Check out the hit parade of Florida's finest citizens in this delightful story:
A business group headed by one of the Bush brothers' biggest financial backers is about to ignite an epic fight over Florida's water. The fracas will begin this week when the Florida Council of 100, led by developer and Bush fund-raiser Al Hoffman, unveils proposals for the most sweeping rewrite of the state's water laws in 31 years. They include proposals that could allow the Tampa and Orlando areas to take water from North Florida's springs and rivers, while giving the private market a foothold in water management. . . . The proposals are the brainchild of the council's 30-member water task force, which includes Palm Beach sugar magnate Alfonso Fanjul and Palm Beach County developer E. Llwyd Ecclestone. . . . Hoffman was the governor's campaign finance chairman in 1998 and 2002, as well as national co-chairman of President Bush's 2000 campaign. For 2004, he is one of an elite group of "Rangers" who have raised $200,000 apiece toward the president's reelection.
THE FLORIDA GOP: NOTHING LESS THAN CORPORATE WHORES -Florida lawmakers were on the side of the business community in nearly eight out of every 10 critical votes in the 2003 Legislature, according to Associated Industries of Florida, a major business lobby.
After evaluating votes on issues such as medical malpractice, workers' compensation insurance and no-fault auto insurance, the lobbying group reported that lawmakers voted 81 percent of the time with the business group's position. "Lawmakers side with business".
RATE HIKES -we didn't like the bill that the telecom companies drafted, but state lawmakers enacted it this year anyway. Now the least that these companies can do is abide by their own law's requirements. They haven't, and so the Florida Public Service Commission should heed the advice of its lawyers: Reject the rate-hike requests from BellSouth, Sprint and Verizon. "Telecom companies should hew to rules".
WHATEVER IT TAKES -<em> Organizers of a campaign to push a higher statewide minimum wage say the initiative would draw more low-income workers -- especially Democrats -- to the polls in November 2004. "Wage issue could shape vote".
OUR "JEB!" DOESN'T LET THE FACTS GET IN THE WAY -By the end of next year, all DCF districts are supposed to have privatized foster care and adoption. The Legislature ordered the change in 1998, before Gov. Bush took office. But he's a big fan of the concept, convinced that private groups always do better than government. He doesn't like it when facts come along to contradict the idea. "DCF still too private".
DON'T YOU LOVE THESE SO-CALLED "FISCAL CONSERVATIVES" - Your money keeps burning holes in the pockets of Johnnie Byrd, speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. First, The Man Who Would Be Your Next U.S. Senator hired 13 publicity people, more than the governor has. Then he switched computer contractors in an expensive way that drew the House into an expensive lawsuit. Now he is proposing to purchase handheld e-mail devices for every House member who wants one. "Let the legislators pay for their own toys".
WHERE ARE THE "STATE'S RIGHTS" NUTS NOW?Federal regulators plan to review Florida's management of the Escambia County Utilities Authority after revelations that it provided drinking water with high levels of radium to customers. "U.S. to review handling of water contamination".
THE REBEL FLAG -"Florida is a progressive, future-oriented state," Bush told reporters last week. "We should be mindful and respectful of our history, but I don't think we need to be entirely focused on our past."
But Bush would not comment on whether he would oppose the group's efforts to add the Confederate Battle Flag to the pantheon of license plates now crisscrossing Florida highways. Bush said he has yet to see the plate in question or how the money raised would be spent. "License plates and the vox populi".
The Daytona Beach News Journal points out that,
now the state is in a bind. Ever since lawmakers allowed the patently anti-abortion tag "Choose Life," rendered in bright yellow and sporting a stick figure of a child, groups with increasingly political messages have rushed to get their own slogans stamped in metal and attached to the back of vehicles. Despite chagrin over the proliferation of what are basically state-approved bumper stickers, lawmakers have lacked the gumption to stop them. "License to speak".