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Florida Weekly Government Roundup: Don’t Blink, Or You’ll Miss It
March 12, 2011
Don’t blink.
If you close your eyes for even a minute these days, you might miss the sale of a state plane, the canceling of a train project – or two – a major change in the way teachers are paid, all kinds of things that seem to be happening in the blink of an eye, at least in terms of the usual government time for getting things done.
When Gov. Rick Scott gave his first State of the State speech this week and urged legislators, “don’t blink,” that wasn’t exactly what he meant, but people could have taken it that way.
In a whirlwind week for the Legislature and for Scott, a front-loaded legislative agenda had major pieces of legislation sailing through one chamber or the other.
In the first week of the 2011 session, the Senate passed a complete change in the way teachers are paid, voting to end a years-old system where educators are compensated based on their tenure to one where they get raises based on their students doing well on tests.
Also in the first week, the House voted to shorten the length of time unemployment benefits are available in an effort to help out businesses who say all the people without jobs are costing them too much. That’s a major change for the unemployed who would see their benefits end sooner if the proposal gets through the Senate.
If that wasn’t enough excitement, late in the week Scott put the brakes, at least for now, on central Florida’s SunRail, a commuter train system legislators approved a couple years ago.
Don’t blink, indeed.
What Scott meant when he told lawmakers to keep their eyes wide open during his State of the State address on Tuesday evening was that they shouldn’t be afraid of bold change, of standing up to interest groups who will urge lawmakers to go slow, to think carefully about the consequences before doing big things, or undoing things. Consequences be damned – Scott clearly isn’t a plodder or, really, much of a compromiser.
Making quick, bold decisions without slowing down to get buy-in from all the parties involved has become the new governor’s signature, and he promised in his State of the State that those who want him to tread carefully would be disappointed. They are, he said, simply wrong, which would appear to mean, by extension, that he is right.
“There are (those) who agree on our policy but say that our agenda is too bold – that we need to trim the sails of our imagination and settle for small improvements,” Scott said. “They’re wrong.”
Some legislators might have “thoughtful, constructive modifications” to Scott’s effort to create jobs, he acknowledged. And he said that might be OK. But he warned them not to lose focus on what he – and in his mind many of them – want to do, or blunt his momentum.
That Scott even bothered to go to the Legislature and deliver the State of the State may have surprised some lawmakers, several of whom have said pointedly that Scott should be more respectful of the Legislature’s role in policy making in Florida. And those are just the Republicans.
Here’s one Republican – Sen. Thad Altman – who has already gone to court in an effort to block Scott from killing high speed rail, only to become incensed again late this week when he blinked for a minute and Scott put SunRail on hold:
“He doesn’t respect the legislative process, and the fact that we had a special session where this project was debated and vetted,” Altman told the Orlando Sentinel. “Eventually his bad decisions will catch up with him. The unfortunate thing is how much damage he will do to the people of Florida before it does.”
Wow.
But there Scott was this week, standing before the roughly 160 people who he has come to find out he is supposed to share some power with, asking them to work with him to create jobs, not try to stand in his way.
“I did not fight to become the 45th Governor of the greatest state in the nation to settle for a status quo that does not promote the enormous potential of our people. I am completely committed to this mission,” Scott told them.
“Don’t blink. Don’t let special interests persuade you to turn your back on the people who elected you,” he said.
The state of the state is not particularly good – and Scott acknowledged that.
In the same week when state officials announced that unemployment in January ticked down only slightly and still hovers right around 12 percent – just where it was a year ago – Scott said there were lots of people looking at the first week of the regular legislative session more like an emergency session. They need jobs, he repeated.
Some of those unemployed people were actually at the Capitol this week, though, rather than screaming for Scott to create jobs, they were protesting legislative plans to cut their unemployment benefits off.
There were other protesters at the Capitol this week – tea partiers showing their support for Scott and union members trying to show their dismay at several proposals pushed by Republicans. But the numbers were pretty small – many inside the Capitol could go about their business without really even noticing much about the demonstrations outside.
While much of the theme of Scott’s speech was being bold and not being afraid to dramatically change the status quo, Republicans in the Legislature and Scott and his fellow Cabinet members also moved in a couple of ways this week to block change.
The Senate on the first day of the session voted to ask voters to block the federal health care law – saying that change isn’t what people want. Floridians could still have the right to go without health insurance if the House agrees with the Senate and voters then vote to change the constitution, though it’s not clear if the courts would go along with that idea.
Scott and his fellow members of the Cabinet, sitting as the Executive Clemency Board, also moved to reverse course on some change that was hailed as groundbreaking a few years ago (although primarily by liberals). The board led by Scott and Attorney General Pam Bondi voted to reverse a change that had made it easier for ex-felons to get their civil rights back.
When the previous board – with four entirely different members – had voted four years ago to do that, it was hailed as an end to a remnant of the Jim Crow era that had kept former felons disenfranchised. Scott and Bondi said this week, however, that ex-felons should have to work a little harder to prove they’re ready for the responsibility of voting and other rights they’ll now have to work harder to regain.
That one also could be bound for that other branch of government that seems to get in the way when people have big bold ideas, the courts.
Speaking of the courts, House Speaker Dean Cannon also got in on the whole big bold change thing this week. Cannon, who has been clear about his concern about judicial overreaching, proposed this week that the Supreme Court should be split in two, with five justices hearing civil appeals and five justices hearing criminal appeals.
That would be a radical departure from the current seven member court, and it would also require a constitutional change.
So don’t blink.
STORY OF THE WEEK: In the blink of an eye, major pieces of legislation come to the floors of the Senate and House in the first week of the legislative session. Gov. Rick Scott delivers a State of the State speech that urges lawmakers to come with him as he seeks to make dramatic changes.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “We have a unique opportunity to put government back in its proper place and show the nation how private-sector growth leads to prosperity. Such a moment may not come again. My ‘jobs’ budget has plenty of critics. Some critics are accustomed to big government and will fight to protect special interests, and there are others who agree on our policy but say that our agenda is too bold – that we need to trim the sails of our imagination and settle for small improvements. They’re wrong.” Gov. Rick Scott in his State of the State speech.
By David Royse
The News Service of Florida
Comments
13 Responses to “Florida Weekly Government Roundup: Don’t Blink, Or You’ll Miss It”
I seem to have a hard time understanding why business owners and corporate owners need to be taxed to the hilt to finance a program that pays people for 99 weeks because they don’t have a job. That is just one facet of this program that needs to bite the dust. As previously stated. Too much government, too many giveaways and people on the taxpayer roles need to take notice. These boats are going to sink.
“Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.” – Ronald Reagan
I thought I would share that quote. You can find video of him saying it on the web.
What Scott is doing is avoiding the responsibility of the rich to pay their fair share for the betterment of the State. We wouldn’t even be in this mess if Jeb Bush wouldn’t have cut taxes for the rich in the state by 20 billion dollars. We would still have a surplus. I really don’t understand how any hard working person would side with a guy that wants to cut teacher pay and unemployment benefits yet can afford his own private jet. His wealth is obscene as is that of those he represents. The discussion should be on how we can tax the rich to reduce their power to corrupt our government and to better our society. These people of so much money they are a threat to democracy. I also believe they have such an unhealthy focus on making money that they can truly not understand anything else, like compassion, mercy, empathy, love, understanding, you know, the things that make us civilized. The things that make our society civil and stable. The things that make our country a better place to live than say Liberia or Haiti where the trickle down theory has been practice for a very long time. Where the free market has been at work and the people have been unemployed and helpless while the rich just get richer. I hope folks wake-up soon and see what is happening to our country and understand this is not about liberals and conservatives.
This is about the rich dominating our country, getting what they want, and excluding the rest of us from the political process.
Like someone blogged when this man was elected, the poor, the out of luck, the unemployed, teachers, state employess and anyone in need of assistance run from Florida, run as fast and as far as you can. Scott, King and dicatator of Florida is out to make the rich in Florida much richer, and Oh I guess let the poor, unemployed, and sick die if they can’t contribute to the riches of his kingdom.
( Reminds me of the old man in Dicken’s Christmas Carol, what did he say, the poor and hungry population needs to be reduced). I doubt though that any amount of visits by spirits could get through to this man. All you supporters, when all the jobs are created, don’t forget to subtract all the jobs lost through the cuts in education, loss of the rail dollars, and all the state employees he wants to dump out, let me know if there is a net gain.
Mr. Scott will be nothing but a disaster for Florida. He will learn to grab a hold of all sorts of statistics and data that he will manipulate to show that he is creating jobs. But the jobs are already coming back to Florida and that is the result of the Obama stimulous package. We need more of the Obama stimulous. So yes ther will be jobs because it was in motion before Mr. Scott came around but this crook will take the credit.
Mr. Scott has to learn that government is not a business. We the majority of the people did not elect him; he is a minority governor who did not get 50% of the vote. Let us change the Florida constitution to require that the winner must have at least a simple majority (51%) and if that means a run-off election that will be fine.
Mr. Scott’s policies are not based upon reality nor sound practice. He is incompetent and we the people of Florida will pay the price for his BS.
Take just one item: corporate income tax. If this is repealed Florida will suffer and the business community will gain nothing. Any income tax they pay to the state is deductable from the Federal tax. If they don’t pay to the state they will pay to the feds. If the state collects the tax up front we insure that Florida gets its fair share before the feds get any. If we don’t collect the tax … the feds get it all, Florida gets nothing, the business community gets the same, and the people get the shaft. Thank you for the great gift Mr. Scott …. you ignorant idiot.
Lucky for us, ignorance is curable … stupidity is not. The refusal of the funds for the high-speed rail was stupid.
That is the trouble with people like the tea-party crowd … uneducated and they shoot from the hip, blowing off our big toe or maybe our foot.
Florida has had crooks in the Governor’s Mansion before and we will survive this moron too.
I have to admit, every time I read something about Rick Scott, he sounds better and better!!! I kinda wish my state (Alabama) would elect a Governor like him.
Medicare fraud, a second look at Medicare fraud and you trust him to do what is right. Your knuckles are dragging.
“We must close union offices, confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison. We must reduce workers salaries and take away their right to strike.” – Adolf Hitler, May 2, 1933
Pop Pop Fizz Fizz oh what a relief it is. Finally a man who will stand up for what he believes and is best for the citizens of this state. You have to acknowledge where he came from to really respect his ability. This man is a self made individual and built his empire in the private sector. He knows how to do it and the legislature needs to do their part to make this come true for all of the voters. Too much government, too many giveaways, too many people that are on the taxpayer roles need to take notice. It ain’t gonna last.
harsh judge,
I am glad that your daughter is dedicated, and I hope her students reap the benefits.
The challenges of being an educator are many, and there ARE many problems they simply can not address (like the home issues mentioned). Hopefully, she is able to encourage her students to learn, she may well be their only hope…
… I WANT her to be rewarded for her success when she does, and if she is not
being rewarded I hope she is motivated to try to find new ways to reach ALL her children. I sympathize with her, and wish her well… but while the merit pay system may present some new challenges, it is most likely to benefit children in the long run… and I suspect that is why someone who sounds as dedicated was drawn to education in the first place.
Blessings,
Way to go Governor Scott!!
The merit system for teachers being pushed is no system – it is only an excuse for people who know nothing about what dedicated teachers must face to deny them proper recognition and reward.
This is what my daughter wrote me today:
Right after spring break, we’ll begin taking the FCAT reading, math, and science tests, so there’s no slowing down now! Gotta plug those brains full of knowledge–so that we can earn our pay for the year, right? I guess merit pay is going to happen. So now I’ll be responsible for the test scores of Malik, who sits in my class and will not read anything I put in front of him, who never has his homework done, who is home alone most of the evening (mom works 3-11 shift), who doesn’t get enough sleep and probably doesn’t eat breakfast, who thinks about nothing but his guitar, who won’t write an essay… who is failing my class, but I’m supposed to bring his FCAT reading score up? Okay. No problem.
Well, I’m up early to grade notebooks, and then later today [this is a Saturday], we have our school’s little festival, and I’m working the ticket gate for a couple of hours. Does that factor into my merit pay? The weekend work? The evening work? Should I keep a time sheet? Again, argh!
I can’t wait for your comments.
Outstanding!
I am glad he is doing what we elected him to do.
Times are hard, we need to re-think the government that we can not afford.
Our children are too valuable to settle for the ’status Woe’ which is what we have.. woe.
Continuing to pray for, and give thanks for, our Governor.
Go get ‘em Gov. Scott! The more the professional pols and the professional “work the system” crybabies scream,the more convinced I am that you are doing the right thing. The so called status quo is what has got us in the terrible state we are in and its time to redo things so that the people who get up every day and go to work have a say in the way our tax dollars are spent. We need a high speed train in central Fl as much as a gopher needs tennis shoes.I for one am glad to stand behind a man who can decide things on his on instead of having to take a poll to decide whether to eat breakfast or go to the bathroom.So let the babies cry and you keep on leading the way,and the real people of Fl.will support you.