Notes For Monday, February 24, 2003

TEACHER SHORTAGE. "If Florida has a tough time keeping its teachers, it has only itself to blame." As the Orlando Sentinel puts it: "State leaders for years have used smoke and mirrors with the state budget to make it appear as if school districts have more for teacher raises than they do. Even worse, for a time, those leaders allowed a climate of disrespect toward public-school teachers. It wasn't unusual for lawmakers, for example, to make snide comments about teachers' concerns."

9:24 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

BELIEVE IT OR NOT. After a barrage of hostile editorials, Speaker Byrd defends himself. 9:21 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

INCOME TAX ON THE TABLE? It pains to say anything good about this man, but "Jon Shebel, president of the pro-business lobbying group Associated Industries of Florida, said the time has come for state leaders to at least begin discussing an income tax." See "Business Leader Calls For Discussion Of Income Tax". 9:17 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

FLORIDA'S DIRTY SECRET. A must read in the Tampa Tribune, "Florida's Service Reputation May Do State A Disservice":

"For all of state leaders' rhapsodizing over the need to attract `high-paying, high-tech jobs,' most of Gov. Jeb Bush's news releases announcing new businesses reveal a different outcome:"

* "Oct. 4, 2001 - `Gov. Jeb Bush today joined officials in the grand opening of Home Depot's call center located in Brandon. ... The call center will employ 1,000 people, marking the second time in two weeks that a company has located a 1,000-person call center in the Tampa Bay area.'''

* "July 23 - `Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan today at a DeSoto County Commission meeting praised Wal-Mart's decision to construct a food distribution center in the county.' Feb. 4 - `Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse will build its first distribution center in Florida, creating "600 new jobs in Osceola County'.''

"Florida has led the nation in the number of new jobs created during the past two years. But, as the official pronouncements suggest, most of those are low to middle paying service sector jobs." 9:15 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

WHERE'S THE OUTRAGE - OR AT LEAST THE AMICUS BRIEF - OVER THIS? John Ellis Bush wastes Florida taxpayer dollars to file a brief supporting his brother's position in the University of Michigan affirmative action case. Do either of these children of privilege care that some university's give preference to underqualified rich kids? Tom Blackburn of the Palm Beach Post points out that there is "a prestigious university with the courage to say that it waives the usual tests of achievement in some cases to accept students whose parents are likely to give, and get their friends to give, big bucks to the school. Officials at Duke University told The Wall Street Journal's Daniel Golden that between 3 percent and 5 percent of its students are "development admits," kids whose parents have money."

9:09 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

WHITHER BULLET TRAIN? The Sun Sentinel thinks the bullet train ought to be reconsidered by the voters. Howard Troxler thinks otherwise. 9:02 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

HAPPY FACE PRIVATIZATION. Bill Cotterell, in the Tallahassee Democrat, puts it like this:
"If the Department of Management Services' advisories on the transition phase of the seven-year, $280 million deal with Convergys were any more optimistic, somebody might set them to music and open on Broadway." The column headline, "People hard to find in People First program" makes a separate point. 8:56 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

JOHN ELLIS BUSH, OF ALL PEOPLE, COMPLAINS THAT GOVERNOR'S CONFERENCE TOO PARTISAN. John Ellis Bush is at the National Governor's Association conference (after embarassing himself and our state in Spain last week). Bush complains that the meeting - one of the few places he goes not filled with sycophantic Republicans - is too partisan; he doesn't like what other governors - folks who have probably read For Whom The Bell Tolls, or otherwise recall that Franco was not a "republican" - think about his brother's budget proposals on medicare. How pathetic that the most partisan of Florida politicians - our governor - would think that simply disagreeing with his brother over medicare makes one unnecessarily partisan; And, while medicare isn't something the Bush family cares about, it is a critical program that needs more than mere "overhauling" (read "gutting") as John Ellis Bushputs it. 6:55 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]

ARE THE BUSH BROTHERS ON A HOLY MISSION? DAVID GERGEN BELIEVES DUBYA BE. It's hard for even the most ardent Repub to dispute that John Ellis Bush has a problem with arrogance. For example, Gov. Bush has said that he is "too deep" for those that disagree with him. But is it more than that? It seems to be the case for another member of the Bush clan, brother W. David Gergen, who is as mainstream as they come, thinks that Dubya may believe he is on a mission from God; see Gergen's comments ourself on the History News Network site (which includes a transcript of CNBC News interview), "Presidential Historians Assess Bush" (scroll down to last part of transcript). 6:35 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]