Newsweek has a column titled "Florida: Yet Another Liability" about "Jeb!" traring apart the Florida GOP. The column observes that "[a]s the 2004 presidential election approaches, you’d think Florida Gov. Jeb Bush would be rallying his party to deliver the state to his big brother a bit more smoothly this time. Instead, he’s managed to alienate key state GOP lawmakers in an unseemly fracas over proposed medical-malpractice legislation." . . . "'We see it destroying some of the solidarity in our party,' says GOP state Sen. Tom Lee. 'I see the potential for direct linkage between the collateral damage resulting from this debate and the presidential election in 2004.'"
And in an editorial on "Jeb!"'s corporate voucher scam, the Palm Beach Post turns this phrase: ""It is by now standard for Gov. Bush to color impatiently outside the lines and then post the mess on the state's refrigerator so everyone can ooh and ahh over his 'creativity.'".
We Should Do This More Often - In the malpractice caps senate testimony last week, "'If you look at what was said under oath, and you look at the things that were alleged in prior testimony, they differ dramatically,' said Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville." . . . "In the courtroom-like arena, the spoken word took on new meaning. Witnesses, aware of perjury laws, chose words with care, and some stayed away." And the cap wackos are mad, claiming they were hit with "'one-sided hearings that were designed to discredit doctors, hospitals and insurance companies, not to seek the truth'". See "Lawmakers like oath's effect" and "On the record".
No Shame (And The President Bush Defense To Lying) - The following appears in the above story: "When Sandra Mortham of the Florida Medical Association testified, Campbell demanded to know why Mortham had blamed 'frivolous lawsuits' for the rise in malpractice rates."
"'Certainly, I've never said that,' replied Mortham, a former House member from Largo and the FMA chief executive officer. "I don't feel I have the information to say whether or not there are frivolous lawsuits in the state of Florida."
"Senators soon circulated copies of FMA news releases bearing Mortham's name, beginning with the phrase, 'Due to the explosion in frivolous lawsuits ...'"
"Asked by reporters if she contradicted herself, Mortham said: 'That is ludicrous. Nothing we have put out is the least bit contradictory.' She said President Bush has used the term frequently." It must be true then.
It's About Time - "The Republican answer to fixing education in Florida is based largely on doling out tax dollars to pay students' tuition to private and religious schools. Give parents the choice, and the money, to send their children where they want, and the free market system will take care of itself, improving student achievement along the way, they say. But four years after the first vouchers were given to 50 students in two chronically failing Pensacola public schools, the system, which now has three types of vouchers and about 34,000 students statewide, is facing growing criticism and bipartisan scrutiny."
"The vouchers have been buffeted with questions about: A lack of audits. A school run by a suspected terrorist. Questionable private schools receiving vouchers for disabled students. Use of state money in religious schools." See "State voucher programs under scrutiny".
The Tampa Trib argues that "Bush and Education Commissioner Jim Horne should respond swiftly and frankly to reports that the state is scarcely monitoring private schools attended by children receiving vouchers" See "Tax Credit Scholarship Program Needs Serious State Oversight".
In "Corporate voucher plan more sham than success", the Palm Beach Post writes that "It is by now standard for Gov. Bush to color impatiently outside the lines and then post the mess on the state's refrigerator so everyone can ooh and ahh over his "creativity." His school-grading scheme -- which misuses the otherwise valuable FCAT -- was his first self-declared masterpiece. Not all observers see something to gush over. The grades fluctuated unaccountably and conflicted with federal findings. Highly graded schools -- nearly always affluent schools -- got bonus money that should have helped poorer ones. Bad grades hurt teacher recruiting."
College Caps (But No Gowns) - "The colleges and universities are in a bind because the Legislature won't properly fund enrollment increases. As a result, some university and college presidents say they may have to choose quality over quantity." See "College Caps Not The Answer".
Logic 101 - See how the brain trust that is the Florida Times Union editorial board manages to weave the following into the malpractice cap debate:
"Trial lawyers say incompetent doctors are killing people. That may be true, but incompetent lawyers apparently are, too."
"In Wiggins vs. Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court found that an accused murderer had been sentenced to die -- not because that was just but rather because his lawyers had been negligent. A better-skilled attorney filed an appeal and the man is getting a new trial, but many other Death Row inmates are not as fortunate."
Growth Management A "Bald Faced Lie" - "If 'growth management' was an oxymoron in Florida prior to 1985, it has since been exposed as a bald-faced lie. This state doesn't manage growth; it plays it, staking finite resources on a Ponzi scheme's final payoff. Those who condone the lie with their silence are letting land speculators profit on the subsidy of public infrastructure and buy off this state with the pauper's wages of a tourist economy while trumpeting the empty promise that growing bigger will bring everyone prosperity." See "State falls short on land-use management".