way for Naples Bay habitat island".

Privatization "fueled by lobbying and campaign contributions"

The Miami Herald editorial board argues that "one proposal featured in the Senate bill definitely needs to be stripped out of the negotiations now: a plan to privatize state prisons in 18 counties. Sen. J.D. Alexander, head of the Senate budget committee, slipped the privatization proposal into the budget at the last minute, claiming that it would reduce prison spending by 7 percent."

Prison privatizations have had mixed results across the country. In the Western United States, for instance, some private operators are struggling because inmate populations have dropped, in large part because the number of illegal immigrants is dropping as migration to the United States slowed during the Great Recession. This wouldn’t hurt a state-run system because it doesn’t need to make a profit.

And that’s always been the rub when it comes to privatization attempts in Florida. There is a deep-seated — and wholly justified — fear among taxpayers that they will end up paying more to feed the private companies’ coffers and stockholders. It’s why the Florida Department of Transportation’s plan a few years ago to lease Alligator Alley for 50 or 75 years to a private company to operate, maintain and collect toll revenue fizzled.

But the massive switch to completely privatizing 18 correctional facilities without debate, research or planning is a much more foolhardy enterprise than the FDOT proposal. It simply makes no sense and seems fueled more by lobbying and campaign contributions from private prison operators than from any reasoned approach to trimming the cost of incarcerating prisoners.

"When a disgraced executive becomes governor"

James C. Little, president of the Transport Workers Union of America, wonders: "Is Florida about to become Wisconsin with a suntan?"

You need a scorecard to keep track of the dizzying number of anti-worker bills in the agendas of Gov. Rick Scott and statehouse Republicans. The goal is to weaken the voice of ordinary Florida families while strengthening the hand of Scott and his fellow millionaires. The anti-union agenda makes Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s program pale by comparison.

What’s the plan for the Sunshine State? Eliminate dues checkoff for union workers; shut workers out of politics; cancel tenure for teachers; cut workers’ pensions; and force public-sector unions out of existence unless a union can show more than 50 percent membership in a workplace, each and every year.

On that last point, a question for Gov Scott: You only won 48.8 percent of the vote in last year’s election, more than a full percentage point below the 50 percent threshold you and your partisan cronies are demanding from public-sector unions. Does that mean you shouldn’t be governor anymore?

We’ve heard a lot about restricting, and even eliminating, labor unions out of Tallahassee. But we haven’t heard a word about any corresponding new regulations on corporations.

In Rick Scott’s Florida, working people — including members of my union who work for Miami-Dade Transit — will not be permitted to contribute freely to their own unions, or to candidates and causes of their choosing. But businesses will still be able to deduct money from employees’ paychecks for corporate political action committees, which can then donate funds to candidates hand-picked by company executives.
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This unbalanced approach is what you would expect when a disgraced former corporate executive becomes governor.

Tax credit scam

"State tax credits could bring businesses to Brevard".

"Jobs lost and justice delayed"

"The budget ax being wielded in Tallahassee could have devastating effects on people who need to do business or seek help in the courts, local officials say. The bottom line, according to court officials, will be jobs lost and justice delayed." "Proposed cuts to courts could lead to delays".

Exporting hate

"To the dismay of Gainesville, the Quran-burning preacher from that city is in the public eye, amid violence in Afghanistan." "Quran-burning preacher in spotlight".

"'These men and women ask for very little'"

"Veterans are the focus of about 50 bills this session in Florida".

These are just a few of the proposals the Republican-led Legislature is pushing in the final weeks of their 60-day session. Others include dramatically changing the way the state handles Medicaid, state pensions, courts, growth and the environment.

The proposals are detailed, sweeping, and encompass many conservative issues that legislators have resisted enacting in the past. And they are moving forward for one reason: They have the votes. With a veto-proof majority, a hard-right conservative governor, and a determination to seize the moment in a non-election year, legislative leaders have packed the agenda — and Democrats are powerless to stop them.

“You’ve got a very conservative governor, president, and speaker, so they’ve gone down some roads that people have kind of been afraid to go down before,’’ said Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton.

The governor has already signed major legislation to change the way teachers are paid and to reduce compensation for the unemployed, and the Legislature has overridden seven vetoes of former Gov. Charlie Crist.

Whatever they want in Umatilla and Yulee

The Palm Beach Post editors: "The Legislature held its annual Prayer Day last week in Tallahassee. How fitting. If you buy property insurance in Florida, you don't have a prayer."

Four bills would all but deregulate property insurance, on the premise that allowing companies to charge what they want would inspire more private companies to write more policies, thus reducing the number of people in state-owned Citizens and freeing all those upstate Floridians in places like Umatilla and Yulee from subsidizing [those] reckless South Floridians.

Second amendment blues

"A teenage boy was shot in the head and killed Saturday at a house across the street from a busy city park, and police were investigating whether his death was an accident or a crime." "Police: Boy dead from gunshot".

"A rodeo of phonies and pimps"

Carl Hiaasen: "I once referred to a past Legislature as a festival of whores, which in retrospect was a vile insult to the world’s oldest profession."

Today’s lackluster assemblage in Tallahassee is possibly the worst in modern times, and cannot fairly be compared to anything except a rodeo of phonies and pimps. It’s impossible to remember a governor and lawmakers who were more virulently anti-consumer, and more slavishly submissive to big business.

The list of who’s getting screwed in the state budget battle is long and sadly familiar: the schools, college students, foster children, the poor, the elderly, the sick and the jobless. The happiest faces, of course. belong to lobbyists for corporations, insurance companies and utilities, who are getting almost everything they want.

It’s astounding that so many voters were suckered into thinking that this new generation of Republicans was going to fight for the common man instead of the fats cats and their special interests.

What a joke. The so-called leadership was plainly bought and paid for by the time their shoes hit the steps of the Capitol.

The "dread factor"

"Emergency managers are confident they could protect the public in the remote chance of an accident at Turkey Point, but the high risk and 'dread factor' of radiation raises questions about emergency plans in South Florida." "Disaster fuels debate over nuclear evacuation plans".

We don' need no stinkin' reger'lations

"Food fraud: Mislabeling of fish at restaurants may be widespread".

"In the pipeline"

The Saint Pete Times editorial board warns that "It's not over yet."

After overhauling teacher pay, evaluations and contracts, state lawmakers are just getting started on bringing major changes to education.

In the pipeline: expanding charter schools and school-voucher programs, and rewriting wide-ranging rules that could require middle school students to pass civics and give schools with poor reading-test scores automatic F grades. There's also pension reform, a looming move that would require tens of thousands of schools employees to pay a portion of their retirement.

"The audacity is breathtaking"

The Orlando Sentinel editors: "Midway through the state's annual lawmaking season, the GOP-led Legislature is moving to seize power from the governor, the courts, local government, even from the people who elected the legislators. Unfortunately, that power grab is only a piece of what sure looks like an agenda aimed at undermining or destroying institutions throughout the state — except, of course, the Legislature. ... The audacity is breathtaking, with lawmakers proposing measures that would:"

Do away with several locally governed agencies that build roads. That includes the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority, which means about $250 million in toll money that you pay each year would now be controlled by Tallahassee bureaucrats.

Give the Legislature an automatic do-over if one of its proposed constitutional amendments gets thrown off the ballot by the Florida Supreme Court. Meanwhile, that same bill would impose new regulatory burdens on citizen groups that try to change the constitution through petition.

Prohibit local governments from passing ordinances on issues ranging from guns to fertilizer, and impose a two-year moratorium on new impact fees. That's Tallahassee rule, not home rule.

Prohibit local governments from controlling their own destiny by requiring a supermajority vote to change their growth plans.

Prohibit public labor groups from collecting members' union dues through state payroll deductions, and force unions to get members' approval every year to spend their dues on political campaigns. Both moves are designed to create roadblocks for labor groups that generally support Democrats.

Strip the state's water-management districts of their ability to set tax rates, handing that authority over to — who else? — the Legislature. Another bill would require the governor's appointments to water-management district boards first go through a nominating commission stacked with legislative appointees.

"A reliable contributor to the Republican Party"

Steve Bousquet: "The Legislature's push to privatize many more prisons, its most far-reaching cost-cutting plan in years, opens a lucrative door to politically connected vendors who stand to profit."

GEO Group, the nation's second-largest private prison operator that currently runs two private prisons, including the largest private lockup, Blackwater River Correctional Facility in Milton.

GEO also operates five state psychiatric hospitals, including South Florida State Hospital in Pembroke Pines, which got its long-sought accreditation following GEO's takeover.

The Boca Raton company, a reliable contributor to the Republican Party, employs more than 2,000 people and a stable of 16 well-connected Capitol lobbyists. It donated $25,000 to Gov. Rick Scott's inaugural celebration in January. A top transition budget adviser to Scott, Donna Arduin, is a former trustee of a GEO real estate company, Correctional Properties Trust. The company's health care subsidiary, GEO Care, is led by Jorge Dominicis, a familiar figure in the Capitol from years of lobbying on behalf of the sugar industry.

"Who cares?"

Howard Troxler points out that, if "some of those new 'jobs' in Florida involving bilking widows, running shady auto-repair shops or hijacking people's furniture — who cares?" "When does all this 'deregulation' go too far?"

Another day at the office

"Four-acre fire contained in Daytona Beach"

"Double what state employees were paid for same work"

"Florida's privatization of child welfare services was supposed to be good for kids and taxpayers. But in the decade since the state began making private agencies responsible for the care of abused and neglected children, one cost has soared — the salaries of top employees. Child welfare executives throughout Florida are now making six-figure salaries, with some topping $200,000 — double what state employees used to be paid to do the same work." "Salaries for Florida's child care officials are out of control, lawmakers say".

More on privatization: "Sarasota County aggressively uses a purchasing process that experts say is risky and should be used sparingly because it is susceptible to fraud and overpayment. Nearly half of Sarasota County's contracts last year came through piggybacking, a bidding shortcut in which contracts are not put out to bid, but rather are approved by a handful of county officials." "Sarasota piggyback contracts ripe for abuse?"

"MLK's last actions were in defense of union rights"

Leonard Pitts Jr. reminds us that, "Once upon a long time ago, a tired man faced an audience of public workers."

They were on a wildcat strike, demanding the right to collectively bargain and to have the city for which they worked automatically deduct union dues from their paychecks. The city’s conservative mayor had flatly refused these demands.

“You are doing many things here in this struggle,” the tired man assured them. “You are demanding that this city will respect the dignity of labor.” Too often, he said, folks looked down on people like them, people who did menial or unglamorous work. But he encouraged them not to bemoan their humble state. “All labor has dignity,” he said.

On Monday, it will be 43 years since that man was shot from ambush and killed in Memphis, Tenn. Martin Luther King’s last public actions were in defense of labor and union rights.

Thomas washes Saint Marco's feet

Mike Thomas washes Marco Rubio's feet yet again, arguing that "we need more docs in Walmart and more Solantic clinics in strip malls." "Rubio is right to push for cuts to senior programs".

"Republicans doing this in the name of 'de-regulation'"

Scott Maxwell: "Florida's Long Term Care Ombudsman program — [is] a largely volunteer effort that looks after and sticks up for the neglected, forgotten and even abused elderly."

The goal is noble. And yet this program is under assault from Gov. Rick Scott and state legislators.

They want to weaken the program, make it harder for volunteers to access the records and to eliminate the need for yearly site visits.

Some of those pushing these bills, mostly Republicans, are trying to do this in the name of "de-regulation."

And that almost sounds good … until you think about what that actually means.

Because what we're talking about regulating is the way human beings are treated.

We're talking about rules that say frail and elderly residents shouldn't be left to wallow in their own waste. Or among bed bugs. Or left in rooms with call buttons that don't work.

Rules that say infections should be quickly contained and that patients shouldn't be subjected to verbal abuse or left lying on the floor for hours after a fall.

We're talking about regulations that are meant to give men and women dignity.

You can't even make a straight-faced argument that gutting this program would save money — because it's probably the most cost-effective program Florida runs.

"It's been going on for a long time"

Randy Schultz: "You know that it's been going on for a long time. Now, though, people are getting caught. For all the justified attention to the corruption cases of three former Palm Beach County commissioners, most government business is done at lower levels." "New wrench for the drip, drip, drip of public corruption".