Welcome to The Dean's List -- an Ed Dean-style look at who Florida's political achievers were (and weren't) in the last seven days. What you see here is strictly my opinion, not necessarily the editor's or the rest of the staff at Sunshine State News.
THOSE WHO MADE THE LIST
U.S. Sen Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Talking about the current controversy over the Planned Parenthood videos, the Republican presidential hopeful says voters should be as “fired up” about them as they are a trophy hunter illegally killing a lion in Zimbabwe. Rubio has been eclipsed in the presidential race and needs to try to reclaim some momentum. Offering this kind of reminder to social conservatives that he stands with this isn’t a bad start, especially if he wants to make inroads in Iowa.
Eve Samples. This Treasure Coast Newspapers editorial page editor is often dismissed by conservatives for leaning to the left, especially on the environment. But her take on the Port St. Lucie City Council is spot on. She exposes wasteful spending the city has been involved in as it fell into $916 million in debt and is trying to get out of it with an 18 percent tax hike, the largest tax-rate hike in decades. “Thou shalt not spend beyond thy means,” Samples reminded the City Council. A good message for all politicians.
Florida’s economy. A recent survey by the University of Florida shows why Floridians aren’t upbeat about the national economy: Their own personal finances have improved in the past year. While the labor participation rate could be better, Florida's economic growth has been better than the national average over the last several months.
The Clay County School Board. Compared to other counties across the state, Clay County School Board in Northeast Florida gets less money per student and has less to pay teachers. But the School Board isn’t looking at raising taxes. In fact, its latest budget proposal would decrease taxes. Even with the tax cut, the school will still see revenue increase from $69 million to $71 million and be able to increase their reserves next year. Nice to see local politicians understand a healthy economy can help fund education.
THOSE WHO DID NOT MAKE THE LIST
The All Voters Vote Amendment. The “bipartisan” group behind this proposal insists the time has come to end Republican and Democratic primaries in Florida and wants a constitutional amendment to open political parties' primaries to all voters. The proposal would let all registered voters take part in primaries for congressional and state offices regardless of the party affiliation of the voter or candidates. Supporters clam voters outside the major parties are not given a choice in too many elections. But this proposal defeats the purpose of the general elections and allows voters from one party to jump over to vote in another’s primary.
Indian River County Commissioner Bob Solari. While normally seen as a fiscal conservative, Solari has been on the other side when it comes to suing All Aboard Florida (AAF). Solari, a leading critic of AAF, led the charge earlier this year to sue the high-speed rail operation, having the county spend $2.7 million to sue in order to stop its expansion along the Treasure Coast. Indian River County has already spent $720,000 going after AAF and Solari is now saying he is open to spending more. But the train has left the station and it looks increasingly like high-speed rail is a go, no matter the legal obstacles blocking it.
Florida Senate Democratic Leader Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa. Joyner sent former Gov. Jeb Bush a letter demanding he acknowledge his "mistakes" in dealing with black Floridians while he was in Tallahassee. Joyner insisted the most prominent one was Bush’s record on voting disenfranchisement of minority communities, especially his support of HB 1567 in 2005. Joyner claims that bill’s purpose was to diminish minority turnout in areas that increasingly relied on early voting. But in 2002, Bush issued an executive order that kept the polls open two additional hours statewide. In 2004, Bush supported the statewide maximum of 14 days for early voting. But, in several areas, supervisors of elections reported lower-than-normal voter turnout. So in 2005, Bush supported a measure that would limit early voting to eight hours a day on weekdays, giving elections supervisors the flexibility to choose which eight-hour period between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. to use, as long as the time was the same each day, including weekends. Joyner -- failing to acknowledge this and waiting to attack Bush when he ran for president -- shows what is behind her efforts here.
Ed Dean, a senior editor with SSN whose talk-show can be heard on radio stations across Florida, can be reached at ed@sunshinestatenews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @eddeanradio.
