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Free-trade push could lose funds

By JONI JAMES and STEVE BOUSQUET
Published March 31, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush's high-profile push to make Miami the free-trade headquarters for 34 American nations has found an unexpected opponent in one of the Tampa Bay area's Republican legislators.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee today will consider a state budget for 2005-06 that will include no money for Florida's efforts to win the Secretariat for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, should the trade pact, more than a decade in the making, be formed.

The proposal is largely the work of Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, chairman of the Senate budget group that handles transportation and economic development issues.

"I had priorities," Fasano said Wednesday. "I don't hear many people back in my district yelling and screaming to fund FTAA."

In this fiscal year, the Florida Legislature agreed to contribute $525,000 for Florida FTAA, a nonprofit, public-private partnership formed to push Miami as the permanent FTAA headquarters. Bush and dozens of prominent Florida business leaders are on its board of directors. Its annual budget is $1.3-million.

Securing the FTAA Secretariat has been a priority for Bush, who sees it as a way to secure Florida's future in the global economy.

But for next year, Fasano said, hurricane shelters, roads, libraries and cultural programs are bigger state priorities. He said he's troubled by the Florida group's budget, which showed large expenditures for marketing, plane tickets, telecommunications and overnight shipping.

"They're spending $70,000 a year on airplane tickets," Fasano said. "I can't accept that."

Fasano questioned why the group lobbying for Florida has its headquarters at the elegant Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables. He said he looked into the group's work and concluded that after several years of trying to land the Secretariat, "nothing" has been accomplished.

But Jorge Arrizurieta, president of Florida FTAA, defended the expenses and noted that no other city campaigning for the Secretariat has won as many nations' endorsements. The Biltmore office is subsidized by the hotel's owner, Arrizurieta said.

"With all due respect to the senator, we are marketing the state of Florida to 34 nations, reminding them that besides Mexico, we are their biggest trading partner," Arrizurieta said.

"We must travel to those nations. It's like running for office."

Fasano's proposal would include none of the $3.4-million Bush has requested for next year for international economic development efforts.

Also among the programs that could lose out is the Secretariat for the Gulf of Mexico States Accord, which is housed at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

[Last modified March 31, 2005, 01:27:20]