4/28/2003
Hiaasen on 'glades sell-out
I was hoping Carl Hiaasen would get back from vacation in time to write about the Everglades sell-out. Well, he did. "How sweet is Big Sugar's Everglades deal?" ran Sunday and I just happened upon it today. (A pox upon Knight Ridder Web-sites design! )
Two years later, prodded by then-Gov. Lawton Chiles, Florida lawmakers passed the Everglades Forever Act -- but not before the sugar tycoons convinced the Legislature that they couldn't meet clean-water standards until 2006.
Now they want even more time. Call it the Everglades Whenever Act, and it's been sailing unchallenged through both state houses.
One reason is that Big Sugar has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the election coffers of lawmakers. For added insurance, no less than 46 lobbyists were hired to patrol the halls of the capitol.
It's no surprise that the sugar growers so easily purchased the Legislature, which has devolved into an annual festival of whores. What's both stunning and disappointing is the acquiescence of Gov. Jeb Bush, who has an enormous political stake in seeing the Everglades revived without delay.
Two years later, prodded by then-Gov. Lawton Chiles, Florida lawmakers passed the Everglades Forever Act -- but not before the sugar tycoons convinced the Legislature that they couldn't meet clean-water standards until 2006.
Now they want even more time. Call it the Everglades Whenever Act, and it's been sailing unchallenged through both state houses.
One reason is that Big Sugar has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to the election coffers of lawmakers. For added insurance, no less than 46 lobbyists were hired to patrol the halls of the capitol.
It's no surprise that the sugar growers so easily purchased the Legislature, which has devolved into an annual festival of whores. What's both stunning and disappointing is the acquiescence of Gov. Jeb Bush, who has an enormous political stake in seeing the Everglades revived without delay.
