Notes For Thursday, January 23, 2003

THE REHNQUIST THING BACK IN THE NEWS. Last night, CBS news had a piece on the Rehnquist - Bush thing:

"CBS News obtained documents showing that last April, the Governor's chief of staff Kathleen Shanahan left Rehnquist an urgent message and asked her to put off the audit. Rehnquist quickly ordered a two-week delay. "

"Two weeks stretched into five months, after Rehnquist told her audit team to 'proceed with (an) audit in North Carolina first, then do Florida.'"

"Several sources tell CBS News it was politics."

"'The Florida audit might have finished before the November election and could have proven embarrassing (to Governor Bush),' said one source. The delays ensured it couldn't be done until after the election."

"When asked if she's concerned that that may appear inappropriate if not be inappropriate, Rehnquist replied: 'It was unusual to receive a call like that, but I answer the phone when people call. I think it was an ordinary request and I handled it the way I thought was best at the time.'" 2:51 PM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

CLASS [SIZE] WARFARE. Bush and the GOP are using the class size amendment as a smokescreen to direct discussion away from the GOP version of class warfare - hammer the poor and middle class with taxes.

While Bush clains the class size amendment is blocking out the sun, a particularly inapt metaphor, Mike Thomas points out that "If anything is blocking out the sun in Jeb's universe, it is the $1.5 billion he has been giving away every year in tax cuts to those who least need it. This year's cut in the intangibles tax will extend to those with $500,000 portfolios. This is why Florida's tax rate has grown more regressive under Jeb. We now rank second in the nation in passing taxes off to the lower and middle class. The poor in Florida pay five times more out of their income to state and local taxes than do the rich. Jeb claims the result has been a boon for our economy. Spare us the rhetoric and produce the independent analysis that backs this up."
8:07 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

"QUIT WHINING, JEB" - THOMAS SPANKS BUSH. The Orlando Sentinel's Mike Thomas urges John Ellis Bush to "spare us the histrionics, devious plots and political shenanigans and do your job." Thomas "opines that "[w]hat our economy needs most is good schools, but since entering office, by Jeb's own numbers, he has spent more than twice as much on tax cuts as education increases. This is why the class-size amendment passed. Voters like Jeb but disagree with his tight-fisted approach to education. He simply won't accept their decision.

In a cynical move, Jeb is [now] pitting colleges against K-12, saying class size is forcing budget cuts and tuition increases in higher education."
8:02 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

LT. GOV. SHORT LIST. Bush looks to be unconventional in his replacement for Brogan. 7:54 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

BUSH EMPTYING STATE DCF BUILDINGS AT A DIZZYING PACE. Bush has been good on his promise - or vision - of emptying state buildings. The Palm Beach Post reports that "Florida's child-abuse investigators are quitting at a rate that dwarfs the national average and threatens the safety of children, a Senate committee reported in a recent study. In September, the group found that 41.2 percent of the state's investigators had been on the job less than a year. And at least one in every 10 positions was vacant through last summer." 7:48 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

AND WHILE WERE AT IT, LET'S GET RID OF THE STATE LAWYERS FOR DEATH ROW INMATES. Bush proposes to "close the three offices of state lawyers who represent death row inmates and instead hire private attorneys."
7:48 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

THE GRAHAM NOTEBOOKS. In Orlando yesterday, Senator Bob Graham said "his quirky personal notebooks -- minute-by-minute accounts of his daily routine that drew the attention of late-night comics in 2000 -- will not be a hindrance to his 2004 presidential campaign.


7:46 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]