Ray Seaman's Blog

Crist = Toast

Ray Seaman — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:37:27 EST

Public Policy Polling's latest poll on the GOP Senate Primary:

Rubio now leads Crist 60-28, including a staggering 71-17 lead with conservatives. Crist has a 49-36 advantage with party moderates, but they account for just 31% of likely primary voters compared to 65% who describe themselves as conservative.

Granted, the primary isn't until August 24th, but I just don't see how it's possible for Crist to pull this one out. Traditionally, if an opponent is below 50%, it's possible to for them to be beat. With Rubio at a commanding 60%, Crist is done, finished, caput.

The only way Crist could remain an elected official after November is if he decides to drop out and run for reelection as Governor or if he runs as an independent for Senate. There's always dog catcher, too.

Opposition to Oil Drilling: Now In A Handy Map!

Ray Seaman — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:20:05 EST

We were proud to put together this map of counties, cities, chambers of commerce, and local agencies that have passed resolutions against drilling in Florida waters.

Big Oil certainly has taken a lot of serious hits over the last few months. Hands Across the Sand was a big success. They've pared back their lobbyist presence. Plus, a recent report has demonstrated what defenders of Florida's beaches and coast have known for a while: that they're just isn't a whole lot of oil out there and it would do squat to lower the price at the pump.

Regardless, everyone should remain vigilant. Most of our legislature is still in the pocket oil and gas interests, and Gov. Crist would probably do anything to out crazy Marco Rubio in the GOP senate primary.

Incumbents v. People of Florida

Ray Seaman — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:40:45 EST

Here's Sen. Haridopolos trying to fight back against Amendments 5 and 6, the Fair Districts amendments. His message? Redistricting is haaaard!

Haridopolos made available the Senate’s redistricting guru, John Guthrie, a nationally renowned expert on the once-a-decade process of redrawing legislative and congressional boundaries, to walk an audience through the process of moving the lines to see how it works in practice.

Among the mountains of data used to draw the lines are Census tidbits on age, sex, race and voter-registration, all mapped down to the neighborhood-level. One blogger in the audience repeatedly wanted to know why voter data was used at all to map political districts, apparently annoying Haridopolos a bit (he told him to stop clicking his pen once).

Haridopolos is also calling Amendments 5 and 6 "lawsuit city." Yet so far, no lawsuit has been filed.

However, there should be no doubt that incumbents in the legislature and Congress who benefit greatly from their gerrymandered districts will fight Amendments 5 and 6 with everything they've got. The very thought of actually having to defend their actions and votes to the people they "represent" in the context of a competitive election scares the bejesus out of them.

Will Jeb Bush Forgive Himself?

Ray Seaman — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:44:22 EST

Former Gov. Jeb Bush, last week:

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush made his strongest statement to date on the Republican Senate primary unfolding in his state, telling the conservative publication NewsMax in an on-camera interview that he considers Gov. Charlie Crist's support for last year's stimulus bill "unforgivable."

The stimulus essentially bailed out Florida last year, preventing deep and incredibly destructive cuts to our schools, hospitals, and infrastructure. In my community, 522 first and second year teachers still have jobs because of the stimulus. If the right wing Florida legislature had its way, those folks would be on unemployment, likely still searching for a half-decent job.

But back to good 'ol Jeb. To him Gov. Crist's support for the stimulus was "unforgivable." But that didn't stop Jeb from showing some love for Race to the Top, a federal education grant program set up by the stimulus.

Matt Yglesias caught this, and noted the following:

And you see this time and again. Folks on the right are sharply critical of “the stimulus” but generally raise no objections to large swathes of the stimulus—they like their local infrastructure projects, they like their tax cuts, and the more sensible among them like the education money.

Yes indeed. Even right wing hero Jeb Bush loves some part of the stimulus.

Premature Presiding Officers

Ray Seaman — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:21:33 EST

Sen. Andy Gardiner may be the next Senate President...after Jeff Atwater, Mike Haridopolos, and Don Gaetz that is:

Gardiner didn't pour cold water on the buzz, and would neither confirm nor deny the state of his candidacy. "I have to prove myself as a senator first," Gardiner said.

No kidding. Gardiner was elected as a state senator just 16 months ago in the 2008 election, and now he's vying to be the presiding officer of the Florida Senate. Pretty crazy, huh?

This is nothing new, by the way. As soon as members of the majority party are elected to the House and Senate, the race begins to decide who will be the presiding officer in 6 years.

I'm pretty sure most Florida voters who had knowledge of this would recoil. Yet this is the byproduct of term limits.

For Florida, A Time for Leadership

Ray Seaman — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 13:52:25 EST

St. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler, cites my favorite Florida politician, former Gov. Reubin Askew, as evidence of leadership that worked out well for Florida:

A new governor named Reubin Askew — sometimes with the help of the Legislature, and sometimes despite it — led Florida in an unprecedented program of modernization and reform, including:

• A total revision and modernization of the way Florida paid for schools.

• A much-needed statewide system of water regulation.

• New programs to buy and conserve Florida's natural land.

• The first law requiring "comprehensive planning" for Florida's growth.

• "Fair share" taxes on businesses that, because of their political influence, had enjoyed one of the nation's lowest tax burdens.

• A burst of "sunshine" and ethics laws, including a constitutional amendment requiring public officers to disclose their personal finances. Opponents of these ethics reforms mocked Askew as "Reubin the Good."

Askew then ran for his second term.

At every step Askew was working for the long-term interests of the state, and he did not care if he lost popularity because of it.

Winn-Dixie's founders fought him. St. Joe Paper fought him. Associated Industries of Florida fought him. To rebut the claims of Florida's businesses that a fair tax would drive up prices, Askew famously displayed to the public a Sears shirt bought in Georgia, and the same shirt bought at a similar price in Florida, even though Sears paid far more in taxes to Georgia.

Troxler goes on to bemoan the lack of "leadership" that exists with the current regime in Tallahassee. And goes on to propose a set of ideas that have mostly been embraced by progressives and Democrats:

Above all else, fix Florida's tax structure. Get rid of the loopholes and tax breaks — and if you're worried that's a "tax increase," then you should lower the overall rate on everybody else who's been paying all along.

Quit fighting the "fair districts" citizen petition in an attempt to protect your own empires.

Do something about the sneaky political committees that you have formed to launder campaign money.

Once you agree to fair districts and honest money, then you should be able to ask voters to increase your terms from eight years to 12, so we can develop a little more maturity up there.

Give the universities what they want. All of it. Quit fighting them over political control.

Give the Ethics Commission what it wants, too.

Don't decide oil drilling until you've heard every study, from every party, and maybe not even then until you've gone to walk on beaches in oil-pumping areas yourselves.

If you really must gamble, don't give away the store to the casinos. Extort them until they scream and threaten not to come. Then get even more for the problems they're going to cause.

The first item, reforming Florida's antiquated and regressive tax structure that harms working families and lets the wealthy get away with quite a bit is correctly put at the top of the list. Progress Florida's "Stop The Cuts" petition effort, which we launched yesterday, is a first step to move momentum for reform out of the think tanks and newspaper columns and into the grassroots.

But here's the thing about Troxler's otherwise great column: the regime that occupies Tallahassee believes they are leading. The problem is, as we know, that their reactionary "leadership" has hurt our state immensely for the roughly 12 years the Republicans have controlled the legislature and Governor's mansion. And no, any attempt by the press to do their typical "both sides are at fault" meme is just silly. The Dems haven't been in charge of any house of the legislature since 1996 and the Governor's mansion since 1998. Gerrymandering has kept them out, and the minority party is powerless to do very much.

Until there's a change of leadership and focus in Tallahassee, it will be very hard to accomplish much of anything that will benefit working people rather than just special interests who can bundle $500 checks.

However, leadership is also required from everyday Floridians, too. We can't just leave it to the politicians to solve our problems. Grassroots oriented, progressive/pro public interest groups will be needed to apply external pressure for progress regardless of who's in power. While I'm obviously biased, I think Progress Florida is a great example of such a group. Others I think also do this well include Worst to First and Fund Education Now, both of which employ organic grassroots strength to tackle major problems Florida faces.

Howard Dean is still right: "You have the power."

Chronicles of Republican "Fiscal Responsibility:" Rubio and Dorworth (Updated)

Ray Seaman — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:12:15 EST

Republicans were very busy showing off their "fiscal responsibility" creds this week.

Marco Rubio, Republican Senate candidate and Tea Party hero, has been mixed up the Republican Party of Florida's implosion. He, like other members of the RPOF's top brass, received an American Express credit card which he used for a number of personal "expenses."

Records show Rubio sent payments to American Express totaling $13,900 for his personal expenses during his tenure as House speaker. But those payments were not made monthly. He made no contributions to the bill during a six-month stretch in 2007, records show.

Charges covered by the party as political expenses include:

• $765 at Apple's online store for "computer supplies."

• $25.76 from Everglades Lumber for "supplies."

• $53.49 at Winn-Dixie in Miami for "food."

• $68.33 at Happy Wine in Miami for "beverages" and "meal."

• $78.10 for two purchases at Farm Stores in suburban Miami.

• $412 at All Fusion Electronics, a music equipment store in Miami, for "supplies."

Not to be outdone, the full breadth of Republican House Speaker-designate Chris Dorworth's financial problems were revealed this week. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up:

A top Republican selected Tuesday as the future speaker of the Florida House can't get his own financial house in order.

The home of Rep. Chris Dorworth of Lake Mary is in foreclosure. He is struggling to pay a $2.7 million legal judgment from a bad land deal. And his driver's license was temporarily suspended this month after what he called a misunderstanding with his car insurer.

Dorworth won't be House Speaker until 2014 (yes, you read that right: Rs not surprisingly believe they'll hold on to the majority thanks to wonders of gerrymandering.) However, the idea that someone who can't manage their personal finances will have a big hand in crafting Florida's $66 billion dollar budget (or whatever it will look like by 2014 if the far right has its way) isn't very comforting to Florida taxpayers.

Update: It looks like the Sink campaign is smartly taking advantage of the multiple RPOF-related scandals by releasing a comprehensive ethics plan today.

A Path Forward For Kosmas: Get Progressive

Ray Seaman — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:29:21 EST

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) and Democracy for America (DFA) released a poll yesterday which shows voters in selected freshmen Democratic districts supporting progressive views. In addition, voters are ready to punish Democratic members of Congress that go conservative and corporate. One of the districts polled was Suzanne Kosmas' 24th district (North Brevard, most of Volusia, west Seminole, west and north Orange counties.) Here are the poll findings from Kosmas' district:

1.) Are Democrats in Washington more on the side of the lobbyists and special interests or on the side of people like you?

Lobbyists: 45%
You: 29%
Not Sure: 26%

2.) Are Democrats in Washington doing too much to fight corporate America or should they do more to fight big corporations?

Do More: 51%
Too Much: 35%
Not Sure: 14%

3.) What comes closer to the lesson you think Democrats should learn from the recent Senate election in Massachusetts, where the seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy was won by a Republican: Voters want Democrats to slow down and try to do less, OR Voters are upset about the slow pace of change – and will hold Democrats accountable if they refuse to use their power to fight special interests on behalf of regular people?

More Change: 39%
Slow Down: 33%
Not Sure: 28%

4.) Generally speaking do you think Barack Obama and Democrats in Washington, DC are delivering enough on the change Obama promised to bring to America during the campaign?

No: 56%
Yes: 27%
Not Sure: 17%

5.) Is the issue of national health care reform very important, somewhat important, or not important when deciding how to vote in congressional elections? 

Very + Somewhat: 65%

Very: 30%
Somewhat: 35%
Not: 18%
Not Sure: 17%

6.) Would you favor or oppose the national government offering everyone the choice of a government administered health insurance plan -- something like the Medicare coverage that people 65 and older get -- that would compete with private health insurance plans?

Favor: 64%
Oppose: 21%
Not Sure: 15%

7.) Would you be more likely to vote for the re-election of your local Democratic member of Congress if they worked to kill the current health care reform effort in Congress or if they worked to add a public health insurance option that competes head-to-head with private insurance?

Public Option: 42%
Kill: 35%
Not Sure: 33%

8.) Would you be more likely to vote for the re-election of your local Democratic House member if they worked to pass the Senate’s version of health care reform with minimal changes, if any – OR if they worked to add a public health insurance option to the bill that competes head-to-head with private insurance?

Public Option: 33%
Senate: 5%
Not Sure: 62%

9.) If Congress does not pass a public health insurance option as part of health care reform, will that make you more likely or less likely to vote for Democrats in the 2010 general election or would it have no real effect on your vote?

More: 14%
Less: 36%
No Effect: 50%

10.) If Congress does not pass a public option as part of health care reform, will that make you more likely or less likely to vote in the 2010 general election, or no effect?

More: 12%
Less: 32%
No Effect: 56%

11.) [DEMOCRATS ONLY] If a Democratic member of Congress does not work to pass a public health insurance option that competes head-to-head with private insurance, would you want a more progressive candidate to run against them in a Democratic primary?

Yes: 56%
No: 24%
Not Sure: 20%

Most of these numbers are scary for Kosmas. She voted against the health care reform package last year, but voted for the financial reform bill. Her record is mixed. It's also worth noting that of all the freshmen Democratic districts polled, Kosmas' district often had the most conservative-leaning results. So numbers elsewhere are just as significant or more so.

These numbers paint, imo, a clear picture for the Congresswoman: vote against health care, don't work for a public option, or just passing the Senate health care bill as is would be a disaster. A third of Democrats and overall voters will be less inclined to vote. Kosmas' districts is an R+4 district according to Charlie Cook's Partisan Voting Index (PVI), so Kosmas needs as many Democrats and favorable independents as possible. Being weak by not taking on the health insurance companies and greedy corporations will endanger Kosmas (and plenty of other Democrats) in the 2010 midterm elections.

Be bold and progressive, or go home.

GOP Legislators Confirm Their Insanity on Education Policy

Ray Seaman — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:02:45 EST

More than a decade ago, Jeb Bush fundamentally altered our state's education policy: a single, high stakes standardized test (FCAT) that would act as a universal standard of measurement for schools; taking on the teacher's union; and attempting to start a private school vouchers system.

At the same time, our GOP-dominated legislature kept education funding embarrassingly low compared to other states. They fought Florida voters' attempt to reduce class size by holding back funding needed to implement the class size amendment. Jeb Bush and the legislature's high stakes, low funding education policy naturally produced some crappy results.

Today, Florida ranks 43rd in SAT scores, 48th in ACT scores according to the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC.) The LeRoy Collins Institute has shown our dropout rate to be one of the worst. We're 50 out of 50 states and Washington DC in per capita funding in education.

And ignore the recent finding by Education Week that we're 8th best in the nation - we're not.

Florida's education system has been struggling mightily with Jeb Bush and the GOP's "reforms." So now what are they proposing? A lot more of the same: more FCAT, less funding, more demonization of teachers. The definition of insanity is trying to do the same thing and expecting a different result:

The GOP-controlled Legislature - heeding critics that the state needs to graduate students better prepared to compete for jobs - is poised to toughen graduation standards, link student performance to teacher pay and make it easier to fire teachers.

...just don't ask them or the big business allies backing these "reforms" to actually pay for any of this.

This leads us to the major problem facing Florida's public education system: we've been trying to educate the next generation of Floridians on the cheap, and (surprise!) it hasn't worked at all. You can't educate 2.5 million kids (the fourth largest student population int the country) with piecemeal funding. Not gonna work.

I'll be the first to admit funding isn't everything, but you have to have a strong base of funding with which to work with and build off of. As I said in a previous post:

With current funding, Florida can't even meet minimum obligations to its students, like having enough teachers in order to ensure necessary individual attention via small class sizes. Want to hire more teachers? Sorry, no funding. Want to build new schools? Sorry, no funding. Want to set up teacher incentives? Sorry, no funding. Want to try out new programs or test new ideas? Sorry, no funding.

And linking teacher pay to student performance? It's a great way to divide teachers against each other and continue to punish schools and staff that need more resources, not less.

Ending teacher tenure? That's taking an axe to a situation which needs a scalpel. We should be reforming "tenure" (which is kind of a misnomer - it's not the same tenure professors at universities receive), so teachers are protected from overzealous principals while "bad apples" are shown the door.

Education should be reformed, but doing more of the same isn't what's needed. Let's give our schools the funding and resources they need to do their job. Let's pay teachers better. Let's make teachers unions part of the accountability process rather than demonizing them. Let's provide students with small class sizes, a healthy learning environment, and a multitude of class options beyond just math and reading.

We can do better for Florida's children and our state's future.

The Need to Save Our Cities (And Our State)

Ray Seaman — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 11:07:25 EST

The mayors are right:

More than 230 mayors are in Washington for the winter meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors, and many said they had been forced to impose layoffs, furloughs, service reductions and fee increases to deal with falling municipal revenue. The next fiscal year looks even worse, they said.

“We are in the middle of a ‘jobs emergency’ that demands decisive and swift action,” said Elizabeth Kautz, the mayor of Burnsville, Minn., and president of the conference. “We need the Senate to pass a Main Street jobs package now.”

Mayor Kautz is a Republican, and while many Republicans in Congress oppose a second stimulus package, many of the Republican mayors here support it.

President Obama spoke before dozens of the mayors on Thursday, promising “a continued, sustained and relentless effort to create good jobs.”

In November, the latest month for which data is available, the jobless rate was up in all 363 of the cities surveyed by the conference, compared with the previous year. More than 105 metro areas have unemployment rates above 10 percent.

Even as recovery in the labor markets picks up steam in the next three years, unemployment rates will not return to pre-recession levels during that period for any metro area, the conference predicted.

“In the Great Depression they let up too soon and there was further recession,” Mayor Riley said. “Right now the president needs to avoid making that same mistake.”

Indeed, the first stimulus passed by Congress last year was too small. Obama's chair of the council of economic advisers, Christina Romer, had said the stimulus needed to be around $1.2 trillion or more to be most effective, rather than the compromised $700 billion package that was eventually passed. With that said, the first stimulus wasn't useless. It bailed out Florida from incompetent Republican legislative "leadersihp", and saved countless jobs, particularly teachers.

However, according to a recent report (.pdf) from the National League of Cities a $56 to $83 billion deficit is facing our cities. States, including our own, are facing down their own deficits. While progressives are urging Florida legislators to find new sources of revenue to overcome our latest $3 billion deficit, we could use one more package from the feds.

This need becomes more clear as people like future House Speaker and Senate President Dean Cannon and Mike Haridopolos go around crowing about how "the government doesn't create wealth."

Anyone who has a casual relationship with reality knows different. In fact, just 5 minutes with an American history book debunks Cannon and Haridopolos' far right pablum. The government (federal, state, local) employs millions of people, provides them benefits and discretionary income. This generates a great deal of economic prosperity boosting the private sector, and through an effective regulatory framework, can build shared prosperity. Duh.

So with Cannon and Haridopolos continuing the same failed economic policies of the Jeb Bush/Charlie Crist eras, we clearly need some responsible adults to step in. Whether it's a second stimulus or reforms making our state and local tax systems more productive and more progressive, our cities and states simply can't afford to shed jobs and programs in this recession.

Florida Gubernatorial Candidates Would Rather Not Take A Stand On Issues

Ray Seaman — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:49:27 EST

Want to know where Paula Dockery, Bill McCollum, and Alex Sink stand on major issues facing Florida: education, health care, the environment? Good luck.

Take a look at any of the major candidate websites, and you'll find that Dockery and McCollum have no issue page. Alex Sink, to her credit, has an issues page, but only addresses issues she's tackled as CFO, not what she would do as governor.

I'm sure issue stances will be added in the future, we're more than 9 months away from the election, but our state faces huge challenges right now. As people who want to lead the fourth largest state in the country, it would be great to know how they would deal with our state's $3 billion budget deficit, woefully underfunded education system, broken health care system, threatened environment, and the overpowering influence of corporate special interests.

Furthermore, I'm really surprised the press hasn't caught this. Yes, they have been trying to corner the candidates on some issue questions (particularly Alex Sink on health care lately), but that's it. The press should call the major party candidates on the fact none of them have any kind of significant issue stances.

I'm not asking for or expecting vast policy tracts on every conceivable issue Florida faces. For now, at least a few cogent sentences on a handful of key issues would be nice.

Is that really too much to ask?

2010 Legislature: More of the Stuff That Doesn't Work

Ray Seaman — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:15:21 EST

Senator Mike Haridpolos and Representative Dean Cannon aren't Senate President and House Speaker yet, but they're already set to do a bang up job during this year's legislative session:

As leaders, we must have the courage to get government out of the way of job creation. This commitment includes a focus on developing a meaningful state strategy for action in three key areas.

First, we must identify and remove barriers to the development of new jobs. Today, industries such as energy, manufacturing, construction and land development are hobbled by intrusive regulations that slow growth. Whether by reducing these regulations, by abolishing barriers to investment or by cutting taxes, Florida has many options for promoting growth and generating jobs.

Second, we must develop appropriate financial and tax incentives to lure new jobs. For companies considering expansion or relocation, we need to make sure Florida is one of the most attractive states to do business.

Third, we must enable existing employers to create new jobs and retain existing jobs. We must ensure that our state's tax and regulatory incentives are structured in a way that rewards work and job creation.

Hoo boy - there's a lot of status quo in that excerpt! It shouldn't be news to anyone that the policy of the government of the state of Florida for the last decade (likely longer) was to get "government out of the way." Major economic policy shifts or proposals made during both the Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist eras have been about getting "government out of the way", from Bush's pledge to empty the offices in Tallahassee to Crist's kowtowing to the developer's lobby by signing SB 360 last year. Apparently Haridopolos and Cannon have been in a deep sleep since 1999.

But let's face it, they've been wide awake the whole time. They know this has been the focus of policy making in Tallahassee for many years. So this isn't about job creation or helping Floridians - it's about continuing to move the ideological ball that Jeb Bush started rolling - recession or 11.5% unemployment be damned.

This is nothing more than a continuation of failed policies - deregulation, unaccountable tax cuts/credits, starving and killing public programs like education, Medicaid, and Florida Forever that help people and communities.

We know where these policies have put our state. We're near dead last in education funding, we have the 3rd highest dropout rate. We have the 2nd worst tax system in the country which puts a disproportionate burden on the middle class and the poor, and are the 16th highest spender on jails and corrections. Florida has one of the highest number of uninsured, including children.

One thing's for sure, we don't need the government to get out the way. As Floridians we need our government to pick up a shovel and help us dig out of the hole the last decade's conservative economic policies have put us in.

Big Oil's Claims About Safe, "Invisible" Drilling Are Declared Bunk

Ray Seaman — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:02:40 EST

This should come as no surprise to anyone, but Big Oil has been caught lying again. This time Jeremy Wallace and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune debunks the drillers' claim that drilling our coast will be "virtually invisible" and safe:

...a Herald-Tribune examination found that the promises made by drilling proponents are largely empty:

• One of the subsea systems being touted is almost exclusively used in water that is thousands of feet deeper than Florida’s coastal waters.

• Even the American Petroleum Institute concedes that subsea systems are intended for water more than 5,000 feet deep. Florida’s coastline, within the 10 miles the state controls, runs no deeper than 100 feet.

• Another system being promoted, a floating drilling system that uses large vessels tied to subsea drilling wells instead of fixed drilling platforms, has never been used anywhere in the Gulf of Mexico.

• The only way subsea systems would be viable off Florida’s coast is if large traditional drilling platforms were built nearby or the state allowed refineries and miles of pipelines to shore. History shows that is not likely to happen. A new oil refinery has not been built in the United States since the 1970s.

Absent such changes, drilling off Florida’s coast would likely be done with traditional fixed drilling platforms rising hundreds of feet above the water. These platforms, which dot the Louisiana and Texas coastlines, have for years symbolized Florida’s opposition to drilling.

So, can we end this massive waste of everyone's time that has been the Florida offshore drilling debate over the last year and a half? Can we actually start talking about real solutions to our energy crisis like finally funding and promoting renewable sources? Probably not, but this article really should solidify in everyone, particularly legislator's minds, that drilling Florida's coast is an amazingly foolish idea. The drillers' credibility has been shot to peices (if it wasn't already highly suspect in most people's minds.)

The fight to preserve Florida's beaches will go on. Hopefully by the end of this process, the idea of drilling our coast will be treated like a bad joke.

Florida's Political System, Not Just Education, On Trial

Ray Seaman — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:05:38 EST

Christine Bramuchi, Linda Kobert, and Kathleen Oropeza are not kitchen table names in Florida, but you'll be learning more about them and their fight for Florida's public schools over the next several months. Last week, they made headlines across the state when they, along with several other plantiffs, filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida. Their charge? Florida has been shortchanging public schools, and it's time for an overhaul:

The plaintiffs want a court to declare that the state has violated the Florida Constitution and to order state leaders to create a "remedial plan" for fulfilling that constitutional obligation.

"I hope it's a catalyst for change," said Thom Rumberger, one of the plaintiff's attorneys and a prominent Republican in Tallahassee.

Then the Florida Legislature will need to find a way to fund schools adequately, he said.

I'm of the belief that while this lawsuit is about education funding, indirectly this lawsuit is an indictment of Florida's banana republic-like political system.

The fight to get adequate resources into Florida schools is a battle that has been raging since the 90s (and I'm sure many would argue this fight goes back to the creation of the Florida Lottery in the late 80s.) However, things really took a turn for the worst when Jeb Bush became governor in 1998, bringing strong Republican majorities with him to both houses of the legislature. Jeb, unlike his brother, was an intellectual conservative, and proceeded to turn our state into a giant right wing policy laboratory where the latest "free market" idea in vogue could be tried out. Jeb, along with his many conservative allies in the legislature, promptly tied teachers hands with an overbearing high stakes test (the FCAT), forced local governments to pick up the tab for most new expenses, and helped contribute to our state's mostly last place status in key barometers (overall funding, per pupil spending, graduation rates, etc.)

But Florida voters wanted something different. The same year Bush was elected, Floridians passed an amendment adding new language to our state's constitution. The beginning of Article IX now reads:

The education of children is a fundamental value of the people of the State of Florida. It is, therefore, a paramount duty of the state to make adequate provision for the education of all children residing within its borders.

In 2002, Floridians voted to amend the constitution to force the legislature to provide money to reduce class sizes, giving students more personalized attention from teachers. Here's most of the language:

To assure that children attending public schools obtain a high quality education, the legislature shall make adequate provision to ensure that, by the beginning of the 2010 school year, there are a sufficient number of classrooms so that:

(1) The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for prekindergarten through grade 3 does not exceed 18 students;

(2) The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for grades 4 through 8 does not exceed 22 students; and

(3) The maximum number of students who are assigned to each teacher who is teaching in public school classrooms for grades 9 through 12 does not exceed 25 students.

The class size requirements of this subsection do not apply to extracurricular classes. Payment of the costs associated with reducing class size to meet these requirements is the responsibility of the state and not of local schools districts.

Of course, the legislature has ignored Florida voters on all counts. With all this mind, Howard Troxler, a columnist for the St. Petersburg Times asks a good question:

Can you win a lawsuit that accuses the Florida Legislature of doing a lousy job?

The quick answer is yes, absolutely. But there's more to chew on:

Let's say that every claim in the lawsuit is true.

There's still a good question: Can the courts really order the Legislature to do better?

While these rulings aren't always popular, they are absolutely possible. The courts ordered Florida to redistrict based on population rather than by county in the mid 60s. This ended political dominance by North Florida reactionaries and gave power to moderates and liberals from Central and South Florida for the next two decades.

More Troxler:

Maybe they'll win.

Maybe the weight of statistics will convince the courts, as in the famous U.S. Supreme Court ruling on pornography, that they know "high quality" when they (don't) see it.

One of the most overlooked aspects of the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision was the fact that Chief Justice Warren used a lot of statistics demonstrating that segregated schools didn't produce equal results to back up the court's unanimous ruling. I'm not a legal expert, but statistics can play a key role in decision making.

If our Legislature is hostile to education, it is still the Legislature elected by the people of Florida. To be sure, our election system is biased by campaign money loopholes and rigged voting districts. If we addressed those factors, we might have a different Legislature.

But that is hard. To an extent, filing a lawsuit like this is asking the courts to do the work of democracy for us.

I disagree. We have a court system, one of three branches of government, for a reason. The legislature has arrogantly ignored the Florida constitution and the wishes of the people they allegedly represent. There is little to no way to hold them accountable because of gerrymandered districts designed to ensure incumbents' reelection and the free flow of special interest dollars. We've had governors like Jeb Bush who were ideologically predisposed against a strong public education system, and Charlie Crist, who to put it charitably is totally out to lunch in some overly optimistic la-la land. Local school boards are completely cash strapped and tied down by a mountain of unfunded mandates from the legislature and the governor. So what's left? The courts, plain and simple. This is what they were designed to do: to hold the other two branches accountable.

This is why Florida's very political system, not just education, is on trial here. We have a mess in our public education system because our political system as it's set up today can't deliver for Florida voters. That's why this lawsuit, and initiatives like the Fair Districts Amendments are so important to our state's future.

AG Race: This Is Gonna Be Fun

Ray Seaman — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:32:42 EDT

This genius, our Lieutenant Governor, is running to be our state's top law enforcement officer:

At a time when he faces an ethics complaint over state-paid travel, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp had a state trooper drive him and his family to suburban Atlanta last weekend for a surprise birthday party for a Tallahassee lobbyist.

Unsurprisingly, Kottkamp raised a paltry $180K in the previous financial quarter. To put that sum in perspective, one of his Democratic opponents, Dan Gelber raised $315K. Sen. Dave Aronberg, the other Dem in the race, raised only a slightly smaller amount. In other words, Kottkamp is weak and in deep trouble.

Into this GOP vacuum steps Holly Benson, Crist's head of the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA), which manages Florida's Medicaid program. You may remember this gem from Benson last year:

"Just because you're poor doesn't mean you have to be unhealthy," Benson said recently during a statewide call-in radio program. "It means you have a lot more time to go running."

Hear that poor people? Walk it off!

Benson also spearheaded the development of Cover Florida, Gov. Crist's laughable idea for insuring the 3.6 million uninsured Floridians. The plan was to sell these folks crappy, watered down insurance. Unsurprisingly, these Floridians aren't buying. Only 4,000 people have bought Cover Florida plans. Heckuva job, Holly.

If Kottkamp or Benson doesn't satisfy Republican voters, there's always Jim Lewis, who proudly declares at the top of his website he's running for the "City of Florida Attorney General".

I imagine Lewis will be the easy favorite for every teabagger and Sarah Palin groupie in our great state.

A Rising Tide of Skepticism Among Republicans About Drilling

Ray Seaman — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:28:08 EDT

Steve Bousquet of the St. Petersburg Times has been uncovering skepticism among GOP ranks over coastal drilling:

"The oil drilling matter is not on the Senate agenda for the coming session," [Senate President Jeff] Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said flatly.

Beyond Atwater's lack of enthusiasm, several veteran Republican senators — some representing beachfront districts — are on record as saying they would not vote for a drilling bill. They include Sens. Victor Crist, R-Tampa; Dennis Jones, R-Seminole; Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland; and Durell Peaden, R-Crestview.

"Once you ruin those pristine beaches, they're ruined forever," said Peaden, a retired doctor who worked for Texaco before he went to medical school. He describes out-of-state oilmen as "shysters" promoting a "shell game" at the expense of Florida's tourism economy.

"It's all about campaign money," Peaden said. "And it's one big crapshoot."

Wow - you know a debate gets interesting when conservative Republicans like Sen. Peaden start making sense.

Now even Bill McCollum, following the lead of Alex Sink last week, is joining the skepticism train (although less convincingly than Sink and the Republican Senators mentioned previously):

"Historically, I've opposed the exploration of oil and gas off Florida's coastline," McCollum said in an interview this week. "I did that when I was in Congress.

"But I'm open-minded. I'm a guy from Missouri. You've got to show me about the claims that this is going to be something that we can do without danger to the people of Florida or to the coastline — to what's natural out there. But I'm very cautious about that. I'm open to listening. But I've historically opposed it."

I don't know how the "I'm a guy from Missouri" thing plays when you're running for Governor of Florida, but hey, I'm no campaign consultant. Regardless, McCollum is straddling the fence when probably most Florida Republican base voters would love to drill Florida's coast and strip mine the Everglades just for fun. He's probably trying to cut his losses between his crazy base, and a looming primary challenge from Sen. Paula Dockery, a drilling opponent.

Those of us who deeply love this state and value our coasts shouldn't take any of this for granted. Like Sen. Peaden essentially put it above - there's campaign cash in it for any Senator who decides to sell their soul. As we've seen countless times before, money talks loudly in Tallahassee.

Take Action: Send a fax to Senate President Atwater urging him to oppose any drilling efforts that come to the Florida Senate.

The Wrong Conversation On Public Education

Ray Seaman — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:11:58 EDT

Pasco County based legislators John Legg and 2012 speaker-designate Will Weatherford want to listen to local education officials about how to steer our state's flailing education policy:

"We're going to take advantage of the people we have locally," said Weatherford, a Wesley Chapel Republican who's in line to become House speaker in 2012. "What I want to focus on is the low-hanging fruit, the things that everybody knows need to be fixed."

Things that might get bipartisan support.

The two lawmakers expect to tap Pasco School Board vice chairman Allen Altman to lead their information-gathering effort.

"I think (they) have a genuine desire to work with people who are on the ground, in the field … to learn what their frustrations are and how we can cooperate more on the local and state level," Altman said.

Sure, it's great when any state legislator wants to truly listen to what's going on at the local level, particularly where state policy has a heavy influence, like public education.

However, it already looks like Legg and Weatherford will simply be told what they want to hear, and the conversation will steer clear of any elephants in the room (like funding.) For me this quote from Pasco County School Board Vice-Chairman Allen Altman says it all:

"If we're going to challenge the local districts to try to be more effective in their programs and to spread their resources further and do more with less … then (lawmakers) need to look at what they are doing," Altman said, calling some of the Legislature's past practices "wasteful and ineffective."

See, that's the problem. Local school districts are constrained to their absolute breaking points by more than a decade of education policy where our wingnut legislature has told local districts to suck it up. If districts were people, their faces would turn purple and their limbs would be turning black and falling off.

Challenging local districts to be "more effective" is trying to get different results by doing the same thing our state has done for years. Quite simply: it's insanity.

Folks, when it comes to public education in the state of Florida, it's the funding, stupid. Critics will throw out that cliche phrase that "You can't just throw money at the problem"... and those critics know absolutely squat about Florida's public education system. Florida is currently ranked 50th out of 50 states in per capita funding for K-12 public education and 39th in per pupil funding. "Throwing money" at our public education system would be an absolutely wonderful problem to have!

With current funding, Florida can't even meet minimum obligations to its students, like having enough teachers in order to ensure necessary individual attention via small class sizes. Want to hire more teachers? Sorry, no funding. Want to build new schools? Sorry, no funding. Want to set up teacher incentives? Sorry, no funding. Want to try out new programs or test new ideas? Sorry, no funding.

Until Florida actually funds education that's even in the ballpark with other similarly-sized states, any discussion we have about improvement is really just PR window dressing for state legislators and school board members. It will do little else.

Alex Sink Finally Says Something (On Drilling)

Ray Seaman — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:07:39 EDT

I like Alex Sink, but her campaign has been waaaaaay too quiet, considering our state is starving for actual leadership, for my taste. Maybe Sink's silence on major issues facing Florida is beginning to end? Here's what she said about the offshore drilling boondoggle this morning:

"...My strong bias is not to be supportive. And furthermore - just like so many things in the history of Florida - It kind of reminds me of the lottery. This is not going to be the answer in Florida for the next get rich quick scheme. It's just not. I think what we ought to be doing in investing our time and our talent and our focus on the tremendous opportunities we have for renewable energies. Why can't we make Florida the number one solar power state? We could do that and it would create many more jobs, better paying jobs, manufacturing industries, export industries. We ought to be looking toward the future as opposed to the past."

Sink prefaced the above statement by saying she would be open to listening to other side. Even though most of what the drillers have been saying are lies and half truths, Sink has to look fair and open minded. That's the game she's playing in.

Nonetheless, it's encouraging to hear her say the above and cite the Montara oil spill off the coast of Australia as one way of refuting the absolutely laughable claim made by Florida Energy Associates and their minions that oil drilling is safe and that spills are simply things of the past. Seriously, they're actually saying that.

I'm hoping this is the beginning of a new trend for the Sink campaign: staking out strong positions on the major issues of the day. I'm not going to hold my breath of course, Sink has so far been running a textbook, milquetoast Democratic campaign. Here's hoping!

How Traditional Media Fails Democracy

Ray Seaman — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:30:12 EDT

Jon Stewart explains:

It really would be great if we had serious fact checking in the news, along with sincere analysis instead of the same-old discredited pundits. That's one of the many reasons why I simply don't watch most regular programming on the cable news networks. It's also why I do watch shows like Rachel Maddow and Bill Moyers' Journal.

Pundits love to clutch their pearls and wail about how partisan and caustic public discourse has become. They particularly love to blame "political extremists" for this. However, I have yet to hear one of these pundits explain how traditional media outlets routinely let the same intellectually empty gasbags show up on TV shows and write in their opinion pages, validating their lies and half truths to a segment of the American populace. This leads to the development of like-minded echo chambers (mostly on the right of the political spectrum) in which facts and civil debate are jettisoned in favor of ideological purity.

While the progressive blogosphere is certainly guilty of ideological purity on some occasions, I love the natural skepticism that exists. This crowdsourced editing process is key to building an accountable media.

While PT Barnum was probably right when he said, "There's a sucker born every minute", our democracy needs a strong and educated media to safeguard democracy from the ignorant sirens of people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.

The Grayson Game Changer

Ray Seaman — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:51:33 EDT

Congressman Alan Grayson two weeks ago:

If you get sick, America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly. That's right. The Republicans want you to die quickly if you get sick.

With that, Grayson jump started the somewhat stationary debate on healthcare, put the GOP on defense, and gave Democrats additional cover to pass reform. The GOP brought out their usual attack lines intended for your standard issue Democrat - hit them with something inflammatory and false - and watch the Dem either cave or go silent. You can't blame them, it's the playbook they've used since the late 60s to great effect.

But Grayson is no standard issue Democrat - he's what many progressives in the blogosphere have been waiting for for most of the last decade. He's someone who aggressively tells the truth, and then most importantly sticks with it, not giving an inch to the right wing noise machine and their minions. When you boil it down, this is how we want every member of Congress to behave.

Progress Florida launched a statement of support, open mostly to our supporters within the 8th congressional district. Within 24-48 hours, several hundred signed. I delivered these petitions to Congressman Grayson himself Monday night at a health care town hall in Tavares.

Grayson's aggressive style has also frightened away any serious GOP challengers. Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas couldn't help but point this out:

The Republicans look like a bunch of Chihuahuas yapping at the Rottweiler behind the fence. But this Rottweiler not only is snarling and frothing at the mouth, it also went to Harvard.

It is a crazy and smart Rottweiler.

So there is lots of yapping, but nobody is about to open the gate and take him on.

The only two Republican candidates in the race are a couple of unknown teabaggers.

I certainly hope Democrats and progressives throughout Florida are taking notice. Granted, not every Democrat or progressive can be Alan Grayson. However, some of Grayson's common sense tactics can in many ways be duplicated. Don't let political bullies push you around - hit back with the truth and keep swinging until they inevitably back down. Incorporate the netroots and online organizing into any fight you engage in.

I don't want to call Grayson's tactics revolutionary or new, they aren't. However, this style is typically seen practiced by right wing Republicans. Too many (but not all) Democrats simply want to take the moral high road and have sophisticated policy debates with opponents. This is not the reality of modern American politics (has it ever been?) Voters care about passion, conviction, and guts, for better or for worse. If a leader or politician can combine policy saavy with an emotional sledgehammer to drive their message, then typically it's game over for that person's opponent. Grayson has this gift and clearly used it to great effect.