Call for renewal: Florida's 1838 constitution

Or should we call for repentance, for how far we've strayed?

Howard Troxler, St. Pete Times, skewers members of the double-dipping, special interest, pay-for-play Florida Legislature:

One of my favorite Florida fun facts is that our constitution of 1838, written while we were still a U.S. territory, banned three special classes of people from public office:

Bank officers.

Duelists.

"Ministers of the Gospel."

We could learn a lot from those pioneers (including some of my own ancestors who settled here before 1820). Who could look at our current legislature, follow the strings all the way to the bank, the church and the gun lobby -- and think otherwise?

Continue . . .

Here's the tip — uh, paycheck, senator
Thomas Dawsey, Florida pioneer

Lakeland group vows to keep CSX deal in spotlight

Ledger photo

In a question-and-answer session with the Ledger, Julie Townsend, executive director of Downtown Lakeland Partnership, reflects on the current state of the CSX controversy:

Ledger: The fight isn't over: Keeping CSX deal in spotlight

Wherever you reside in Florida and whatever your view of the Florida-CSX deal -- a taxpayer outlay hatched in secret by outgoing governor Jeb Bush and now heavily lobbied by an array of special interests -- this is an interview worth reading.

You may not change your mind, but perhaps you will gain a different perspective as the fight over taxpayer money and the future of transportation and passenger rail in Florida continues.

See also . . .

Tampa Tribune: State budget crunch may push huge CSX deal off track

Here we go again: Disenfranchising Florida voters

Florida to enforce restrictive 'No-Match No-Vote' law

FLORIDA -- Today voting rights advocates expressed alarm over the Secretary of State’s September 8th decision to enforce the state’s “no-match, no-vote” law, a voter registration law that previously blocked more than 16,000 eligible Florida citizens from registering to vote, through no fault of their own, and could disenfranchise tens of thousands more voters in November.

Secretary of State Browning’s last-minute decision to implement the law in the final month before the registration deadline will pose a significant hurdle to eligible Florida citizens hoping to register and vote in November. It will disenfranchise voters who do not send or bring a photocopy of their driver’s license to county election officials’ offices after voting, even if these voters showed poll workers their driver’s licenses at the polls on Election Day.

“This 11th-hour decision is an ill-advised move to apply a policy the state has never enforced in its current form, at a time when registration activity is at its highest,” said Alvaro Fernandez of the Southwest Voter Registration and Education Project, a plaintiff in the case. “The Secretary’s decision will put thousands of real Florida citizens at risk due to bureaucratic typos that under the ‘no-match, no-vote’ law will prevent them from voting this November,” continued Fernandez.

“Voters who do everything right, who submit forms that are complete, timely, and accurate, will suddenly find themselves unregistered when they go to vote, just because someone somewhere punched the wrong letter on a keyboard,” said Myrna Pérez, counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice.

“The no match, no vote policy is unjust and unnecessary, and Florida voters will pay the price this fall,” stated Jean-Robert Lafortune, president of the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, another plaintiff in the lawsuit.

The law at issue bars any Florida citizen from becoming registered to vote and voting with a regular ballot if the state cannot validate the applicant’s driver’s license number or the last four digits of the applicant’s Social Security number, no matter how much identification the voter brings to the polls on Election Day. The process starts with an attempt to “match” voter information to other government databases, an error-prone exercise that often fails. For example, the Social Security Administration reports a 46% failure rate when trying to match voter registration applications. State officials admitted in a recent challenge to the law, Florida NAACP v. Browning, that typographical errors by election workers are responsible for most of the failures.

If the state cannot match the voter registration records, many eligible voters who submit registration applications before the October 6th deadline to register may not be notified of the matching failure until Election Day, when they appear at the polls to vote. There, they will be forced to cast a provisional ballot, and that provisional ballot will only be counted if the voter submits a photocopy of his or her driver’s license or Social Security card within 48 hours after the election, even if they already showed their driver’s license at the polls.

“The most senseless part is that the state creates these errors, and then makes it unnecessarily hard to fix the problem,” said Myrna Pérez of the Brennan Center. “If the state insists on enforcing this misguided matching provision, it should at least make it possible for voters to show their driver’s license at the poll and validate their registration then and there. To have registered, brought your ID to the polls, and still be told you can’t vote – all because of a bureaucratic error – is ridiculous.”

“It is unfortunate that the Secretary of State decided to enforce the statute less than a month before registration deadline. It is really the 11th hour and is certain to derail the applications of eligible voters. At the very least, counties can and should help to avoid needless disenfranchisement of eligible voters by permitting voters to correct the problem at the polls. In addition, we strongly urge groups that conduct voter registration drives to ask applicants to submit their driver’s license number (not Social Security number) on their application, which will reduce the likelihood that their application will be rejected for lack of a ‘match,’” urged Elizabeth Westfall of Advancement Project, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs.

“In 2006 alone, more than 12,800 citizens submitting complete and timely forms were kept off of the rolls, and the volume of registration in 2006 is nothing like what we anticipate in this presidential year,” said Robert Atkins, a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, also representing plaintiffs. 2006 was a year of unusually low voter registration rates in Florida because of a separate law that shut down voter registration drives that year. “With the huge number of registration forms pouring in at the end of the registration period, county officials may not be able to fix problems that will cause thousands of eligible voters to be disenfranchised,” Atkins added.

The Secretary of State’s announcement Monday poses the latest obstacle to eligible Florida voters seeking to register before the 2008 elections.

In June, a federal trial court in Gainesville, Florida, refused to stop the “no-match, no-vote” law in Florida NAACP vs. Browning after challenges from several voter advocacy organizations. The case was filed in September 2007 by the Florida branch of the NAACP, the Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition, and the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project. The plaintiffs are represented by The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law; Advancement Project; Project Vote; Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; and Greenberg Traurig LLP.

In December 2007, the Gainesville federal court granted a preliminary injunction against the no-match, no-vote law under two federal statutes, ruling that Florida’s law “makes it harder to vote by imposing a matching requirement that is a barrier to voter registration.”

The ruling’s criticism of the no match, no vote law prompted the state legislature to revise portions of the statute – eliminating untenable distinctions between typos made by voters and those made by election officials, and standardizing the notice sent to voters kept off the rolls. Still, voting rights advocates argue that the law’s core burdens remain.

In April, the trial court’s original decision was overturned in a split decision from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, following an appeal by the Florida Secretary of State. Plaintiffs in the case returned to the federal trial court to challenge the amended law under the federal constitution, but on remand, the court refused to enjoin the law, citing the changes that the legislature had made to the statute.

For more information about the lawsuit challenging Florida’s voter registration system and how voter database matching laws disproportionately affects Latino voters and other minorities, visit the Brennan Center website here.

More . . . .

States' purges of voter rolls appear illegal

'No match' dropped in Wisconsin after 4 of 6 judges fail

Voter registration by students raises cloud of consequences

Election experts warn of November storm

Orlando scrambles to save the CSX PolitiCorp deal

The Orlando Sentinel, never recognized as a bastion of progressivism, reports (or rather, editorializes) on the faltering CSX-Orlando rail deal today and - guess what - continues the newspaper's campaign of misrepresentation of the issues and distortion of key points.

Sentinel quotations (in italics) are followed by logically inferred meanings:

Today is decision day for commuter rail

The House earlier this week signed off on the deal. But its chief hurdle has always been the Senate, where trial lawyers and unions, along with critics such as Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, and Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, have spent months building a barricade.

It's always those pesky lawyers and unions and a few "ferocious" and "foolish" politicians (the Sentinel's own creative labels; cute of us, huh?) who throw up the barricades. That's why we had to leave them out of the loop for as long as humanly possible.

Overlooked by our eyes - and rightfully so - are, among others, the only Democrat in the state Cabinet, editorialists from several major newspapers from all across the state, residents of communities that would be negatively impacted by the CSX deal, educators, nurses and providers of other public services, and the people they serve - and millions of taxpayers from Pensacola to Key West.

Barring a dramatic turnaround, CSX spokesman Gary Sease said the company would decide during the next few days how it wanted to proceed.

"We don't want to do things hastily," he said. "We want to consider all the options."

You know, like we wanted to, but forgot to, consider all the options during our secret negotiations to beget this baby.

"It's a great project for the whole state," said Noranne Downs, the Florida Department of Transportation's Central Florida head.

"The feds are ready for us. The locals are ready for us. The state House is ready for us. It would be a darn shame if it got this far and did not pass."

See, everybody's ready for this deal except the people who take the time to look at it objectively. That's what happens when the state's in a financial crisis, people are losing their homes and jobs and we're forced to provide more disclosure than the folks can handle. All this sunshine - it's "a darn shame."

But a frustrated Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said the federal funding won't wait.

"I think it probably kills any form of commuter rail in Florida for 20 years," Dyer said. "A lot of people haven't looked at the big picture."

Added Dyer, " Tampa and Lakeland will never in our lifetimes see commuter rail if this goes down, and they don't seem to understand."

It's darn near impossible that we the people pushing this deal are the ones who don't seem to understand, who refuse to look at the big picture. And we Orlando visionaries, facing a minor delay now because of a few little questions about secrecy, liability, and impact studies, will never, ever, lower ourselves to work on a comprehensive, long-term, state-wide plan, not in this lifetime, pal. You hear me, Tampa and Lakeland?

"There comes a point in time where there's not a lot more a lobbyist can do," said John Thrasher, a former House speaker and lobbyist for Orlando.

But I'll keep wracking my brain because I make good money shuttling between my old legislative associates and my corporate "acquaintances."

Rep. Dean Cannon had hoped to build a coalition of Senate votes by packing the rail deal with perks for other regions of the state.

Sorry, grandma, we had to cut your meds this year. Priorities and all, ya know. Congestion has become downright hellacious around here. Take an aspirin and call me next year.


The Sentinel's position: Siplin, Crist and Lynn are critical to today's momentous commuter-rail decision

Without commuter rail, Mrs. Lynn, the more than 30,000 commuters who drive each day from their homes in Volusia to their jobs in Orange and Seminole will remain I-4 hostages. Another generation of your constituents would be left suffering the miseries of high gas prices and wasted hours sitting in their cars instead of productive time at their jobs or enjoyable hours with their families.

Free the hostages! Save the planet! With commuter rail, Mrs. Lynn, I-4 may remain largely unchanged - but commuter rail could lead to further land development, business opportunities (wink) and urban sprawl - a good thing for your tax base. Our Orlando advertisers know what's best for you and your future. And keep this in mind: there are zero alternatives to the package our friends have delivered. It's this or nothing; now or never.

The more than $400 million the state would spend on commuter rail would mean construction jobs just as many of your constituents are suffering through this bad economy.

Maybe we can even hire a few of the laid-off teachers and nurses to fill all those new construction jobs. And we at the Sentinel have discovered plenty of money in parts of the state that, from all we care, are totally unaffected by "this bad economy." So get your slice of the pie or somebody undeserving will gobble it up.

But even more important are the exciting new housing opportunities and job centers that are likely to spring up along the 61-mile route from DeLand to Poinciana. No longer would families be trapped simply because they can't afford a second -- or even first -- car.

Trapped, in the very spot they chose to dwell. Forget how we got here, and they got there. Our plan is great for development. Just look at what we've built here in the City Beautiful. Ah, the grandeur... but I digress.

When folks start complaining about unfettered development, keep in mind there's always somebody all too happy to have the untenable consequences dumped on their heads. Look what we're doing to the country bumpkins in Polk County, bless their little hearts.

Mrs. Lynn and Mr. Siplin are being pushed hard by the state's trial lawyers. This special interest doesn't want the state to cover the liability costs in wrecks involving commuter rail, which would run on tracks owned by CSX freight company. Clearly, these lawyers are trying to protect the possibility of their own billion-dollar payday from a wreck. They have even gone so far as to threaten lawmakers by showing them the attack ads they'll see this election if they support commuter rail.

We hate lawyers, don't you? Without this deal, they won't make any money at all off commuter rail accidents because we won't have commuter rail. That's why they want to kill it. See how sneaky they are? So get busy, make them a deal they can't refuse. The taxpayers won't have to know the minor details. They'll be blinded at the sight of our sleek new trains.

Mr. Crist, only the weight of your leadership can overcome that kind of vicious politics. You've voiced support for commuter rail; now it's time for you to fight for it.

And this is commuter rail, so it's your lucky day. If you have ever supported or will ever support it, anywhere, under any circumstances, whatever the cost and conditions, you must support this deal. We know we can count on you.

Look, it's a vicious world out there. Paula hates us. Everybody hates us. We want what we want and we want it now, but we're weak. We have no voice. Woe is us. Can't you do for us what you did for John?

This is more than a Central Florida issue, Governor. If commuter rail dies today, it could be a generation before Florida gets another shot. Forget about projects in Jacksonville and Tampa. Forget about your legacy as a leader of the national effort to reduce pollution spewed by cars.

Life as we know it will cease to exist. You don't want that on your conscience.

Look, I'm stamping my foot! Do you believe me now?

NEWS UPDATE, 5:24 p.m.: CSX commuter rail project fails

Webster lashes out at opponents for meddling in 'a local issue'

With growing unrest over the specter of Florida taxpayers' paying for CSX negligence, Sen. Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, said Wednesday night the project could proceed without lawmakers' doing anything this year.

"I think the liability issue is dead," Webster said. He lashed out at opponents' meddling in what he perceived as a local issue. (Ledger, May 1, 2008)

Webster said the state could move forward with every aspect of the rail plan except for the liability and immunity provisions. He said those issues could be addressed at a later time before the train goes on the tracks -- a strategy that appears to raise the possibility the state could ante up hundreds of millions of dollars with no guarantee the train would run.

"I didn't say we were going to spend it . . ." Webster said. "I just said there's nothing prohibiting us from doing that; we could go forward with any of that." (News Journal, May 1, 2008)

What a piece of work. Watch how easily he slides from the scare of "it's now or never, we can't wait," to "the show goes on, with or without taxpayer funding in 2008."
Beware this man and his connections - he has spent 28 seasons in Tallahassee and knows the meaning of power. If you blink, the next thing you see may be a freight train barreling down on you.

At the height of his hypocrisy, the Senate Majority Leader (supposedly working for the whole state) lashes out at his opponents for meddling in "a local issue."

• A "local issue" that depends upon taxpayers' money from every corner of the state and from Washington.
• A "local issue" that dumps his local constituents' problems on their non-local neighbors who weren't consulted, but are nevertheless expected to sit down, shut up and ante up for the privilege of relieving his "local" problem of traffic congestion.
  

That takes cojones. Obviously a handful of the legislative members supported the "bull-testicle law" with good reason. The dangling truck ornaments - had the House agreed with the Senate - could have become shameful reminders of Dan Webster and his cohorts in organized effrontery.

(Note: The House chose to avoid negative publicity by removing the dangling participle ban from the transportation bill. - News-Press)

Photo: Full-featured photo of a state senator. That's how the artificial commingling of unrelated issues works, as the senator knows.

Blow whistle on CSX

Although Webster insists that the project can go on without the Legislature's funding or blessing, he should admit that, as things stand, the "issue is dead."

START OVER, WORK IN OPEN

The Legislature should halt consideration of any of the CSX-related projects this year, either as a reconstituted plan or piecemeal.

It should order that the following be completed in time for consideration during the 2009 legislative session, and be undertaken in the open with time for full public comment:


• Negotiate with CSX for the Orlando tracks needed for commuter trains, minus any state indemnification.
• Complete the development of regional impact study for the Winter Haven freight hub, being sure to include downstream impacts such as additional freight traffic in local communities and the substantial increase of truck traffic on area highways.
• Undertake and complete a study to resolve the downtown Lakeland congestion from the CSX freight trains - whether by rerouting freight traffic around the city or by other means - and identify a method of funding the remedy. (Ledger editorial, May 1, 2008)

CSX plan carries too many costs, needs regional planning

It has been interesting listening to the rationalizations and justifications that seek to improve the conditions of one community to the clear detriment of others. [....]

We've also argued that no plan should move forward without critically necessary long-range regional planning.

I believe that we're headed in the wrong direction. First of all, this sends the wrong message: that quid pro quo supersedes principle. Moreover, the two should not even be connected. I believe proper planning would show that commuter rail should absolutely be established for Orlando - as well as for Tampa, and eventually Lakeland and other parts of Central Florida. But that in no way should ignore what I believe that planning will also show - that Lakeland's interests must not be set aside because of political posturing.

Frankly, you don't have to have a degree in planning to look at a large-scale map and recognize that there is a better route for the CSX freight line and a better location for the integrated logistics center. (R. Howard Wiggs, City Commissioner, Lakeland)

Florida becomes 36th state to pass anti-bullying law

Passage was eight years in the making

(Tallahassee) After 8 years of effort on the part of hundreds of students, parents, educators and civil rights groups, The Florida Safe Schools Coalition celebrates the passage today of a statewide anti-bullying bill.

During today's unanimous vote, Senators zeroed in on the issue of whether the broad prohibition on bullying requires schools to address specific forms of harassment, including anti-gay bullying.

Senator Nan Rich asked, "Does the bill prohibit harassment based on a student's actual or perceived disability, ethnicity, national origin, gender, gender identity, physical appearance, sexual orientation or other distinguishing personal characteristic in the exactly the same way that it prohibits sexual, racial or religious harassment, which are specified in the bill?"

"Yes it does," said Senator Baker, the bills sponsor.

In so doing, sponsors in the House and Senate made clear the legislative intent requires schools to ensure those protections at the local level.

"Today's passage of the anti-bullying law represents the culmination of an eight-year effort by a strong coalition of over 100 organizations dedicated to the safety of Florida's students," said Nadine Smith, Executive Director for Equality Florida. "The legislature has made clear that any school that fails to prevent and respond to anti-gay bullying and to protect every student will be in violation of this law and will face the consequences. We will hold them accountable."

More . . . Anti-bullying bill passes House and Senate

Meanwhile, on the religious front . . . .

Methodists hold line on homosexuality
FORT WORTH, Texas | Representatives of the United Methodist Church turned back attempts to liberalize its policy on homosexuality Wednesday. Almost 1,000 delegates to the church's General Conference rejected a committee proposal, leaving in place the position that the practice of homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching."

Florida's CSX rail plan: Do it right or not at all

(This is my response to a progressive thinker and commuter rail proponent who resides in the Orlando area. In view of the many positive aspects of the deal, he suggested that we would have blood on our hands if we killed it.)

'To rail or not to rail' is not the question

It's understandable that progressives from both sides of this issue view the problems and solutions from their own perspectives. From everything I have seen, though, I believe that the CSX rail deal offers a false choice between a faulty plan and no plan at all. When I see the bills that are being force-fed through legislative appropriations committees, I hear Stevie Wonder's "Here I am, baby; signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours." The only options seem to be, take it or bend over and take it.

Regarding this rail plan, or any other, I have never suggested that "we abandon it altogether." Neither has anyone that I know in Lakeland. Like many cities over the past two decades, Lakeland (an urban area of 255,000, but known to the Orlando Sentinel only as the quaint Orlampa) - has spent millions of dollars revitalizing its downtown, building parks, saving historic architecture, encouraging responsible development including business and housing, even constructing an Amtrak/passenger rail station in the heart of downtown and providing leadership for a much more comprehensive approach to rail travel than the one on the table today (for example, see Bullet Train News). The city's approach to growth management and revitalization is what led me to buy a home in the historic district nearly twenty years ago, and I have not regretted it. (Obviously, I was not expecting to inherit Orlando's headaches.)

As a seventh-generation Floridian, I share your passion for protecting the environment and developing alternative energy sources. I have watched the gradual (and not so gradual in some cases) destruction of the state I always loved and thought I would never leave. But Florida no longer belongs to me and people like me - it belongs to developers, politicians, the NRA and carpetbaggers. And CSX Corp.

So for me the debate is not over whether Orlando should have commuter rail, but how both federal and Florida taxpayer dollars should best be appropriated to reach the goals that both of us agree need to be achieved. Any time a deal between government officials and private industry is cooked up in secret - including the need for signed confidentiality agreements - alarms should be tripped.

Artificial linkages

Before this deal saw the light of day, it was polished to a shimmering brilliance, of course. Commuter rail for Orlando may indeed be a good thing, but that's only one facet of this legislative gem. Getting rid of the rail and hub problem - not to be overlooked as a driving force behind the deal - is good for Orlando, we can agree. Trains in the area were a problem as far back as the early 1970's. Three decades later, the problems have increased significantly. In 2002, an Orlando-based planning group produced a paper titled: "Why Can't We Solve Orlando's Traffic Congestion Problems By Moving the Freight Trains?"

For good reason, then, mass transit is an easy sell in Orlando. But the CSX deal doesn't stop there. A crucial facet for CSX is a new logistics center to be built on 1250 acres in Winter Haven. That may be a good thing for Winter Haven's tax base and some members of the community (except for nearby homeowners or people who drive passenger cars on the same roads), but whether the site is the most appropriate location within the region is open to question. In a state the size of Florida, with millions of undeveloped acres, why here, why now? Was it in the public interest, or in the financial interests of CSX and certain developers and landowners? How much consideration was given to alternative sites north of Interstate 4 or in southern Polk County, using routes that would bypass major cities? Was any consideration given to old rail right-of-ways that may be only slightly less convenient than the "S" line down the center of the state and through the center of Lakeland? (See "Rails to Trails," for example.)

Follow the money

Consider the secrecy surrounding the initial negotiations and legislation in 2005; the rush to bypass local and regional impact studies on the Winter Haven rail hub and other impacted towns; the pressure on legislators for funding during "the worst government budget conditions in Florida's history"; the secret involvement of Jeb Bush and his appointees with this deal as well as the Florida East Coast Industries deal that benefitted his friends; the profit motives of politician-landowners, other major landowners, businesses and developers in Polk County and surrounding counties; the lack of timely regional and state planning necessary for development on a massive scale; the possible loss or indefinitely extended delays of commuter rail between Tampa and Orlando, and other cities; the future expansion of "the mother of all rail hubs" to accept containerized cargo coming from the US west coast and Asia through an expanded Panama Canal; transportation of increased cargo from Latin and South America through the Winter Haven ILC, Central Florida and outward in all directions via a proposed airport, expanded rail extensions to the gulf coast and points north, and new highways, including the proposed Central Polk Parkway and Heartland Parkway.

With the proposed deal, who are the major beneficiaries - Florida's taxpayers or special interests?

Avoid a stampede mentality

In addition to the up-front and long-term costs to the state and federal government - and not ignoring the proposed liability costs to the state - no one has calculated the hidden but very real financial, environmental and quality-of-life costs to a number of impacted communities. Demanding the acceptance of one option, with no comprehensive long-range planning, environmental and infrastructure impact studies, or involvement of the most direly affected communities, should be unacceptable in this state - the state of "government in the sunshine." Evidently it is not.

Too often, people without the time to study the issues are misled by politicians and vested interests. This deal is the perfect example. To accept the claim that it's the only plan on the table, so we should get on with it even if some of us are adversely affected (an understatement in itself), is not good public policy. We've been burned too many times by politicians relying on the stampede mentality. If this deal is important to Florida, it should be fixed before - not after - it is dragged and pushed through the 2008 legislature. What's worth doing is worth doing right.

We should not allow ourselves to be rushed into an artificial lumping together - with too few answers to major questions - mass transportation, freight transportation, energy demands and environmental concerns. We must not accept vague generalities and worthless promises from the crowd that has been less than forthcoming from the start - the same crowd that got us into the mess we're already in. It can always get worse.

And we shouldn't be overly concerned about "having blood on our hands," as you suggested, in the event that the deal is delayed until its backers are forced to correct its most glaring flaws. What I worry about is cutting funding for education, when Florida is already ranked near the bottom in the country. I worry about cutting crucial services to the sick and infirm, the young and the old. I worry about many things gone wrong in Florida.

I don't worry so much about whether someone will be driving a Prius or riding a train from Deland to Winter Park in 2012.

[Photo: WFTV News, Orlando, Feb. 13, 2008, Tuesday. Eyewitness News timed the CSX train sitting on the tracks along South Street. It didn't move for 30 minutes.]

Florida's 'leaders' wade deeper into the swamp

The fact that Florida's legislators, with the prodding of one governor and the acquiescence of another, have for a decade shown no shame in wrecking the state is in itself a shame greater than the combination of all their leadership failures.

The 2008 session completes the gestalt of shameless, self-serving, backroom deals and the avoidance of responsibility.

But so long as voters show more interest in hot-button social warfare than with substantive issues and legislative accomplishments, the elected legislative and executive leaders will continue to wade in their swamp of shame and shamelessness.

Come fall, it's time to drain the swamp.

Session of shame

What's wrong with Tallahassee? Is there no adult supervision in the political romper room called the Florida Legislature? Are our elected lawmakers really prepared to end the session this week by passing out an almost criminally negligent state budget that will do incalculable harm to Florida's education, health care, social service and criminal justice institutions?

This is far and away the worst session we've ever witnessed. We cannot recall ever seeing lawmakers conduct themselves in such an irresponsible manner and with so little apparent regard for the future of Florida and the well-being of its residents. The consequences of lawmakers' failure to take their responsibilities seriously will be dire and far-reaching.

This Legislature is a disgrace. In this final week of the session lawmakers are willfully putting at risk the health, safety and welfare of their constituents. Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Crist remains largely silent and passive, as though he has little or no leadership role in the debacle that is unfolding in the House and Senate. - Gainesville Sun editorial, April 29, 2008Session of shame

On vital issues, legislators fail

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. It is hard to imagine re-election campaigns based on a record of imposing painful spending cuts, protecting special interest tax breaks, forcing universities to cap enrollments and raising local property taxes to keep public education limping along. But incumbents will try to paper over the sins of the spring with misleading campaign ads in the fall, and voters should not let them get away with it.

The Legislature's failures mean public frustration will continue to grow over unaffordable and often unavailable property insurance, inadequate health coverage, underfinanced higher education, inferior public transportation, unfair tax systems and poor growth management. - St. Pete Times editorial, April 29, 2008

One more reason to pull CSX deal

If Tallahassee were filled with reasonable people, the state would renegotiate the CSX deal to get Orlando the tracks it needs - without giving away the store and sending up to 56 trains a day through communities that never saw them coming.

But the capital is filled with people who acquiesce. To do otherwise risks losing a committee assignment or a hearing on a pet project.

Yet when lawmakers vote on the CSX deal this week, the last week of the legislative session, they will define themselves for voters in the fall.

Do they stand for good government or back-room deals? Do they believe in sound business practices, or anything goes with taxpayer dollars? Do they believe in the conservative value of self determination, or should a powerful part of the state be able to hurt communities that have little say?

No matter what Orlando lawmakers say, this contract is not the last shot at making commuter rail happen there. Indeed, while some say Florida would lose credibility with federal officials if it pulls the deal back, it's the feds who are asking the tough questions.

In making their decisions this week, lawmakers should cast a vote for good government.

It's so rare that someone does. - Tampa Tribune editorial, April 29, 2008

Update from The Orlando Sentinel, 1:54 p.m. . . . .

House opts to go with Senate commuter rail deal

No surprise there.

What hurts my heart is that House negotiator Dean Cannon is my friend. His roots are in Lakeland. Since his high school years I have expected great achievements from him.

Little did I know that one of his most significant accomplishments would be to railroad his own hometown for political expedience.

If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

My reasons for opposing the CSX rail boondoggle

This is my response to a supporter of the CSX rail deal that is grinding its way through the Florida legislature:

Gene, as I have stated previously, I favor commuter rail - when and if someone comes up with a plan that passes the smell test. The one being ramrodded through the Florida legislature is a scheme designed to alleviate Orlando's rail problems and dump them on other, less politically influential, communities. Anyone familiar with the Orlando area knows that trains and the accompanying traffic issues there have been a source of irritation for decades. The city has long sought a way to rid rid itself of a major problem. It now has one. See 2005 state study cited freight traffic headaches

This rail deal does not represent progress. Your analysis - basically that rail is more efficient than autos, so "build it and they will ride" - misses the destination by a mile. You cannot predict ridership, so you cannot possibly have a meaningful formula to determine if and when fuel efficiency goals for this particular commuter rail project would ever be met - and at what additional costs above the millions already bandied about. See Does rail transit save energy or reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

As for freight rail efficiency, the deal does nothing. It does not take freight off trucks and move it onto rail, it simply takes trains that are already running and diverts them through communities like Lakeland and Ocala, towns which have used better judgment in making growth management decisions than has the city of Orlando.

You are correct on this point: CSX "currently has no liability for commuter rail." But of course. Please read Sweet deal with CSX may violate state constitution

You may care about the environment, but so do those opposing the CSX deal. Do you have any idea of how this deal in its entirety would eventually impact the environment of communities outside Orlando? If so, you must be way ahead of the people who attempted to bypass regional impact studies - studies that, now that they have finally begun, have not concluded even for the first 319-acre phase of development of "the mother of all rail yards" in Winter Haven. Not to mention the second 931-acre part of the plan. I don't have to tell you why the dealmakers, acting in secret and avoiding public hearings, divided the CSX project into two parts. Hint: To avoid scrutiny, i.e., Florida sunshine, perhaps? Even today, Jeb Bush refuses to answer questions on another of his "devious plans," and Charlie Crist has no interest in hearing from members of my community. (Tours with John and evenings with George are much more fun for "the people's guv'na.")

Yes, a few local politicians and developers support the rail hub in Winter Haven. It's also true that many of those fighting the hardest for the deal will benefit financially and/or politically from the "financial aid" package.

My personal interest

Most people take pride in their homes and community. I will support Orlando's efforts to improve life in their city, but not their right to disrupt the lives of people several miles away. The rail proposal goes well beyond dumping trash in my backyard. Noise pollution, safety concerns and deteriorated quality of life will extend directly into my living room. For politicians, or anyone else, to behave as if I should have no say in the matter - and that is exactly what has happened - is insulting almost beyond words.

The impact of this deal on me, personally, reflects that of countless others - perhaps more people than the eventual ridership of the Orlando train, should the legislative boondoggle be allowed to succeed. I live in a historic part of Lakeland, near Lake Morton and Florida Southern College (see map of Main St. and CSX rail line). I have worked all my life to pay for the home in which I had intended to live out my life in peace. Police and major medical facilities are located on the north side of town, across the railroad tracks from the majority of Lakeland residents. A quarter of a million people are served. Watson Clinic, for example, has more than 200 providers offering 38 specialties, and the Lakeland Regional Medical Center's emergency room is the second busiest in the state.

If the politicians, the developers and CSX get their way, I will, through no fault of my own decisions, live in a city split in two by tracks carrying dozens of freight trains (up to 56 trips daily) of unknown length running hour after hour, day and night, with constant rumbles and whistles that disrupt sleep, work, commerce, traffic flow through downtown and emergency services. Road conditions and highway safety will be impacted by greatly increased truck traffic flowing from the mother of all rail hubs in Winter Haven. No one supporting the rail-and-hub deal can give exact answers to either the increased rail or truck traffic. In light of past deceptions, projections made by CSX would not be credible anyway. If I choose to sell my home, its value will likely have plummeted. So, use whatever logic works for you to support the rail deal, but don't use my own tax dollars to diminish my quality of life. Don't pretend that it's a wonderful thing for mankind. Don't piss on my boot and tell me it's raining.

Those who live in greater Orlando do so for their own reasons. They understood the problems when they made the decision to live and work there. Freight trains and rail yards did not spring up near their homes overnight. For decades, new residents of Orlando saw the conditions, weighed the lifestyle opportunities against the problems, and made their choice. I chose a different community for my own reasons - to avoid the problems of a city like Orlando - and I resent being dumped on by morally bankrupt politicians who have no interest in fairness or in protecting my community. For a temporary, largely political fix, or for whatever other reasons they may employ to hoodwink the public, a group of powerful politicians are, with no integrity and little regard for anyone's interests outside their own, breaking arms to pass a deal that is contrary to the well-being of several communities, to the state of Florida and to good government itself.

Is my city considered a wasteland, made useful only by absorbing a major problem of a larger city? Am I to pay for Orlando's continued, unfettered "development"? The threat to my community is real. Promises of future amelioration are absent from today's discussion. In fact, there are no serious discussions of even having meaningful discussions, so help is not on the way. Once done, the damage will never be undone. Once done, the politicians will focus on a thousand priorities (or the the priorities of their corporate sponsors) that rank above fixing the mess they created.

If the deal were as beneficial to the state as supporters suggest, if it were for "the greater good," please explain the secrecy, the lack of comprehensive studies and optional plans, and a total disregard for the communities most negatively impacted. Florida taxpayers, many within the Orlando area itself, who have taken the time to study the issue do not want their tax dollars taken from education, health care and other pressing needs and used for a CSX deal to "get people out of their cars."

Beyond the obvious

I won't belabor the obvious, since over several weeks I have documented the points I am making. With the exception of CSX stockholders, who were treated to a 46% profit increase last quarter, it's a bad deal for most Florida taxpayers - even environmentalists - who live outside the immediate commuter route being proposed.

Here are two points that the citizens of Florida need to know:

1 - The Port of Manatee is gearing up for the expansion of the Panama Canal. That will allow increased freight from the US west coast and Asia to flow through Florida to the entire eastern United States. That's where the Winter Haven "mother of all rail yards" fits into the long-range regional planning:

"Primarily at the beginning it will feed the consumer demand of the state of Florida for goods coming from the West Coast ports," Hood said. "As the growth of the Southeast ports happens, like at Port Manatee, Tampa and Jacksonville, there's an opportunity to feed this as a distribution point for goods to the Midwest and the northern part of the country. If something comes in to the Port of Manatee and the destination is Ohio or Indianapolis, the containers could be sent to those destinations and beyond."

"It's one more important tool that we have to market the port," said Steve Tyndal, Port Manatee's senior director of trade development and special projects. "If a shipper in Asia knows that a sophisticated intermodal facility like the one proposed for Winter Haven is only an hour away, that means we could more easily sell Port Manatee as a port of entry.

"Port Manatee is already well served by CSX but the new facility in Winter Haven will help drive capacity, specifically for containerized cargo," Tyndal said. "And that's important because the Panama Canal is expanding and the port is taking a proactive measure now to be ready for when that happens." - Bradenton Herald, Sept. 20, 2007, Port hopes rail brings growth

2 - The CSX-Orlando deal is likely to delay, probably for my lifetime, commuter rail between Tampa Bay and Orlando. The fifty-six freight trains projected for CSX's S-1 line would eliminate the prospect of using those tracks for commuter rail, and the state is unwilling to invest in high-speed rail. Travel by automobile will worsen from the hundreds of additional trucks cruising to and from the Winter Haven hub, and all along the I-4 corridor from Tampa to Orlando.

That's one of the reasons the editors of the Tampa Tribune, as well as editors of other newspapers across the state, have condemned this mother of all corrupt deals, so putrid it was hatched and nurtured in the dead of night and hidden from the public for as long as humanly possible. See Secret deal for railroad hub lays bare shady practices at DOT

For these reasons and others I have made before in this blog, I will do whatever is possible to derail a deal that should never have seen the light of day - especially at a time when, in the words of Speaker Rubio, our state faces "the worst government budget conditions in Florida's history."


A note on the governor's 'leadership' . . . .

When pressed to comment on the CSX rail issue, Gov. Crist responded Monday with a boxcar full of evasions: "not necessarily," "it depends," looks "forward to reviewing it," depends on "what the purpose is and what the rationale would be," "kind of factor all those things," "will factor and weigh and make a responsible decision."

Thanks, governor. How reassuring.

Florida politicians: Protecting 'core services' -- or core interests?

"Florida is in a recession, resulting in the worst government budget conditions in Florida's history," House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami, said in a statement released Sunday.

"It is important to remember that as bad as it may seem for government, our people are hurting even more. I am pleased that we have produced a budget that is balanced and protects core services."

. . . .

State officials negotiated a deal that would help shield CSX Transportation and state railroad contractors from lawsuits if accidents occur on the commuter system.

But lawmakers have to approve the liability protections, and the proposals have drawn criticism in both the House and Senate. The protections are a key part of the deal in which CSX would sell to the state 61 miles of tracks from DeLand to Osceola County.

-- Florida's major issues remain unresolved

Another sorry week in CSX-land

Bill giving railroad immunity is simply ludicrous
Most Floridians probably don't know that our state senators are quietly rushing through legislation that will benefit one of the nation's most profitable companies - CSX Railroad - at the expense of public safety and at tremendous cost to Florida taxpayers.

Even as they slash funding for schools due to the budget crisis, they are giving this wealthy company immunity for their future wrongdoings and forcing taxpayers to pay in its place. This could mean hundreds of millions of dollars or more for a corporation with a disastrous track record of putting corporate profits before public safety. (Tampa Tribune, April 24, 2008)

Florida's CFO criticizes railroad deal
In a harsh critique of the state's deal to bring commuter rail to Orlando, Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink said the $641 million plan was crafted under the "cover of darkness" and urged lawmakers to revise the controversial proposal. (Ledger, April 26, 2008)

If any of Florida's bills seem bad, just wait
Look on the bright side. There are still a few days left in the Legislature's session, and no matter what you think of any of these ideas, it is a lead-pipe cinch they will slip in something even worse before it's over. (St. Pete Times, April 26, 2008)

Webster's train deal plays loose with Florida's tax dollars
The deal that Central Florida strikes with CSX should not force hundreds of trains into communities that had no say. And if Central Florida wants to spend its share of transportation dollars on commuter rail, that's its call. (Tampa Tribune, April 24, 2008)

Webster not leaving Florida legislature quietly
Term limits are pushing Dan Webster out of the Legislature after 28 years. For some of his colleagues, he's not leaving quietly enough. (St. Pete Times, April 25, 2008)

Webster's rail bypass: Something for everyone
If Florida Senate Majority Leader Dan Webster wasn't already a family man, he might promise anyone around his first-born son in exchange for support of the proposed CSX-and-commuter-rail deal. The newest Webster revision survived a key Senate committee vote Tuesday, but only after Webster dangled some carrots around the Capitol. (Ledger, April 24, 2008)

Mom says it's commerce vs. kids
Graves says she can't understand why the state's considering a deal to give CSX around $640 million to buy rail lines near Orlando and improve privately owned tracks in Jacksonville -- while, at the same time, cutting services to kids. (Jacksonville, First Coast News, April 23, 2008)

Webster maneuvers the CSX boondoggle through his committee
By tucking the CSX liability provision into the massive bills, ironically known as "trains" in Tallahassee lingo because of their habit of picking up a hodgepodge of ideas, defeating the bills may be difficult for opponents of the plan. (Ledger, April 23, 2008)

Appeal to Committee on Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations
"This project changes the way we move freight trains in our state FOREVER. It concentrates freight trains in cities who were never consulted, never given the opportunity to be a part of the process. Instead we are pressured and intimidated.

"There is not a good answer as to why these communities were not included. Instead there are throw away comments about how metropolitan areas take priority in the state.

"Well, Lakeland is not a rural town. We are a responsibly planned and grown city. Our growth is not out of control. We are not overly congested. This is not by accident, it is by design. So Lakeland grows responsibly and we get punished? We get dumped on by our neighbor? The Lakeland metropolitan area serves a quarter of a million people. We have the second busiest emergency room in the state.

"Lakeland felt the pressure in this room and is trying to salvage something from this monster of a deal. But if the power in this room can bully and intimidate the second largest inland city - God help the small towns in our state." (Julie Townsend, Executive Director, Lakeland Downtown Partnership, April 22, 2008)

Lakeland residents want state to blow whistle on CSX deal
Lakeland residents don't want more freight trains as part of a commuter-rail deal the state is working on. (Orlando Sentinel, April 21, 2008)

US rails seen rolling along despite economy
Despite a wobbly economy and sliding freight volumes, U.S. railroads have chugged along in recent quarters thanks to strong pricing -- and barring a deep and prolonged recession they show no sign of stopping.

"I think the railroads' pricing power story is going to last for several more years at least," said Keith Schoonmaker, an analyst at Morningstar. (Reuters Market News, April 20, 2008)

The meaning of 'getting railroaded'
So why should we be "finding a way to make it work" when the real issue seems to be whether it should even exist at all? In spite of all these shortcomings and unanswered questions, the CSX deal is still speeding through the Legislature with tacit approval from the administration of Gov. Charlie Crist.

Once moving, the train continues to its final destination, unstoppable and undeviating from its predestined path.

Now, confused enemy of the state, you know why they call it "getting railroaded." (Ledger, April 20, 2008)

Planners: Questions remain for rail facility
Evansville Western officials still have not responded well enough to transportation and environmental issues for their application for a rail freight terminal in Winter Haven to proceed, regional planners said Friday.

Although the first phase of the CSX project is still under review, backers are looking ahead to the second phase, which would be an industrial park on approximately 931 acres surrounding CSX's proposed facility.

That development is not part of the application being reviewed by the planning council and no plans for it have been submitted. (Ledger, April 19, 2008)

More CSX deception from its cheerleader
But isn't that the real problem with everything that surrounds this CSX deal: half-truths and secrecy? (Tampa Tribune, April 18, 2008)

Rail project took long time to get on track
In recent months, The Ledger has examined hundreds of public documents, recordings, memos and other material in an effort to determine how the half-billion-dollar-plus project managed to get state approval without undergoing even a single public hearing. (Ledger, April 17, 2008)

Inquiry: Train plan railroaded secretly
Bush, who left office in January 2007, isn't talking about the subject.

He recently rebuffed reporters who sought to ask about CSX after he made a speaking appearance in Lakeland and he didn't respond to a subsequent e-mail inquiry from The Ledger. Among the unanswered questions are whether he gave any consideration to projections of greatly increased rail traffic through Lakeland and other "S" line cities before agreeing to the deal. (Ledger, April 16, 2008)

Does Rail Transit Save Energy or Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?
Far from protecting the environment, most rail transit lines use more energy per passenger mile, and many generate more greenhouse gases, than the average passenger automobile. Rail transit provides no guarantee that a city will save energy or meet greenhouse gas targets.

Rail transit attempts to improve the environment by changing people's behavior so that they drive less. Such behavioral efforts have been far less successful than technical solutions to toxic air pollution and other environmental problems associated with automobiles.

Blog coverage in Lakeland . . .

• Lakeland Local
• Tales from the Delk Side
• Y-Lakeland
• Interstate 4 Jamming
• TBO Polk County News Blog
• Polk Politics

Fast train, wrong track

No, No, 649 million times - No, no no!

TAMPA - If you ever had any remote doubt what the term "getting railroaded" means, thanks to that buffet-line of glad-handers in Tallahassee, otherwise known as the Florida Legislature, sponsored by CSX - ahem, now you know.

From the very beginning, the CSX giveaway, hatched in secret and pushed through the Legislature with more winks and nods than a Skull & Bones alumni reunion, has stunk up the corridors of power in Tallahassee like it was five-day-old roadkill.

Fast train, wrong train

PALM BEACH - As the Legislature moved closer last week to draconian budget cuts, the state also moved closer to a terrible $641 million sweetheart deal with a private company.

Is there any wonder that the Florida Department of Transportation, then under Gov. Jeb Bush, negotiated the deal in secret?

Supporters claim that the deal would be cheaper than widening highways in and around Orlando. Why, though, does so little of the money go for commuter service? Why does CSX get so much of a break from liability? Why was it worked out in secret if it's such a good deal for the state? The deal should get an up-or-down vote on its own - not as part of a huge, politically popular bill - and the deal should change, or be voted down.

Just hire a CSX lobbyist

LUTZ - University budget cuts are not hard to fix. Just lay railroad tracks at every university. Then hire a lobbyist from CSX. Done deal.

Ahead of the bell: CSX target raised

NEW YORK - Lehman Brothers raised estimates and a price target on CSX Corp. Tuesday, saying the railroad operator's strong prices will likely help offset high fuel costs.

So far in 2008 shares of Jacksonville, Fla.-based CSX have risen 30 percent, while the cost of light, sweet crude has jumped about 16 percent.

Chase said the company's strong pricing will help sustain earnings estimates amid high fuel costs and lower volume. Much of the stock's potential is currently priced in, he said.

After the Bell: CSX Q1 Profit Jumps 46%

4/15/2008 7:16:51 PM - Tuesday after the bell, CSX Corp. (CSX), a railroad transportation company, announced a 46.3% rise in profit for the first quarter driven by 3.7 percentage points increase in operating ratio due to greater labor productivity and higher fuel efficiency.

'Sweet deal' with CSX may violate state Constitution

Today the Tampa Tribune exposed yet another sweetener in the secretly negotiated CSX-Orlando rail deal.

Florida's rail deal with CSX Transportation includes a benefit for CSX that goes far beyond the hundreds of millions the company will get from the state.

After selling 61 miles of tracks in Central Florida for commuter rail, CSX will retain the right to use the line for 12 hours a day. It will pay only a fraction of the state's operation and maintenance costs, however.

Is the deal fair - or even legal?

A lawyer who helped negotiate the deal for the state warned more than a year ago that the terms amounted to a subsidy for CSX - a possible violation of the state Constitution. State officials, however, say they struck a fair deal for the taxpayers and the railroad. [....]

It's a sweetheart deal that "gets sweeter" with the break on the access fees, said state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, who opposes the package because of its costs and CSX's plans to raise freight train traffic through downtown Lakeland.

CSX will pay twice as much to use an 81-mile commuter line in South Florida. [In a similar deal in New Mexico, Burlington Northern Santa Fe covers about 95 percent of maintenance costs.]

Is a deal negotiated in secret - using CSX cost data - a bargain for taxpayers?

The state DOT negotiated the CSX deal in secret, with all the DOT staff members and consultants involved signing confidentiality agreements, at CSX's behest. The company said the information it would be providing should be barred from public view under the Sunshine Law exemption for trade secrets.

DOT negotiators used CSX's cost data to determine what the company should pay the state for access to the 61 miles, said Kevin Thibault, DOT's assistant secretary for engineering and operations.

"We feel like the money we're getting from them is adequate," Thibault said.

E-mail messagess obtained by The Tampa Tribune, however, show that one of the DOT consultants, lawyer John Bottcher, disagreed.

If the state didn't "recoup its costs of the investment and the ongoing costs of ownership, then CSXT would be receiving a subsidy," he wrote in December 2006, about a year after negotiations began.

"The Florida Constitution prohibits public financial aid to a private party without a commensurate public benefit," he wrote. "We know that carriage of freight in and of itself provides a substantial public benefit. But there is a point where CSXT's profits private sector benefit would exceed the public benefit. I think FDOT's proposed fee structure is close to that point."

The article describes another business model for determining what one railroad should pay another for the use of a line.

According to an expert with the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority in Southern California, purchase costs and maintenance costs of a railroad should be figured separately, "but both should be used to determine what the freight railroad should pay."

Also, if passenger and freight trains share the corridor, the bulk of the maintenance fees should be paid by the "longer, heavier, more damaging trains, which are freight trains," Preusch said.

"There's a lot of politics in these things," he said. "But the business model is what I described."

In New Mexico, Burlington Northern Santa Fe sold tracks to the state three years ago for a passenger rail system and worked out an agreement to continue to use the line. The freight trains will run infrequently, but Burlington Northern's fees will cover about 95 percent of the cost of maintaining the tracks, said Chris Blewett, director of Transportation and Planning Services for New Mexico's Mid-Region Council of Governments.

"Those freight trains are pretty heavy. They do a lot more damage than our little passenger trains," Blewett said.

Fee benefit makes rail deal 'sweeter' - for CSX

See also . . .

• FL: CSX commuter train deal keeps chuggin'
• FL: 'Sugar train' outruns the budget ax
• FL: Commuter rail: Find the will to work matters out
• NC: Downtown derailment of half-mile long CSX train delays Fayetteville drivers
• KY: Madisonville mayor blames CSX railyard for flood damage
• AL: CSX settlement brings $491,976 to conservation department
• MA: No fault? No way, CSX told by state's entire US congressional delegation
• Are government subsidies to railroads serving the public interest?

Florida legislature wrangles over guns

Florida gun crimes up in 2007

TALLAHASSEE - The rate of serious crimes in Florida edged up in 2007 after years of declines, with a particularly alarming increase in the number of crimes involving guns.

Murders involving guns went up 11.5 percent last year and armed robberies with guns increased by 25 percent, from about 14,300 in 2006 to just under 18,000 last year. Aggravated assaults with firearms also went up, by 6.5 percent. - More . . . Firstcoast News

A legislative solution: Take your guns to town, son

TALLAHASSEE - The Senate is poised to give final approval next week to a bill allowing people with permits to carry guns to work regardless of their employers’ wishes.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, has been one of the most heavily lobbied this session, pitting business interests that opposed the bill against the pro-gun lobby and trial attorneys.

After less than an hour’s floor debate Thursday — with opposition coming from a few Democrats — the Senate brought its bill in line with the version that passed the House last week.

The bill says private businesses cannot prevent customers or employees who hold concealed weapons permits from bringing their guns onto employers’ property as long as the guns stay locked in cars. It also grants several exemptions, including places such as schools (although not child care centers or pre-schools), law enforcement facilities and jails, airports and defense contractors. - More . . . The News-Press

What drove capitol gunslingers to pull the trigger?

TALLAHASSEE - The more than $2.5 billion worth of state programs, services and jobs lawmakers have to cut from the budget this year has weighted the mood in Tallahassee.

Republicans, who dominate the House, the Senate and the governor's office, have lost nine seats to Democrats in less than two years. And at 77 to 43, the party makeup of the House is close to what it was in 1992 when Democrats held the majority. The economy was also struggling then, and Republicans won the majority of seats in the House by 1996.

The result is anxious legislators wondering how to show they deserve another term.

The dynamic can bring to the forefront hot-button social issues that placate certain voters - namely Republican ones, as Republicans have control in the House and Senate and get to set the agenda. - More . . . The Ledger

Update, Apr. 9: 'Guns to work' passes Senate, 26-13

Has the train left the station?

For residents of West Central Florida - and ultimately Florida taxpayers - who are the losers in a secret deal between Gov. Jeb Bush and CSX Rail, it's enough to make the blood boil:

LAKELAND - In 2002, an Orlando-based planning group produced a paper titled: "Why Can't We Solve Orlando's Traffic Congestion Problems By Moving the Freight Trains?"

Five years later, the answer is they can and they are - by dumping the problem on Polk, Hillsborough and other counties to the west.

Florida is about to spend half a billion dollars in public money to move freight trains off the rail line running through the Orlando region and onto another rail line running west of it.

The benefits for Orlando are twofold: Easing traffic congestion in the Orlando area's urban core and clearing rail lines now used by CSX to make way for new commuter trains.

Orlando's neighbors lose on both counts.

Read the report . . . Orlando train transfer to impact Bay area counties

'Gov. Climate' finds the water fine

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist sees the value in $3500 solar panels for the governor's mansion -- but approves a cut of millions of dollars in water projects from the state budget.

TALLAHASSEE--Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday endorsed a 5 percent tuition hike for universities and community colleges and rejected a plea to veto a plan to cut $20 million in water projects from the state budget. ....

On the water projects, some lawmakers, including Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, had urged Crist to veto a bill (SB-24C) that cut $20 million in water projects from the state budget.

With the state facing another water crisis, Dockery said it was the wrong time to make the cuts, which she said would amount to a continuing $30 million annual cut in future years if it was not restored. - Crist endorses 5% boost in tuition

Related . . .

• Solar panels at the mansion's pools
• How Gov. Crist became Gov. Climate

Florida legislature throws out the bath water

Legislative chambers in dire need of a cleansing

Only in the chambers of the Legislature, with a drought engulfing much of Florida and amid a brewing statewide water war, would it make perfect sense to cut funding designed to clean and enhance the public water supply.

During their recent special session to shave $1.1 billion from the state budget, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to slash $20 million from the state's $100 million Water Protection and Sustainability Trust Fund, which banks tax revenue from real estate transactions to fund projects to develop alternative water sources and improve water quality.

It's not surprising that a trust fund was hacked up in this manner. Trust fund raiding was elevated to an art under former Gov. Jeb Bush.


Photo: FloridaDisaster.org
Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, sent a letter urging Gov. Charlie Crist to veto SB 24-C to preserve this funding. She was joined on Tuesday by House Democratic Minority Leader Dan Gelber of Miami Beach.

It's unbelievable that water-supply projects, arguably the most critical issue facing our state, warrant a 20 percent reduction in funding, when lawmakers met to shave a total of just 2 percent from the state budget.

[Sen. Dockery's] fellow legislators - and the governor - should do some soul searching. If they don't understand the importance of water to Florida, they understand nothing about our state.

Ledger editorial, Oct. 19: Lawmakers drain water money

Related articles. . .

• Sen. Dockery protests water project cuts
• Southeast withers from 16 months of drought woes

Florida child welfare officials: 'Get rid of kids...'

MIAMI HERALD: Faced with a looming $8 million shortfall of money to care for former foster children, Florida child welfare administrators proposed this solution: They asked Miami-Dade's private foster care agency to ''get rid of kids'' who are eligible for financial aid.

The head of Miami-Dade's foster care agency, Henry ''Hank'' Adorno, refused.

``You want Our Kids to be the scapegoat; you want us to be the ones to tell these kids you have no money. . . . How about a little honesty?''

[....]

The dustup between DCF and its hand-picked private foster care agency could have consequences for Gov. Jeb Bush and his DCF secretary, Lucy D. Hadi.

Privatization of foster care and adoption programs was at the heart of Bush's plan to reform the child welfare system.

The transition to private management has been bumpy from the start.

But never has a private foster care agency filed suit against the state, and rarely before have relations between DCF and its own community-based care provider become so acrimonious.

Members of the alliance, created to help Miami-Dade transition into private foster care management, did not want Hood to take his lumps alone.

As dozens of children's advocates listened on a speakerphone, Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman, chief of juvenile court and the alliance's head, called Hadi's office to ask the agency head for some more money.

Hadi's secretary said she wasn't available and said the discussion would have to be postponed.


Miami Herald articles (registration is free) ....

• Agency refuses to cut back
• Doctors sue state over care for poor kids

Fairness for Florida families

FLORIDA -- On Tuesday, November 8, thousands of right-wing extremists will be at the ballot box collecting petition signatures to add discriminatory language to the Florida Constitution that would permanently ban same-sex marriage.

If passed, this mean-spirited amendment would not only permanently block marriage, but it would also deny access to civil unions and threatens domestic partner benefits currently granted to thousands of Floridians. To do this they have committed to collecting 100,000 signatures on Election Day, November 8th.

Opponents of gays and lesbians are working hard every day to pass this discriminatory law. We must do the same.

Please go to this link and sign the Petition Pledge:

I pledge to vote against any constitutional amendment that permanently blocks marriages and civil unions for same-sex couples and threatens domestic partnership protections currently enjoyed by thousands of gay and straight partners in Florida.

Gay marriage ban: ballot bait in the sunshine state

The push for a gay marriage amendment in Florida strikes some as extraordinarily political because the state has banned gay marriages since the 1970s. Amendment supporters say it's necessary to enshrine the change in the state's constitution. "We do not want to wait until there is a fire before we install sprinklers," reads the Florida4Marriage.org Web site. "It is wisest to be pro-active and establish marriage as a matter of constitutional law before activist judges seek to strike (the state's gay marriage law) down."

If history in other states is an indicator, Catholic and evangelical churches backing the amendment will mobilize parishioners to vote. Generally supportive of Republican candidates, the increase in voters due to the gay marriage amendment could affect close elections for seats ranging from the governor's office to the U.S. Senate to local legislative races.

The group pushing the amendment, Florida Family Action, is led by John Stemberger, an Orlando lawyer. He said the group is not trying to influence other races.

But Stemberger authored one of last year's most strident political moves as a supporter of U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez.

During a bitter primary fight, Stemberger was behind a direct mail flyer carrying the approval of Martinez's campaign that called conservative candidate Bill McCollum a man who would "appease the radical homosexual agenda." The attack brought scorn from other Republicans, but Martinez defeated McCollum in the primary.

"This is our moment in history. This is like our civil rights movement," Stemberger said.

Ledger article: Gay marriage vote may shift election
See also: Crusaders to ban gay marriage give false testimony
Cartoon: Cartoon Work