The two Democratic leaders in the Florida Legislature came out swinging on Wednesday, looking to clobber Gov. Rick Scott and the GOP leadership in Tallahassee.
Speaking at the annual AP Florida Legislative Planning Session in Tallahassee, state Senate Democratic Leader Arthenia Joyner of Tampa and House Democratic Leader Mark Pafford of West Palm Beach took aim at Republicans as the Legislature gets ready for a special session, its third of the year, this time on Florida Senate redistricting.
Coming out to “Respect” by Aretha Franklin, Joyner offered her take on where things stood after the Senate and the House, both in GOP control, proved at loggerheads on a number of issues earlier this year including redistricting and Medicaid expansion.
“Democrats had a great session last time,” Joyner said. “I look forward to more of the same.”
With Democrats controlling 14 of the 40 seats in the Senate, Joyner offered her take on her party’s role in the chamber. “It’s not always about passing good bills,” she said, insisting her caucus would also help “kill bad bills.”
As the Legislature gets ready to handle redistricting next week, Joyner shows that the repeated efforts to draw up new maps shows the ineffectiveness of the GOP majority.
“It seems more like a house of cards than just another day in Tallahassee,” Joyner said. “In Tallahassee, this is what’s expected.”
Joyner slammed the House for not agreeing with the Senate on passing Medicaid expansion earlier in the year. She also took aim at Scott for having the state investigate Planned Parenthood in recent weeks, trashing troubling videos about the organization which have garnered national attention as “absurd, right-wing allegations about Planned Parenthood.”
“Of course they found nothing,” Joyner said about Scott’s efforts.
Joyner ripped the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and rumors that Scott is looking at running for the U.S. Senate in 2018.
“Why should we reward him with higher office” Joyner asked about Scott. “What fantasy world is he living in?”
Joyner called for Medicaid expansion, more funding of public schools and less testing while hitting the GOP for backing “corporate welfare” instead of focusing on small businesses. Backing a higher minimum wage, Joyner called on Scott to follow the examples of Democratic legislators by trying to live on the current minimum wage for a week.
In the afternoon, Pafford also fired away at the Republicans, noting the Legislature will meet for 25 weeks instead of its normal schedule due to all the special sessions. Pafford weighed in on ethics, applauding the plans of incoming House Speaker Richard Corcoran, R-Trinity, to pass reforms and backing a proposal to end fundraising during committee weeks. The House Democratic leader described the process as “corrosive” while the government was not helping the people of Florida.
Pafford also wanted to extend the current set of term limits. “Let’s look at extending term limits past eight years,” Pafford said. “When you’re decent at this job, you’re gone.”
Turning to education, Pafford turned up the heat on the Republicans, praising parents who decided to opt out of testing and calling for more local control.
“We are seeing a catastrophe happen in this state,” Pafford insisted. “We are not putting in place the public education that Florida demands.”
Noting the tensions between the two chambers, Pafford said it was a “Bizzaro type atmosphere” as House Democrats worked better with Senate Republicans than the House leadership and ripping “extremists” leading the GOP.
“Right now the Republicans are unraveling and fighting the people of Florida,” Pafford said noting the upcoming special session was needed due to problems earlier in the year.
Noting that he had witnessed a school shooting in high school, Pafford joined Joyner in opposing open carry. The House Democratic leader called open carry an “outrageous idea.”
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
