Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Distant Issues Present Themselves

November 10, 2013

The latest week of committee meetings at the Capitol began with most of the state’s political establishment focused on what was happening more than 200 miles away. After all, that was where former Gov. Charlie Crist, once a Republican, finally and officially started the 2014 campaign season by announcing he would run against incumbent GOP Gov. Rick Scott.

Later in the week, lawmakers found themselves grappling with a controversy connected to the shooting death of Trayvon Martin more than two years ago. In the era of hourly news cycles, the temporal distance of that incident in early 2012 seemed almost as long, or perhaps longer, than the geographical distance from Crist’s campaign announcement. Time and place were not buffers this week from emotions — some of them, in the case of Martin’s death, still all too raw.

‘WHAT IS WRONG WITH POLITICS TODAY’

For months, Crist kept the press guessing — or at least tried to keep the press guessing — about whether and when he would enter the race against Scott. One of the most agile question-dodgers in Florida politics, Crist managed to stoke the rumors that he would run as a Democrat while carefully avoiding a clear-cut statement that he would — which, of course, only served to increase the attention.

http://www.northescambia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/floridaweeklly.jpgOn Monday, Crist had drawn it out long enough. He announced that he would, in fact, run to reclaim his old job in his new party. It completed a four-year period in which Crist went from Republican governor and candidate for the U.S. Senate to independent candidate for the U.S. Senate to Democratic candidate for governor.

In biting remarks aimed at those on the right, some of whom have taken to calling him “backstabber” on Twitter, Crist batted away the concerns.

“The far-right wing seems to think it important to make much of my party affiliation,” he said during his announcement at Albert Whitted Park in St. Petersburg. “That is precisely what is wrong with politics today.”

Whatever “the far-right wing” was doing, the Republican Party of Florida was certainly using Crist’s recent political metamorphosis to bash him. The RPOF press office churned out statement after statement from GOP officeholders over the course of several days, all of them following a theme: Crist is a political opportunist who “abandoned” the state to run for U.S. Senate and cares primarily about himself.

The Republican Governors Association — which not too long ago would have touted the accomplishments of Crist — soon joined in. During a conference call with reporters, Texas Gov. Rick Perry slammed Crist for job losses and growing state debt while the former governor was in office.

“The fact is, (Scott) cleaned up the mess that Charlie Crist created,” Perry said.

And it looked like Scott would have plenty of money to hammer home the message. His “Let’s Get to Work” committee reported raising almost $825,000 in October, bringing its total haul for the year to $13.9 million. Since January 2011, the committee has raised $19.1 million to help push Scott’s message.

A similar entity known simply as “Charlie Crist for Florida,” and created late last week, came to light in the wake of Crist’s announcement.

STANDING THEIR GROUND ON STAND YOUR GROUND

When they weren’t swinging at Crist, Republican spent much of the week sniping at Democratic efforts to roll back the “stand your ground” self-defense law. One of the efforts was knocked down Thursday, when a bipartisan group of House members resoundingly rejected a bill by Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, aimed at repealing the law.

“We stand and defend what is ours,” said Rep. Jimmie Smith, R-Inverness. ” ‘Stand your ground’ is core to our American way of life.”

Others disagreed, arguing that the law had instead turned Florida into the Wild West. Lucia McBath and Ron Davis showed up at the meeting of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee to discuss the killing of their son, 17-year-old Jordan Davis.

The unarmed teen was shot at a Jacksonville gas station last year, when 45-year-old Michael Dunn took out his gun and opened fire following an argument over loud music.

“My son was gunned down by a man with violence in his heart…angered and empowered by his gun and by Florida’s ’stand your ground’ law,” McBath said.

But even some Democrats on the panel were worried that Williams’ bill (HB 4003) was overly broad, and it failed on an 11-2 vote. Even so, supporters of doing away with “stand your ground” predicted time was on their side.

“The breadth of testimony will lead to change in time,” said lobbyist Karen Woodall, who supported the measure.

Critics of “stand your ground” are likely to turn their attention to a Senate bill (SB 130) that would require law enforcement officers to fully investigate claims of self-defense and create guidelines for neighborhood watch groups.

Much of the controversy over Florida’s self-defense laws came after the deadly shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by neighborhood-watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who was acquitted after using a defense that did not actually draw on “stand your ground.”

The Senate measure is sponsored by the bipartisan pair of Sens. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, and Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale. But House Criminal Justice Subcommittee Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, was also pouring cold water on that idea.

“There is no meaningful reform currently moving through the Florida Senate,” he said. “I think you’ve got a couple of senators who just want to see something pass, even though it doesn’t fundamentally alter the rights of Floridians in a favorable way.”

OVERSEEING STATE OVERSIGHTS

While the Legislature didn’t do much legislating over the latest committee week, they did plenty of oversight. From child deaths to problems with the state’s unemployment system to a seeming inability to make sure convicted murderers stay locked up, state government was under scrutiny from several directions.

One of the more emotionally charged issues was a series of child-abuse deaths that took center stage Tuesday with the release of a report criticizing the state’s child welfare system.

Department of Children and Families Interim Secretary Esther Jacobo briefed lawmakers on a report by the Casey Family Programs, a private group she had asked to review the spate of deaths when she was tapped to lead the agency in mid-July.

The Casey staff examined 40 recent child deaths suspected to have been caused by maltreatment. In each case, the family had at some point previously been investigated by DCF. The report concluded that child-welfare workers often failed to develop safety plans for at-risk kids or to follow up when they did. Many ignored the signs of families struggling with substance abuse, mental illness, domestic violence and other dangerous conditions for children.

“A number of babies in these families later died from asphyxia resulting from co-sleeping with parents under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” noted the Casey group.

The report did say Florida’s new safety methodology “appears to be well designed to address many of the problematic child protection practices identified in this review.”

Meanwhile, lawmakers sounded ready to take action.

“I’m hearing a lot about process and not a lot about solutions,” Sen. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, said after the meeting. “But I think the solutions are probably going to come from our side of the table.”

Lawmakers were also reviewing the high-profile releases of two convicted murderers who used fraudulent documents to walk out of prison.

Authorities have been investigating the recent releases of Charles Walker and Joseph Jenkins from Franklin Correctional Institution. The two men, who were later caught in Panama City, were released because of bogus court paperwork that indicated their sentences had been reduced.

The state expects to begin using a “secure e-system” in February 2014 to transmit court orders so as to close the door on similar attempts in the future.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey told lawmakers his agency is still investigating how the inmates were able to walk out of the prison.

“To date we have found nothing to indicate any criminal actions by anyone inside Franklin Correctional or the clerk’s office in Orange County,” Bailey told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. “However, without a doubt … there was a fraud ring going on among a group of inmates at Franklin CI.”

Despite some lawmakers being pleased with the progress officials have made in trying to prevent future escapes, legislators may consider putting into state law the need for “human verification” when paperwork arrives at a prison indicating the sentence of an inmate has changed.

They also will consider stiffening penalties for people who are involved in creating false court documents.

Meanwhile, in the wake of an uproar about the problems plaguing the federal government’s health-care website, lawmakers looked into troubles with a $68 million unemployment website intended to provide a more modern, user-friendly method of access for people who receive benefits.

Department of Economic Opportunity Director Jesse Panuccio told members of the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee on Monday that it could take three months from Oct. 15 — when the “Connect” website went live — for the system to fully outperform the prior system.

“We have tried to assure every claimant who has been delayed for technical reasons will not lose benefits,” Panuccio added.

Detert, the chairwoman of the committee, said she is willing to give programmers a little more time to get the system performing as expected. Still, she wanted the agency to reduce roadblocks for jobless people as they try to receive checks and get help finding jobs.

“It’s just not good enough to say we’ll pay you back later,” Detert said. “These are folks that are living hand to mouth, they’re waiting for that check. They’re not reassured they’ll get paid later when they have to eat today on very little money.”

STORY OF THE WEEK: Lawmakers debated whether and how to change the state’s “stand your ground” law in the wake of the acquittal of a neighborhood watch volunteer in the shooting death of an unarmed teenager.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “You can’t dip them in milk and hold them over a candle and see the United Nations flag or Barack Obama’s face. They’re not some federal conspiracy.”–Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, responding to the concerns some conservative activists have about the Common Core education standards.

by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News