Opinion: The bad odor of hypocrisy

If anything reeks more than the manure Republican Nancy Argenziano sent business-lobbyist Jodi Chase, it's the hypocrisy of some of the people who blasted her cheap stunt.

What was the reaction of Chase's boss, Jon Shebel, chief of Associated Industries? Shebel -- the undisputed King of "Tort Reform" -- threatened Argenziano with a lawsuit. Argenziano's gift was a "libelous act of slander," Shebel said in a redundant act of redundancy.

And House Speaker Tom Feeney? He was "disappointed" in Argenziano's rudeness, publicly chastising her for not adhering to the "level of professionalism that House members should strive to attain." This from a man who thought nothing this session of cutting off his Democrat colleagues mid-sentence and of breaking the rules -- then changing them altogether when that didn't work -- just to ram his agenda through.

Of course, we all know it wasn't really Argenziano's rudeness that irked Feeney. It was her gall in standing up to the House leadership and criticizing the pro-industry nursing-home bill Feeney and others had worked so hard to grease. Feeney admitted as much by warning that Argenziano may lose her top spot on a powerful House council for showing herself to be an "independent maverick."

From our vantage point, Argenziano had good reason for bucking the nursing-home bill. Lawmakers came within spitting distance of a balanced nursing-home package, but they allowed the industry's self-serving ultimatums and loathing of trial lawyers to skew their work. With help from Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan, Feeney resorted to a slew of dirty tricks, including secret meetings and bully tactics, to shape the bill according to what nursing homes wanted, not what was best for aging residents.

Argenziano's manure gift to the lobbyist carried a bad odor. It was a crude and sophomoric stunt. But some of the lawmakers and lobbyists criticizing the representative from Crystal River used this year's legislative session to play even fouler tricks on the people of Florida.

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