Summer Politics in Florida

It’s been just over two months, since the 2010 Spring Legislative Session adjourned. The animosity that existed between Governor Crist, our Legislative Leaders, and the Republican Party during session seem to escalate to another level the day Governor declared himself an Independent Candidate for the U.S. Senate that is up for grabs this fall.

Here are some of the things that have transpired that I am aware of, and they are not necessarily in the correct chronological order in which they have occurred. Governor Crist vetoed a bill that was passed early during session that overhauled the system of how teachers are paid in Florida. The Republican Majority Leadership had made this fiscally sound legislation a priority. Obviously, the Governor now has the backing of the Teacher’s Union for his upcoming Senate bid.

The Legislators did some things with the Budget that didn’t make the Governor happy. They voted to raid $160M from the Transportation Trust Fund to help balance the budget. They also stipulated that should the Governor veto raiding of those funds that the $160M would have to be taken from the Education portion of the budget to balance the numbers. Crist vetoed both portions of that bill. The courts may have to decide, if the Governor can veto both portions of the bill. Rumor also has it the Speaker and Senate President may call for a special session of their own to overturn the Governor’s veto. They are probably counting votes as you read this. It takes a 2/3 majority to overturn a veto. They would not call the legislators back without the votes already counted.

The Republican controlled Senate denied several gubernatorial appointments to various statewide boards near the end of the sixty day session. That of course had to be quite embarrassing to Governor Crist, since some of those appointees were already serving.

There were nearly 300 bills that passed during the 2010 Session. These are normally sent over to the Governor’s Office in multiples of a dozen or so at a time for his signature. He has 15 days to sign a bill, veto it, or allow it to become law without doing anything once bills are received by his office. That way he is not rushed and can take the time to consider each bill. 2010 is certainly not a normal year. The House and Senate Leader Leaders sent most of the 2010 bills that passed over in two large batches just to frustrate the governor. Adults are quite capable of behaving like children when it comes to politics, wouldn’t you agree?

Of course the Governor has been toying with the idea of bring back the legislators to discuss drilling for oil in the Gulf. That would be a sure fire way to get the environmentalists to vote for Independent Candidate Crist for U.S. Senate. Even the staunchest proponent of drilling, incoming Speaker of the House Dean Cannon who was looking at drilling as a source of extra revenues to balance next year’s budget, doesn’t want to touch this hot potato at this time.

But, last week I heard some disturbing news regarding Amendment 4. A recent poll shows that 61% of those polled favor its passage. We simply must do a better job of educating everyone about this proposal, which will devastate the recovery of Florida’s construction industry in the future. If you haven’t spoken to your employees, customers, friends and family members about Amendment 4, I strongly encourage you to visit http://www.florida2010.org. There is a lot of info there that you can share with others. What else can we expect from Florida Politics this summer? I would say expect the unexpected, as we get closer to the Primary Election. It has been anything, but boring that’s for sure.

Wade Mullins
Quality Precast Co.
wadem@qualityprecast.com