Gov. Jeb Bush has warned of many vetoes. A group hands him a list.
By ALISA ULFERTS
Published May 27, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush should veto more than $200-million in state spending Florida lawmakers approved last month, a government watchdog group said Wednesday.
Florida TaxWatch, a nonpartisan Tallahassee research group, found 227 "turkeys" - Florida's name for pork barrel projects - totaling $202-million in this year's budget.
More than $38-million of the TaxWatch turkeys are in the Tampa Bay area, including $25,000 that Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, secured to study relocating the Salvador Dali Museum, and $1-million each for heart centers at St. Joseph's Hospital and University Community Hospital in Tampa.
TaxWatch also found $2-million to replace aircraft for the Pasco and Hillsborough sheriff's offices and $8.9-million for the University of South Florida Bio-Tech Park in Tampa.
TaxWatch defines a turkey as a project that wasn't recommended by the governor, a state agency or both legislative chambers.
TaxWatch said the $202-million is enough to build two elementary, middle and high schools, hire 1,241 teachers and extend state-subsidized health insurance to 39,946 kids.
Two of the biggest turkeys TaxWatch found were pet projects of legislative leaders: the $12-million that House Speaker Johnnie Byrd wants for the Tampa Alzheimer's research center that bears his father's name and the $7.1-million that Senate President Jim King wants for a biomedical research center named for parents.
Lawmakers approved those projects in the first week of the legislative session but waited until the last day to approve the rest of the budget. Bush is expected to sign the $58-billion budget Friday.
Last year the group found no turkeys in the state budget, and Bush vetoed $29.9-million in spending.
But this is an election year, a time when state budgets tend to plump up, said TaxWatch president Dominic Calabro. Bush has warned lawmakers to expect more vetoes than usual.
The merits of more than 90 percent of the spending projects TaxWatch declared questionable were never heard in a legislative committee, Calabro said.
"The vast majority of the turkeys our researchers identified were pushed through the 11th hour in the conference process without the full Legislature's input," Calabro said.
"Even if . . . many of the projects are meritorious, or appear meritorious, you never really know, because they haven't gone through the process," Calabro said.
Already lawmakers are bracing for what some have heard could be as much as $300-million in vetoes. Bush's staff has begun calling lawmakers across the state, asking detailed questions about community projects.
One of the items TaxWatch marked as a turkey is $100,000 that Rep. Leslie Waters, R-Seminole, secured for an education campaign about the dangers of shaken baby syndrome.
Waters said Bush's office hasn't given her reason to worry about that money.
"I've heard there's going to be more vetoes than ever before," Waters said. "I'm keeping my fingers crossed."
