I'm discouraged by this. Was Castor really worried about pressure the cigar lobby was mounting against the cigaratte tax? She doesn't have a formible opponent. (Tim Fasano is a gift. Katherine Harris could beat him.) If so, that was a major miscalculation on her part. This makes her look bad nationally.
I'm disappointed by Castor's vote. She stood up to the stupidity on the Hillsborough County Commission. She got her House seat for standing up to Ronda Storms. Not by backing down to special interests. If that was to way to get elected to Congress than Tom Scott would wouldn't be on the Tampa City Council.
Progressives, contact Castor's office and make her change her vote. This veto must be overridden.
Update: Kenneth Quinnell disagrees with my assessment of Castor's vote. He links to a Buzz post. It essentially states Castor was uncomfortable with the cigar tax.
That included provisions to cut bureaucratic barriers to enrolling kids in the program, something Castor had insisted on. She said the Senate version also relied too heavily on cigar taxes for funding. The bill would have set policy for five years. If the president vetoes it as promised, and the House is unable to override it, then Congress will have a chance at crafting a better bill later, she said.
I stand by my post.
They're all in it together. Storms and Castor showboating each other to the top.
ReplyDeleteI could tell you stories but ... well, right now I'm involved in some mental chess with these folks so have to keep some things close.
That cigar industry thing ... my take on that is that MANY of the really old tampa cigar names are GONE. Part of the plan. So, that wasn't all the big it was smoked up to be. It was all a behind-the-scenes coup to make a name, I think.
I haven't looked at schip real close. Frankly, I'm taking the word of others that it's a good program. On the surface it looks good but sometimes you pull back a few layers and we end up with florida medicaid. The kid might as well NOT HAVE insurance. They spend all their money on mailers, cards, promos and salaries.
I just got email today from kennedy about his schip. I wish I had time to look at it. Matters not, I'll call her office, anyway.
It's better than NOTHING, I guess, at worst. At best, it's a good program.
Nice work comrades, you got what you wanted. March lockstep onward!
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