Will Weatherford's Won't Move on Medicaid

Like Paul Ryan, Will Weatherford is a Ayn Rand devotee. Weatherford has been against Medicaid expansion in Florida. Miami Herald columnist Fabiola Santiago pointed out the hypocrisy in Weatherford's stance. Weatherford's father said that the family took Medicaid money for a family medical crisis.

According to his father, the family accepted more than $100,000 in Medicaid dollars to pay the bills of Weatherford’s cancer-stricken 13-month-old brother, who died in 1995. Weatherford has said he was too young to remember how the finances were handled, yet he remembers enough to cast doubt on his father’s recollection, and avoid judgment on his position. But he’s catering to the point of view of wealthy supporters and the powerful father-in-law who put him in office, Tallahassee royalty.

Weatherford has refused to consider having Florida accept $51.3 billion in Medicaid funds. Weatherford has vowed that no bill for increased Medicaid dollars will pass through the Florida House of Representatives. There are currently 3.3 million uninsured in Florida.

Rene Garcia, R-Miami, and Rep. Amanda Murphy, D-New Port Richey have filed bills in the House and the Senate for Medicaid expansion. Murphy will need to convince Rep. Richard Corcoran, the chair of two health committees.

"I'll have a conversation with anyone, anytime, any place about public policy," Corcoran, R-Trinity, said today. But he would not commit to allowing Murphy's proposal to be heard in his committees.

Republicans have campaigned against Obamacare. They fear getting ripped by the tea party if they vote for Medicaid expansion. Far right conservative polotics is getting in the way of good policy. Floridians are still getting taxed for Medicaid. Regardless of whether or not they receive the benefits.

Gaetz & Weatherford Claim Lobbying Money Has No Influence On Them

Florida Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford laughably tell Adam Smith that campaign contributions have no influence on them.

According to Follow the Money, Gaetz has received $18,736 from lawyers and lobbyists. Weatherford received a whooping $56,625 from lawyers and lobbyists. Do you really believe lobbyists are going to give money to Gaetz and Weatherford and then not expect any favors in return? That doesn't pass the laugh test.

Movement on In-State Tuition Rates

Florida state Sen. Jack Latvala is proposing in-state tuition rates for the children of illegal immigrants.

"These children are the children of taxpayers in Florida, who pay our sales tax, who pay our gas tax," Latvala said at a news conference Wednesday at St. Petersburg College's Clearwater campus. "I just think this is a disparity, a discriminatory issue that needs to go away."

State Rep. Ed Hooper appeared with Latvala at a press conference at St. Petersburg College. Hooper voiced approval for Latvala Senate bill. Rep. Jeanette Nuñez is working on a companion bill in the House. House Speaker Will Weatherford has indicated that Nuñez's bill will get a floor vote. The problem appears to be Senate President Don Gaetz doesn't support Latvala's proposed bill.

"I don't know how I explain to them that … we will subsidize families who didn't play by the rules," Gaetz said.

Without Gaetz children of illegal immigrants will not get in-state student rates. These children are being punished for their parents' citizenship status. This policy hampers the economic opportunities for young people that have been in America most or all their lives. These young people identify themselves as Americans. Yet they are denied the education to achieve the American dream.

Will Weatherford Still Against Medicaid Expansion

Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford wrote an error-filled op-ed against the expansion of Medicaid. I was struck by this paragraph.

According to the chairman of the U.S. House Budget Committee, “The fastest thing that’s going to go when we’re cutting spending in Washington is a 100-or 90-percent match rate for Medicaid. There’s no way.”

That would never pass in the Senate. President Barack Obama would never sign cuts that deep into law. The Medicaid expansion is part of the Affordable Care Act. Obama is not letting Republicans touch his signature piece of legislation. Obama wants to make cuts into Medicare but that is a separate issue. Paul Ryan threatened to cut the matching funds. Nothing happened. The matching funds are part of the ACA. The matching funds are laws.

Ryan's threat to cut matching funds didn't carry much weight. Republican governors are slowly coming around to accepting Medicaid expansion. These governors don't want to explain to voters why they denied health care when they run for election.

Special Session on Stand Your Ground Doubtful

Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford tweets that there will be on special session to review the "Stand Your Ground" law.

We will not have a special session to repeal #StandYourGround. ReTweet if you support self-defense.

The Florida Republican establishment is going to keep blocking efforts to review "Stand Your Ground." Their hope is interest in changing the SYG will fade from the news cycle. Unfortunately, their strategy might work.

Weatherford Calls For Hearing on Stand Your Ground

Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford has asked the Criminal Justice Committee to hold a hearing on the "Stand Your Ground" law.

However, he said, it’s appropriate for the Legislature to answer questions including: ” Does the law keep the innocent safer? Is it being applied fairly? Are there ways we can make this law clearer and more understandable?”

Weatherford will not call a special session on "Stand Your Ground." I don't expect this hearing to produce any results that would lead to the repeal on SYG.I think Weatherford's call for a hearing is more a response to the political pressure applied by the Dream Defenders.

Stephen Ross Hearts Rick Scott

Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is mad at House Speaker Will Weatherford for not having a floor vote on the tax subsidy for a new stadium. Ross released this statement.

Tonight, Speaker Weatherford did far more than just deny the people of Miami Dade the right to vote on an issue critical to the future of our local economy. The Speaker singlehandedly put the future of Super Bowls and other big events at risk for Miami Dade and for all of Florida. He put politics before the people and the 4,000 jobs this project would have created for Miami Dade,and that is just wrong.

I am deeply disappointed by the Speaker's decision. He gave me and many others his word that this legislation would go to the floor of the House for a vote, where I know, and he knows, we had the votes to win by a margin as large as we did in the Senate. It’s hard to understand why he would stop an election already in process and disenfranchise the 40,000 people who have already voted. I can only assume he felt it was in his political interest to do so. Time will tell if that is the case, but I am certain this decision will follow Speaker Weatherford for many years to come

I seriously doubt not having a floor vote will hurt Weatherford. A poll by Dario Moreno found that 73 percent of likely Miami-Dade County voters did not support a tax subsidy for a new stadium. The lack of public support is why Weatherford didn't have a floor vote. Ross has decided to turn to a man that loves using tax dollars for corporate profits. Yes, I am talking about Gov. Rick Scott.

The political action committee will support Republican Gov. Rick Scott's reelection next year and play a "nonpartisan" effort in other Florida races, according to Politico. The governor all but endorsed the Dolphins' proposal.

Ross, a billionaire real-estate developer, is a longtime GOP fundraiser. But he was incensed at some in his own party who blocked the stadium legislation during this year's session, chief among them House Speaker Will Weatherford. The legislation was required to allow Miami-Dade to ask voters whether public money should be spent on the stadium upgrades.

Never mind that taxpayers will pay for the new stadium and that the Miami Dolphins will reap all the profits. Never mind that studies, such as by Andrew Zimbalist and Roger G. Noll, do not provide jobs are huge financial benefits for the communities they are in.

In our forthcoming Brookings book, Sports, Jobs, and Taxes, we and 15 collaborators examine the local economic development argument from all angles: case studies of the effect of specific facilities, as well as comparisons among cities and even neighborhoods that have and have not sunk hundreds of millions of dollars into sports development. In every case, the conclusions are the same. A new sports facility has an extremely small (perhaps even negative) effect on overall economic activity and employment. No recent facility appears to have earned anything approaching a reasonable return on investment. No recent facility has been self-financing in terms of its impact on net tax revenues. Regardless of whether the unit of analysis is a local neighborhood, a city, or an entire metropolitan area, the economic benefits of sports facilities are de minimus.

State representatives Jose Felix Diaz, Carlos Trujillo and Michael Bileca by Florida Jobs First. This is a PAC created by Ross. There would be jobs created in construction of a new stadium. The long-term benefit is mostly part-time employers selling hot dogs and cleaning the stadium. Ross is overstating the economic benefits of a new stadium.

Will Weatherford: Ayn Rand Devotee

Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford is a rising star in Republican circles. This should scare anyone that cares about policy. Weatherford revealed himself as someone who gets his economic ideology from Ayn Rand.

Weatherford said parts of Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged,” about a government that grows so large that job creators and innovators pack up and move elsewhere, is starting to become a reality.

“We’re not that far away from that in this country, in my opinion, but what we can do as states is create pockets of freedom all over the United States,” he said.

Rand is the author of The Virtue of Selfishness. Rand argued that looking out for one's self-interest was more important than helping the greater good of others. Rand spent her life fighting against people getting Social Security and Medicare. After all, that didn't further Rand's selfish self-interests. The fact that Rand received government benefits furthered her needs.

Rand's writing was a bunch of metaphysical mumbo jumbo that would make L. Ron Hubbard cringe. An example of Rand's prose from Atlas Shrugged.

“An axiom is a statement that identifies the base of knowledge and of any further statement pertaining to that knowledge, a statement necessarily contained in all others, whether any particular speaker chooses to identify it or not.”

Socrates Rand is not.

Understanding Weatherford's devotion to Rand explains why he would not allow Florida to expand Medicaid. It does not further Weatherford's self-interests. The fact that Weatherford has health care through his service in the Florida House just proves he is following Rand's example.

Heritage Deal Hurting Rick Scott

The Republican Party of Florida is playing defense on the deal Citizens Property Insurance Corp. made with Heritage Property and Casualty Insurance Co. Heritage is set to make $52 million from taking 60,000 policies from Citizens. Many people feel that Heritage attaining the policies is quid pro quo from Gov. Rick Scott. Heritage has donated $110,000 to Scott's re-election campaign.Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano noted Heritage is an insurance company with a dubious track record.

It had to be Heritage's long and distinguished record of service (Nine months and counting!) and the president's intimate familiarity with insurance regulators (Numerous complaints and fines at two previous companies!) that made Heritage more desirable than any other outfit.

The Republican Party of Florida have been playing defense on the Heritage deal. However, even Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford isn't going to defend this Turkey.

"I have serious concerns about the latest takeout agreement between Citizens and the Heritage Property and Casualty Insurance Company, particularly the lengthy backdated payments for coverage that Heritage did not provide," Weatherford said in a statment. "Once again, Citizens did not provide a sufficient advanced briefing to the Legislature, and the proposal was hastily pushed through a sharply divided board."

Scott can't help himself. His crony capitalist side rules his dark heart.

Florida House Republicans Supports Government Health Care For Themselves

Republicans in the Florida House of Representatives voted against accepting federal money to provide health insurance for one million poor Floridians. Since Republicans are the majority in the House a million Floridians will not receive health care. That didn't stop House Republicans to keeping their state government health care at $30 a month. Members of the House pay one-sixth of what other state employees pay for health insurance. Rep. Richard Corcoran provided a laughable explanation.

"I think the entire state health care system is broken, and what we tried to do is try to fix it," Corcoran said, noting that conservatives have called his proposal a national model. "When you do that, everybody is going to be treated equally and fairly."

In Corcoran worldview, the health care system is broken. His remedy is cheap health care for himself and denying Medcaid to a million Floridians. That is taking a broken sytem and smashing it with a hammer.

House Speaker Will Weatherford claims that he will eventually get around to addressing the discrepancy between what House members and other state employees pay.

In a statement Monday, Weatherford said: "We are aware of the differences in what House members pay compared to other state employees for health insurance and are looking forward to addressing it next session."

Weatherford fails to address why this wasn't addressed during the session. The Florida Senate was wise enough to increase to payments for state health insurance.

Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, insisted on the change, saying it wasn't fair for senators to pay less than low-level state workers. Senators now pay $50 a month for health insurance, or $180 a month for their families.

"I think the public expects the state Senate to be treated the same as our fellow co-workers in state government and not be given preferential status," Negron said Monday.

There is no excuse. Weatherford led the charge to fight the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Yet he wants to keep low cost health insurance for the House of Representatives. This is pure hypocrisy.

Florida Senate Launches Obamacare Website

I disagree with Florida Senate President Don Gaetz on many things. Gaetz does deserve credit for acting like a serious person. Gaetz has pushed for ethics reform. Gaetz now has had the Florida Senate launch a website on the Affordable Care Act. From the press release.

“In the coming months, members of the public, health care providers, representatives from Florida’s insurance industry, and countless other stakeholders will provide valuable feedback as members of the PPACA select committee discuss, evaluate and debate Florida’s policy options under one of the most complex and far-reaching federal laws in the history of our nation,” said President Don Gaetz in a news release. “The new portion of the Senate website was created to serve as a centralized location for interested parties to watch meetings, read bills and share their viewpoints with the committee.”

I would prefer Gaetz start-up a state exchange. However, a transparent process with the Senate seeking council is not a bad place to start. Gaetz is on-record as not being a fan of ACA. I'm glad he put his personal feelings aside.

The Senate website on the possible implementation of ACA is at www.flsenate.gov/topics/ppaca.

New Tone In Tallahassee

Florida Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford are wisely steered away from inflammatory rhetoric against their Democratic colleagues. After the defeats suffered by Republicans around the country it is smart politics for Gaetz and Weatherford not to sound like Allen West or Joe Walsh. Both men are stressing bipartisanship. However Weatherford himself pointed out that he will still push for conservative legislation.

There is a glimmer of hope from Gaetz and Weatherford.

Along with Gaetz, Weatherford wants to eliminate fundraising committees used by lawmakers. Weatherford said they aren’t transparent.

It’s unclear how exactly Weatherford could enhance transparency, but his shift has nevertheless impressed League of Women Voters of Florida president Deirdre Macnab.

The fundraising committees have been used to help get certain members enough influence to gain leadership positions in the Florida legislature. Gaetz and Weatherford will be term-limited out and don't have to worry about gaining leadership posts. They are free to eliminate the fundraising committees. Lobbyists are granted access and no transparency. Not that it matters, both Florida political parties host galas for lobbyist to come and hand checks to them.

There is no guarantee that Gaetz and Weatherford will follow through. That will be up to activists. This Franklin D. Roosevelt quote to Sidney Hillman sums up what activists must do.

ROOSEVELT: "I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it."