Do you want to fix the Florida Legislature? I have three amendments to the state Constitution that are absolutely guaranteed to help.
1. Take away the Legislature's power to rig its own districts and shut out true competition. Districts for the House and Senate should be drawn by an independent body.
2. Kill the "soft money" donations to the state political parties. Democrats and Republicans now take millions from bad guys, then funnel it into local elections to elect obedient followers. Local voters never know the true source of the cash.
3. Outlaw the pensions and free health care that the legislators have voted themselves. And no Legislature could give itself a pay raise earlier or larger than what it gives to the majority of state employees.
Please do not bring up term limits. Term limits are not the cause. They have only merely speeded up the bad-doing. If you repeal term limits now, without fixing anything else, then you still have the same bad dog. You've just let him off the leash.
Here is our fundamental problem:
The Legislature is now immune to voter reprisal. When given the chance to kowtow to Big Money even if it means public anger, the Legislature goes for money every time.
I know I keep harping on the telephone companies. But it is the perfect example. Last year the Legislature was willing to jack up every local telephone bill in every household in Florida - in an election year. That shows how unconcerned they are with angry voters.
Honestly. It has never been this brazen. Lobbyists write bills openly, and stand up to present them in front of committees. Some legislators who supposedly "sponsor" the bills can't even explain what they say. It used to be that members at least were ashamed when it came out that their bill was lobbyist-written. Now they just file blank bills, waiting for lobbyists to fill in the content.
The vows of angry citizens that they will "remember in November" are idle threats. An incumbent with tens of thousands of dollars of Tallahassee money can buy a lot of billboards and brochures to sweet-talk the constituents.
There are 40 members of the Senate and 120 members of the House. That is 160 in total. I know of no more than four who were defeated in the 2002 election.
Florida's goal now must be to restore a healthy turnover in the Legislature - not devastating, just healthy - and a reasonable fear of voter reprisal for bad deeds.
Fair, competitive districts are the first step. Districts should be drawn as compactly as possible, while preserving communities and not discriminating against minority voters. Party should have nothing to do with it.
You can never take politics out of the map completely. Whoever draws it - a court, an appointment commission - will have political ties. But the farther away we get it from the Legislature the better.
Money is the second step.
Big Sugar, utilities, polluters and other interests shouldn't be able to pour unlimited money into Democratic and Republican slush funds in Tallahassee, that then is laundered to buy local legislative races. The voters are entitled to know whose dollars are buying their local election.
What's more, this Tallahassee money gives control over local candidates to the leaders of the Legislature. Obey, and you are rewarded. Disobey, and you just might find a new challenger from within your own party. That is the answer to the question, "Why in the heck are all these people going along with Johnnie Byrd?"
Admittedly, my third reform - no pensions or free health care, and no better raises than state employees get - is not directly related to cleaning up elections and making them more competitive. But it does strike at the heart of the culture of incumbency.
The people of Florida do not want to destroy the public schools. They do not want to pollute the Everglades. They do not want dry cleaners to be able to poison the soil. They do not want a law saying you aren't disabled until you lose two arms, legs or eyes.
Only the Legislature wants those things - the Legislature, and the money behind it.
Fair districts. Fair money. Less privilege. That's the recipe. Guaranteed.
