Notes For Thursday, April 24, 2003

Bush Byrd Bashing -

"Republicans, who entrusted Byrd with the power he abuses, will have much to explain to their constituents in the event of any of the several embarrassing contingencies that loom larger by the day. So will Gov. Jeb Bush, who is Byrd's so-far silent partner in the attempted deconstruction of the nation's fourth largest state." See"Budget meltdown".

"House Speaker Johnnie Byrd says he is 'especially proud' of the spending plan he has produced for next year, so proud that he calls it 'Florida's family budget.' His fondness for this slogan, given the demonstrable harm his budget will create, raises a fair question about his own view of the family: Does he think Florida families are so cheap and heartless they would let their elderly relatives die?". See "Dysfunctional 'family' economics".

The Judge Must Have Missed The Briefing - When enviromentalists raise an eyebrow about the pending Florida GOP Everglades sellout, Bush's response is to "lash out" at them. When two veteran GOP Congressmen say the Everglades sellout will jeopardize the entire federal program, Bush snidely retorts that the Congressman "need to be briefed" on the issue. What arrogance.

Maybe it's "Jeb!" who needs to be briefed. The headline today in the Sun Sentinel: "Legislators jeopardize $4 billion for Everglades cleanup", with this lead in:

"A controversial Everglades cleanup bill prompted concern on Wednesday from a federal judge and stern warnings from a South Florida congressman that the state is on the verge of losing $4 billion in federal help."

The story continues - with a statement from one of the "needs to be briefed" GOP Congressmen: "'This is going to cost Florida billions of dollars, no question about it,' said U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, a key leader in getting Congress to ante up its share of funding for the unprecedented state-federal cleanup project." See also "Everglades pollution bill alarms U.S. judge", and this from the Palm Beach Post.

Lobbyist Chokehold On Tallahassee - In connection with the Everglades issue, Florida Republican Congressman Clay "Shaw said: 'I've never seen lobbyists having such a chokehold on government. This is a bipartisan screw-up.'". As to the latter point, we must offer a correction - this is not a "bipartisan screw-up", but rather one owned lock, stock and barrel by the Florida GOP (which, after all, controls the Hose, Senate and the Governor's office).

Priorities - "Republican House leaders held firm Wednesday in their push for a massive expansion of Florida's school-voucher system, a plan that could drain more than $200 million from the state's financially strapped public-school system and give it to private schools." See "House ties class size and vouchers". 8:27 AM [Go to current Florida Politics site (no popup ads)]