MARRIAGE INITIAVE MISPLACED - Among the ideas circulating for three new pilot projects are: mandated pre-marriage counseling; government-sponsored promulgation of pro-marriage "materials," often based on religious principles; an attack on the divorce rate.
Acting with the best of intentions, it would take very delicate footwork to reach these goals in an effective but noncoercive way -- and that's assuming there's money to spare for such an effort. There's not. Budget constraints are forcing Florida to hack money for job training, subsidized child care, domestic violence prevention and health care.
Mark Merrill -- head of Gov. Jeb Bush's new marriage and families initiative -- touts the success of welfare "reform" in the war against poverty. The truth: Reform efforts haven't cured poverty; they've exacerbated it, creating a new subclass of ultrapoor clinging to the edges of survival without a lifeline. . . . If any new money comes in, it should be directed first to the state's immediate needs -- and a state-sponsored marriage initiative is not among them. Such initiatives in other states are overwhelmingly associated with groups that espouse strong religious agendas. They revolve -- sometimes subtly, sometimes not -- around the notion that the strongest family is a bread-winning husband with a submissive, stay-at-home wife. And the coercion factor in this movement is strong. In West Virginia, welfare recipients received a $100 bonus if they married. Other states (including Florida) have considered a far darker option: repealing no-fault divorce laws, which would force spouses to rip each other apart publicly to get out of a bad marriage. Florida's Merrill is on record in favor of "opening a debate" on no-fault divorce.
Strong marriages and strong families are important. But they can't be forced. The state's time and energy are better spent in promoting the education, health and safety of all Floridians -- and letting the matchmaking take care of itself. "Marriage initiative".
MORE EMBARASSING BY THE MINUTE - An appeal by Gov. Jeb Bush is causing another delay in resolving the case of Terri Schiavo, the brain-damaged St. Petersburg woman whose bitter end-of-life legal battle has attracted worldwide attention.
WE'RE SHOCKED, TRULY SHOCKED -Lower medical-malpractice-insurance premiums are unlikely to be delivered soon to Florida doctors and other health-care providers despite long labors over the issue in three recent legislative special sessions. "Doctors likely to keep paying". See also "Rates upset doctors, lawyers".
VOUCHER LITIGATION TIES UP STATE MONEY -The state of Florida must pony up another $2 million as a security bond to keep running its original school-voucher program, a circuit judge decided Monday. The state is appealing Circuit Judge Kevin Davey's ruling last year that the Opportunity Scholarship program was unconstitutional because it allows parents to use tax dollars to send their children to religious schools.
The 1st District Court of Appeal now is considering the case. Davey ordered the state to put up money so that public schools losing students to private schools through vouchers could be reimbursed if appeals courts agreed that the law was unconstitutional. "Judge orders security bond for voucher plan". See also "$2 million to go for vouchers".
GETTING THE TRUTH ABOUT "ONE FLORIDA" - An ongoing, independent audit of the One Florida contracting program would enhance its credibility and dispel nagging suspicions in some quarters that the statistics don't provide a realistic assessment of the state's efforts to do business with minority vendors. "Audit Needed To Secure Future".
STATE GOP LOSER TO REPLACE FIRST BLACK POLK COUNTY COMMISSIONER - Insurance executive and Republican activist Henry Paul Senft was appointed late Monday to fill the vacancy on the Polk County Commission left open by the death of Charles R. Richardson Sr. last month
Richardson was the first black member of the commission, and some had called on Gov. Jeb Bush to replace him with another black person.
Senft, 64, who is white, is an owner of Townsend-Senft Consulting. Earlier this year, he sought the chairmanship of the state's Republican Party, which went to Carole Jean Jordan of Vero Beach. Senft is a board member of Main Street Haines City and is chairman of the Haines City Downtown Redevelopment Committee. "Polk County Businessman tapped to fill vacant post". 6:20 AM
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