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Education

Rejection saddens college's promoter

A state senator says the governor could and should have swayed the board. Bush's office says that's not how it works.

By STEVE BOUSQUET and ALISA ULFERTS
Published January 28, 2005

Board vote ends chiropractic school

Key developments in the proposed chiropractic college at Florida State University: 1984: The Legislature budgets $150,000 to study development of a joint program between a Florida university and National Chiropractic College. Gov. Bob Graham vetoes the money, noting that no school had requested it. JANUARY 1996: FSU and Lincoln Chiropractic College agree to fund an endowed chair in chiropractic research at FSU. APRIL 1999: The Legislature orders a study of the need for a chiropractic school. The study questions the need for more chiropractors in Florida but dodges the issue of whether a school should be created. APRIL 2000: Citing the study, legislators appropriate $600,000 to plan the school. The money pays for a second study by MGT of America, setting forth how the college would work. JUNE 2001: Lawmakers budget $1.5-million to start the college, but Gov. Jeb Bush vetoes much of the money, calling it a duplication of effort since a private chiropractic school is moving into Florida. MARCH 11, 2004: Bush signs a bill that he later acknowledged was a political deal to make peace with legislative leaders. Among other things, the bill directs $9-million to a chiropractic school at FSU. DECEMBER 2004: A group of educators files a lawsuit charging Bush and the Legislature with violating the state Constitution by creating a chiropractic college without approval of education policymakers. A Tallahassee surgeon, Ray Bellamy, launches an effort by doctors to kill the proposal. JAN. 13, 2005: FSU trustees sidestep a vote and refer the question of the school to the state Board of Governors. JAN. 27, 2005: Board of Governors votes 10-3 to deny the school. Sources: Times research; Florida Chiropractic Association.

TALLAHASSEE - To state Sen. Dennis Jones, Thursday's rejection of the nation's first public chiropractic college was a major disappointment. But it wasn't a surprise.

"I'm not angry," Jones said. "Obviously, after 10 years of work and hundreds of man-hours, I'm disappointed."

The silver-haired chiropractor from Treasure Island has spent years pushing political levers in hopes of establishing a public chiropractic school in Florida. But it was not until Jones' good friend, Jim King, became Senate president in 2002 that the school went from drawing board to reality.

Together, with help from Gov. Jeb Bush, Jones and King steered $9-million in tax money each year to the fledgling school at Florida State University. Even though the Board of Governors resoundingly rejected the program, Jones insists the school remains technically alive because it's in state law.

Jones said he was having lunch Thursday at a Sonny's Bar-B-Q when he got a telephone call from Jack Hebert, a lobbyist for the Florida Chiropractors Association, who was at the board meeting in Gainesville.

"We played by all the rules," Jones said. "Unfortunately, the program became a scapegoat for the ongoing battle over governance" of Florida's public universities.

The senator also blamed "turf-guarding" by doctors who view chiropractors as competitors and a well-organized opposition campaign by a few critics of chiropractic. Jones called them "professional bigots."

"They were brought in here to stir up the faculty, and it was successful," Jones said.

King criticized Bush for not flexing more muscle to save the school.

"The governor shook my hand and drank my champagne and said congratulations on a job well done," King said. He said the project would have survived if Bush had simply made a few well-placed phone calls to his appointees on the Board of Governors.

"If he had done that, it would have happened," King said.

King said he worked to pass some of Bush's priorities, such as the Scripps Research Institute in Palm Beach County and would have liked the action returned.

"It doesn't make me feel any better that I shook hands over $360-million for Scripps with the understanding that the chiropractic school was a done deal," King said.

Bush's spokeswoman, Alia Faraj, said: "It's unfortunate that Sen. King feels that way. The governor signed the legislation, but ultimately, this was a decision that had to go through a process, which is exactly what happened. The governor does not influence the process."

King, an FSU graduate, included the chiropractic school money in a package that also contained biomedical and Alzheimer's disease research and an FSU building named in memory of his late parents. Bush enthusiastically endorsed the deal with King and former House Speaker Johnnie Byrd last year and held a bill-signing ceremony in his office with King, Jones and others proudly standing alongside.

The photo of the ceremony was still prominently featured on the Web site of the Florida Chiropractors Association on Thursday.

Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, declined to comment Thursday. Lee voted for the bill that included the $9-million-a-year grant last year, but the project has never been a priority of his.

Some of the $9-million awarded to FSU in the current year's budget has been spent. King said the unused portion would likely revert back to the state treasury.

In separate interviews, two lobbyists for Florida chiropractors, Jack Hebert and Guy Spearman, said they did not have a "Plan B" to revive the project.

Spearman said he was hoping the Board of Governors would send the issue back to FSU's trustees for action. "We'll have to regroup," Spearman said.

In what may be the project's last rites, Bush allocated $1.5-million for the school in his proposed budget for next year. But this time, the money is "contingent" upon approval of FSU's trustees and the Board of Governors - and neither board said yes.

[Last modified January 28, 2005, 00:22:07]