Notes For Sunday, December 15, 2002

IN THE SUNDAY EDITORIAL PAGES: Our weekly survey indicates that the Sunday editorial pages are light on political stuff :

- The Tallahassee Democrat does have an extensive piece on Speaker Byrd's leadership team. The editorial title says it all: "Right off the bat: reason to be alarmed".

- The Gainesville Sun shines a little light on one of the most divisive forces in Florida, the James Madison Institute.

- The Sun Sentinel caps a week long series about a couple's experience with DCF in an adoption with an editorial noting that "the state's adoption program continues to be plagued by DCF's larger problems of high staff turnover, low morale and poor record-keeping, which have so discouraged many prospective adoptive parents that they have quit the process in frustration."

9:16 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

SUNDAY'S LEAD STORY: DOCKS VS. MANATEES - GUESS WHO WINS? This one does not warrant a link. 8:45 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

NOT AT FLORIDA THEATRES TODAY, NOW OR EVER: "Six Fairy Tales About Growth in Florida". Read about a film you likely will never see. 8:43 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

TRIAL LAWYERS VS. GOV BUSH: With the class size amendment and the budget crisis, it seems unlikely that legislation imposing caps on med mal cases will dominate the legislature in the upcoming session. However, with the Governor's Select Task Force on Healthcare Professional Liability Insurance scheduled to issue its report on January 31, 2002, and the creation of Speaker Byrd's Medical Liability Insurance Workgroup, it is possible we may see a full court press on this issue similar to Service First (the dismantling of civil service protections, such as they were, for state employees). State employee unions - read "AFSCME" - were Bush's target with Service First; now it may be the Trial Lawyers' turn.

[For an unbalanced review of the cap issue on the merits, there is an editorial in the Tampa Tribune: "The Complicated History Of Medical Malpractice Insurance".] 8:35 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]