MSNBC panned Alex Sink as the "worst candidate of 2010". What can I say, having spotted that dubious distinction from a mile away and still supported her. Ouch. Here is what I wrote last January, "Is Alex Sink running the worst campaign since... Bill McBride?": "Sink needs to take some time to re-tool, if she hopes for a different outcome." (McBride, her husband, ran a horrendous campaign for governor in 2002.) And I still supported her. And him. This year I learned a lesson in political grammar: stunk before sunk, except in the case of Sink.
As for the upcoming coronation, Governor- elect Rick Scott has garnered nearly $3 million in corporate donations for the Tallahassee event of the year, including the state's lackluster business group, the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Worst "public interest group": Citizens for Lower Taxes and a Stronger Economy. The group, whose director is all-things-pro-development Ryan Houck, has migrated from shilling for speculators to banging on drums for blood: that citizen's efforts to sue local governments on bad growth management amendments are illegal and that people behind such efforts should be publicly flogged in the town square or megamall food court; one in the same in most parts of suburban Florida, that bastion of Houck's supporters.
For best public servant of the year, I annoint the Florida Department of Community Affairs secretary, Tom Pelham. Pelham served under Charlie Crist, but earlier in his career, under GOP governor Bob Martinez, he had been the official charged with implementing Florida's growth management act. Balancing Florida's growth with environmental protection used to be a bipartisan goal, shared by officials who had seen enough of wetlands plowed under and crystal streams wrecked by terrible, sprawling development. Oh well, with all that. In thirty years, we haven't learned anything. The same interests who made Pelham's second go-around miserable now are bitching and moaning that cleaning up Florida's dirty waters is too expensive. Florida: that state that can't afford to be clean is the take-away. Bennett, Haridopolous et al. won't have Tom Pelham to kick around any more.
When Governor-elect Scott asked agency chiefs to rescind their resignations and to stick around another four months, Pelham retorted: "I wouldn't work one day with Rick Scott." Pelham, one of the most level-headed leaders in state government, can be forgiven for not wanting to stay around to see growth management, already chopped into pieces, being diced into yet smaller pieces. During the campaign, Scott regularly took up the cudgel against DCA, aligning himself with state legislators who are either developers themselves, like state senator Mike Bennett, or magnetized by special interests. Scott has shown neither interest nor any understanding of growth management in Florida. One supposes his position is that all Floridians should live in gated communities with golf courses and tee times where legislators can jump the line.
Today the shape of Florida's communities are in the hands of the county dictators, insulated in permanent incumbencies. When Governor Scott gets applause for putting Floridians back to work at some indefinite time in the future-- the section cheering the loudest will be the interests who killed off the Florida DCA.
7 comments:
Pelham will certainly be missed. I cannot imagine who wil emerge to take his place; Steve Shiver?, Barretto? Sergio? The possibilities are unlimited.
I don't expect any comom sense from Rick Scott. His knowledge of Florida is limited to a few years in "build it" Collier County. I wonder if he as ever seen a spring, hiked the Glades or taken a bird walk. My guess is no. We are in for a terrible 4 years.
I am so disappointed in Sink; Her campaign was too little, too late.
pelham's ideas about growth were good, very good. however he made enemies everywhere he went, specifically he irritated legislators and staff. now if you are going to be a dept head you have to get your points across in a constructive way, not a condescending way. talk about rubbing the cat backward.
Very scary. If St Joe corp cronies get to shape the future of Florida, we are doomed.
Idiot Florida voters put Scott in the Governor's mansion in a race when "None of the Above" made perfect sense. I expect an environmental apocalypse. Scott is the head horseman, Death.
Something tells me Scott is going to be tripped up by scandal.
Rick Scott: Moron, Stupid or Scumbag? From Herald:
Scott advisors doubt need for public hospitals
Advisors to Governor-elect Rick Scott are questioning the need for the state's public hospitals -- a group that includes Jackson Health System and the North and South Broward hospital districts.
In a report dated Saturday, the group chaired by Alan Levine, former head of Broward Health, stated it is ``unclear whether government should be in the business of operating a competitive enterprise using tax dollars as a subsidy without a thorough review of whether this model is the most beneficial and cost-effective way to use the tax revenue.''
The report to Scott, who was once head of the largest for-profit hospital chain in America, notes that some governments, such as Palm Beach County, give tax dollars to non-governmental hospitals to provide safety-net care for the poor and uninsured.
The panel should study whether tax dollars could be saved if there were no government hospitals and government funding went to other hospitals, the report recommended. The panel could also explore whether fair market value could be achieved if the public hospitals were sold and how that money should be spent.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/22/v-print/1984864/scott-advisors-doubt-need-for.html#ixzz18sB1qmgL
To the last anon: How can you possible defend the government run Jackson Hospital system? It is a complete mess and a cesspool of corruption. I am sure that Palm Beach County, which gives tax dollars to non-governmental, not-for-profit hospitals to provide safety-net care for the poor and uninsured, does not have the corruption and mismanagement of their health-care dollars that we have in Miami-Dade.
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