The Fine Print

J.D.'s revenge or Jeb Bush's fault? The insurance staredown explained

Florida may have a new insurance commissioner on Friday, then again it might not.

But Gov. Rick Scott and members of the Florida Cabinet will hold their third meeting in the last few weeks in a yet-another effort to reach a consensus on who should replace the outgoing Kevin McCarty (pictured left with Scott). As has been well-reported, Scott and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater have been unable to reach agreement on who should replace McCarty. That's created a stalemate because Florida law requires both officials to agree on a replacement.

There are so many ways to view this ongoing drama, which has played out in public largely because of the rushed secretive way that Scott pushed out Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey at the end of 2014. In the end the governor and Cabinet were sued over the entire affair which resulted in new policies that were designed to end behind closed doors decisions regarding the hiring and firing of agency officials who report to the Cabinet.

Atwater has painted the standoff as a byproduct of a process that he says was created to make sure that top officials were deliberative in such an important hire.

Ok.

But perhaps it would be good to take a brief history lesson in how we got here, and why in reality, the process now being used has never really been tested before. And along the way, maybe ask the architect of all this what he thinks about his handiwork (he actually kind of blames Jeb Bush.)

It would be tempting to trace all of this back to the Civil War (yes, really) but let's just say that it became recognized that in the '90s that Florida's governor was considered one of the weaker chief executives in the country.That's because the governor shared power with other elected officials - and in some instances had little control over important areas such as education.

Voters in 1998 were asked to approve a sweeping overhaul of Florida government. This proposal by the Florida Constitution Revision Commission  did a number of things that has generated a lot of debate since then. The education commissioner was changed from an elected to an appointed position. A new State Board of Education (appointed by the governor) became responsible for hiring the commissioner. The governor and Cabinet, which used to be the state education board, no longer had that responsibility. The Secretary of State went from an elected position to an appointed position. And the elected positions of Treasurer and Comptroller would be merged into one new one: the chief financial officer.

As the commission was crafting this proposal, the plan was to also remove the agriculture commissioner from the Cabinet but an uproar from agricultural interests nixed this idea. That eventually created flareups because that leaves four voting members when the governor and Cabinet meet - and leading to discussions on how to weight certain votes so a decision can be made.

Flash forward to 2002: State legislators were under the gun to come up with new laws to put all of these above reforms into action (The amendment did not go into effect immediately). The changes in education, particularly in higher education, sparked an enormous firestorm.

When it came to creating the chief financial officer position, a key argument began to quickly emerge: Should the CFO have complete sway over the regulation of both the insurance and banking sectors - and invariably the large amount of campaign donations that would come from those seeking influence over such important parts of the state economy? In the past, the two jobs were split between the comptroller and treasurer. The treasurer was in essence the insurance commissioner. This led to a public tug-of-war between Comptroller Bob Milligan and Tom Gallagher, who was treasurer and planned to run for CFO.

It was state legislators, including a powerful Republican from Polk County, Rep. J.D. Alexander that came up with the compromise: The jobs of insurance commissioner and banking commissioner would be picked by the governor and the new shrunken Cabinet. And furthermore, there was this addition: The job of insurance commissioner would require BOTH the governor and CFO to agree on who they wanted for the job. The law also states that both elected officials must also agree to fire someone from the position.

Since this was created in 2002 there's been only person to hold the job of appointed insurance commissioner: McCarty. And he's been an ultimate survivor - thanks in no part to the bifurcated law that Alexander helped draw up. CFO Alex Sink wanted to fire him, but then-Gov. Charlie Crist refused to go along. Then during the storm over Bailey's departure it came out that Scott wanted him gone. But Atwater at the time refused to concur and McCarty remained in place until he submitted his resignation earlier this year.

Alexander himself tried to change the law that allowed McCarty to remain in place, saying he was wrong in how they crafted it. He pushed a bill to require that the commissioner be subject to a confirmation vote every two years. It failed to pass.

Now here we are - in a situation that has really not happened since the law took effect.

McCarty was supposed to resign effective May 2 - but then he offered to stay on until 45 days after a successor is chosen - to ensure that Florida has someone in place during hurricane season that starts June 1. Scott's own general counsel, however, maintained that McCarty couldn't do this because the governor and Cabinet had accepted his resignation and could not alter that date without - t'dah - a vote where both the governor and CFO agree. Not so fast, maintained Atwater's team: All the governor and Cabinet did was set a schedule to appoint a replacement. They never "formally" accepted it.

So how does Alexander view all this and how his creation has fared? Well, you could say he waxed a bit poetic about it all, but it sounds as if he is calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam to assert themselves more. (So far Bondi and Putnam have called on Atwater and Scott work out their differences.)

"The genius of the American system of government isn't just democracy but of divided government,'' he said in a message. "Consequently, I wanted the CFO to have the lead over mgt of financial services and insurance. We were forced by the governor of the day to give more authority to his office. An unfortunate outcome of a four member Cabinet. At this point, hopefully the other Cabinet officers will weigh with a choice and consensus will prevail."

Alexander explained that "the governor in my opinion has plenty of power, the constitution seems to give principle authority to the CFO in these matters." He added that the decision all those years ago to keep the agriculture commissioner on the Cabinet "complicated" matters and required them that the governor be given a supervote on certain decision.

"The answer is to lose or gain one Cabinet member," he added. "In the order to pass a bill the governor required a larger role. It was part of the compromise, which we knew had this potential. My guess is the pressure will build and this will be resolved."

Guess we will know if that's true by mid-day Friday.

Could any of these bills get vetoed by Gov. Rick Scott?

Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday will sign several bills that consist of the "jobs agenda" that he outlined last fall.

And that's when it will start to get interesting.

There have been few surprises so far since the 2012 session ended. Scott signed the "inspirational messages" bill and this latest batch of legislation includes an overhaul of the unemployment compensation system and tax breaks, including another small cut of the state's corporate income tax.

But in the next few weeks Scott will sort out the remaining bills from this year and figure out whether or not he plans to go along with many of the ideas that his GOP colleagues in the Legislature acted on.

Not counting his budget vetoes, Scott last year vetoed 10 bills sent to him by state lawmakers, which is actually on par, or even a little bit below other governors in recent years.

Gov. Charlie Crist - who was at war with lawmakers during his independent bid for U.S. Senate in 2010 - vetoed 17 bills his final year in office (several of which were later overridden) and 18 bills in 2007. Back in 2005 then Gov. Jeb Bush a.k.a. "Veto Corleone" nixed some 36 bills sent to him by the Legislature.

It was Bush who told Scott in an email before he became governor that it was okay to veto "stupid bills."

Here then are some bills to watch Scott on in the next few days and weeks:

HB 5301: Back when Scott was campaigning against Bill McCollum in the GOP primary in 2010 he actually came out against what he called mandates being imposed on local governments. Scott told a group of business leaders in Panama City that he did not support strict limits on spending and taxes for local governments, saying at the time "I believe that what Tallahassee should be doing is dealing with Tallahassee issues." 

But sitting on his desk is a budget conforming bill that contains a contentious provision that withholds money from counties in an effort to collect $325 million in contested past-due Medicaid billings. County governments have argued this is yet another mandate, an argument that should have some resonance with Scott.

This legislation, however, includes several other changes, including a limit on how many times Medicaid will pay for hospital emergency room visits for non-pregnant adults and a provision that would allow the children of state employees to be enrolled in the state's subsidized KidCare program. Scott must act on this bill this week but there are signs that he will let it become law because it is tied to the state budget. (UPDATE: Scott signed the bill, although in a letter the governor tried to assuage counties that the state would "work diligently" to make sure that all the billings are valid and accurate. Counties, meanwhile, sharply criticized the decision as a "body blow" to taxpayers.)

HB 7129: This is the tuition bill for the University of Florida and Florida State University. If it becomes law the legislation would allow these two research universities to raise tuition annually above the existing 15 percent cap that now exists in state law. The logic behind the bill - which was a top priority for House Speaker Dean Cannon - is to give UF and FSU the financial resources to make themselves more nationally competitive. But the bill also clashes with Scott's oft-repeated line that tuition should not go up this year and that universities ought to give him more examples of spending existing money wisely before hiking tuition. (UPDATE: Scott vetoed this legislation saying it would increase the debt burden of students.

SB 1994: The Florida Polytechnic University bill. This is the legislation pushed by Sen. J.D. Alexander that would officially divorce the Lakeland branch campus of the University of South Florida and turn into the state's 12th public university. Scott so far has refused to take a stance on the creation of a new school, but has expressed skepticism about it. The problem for Scott, however, is if vetoes the bill then he wipes out $16 million in funding, including $6 million for the USF College of Pharmacy and $10 million to allow current USF Polytechnic students to complete their degrees at USF. (UPDATE: In a bit of surprise, Scott signed this legislation into law.)

HB 7117: This is an energy bill that was championed by Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. But the legislation - which includes $16 million in renewable energy tax credits - has come under fire by several different groups, including conservative organizations as well as the Florida Renewable Energy Producers Association. Scott during his first two years in office has continued to be skeptical about energy issues, although his main objection has centered around proposals that would raise utility bills in order to pay for renewable energy. (UPDATE: Scott signed this law although he expressed concerned about some of the provisions.)

HB 5011: State Information Technology. For most people outside of Tallahassee, this bill means little. But it's a big deal for the lobbyists and others who make a living off the millions spent by the state on technology. This bill blows up an existing state agency - the Agency for Enterprise Information Technology - and creates a new agency called the Agency for State Technology which reports to the governor and Cabinet. For those who aren't keeping count this would be the third reconfiguration of how the state handles technology issues in the last decade. The legislation also halts and repeals an already begun process to consolidate the state's email service. Rep. Denise Grimsley, the House budget chief, defended the move to get rid of the email consolidation, contending it would wind up costing the state more than anticipated. But it's worth pointing out that Scott himself early on wondered aloud why state government had multiple email accounts as opposed to the way that most businesses handle it. (UPDATE: Scott vetoed the bill.)

HB 945: Broadband Internet Service. This is another bill that not a lot of people kept an eye on. It transfers a federal stimulus-backed program from one state agency to another. But the legislation was pushed into law at the urging of lobbyists who work for a vendor that held a state contract that was not renewed. The Associated Press already reported that the legislative proposal was so closely aligned with the lobbying firm of former Republican Party of Florida chairman Al Cardenas that the Senate bill sponsor referred questions about the bill to a lobbyist working for Cardenas. That same AP story pointed out that the state agency now in control of the program has warned internally that the transfer will require federal approval and could put millions in federal grants in jeopardy. (UPDATE: This bill was signed by the governor.)

HB 937: Legal notices. Just consider this one a bit of a hunch. Scott of course famously shunned newspaper editorial boards during his 2010 campaign for governor. But since that time he has actually taken a keen interest in the news industry, including recent business moves in Florida such as the decision by Halifax Media to acquire papers owned by the New York Times Company. This legislation is aimed at ending a few years of battle over the future of legal notices. The bill requires the online listing of legal notices for no extra charge, but also keeps them in printed newspapers. In previous years legislators had tried to end the use of printed legal notices completely. The final product is supported by the Florida Press Association so it will be interesting to see how the governor responds.

5 biggest questions of 2012 session answered

There's one week to go and most signs (absent some meltdown ala the 2011 session) are that Florida lawmakers will have everything wrapped up by March 9.

Now if legislators fail to approve a bill on auto insurance there remains a possibility that Gov. Rick Scott could call them back into special session to handle that. Scott himself this past week downplayed any talk of special session, but changing personal injury protection auto insurance was on Scott's to-do list heading into session. PIP of course remains one of the most highly lobbied issues of the entire session and there remains the possibility that it could all fall apart in the next few days.

But even with that it is still possible to answer the 5 biggest questions that I had entering into the session:

Will redistricting keep moving smoothly and quickly? For the most part yes. The maps are done and now it's up to the courts to decide what the next move will be. Many observers speculate that the Florida Senate map will be kicked back but even if that happens it will be taken care of during a subsequent special session.

Does the casino bill really have a chance of passing? No, no and no. At the start of the session the mega-casino bill sponsored by Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff and Rep. Eric Fresen consumed a fair amount of oxygen in the legislative process. But while it got through one committee in the Senate it floundered in the House (which is sort of what everyone expected.)

The next question is what happens next.

The casino idea is not going away, but at this point it's a matter of what form it takes next. Right now the buzz is there could be a push for a constitutional amendment in 2014.

Right after the House torpedoed the bill Bogdanoff said she had no desire to sponsor the bill next year. She said she had doubts that the legislation would get much further in 2013 than it did this year. Given that scenario then a constitutional amendment drive makes sense.

What does Dean Cannon really want? I'm not sure we really know. But if you were to guess it might have been the higher education bills including the one that will allow both University of Florida (Cannon's alma mater) and Florida State University to have wide latitude over setting tuition. Cannon in his speech on opening day warned that Florida's higher education system was "racing toward mediocrity" and he charged lawmakers to consider reforms.

The House has responded with the tuition bill - and a second bill - that not only change the finances of college but also change what it takes for college students to graduate. More on that here.

How serious is Gov. Rick Scott's budget veto threat? It must have been very serious. Scott said he wanted a "significant" increase in funding for education and wanted at least $1 billion more to go to public schools. Without too much grousing House and Senate leaders quickly complied with his request. It may not be enough to appease critics who point out that the increase doesn't match last year's cuts.

But Republican legislators have guaranteed that Scott will likely end his second session with a fairly good track record (and give themselves some cover heading into election season).

If lawmakers enact PIP reform then Scott will have gotten just about everything he asked for in his State of the State speech. His main defeat this session was his push to revamp the funding formula for hospitals. That proposal never really gained traction in either the House and Senate.

What issue not on everyone's radar screen now will blow up? Take your pick on this one. The knockdown battle over prison privatization that led to a defeat for a sitting Senate president. The behind-the-scenes skulduggery in the fight to become Senate president two years and four years from now. Or of course Sen. J.D. Alexander's push to create a stand-alone 12th university in Lakeland and his tug-of-war with Tampa Bay legislators over funding for the University of South Florida.

 

 

Scott already headed to a showdown with Legislature?

The final year of Gov. Charlie Crist's term was one that featured a running series of skirmishes between Crist and the GOP-controlled Legislature.

Crist never had a strong show of support among his fellow Republicans to begin with and his populist style of governing consistently rubbed many of them the wrong way. Of course, once Crist switched parties to run as an independent for the U.S. Senate his relationship with the Legislature went from strained to outright hostile.

But at least got Crist got some sort of honeymoon when he first came into office. It seems like an eternity ago but Crist came into office with sky-high approval ratings and lawmakers were eager to work with him. Within days of taking office, the Legislature signed off on a major overhaul of property insurance in an effort to get rate hikes under control.

Now let's look at the situation between Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature.

Scott hasn't even been in office the proverbial "100 days" and his style of governing is already creating friction.

First of all, there was his decision to try to sell his budget proposal by courting the Tea Party movement and not the people who have to pass it. Scott released his budget at a Tea Party rally in Eustis and repeatedly suggested that the current state budget was "bloated" even though Republicans have been in complete control since 1999.

This week's decision to scuttle high-speed rail without giving any advance notice to lawmakers appears to really have infuriated a number of Republicans. Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland and an early backer of Scott, gave him the ultimate knock and suggested that he didn't approach the decision like a "businessman." The Scott administration has done their own pushback by turning to conservative media outlets and looking to their Tea Party allies for support. A majority of the Senate, however, wrote a letter to U.S. officials asking that they give the state time to try to bypass the governor.

And then in a sign that the honeymoon is almost all but over Sen. J.D Alexander wrote a letter this week suggesting that how Scott sold off two state planes ran afoul of state laws regarding budgeting and the disposal of surplus property.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos on Friday sided with Scott on high speed rail against the majority of members in his own chamber, but the question is whether his decision is more about positioning himself in the 2012 U.S. Senate race then it is about siding with Scott.

This quick breakdown is not completely surprising. Here's what I wrote in the Florida Tribune back in December:

Dealing with the Legislature: There have been some comparisons made between Scott and former Gov. Bush. Both were businessmen who had never run for office before and found themselves in the thick of Tallahassee politics and government.

But that may be where the parallels end. Scott will likely get some sort of honeymoon with the GOP-controlled Legislature when he takes office. But it would seem unlikely he will get the same type of compliant Legislature that Bush got. Scott’s partners – Senate President Mike Haridopolos and House Speaker Dean Cannon – had a marriage of convenience after their candidate, Attorney General Bill McCollum, got bounced. But the two leaders have their own agenda – and own political futures – to consider over the next two years. And with a veto-proof majority, they don’t have to play nice.

Plus Bush was elected by a wide margin and enjoyed rock star status from day one.  If you were a Republican legislator, there were clear political reasons to remain loyal. Additionally, Bush’s first term was enhanced by House Speaker John Thrasher, who made it clear that his number one goal was helping the Republican governor succeed.

So the bottom line is this: The 2010 session was fairly unpredictable due to the hostility between the Legislature and Crist.

Yet it seems that the 2011 session could be even more dynamic. In the recent past, a governor usually triangulated against the Legislature by aligning himself with one of the chambers against the other chamber.

Right now, it's not clear that Scott will have that luxury. Cannon has his own agenda - like making changes to the state's judicial branch - but so far he has refrained from warmly embracing priorities of either Scott or the Senate. Haridopolos may support Scott because of his own political aspirations, but it appears that his own GOP senators may be unwilling to join him.

The next few months could be one heck of a ride.

 

 

 

 

Scott's dinner conversation with J.D., Don Gaetz and Andy Gardiner

Gov. Rick Scott - after flying to Eustis to roll out his budget proposal at an event set up by Tea Party leaders - spent dinner with Sen. J.D. Alexander, Sen. Don Gaetz and Senate Majority Leader Andy Gardiner.

Here's the main things that they talked about during the conversation that began in the famed Florida Room of the mansion before it shifted to the State Dining Room.

* Gaetz and the governor talked with the others about the recent decision of Vision Airlines to come to Florida.

* Gaetz expressed his disappointment to Scott regarding some recent Visit Florida ads airing in Palm Beach County. Gaetz told Scott the ads featured Northwest Florida officials. He said he didn't understand the logic of targeting people from Palm Beach County to come north to the beach. Scott seemed surprised by the ads as well.

* Alexander, the Senate budget chief, told Scott that he had had the chance to meet the new Department of Management Services Secretary Jack Miles and that he had the right professional qualifications for the job.

* Alexander also said that he just been taking a first glance at Scott's budget proposal. He was urged to "just pass it." Later in the night that theme would be repeated when one of Scott's top aides would suggest to all three senators that the nation will be watching to see if the Legislature enacts Scott's "fiscally conservative" budget.

* There was some general conversation about Scott's flight to and from Eustis being waylaid because of bad weather. Scott also talked about the crowd that showed for the event. He briefly mentioned that those in the Tea Party - who he said included Democrats and independents - don't want to be "disappointed' by those they have supported. Scott also noted that he has had bigger crowds at Tea Party events than at Republican Party of Florida organized events.

* Gaetz said lawmakers were likely to start looking this year at the operations of the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, which is responsible for providing money to help developers build low-income housing. Alexander said he has begun questioning why the corporation needs any more money right now when there are plenty of empty houses in Florida due to the recession. Scott noted that he did not recommend any additional funding for them.

* Scott and Alexander started talking about property insurance. The governor repeated his vow to make changes this year to Citizens Property Insurance Corp., the state-created carrier of last resort. "Everyone understands we need to fix Citizens this year,'' Scott said.

* During dinner, Scott repeated a line from his budget rollout where he said "we shouldn't have fiefdoms" in state government. This came from a discussion on why on Florida's highways there were separate weigh stations for Department of Transportation and interdiction stations for the Department of Agriculture.

* Scott expressed his amazement that the state does not have a unified e-mail system for all of state government.

* Scott also said he is a "few days" away from naming someone in state government to take control of economic development efforts. This was part of an overall discussion where Alexander asked questions about whether or not Scott has been successful in talking to companies moving here, and what kinds of things he is hearing about those who may, or may not, move to Florida.

Alexander also asked about Scott's proposal to have more control over economic development incentive dollars. Alexander asked if Scott would be opposed to some sort of provision that states that if a certain company promises a large number of jobs then Scott has the authority to use the dollars without additional legislative approval. Scott said he could go along with that concept and said he had no problem with having thresholds in place.

* Gardiner briefly mentioned to Scott concerns about the use of psychotropic drugs on foster children. He relayed how Sen. Ronda Storms cared very much about the issue and that she would be pursuing it again this coming session. Gardiner also said that Storms had already met the new head of the Department of Children and Families and "hugged him.'

* Gardiner also urged the governor to help Florida retain - and even attract - Major League Baseball teams to Florida. Scott, who once was a part owner of the Texas Rangers, said he wants to make sure the state doesn't lose any more teams and that he wants to "put a focus" on many things the state can to help its sports teams and have people come to the state because of the teams.

 

 

Rick Scott's math problems

During his campaign for governor Rick Scott sharply attacked Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink for some of her budget proposals and said that they would be too expensive. Scott then quipped that Sink was practicing "Obama math." That led to Sink's own rejoinder that she didn't know what Obama math was even though she had been a math major at Wake Forest University.

In the next few weeks, Scott, however, will have to show how his math adds up.

Scott must hand over his own budget recommendations to the Florida Legislature by Feb. 4 - or about a month before the 2011 session. The tight time schedule is one of the reasons that many people in Gov. Charlie Crist's budget office were given until next June to resign. Scott's team - led by Donna Arduin, the budget chief for former Gov. Jeb Bush - have already started working furiously on the proposal. Arduin has been given her own office on the 17th floor of the Capitol to help with the effort.

This budget proposal could be the key in determining how successful Scott will be during his first year in office. And it will be interesting to see how Scott will accomplish the budget goals he outlined during his campaign.

Math problem No. 1: Scott says in his "7-7-7" jobs plan that he could save nearly $1.4 billion by requiring employees to start contributing for their own pensions (pg. 12). But as explained in this story in the Herald-Tribune the state of Florida is only paying slightly less than $700 million now on behalf of its employees. The rest of the money flowing into the Florida Retirement System actually comes from counties, school districts, sheriffs and other local governments.

So how does Scott make up the difference? One possible explanation is that he will use employee contributions from school districts - namely teachers - to help pay for the property tax cut he also wants to offer. Scott has proposed slashing school property taxes by 19 percent, but he says he would do it without cutting funding to education. So if you ask teachers to start paying for their own pensions, which would reduce their salary, is that, or is that not, a cut?

When pushed this week to explain how Scott planned to get $1.4 billion in savings, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll said it would be revealed in Scott's budget plan. "Stay tuned,'' she said.

Math problem No. 2: Scott's team has said that the governor-elect plans to aggressively move ahead with his school reform proposals in the coming year. Scott's plan got some attention at the time he announced it, but there was plenty of coverage following his appearance Thursday at a rally of groups who help provide corporate income tax scholarships -  or "vouchers" - to low-income families. Scott again repeated his call for offering every student in Florida the opportunity of going to the school of their choice.

It has been previously noted that Scott wants to cut the corporate income tax while potentially expanding the scholarships, which are funded to a large extent by the tax. There's also legal implications to Scott's plan that may not be solved without a constitutional amendment given past Supreme Court rulings on vouchers.

But on top of that there remains the practical question of how much it would cost to expand vouchers and virtual education beyond current use. (Although it's important to remember that legislators this past year authorized the expansion of the one of the state's main voucher programs.) There will be some argument that you can save money by moving children out of public schools into private ones - but that depends on how much funding is authorized and whether or not the state plans to pick up the complete cost or merely subsidize part of it. Plus, there is the cost of helping pay for students already in private schools or students who are home schooled. The latest figures from the Department of Education show more than 62,000 children are home-schooled and more than 313,000 are in private schools.

Math problem No. 3: The existing budget shortfall - which is not a "deficit" - is now moving ever higher than previously forecast. This week brought news of higher than expected expenditures in Medicaid, lower property tax values for schools (although that dropped the cost of Scott's property tax cut plan slightly) and lower-than-anticipated sales tax collections over the last three months. Combined this pushes the expected budget shortfall to more than $3 billion.

Some of the projected shortfall is due to the loss of federal stimulus funds and continued growth in Medicaid but the shortfall is also dependent on legislative action. Lawmakers can whittle down this shortfall if they decide to forego some expenses such as buying environmentally-sensitive land or refusing to maintain student funding at current levels. Scott has suggested his own ways to deal with the budget shortfall, including cuts in the state prison system and the elimination of 5 percent of the state workforce (which is already the leanest and cheapest in the nation according to a new report from the Department of Management Services.)

Still Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, was cautious when asked this week how he plans to fill the shortfall while at the same time going along with Scott's plan to cut property taxes and corporate income taxes. Alexander said one big place to look for savings will be Medicaid. Legislative leaders and Scott agree on making changes to the health care program, although there remains questions as to whether or not the federal government would sign off on them.

But then Alexander said that while he would like to put money back into Floridians pockets he said it won't be an easy task to balance the budget, saying that lawmakers have already made a lot of cuts the last few years. He also then made sure to say that the campaign is over and now it's time to govern.

"I would hope that all of us take a deep breath and move away from campaign rhetoric and start focusing on how do we make the best decisions possible to move our state forward," Alexander said.

 

 

Crist admits veto process isn't "perfect" but insists he did not target legislators

Gov. Charlie Crist this week defended his decision to veto $371 million from the state's new budget and insisted that he did a "top line" review of budget projects.

“I don’t really pay attention to who the member is and gave specific instructions not to do that for me,’’ Crist told the Florida Tribune.

Crist made this statement even though his own budget staff drew up a 44-page document that listed individual projects in the state's $70 billion budget and which member was associated with it.

Crist also admitted that the budget process isn't "perfect" when being asked about why he vetoed nearly $10 million for Shands at the University of Florida.

Read more about it here.

So who had the best session? J.D.? Atwater? Cannon? Time to vote.

While the main political news is Gov. Charlie Crist's defection from the Republican Party of Florida, the 2010 session of the Florida Legislature is about to come staggering to a close.

Session during election years are usually free of any serious debates but this session was filled with a combination of complicated policy fights over issues like Medicaid and job protections for teachers. Yet lawmakers also spent time entrenched in divisive partisan battles over federal health care reform and whether Congress should be forced to balanced the federal budget.

So who was the most effective legislator this year?

Florida Tribune takes a closer look at a potential list and offers up 10 nominees. This list is by no means exhaustive. But readers can vote for one of the 10 nominees or they can put in another legislator that they believe is most deserving of the title.

J.D.'s clever legislative strategy

Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, has made no secret of his desire to clean house at the Department of Management Services.

But Alexander appears to have used one of the oldest gambits in order to achieve it. And that's ask for a lot more than you really want.

House and Senate budget negotiators on Sunday agreed to shift control of DMS - which oversees some of the most important contracts in state government - away from the governor and over to the governor and Cabinet.

Under this new arrangement Gov. Charlie Crist - and whoever follows him - would be one of just four votes to decide the head of the agency.

Alexander admitted on Sunday that this arrangement "quite frankly was my end game strategy all along."

Earlier this session Alexander was a fervent supporter of a bill that would have dismantled the entire agency and handed parts of it to other agencies.

But Alexander said that the bill went further than he really wanted.

"It's a process and you don't start where you want to wind up,'' said Alexander. "You've got to get there."

Browning wants lawmakers to clear up campaign finance mess

While there is a lot of talk about the veto of SB 6, don't forget about the fallout from Gov. Charlie Crist's other veto this session.

Lawmakers included regulation of 527s, so-called for the section of the IRS code that covers them, in a lengthy elections bill that Crist vetoed earlier this month. The Legislature needed to act because a federal judge last year struck down the state law that covered this groups which also go by the name of "electioneering communications organizations."

Crist vetoed the bill, however, because it allowed for the creation of "leadership funds," or separate fundraising accounts that could be set up by legislative leaders.

Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning is holding out hope that state lawmakers may still enact some type of regulation of these third-party political groups before the session ends on April 30.

And he's got a reason to. That's because Browning's office has yet to issue a formal opinion on how to deal with these 527 organizations heading into this year's election season.

Last August Tallahassee attorney Mark Herron asked that state Division of Elections tell him how election law would work after the federal court ruling.

"The reason we haven't released it is because of the legislative session,'' said Browning.

Herron's 5-page letter asked whether candidates could still coordinate with 527 organizations and whether it is considered a contribution to a candidate's campaign if the 527 organization runs an ad that either attacks or supports a candidate in such a way that it is the "functional equivalent of express advocacy," which is a new definition cited recently in federal court decisions.

This is a big question heading into a wide-open election season with the governor and all three Cabinet posts on the ballot.

But legislators are still stinging from Crist's veto of HB 1207. When asked about 527s earlier this week, Sen. JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales and chairman of the Senate Ethics and Elections committee, said earlier this week he had no plans to take up the issue this session.

“We did that already,’’ said Alexander. “We’re working on budgets. We thought we put a good piece of work together that provided significantly improved transparency and protections."

But Browning said that legislators could still add the 527 provisions to a comprehensive elections bill that is still moving through the Legislature. A Senate panel is scheduled to take up SB 900 on Monday.

Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, has filed a strike-everything amendment that would remove many provisions from the bill, including a provision that would make it clear state election law trumps any local ordinances dealing with elections. Gardiner’s amendment would also remove a part of the bill that would give Browning the authority to authorize voting recounts in some instances. His amendment does not address 527’s at all.

And Gardiner's amendment would also wipe the provision in SB 900 that would have eliminated a requirement in state law that campaign reports include credit card statements. As noted elsewhere, the state Division of Elections has allowed parties to bypass this requirement.