Bogdanoff: "Let Them Eat Cake"

Most Floridians are dealing with tough economic times and tightening their budget, in large part because of the performance of the Republican Party in running the state. The budget is in a crisis, people are being priced out of their homes and cities and things are only going to get worse. How is Ellyn Bogdanoff fighting that problem? $10,000 massages and facials. Really.

From Chris Chiari:

Representative Ellyn Bogdanoff continues to show she lives in a different world than most of her district. Her hosting of the House Majority 2008 Annual Spa Event, in which contributors pay $5000 to $10,000 to get a massage, facial, and have breakfast with her and other house leaders is ironic, especially given the hundreds of thousands of dollars it cost taxpayers to underwrite 4 special sessions.

"I wonder how Ellyn will enjoy her massage, knowing that it comes on the heels of further cuts to our schools and in the face of a slowing economy," stated Chris Chiari, her opponent in the upcoming District 91 election. "It has Nero-like symbolism," he added - referring to the tale of the Roman Emperor who insanely fiddled as Rome burned.

It's this type of elitism and inability to sympathize or help out with the problems of regular people that is going to be the downfall of the Republican Party. It has already happened at the national level. Florida Republicans, you're next.

Hays Hates Democracy

He's sponsored an amendment to kill publicly financed elections in Florida. He agrees with the Jeb! assessment that public financing is "welfare for politicians." I'd buy the two of them a copy of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Constructing Valid Metaphors," but I think it might violate the gift ban. Public financing is a way to even the playing field, remove corporate influence and make elections about ideas and not money. Republicans oppose a system like that because it guarantees they lose. That's why they gutted the Florida system and now want to get rid of it.

But it really wouldn't be a complete Republican boondoggle unless Hays justified it with an ironic and hypocritical excuse. Bingo!:

"Just think how much more good that $11 million could have been used for if it was spent on education or rehabilitating prisoners or helping foster care children," said Hays.

Really? Really? The only reason we aren't giving enough funding for public education, prisoner rehab and helping foster care is because of this drop in the bucket that is going towards increasing democracy? Really? I'm declaring shenanigans. Hays is a liar. The reason these things are more fully funded is because Republicans don't want to more fully fund them. End of story.

Rubio Hates Education

Why else would he continually push for unneeded property tax cuts during bad economic times? The more of his proposals that pass, the less funding is available for education. Naked Politics:

Continuing to bash a property-tax plan he reluctantly voted for, House Speaker Marco Rubio is now urging supporters to back a citizens' petition to cap the total amount of taxes paid by every property owner.

Flores Hates Education

Her ridiculous support for Jeb!'s policies proves it. Why else would she support policies that have made Florida the laughingstock of the educational world. Dropout factories, one of the lowest graduation rates in the country, huge disparities in the quality of instruction and facilities based on race and/or SES, overreliance on a terrible standardized test. Educators and people with common sense look at that record and say we need to fix it. Anitere looks at that record and says, "more please!" Read more at John P's blog.

Traviesa Hates Personal Responsibility, Grammar, Spelling; Loves the "Mel Martinez Rule"

Trey sent this lovely e-mail out:

"Our Community is previaleged to have the CNN YouTube Republican Preseidential Debate this week in down town St. Petersburg. As your State Representative I would be remissed if I didnt formally invite all of you to attend these events.

Wednesday Noverber 28th at 11:00am - FLORA WHYLIE PARK"

When people complained about the, you know, general idiocy of the e-mail, what did Trey do? Did he live up to the Republican "value" of taking personal responsibility? No. He invoked the "Mel Martinez Rule":

When you screw up, blame an anonymous staffer

Very effective approach to avoiding personal responsibility. Well-played, Traviesa, well-played.

The scariest part of the e-mail? It was an invitation to a party for Mitt Romney.

Rubio Hates Economics

The Buzz:

House Speaker Marco Rubio: “These severe economic pressures have a negative impact on real estate-related revenues and also discourage consumer spending. We exercised budget discipline in the recent legislative sessions this year. We are prepared again to take whatever steps are necessary to keep the state budget balanced while providing essential services to the citizens. When Florida citizens are spending less, state government must spend less, as well. We are going to continue work towards solutions for the economic pressures that are squeezing Floridians’ wallets. We are committed to working to make Florida affordable again."

Econ 101. When the economy is stalling, you increase government spending and cut taxes on the lower class and the economy gets moving again. Government spending gets the economy going more because more money flows into the economy, which generates more profits, more taxable income and more revenue. Poor people, when they have extra money, put 100% of it back into the economy and tax cuts for poor people are much cheaper than tax cuts on the wealthy. Cutting one source of government revenue without replacing it somewhere else doesn't help the economy, it hurts it.

Republicans Hate Campaign Finance Laws

At least when those laws get in their way. How do they respond? They ignore the laws (Until they get caught, of course):

Barry Millman, an aide for Rep. Paige V. Kreegel, R-Punta Gorda, resigned Friday after he was caught using his state office and equipment to further Kreegel's re-election campaign.

Anyone really believe Millman acted independently of Kreegel? I doubt it.

We need someone to challenge Kreegel so we can get corruption out of the legislature and the voters of District 72 have a honest legislator.