Notes For Sunday, January 12, 2003

GRAHAM TO RUN. The state's worst kept secret is revealed: Graham says, "'I am going to be the next president of the United States,' . . ., shaking his hand in the air." (emphasis supplied.) That does not sound like the man "with the charisma of a gray flannel suit", as some have described him. In the wings, eyeing Graham's Senate seat, are Foley and Reno. 9:12 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

ONCE, WE CARED. "Jerry Regier, the new head of the troubled Department of Children & Families, sailed through his first meeting with the Florida Senate last week." If you still care, the story is here. 8:40 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

THE DISCONNECT BETWEEN WHAT BUSH SAYS AND WHAT HE DOES. The list of Bush "disconnects", more accurately outright hipocrisies, includes the following: "Gov. Bush's government is the one that, for example, gave $2 million to the Daytona International Speedway in 2000, when then-candidate George W. Bush was the grand marshal of the big July 4 stock-car race, while denying money for Alzheimer's respite care. Gov. Bush's government is the one off which his golfing buddy, former House Speaker John Thrasher, has become wealthy by lobbying it on behalf of corporate clients. Gov. Bush's government is the one that privatizes services under the fiction of saving money and hands out contracts to companies that donate to the Republican Party." There's more.
8:33 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

FLORIDA'S TAX STRUCTURE IS "DISGRACEFUL". Bush and the Fhe Florida GOP have worked hard to make sure the fact that "[p]oor Floridians face a greater load of state and local taxes than wealthier residents, an inequity that owes much to the state's heavy reliance on the sales tax." That can't be true, can it? Well, "[t]he poorest fifth of Florida's working families now pay 14.4 percent of their income in state and local taxes, more than five times the rate at which the wealthiest pay. You'd have to go to Washington, at the farthest corner of the continental 48, to find a state that taxes more unfairly. The wealthiest Floridians -- the 1 percent earning $289,000 or more -- pay a scant 2.7 percent. Only five other states, all of them small, tax their wealthiest people any less", reports the St Pete Times. The numbers were crunched by Citizens for Tax Justice, a Washington-based public interest group. As the Times reports, "[s]ince the first edition, seven years ago, Florida has worsened in nearly every respect."
8:20 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

MORE ON THE GRAHAM THING. Jim DeFede says Graham "has been one of the dullest, least inspiring voices in politics, with the charisma of a gray flannel suit and a record of achievement to match."
7:57 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

WE PRAY THERE ARE BETTER SOLUTIONS OUT THERE. ""The single greatest tool we have in our arsenal to deal with health care cost growth is frequent, fervent prayer," said Len Nichols, a health care economist brought in a health care summit in Tallahassee last week attended by lawmakers, lobbyists and other officials looking for ideas. 7:44 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

DEAR EDITOR. Gov Bush defends is ill advised comments about the role of the judiciary in a letter to the editor. 7:44 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

WEEK END PUNDITRY. Martin Dyckman tells us that the House Dems have fallen so farthe Dems have had to move. Jim DeFede explains why Graham should not run. Mary Jo Melone on Bill Cotterell's suspension. Peter Wallsten ruminates on whether the new Lt Gov must stand for election in 2004. And Nancy Cook Lauer gives us these encouraging words: "A new era began Tuesday, and Gov. Jeb Bush is now the mightiest governor in Florida history." 7:44 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]