Florida's worst kept secret? Try getting to Tallahassee at the last minute during legislative session ... by gimleteye

The best measure of how isolated, insular, and secretive Florida's state capitol has become during legislative session is how costly and difficult it is to get there at the last minute. It has always been hard to fly from anywhere to Tallahassee: the only people who can afford to fly there at the last minute are special interests. The cost of getting to Tallahassee is a high barrier to public involvement in the making of laws: the worst kept secret in Florida.

Here are few examples. Would you like to fly next Monday from Miami, for a last minute appeal on an issue that concerns you? The lowest fare is $818. You can fly to Los Angeles, the same day, non-stop for $637. Next Monday, you could fly back and forth to Washington, DC twice for the cost of flying to Tallahassee and still have enough left over to make a sizable political contribution.

If you want to take the afternoon flight, non-stop from Miami, it will cost you $1133. For nearly the same amount, you could fly non stop to the Amazon. Not the theme park. The Amazon in Brazil. For the same money on the same day, with one stop in Orlando, you could fly from Miami to London, England and have enough to buy two tickets for the Amazon theme park.

OK, what if you can plan better and make a reservation, say, 2 weeks out? It's only $289. Fly from West Palm Beach with two weeks planning: $381. But who can plan, during legislative session? If you have to go to the state capitol on Monday from West Palm Beach, it's only $584. There is no direct flight from Orlando to Tallahassee.

To get to the state capitol from the middle of Florida, you have to fly through Georgia.

Well, OK: yes you can get in the car if you have to, from Miami, and drive to Tallahassee at the last minute-- providing you leave eight hours and don't hit rush hour in Tampa or anywhere else in between. But who does that? For a public hearing in downtown Miami, it's hard to find a few dozen people (unless they're paid lunch money by lobbyists) to take the time to get from West Kendall to County Hall.

Of course, there is nothing to do about this dilemma of having a state capitol that's more difficult to reach, from Miami, than it is to fly to Manaeus, Brazil. But the legislators and the lobbyists all know this.

It's the worst kept secret in Florida: Tallahassee is not "like" a distant planet. It IS a distant planet, only accessible at the last moment during legislative session by lobbyists and special interests with fees and profit at stake.

The public has no clue what goes on in Tallahassee, or, what is happening right now. The lobbyists and the legislators know Tallahassee's isolation serves them very, very well. For special interests, now blaming regulations like growth management for our economic ills, being protected by cost and distance from the public good is exactly the point.