Notes For Wednesday, February 12, 2003

GRAHAM 'MAD AS HELL" AT COST OF BUSH ENVIROMENTAL DEAL. Dubya was a key player in John Ellis Bush's reelection effort last fall; he was there, handing out federal goodies at every turn. In an effort to help John Ellis (who worked as a developer before running for office) on the enviromental front, Dubya implemented (limited) "restrictions" on oil drill in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida's coast, and, in last July the feds purchased everglades mineral rights which had been retained by the Collier family over the years. The deal was "designed to protect 765,000 acres of land in the Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge." At the time, John Ellis called it a "convergence of good politics and good public policy"; the Collier family was a hevay contributor to the Florida GOP in 2002. (Silva, "Forget Lucky Stars -- Big Brother Watches from White House", Orlando Sentinel Tribune, June 2, 2002).

Now, according to a story "Graham wants rights purchase explained" in the Miami Herald today, "Sen. Bob Graham wants the Bush administration to justify spending $120 million to buy oil and gas rights from [the] pioneering Florida family to protect the Everglades and the state's pristine beaches from drilling. . . . Graham spokesman Paul Anderson said Tuesday the senator, who is recovering from heart surgery, has asked the Department of Interior to explain how the government reached the valuation of the rights since last spring but has not received any information. The senator said he was 'mad as hell' when he learned that a $40 million down payment had been included in President Bush's proposed 2004 budget, Anderson said. Graham is concerned that the $120 million payment may be exorbitant, he said."

Graham "has agreed with the goal of buying out the mineral rights just as he has agreed with the goal of buying out leases in offshore drilling off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico,' Anderson said. 'The question is the dollar value and he doesn't think it should be proceeding until they can explain the justification.'" 5:54 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

MORE BYRD HUNTING. The editorials about Byrd's spending money on self-promotion keep coming. This one, "Byrd's Preening", is particularly entertaining:

"House Speaker Johnnie Byrd is not the first Florida politician to preach fiscal austerity while shoveling tax dollars into self-promotion. He's just the first to make such an extreme sport of it. Byrd has spent six years in office reciting his antigovernment manifesto to anyone who would listen. His mission, he says, is to 'seek and destroy government waste.' He insists the state 'live within its means,' supports cutting taxes even when the result is cutting schools and child welfare programs, and seems to think the only good government worker is a laid-off one."

"So Byrd is displaying a rather splendid free-form hypocrisy as he builds up a public relations budget for his office that is without modern precedent." 5:51 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

BUSH "DOUBLESPEAK". Governor "Bush's stance on services for teen runaways is the worst form of doublespeak. Bush touts his goal of 'strengthening Florida's families' but then proposes to slash vital services that have long been successful in keeping at-risk teens off the streets and at home. Likewise, Bush says he supports his child-welfare chief's pledge to keep more kids out of foster care. But cutting shelter and nonresidential services for runaway teens and truants, as Bush envisions, would only drive more teens into foster care, not to mention the state's juvenile facilities and jails." See "Cheap talk on at-risk teens", a St Pete Times editorial. 5:45 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

FIXING WORKERS' COMPENSATION According to "Workers comp requires enforcement, not reform", a Palm Beach Post editorial today, Florida "employers pay the second-highest premiums in the country for workers who get the fewest benefits from insurers that pay out $1.27 for every $1 they take in." We had no idea the situation was that bad. 5:41 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]