It's Official - "Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas signed and mailed federal forms Wednesday that will let him raise money to run for U.S. Sen. Bob Graham's seat. "
Political Courage - "Florida Senate leaders, trying to drum up public support to raise more revenue to stave off steep budget cuts in 2003-04, put a price tag Wednesday on how much more money they think the state needs next year: nearly $1 billion. Senate Republican leaders today will unveil a ''contingency budget plan'' to explain exactly how they think the additional $972 million should be spent."State needs $1 billion more, Senate says". In the meantime "Jeb!" and Byrd are cowering in their bunkers.
The Christian Coalition Voting Guides Are Bad Enough - How about this "Bill would [that would] authorize state voter guides", with the "ratings" determined by , you guessed it, a Bush appointee. "The guides could be available on the Secretary of State's Web site by next year, and printed versions could be mailed to millions of homes if and when the legislature decides to pay for the project. Mailings could cost as much as $3.2 million."
Senate Proposes Raise For State Workers - The Senate looks like it budget for a paltry 2.5% raise for state workers; the House and our compassionate Governor are saying that "zero" percent is enough for state workers. Of the numerous idiodtic things being said in opposition to raises is this: "'The House is sympathetic to state employees, but we're faced with a situation where the private sector is not handing out raises, either,'" said House Majority Leader Marco Rubio, R-Miami. Since when were wage increases in the public sector determined by what the private sector does? State employees surely wish that were the case, with massive increases being doled out in the private sector over the past dozen years (while the state converted its excess money into tax breaks for the wealthy, while passing along minimal wage increases to state workers). More importantly, it is of course untrue that there will be no wage increases this year in the private sector.
Just Enforce The Law - "Workers comp could work, less expensively, with no change in the law if the state were more active in reducing fraud and getting services and benefits paid for promptly. That would require a level of regulation the cheap-government Legislature is averse to paying for. Instead, employers pay. So does the public." See "To fix workers comp law, state should enforce it."
Paycheck Deception - The Florida Times Union surprises nobody when it editorializes in support of proposed legislation that prohibits public sector labor organizations from using dues money to support political candidates. As usual, this editorial is flat out wrong, and premised on the faulty notion that unions - particularly the teachers' union - are forcing employees "'to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves'" (quoting Thomas Jefferson)
Fact is, if a union member does not want his dues to be used to support a particular candidate, he is free to quit the union, pay nothing (and enjoy all the benefits of a "free rider").
More importantly, under Florida law elected officials decide what is going to be in a contract - that is, if a city, county, school board or the state is unable to reach an agreement with a given group of employees (i.e., they are at "impasse"), then the decision as to what is in the agreement is made by the relevant elected officials, to wit: the city council, county commisson, school board, or the Legislature. Hence, negotiations in Florida is inherently political, and keeping unions out of the political process will effectively nullify collective bargaining. 5:45 AM
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