Flablog

Traditionally, the day after the candidate qualifying deadline is the time to lament the breakdown of democracy and the number of offices held by people who never had face an opponent.

Yup, there's a lot of that this year. But the Legislative field is a little better than usual. And that goes along with longtime political rule o' thumb: Few contested races right after a redistricting; more contested races after a six or more years of population movement has taken the edge off the gerrymandering.

Anyway, The Buzz has the numbers:
+ In the state Senate, 21 seats were up for grabs.
+ Seven open races with no incumbent (Senate districts 9, 23, 24, 29, 31, 35, 37)
+ I count 11 Senate races with both major parties fielding candidates
+ In the state House, 120 seats were up for grabs.
+ 32 open races with no incumbent
+ 54 incumbents face challengers
+ And I count 54 races with both major parties fielding candidates.

The Division of Elections' candidate list is here.

Meanwhile in the local listings, the House district where I live -- Dist. 26 now represented by Pat Patterson, R-DeLand -- will have an actual two-party race with the qualifying of my former colleague Barry Flynn. Barry's living the dream by jumping from observing things as a reporter and editor to entering the fray himself as a Democrat.

Another former colleague, Carl Laundrie, is running for Flagler Supervisor of Elections as an independent.

Nobody ran against the Volusia School Board incumbents this year, proving again what a lousy job they have because of school funding cuts.

Labels: Elections, Legislature

Creationists' legislative strategy, uh, evolves.

Genesis literalism > intelligent design > "strengths and weaknesses"

Labels: Education, Legislature, Theocrats

... two more cities catch it.

Labels: Legislature

The reviews are coming in and everybody found something not to like in the just-ended session.

+ Bradenton Herald -- Brutal. That bleak assessment of the state Legislature's knotty session comes courtesy of our own Mike Bennett. Bradenton's Republican state senator went even further to hammer home the point. Absolutely brutal.
+ DB News-Journal -- Deep, painful cuts to the state's $66 billion budget dominated this year's session of the Florida Legislature. But rancor ran high over other issues, ranging from abortion to guns to property insurance.
+ St. Pete Times -- Here is one snapshot that illustrates the difference between Tallahassee and the real world. After state lawmakers wrapped up negotiations over a meager state budget this week, Gov. Charlie Crist proclaimed himself "so grateful to this Legislature for what they have done.'' Hours later, Pinellas school officials proposed cutting salaries for teachers and other employees by 2 percent and closing up to 10 schools.
+ Tampa Tribune -- Session was no great success, but kept bad bills off the books.
+ Tallahassee Dem -- Session time in the capital city ended Friday, and by nearly all accounts, it was one of the most unpleasant, unsatisfying and difficult ever for all players.

Plus
+ Parker Cartoon
+ Wayne Garcia's list of "incredibly stupid bills" and their fates.
+ Lane column

Labels: Legislature

Taking off from Gary's Fineout's eye-opening piece about SE Florida's role as donor to the rest of the state (something no doubt made worse in the next year's education budget), the Herald's Fred Grimm calls for succession.

I'm OK with that, but only if Central Florida gets to come to come along, too. You'd have a gun-totin', creationism-teaching (assuming they'd still have public schools) North Florida and a mellow Peninsular Republic. And it sure would cut driving time during the legislative session.

Labels: Legislature

Barring a Tallahassee miracle, when the Legislature adjourns Friday it will have failed in every respect to responsibly address the state's most pressing issues.

In the next two weeks, expect to see a lot of editorials along this line. (And, yes, I'm OK with the split infinitive.)

Labels: Legislature, Marco Rubio

In a not-terribly-shocking development, House Speaker Marco Rubio is telling the press other people are to blame for his lack of effectiveness , Democrats are whiners, and by the way, Goc. Crist is a policy lightweight who doesn't do his homework.

The Orlando Sentinel, feeling left out of the e-mailing and airing of the grievances, demands copies of the missives saying they're public records. The Herald folks responds that this is no big deal, contrary to what the Sentinel says, the e-mails were strictly on-the-record, so just read them on our Web site and by the way, correct your damn blog post.

Labels: blogs, Legislature, Marco Rubio, Media

The Senate passes the Teach Creationism Bill. The vote was 21-17. Does anybody doubt that it will pass in House?

+ The Buzz
+ Naked Politics notes that the only Dem voting for it was Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, the legislative mind behind the droopy drawers bill.
+ The Gradebook
+ Fla. Citizens for Science gives a blow-by-blow account of the debate

Labels: Education, Legislature, Ronda Storms, Theocrats

Procedure fight! Procedure fight!

+ Naked Politics
+ Q
+ Political Pulse
+ Herald

Labels: Legislature, Marco Rubio

More on the great Truck Nutz (trucktacles, truck balls, bull balls ) debate. Sen. Carey Baker flashes his morality cop badge and says "the line must be drawn here!"

Can police action against mud-flap girl be far behind?

Labels: Legislature, Theocrats

The vigilant Florida Citizens for Science blog finds that the creationists in our Florida Legislature put anti-evolution "academic freedom" language in the sex ed bill. Oops, never mind. Nothing to see here, folks. Cits for Sci explains and so does Gradebook.

Labels: Education, Legislature, Theocrats

Carey Baker, the legislative mind behind the law mandating the size of flags in Florida classrooms while refusing to pay for them, proposes outlawing so-called bumper nuts. He wants a $60 fine for this bit of tasteless japery.

Carey brought progress on a transportation bill to a screeching halt for 20 minutes with debate on this pressing issue of our day. Sen. Jim King, (R-Jax) defended the auto accessory as "an expression of just truckiness."

When truck balls are outlawed only outlaws with have truck balls! But expect to see this debate renewed. It's an issue with, uh, potency. So let's make this proposal Bad Idea #15!

Update: The no-plastic-balls amednment gets debated by the full Senate and added to the transporation bill. You can't say these guys aren't focused on the important issues of the day. Can the war against sexist mud flaps be around the corner?

Labels: Bad Ideas, Legislature

Bad Idea #14 -- (HB 1259) Hey, public schools have so much money for construction, why don't we force them to hand over some of it to private groups operating charter schools? Sure, the failure rate of these operations is pretty amazing, but if we give them tax money to build their own buildings without normal oversight, they'll thrive. What could go wrong?

Labels: Bad Ideas, Education, Legislature

The Florida Citizens for Science blog asks a question that your Florida Legislature is unwilling to ask -- just what the heck is this "critical analysis" that the House's creationism bill is talking about? And if critical analysis is so important in education, why is evolution the only scientific concept that is singled out for it? And just what critical arguments are they talking about, anyway? I mean other than that it Offends the Almighty and He is an Angry God and, you know, the whole Nazis-believed-in-stuff-like-that argument?

Labels: Education, Legislature, Theocrats

A new Quinnipiac poll is out. It finds that Gov. Charlie Crist's popularity has dropped into the high mere-mortal range at 59 percent. He also a five-point gender gap. He is most popular in SW Florida and least popular in the Panhandle/North Fla.

Other highlights:

+ The Legislature: Lowest. Approval. Ever. 32 percent approve. 48 percent disapprove.
+ TABOR -- 31 percent have nothing at all about it but 50 percent think it's a good idea.
+ Tax swap -- 16 percent have heard nothing at all about it and 48 percent think it's a good idea.
+ Voucher Amendment -- 59 percent oppose and 36 percent approve.
+ Slower growth -- 64 percent think it's good, 27 percent think its bad.

(N=1,215 Florida voters. MoE= +/- 2.8 percentage points. )

Labels: Charlie Crist, Legislature, Polls

This is a bit rich even by Florida standards: Rubio defends covertly helping a friend and political contributor saying his actions were done to strike a blow at the Department of Transportation's ''cozy'' ties to ''monopolistic'' contractors.

Sure, the beneficiary of this slipped-in-while-nobody-was-looking budget item, along with "his family and companies, "contributed about $319,000 over the past two decades to state legislative candidates, of which about $9,000 was contributed to Rubio since 1999" but Rubio says he's just looking out for taxpayers and the Florida motoring public.

+ Earlier Herald story here.
+ Littlepage colum.
+ Herald editorial.
+ Fred Grimm column.
+ St. Pete Times editorial.

Labels: Legislature, Marco Rubio

The Guns, God and Guttin' Education Session continues apace. The Senate passes the Bring Your Gun Work Bill 26-13. Meanwhile the It's OK to Teach Creationism Bill passes the Senate judiciary committee.

Labels: Legislature, Theocrats

Governor for Life Jeb Bush tells the Baptists how wrong Crist is about gambling and defends his boy Rubio. He also "criticized reporters who overly emphasize political ambition as motive for such conflicts" when clearly it's just a matter of doing right.

Labels: Jeb Bush, Legislature

Bad Idea 13 -- Let's put Florida an hour out of sync with the whole east coast for half the year and just not do daylight saving time anymore. State Sen. Bill Posey's bill (SB2318) passes its first committee hurdle.

"The whole body gets out of its equilibrium," Posey, R-Rockledge, told fellow senators.

I'm so glad the Legislature is looking after my bodily equilibrium.

Labels: Bad Ideas, Legislature

Your Fla. Legislature believes in three things: Guns, God and guttin' education.

True to its traditions, the House passes the guns-to-work bill. The phrase "let's settle this in the parking lot" will soon have a new meaning in the Sunshine State.

+ St. Pete Times editorial -- Edtiorials: House cravenly caves in to NRA. Again.

Labels: Legislature

Bad idea 7 -- We could really save money on payouts to people who were imprisoned for crimes they never committed if we create really complicated legal hoops for them to jump through and then forbid them from paying more than $1,000 to any lawyer fool enough to help them navigate this great system we've set up.

It will take them forever to do this. We might never have to pay an exonerated prisoner again! Heck, they may be innocent, but they wouldn't have been charged if they hadn't done something wrong. -- CS/HB 1025

Labels: Bad Ideas, Courts, Legislature

Bad Idea 6 -- Let's have the Florida Legislature get in the business of deciding what kids should wear in schools. Sen. Gary Siplin's much-ridiculed perennial, the Droopy-Drawers Act, might actually pass this year. (SB 302)

This used to be a statewide dress code with criminal penalties but is now merely a school dress bill.

See the Flablog Vault of Memory -- 2007, 2006, 2005.

Labels: Bad Ideas, Education, Legislature

Bad idea 5 -- Let's statutorily encourage people to drive around with guns in their cars and forbid businesses from telling employees or customers to leave their guns at home. HB 503/SB 1130.

But don't worry. If your troubled employee/customer starts shooting the place up, nobody can sue you.

The Legislature just can't vote on this often enough.

Labels: Bad Ideas, Legislature

Got back home after visiting Tallahassee for opening day. (Resulting column here.)

In the spirit of Speaker Marco Rubio's 100 Innovative Ideas from Conservative Think Tanks for Florida's Future, Flablog, as a public service, will launch a list of the 100 very bad ideas being kicked around in Tallahassee and around the state. They'll be listed in no particular order as they pop up over the next several months. This is Florida; we should get to 100 in no time.

Why not open with education? --

Bad Idea 1 -- Let's get give legislators a license to treat the university system as their own private pork pen and fire the Board of Regents which has been acting all uppity lately. -- SJR 2308

Bad Idea 2 -- Let's get independent educators out of educational planning and replace the head of state education system with a career politician who can raise the cash it takes to run a statewide campaign. It will probably some term-limited legislator who wants to stay in Florida pension system. (Be sure not to include any requirement that the person have an educational background or even a college degree. Heck, this is Florida; don't require a high school education.) -- SJR 2308

Bad Idea 3 -- While the Legislature is laying down the law to educators, let's make sure they teach creationism and magical intelligent design in the public schools. We bet an elected head of state schools would have taken the hint already. -- SB 2692

Bad Idea 4 -- Lets pull an arbitrary number out of air - oh, let's say 65 percent -- and require public schools to spend at least that percentage on the things we'll choose to call "classroom expenses.' Football will be a classroom expense - natch' -- but libraries and computers? depends on how we define them. Be sure to penalize the schools for spending money on the transportation required by the Federal No Child Left Behind law. Penalize them , too, for having school nurses and speech therapists. And don't include any flexibility for dealing with the costs of hurricanes or other natural disasters. Be sure to include lots of expensive paperwork requirements which schools will be penalized for obeying. You'll sound great on talk radio taking on educrats!-- HB 1463

Labels: Bad Ideas, Education, Legislature

Well, it had to come. The Fla. Senate now has a creationism bill. Excuse me a "academic freedom" bill. No surprise it comes from the Senates rightest winger, Sen. Ronda Storms. No House companion. Yet. Supporters say a House version will be filed.

(Via Florida Citizens for Science.)

Labels: Education, Legislature, Ronda Storms, Theocrats

With the Democrats' remarkable win in Bob Allen's old district, at least a few Dems are getting giddy and talking about winning back the Fla. House. Well, let's not get all silly, people.

The Palm Beach Post's blog has a nice rundown of the competitive races in the House and Senate. Bottom line: Not enough to shift control, but perhaps enough to end the Republican three-fifths majority, which is needed to place constitutional amendments on the ballot.

Labels: Elections, Legislature

There are some who say* that Florida Legislators will be too concerned about looking like yokels, rubes, mouth-breathers and members of the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice to start interfering with state Board of Education's proposed science standards.

There are those who argue that a state trying to diversify its economy by attracting the latest in biotech research might find it at least a little undesirable to host a monkey trial or impose religious tests on scientific thought and teaching.

There are a few who claim that Florida politics has matured past the point where legislators would attempt to distract attention from the state's fiscal problems by wasting time on purely symbolic issues of interest to only a tiny number of people belonging to the most rural, isolated and voter-repudiated sectors of the Republican Party's base.

Such people, ladies and gentlemen, don't describe the Florida Legislature that I know and love.

Right on time, the Herald reports:

Top state legislators say they're ready to join the fight over putting the word ''evolution'' in Florida's public-school science standards to ensure that it's taught as just a theory and not as fact. (Shorter form here.)

No word yet on the Legislature's stand on the theory of gravity or the germ theory of disease, which are, after all, just theories.

Rep. Marti Coley, future House Speaker Dean Cannon and state Sen. Stephen Wise, all Republicans, say they're considering filing legislation this spring that would specifically call evolution a ''theory'' if the state Board of Education approves the proposed science standards Feb. 19 as currently written.

Wise wants schools to teach creationism and Colely is described as a proponent of magical intelligent design.

Cannon said intelligent design should ideally be taught, but would leave that issue up to the ''curricular experts.'' And Wise, who said he is considering ''legislative remedies,'' went a step further by saying that creationism should be taught in schools.

''Put them side by side,'' he said of evolution and biblical teaching.

Floridians need to demand that evolution, biblical teaching AND the Flying Spaghetti Monster ALL be taught side by side in biology classes.

No legislation has yet been prefiled, so maybe this is all just spouting off done in the hope that it will spook the Board of Education and satisfy the locals in north Florida.
__________________
*Rhetorical note: In political writing and speechwriting it is mandatory to use the phrase "There are some who say" before introducing a straw man or some variant.

Labels: Dean Cannon, Education, Legislature, Theocrats

Editorial roundup on Crist's proposed budget:

+ Gainesville Sun: The governor's dream budget is a typical feel-good exercise in Charlie Crist optimism. But it fools the voters and ignores the grim fiscal trends that continue to jeopardize Florida's future.

+ Lakeland Ledger: Forgive us this "the emperor has no clothes" moment. But despite Gov. Charlie Crist's sunshiny image and 70 percent-plus approval rating, it must be pointed out: His proposed budget paints a different self-portrait - one of a buccaneer left over from Gasparilla, a cutthroat pirate ready to plunder and pillage a state trust fund set up for children.

+St. Pete Times: Confronted with difficult decisions about cutting spending and raising revenue, Crist takes a pass and gambles on hope and a prayer that the economy improves. The Legislature will have to take a more realistic approach with a clearer eye toward the future - and it won't be pretty.

+Sun-Sentinel: There's an immediate price to pay now for digging into reserve accounts. But there's a larger human cost by shortchanging services like the HMO Medicaid program, which will prove costlier on the bottom line in the long run, too. Either way, we're headed for another budget roller coaster. That's always the case when government plans to spend money it doesn't have in hand.

+Palm Beach Post: A real commitment to ideas includes a way to pay for them. Gov. Crist does not offer it. His budget reads as though he won't be around to feel the effects.

Labels: Charlie Crist, Legislature, Taxation

When I heard former State Sen. Skip Campbell might run against Sen. Jeff Atwater, I didn't think much about it. Fla Dems seldom run in open seats and never against leadership.

The party likes to say it's "thinking strategically." Actually it just gives up before election begin. You know how many contested, D versus R, state Senate races there were in 2006? Five out of 20 seats up for election. If Dems won every single contested seat, they would still not be a majority.

So, I don't know if this is just Skip Campbell or if Florida Democrats are actually thinking about, you know, having people run in elections. Thus, I read with interest the post "Interesting politics in the Florida Senate " in the newly back-on-the-air The State of Sunshine.

+ Steve Bousquet on what the race means to the Senate.

Labels: Elections, Legislature

Speaker Marco Rubio says he wants entire agencies wiped off the state budget, according to an article by Old Tallahassee Hand Bill Cotterell.

No, Rep. Rubio can't name any particular agency but they're out there because nobody ever looked for them before. He did mention something he called "Metrics Commission" but nobody seems to have heard of it. Does he mean Florida Metric Council? (I thought that was disbanded in the 1980s.)

Sen. Al Lawson, who has heard this kind of talk before, dismissed the comments as "really an insane approach by the speaker." He blamed term limits since "this shows a lack of experience before he was elected to leadership."

Labels: Legislature, Marco Rubio

The Palm Beach Post editorial page has noticed that the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission is straying from its mission and pushing vouchers for church schools. The editorial warns it to "keep ideological fights out of state constitution."

Not to gratuitously self-link, but I argued something similar a few weeks back. We'll soon see if these are just trial balloons or if we have a runaway commission.

Labels: Education, Legislature, Taxation

The Buzz reports that the Droopy-drawers bill is back! Sen Gary Siplin, D-Appeal Pending, is trying again. For last year's version go to the Flablog Vault of Memory™.

Any underwear-related bill that won't take up the wedgie issue is not attacking the real problem.

Labels: Legislature

In Florida, not even putting out a driver's handbook is simple.

The Herald's Gary Fineout nicely summarizes this long, twisted tale of special interest versus special interest. Bonus: The Herald site has been very good about posting PDFs of applicable documents on-line. In this case, including the state auditor general's report.

Labels: Charlie Crist, Courts, Legislature

How the sports franchise "rebate" works. Hint: It's different than at Circuit City.

After a team has been qualified by the governor’s office as meeting the projected requirements, the Department of Revenue starts sending the stadium owners a monthly check for $166,667 for 30 years — no further questions asked.

Labels: Legislature, Sports, Taxation

There are some issues I've written about enough that I just can't bear to take them up again. One of them is the cynical loophole that keeps primaries "closed" --that is, one-party only -- if a phony-baloney write-in "independent" candidate makes it on the ballot. So good for Bill Cotterell for bringing it up.

Look in the Flablog Vault of Memory™ here and here for fake candidates last year. Look for more next year.

Labels: Constitutional Amendments, Elections, Legislature

New uniforms, bland new logos without the Christian-offending word "devil," yup, the worst team in the American League is ready to belly up to the Legislature for state support for a new park.

Never mind that this year has seen and next year will see big cuts in education and state services, as part of its plans for a new ballpark

The team also would seek legislative approval for $60-million of state money in future sales tax revenue from food, beer and merchandise sales in the new park.

Nope, the Rays didn't line up legislative support ahead of this announcement [that we know of]. And yes, it will take voter approval on the local level. Normally, I say there's no way this will happen. But although sports subsidies have dwindling public and legislative support, these guys do have a way of winning in the end.

Labels: Legislature, Sports, Taxation

Looks like the fear-of-Negroes defense didn't work. State Rep. Bob Allen is found guilty of sex solicitation.

+ Allen says he'll appeal.
+ The House leadership talks about removal from office.

Labels: Legislature, Scandal

Finally, a little pushback from the idea that we are not done with local tax cuts and the creation of new tax breaks. From Ocala, the story, Payton delivers sharp rebuke to Crist, Legislature on tax cuts has this:

"Shame on you, Governor Crist. Shame on you, members of the Florida Legislature. How can you brag about cutting taxes? Do you really think the people don't understand you are taking food out of the mouth of some poor child and calling it tax reform?"

And this is from a Republican.

(More here.)

Labels: Charlie Crist, Legislature, Taxation

I'm looking at the new Florida Quinnipiac University poll this morning and wondering why I'm writing about this.

The poll finds 41 percent of Florida voters have read little or nothing about this whole property-tax thing and only 22 percent said they've been reading about it a lot. Which tells me I should be writing about underwater pumpkin carving or something.

If anyone's still reading, Gov. Charlie Crist's approval rating is unchanged since September. It's still at 65 percent, his lowest so far, which still matches Jeb Bush highest ever approval rate.

The Legislature's popularity continues its slide -- 36 percent approve, 43 percent disapprove of it's performance, the lowest so far.

Mel Martinez has like numbers -- 35 percent approve, 34 percent disapprove. A good thing that 31 percent hardly know who he is.

Voters -- at least those who have any idea what the pollster is talking about -- really like the idea of doubling the homestead exemption (74 percent) and keeping the existing "Save Our Homes" tax break (71 percent). Still, a package similar to the Senate's would only get 59 percent support, one percent short of passage. And that's before the firefighters and teachers campaign against it.

(N=1,025 Florida voters. MoE=+/- 3.1 percent.)

Labels: Legislature, Polls, Taxation

No special session on the 18th, after all. Looks like no-fault PIP will expire as well.

Labels: Legislature

The arrest of state Rep. Bob Allen and his fear-of-negroes defense make The Daily Show. (Look for the headline, "Drop and give me $20)

(Via Naked Politics.)

Labels: Legislature, Scandal

It's follow-up time in the case of Fla. Rep. Robert "Bob" Allen, R-Merritt Island, and Florida Today does not disappoint. It posts PDFs of the first appearance docs, restitution request (it cost the PD $245 to bring this case) and all kinds of supplemental materials. According to the follow-up story, Rep. Allen's attorney will argue entrapment.

My favorite quotes in the story:

+ As he was getting into Barrett's marked cruiser, Allen allegedly asked, "I don't suppose it would help if I said I was a State Legislator, would it?" Barrett said, "No."

+ At one point, Allen asked Kavanaugh: "You're not a cop, are you?" Kavanaugh replied, "Nah. If I was a cop, why would I be hanging around here?" (Hint to johns: there is no recorded instance of a policeman replying to this question by saying, "Damn, you figured it out. I can see you're too smart for me. I guess I can't arrest you now.")

(Via Florida Politics.)

Wonkette highlight's Allen's use of The Ol' Scary Black Guys Defense.

Labels: Legislature, Scandal

I am surprised to find myself nodding my head in agreement with the critique of the proposed super-homestead amendment published by Florida TaxWatch (PDF). After all it's written by a conservative economist and Bush adviser. (See Naked Politics' post about it here.) But the report has many of the things that worry me:

+ Criticism of one-size-fits-all, Tallahassee-knows-best approach? Check.
+ The complaint that it mainly protects people already protected by homestead and continues shifting the tax burden to business and second-home properties? Check.
+ The complaint that it would tie increases to an indicator that is bad in bad times and good in good times and will hurt local governments' ability to respond to emergencies? Check and check.

Maybe he just wants to an excuse to go back to that terrible sales-tax substitution scheme of Speaker Rubio's, I don't know, but these strike me as worrisome issues regardless of ideology.

Labels: Legislature, Taxation

The Thicket is a blog about state legislatures that appeals to my inner civics geek. Earlier this week, it had an interesting post about the size of state legislatures that mainly talked about the two extremes, California, with one distant assembly member for every 424,000 people, and down-home, democratic New Hampshire, with a legislator for every 3,100 people. (See here for earlier Thicket discussion.)

Where does Florida fit into this continuum? On the undemocratic side, naturally. According to this chart, we have the third largest house and senate districts in the country, right behind California and Texas.

Add that to putting the capital in a hard-to-reach part of the state and micro-gerrymandering the legislative districts and it's no wonder legislators aren't terribly in touch with constituents.

Labels: Legislature

I just now got around to the weekend story in the T-U about the upcoming change in legislative fortunes for Duval County when seven of the area's 10 state representatives leave the Legislature next year because of term limits. And Sen. Jim King will be term-limited in 2010.

Guess we'll soon be able to say goodbye to Duval's absurdly favorable treatment in ed funding.

Labels: Legislature

Florida Today crunched the numbers and found an antispeeding law is not working as advertised.

It turns out that spots on I-95 singled out for enhanced enforcement were not the places with the worst accident rates, but places closest the homes of legislators who sponsored legislation creating the enhanced enforcement zones.

Thank me for telling you this, because the story does not make it easy. The headline "I-95 speed zones are not most dangerous" is kind of a head-scratcher. Then, you must go through two graphs of anecdote. Then a couple graphs of setup. Then, only in the 5th graph will an intrepid reader uncover the first hint of the story's point.

The law, approved by former Gov. Jeb Bush in June 2006, calls for the state to focus its enforcement efforts on roads that have "a high incidence" of speed-related crashes.

But officials in charge of the pilot program didn't calculate or compare the rates of speed-related wrecks along I-95. And they didn't put the enforcement zones in counties with the worst records on the interstate, including Martin, a FLORIDA TODAY analysis found.

Instead, the state designated stretches of I-95 in counties where the bill's top supporters lived: Brevard County for Altman, Duval County for Sen. Stephen Wise and Palm Beach County for Sen. Jeffrey Atwater. Along the interstate in Florida, only Palm Beach County has stretches with high speed-related crash rates.

Sadly typical.

Labels: Legislature

House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-Miami, may believe that property taxes are immoral, but maybe they're a little less immoral in his home town. The St. Pete Times reports that Miami was specifically exempted from the city tax cuts mandated in the law passed during the recent special session.

Rubio says he did not seek the exemption.

"There's a policy decision made somewhere by someone," Diaz said. "Cities in bankruptcy in the last five years needed some special consideration in coming back. From a policy perspective, I understand it. But it's not something I came up with."

(This kind of reminds of a few years back when Senate Pesident Jim King won extra education funding for his home county. "I had no idea that Duval would be the No. 1 winner," he said. Just the happy way a policy decision worked out. )

And then there this:

In the last moments of the special session, Jackson Memorial Hospital in downtown Miami was spared an estimated $24-million in tax cuts.

About 35 hospital taxing districts in the rest of the state, which provide similar care to the uninsured, were included in the bracket of 3 percent cuts after a rollback.

Hmmm. Two fortunate policy decisions in one bill. Just something to remember as the legislative leadership lectures all other cities about living within their means.

(Noticed via Troxblog because I find the sea of underlining in the Time's retro-style Web site too confusing to attempt anymore.)

Labels: Legislature, Marco Rubio

State Rep. Bob Allen says he's staying in office, continuing his 2010 state senate campaign and contesting the charges. "I am not resigning my office because the people elected me and want me to do a good job. I am going to do a good job for them in finishing this term."

Local Republicans mostly take a wait and seed attitude. But not all:

Brevard County Clerk of Courts Scott Ellis referred to the "bizarro world of politics" when he heard about the arrest. "This is so bizarre there is nothing to comment upon," he said. "There are few things in politics that ever leave me speechless anymore, but this is one.

Elsewhere:
+ Wonkette finds an old photo..
+ MyDD asks "What's with Florida Republicans anyway?"
+ Rubio comment.

Labels: Legislature