Notes For Wednesday, January 29, 2003
OUR GOVERNOR, THE RIGHT WING GLOBAL MILITARIST. This from Knight Ridder: "[a]n obscure, ominous-sounding right-wing policy group called Project for the New American Century, or PNAC - affiliated with Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rumsfeld's top deputy Paul Wolfowitz and Bush's brother Jeb - even urged then-President Clinton to invade Iraq back in January 1998."
TRUST ME, I'M YOUR GOVERNOR. Bush "has targeted two agencies whose very functions are to root out inefficiency, waste and fraud in state and local government. Bush proposes to eliminate two legislative departments: the Office of the Auditor General and the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, which is known by its acronym OPPAGA. Currently, 495 employees work in the two agencies." Tallahassee Democrat.
2:56 PM
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"THE INTERLOPER". Molly Ivins called John Ellis Bush "Shorewash", the Gainesville Sun is a bit more polite in calling him an "interloper, but no less haarsh in their assessment of his ties to Florida. In a blistering editorial today, the Sun asserts "[t]o save a few bucks, Gov. Bush wants to dismantle the state library. Why should he care? His Florida roots don't run deep." It is worth quoting the editorial at length:
"It's important to keep in mind that Gov. Jeb Bush isn't from around here. His roots in Florida run about as deep as the thin layer of topsoil that covers the coral-incrusted hardpan of the southern tip of the state. Bush relocated to Miami from Texas in 1980. He played developer for a time - scraping away the topsoil and blasting through the coral - while he assembled the necessary political infrastructure from which to launch the true family business: dynasty-building."
. . .
"All of which may help to explain why Bush has so little appreciation for where Florida's been. He's all about the future - as in today the governor's mansion, tomorrow the U.S. Senate, and maybe one day the White House."
. . .
"But they cared enough about legacy-building that Florida's founders started a state library and archive in 1845 - a repository from which future generations could learn about the rich history of this place that Governor Bush ironically refers to on his web site as 'My Florida'."
"In truth, Bush doesn't care a fig about what happened in Florida before he showed up. Sensing an opportunity to save a few bucks, Bush now proposes to dismantle the state library and archive, housed in the Florida Museum of History across the street from the Florida Supreme Court building."
2:52 PM
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'DEAD BEAT LEGISLATORS". At the same time Florida is giving $50-million a year to offset, dollar-for-dollar, the corporate donations for private school vouchers, it won't even keep its word to match the genuine philanthropy toward universities." St. Pete Times Editorial. 2:46 PM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]
OOPS, A LITTLE OVER ZEALOUS IN RESTRUCTURING GOVERNMENT. We hope this isn't indicative of the Florida GOP's competence. With the constitutional amendment reducing the size of the cabinet, the Governor and the Legislature failed to notice that the cabinet can, as a matter of statute, take certain action only with a minimum of five votes. "State law failed to keep pace with the changing Cabinet, which was reduced from six members to three through a constitutional amendment, and still requires five positive votes from the governor and Cabinet to approve actions involving the disposition of state lands." Associated Press. 2:27 PM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]