Florida's Constitutional Crisis

Gov. Rick Scott does not care about the constitutional authority given to the Florida legislature. Florida Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander questioned whether Scott had the authority to sell state planes without legislative approval. Bruce R. Jacob, dean emeritus and law professor, at Stetson University told Politifact Scott overstepped his authority as governor.

"What Alexander is complaining about is that, under this section, where the Legislature has appropriated money for the expense of the planes, the governor is required to spend that money," Jacob said. "I am sure the governor from time to time does not spend money that the Legislature has appropriated for a particular purpose, and I doubt that anyone gets upset about it.

"However, the main point, it seems to me, is that if the governor was thinking of doing this, he needed to consult with the leadership of the Legislature," he said. "Common courtesy called for such consultation. The governor and the Legislature have to work together. The governor should not be allowed to 'go it on his own,' so to speak, in a situation such as this."

Jacob also says Alexander has a "point" by claiming that the amount owed on the Cessna should have been appropriated by the Legislature and paid from the state treasury. "Money of the state should not be spent unless it is for an authorized purpose and complete records should be kept so that anyone in the state can see what was spent and for what purpose. In this case it seems to me that the governor short-circuited the process," Jacob said.

Scott overstepped his authority again by killing the Orlando to Tampa high-speed rail project. Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida legislature approved the plan. Scott can not change what has been made into law just because he opposes it. State and the federal governments have three separate branches of government to insure that such power grabs do not happen. Scott's actions dictate a man with utter contempt for the rule of law.

Scott rejected the last ditch proposal to the high-speed rail project. Republican lawmakers are now talking about suing the newly elected governor.

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Rick Scott Rejects High-Speed Rail Money

Gov. Rick Scott has rejected $2.4 billion in federal money for the Orlando to Tampa high-speed rail project.

Scott said he was not sure high-speed rail would bring taxpayers a return on their investment and he felt money would be better spent on state highway and seaport improvements.

The problem is the Obama administration is not going to give the $2.4 billion to Florida for highways and seaports. The federal funds have been allotted for rail projects. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will give the money to another state for a rail project. The $2.4 billion comes from federal money budgeted for rail projects.

Scott gave his explanation for refusing the funds in a poorly planned press conference. As usual, Scott sounded like a talking points robot.

"Government has become addicted to spending beyond its means and we cannot continue this flawed policy," Scott said at a hastily-called press conference this morning.

Scott continued his political tone deaf ways by alienating Republicans. I wonder how many allies Scott is going to have near the end of term.

"I am deeply disappointed in the decision to not move forward with the Orlando to Tampa passenger rail project.

"This is a huge setback for the state of Florida, our transportation, economic development, and important tourism industry.

"I have urged the Governor to reconsider going forward and allow the private sector to assume the risk and any future costs for the project. I made this appeal to the Governor this morning. With the federal government assuming 90% of the cost of the project, I am disappointed the private sector will not have an opportunity to even offer innovative proposals to help finance the balance of the costs and to construct and operate this system.

"I will continue to work with the Governor and all those interested in developing cost-effective 21st century transportation alternatives for Florida and the nation, with systems that can improve quality of life and help meet our future transportation needs."

John Mica, U.S. House Transportation chair

"I am deeply disappointed in the decision to not move forward with the Orlando to Tampa passenger rail project.

"This is a huge setback for the state of Florida, our transportation, economic development, and important tourism industry.

"I have urged the Governor to reconsider going forward and allow the private sector to assume the risk and any future costs for the project. I made this appeal to the Governor this morning. With the federal government assuming 90% of the cost of the project, I am disappointed the private sector will not have an opportunity to even offer innovative proposals to help finance the balance of the costs and to construct and operate this system.

Sen. Jack Latvala

"Making this decision, at this point, on a project that could mean 12,000 to 14,000 jobs is very premature,'' said Latvala, R-St. Petersburg. "I have been consistent in saying we ought to at least let the private companies go to bid and let it play out."

"It's in his court and I'm very disappointed he made this decision without consulting the Legislative branch,'' he said. "I visited with him yesterday and I had no inkling that they were heading in this direction. It shows kind of a lack of understanding and respect for the Legislative process. It's supposed to be a collaborative process -- where the governor and Legislature work together -- and this is not an example of working together."

J.D. Alexander, Senate budget chairman

"The Constitution doesn't allow the governor to not-spend appropriations funds" and there is $300 million appropriated in the budget to put into development of the rail line between Orlando and Tampa, Alexander said.

He said he agrees there is widespread doubt as to whether the project would have succeeded in drawing enough riders. "I think the governor is making the right choice on this rail system,'' he said."I personally would like to have seen the bids come in to see where they really were."

Alexander said that if the legislature puts it in the transportation budget, he expects Scott to veto it and "I don't believe there would be the support to override a veto." The question now is, "where do we go from here" and if the governor wants to cancel it, he will need the approval of the Legislative Budget Commission. "We'll certainly encourage him to pay more attention to the Constitution and budgeting rules," Alexander said.

Sen. Thad Altman

"He's using government to short-change the private sector's opportunity to bid and show case how this can work. Don't use your position as governor to stand in the way of the private sector to show what it can do."

Sen. Paula Dockery

"Florida is a donor state for transportation dollars receiving only 62 cents on every transit dollars and 87 cents on every highway dollar we send to Washington, and this $2.4 billion in federal transportation dollars would have brought Florida in line with other states,'' Dockery said in a statement. "It appears that Secretary LaHood will direct these billions lost by Florida to California where true high speed rail has the next best opportunity to succeed."

Scott based his decision on killing the high-speed rail project on a 2011 Reason Foundation study> All you need to know about the libertarian think tank is that Drew Carey is on the Board of Trustees. David H. Koch is another member of Reason's board and the think tank's main source of revenue. Koch has advocated for abolishing Social Security and the Federal Reserve, minimum-wage laws and federal government agencies. Florida has a governor getting his ideas from a game show host and a business man with radical ideas.

J.D. Alexander Hearts Insurance Companies

Gary Fineout has this tweet informing us who Florida Senator JD Alexander's real constituents are.

First hearing on major insurance bill gets testy. Sen. Alexander goes after insurance consumer advocate, says state has "suppressed" rates

Nothing could be further from the truth. State Farm of Florida stopped selling homeowners insurance when former Gov. Charlie Crist cracked down on homeowners insurance price fixing. In 2009, State Farm attempted to raise homeowner insurance rates by 47.1 percent. Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty rejected State Farm Florida's request. State Farm dropped all homeowner insurance policies and gave their customers 90 days notice. Florida and State Farm of Florida came to the compromise of a 14.8 percent rate increase.

Except State Farm never got out of Florida homeowner insurance business. State Farm of Florida set up the virtual offshore company DaVinci Reinsurance Ltd in Bermuda in 2001. Virtual means DaVinci Reinsurance Ltd has no actual office. The Bermuda adrress is a yacht club. DaVinci Reinsurance Ltd is able to get around Florida regulations by being an offshore company. DaVinci can set whatever price the company wishes. DaVinci underwrites homeowner insurance claims for several Florida insurers.

During the past decade State Farm of Florida 2.6 billion profit. J.D. Alexander's claim that regulators are being too tough on the insurance industry doesn't pass the laugh test.

SunRail Deal Passes

The Florida Senate passed the SunRail bill 27-10. The vote was not as close as expected. Gov. Charlie Crist did some rare lobbying on behalf of the bill. Sen. Bill Nelson and Sen. George Lemieux issued a joint letter expressing their support. A major surprise was Republican lawmakers making a deal with AFL-CIO President Mike Williams to preserve union jobs.

“Our goal of stopping the displacement of federally-qualified railroad workers from Florida’s passenger and freight railroads will not be compromised as experienced rail workers will continue to maintain Florida’s railways,” Williams said.

South Florida's Tri-Rail will get state funding to keep it solvent. 13,000 riders use Tri-Rail daily. The rail is an asset but hasn't been able to make a profit.

My problems with the SunRail proposal is CSX is protected from liability. Florida is buying the track from CSX. So the state does bear responsibility. Sen. Paula Dockery made the best argument for why the CSX deal is one-sided.

"We are paying them," Dockery said, "10 times what their corridor is worth for the honor of owning that corridor. It's now our corridor. So they're introducing freight into our passenger rail corridor. They should be indemnifying us. Not the other way around."

Senate President J.D. Alexander has land near the track that would dramatically increase with the new commutor line. Rep. Baxter Troutman asked made a big stick about Alexander having a conflict of interest. Troutman and Alexander are estranged cousins. So make your own judgement on what that feud is about. If anyone knows, feel free to drop a comment.

Interstate I-4 is a mess. A passanger rail from Tampa to Orlando makes sense. I didn't support the last SunRail deal. Unlike other progressives, I am not 100 percent sold on light rail as a tranportation fix. I understand the green and congestion arguments. The problem is light rail making a profit. Tri-Rail is a perfect example of a light rail program not able to stay financially solvent. The Florida Department of Tranportation is going to have to figure out a way to promote rail to the public.

If I was in the Florida Senate, I would have voted yes. The CSX deal isn't perfect but we need to look into a tranportation future and start dealing with gridlock.

Shiny Happy Governor

Via Kenneth Quinnell: unemployment is rising in Florida. Since people aren't working, Governor Charlie Crist decided to follow their example. Crist took the Friday off when news broke of Florida's unemployment rate reaching 9.4 percent. Crist took two days off the week before.

Meanwhile, the Florida legislature scrapped Crist's budget recommendations. The Governor's office budget projections were deemed outdated.

"We threw that away," Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey said at a recent budget hearing. A strong Crist ally, he said later that lawmakers rarely pay much attention to a governor's budget proposal.

Senate budget chairman J.D. Alexander has pleaded for Crist to use the Governor's office as a "bully pulpit." Crist continues to take days off and say he is optimistic about the budget. Crist refuses to leave the confines of his "Shiny Happy People" world.

“I am more optimistic about getting a budget today. I had good conversations with the speaker and the president today. I am more encouraged we might get gaming and some significant additional revenue out of the [Sen. Dennis] Jones bill, maybe as much as $700 to $1 billion. There are glimmers of hope.”

Crist, quoted yesterday in the Sun Sentinel.

Alexander to Crist: Remove Rose Colored Glasses

This is fun. Florida Senate budget chairman J.D. Alexander hung a sign mocking Gov. Charle Crist's delusional optimism.

``BUDGET CHAIRMAN'S WARNING. Please Remove All Standard Issue E.O.G. [Executive Office of the Governor] Rose Colored Glasses Prior to Entering Suite. Failure to do so May Cause Severe Economic Pain to the People of Florida.''

Alexander admitted he was mocking Crist. The Chairman said the only way to fix the budget was "a mix of cuts and new revenues." That translates into deeper budget cuts, tax and fee increases. Alexander urged Crist to use the "bully pulpit" to get the legislature to deal with reality. Sadly, I don't see that happening. Crist remains in a "Shiny Happy People" world.

CSX Deal Dead

The Florida Senate has scrapped the horrible CSX deal.

Claiming the huge bill loaded with projects for other regions like South Florida was being weighted down by the controversial rail deal, Senate Transportation Chairman Carey Baker, R-Eustis, said he would gut the CSX legal protections and framwork for the deal to buy the 61-mile line.

"It's been a long shot," said Senate Majority Leader Dan Webster. "'It would have been a difficult vote."

Senators had prepared a raft of deal-killing amendments to the bill that had been slated for debate in the chamber today -- making changes like restricting state funding for the deal until federal money was appropriated, stripping the liability protections for CSX or prohibitng hazardous waste from being transported on the rail line.

"All we had to do was lose one amendment and it was going to be dead anyway," Webster said.

Sen. J.D. Alexander is attempting to derail (pun intended) rail funding from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties. Alexander badly wanted the CSX deal to go through. Now he is throwing i hissy fit because he didn't get his way.

The blog Stop CSX in Polk County broke the story that Alexander's was purchasing Phoenix Industries. Alexander owns Altantic Blue. The company bought Phoenix Industries, a frozen food vender that does business with CSX. The transporation bill would have placed CSX's new hub near Alexander's warehouse. One needs a scorecard to track Alexander's conflicts of interest.