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Argenziano chides governor over veto
By ALEX LEARY, Times Staff Writer INVERNESS -- In her latest brush with her party's leadership, state Rep. Nancy Argenziano on Tuesday rebuked Gov. Jeb Bush for rejecting a citizen panel to address water issues in Citrus and Hernando counties. Argenziano said she is furious that Bush did not offer her a chance to defend her bill, which was sponsored in the Senate by Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville. The Crystal River Republican said Tuesday that a Bush aide left a message at 4:58 p.m. Friday with her office, which closed early for the long weekend, informing her that the governor had vetoed the legislation. "While I am disturbed by the actual veto -- after all, in some universe there may have been a rational basis -- I am still more disturbed by the specious after-the-fact notification and lack of courtesy in discussing this matter with me," Argenziano wrote in an e-mail to Bush on Tuesday. Bush articulated his reasons in a letter sent Friday to Secretary of State Katherine Harris. He argued that the proposed waterway council would create "unnecessary, bureaucratic structure" that duplicates the functions of the Southwest Florida Water Management District and its citizen basin boards, which are appointed by the governor. "The district has been conducting research and undertaking proposed solutions for Weeki Wachee springs and river sedimentation problems, and the water quality and sedimentation problems in the Tsala Apopka chain of lakes," Bush wrote. Argenziano questioned why Bush last year had allowed legislation sponsored by Sen. Anna Cowin, R-Leesburg, with nearly identical wording and setting up a waterways council in Lake County, to become law. "Explain to me how Lake County residents can have citizen empowerment and Citrus and Hernando counties cannot," Argenziano said in an interview. The governor's office told the Citrus Times that the key difference was the St. Johns River Water Management District, which oversees water issues in Lake County, did not already have a basin board to specifically study the Harris Chain of Lakes. If approved, the Citrus and Hernando Waterways Restoration Council would have been appointed by the Legislature and include waterfront property owners, engineers, scientists, lawyers and chamber of commerce members. The panel would report directly to state lawmakers, a point which Argenziano said gave it more authority over the basin boards, which work with the water management district, commonly called Swiftmud. The bill called for Swiftmud to provide staff and to develop restoration programs along with the Department of Environmental Protection and Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. One of Argenziano's major contentions is that the agencies, particularly Swiftmud, have not done enough to address problems with the Tsala Apopka lake chain in east Citrus County, namely loss of fish habitat, weed infestation and muck accumulation. "There is an outcry from citizens," Argenziano said. "They are saying, 'Wait a minute, we fund those agencies and our waterways are going down the drain.' " In his letter, Bush suggested that the state was in fact paying much attention to Citrus and Hernando, noting the $6-million study of the Withlacoochee and Hillsborough rivers being conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers in consultation with Swiftmud and the water district's "Springs Coast Initiative" to research problems facing freshwater springs. "The bill intended that the citizens of Citrus and Hernando counties have a greater voice in the governance of the water management programs in those counties," Bush wrote. "My action today should serve as a starting point for renewed, collective action by the district, the basin boards, state, local and federal agencies working closely with the citizens of Citrus and Hernando counties to help resolve these difficult problems." -- Alex Leary can be reached at (352) 564-3623 or leary@sptimes.com.
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