If Florida legislators wanted proof that the medical malpractice compromise they cobbled together last summer was an exercise in futility, they got it last week. That's when Medical Protective Co., which insures doctors against malpractice claims, notified physicians it would drop their policies in January. "Inevitable disappointment".
AND HE CALLS HIMSELF THE "EDUCATION GOVERNOR" - The St Pete Times asks, "What's the plan?":
Nearly five years into his tenure as education governor, Jeb Bush has responded to the financial desperation of community colleges with an assessment that is at once obvious and baffling. "We need to come up with a stable funding source," Bush said recently after a private meeting with community college presidents. "What we are doing now does not match the ebb and flow of growth."
Bush is right, of course, and virtually every serious analysis of Florida's regressive and narrowly based tax system in the past two decades has reached that same conclusion. The state's tax structure is volatile and inadequate, and, because it relies almost entirely on a sales tax that exempts large portions of the growing service economy, it spreads that thin burden in the cruelest of ways. Last year, Florida taxed people with annual incomes of $9,200 at five times the rate of those who earn almost $1-million. Read the rest of this fine editorial here.
GIVE THE GATORS SOME CREDIT -When four Florida universities began searching for new presidents, all wanted a visionary to lead them into the 21st century and raise their profiles. While the University of Florida picked a leader with 28 years of experience in higher education, the others opted for people with political clout. "Colleges look to politics for leaders".
SORRY KING "JEB!", BUT IT'S CALLED THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS -Gov. Jeb Bush often admits to being impatient with the complexities of state government, wishing he could make overnight changes in the structure and operation of agencies that he thinks could work better. "State-DCA merger will come in 2005".
WELL "JEB!" MAYBE YOU SHOULD "GO THERE" -That means when President George W. Bush is on the ballot, when state legislators are seeking re-election, and the U.S. Senate race is up for grabs there will be ads telling voters of all the great things that have been done for education in Florida thanks to the lottery. . . . Lottery officials say the elections are not why they are asking for such a large increase in their advertising budget. . . . Gov. Jeb Bush said last week that he was not aware of the request from the Lottery Department. But he said it was cynical to suggest that an increase in advertising funding could be a way to reach out to voters concerned about education.
TOUCH SCREENS ARE THE WAY TO GO (IF YOU WANT ALL BALLOTS COUNTED) -In California, two researchers compared the difference between the total numbers of ballots cast with numbers of "Yes" and "No" votes on the recall question. Elections officials call that difference the "dropoff" or the "residual vote."
The numbers should provide some valuable guidance to county commissioners and elections supervisors in South Florida, still wrestling with concerns about the reliability and accuracy of new touch-screen machines.
On punch-card voting machines, the uncast or invalid recall votes totaled 297,775, or 6.3 percent of the votes. On optical scan machines, like those being used to count South Florida absentee ballots, invalid recall votes totaled 72,190, or 1.7 percent. By contrast, only 13,181 voters (1.5 percent) didn't cast valid ballots on touch-screen machines.
Touch-screen machines have a major advantage over the others. The machines block voters from voting both "Yes" and "No" on any ballot question, or for more than one candidate in any race. Also, if voters skip any race or ballot question, the machine asks if they are sure they don't want to cast a ballot. And the machine lets them review all their choices, before making their vote official. "Ballot Errors Are Troubling". 5:54 AM
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