Budget - Byrd may have dropped his $45-million Alzheimer's research center thereby clearing the way for a budget agreement. See "State budget obstacle vanishes".
Mike Thomas - "This certainly is turning out to be a legislative session for the history books. Big Sugar gets to keep polluting the Everglades. Phone companies get to double our rates. Developers get to plunder the Wekiva region. . . . Meanwhile, House Republicans approved $350 million in pork-barrel projects. Jeb Bush and Republicans in both houses have approved $300 million in tax cuts." And "[n]ow lawmakers literally want to poison the future for thousands of Florida children. In this latest installment of Florida for Sale, Republican lawmakers want to whack the state's anti-smoking 'Truth' campaign. . . . It's interesting that it's always the Republicans who try to kill anti-smoking efforts -- after getting the bulk of tobacco contributions." See "Gutting Truth campaign will poison our kids". Readers will recall that Thomas wrote that he voted for "Jeb!" We look forward to hearing him say that he was wrong.
New York Times Must Read - "Republicans who control the [Florida] Legislature and made passing the test mandatory for promotion, have been happy to ignore the educational research. So what if hundreds of studies in the last two decades have concluded that holding children back has no long-term academic benefit, that within two years retained students once again lag behind classmates and that retained students are more likely to drop out of high school."
"So what if Florida's own Department of Education issued a report in the early 1990's warning against retention: "Research on the subject is clear. Grade level retention does not work. Further, it would be difficult to find another educational practice on which the research findings are so unequivocally negative."
"So what if politicians insist on ignoring history. At a public hearing last year, State Senator Anna P. Cowin called the research "gobbledygook," and State Senator Donald C. Sullivan called those who questioned the new policy "the bad guys." In this manner, Florida has set a national precedent, giving the adults who know these third graders best — their teachers and principals — absolutely no say in who will be kept back." See "A Pupil Held Back, a Heavier Burden".
Hubris - "Last month, a reported test flight by the governor in a Lear jet set off speculation about making upscale changes. Last week, however, there was talk of merely leasing, not buying, a 20-seat commuter airline jet for $2 million to $3 million a year." See "It's not the time to get Jeb a jet".
Bush Enviromental Politics - "The brothers Bush have the science of political environmentalism down pat; as long as one pays lip service to protecting the earth, one may raffle off America's natural resources to the highest bidder." See "Green lip service".
The Joys Of The Private Sector -
- "Imagine the state gave you $75 million in tax money to invest in new businesses to create jobs."
- "Imagine that, rather than creating jobs, the companies you invested in lost 174 jobs in the first four years."
- "Imagine you got to keep all the money anyway, without ever having risked a penny of your own."
"Sound too good to be true? For three venture capital firms, it's all true but still not good enough. They are pressing for a second round of tax credits to get as much as $75 million more among them. One, New Orleans-based Advantage Capital Partners, which wrote the law creating the program in 1998, actually has threatened Gov. Jeb Bush with a lawsuit if the money isn't forthcoming." See "Nothing ventured, millions gained".
"Earth To Jacksonville, Earth To Jacksonville" - "House Speaker Johnnie Byrd has been an effective leader throughout the regular session and special session of the Legislature", says the Florida Times Union in "Stalwart speaker".
"Glades Sellout - "U.S. Rep. Bill Young, the Florida Republican who heads the House of Representatives' Appropriations Committee, and three committee members said in a statement released late Tuesday that the measure Bush signed into law 'does not represent collaboration or consensus' with the federal government or environmentalists." See "Senate backs Bush on Glades bill". Let's be blunt about it: "If Gov. Bush and the Legislature wanted to reassure Floridians that they really do care about the Everglades, they failed." See "Changes didn't improve bad bill for Everglades".
The Orlando Sentinel perhaps put it best: "Bush's changes to the faulty Everglades bill still bow to the sugar industry. Gov. Jeb Bush sacrificed the Everglades to wealthy sugar barons this week, imperiling billions of dollars worth of federal aid, ignoring public sentiment and delaying for another decade long-overdue plans to rid the fabled River of Grass of farming pollutants. No amount of political spin can deny that unmistakable truth." See "Not good enough".
In the meantime, Bob Graham "accused the Bush brothers of ''malfeasance'' for backing controversial Everglades legislation and predicted that Florida would punish the president for it next year. The scolding from the typically measured senator came days after leading environmentalists accused Graham of failing to forcefully oppose the sugar industry-backed bill even while some of his primary opponents and leading Republicans in Congress demanded a veto." See "Graham gives the Bushes a scolding".
"Sherman's March" - The Gainesville Sun argues that "Bush must veto a recent bill that would allow for DOT to not bother with local government regulations."
Bush Hates Lawyers, Especially Good Ones - "In one of the most short-sighted and callous moves yet in this year's budget process, Gov. Jeb Bush and Republican leaders in the House have begun to dismantle the state offices that provide legal representation to death-row inmates. In his budget proposal, Bush recommended defunding the three Capital Collateral Regional Counsel offices and replacing them with attorneys in private practice willing to take these complicated post-conviction death penalty cases - a move that, in most cases, would guarantee prisoners less qualified, less experienced and less commited counsel. Last weekend, weary Senate conferees agreed to part of Bush's plan. The Tallahassee CCRC office would be closed and the 64 cases currently handled by the 29 staff members there would be transferred to private-sector lawyers. But CCRC offices in Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale, which currently handle 78 and 74 cases respectively, would remain open (the handshake understanding is that those offices would be untouched for at least the next three years). This is a done deal, but it is a bad one for Florida. The CCRC is without question the most effective way to provide competent representation to indigent prisoners on death row. Eliminating even part of this program will further weaken Florida's commitment to fairness in its criminal justice system." See "The wrong counsel".
Go Get 'Em Charlie - "A landmark civil rights measure that gives Florida's first Republican attorney general ['Chain Gang' Charlie Crist] more power to fight discrimination passed the Legislature on Wednesday and is headed to the governor for his signature." See "Civil rights bill passed, sent to Bush". 6:42 AM
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