Recent editorials from Florida newspapers:
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Jan. 9
Tampa Bay Times of St. Petersburg on Gov. Rick Scott’s last State of the State speech and situations surrounding the Florida Legislature:
Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature on Tuesday tried to create a facade of normalcy. The governor’s last State of the State speech was perhaps his best in delivery and focus, and House Speaker Richard Corcoran delivered his usual uncompromising diatribe. Yet there is nothing normal in the state capital, which remains mired in scandal that affects public policy touching every Floridian.
Copying the eye-catching protest against sexual harassment at the Golden Globes, some women in the Capitol wore black. Among the missing were former Sens. Jack Latvala of Clearwater, who resigned amid accusations of sexual harassment of a Senate staffer and former lobbyist, and Jeff Clemens of Lake Worth, who resigned after acknowledging an affair with a lobbyist. Shortly before Tuesday’s speeches, two incumbent senators appeared to acknowledge an affair after an anonymous website accused them of having a relationship and featured grainy surveillance videos from a Tallahassee condominium hallway. It’s no wonder workers’ compensation costs or juvenile justice reform have a tough time competing for attention.
To his credit, Scott delivered a strong denunciation of sexual harassment. He recounted his positive steps toward establishing policies to more effectively address it, from preventive training to clearer rules for reporting abuse. While this governor’s public policies have often been harmful to Florida, there is no questioning his personal behavior.
His renewed push for a constitutional amendment to make it harder for the Legislature to raise taxes is another matter. Scott argued that even during disasters or economic recessions, lawmakers should be required to approve tax increases by a two-thirds vote. The Legislature already ignores its responsibility to raise adequate revenue to meet the needs of the nation’s third-largest state, from education to environmental preservation to social services. Further starving Florida of resources would be irresponsible, and it would be foolish to make it harder to raise money in a crisis.
Scott still appears focused on running for U.S. Senate, and he sounded like a candidate Tuesday. The governor claimed he has demonstrated that a business executive with no political experience can capably run government, although there is a strong argument to the contrary. He took credit for the state’s economic recovery and low unemployment rate, although more than half of the 67 counties have fewer jobs than they did in 2007. He pitched for millions to raise pay for law enforcement and to fight the opioid crisis. He talked of helping Puerto Ricans who moved to Florida after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, and he veered into foreign policy with Venezuela. He did not mention President Donald Trump, although he had lunch with the president days ago.
Yet it’s impossible to pretend it’s business as usual in Tallahassee. After the anonymous website popped up with time lines and surveillance videos, Sens. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, and Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, appeared to confirm an affair by expressing regret and seeking forgiveness. Relationships between consenting adults are generally not public issues, but this is a different situation.
How did this relationship between one of the top Senate Republicans and the Senate Democratic leader affect public policy? How did it figure into Senate Democrats failing to take a caucus position last spring against a terrible constitutional amendment to increase the homestead exemption - enabling Republicans to buy off a handful of Democrats and get the votes to put the amendment on the November ballot? How did it figure into Latvala’s failed bid for the Senate presidency, and the lack of interest among Democrats in creating a coalition with moderate Republicans to back Latvala over the more conservative Sen. Joe Negron? Who paid for the surveillance of Flores and Braynon, and of Latvala on other occasions, and what was their motive?
There should be no tolerance of sexual harassment. But sex has been weaponized in the state capital and it’s unclear who is pulling the trigger.
What is clear is the biggest benefactor is Corcoran, the Land O’Lakes Republican who stands ready to run roughshod again over the dysfunctional Senate. He will continue his crusade against public education, local government and anyone who dares to disagree. He recklessly declared Tuesday that “the Florida House will never support raising taxes on any person or any business - ever.” He talked of the rule of law and the “House of reformers,” and insisted it only takes one legislator to pass a law. Left unsaid: That one would be him.
With Scott headed out the door and the Senate in shreds, Corcoran remains the most powerful politician in Tallahassee. And the most dangerous.
Online: http://www.tampabay.com/
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Jan. 10
The Ledger of Lakeland on more than 100 Florida National Guard troops departing for a yearlong deployment in the Middle East:
Following a ceremony on Sunday garnished with plenty of tears and hugs, flags and signs and comments by Gov. Rick Scott, some 128 Florida National Guard troops from the 3rd Battalion, 116th Field Artillery Regiment departed Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland for a yearlong deployment in the Middle East.
While its exact destination remains confidential, the Plant City-based unit will spend the next year supporting Operation Spartan Shield, which, in Army lingo, is “a combined forces contingency operation” that “plays a role both in deterring regional aggression and reacting to possible threats within the Middle East.” The Army says the troops involved work to facilitate “the free flow of resources through key shipping lanes,” to defend “our homeland against the pervasive and persistent threat of terrorism and extremism” and to prevent “the proliferation of WMD” (weapons of mass destruction).
According to the Army, Operation Spartan Shield involves troops spread across the 20 Middle Eastern nations that comprise the area of responsibility for the U.S. Central Command, headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
Wherever they wind up in that realm, the soldiers will be at risk. On Sunday, the 3rd Battalion’s commanders pointed out that the unit had been training for a year, mostly in Avon Park, for what is the first combat mission for a Florida Guard artillery unit since World War II.
Unless you are a member of the 1 percent of American families - or perhaps more correctly, the one-half of 1 percent - who have a loved one serving in the U.S. military, including the National Guard, it’s easy to forget that our nation remains at war.
Perhaps that’s because we call it by some other name, such as Operation Spartan Shield. But, as evidenced on Sunday, we still put troops regularly in harm’s way in foreign lands to protect our nation.
Just over the past two years, tearful goodbyes, like that held Sunday at Joker Marchant Stadium, have been shared in several other states - North Carolina, Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, California, Pennsylvania, Mississippi, Maryland, South Dakota, to name a few - that have contributed Guard units to Operation Spartan Shield.
It seems like eons ago since we launched what was first known as the Global War on Terror - our country’s mission to hunt down Osama bin Laden and others who plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and bring them to justice, whether that ended in a courtroom or a coffin.
Bin Laden remained on the run until Navy SEALs killed him in 2011. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who claimed to be true mastermind of the attacks, was captured in 2003 and remains imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. Just on Monday, Mohammed was in court complaining that newly implemented groin searches at Gitmo constitute “sexual harassment,” the Miami Herald reported. Last month the Herald also reported that military prosecutors brought war crimes charges against Mohammed and four other 9/11 conspirators housed at Gitmo - all of the other four were captured in 2002 or 2003 - back in 2011, yet they won’t be tried until next year.
It would seem that might be the moment we can claim mission accomplished and stop sending soldiers like those in the 3rd Battalion overseas. But we should not bet on that. We were warned, after all.
“This crusade - this war on terrorism - is going to take a while,” President George W. Bush said five days after 9/11. “And the American people must be patient.” ’’This not a war like the Gulf War where we had a buildup for a few months, four days of combat, and it was over,” Vice President Dick Cheney said that same day. “This is going to be the kind of work that will probably take years because the focus has to be not just on any one individual; the problem here is terrorism.”
And, as we’ve seen too frequently, terrorism remains a problem - here and abroad.
We wish Godspeed for a speedy and safe return for the soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, and prayers of comfort for their families. It appears this “war” won’t end anytime soon, and so we appreciate their service to our community and our nation.
Online: http://www.theledger.com/
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Jan. 9
Orlando Sentinel on its investigation of Florida’s oversight of programs providing state scholarships to students to attend private schools:
It’s been almost three months since an Orlando Sentinel investigation exposed failings in Florida’s oversight of programs that provide state scholarships to students to attend private schools. With Tuesday’s start of the 2018 legislative session, a two-month window for remedial action has opened.
It’s time for leaders in Tallahassee who profess to be committed to accountability in government programs, “world-class education” and fiscal responsibility to put up or shut up.
The three scholarship programs at issue allocate or redirect nearly $1 billion in public funds to almost 2,000 private schools in Florida to educate 140,000 students from low-income families, or with disabilities. But Florida applies precious little scrutiny to those schools to ensure that students and their families are getting the high-quality education they expect and deserve, and that taxpayers’ dollars aren’t being wasted.
The Sentinel investigation, “Schools Without Rules,” spot-checked scholarship schools in Central Florida and uncovered an array of shortcomings and outright abuses. Some schools hired principals and teachers without college degrees. Some schools were run by people who had recently filed for bankruptcy. Some hired staff with criminal records. Some falsified health and safety records.
How could this go on? Blame a policy of willful blindness.
State law doesn’t require scholarship schools to hire teachers with college degrees, or rule out recently bankrupt operators. And while the law does prohibit the schools from hiring staff with criminal records, and falsifying health and safety records, the state Department of Education is legally limited to visiting just 10 randomly chosen schools a year, plus any others where problems are reported. Last year, state regulators visited only 22 - a little more than 1 percent.
State Sen. David Simmons, a member of his chamber’s Education Committee and a former chairman of its subcommittee on education spending, has introduced a bill for this year’s session that would fix some of the problems highlighted in the Sentinel series. It would require private schools that take state scholarships to hire teachers with college degrees. It would rule out schools whose owners have recently declared bankruptcy. It would require state regulators to conduct random visits of at least 5 percent of schools, and inspect any others reporting problems.
Simmons, an Altamonte Springs Republican, is a strong supporter of school-choice programs. But as he told the Sentinel, “it’s better to weed out those that are unqualified as schools or don’t meet the standards that we want.” Doing nothing to crack down on schools that exploit the current regulatory vacuum only discredits the state scholarship programs.
Other states with Republican-led legislatures or GOP governors, or both, don’t hesitate to make sure that students, their families and taxpayers are getting their money’s worth from schools that receive state scholarships. Wisconsin, for example, requires those schools to hire administrators and teachers with college degrees and undergo annual audits. Indiana and Louisiana grade their scholarship schools, and exclude low performers from further eligibility. Arkansas requires the schools to be accredited and to hire teachers who meet minimum degree or certification standards.
While Simmons’ modest measure doesn’t address every problem enabled by official neglect of scholarship schools, it’s a good start. But so far, no House member has filed a companion bill, normally a necessary step toward its provisions becoming law.
In his opening remarks Tuesday to the House, Speaker Richard Corcoran vowed, “Finally, we will continue the fight to ensure that every child in this state - regardless of gender, race, religion or income - has access to a world-class education.” If he’s serious about this goal, the House will join Simmons’ effort to remove the state’s blinders on scholarship schools.
Online: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/
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