The Political Whore

By Lorna Bracewell
PoHo contributor

This just in from Securing Our Children’s Rights (SOCR), a Tampa-based lobbying group organized to secure, protect and preserve equal rights for children of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents in Florida:

Securing Our Children’s Rights, Inc. (SOCR), is pleased to announce HB 3 – Adoption, for the 2010 legislative session, introduced by Representative Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, that is a full repeal of Florida’s ban on adoption by its gay and lesbian citizens. Senator Nan Rich has a companion bill in drafting at this date.

Governor Crist has declared Wednesday, July 22, 2009 as Explore Adoption Day and we must contact Governor Crist and the legislature to Explore Adoption by repealing the ban.

WHEN: Wednesday, July 22, 2009
WHO: Governor Charlie Crist (850) 488-7146 or email to Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com

House Speaker Larry Cretul 850-488-1450 or 352-873-6564 or email to Larry.Cretul@myfloridahouse.gov

Senate President Jeff Atwater 850-487-5100 or 561-625-5101 or email to atwater.jeff.web@flsenate.gov

Your Florida Representative – www.myfloridahouse.gov

Your Florida Senator – www.flsenate.gov

THE ASK:
Please ask the Governor to support the repeal of the adoption ban on gay Floridians and ask him to encourage the legislative leadership to pass the repeal.

Please ask the House Speaker and the Senate President to support the repeal and encourage Committee hearings for the bills.

Please ask your representative and senator to support the repeal, and to become a co-sponsor.

Here are your fun facts and talking points, courtesy of SOCR:

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The controversial Orlando light rail plan, known as SunRail or the CSX deal to opponents, just won’t die. Today’s Orlando Sentinel is reporting that the city’s mayor, Buddy Dyer, is vowing that “nothing is off the table” when it comes to trying to figure out how to resurrect the twice-killed plan.

The leading idea?

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From the Associated Press:

Legislative negotiators agreed on what Gov. Charlie Crist called a “great” deal to expand gambling at Seminole Indian casinos Wednesday, some six hours after their talks were on the brink of collapse.

Both sides made concessions. The House accepted a broader gaming expansion than many of its members wanted. The Senate agreed to less than it had been pushing for.

The agreement has the potential to generate millions of dollars for state coffers that have been shrinking due the faltering economy.

From March on Politics:

Negotiations between the state House and Senate over how much to expand gambling in Florida appear to be at an impasse, despite pressure from Gov. Charlie Crist for the two sides to reach an agreement.

As he did yesterday, Crist took the unusual step of showing up for a meeting of the negotiators that just concluded, a way of demonstrating his concern and pushing the two sides to reach an agreement. Also attending were tribal leaders and their representatives.

But he can’t have been encouraged with what he saw: The top House negotiator, state Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, accusing the Senate of “going backward” in the negotiations and then stalking out of the room as the meeting adjourned, with a closing comment that suggested there might be no more meetings.

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

Well, for one the now State Sen. Victor Crist, who has an eye on Ken Hagan’s county commission seat in a game of musical sprawlers and  just voted to throw Hillsborough under the bus by gutting what meager growth management laws we do have. Yep, he voted YES on the deplorable bill SB 360 denounced by environmentalists, smart growth advocates and anyone with two brain cells that touch (who aren’t in the pockets of developers).

[EDITOR'S UPDATE: Legislative records show that Crist changed to a "No" vote on the bill. In an interview with PoHo, Crist said he was off the floor in a budget conference meeting during the vote in question and another Senator "voted his button," a fairly common practice in the Legislature. Crist said he noticed the yes vote and changed it by the end of the day. More from Crist in the comments section. The Senate floor vote record is here.]

Remember that in 2010 when we have the “special election“ experts think is going to occur for Hagan’s seat. I didn’t know anything about Crist one way or the other before this, but voting yes on SB 360 tells me all I need to know. Looks like some of his constituents aren’t all that happy with him either regarding past issues. You can contact Crist here and tell him what you think.

Read the rest of this entry »

For better or for worse (and there are some who say it bodes poorly for efforts to get rail transit here in Tampa Bay), but Orlando’s five-year effort for a light-rail system using CSX freight tracks appears finally dead.

A floor vote in the Senate yesterday that could have helped switch more votes to its side failed. From the pro-SunRail Orlando Sentinel:

SunRail proponents could try to bring up the measure again today – the last day of the regular session – but its chances of success are low because it would take 27 votes to do so.

“It’ll take some maneuvering to get it done. I think the forces of evil have won,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

He was among the dozens of supporters who tried in vain to corral the 21 votes necessary for SunRail to prevail. But he lost two members of the Central Florida delegation: Sens. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, and Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach.

And despite the support of Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and numerous Central Florida business leaders, 15 Republicans voted against the measure.

Just got off a conference call arranged by a Tallahassee PR agency along with Associated Industries of Florida (a pro-business insurance interest) that was pitching heavily for a surprise move in the Florida Legislature to end a 20-year ban on offshore drilling and oil/gas exploration.

HB 1219’s explosive provisions came up all of a sudden, in the last two weeks of the session, clearly a strategic move to limit public discussion on the controversial issue. 20 years of protecting Florida’s beaches from oil spills could be gone in a matter of days in the blitzkrieg, but the oil production advocates on the phoner said that’s not important. What does matter is that Florida is losing out on millions in revenues from state and federal oil leases that could materialize. (And more importantly, lawmakers might miss out on the more than $1.1 million in campaign contributions that petroleum interests have made in the past 15 years.)

It’s about “hard cold cash” for the state “as opposed to political rhetoric,” said Barney Bishop, the head of AIF, who wouldn’t reveal the oil production members of his association who are pushing the legislation. “We’ve never identified who our members are. Our members just brought this idea to us. It was a unique idea. The fact that it was a 20 year [prohibition], that doesn’t mean a doggone thing. That’s really a non-issue.”

Orlando economist Hank Fishkind put the state’s proceeds at more than $1.5 billion a year for 20 years, or $31 billion.

Yes, they flat out dangled lots of cash. Want to fix your budget crisis, Florida? Just drill, baby drill. Pretty odious stuff, especially the shadowy timing of this and the use of Dean Cannon, the next speaker of the House, to introduce the bill and push it through a House council vote along party lines, 17-6. The change in state policy would allow the Cabinet to consider proposals for oil drilling from zero to 10.35 miles offshore. The federal moratorium from 10.35 miles to 200 miles out likely would fall, too, if the state lifts its ban.

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The Republicans have gone back to their old ways when it comes to trying to regain power: rig the election process rather than appeal to the majority of voters.

This time it is a Senate bill (SB 956) that is the target of just about every voting rights and civil rights group in the state. The bill would make it harder for older voters to cast ballots (by outlawing two alternate forms of ID they often use to register and vote), make it harder to gather petition signatures for candidates and referenda, force people who move within 29 days of Election Day to cast provisional ballots and install other vote-blocking reforms in the name of voting security.

From the Times:

Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday strongly hinted that he would veto a proposed rewrite of Florida’s election laws as a broad array of grass-roots groups launched an all-out assault on the legislation.

“What is it we’re trying to cure?” Crist asked in a Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau interview. “The more opportunity you give people to vote, the better it is for democracy. So that aspect of it concerns me.”

“It always seems to me that when there may be legislation that attempts to sort of make it harder for people to do something — the people we work for — generally that’s not good,” Crist said. “I don’t look on that in a favorable light and that is true of this particular part of this legislation.” Asked if he would veto it, Crist said: “I don’t like to use the V word … but I’m not fond of that provision. It concerns me.”

The Central Florida light rail plan known either as SunRail or the CSX deal remained alive in the Florida Senate, barely slipping by an important committee vote yesterday.

The Orlando Sentinel reports:

The $1.2 billion project may need to go before another committee, or it could end up on the Senate floor for a vote that would determine its fate. With nine days left before the session’s scheduled adjournment May 1, supporters want to go to the floor soon, though it is not certain they have the 21 votes necessary to win in the 40-member chamber.

The would-be train eked out a 4-3 vote in the Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee, but the swing vote – cast by Sen. Chris Smith, D- Fort Lauderdale – was less than enthusiastic.

Smith’s vote came only after sponsors allowed him to attach a local-option rental-car surcharge, a $2-a-day levy that would require approval by a county commission supermajority and a county’s voters in a referendum. South Florida legislators are hoping the tax could raise as much as $40 million to support their Tri-Rail commuter system.

SunRail has been opposed by some because it would pay hundreds of millions to CSX for 63 miles of track. Some Lakeland residents oppose it because CSX would then re-route its freight traffic hub through downtown Lakeland.

By State Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg
PoHo contributor
Kriseman is blogging throughout the Florida Legislature’s 60-day session.

Making headlines in Tallahassee this session is the “Consumer Choice and Protection Act,” a bill that in its current form offers neither choices or protection. You may have heard about it. It allows for a maximum rate hike, removes the regulatory power of the Public Service Commission, and generally just puts a strain on seniors, rural residents, and small businesses. Read the rest of this entry »

The controversial SunRail proposal, called the CSX deal by detractors for its purchase of 60+ miles of freight track and rerouting that freight traffic through downtown Lakeland, is set for a climactic vote in the Florida Senate today.

The bill had been stalled in the Senate for weeks, but proponents hope they have secured enough votes to pass the Transportation and Economic Development Committee. The horse trade? A $2 surtax on car rentals to help fund South Florida’s own transit system, Tri-Rail.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

“I think we’re getting close,” said [Fort Lauderdale Sen. Chris] Smith, considered the swing vote on the committee, though it’s not certain how anti-tax Republicans will view the rental-car surcharge.

And even with committee approval, SunRail still must garner 21 votes in the full Senate. That could be difficult, according to Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, the train’s leading opponent.

“The true vote on the project will be on the floor, and it will not be close,” said Dockery, who has boasted that she has lined up as many as 26 votes against SunRail.

By State Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg
PoHo contributor
Kriseman is guest blogging throughout the Florida Legislature’s 60-day session.

It’s halftime in the Florida Legislature. I don’t know the exact score, but I know the people of Florida are trailing. The House, in particular has shown little sense of urgency, unless we’re tackling mandatory pre-abortion ultrasounds or some other issue of importance to certain political consultants and pollsters. We’ve spent just a few hours on the floor during the first month of session, and committee meetings are quietly winding down without passage of any significant packages.

In fairness, the budget does remain the talk of the town, and serious discussions between the two chambers are reportedly beginning. Regardless, Floridians shouldn’t expect any bold ideas from their state government. It’s business as usual up here, and unless our coaches make some halftime adjustments, hardworking Floridians will endure another losing session.

This is a year for developers and their high-paid legal lackeys to make end-runs on state and local environmental regulations, all in the name of re-starting our economy by letting development and growth run rampant — which is pretty much what tanked Florida’s economy in the first place.

It’s a false premise and a stupid idea. Now comes the most naked attack on the already pro-development balance in Florida’s runaway destruction of our natural beauty, a piece of hilariously titled legislation called “House Bill 1349 – Environmental Protection.” As Craig Pittman and Matt Waite of the St. Petersburg Times report today:

Read the rest of this entry »

By Jim Johnson
PoHo Contributor
Jim Johnson is the creator of The State of Sunshine blog.

Today is the 18th day of the 2009 Legislative session.

Just one committee is meeting on Friday.

Read the rest of this entry »

Our own Ronda Storms is back in the headlines for her motormouth, this time for calling Barack Obama “The Messiah.”

The AP reports:

The debate over Florida’s public campaign financing program turned ugly Thursday when Republican Sen. Ronda Storms mocked President Barack Obama as “The Messiah” and a Democratic colleague made a vulgar retort.

It didn’t escalate beyond that, and they agreed that voters should be able to decide whether to get rid of the program that gave statewide candidates more than $11 million in taxpayer money during 2006 elections.

She was criticized by Pasco Republican Mike Fasano after saying this:

“People in Florida also voted for the president, who said he would stick with public financing and then failed to keep his word and didn’t honor his word, and the public then yawned about it and said, ‘It’s not a big issue,’” Storms said.

She then took a swipe at Democrats and Obama.

“They don’t want to talk about The Messiah having a flaw, but actually it was a flaw,” she said.

Read the AP report in TBO.com.

UPDATE: Kenneth Quinnell takes apart Storms’ lies during the hearing, which he says most media overlooked.

Today is the 11th day of the 2009 Legislative session.

Well, it is Friday, March 13th. Perhaps the legislature is triskadecaphobic — neither chamber is meeting. But then, they may be looking to avoid bad news from the Revenue Estimating Conference.

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By State Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg
PoHo contributor

Kriseman and his Republican colleague, Will Weatherford, have agreed to blog for us throughout the Florida Legislature’s 60-day session.

There is no “session” this week, meaning although we are in Tallahassee, only council and committee meetings can be found on the Week Two calendar, along with numerous visits from constituent groups. I spent most of Tuesday in the Energy & Utilities Policy Committee and the PreK-12 Policy Committee, where my service-learning bill passed, and where Rep. Will Weatherford presented and passed his resolution to revise Florida’s voter-approved constitutional amendment on class size by adding some flexibility to the counting process. While I understand satisfying the current class-size mandate is difficult, and that many school administrators and districts favor a re-vote because of the limited flexibility in the amendment, I do not support a change to the 2002 Constitutional amendment.

Last year, with unanimous and bipartisan support, my committee and the full House passed a bill that provided the needed flexibility for schools, and did so statutorily, rather than through a resolution sending the issue back to the ballot. Best of all, the bill still honored the will of the voters. However, because that bill did not pass the Senate this discussion has returned. Rep. Weatherford wants to go back to the voters and try and convince them they made a mistake in 2002. That is a risky proposition, because failure to obtain the support of 60 percent of the voters in the fall of 2010 means this problem won’t go away for quite awhile.

By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist

This new CSX deal is so ugly it would make a freight train take a dirt road. It would cost taxpayers $1.2 billion, but according to this recent Orlando Sentinel article, that number could go up. According to a recent news release from Senator Paula Dockery, an opponent of the deal, the number is actually at $2.66 BILLION! She had the Florida Department of Transportation do a detailed cost estimate and this is what it produced.

Wasn’t this rotten deal only a paltry $649 million last year? I guess train track prices don’t go down in a recession, and neither did the number of disturbing details about this deal. Still present are the liability issues sticking taxpayers with the bill for negligence, the location issue (that send freight trains through downtown Lakeland) and, of course, there is that little matter of the cost. Not to mention the backroom way in which this scheme was originally cooked up. Taxpayers are getting totally railroaded. Some research finds that CSX is not a stranger to screwing Florida taxpayers; check out this article.

Read the rest of this entry »

Lakeland’s biggest headache, the SunRail aka CSX rail deal is moving ahead in the Florida Legislature, passing a committee vote 14-3 in the House of Representatives.

From the looks of this story in the Orlando Sentinel, however, it looks like Official Lakeland is now OK with the re-rerouting of CSX’s freight lines through its downtown (part of the SunRail deal), or at least thinks the city has a shot at changing that routing.

From the Orlando Sentinel:

At a hearing loaded with lobbyists for Central Florida governments and companies supporting the deal, the project also won a tentative endorsement from Lakeland officials concerned that the plan would reroute freight trains through their city.

The officials said they were pleased with language in the bill directing the Department of Transportation to “work closely” with Lakeland and Plant City to “address the anticipated impact” of the trains.

“We are at a very different place than we were last year,” Lakeland lobbyist David Shepp told the House Economic Development and Community Affairs Council.

That’s the message you can draw from the latest Quinnipiac University poll, which shows that Florida voters repudiate two stances the GOP-dominated Legislature has taken: on cigarette taxes and gay adoptions.

Voters support 71 – 26 percent raising the cigarette tax an additional $1 a pack, the independent Quinnipiac (KIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

The survey also finds that Floridians oppose 55 – 39 percent a state law that prohibits homosexuals from adopting children. Republicans support the law 52 – 43 percent, as do White Evangelical Christians 58 – 37 percent. Democrats oppose the law 61 – 32 percent, along with independent voters 60 – 34 percent.

House leadership, including embattled Speaker Ray Sansom, took the cigarette tax hike off the table before the special session earlier this month even started. The Legislature has also long opposed allowing gay couples to adopt children, even as some gays serve as foster parents.

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From Dee Layne, Lutz’s own civic activist par excellence and a tireless watcher of the Legislature, a roundup of the most important legislation for Tampa Bay and where it stands as we enter the final week of the session (here emphases, not mine):

­GOOD BILLS:

SB 542/HB 7141:      These are the Florida Forever Succession bills.  They extend and enhance our state’s land acquisition program.  These bills are similar, but not the same.  For them to pass, they must be identical passing both chambers.  Both extend the land acquisition program for 10 years and give $300 million per year to the program.

CS/HB 7135/SB 1544:     These are the energy bills, similar but not identical.  There are some very good things in these bills, and some damaging.  At this point, they appear to be heading on the right track.  Again, they both must match before they will pass both chambers.  Both of these bills are in 3rd reading in each of their chambers today.

HB 761/SB 1376:    (These are okay now, but could change.)  These are the bills that took away local control of wetlands on ag land.  The HB 761 is on 3rd reading today, which means they will vote on it and pass it.  It has language that exempts any local government that has ordinances in effect by April 1, 2008.  Hillsborough County’s EPC oversight  and enforcement would be safe under this wording.

The SB 1376, the Senate version, is pending reference review and not before the Senate today.  Remember this version takes out the words “or enforce” from the bill.  This is much better than the House’s version.

HARMFUL BILLS:

HB 1173/SB 2246:   These bills are known as the Ag Enclave bills.  Although both now have been amended to make sure there is a 90 days cooling off period before a local government can be sued for property rights violation and transportation concurrency now matches the same 3 mile radius, these bills MANDATE that local governments increase the densities and intensities on an ag enclave property averaged in a 3 mile radius.  THESE BILLS WOULD TOTALLY MESS WITH OUR COMMUNITY PLANS!!!!!

HB 1173 is in 3rd reading today in the House (can be voted out).  SB 2246 is on 2nd reading in the Senate today (bill can be amended and placed on 3rd reading).

SB 474/HB 7129:    These are the growth management bills pending.  Both bills create exemptions for transportation and school concurrency without replacing our present system with anything.  HB 7129 is on 3rd reading today, which means it can be voted on and passed.  Of all the bills pending, HB 7129 AWAY CITIZEN’S CONSITUTIONAL RIGHT TO PETITION OUR GOVERNMENT FOR A REFERENDUM ON DEVELOPMENT ORDERS AND COMPREHENSIVE PLAN AMENDMENTS.  This language directly addresses Hometown Democracy and would take away rights.   Whether you agree or disagree with Hometown Democracy, this is NOT the right way to plan our growth.  THIS BILL NEEDS TO DIE!!!!!!!!

SB 474 is a better bill, includes good high coastal hazard development section, but still exempts transportation and school concurrency without replacing it with any other system.

Both bills contain a “Mobility Fee Study” to look at a new way of tying land use and transportation together.  Our recommendation would be to delete all language in both bills except the “Mobility Fee Study”.   THIS BILL SHOULD DIE TOO IF NOT DELETED DOWN TO COASTAL DEVELOPMENT LANGUAGE AND THIS STUDY!!!!

HB 1399/SB 1978:             These are the “CSX give away” bills under the guise of “transportation”.   These are bills that our Bay Area Legislative Delegation need to protect us, the taxpayer.  CSX is being given $423 million for its tracks AND we the taxpayers are indemnifying CSX for any accidents on the tracks whether its CSX’s fault or not.  THIS LIABILITY SHOULD NOT BE ON THE BACKS OF US!!!!    Ask the legislators to take this out!

With daily print newspapers in a revenue free-fall, some of the “luxuries” they once provided to their readers are going by the wayside. The latest? The downsizing of the Tallahassee Capitol press corps, as reported by the St. Petersburg Times:

Recent departures have left the Palm Beach Post with two reporters, the Tampa Tribune with one. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel last year reduced its staff from two to one. The Orlando Sentinel is holding at two reporters. The Miami Herald has three. Four New York Times-owned regional papers share a staff of two.

The largest news operation belongs to Gannett, which has five reporting positions for readers in Pensacola, Fort Myers, Cocoa Beach and Tallahassee.

… That brings us to the St. Petersburg Times, which has three full-time reporters based in the capital and senior correspondent Lucy Morgan. That’s down from four a year ago (what this bureau chief calls “a 25 percent cutback” to his bosses).

Those departures include S.V. Date from the Post. Date, you may recall, literally wrote the book on Jeb Bush’s terms as governor but was none too beloved by his fellow newsies. He used to write his own “Omega Blog” on state politics, but it has disappeared from his website.

Yes, young children, there was a time when the Capitol press corps was busting at the seams with hungry reporters looking to get a “pelt,” taking down a legislator who was doing wrong. The combined press offices on College Avenue was bustling. Not so much any more. We voters back home are the ones who suffer. Legislators know how much attention is paid to Tallahassee by the folks back home in the absence of any scrutiny. And finding out what is going on in the Capitol is not exactly something you can do 100 percent just by clicking on your computer screen at Online Sunshine.

Has the digital world stepped up to take its place? Let me know what you think and which blogs you read that are doing (even partially) primary source reporting of the goings-on in the state Legislature.

From the Hillsborough County legislative delegation comes notice of a public hearing on property tax reform next week:

 Senator Arthenia Joyner, chair of the Hillsborough County Legislative Delegation, has announced that the Delegation will meet on Tuesday, June 5, from 6 until 9 p.m. at the University Area Community Center Complex gymnasium, 14013 North 22 Street, to hear from local governments and the public on the issue of property tax reduction.

In announcing the meeting, Senator Joyner said, “Members of the Legislature have been hearing from our constituents about ad valorem taxes; however, we now also need to hear from our four local governments and the program and service cutbacks or the creation of fee-driven programs and services that can be expected under the various scenarios which have been advanced to date.”

With all the dire warnings/bellyaching coming from the local governments, you can expect some lively and impassioned pleas.