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Bright ideas may lose gloss after Jeb's gone
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 21, 2001 From our Jan. 24, 2003, editions. TALLAHASSEE -- Leaders of the Republican-controlled state Legislature on Thursday called an emergency session to repeal a variety of laws that had been passed by their predecessors over the past three years. Political observers said that the Legislature's change of heart came because of the surprise election of a Democratic governor to replace Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, who resigned last year to pursue missionary work. It turns out that giving the governor of Florida nearly unlimited power over the selection of judges, university boards and government employees was a good idea only as long as the governor was a Republican. "We was just funnin'," explained John Goosengander, president of the Florida Senate. The Legislature's move came only hours after the new governor vowed to pack the state's judicial nominating councils with his law school buddies. "The bigger the crony they are of mine, the better," the governor said. "We're gonna pick a bunch of prayer-banning, soft-on-crime, pointy-headed judges, and nobody can stop us." In an unrelated insult to Republican lawmakers, the governor announced he was appointing only "bookworm liberals who hate football" to the boards of the state's 22 university campuses. "And there's no strong, central university system to stand in my way," the Democratic governor crowed, referring to the Legislature's decision to abolish the state Board of Regents. "I'm gonna make all the football teams wear pink women's underwear." The emergency session of the Legislature was praised by the Florida League of Developers and Despoilers, who had been crying out for relief from what the group called "Draconian" local growth laws. The Legislature abolished any intelligent statewide growth policy during its 2001 session, declaring that "all wisdom resides at the local level, except when it comes to regulating billboards." However, instead of returning to the carefree development days of the 1970s, control of growth was seized in many Florida communities by the Green Party. The Greens imposed silly new rules, such as requiring public services to be adequate before new growth is allowed. The development community argued that only a strong, central government in Tallahassee should be allowed to set growth policy. "Face it, local governments are nitwits; that's what this party should stand for," said state Republican Chairman Al Cardenas. It was unclear when the special session would be held. Each time the Legislature attempted to send out the notice Thursday, the state employees involved were summarily fired by the governor and replaced with Democrats. This was possible because the 2001 Legislature weakened civil-service rules. "It is unthinkable that a governor should have this kind of power," Cardenas said. "Only a backwater state would ignore the need for a professional, independent state work force. Hasn't he ever heard of checks and balances?" The Republican Party of Florida said it would sue but later in the day issued a red-faced retraction after learning that such lawsuits were accidentally banned in the "tort reform" act of 2000. Sources said the special session might also address the topic of school vouchers, since a coalition led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson has qualified to receive the majority of voucher money handed out since the Legislature expanded vouchers in 2001. "The good old, all-American public schools ought to be enough for our kids," Senate President Goosengander said. "Anybody who wants to put money into the hands of anyone else is just trying to weaken public education." - You can reach Howard Troxler at (727) 893-8505 or at troxler@sptimes.com.
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Times columns today Howard Troxler Bill Maxwell Gary Shelton From the Times Metro desk |
