Crazy Jim Greer Quote of the Day

Aren't we currently in a budget crisis? Greer doesn't seem to know about it:

"When it comes time to get out and speak around the state, it's important that we have the ability to travel there and that we accomplish as much as we can in any given day... You will see that the party is much more engaged in traveling the state..."

They've spent more than $1 million in private charter jet flights in the last year. Greer wants you to think that these expenses are necessary, but the Sarasota Herald Tribune found otherwise, discovering that they lodged "high-flying expenses from last year with tens of thousands of dollars in ritzy New York hotels, thousands of dollars in limousine services and thousands of dollars more in regular air service."

This is while they are seeking to cut healthcare for more than 40,000 low-income senior, disabled and seriously ill Floridians. And it flies in the face of the rhetoric the members of Greer's party regularly spout off...

Charlie Crist: "We're asking local governments to tighten their belts, too. We are tightening ours. We can do no less... I feel for our students and I feel for their families... They are paying higher insurance rates. They are paying higher property taxes. They are paying higher gas prices."

Durell Peaden on the healthcare cuts: "If we don't get to print money, we're going to have to do with what we've got."

Charlie Crist: "If a family with two young boys can tighten their belts to live within their means certainly our cities and counties can also."

Alan Hays: "We cannot ask our state and local governments to tighten their belts if we continue to support frivolous spending."

Mike Haridopolos: "Experience also proves that government in Florida does not have a revenue problem -- it has a spending problem."

Apparently, it's the Republicans who have a spending problem and have pretty serious problems with hypocrisy. I wonder if any of them will call in their votes to cut healthcare for poor people while riding in a limo or if Crist will sign the bill flying in his a chartered jet?

Crazy Republican Quote of the Day

From the Buzz:

"There's a big difference between cuts and reductions...We're not cutting anything. We have to balance the budget. We're doing what the people of Florida expect us to do ... This is not the United States Congress. We cannot spend in a deficit. We have to live within our means."

-- Ray Sansom (R-Obfuscation)

While there is a difference between eliminating and cutting a program, there isn't any difference between cutting and reducing a program. These are synonyms. Really. By any standard or definition. Except in crazy Republican world.

Besides, most of this rationale is a straw man argument. Nobody said that you didn't have to balance the budget. And, of course, there are two ways to live within your means -- cut spending and increase revenue. Republicans appear to be allergic to the latter, regardless of the circumstances. That's fiscal irresponsibility. I'm one of those people of Florida Sansom speaks of, and what I expect the legislature to do is maintain services (or even improve them) while keeping taxes at a reasonable level. I'll wager I'm in the majorit on this particular expectation.

Silly Republican Arguments

The Republican leadership of the House opposes using Florida's reserve budget funds to avoid cuts to education that would harm our already devastated education system, saying that such proposals amount to "legislative malpractice." This ignores a lot of things, such as the fact that Charlie Crist supports using the reserves, that the economy is in a bad place (largely due to past Republican legislative malpractice) and the very fact that this is why we have reserves, to help us avoid cutting necessary programs (such as education) in bad economic times. Besides, anyone with a basic understanding of economics, or just basic common sense, knows that education is the most important investment we can make to guarantee long-term economic stability in the state.

Crazy Republican Quote of the Day

"Last year, you led the way on property tax reform, because you understood then, as you do now, that we needed to do something meaningful and comprehensive to help Florida prepare for an impending economic downturn." -- Speaker Marco Rubio to the Florida House, 3/4/08

"Last year, our state failed to confront and solve the economic problems before us in a meaningful way. And now, we are facing the consequences." -- Speaker Marco Rubio to the Florida House, 3/4/07, less than a minute later

The Best News I've Heard All Day -- Sasso Wins!

Brevard came through -- Tony Sasso has taken the seat formerly held by Bob Allen. Another win for our side. Now I will say that Sasso is a bit too conservative for me on some issues, notably guns, but he's still and improvement over Allen or his potential Republican Replacement Sean Campbell. Of course my desk chair might've been a better legislator than Allen or Campbell, but that's a different blog post. The goal as progressives is more Democrats, then better Democrats. This is a step in the right direction.

And for those that continually bash Karen Thurman and the state party, this is more evidence that you're wrong in at least some of that criticism. The goal of the FDP chair is to help more Democrats win seats in the legislature and Congress. This is the ninth seat Democrats have picked up in the House in the last two years. The biggest two-year gain by Democrats in the history of the state of Florida. That's success by any definition. This is also the second special election win in two years after many years of losing every special election. Again, that's success.

This might not be the end of Campbell, though, as he was already filed for the 2008 election before the special election came up. Will he keep on campaigning?

Campbell Hates Taxes, Honesty...Republicans?

House District 32 Special Election Candidate Sean Campbell has been going on and on about his "top priority" -- property taxes. And he warns that his opponent, Tony Sasso, will raise taxes if elected. This ignores, of course, the fact that Sasso actually voted repeatedly to cut taxes as Cocoa Beach City Commissioner. While Sasso did vote to increase tax revenue, what this really means is that he voted to support real estate improvements and new growth, things that generate additional tax revenue while maintaining or even cutting tax rates.

So, while Campbell is dishonest in going after Sasso, he is on target in attacking people who say they favor lower taxes but actually vote to increase taxes. It's good to see that he's takign on the Republicans in the legislature, who love to talk about cutting taxes, but actually have done quite a bit to increase them. Like last year when they required local governments to increase their share of education funding -- something they could only do by raising taxes.

But lets not just talk about this in generalities, lets get some numbers, using the Republican way of looking at this, tax "revenue" increases:
*Will Weatherford (R-Land O' Lakes) - Voted to increase property tax revenues more than $550 million
*Dean Cannon (R-Winter Park) - Voted to increase annual property tax revenues more than $1.5 billion, for a total of nearly $3 billion
*Ray Sansom (R-Gulf Breeze) - Voted to increase annual property tax revenues by $2.7 billion for a total of nearly $7 billion
*Marco Rubio (R-Miami) - Voted to increase annual property tax revenues by $3.8 billion for a total of more than $40 billion
*Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) - Voted to increase tax revenues so many times that its hard to keep track, but the total is certainly more than Rubio's

This is the problem with so much of the Republican rhetoric, they create dishonest standards by which to judge their opponents, and don't apply these same standards to themselves.

Campbell Hates the Law, Loves Hypocrisy

Sean Campbell isn't a member of the Florida House, but he wants to be. He's so willing to be a member of the House in the upcoming special election for Florida House District 32 that he's willing to break the law. He's following in the fine tradition of the former holder of the seat, Bob Allen, who left the seat after being convicted of soliciting an undercover male police officer for sex in a public restaurant. No, Campbell hasn't gone that far, but he has, it appears, broken the law:

He recently sent a mailer out to Republican voters and gave them free postage to mail in their vote by mail ballots. Sounds pretty nice of Campbell, right? It is. Except for the part about it being illegal.

The state election code reads, in part, "no person shall directly or indirectly give or promise anything of value to another intending thereby to buy that person's or another's vote" [FS 104.061 (2)]. Postage isn't a lot, but it certainly is something of value promised to the voters if they mail in their ballots. Campbell is paying for votes.

The irony of Campbell breaking the election law is that he accused his primary opponent of the same thing just a few weeks ago. Typical Republican adherence to the law -- it's okay for me, but not for you.

Charlie Crist apparently approved of the illegal mailout, since a letter from him came with it.

This is not the kind of person I want moving up here to join me in Tallahahssee. Please keep him. Send me Tony Sasso instead. You can contribute to his campaign here.