Paula Dockery on RPOF Nan Rich Campaign

Former state Sen. Paula Dockery appeared on Florida This Week. (The most boring political talk show in Florida.) Dockery wondered why the Republican Party of Florida was so focused on the fact that Rich wasn't allowed to speak at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner.

"It looks like they're scared of Charlie Crist," Dockery said on the weekly public affairs program Florida This Week on WEDU-Channel 3 in Tampa. "They want to pump up Nan Rich, who was not getting much traction on her own ... I think it just sends the message that they're worried about Charlie Crist and it was kind of a dumb thing."

Dockery added this comment.

Puzzled by a Republican effort in support of a little-known Democratic candidate, Dockery said she fired off an email to party headquarters in Tallahassee, asking: "Who's your audience on this?"

To my surprise, a post I wrote about how the Florida Democratic Party poorly handled the Rich controversy appeared on the Republican Party of Florida blog.

Is the Republican Party of Florida scared of Charlie Crist? They should be. Crist has superior skills on the stump. Scott's polling numbers are horrible. I am certainly not an expert on the RPoF's motivations. I doubt that they believe that Rich will be the Democratic nominee. It will be Crist or Bill Nelson. Assuming that Nelson enters the race.

JD Alexander's Legacy

JD Alexander used his position as Florida Senate budget chairman to help his private businesses and enact revenge on the University of South Florida. Alexander's past legislative moves are still costing the Florida taxpayers.

Alexander attempted to move the USF College of Pharmacy to Lakeland. When that failed, Alexander cut 58 percent of the USF budget. Alexander then successfully made USF's Polytechnic school an independent university. The new school would not be accredited, students or a campus. Former State Sen. Paula Dockery summed it up best.

"So there's $10 million for USF students, then $22 million for Polytech, which right now doesn't have any students," Dockery said.

Alexander didn't care about these problems. A new university would forward plans for road construction for Alexander's plans to build a residential community. A nearby university would also increase Alexander's property values. This is nothing more than crony capitalism. TBO.com reports that the taypayers will have to pay for Alexander's real estate ambitions.

As the Tribune's Jerome Stockfisch reports, Florida Polytechnic University's trustees are asking for an additional $25 million this year, though it has about $109 million to get the university running by 2014. Most of that money was left by USF.

But now the trustees of the unaccredited school with no students say they need more for infrastructure, including landscaping, roads and furniture.

If this university does get off the ground; who wants to attend a school that offers a worthless degree?

The Atlantic Blue School of Polytechnic

"So there's $10 million for the USF students, then $22 million for Polytech, which right now doesn't have any students," Dockery said.

Sen. Paula Dockery's remark summed up the insanity of making a USF Polytechnic an independent university. The Florida House voted 86-31 to make Polytechnic independent. The Senate, where JD Alexander rules, as Budget Committee chair, voted 36-4. With the exception of the House and Senate members that voted against a bill that sole purpose was to increase the property values of Alexander's family-owned company Atlantic Blue. Alexander needs the university to justify the state building a toll road near his ranch.

The proposed 110-mile road stretches through the ranches, farms and swamps of inland Florida, from Collier County to I-4. In real estate, that's a good thing. Land prices typically skyrocket for property adjacent to newly built transportation facilities.

Nearly all of Blue Head Ranch, a massive piece of property controlled by one of Alexander's companies, lies directly in the path of the proposed roadway. The company, Atlantic Blue, plans 30,000 residential units and 11 million square feet of nonresidential development on 7,500 acres of the ranch, according to its website.

Why SB 2036 Isn't Fiscally Conservative

Senate Bill 2036 would rewrite state law so no data would be collected to see if private prisons save the state of Florida money.

An act relating to the outsourcing or privatization of agency functions; amending s. F.S. 216.023, F.S.; providing that certain information relating to the outsourcing or privatization of an agency function that is expressly required by law is not required to be included in the agency's legislative budget request until after the contract for such functions is executed; amending s. 287.057, F.S.; providing that procurements for outsourcing or privatizing agency functions that are expressly required by law are exempt from the requirement that they are evaluated for cost-effectiveness, and efficiency; amending s. 944.105, F.S.; providing that certain requirements that apply to the Department of Corrections' contract do not apply to contracts for outsourcing or privatizating the operation or maintenance of correctional facilities which are expressly required by law; providing an effective date.

If the bill becomes law, the state would not be allowed to evalulate the performance of private prison contractors. Contractors could not be legally mandated to provide reports detailing prision health or safety issues.

Another issue that proves that that Republicans are not fiscally conservative. The state would have no idea if they are saving money under private prisons. Which is exactly why Senate President Mike Haridopolos is trying to fast track this bill. Haridopolos and other Republicans know for-profit prisons will cost the state more. The rush is because private prison companies have given $400,000 to Florida Republicans during the last election cycle.

Last session, Dr. Michael Hallett sent a letter to Sen. Mike Fasano warning him about giving private prisons too much power.

"It renders the state subject to captivity once the contract is awarded, by giving one corporation so much power and control over such a significant segment of the state budget," he said. "You can't turn this around on a moments notice."

Fasano is the chairman of the Criminal and Civil Appropiations subcommittee. All legislation on the state suppose to go through Fasano's subcommittee. Haridopolos decided to have SB 2036 go through the rules committee. The bill is so bad that no senator will take credit for being its author.

Haridopolos and other Republicans create red tape that makes it hard to collect unemployment or children to be enrolled in Kidcare. They do this under the claim that they are fiscal conservatives. Yet, these same Republicans are writing legislation intended to forbid them from finding out if there are cost overruns with private prisons. When a politician says he or she is a fiscal conservative, what that poll really means is he or she corporatist who doesn't give a shit about the taxpayers' money.

Update: Via Twitter: Sen Paula Dockery informed me that the sponsers of SB 2036 are John Thrasher, Don Gaetz, and J.D. Alexander.

The Gainesville Sun has come out strongly against SB 2036.

Senate Bill 2036 is an invitation to corruption. If lawmakers are arrogant enough to pass it, Rick Scott should veto it It stinks.

Scott is leading to push to privatize prisons. Scott has no intention of vetoing SB 2036.

The Tax Shift is Back

Florida satae Sen. Paula Dockery pressed Sen. Stephen Wise on how the teacher Merit Pay plan was going to be paid for. Wise stumbled and eventually admitted that the Florida legislature wasn't going to budget a penny for merit pay.

Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, pressed Wise on where the money would come from, and if the $700 million the state is receiving as part of federal stimulus money and part of the Race to the Top program would leave the state's education funding in the lurch after the federal money dries up.

"We need to be accountable to taxpayers. How far will the $700 million go?" Dockery asked.

Wise said that state statutes already require school districts to create their own year-end tests, and that money for the creation of new tests and for raises included in the bill would come from state's traditional funding mechanism for local school districts, the Florida Education Finance Program (FEFP).

What Wise did with his bill is what I have called in the past a tax shift. Here is what I wrote about how former Gov. Jeb Bush forced local communities to raise property taxes to make up for the state's education cuts.

Wayne Garcia has noted that Floridians are displeased with higher taxes (see here and here.) Voters have reason to be. What Garcia fails to mention is this is a tax shift. By that, I mean local communities are forced to make up the money they would have gotten from the state. In 2005, Florida adjusted spending to $6,492 a year for each student. That was $1,200 less than the national average.

Jeb Bush has refused to adjust taxes to properly deal with growth and inflation. This had more to do with electability than ideology. Bush saw his father not get re-elected by breaking his "no new taxes" pledge. Sure Jeb has a distain for teachers' unions and public education. He's not honest enough to admit it. He knows he would have never done a second term. His vouchers program is so unpopular that only 700 students paticipate. He believes in the FCAT so much that he refused to have private schools tested. Bush has also manipulated graduation rates (see here and here.)

The Palm Beach Post also noted this in an op-ed.

In other words, school districts that already face budget cuts for next year - about $53 million, in Palm Beach County's case - will have to find money for a program they didn't want. If the districts don't find the money, the Legislature will blame them for failing to support good teachers, blocking education reform and undermining Florida's economic future. Or worse.

It's typical Tallahassee, which supports public education right up the point of paying for it.

Republicans in the Florida legislature force counties to raise property taxes and then tell voters what fiscal conservatives they are. It is disgusting.

A Possible Endorsement for Jon Huntsman

Peter Schorsch tweeted that Jon Huntsman may soon get a Florida endorsement. Nancy Watkins believes the endorsement will come from Paula Dockery. There are thing things I admire about Dockery. The fact that a progressive such as myself has supported Dockery's previous positions means that Dockery's endorsement won't do much to help Huntsman with the tea party for the Florida GOP establishment.

Horrible SunRail Project Approved

Florida state Sen. Paula Dockery comes out against Gov. Rick Scott's decision to move SunRail forward.

“This morning, Governor Scott had his Secretary of Transportation announce that he will betray the trust of the conservative electorate who put him in office by moving forward with the least cost-efficient commuter rail project in the nation. This decision has completed the governor’s transformation from businessman to political insider. When the SunRail/CSX commuter project is viewed from a purely business vantage point, the project falls so far below what a savvy business owner would accept that it is somewhat baffling. It is unclear if when making the decision the governor had a change of heart, if he simply succumbed to the desires of the big money special interests, or if he has a severe case of amnesia and thought that he was supposed to be representing CSX instead of Florida’s taxpayers. Governor Scott’s general counsel, a former CSX executive, admitted to giving blatantly false financial facts regarding High Speed Rail in front of the Florida Supreme Court. For that reason, it is overwhelmingly disappointing but not altogether surprising that the facts about SunRail, a sacred cow of special interests, would be ignored and the decision would be based upon arguments put forward by highly paid public relations consultants, using Floridians tax dollars. The facts are as follows: nationwide, this is the lowest rated project for cost-effectiveness by the federal government, low ridership estimates, excessive liability is transferred from a for-profit corporation onto all Florida citizens, and it is a blank check waiting to be written by the taxpayers for any and all cost-overruns and operating subsidies. While ‘warnings’ were given to the local governments during Tuesday’s dog and pony show, this fact remains: the agreement between the federal government and the State of Florida clearly places the financial responsibility for all but $300 million of a $2.6 billion project squarely on the backs of Florida taxpayers.”

Dockery is correct. SunRail is rated the least cost effective rail project. I wrote that I had problem with the fact that Florida pays CSX for the tracks. CSX is also off the hook for any liability, if CSX is responsible for faulty upkeep of the tracks.

I noted the Sen. J.D. Alexander pushed for SunRail because he stood to financially gain.

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.

Below is a cost comparison between SunRail and high speed rail. The maximum cost of the federally funded high speed rail project for Florida would be $280 million. The maximum cost of the SunRail project would cost Florida taxpayers $901 million. The counties that would have been involved with the high speed rail project would have zero tax obligation. Volusia, Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties would have to pay $526 million. Scott's idea of fiscal conservatism is turning down federal money and making Floridians pay for a rail project few people wanted.

23,000 would have been created from the high speed rail project. Only 8,000 jobs would have been created from SunRail. There are no private investors involved with SunRail. The high speed rail project has secured $400 million. Scott hates President Obama so much that he took the better deal. It also puts the rest the bogus claim that Scott has a brilliant business mind. No smart business man would take SunRail over the high speed rail project. It makes no fiscal sense.

High Speed Rail v. SunRail

Update: A very big reason SunRail was approved by Scott. Florida Chamber of Commerce President Mark Wilson approves of the project.

“SunRail is a smart infrastructure investment. This is another example of Gov. Scott and the legislature putting Florida’s long-term goals ahead of the short-term interests of a few.”

Scott gives a reason for approving SunRail that I don't buy.

Scott said his lawyers told him there was a “significant risk” he would have lost a similar court challenge had he tried to block the commuter project.

Scott's Florida Supreme Court victory set a (very bad) legal precedent. Scott was given legal authority to ignore legislation approved by his predecessor Charlie Crist. Scott claims that the legal ramifications of high speed rail and SunRail are totally different. Scott fails to cite how that is so. I call bullshit on Scott's legal claim.

Rick Scott's Education Flip Flop

Gov. Rick Scott proposed Draconian to education. Now Scott is saying that the Florida legislature could restore those cuts in a special session. Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon and Sen. Mike Fasano say when did Scott start caring about education? It is bad when Republican elected official are saying the a Republican Governor doesn't care about education.

Cannon

“What is more surprising is the Governor’s sudden emphasis on K-12 education. The budget we sent him funds education at a higher level than the Governor recommended just a few months ago, when he proposed a 10% cut to the FEFP. The Governor communicated numerous priorities during session, and we did our best to accommodate him. It would have been helpful if the Governor had shared this new found emphasis with us before the budget was finalized.

“It is the Governor’s constitutional authority to veto line items in the budget, and I respect his decisions. The vetoes of general revenue appropriations will further increase the more than $2 billion the Legislature set aside in our state’s reserves, which will help protect our bond rating and ensure that we have ample reserves in the event of an emergency.”

Fasano calls Scott's bluff.

"When did Governor Scott all of a sudden care about our teachers? It's a bit disingenuous when he says we should have put more money into helping our teachers when the budget he presented to the Florida Legislature in January cut education almost twice as much than what the legislature finally passed. I guess he read his poll numbers yesterday. If he truly wants the Florida Legislature to take the vetoed dollars and put them in to our educational system he should immediate call the Legislators back for a special session so we can avoid teacher layoffs."

Boy, I wonder if Fasano likes Scott. What do you think, dear reader.

Don't hold your breath for Scott calling a special session. Scott is just posturing and very badly at that.

Update: The Republican budget criticism continues. Sen. Paula Dockery takes Scott to task on Twitter for vetoing St. Johns River restoration.

can it get worse for FL env?“@bruceritchie: Gov Scott vetoes $305M for land buying (if land is sold) and $10M for St Johns River restoration

Republican Power Play On OPPAGA

The Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA) serves the Florida legislature the same way the Congressional Budget Office does Congress. The OPPAGA provide unbias, nonpartisan analysis of legislation. Unsurprisingly, Republicans in the legislature want to eliminate funding for the OPPAGA.

One little-discussed budget approved by lawmakers was what could amount to the elimination of funding for OPPAGA, the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, reports the News Service of Florida. Lawmakers eliminated direct spending on the auditing and review agency and put its budget into a discretionary account controlled by legislative leadership.

Translation: if the OPPAGA doesn't provide analysis slanted in favor of the wishes of the Senate President and House Speaker then kiss funding goodbye. This is a power grab. This also shows the lack of faith Republicans have in their own policy ideas. If Dean Cannon and Mike Haridopolos really believed that their ideas would create jobs, boost the economy and not have a negative impact they would be more than willing to vet legislation through the OPPAGA. They aren't so never take them seriously when they say they believe their ideas are better. Haridopolos and Cannon have forever lost credibility that they believe conservative ideas are superior. They are the intellectual equivalent of someone who says he can kick ass and then backs of of a fight.

Bless Paula Dockery for stating the obvious.

“It is unfortunate that the Legislature can’t have/fund a truly independent auditing entity that can be honest without fear of political retribution,” Dockery told the Sentinel. “While Oppaga has done some good in-depth analysis, it became clear that due to the political climate, the response to brutal honesty was pink slips.”

Side note: why does a Republican have to say this. Is there a single Democrat in Tallahassee that knows how to engage the media?

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.

Paula Dockery Drops Out

State Sen. Paul Dockery (R) announces she is dropping out of the governor's race. Dockery tells supporters she could not raise the money to running an effective campaign. I thank Dockery for voting against SB 6. It certainly didn't help her with the Florida GOP establishment and the Tea Party.

Ray Sansom's Blackwater Deal

In 2008, former Florida House Speaker Ray Sansom inserted an amendment that would privatize five state prisons. The contracts would go to Blackwater. The company is now known as Xe Services LLC. Blackwater best known for the controversial killing of 17 Iraqi civilians. Judge Ricardo M. Urbina dropped the charges against the accused Blackwater guards.

Florida Sen. Paula Dockery is opposed to the Blackwater contract. The town of Sneads's economy depends of the state jobs provided by the prison. Dockery issued a press release.

Senator Paula Dockery (R-Lakeland), is strongly opposed to the lengthy proviso language that was quietly inserted into the Senate’s proposed budget during last week’s Ways & Means Committee hearing. “The proposal to close unnamed existing correctional facilities resulting in the layoffs of over 1,000 state corrections officers to move inmates to private facilities is a policy decision that deserves to be vetted through a completely transparent process. As chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, I find it outrageous that major change in how we run our state correctional facilities was not reviewed by committees that were created for this explicit purpose,” said Senator Dockery. “Transparency cannot exist when there has been no opportunity for debate or testimony.”

A hush contract given to Blackwater. Maybe this is what Ray Sansom meant by saying he was a man of values. Those same values allowed Sansom to use the Republican Party of Florida credit card to buy expensive meals and tuxedo rentals. Sansom's strong values allowed him to never repay the RPoF for his lavish spending.

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.