Yesterday Florida Gov. Rick Scott summarily fired the head of Enterprise Florida. Today, he called for a new state Department of Commerce. His group of Twi'tes (a contraction of Twitter and acolytes), including the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries, praised the Governor. "The fact that Gov. Scott will be so engaged in this new agency, to the point where it will be elevated to 'Plaza Level' status, is more than encouraging,'' AIF jackass-in-chief President Barney Bishop said in a statement. The Titanic also had a plaza level.
Here is the nonsense about this idea. Former Gov. Jeb! was the state's top economic officer, just as Gov. Scott is advertising to be, now. Jeb! invested considerable energy in recruiting major new employers during his two terms. To the extent Jeb! was successful, it depended on pushing poorly qualified taxpayers into homes they couldn't afford. The main effort that Jeb! staked his claim to economic development? Scripps in wetlands west of Palm Beach.
The Scripps project would have killed several birds with one stone, and that's why Jeb! liked it so much: hi-tech jobs in green fields, making nearby property owners (ie. Big Sugar and rock miners richer), while putting the whip to environmentalists. In the case of Scripps, the environmentalists won. Yes, Scripps came to Florida but it was not in the wetlands where the land speculators had made their bets.
Now I believe this is exactly what Gov. Twitter has in mind when he is quoted, "People want to do business in Florida. We need to make that easier.'' That is going to happen by decapitating environmental rules and regulations, like state land use planning. The long knives are out. It's what keeps jackass-in-chief Barney Bishop motivated. Jeb! never thought he could get away with it, even though he fired the state's top wetlands regulator, Herb Zebuth, at the time. State and federal environmental laws prevented Scripps from being the economic engine where he wanted it. But now we have an economic crisis of unparalleled proportions, and the villains in Florida will certainly not let it go to waste, pushing the rest of the Tea Party Twi'ites away from the lifeboats meant to save the first class passengers on the plaza level. (click, 'read more')
STATE OF FLORIDA
Scott proposes rebirth of commerce department
Gov. Rick Scott wants to create a state Department of Commerce -- which was abolished in 1996 -- to help bring business to Florida.
BY MICHAEL PELTIER
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA
TALLAHASSEE -- Saying the state must streamline or perish, Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday told business leaders he wants to resurrect a Department of Commerce under his control that would coordinate economic development efforts from an office ``two doors down'' from his own.
Speaking to board members at Enterprise Florida's annual meeting, Scott told the group that businesses now face a labyrinth of agencies when they consider relocating to the state, duplicity of effort that Scott says is costing jobs and has to stop.
``When you don't have one person looking over everything, it makes it more difficult to get things done,'' Scott told reporters after his appearance before the board. ``I'll have a hard time holding somebody accountable for this if I don't have a person responsible for it.''
The department was abolished in 1996 at the behest of then-Gov. Lawton Chiles.
Scott envisions a department run by a secretary appointed by the governor who would be responsible for taking the lead and coordinating efforts from Enterprise Florida, the Agency for Workforce Development and the Office of Tourism Trade and Economic Development (OTTED).
Scott's proposal brought immediate kudos by the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida, which said they were encouraged by Scott's aggressive assertions that his office would be responsible for coordinating efforts to get companies to do business in Florida.
``What I heard from the governor is that he is going to say is `I -- Rick Scott -- I'm responsible for job creation and I'm going to bring this into my office. . .so that everyone knows who to call for job creation,' '' said Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
Business leaders have long complained Florida is losing business to other states because of the state's cumbersome permitting process and a redundancy of effort between competing agencies.
``The fact that Gov. Scott will be so engaged in this new agency, to the point where it will be elevated to `Plaza Level' status, is more than encouraging,'' AIF President Barney Bishop said in a statement. ``It's the promise of a new day when Floridians aren't looking for work, but actually getting to work. ``
Lawmakers in 1996 abolished the Department of Commerce, which critics argued had become a political chit that had become ineffective in enticing business into the state. The department's functions were divided up among a group of other agencies including OTTED, Enterprise Florida and more recently other groups including Space Florida.
Jeb Bush, before he was governor, was secretary of the agency under former Gov. Bob Martinez.
Scott said he envisions a commerce department that would have control over economic development funding, including tax incentives and rebates now appropriated by the Legislature. He said details of his proposal would accompany the release of his budget request on Feb. 7.
``I've been calling companies since the second of November,'' Scott said. ``People want to do business in Florida. We need to make that easier.''
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/28/2038469/scott-proposes-rebirth-of-commerce.html#ixzz1CKga84FH
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Published on The Weekly Standard (http://www.weeklystandard.com)
Marco Rubio Picks a Chief of Staff: Cesar Conda
Stephen F. Hayes
January 28, 2011 12:15 AM
The old Washington axiom that congressional staffers are often more powerful than their bosses will not apply to Marco Rubio and those who work for him. But, as the tremendous number of resumes submitted to his office suggests, Rubio’s staff will be important. And in a move that brings an end to what has been the source of growing speculation on Capitol Hill, Rubio has hired Cesar Conda as his chief of staff.
Conda is a well-known and highly regarded policy wonk, with experience in the executive branch as well as on Capitol Hill. He worked closely with Rubio during the fall campaign, advising the candidate on policy and serving as a key player on Rubio’s debate prep team. After the election, Conda helped run the transition, a job that included putting together the staff he will now lead.
Conda served as the top domestic policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney during the first two years of the Bush administration. In that capacity, he played a critical behind-the-scenes role in conceiving the Bush tax cuts and Bush economic policy more broadly. When Cheney engaged in a quiet debate with his old friend Fed chairman Alan Greenspan about whether bigger deficits lead to growing interest rates, he tasked Conda to prepare his response to a study Greenspan sent.
Before joining the Bush administration, Conda worked on Capitol Hill for Senator Spence Abraham from Michigan (when Abraham was a freshman) and Senator Bob Kasten from Wisconsin. In the private sector, he worked as an analyst for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and, more recently, was a co-founder of “Navigators,” a public affairs firm.
Conda is one of four senior Rubio staffers who worked on or otherwise advised Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign. (The others are: Sally Canfield, Rubio’s legislative director; Joe Pounder, communications director; Alex Burgos, press secretary.)
Yesterday, Rubio was assigned to the Senate Commerce, Small Business, Foreign Relations and Intelligence Committees.
OK, how's this for a name: Twicky Wik
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