"Wanted: Strong leaders"

The Tampa Bay Times editors: "Wanted: Strong leaders to fill these seats". Meanwhile, last week the Tampa "Tribune endorses David Jolly for District 13 GOP primary".

Florida on the heels of Texas

"ChiefExecutive.net, online arm of Chief Executive magazine, looked at the business climate in all 50 states and ranked Florida second-best for business in the nation in 2013. It is the third year in a row the premier business publication has awarded the Sunshine State its second spot." "Florida Second-Best State for Business in 2013, Say CEOs".

Union haters run wild

This embarrassing doggerel from the Sunshine State News: "Labor Unions Have Some Wild Ideas about ‘Work’".

Scott's "simplistic message" may catch fire

Tampa Bay Times Business columnist, Robert Trigaux predicts that

Rick Scott, the most disliked Florida governor in modern history, will be re-elected next fall. Why? Because no opponent can counter his simplistic message that the state unemployment rate fell by nearly half since he took office in 2011.

About Scott's "simplistic" jobs message

To be sure, Florida's drop in "unemployment" rate mirrors the national trend, with "both national and Florida jobless rates improved in November, to 7 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively. . . ."

But there's a catch, and it's a big one: you can't evaluate Florida's "unemployment" rate without considering the number of "discouraged or part-time-by-necessity workers" in Florida. You see,

the number of unemployed, discouraged or part-time-by-necessity workers is more than double [the unemployment] rates: 14.1 percent in the nation and 14.6 percent in the state.

So, Rick Scott wants Floridians to ignore the number of "discouraged or part-time-by-necessity workers", because, if you ignore those numbers it appears that Florida's "unemployment" rate is actually slightly lower than the national rate. However, if you consider reality - the discouraged workers (who are no longer looking for work) and the part-time-by-necessity workers (who are technically "employed") - Florida remains in the sewer.

And then there's the "quality" of compensation in Florida (many jobs are sans benefits, including crazy things like a living wage, let alone paid "sick leave" or - lets go crazy for a moment - pensions).

And last, and certainly not least, there's Scott's explicit campaign promise to somehow create 700,000 in seven years, and that those 700,000 jobs would be in excess of normal job growth. So, in evaluating Scott's 700,000 new job promise, explicitly promised not to merely point to the number of jobs created, but rather the number of jobs created, in excess what would have come about in excess of normal job growth (to wit: as a result of his efforts). Good luck with that, Mr. Scott.

Consider the following excerpts from a December 13, 2013 analysis of Scott's job promises by PolitiFact:

Gov. Rick Scott took office in 2011 with a simple plan he promised would invigorate the state's economy.

Over [1] seven years, through [2] seven steps, Florida would add [3] 700,000 jobs. Shorter: 7-7-7.

Not only that, the state would see improvements in its gross domestic product, personal income and tax collections, all achieved through putting government on a diet and giving taxpayers a break.

Three years into Scott's tenure, Florida is recovering in ways that surprise economists. The unemployment rate is down dramatically, below the national average [(that is if you ignore discouraged workers and part-time-by-necessity workers (see above))], and the state has churned out hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

But are Florida's gains enough for Scott to keep his biggest campaign promise? . . .

The jobs numbers, if you were to jot them onto a napkin, look good.

Florida has added 406,000 jobs since January 2011, and the biggest monthly boost is the most recent. In October, the state added 44,600 jobs, according to preliminary federal data.

Better yet, jobs are coming faster in 2013 than in 2012 and 2011.

1.) What did Scott actually promise voters in 2010?

2.) Is Scott's 7-7-7 plan the reason those 406,000 jobs came to Florida?

Scott's campaign promise

When Scott debuted his 7-7-7 economic plan in July 2010, nonpartisan economists at the Legislature's Office of Economic and Demographic Research had just released their estimates for Florida's long-term jobs outlook.

They concluded Florida would add 1.05 million jobs between July 1, 2010, and June 30, 2018, and it didn't matter who lived in the Governor's Mansion — Scott, Democrat Alex Sink or someone else.

To account for the news, Scott clarified his promise. His 700,000 jobs would come in addition to the ones state economists forecasted.

Put simpler: 7-7-7 became 7-7-1.7 million.

That promise is a lot harder to keep. It requires the state to produce more than 20,000 jobs on average per month, every month, for seven years.

To date, Florida is averaging 12,000 jobs a month.

"Florida is going to come nowhere near exceeding normal job growth by 700,000 in seven years, no matter how you define it or time it," said David Denslow, a retired University of Florida economist. . . .

Part of national trend

The biggest gust behind Florida's economy is the national business cycle, said Mekael Teshome, a PNC Financial Services Group economist who studies the Florida market. If the economy is improving here, it means conditions have improved nationwide. For decades, the state's success was built on growth, the continuous influx of new residents and housing construction.

When people have more expendable income, more people visit Florida. When the economy improves around the country, retirees feel better about moving to Florida. And when housing picks up regionally, it lifts the rest of the state.

"What we're seeing in Florida has more to do with the macro trends than particular policies," Teshome said. "In terms of what proportion of that recovery was due to government versus the normal business cycle, I don't think anyone's really got that number."

The types of industries in a state also are important. Florida's boom and bust was fueled by housing.

Meanwhile, Texas performed relatively well during the recession thanks to its agriculture and energy sectors.

"You could say Gov. Rick Perry is great, and maybe he is and maybe he isn't, but a lot of its success is due to the type of industry they have," Seyfried said. "Florida's economic performance in recent years was driven by the bursting of the housing bubble."

Scott's "few successes and hundreds of unfulfilled promises"

"Gov. Rick Scott has staked his political future on his ability to bring jobs to Florida, but the first comprehensive review of his efforts shows few successes and hundreds of unfulfilled promises." "Gov. Scott's record on job creation".

Florida the third most populous state

"For Florida, the population estimates set to be released Monday could come with a side of bragging rights. This may finally be the year Florida overcomes New York as the third most populous state." "Florida poised to become third most populous state". See also "UPDATE: Florida may soon pass New York in population".

Races to watch next year

"With Republican Rick Scott and Democrat Charlie Crist already slugging it out, the 2014 gubernatorial race dominates political talk in Florida. But scattered across the state, candidates are raising money and getting organized to try to win competitive Florida House seats. Campaign filings point to the House as the battleground in next year's legislative races. Of the 20 Senate seats up for election, incumbents are unopposed in 15 of the districts — and the other five incumbents have huge fund-raising leads." "Jacksonville race among those to watch next year". See also "High-Profile House Races Teed Up for 2014".

Negron has Two Challengers

"Joe Negron Starts 2014 as Favorite Despite Two Challengers".

Jeb Bush lapdog claims not all charter "students struggle in mediocrity"

Myriam Marquez - who once wrote that Jeb Bush's "vision" was "universal and timeless . . . clear and electrifying as the day's cobalt-blue sky" - wants you to know that not all charter schools are "fly-by-night enterprise[s] meant to enrich a few slick operators while students struggle in mediocrity." "LBA charter school makes difference".

"A firing in name only"

The Tampa Bay Times editors: "St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster handed out an expensive Christmas gift at taxpayer expense to the longtime city administrator who apparently prefers cash over a graceful retirement."

Tish Elston qualified for an extra half-year of taxpayer-funded salary — $78,000 — this week when Foster "fired" her effective his last full day in office. The episode is a stain on Foster and Elston's service to the city and should serve as a reminder to the incoming mayor that a mayor's fiscal obligation is to constituents, not staff.

This was a firing in name only. In announcing Elston's departure from City Hall on Jan. 1, the self-proclaimed fiscal conservative Foster gushed about her dedication to the city's taxpayers, even as both were complicit in ensuring Elston walked out the door with more taxpayer money.

Hialeah

"Incumbent Councilman José Caragol says he can seek another term in 2015, but challenger Eddy González disagrees." "State legislator says he is running for Hialeah council in 2015".

Florida Legislature "orders" Congress to build the Keystone pipeline

"State lawmakers have often sent nonbinding, declarative messages to Congress to score political points back home, make demands on the federal government or publicize their opinions about hot topics. Memorials considered by the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature over the past few years "ordered" Congress to build the Keystone pipeline, make BP pay for environmental cleanup from the Deepwater Horizon disaster, abolish the U.S. Department of Education and limit congressional terms." "Legislators Send Message to Congress, Voters with Memorials".

"Grossly offensive" probably not the best standard for Tally

"A Florida regulation governing the use of state buildings never mentions the term 'grossly offensive' as a reason for rejecting an exercise of free speech. But that phrase is what officials repeatedly have relied on in turning down a request from the New York-based Satanic Temple to install a diorama of an angel falling into hell at the Capitol rotunda." "Is ‘grossly offensive’ enough to keep Satanists from Capitol?".

Professors in Scott's cross hairs

"An administrative law judge has sided with the Florida Board of Education in a dispute about new requirements that could make it harder for faculty members to get and keep tenure-like contracts at state colleges." "Ruling could make it harder for state-college faculty to get tenure".

"Silly season"

"Christmastime at the Florida Capitol has turned into the silly season." "Manger scene draws competition at Florida Capitol".

Four members of the seven-member state Supreme Court reach their mandatory retirement age during the next four years and, depending on how the retirements play out, the next governor may have the power to pick their replacements.

Judicial appointments should be particularly important to Florida's public employees. Consider the Florida Supreme Court's ruling in Scott v. Williams, which permitted the Governor to gut public employee pension rights. In that case, Chief Justice Polston together with Justices Pariente, Canady and Labarga voted to reverse the trial court's decision in favor of public employees. It was a 4-3 decision.

Pariente was appointed in 1997 by Lawton Chiles, but right-wing Justices Polston, Canady and Labarga were all appointed by Charlie Crist. Mr. Crist has some explaining to do to Florida's public employees. Are these the kind of appointments Floridians can expect in a future Crist administration?

He got his

"A dozen young children dressed in their holiday best and donning Santa hats made a surprise visit to South Florida U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart's home to serenade the Republican congressman and urge him to push for immigration reform." "Immigrants carol at Fla. Rep. Diaz-Balart's home".

Big of him

"Florida says elections supervisors can keep key absentee-ballot information secret".

That Florida GOPer website problem

"Company defends glitchy jobless-benefits computer system". See also "Deloitte Defends Work on Troubled Unemployment System".

House Judiciary Chairman Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala embarrasses both himself and the State of Florida

Fred Grimm: "Yet another skirmish in Florida’s 2013 uncivil war broke out earlier this month in Lake City over a shocking, shocking proposal from the Florida chapter of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War. They want permission from state officials to erect a memorial to the Union war dead at the Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park, 50 miles west of Jacksonville. The Union descendants noted that 'there are no battlefield monuments to Union soldiers or regiments on the battlefield [yet] there are three Confederate monuments erected on the site by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.'"

A request for a union memorial would hardly seem all that controversial, except the Civil War apparently remains unresolved in those parts.

Another batch of descendants, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, called for “the second battle of Olustee” to beat back the notion of a union marker. Commander Michael Givens of Charleston notified his members: “Compatriots, a new heritage attack has been launched at Olustee.” This “monument to invading Federal forces,” Givens warned, with a Freudian flourish, would be “a large, black Darth-Vaderesque shaft that will disrupt the hallowed ground where Southern blood was spilled in defense of Florida.”

At a rowdy meeting in Lake City with state park officials this month, anti-Union memorial protestors broke out in a spontaneous rendition of Dixie. (Led, in a scene nearly too weird to contemplate, by a black neo-Confederate waving the Confederate battle flag “like a conductors baton,” according to Margie Menzel of the News Service of Florida.)

“There is a sacred trust that's being violated when you go in and change an historic site from the way it was commemorated by those who established it,” Baxley said. He promised to introduce his own version of a bill making it illegal to mess with these sacred patches.

Still, it’s a little strange that folks from Florida, of all the southern states, get so riled up over their Confederate heritage. There’s not much. (Although both the Confederate Memorial Day, April 26, and Jefferson Davis’ birthday, June 3, are defined in Florida statutes as “legal holidays.”) When the state joined the secessionists, Florida’s population was barely 140,000. More than 60,000 of those residents were slaves, whose modern day ancestors, I’m guessing, aren’t much offended by some “large, black, Darth-Vadereque shaft” memorializing the Union losses at Olustee.

Ancestors of the 80,000 non-slaves, mostly white, who lived in Florida at the outbreak of the Civil War have long since been overwhelmed by immigrants and their offspring from Yankee states and foreign nations.

Besides, a number of the union soldiers who fought at Olustee that day 150 years ago were themselves Florida residents – blacks liberated from local farms and recruited into the three black regiments assigned to the federal forces aiming to cut off southern supply lines to Florida beef and produce. (Confederate troops considered the use of black soldiers, well, beyond the pale.).

The aftermath of Olustee brought reports of the kind of racist killings seen later that year at Fort Pillow. William Frederick Penniman of the 4th Georgia Calvary, in his 1901 memoir, described how Confederate troops systematically executed wounded blacks left on the battlefield. “The next morning I had occasion to go over the battlefield again quite early, before the burial squads began their work, when the results of the shooting of the previous night became quite apparent. Negroes, and plenty of them, whom I had seen lying all over the field wounded, and as far as I could see, many of them moving around from place to place, now without a motion, all were dead. If a Negro had a shot in the shin another was sure to be in the head.”

Hard to understand how modern Floridians could judge such a “hallowed” killing field too sacred to raise a monument to those union dead. Some of them Floridians. Except, of course, they were black Floridians.

Writing about these romanticized remembrances of “our sacred southern heritage,” demands that inevitable quote from William Faulkner, circa 1950, from Requiem for a Nun. "The past is never dead. It's not even past."

In Florida, the past isn’t dead. It’s just that the inconvenient stuff of the past – slavery, massacres, lynching, the century-long reign of Jim Crow – has been conveniently redacted.

That’s according to the campaign’s own survey, which shows Scott loses to former Gov. Charlie Crist by 4 percentage points and trails Sen. Bill Nelson by only 2 points. To Scott’s Washington advisers, who trumpeted the poll last week, it was a sign of progress.

Whoo-hoo! We’re still No. 2!

“I don’t understand this,” said one top Republican, echoing a handful of others. “Why are we telling people we’re losing?”

Here’s why: Scott’s team is playing the expectations game. The message: Scott is narrowing the gap with Crist.

And it’s true. He is and will continue to do so.

Scott has already started spending money on negative ads, bashing Crist a year before the election. It will have an effect. And beyond that, if past major Florida races are any indication, the winner will prevail by just a point, maybe two. The gap will narrow.

But right now, Scott’s own poll shows voters aren’t expecting to give him a second term.

People leaving the labor force contribute to lower unemployment

"Florida’s unemployment rate for November was 6.4 percent, down from 6.7 percent in October and lower than the national rate of 7 percent. The Florida number is the lowest jobless rate since July 2008. Gov. Rick Scott attributes the drop to his policies. . . . State economists, however, have said people leaving the labor force or delaying their search for a job have also contributed to the lower rate." "State's unemployment rate drops to 6.4 percent".

"The Fights Before Christmas"

Weekly Roundup: The Fights Before Christmas. See also "Week in Review for Dec. 20, 2013".

"Crist is still formidable"

A "survey, conducted by Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s pollster, indicates Charlie Crist is still formidable in a general election and leads the incumbent by 4 percentage points among likely voters." "Poll: Charlie Crist would wallop Sen. Bill Nelson in gubernatorial primary".

"10 Florida Bills You May Not Hear About"

"10 Florida Bills You May Not Hear About -- Except Here".

GOPers destroy documents

"The long-running legal fight over redistricting in Florida took another turn when lawyers for Republican lawmakers said some documents were destroyed during the redistricting process." "Legislators destroyed documents during redistricting".

Grubbing for wingnuts

The Miami Herald editors are disappointed with Rubio's "rightward shift".

Jolly

The "Tribune endorses David Jolly for District 13 GOP primary".

"It took a single person"

"Most Miami-Dade County workers may have thought two weeks ago that the odds were good they would soon be taking more money home in their paychecks."

It took a single person to change that."

The County Commission came one vote shy of overturning Mayor Carlos Gimenez’s decision to veto restoring union workers’ pay.

As a result, most county and Jackson Health System employees will continue to contribute 5 percent of their base pay toward group healthcare costs for now, instead of getting that money back as of Jan. 1.

But the impasse with labor unions is not over yet.

Gimenez’s administration must go back to brainstorming how to resolve the contract dispute with 11 bargaining units. Commissioners urged the mayor to find a way to give workers at least some relief, perhaps by shrinking the size of the healthcare contribution.

"Only two constitutional amendments"

"In 2012, there were 11 statewide ballot questions, perplexing many voters who didn’t understand all the proposed changes to the state’s constitution. What a difference two years make." "Only two constitutional amendments likely on 2014 ballot".

Charter games

"Athenian Academy of Pasco, which lost its high-performing charter school status this year because of low grades from the state, now has a new three-year contract with the Pasco school district. The agreement replaces a 15-year contract that the New Port Richey school held when its academic performance earned it the high-performing designation." "Pasco school lost charter because of grades".

Another "no"

"Will Weatherford for Lieutenant Governor? No".

Zimmerman challengers

"Republicans are feeling good about challenger Chris Sprowls' chances of picking up a Florida House seat by taking down freshman Democrat Carl Zimmerman, but a new GOP hopeful could complicate things in attorney Debbie Ann Faulkner." "GOP Primary Battle to Take on Carl Zimmerman is One to Watch in 2014".

Florida's Legislators "can't hide anymore"

The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "Florida voters made clear three years ago that they want political districts drawn more fairly. "

But beyond trusting that lawmakers would actually comply, voters had no way to ascertain if that was done. Until now. A Florida Supreme Court ruling has made clear that the Legislature is not above being held to account in court when it comes to how it draws redistricting maps. That's good for democracy.

In a representative democracy, nothing is more basic than the once-a-decade redistricting process when legislative bodies, based on Census numbers, decide political boundaries. How those lines are drawn can determine who can win office or which party will maintain the majority advantage. But in 2010, Florida voters — far more diverse than their elected representatives — made clear they wanted to end the partisan gamesmanship in Tallahassee and amended the state Constitution to specifically say districts cannot be drawn to favor a political party or incumbent, among other constraints.

Two years later, after new lines were drawn, the Florida League of Women Voters and other groups filed suit saying lawmakers failed to follow the new standards and seeking to force legislators to the stand to explain their decisions. Legislative leaders largely shrugged, hiding behind claims of broad legislative privilege.

can't hide anymore. The state's highest court said that exploring what lawmakers intended in the line-drawing process is an essential part of enforcing the new amendments. The justices did establish for the first time a legislative privilege that shields state lawmakers from being called to testify in a civil court matter for nearly all other types of legislative activities. The court found that a privilege exists even though Florida doesn't explicitly grant one in its Constitution or laws, as nearly all other states do.

"An accountability system gone awry"

The Tampa Bay Times editors: "Good high schools. Great faculty. Underperforming students."

That's the condensed version of recent education reports out of Tallahassee spawned by an accountability system gone awry. Apparently schools and teachers are doing great, it's just the students who aren't making the grade.

Gov. Rick Scott and local educators boasted last week that Florida high schools are doing above-average work. Some 240 high schools, or about 48 percent of Florida high schools, earned A's. And earlier this month, state reports showed a minuscule number of teachers with "unsatisfactory" job performance.

Yet Florida's graduation rate is below the national average, according to the U.S. Education Department.

Scott makes it tougher to uncover elections fraud

"Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s division of elections has issued an opinion that could make it tougher to uncover elections fraud."

And in Miami-Dade County, the state’s hotbed of absentee shenanigans, the elections chief who sought the opinion is eager to follow suit.

In the Nov. 18 opinion, state Division of Elections Director Maria I. Matthews wrote that county elections supervisors may shield from the public Internet Protocol addresses identifying the origin of absentee-ballot requests.

Penelope Townsley, the Miami-Dade elections supervisor, plans to keep IP addresses secret.

Matthews wrote that if elections supervisors deem IP addresses to be information “necessary” to keeping absentee-ballot records, as Miami-Dade has in recent months, then the addresses are exempt from public disclosure — with a glaring exception.

Political parties, committees, candidates and their campaigns — the very people who have engaged in fraud — will still be able to obtain the information.

So will elections administrators, canvassing board members and voters seeking records of their own ballots. But not the public.