TaxWatch Flushes Out More Turkeys, and a Senator Fires Back

When lawmakers come up with a budget that spends more than Charlie Crist, you better believe there's some fat in it.

Sure enough, Florida TaxWatch has zeroed in on $60 million plump "turkeys" that deserve the ax.

While accounting for less than 0.1 percent of the $70.4 billion state spending plan, the turkeys are troubling because lawmakers backdoor them into the budget without the benefit of committee hearings or normal due process.

In performing its annual public service of flushing out these birds, TaxWatch exposed Sen. Durrell Peaden. Peaden was unabashed in his defense of $8.5 million that was added at the last minute for a pharmacy and rural health program in Crestview, which happens to be his hometown.

Peaden, who was instrumental in bottling up Medicaid reform initiatives that were designed to save money, defended his Crestview turkey and blasted TaxWatch, telling the News Service of Florida:

"This is offensive. We need to do more, and TaxWatch just looks at this from a simplistic point of view."

Gobble, gobble.