Opinion

 Rubio's dubious expenses demonstrate attitude of entitlement

ST. PETERSBURG -- Why should a powerful state legislator use political contributions to shop at the neighborhood wine shop, visit a tony Miami barbershop and repair the family minivan? That is the question former House Speaker Marco Rubio should be answering rather than whining about how his profligate spending became public. The Republican U.S. Senate candidate's defense of his use of a political party credit card for private expenses reflects a sense of entitlement that is all too pervasive among elected officials in Tallahassee.

It is becoming increasingly clear why the Republican Party of Florida is still resisting calls even from within its own ranks to release statements for the American Express credit cards it distributed to its top leaders until last year. While state law requires the statements to be part of a political party's quarterly finance reports, an indefensible 2005 ruling by state elections officials enables the parties to shield them.

Rubio's statements between 2005 and 2008, first reported by the St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald, are the latest documents to reflect a culture in which top Republicans mixed personal and political spending with little regard for whether the expense was truly election related, as required by tax law.

Records show Rubio directly paid American Express about $13,900 over the 25 months he held a card — out of more than $100,000 in expenses. Rubio said he made sure he paid for any personal expenses. But the balance that was covered by the party includes $2,976 to rent a car in Miami for five weeks and $3,000 to a Tallahassee property management group.

Other dubious expenses paid by the party: $765 to Apple's online store for "computer supplies," $68.33 to a wine store just a mile from Rubio's home, and $412 to a Miami music equipment store. The party also paid $1,000 to a Miami garage, which Rubio said was to cover half his car insurance deductible after his minivan was damaged at a political event.

Rubio did not explain why he used a party credit card for personal expenses when his 2008 financial disclosure shows he earned $414,000. He instead complained that the credit card statements became public. But how they became public is not the issue. The real issue is that all statements for credit cards handed out by the state Republican Party should have been public all along. Perhaps then Rubio would have acted more responsibly.

Money contributed to the state Republican Party for the purpose of influencing elections bolstered the personal lifestyle of an elected official holding one of Florida's most powerful offices. That is not the purpose of political contributions. New Republican Party chairman John Thrasher, a state senator from St. Augustine, needs to release all of the credit card statements if the party is to move forward. The Internal Revenue Service also should be knocking on the party's door to see the books.

St. Petersburg Times/editorial

Opinion

Winning The 'Race To The Top'

By  Charlie Crist  and Eric J. Smith

TALLAHASSEE -- This year presents each of us new opportunities to build a better tomorrow for families, communities and our state. One such opportunity is the “Race to the Top,” where states compete for billions of federal education dollars. Florida’s past education reform efforts have positioned us to succeed in this competition and further increase student achievement, teacher effectiveness and the talent pool of our graduates and workforce.

 Victory in this competition could mean hundreds of millions of dollars for Florida’s students and teachers, without the burden of increased taxes. We simply cannot turn our backs on an opportunity with goals so closely aligned with Florida’s own long-range goals.

“Race to the Top” has the power to positively impact our state and every single Floridian if we are successful. Florida’s 2.6 million students, parents, and grandparents will reap the benefits of a better education system. Teachers and administrators will experience a reinvigorated teaching profession that supports and rewards its most effective educators. Business owners will tap into an even more talented workforce that will yield new business opportunities to continue diversifying our economy. Most importantly, every community will see the lasting benefits of putting the success of children first.

The Sunshine State is no stranger to bold education reform and the academic successes that can follow. During the past decade, our progress stands as a shining example for our nation, thanks to the work of former Governor Jeb Bush. For example, Florida’s fourth graders have risen from the bottom third of the nation in 1998 to the top third today, based on reading scores at or above “Basic” on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment. In NAEP math, our fourth-graders moved from the bottom quarter of the nation in 1996 to the top third. Equally encouraging, our state FCAT results show the percentage of students in grades three through 10 reading and performing math at or above grade level has risen 14 and 17 percentage points, respectively, since 2001. 

 But we cannot, must not, stop there.  “Race to the Top” has the potential to transform the teaching profession and produce measurable results for every student. For example, we will be able to improve mechanisms for teachers and school districts to share with each other their expertise and models of success. We will also be able to strengthen the teaching profession through better training, support systems and professional development while drawing effective teachers to schools with greatest needs and providing incentives to continue their outstanding work.

We will also be able to do a better job of gauging student progress and learning and increase our efforts to help struggling students and lower-performing schools succeed. By updating curriculum and learning assessments, we will equip students to compete internationally in emerging high-tech careers such as biotechnology, green technology and space and aviation. We can continue the success we have seen through our reading coaches and also introduce additional measures in other critical subjects, such as science, technology, engineering and math. All of these efforts will incorporate strategies for increasing involvement of parents and community partners.  Together, we can ensure high quality education for all students.

Florida is competing in the “Race to the Top” because it will strengthen our education system and enhance the talent of our highly skilled workforce. Our economic future and quality of life depend on this race.  As we focus on our state’s economic recovery, we cannot turn our backs on the ability of this “Race to the Top” to build a prosperous future for Florida’s students, parents, and teachers.

Charlie Crist is governor of Florida and Dr. Eric J. Smith is Florida Education Commissioner

Opinion

Look Ahead With Stoicism—and Optimism

Look ahead with stoicism and optimism/Wall St. Journal/Peggy Noonan

Time's Person Of The Year 2009

Ben Bernanke

By MICHAEL GRUNWALD

 

A bald man with a gray beard and tired eyes is sitting in his oversize Washington office, talking about the economy. He doesn't have a commanding presence. He isn't a mesmerizing speaker. He has none of the look-at-me swagger or listen-to-me charisma so common among men with oversize Washington offices. His arguments aren't partisan or ideological; they're methodical, grounded in data and the latest academic literature. 

Time's Person Of The Year/Time Magazine

If GOP wins big in 2010, credit California's Rep. McCarthy

WASHINGTON — With visions of a Republican majority dancing in his head, California U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy is driving the back roads of America these days, looking for fresh faces to represent his party in 2010.

"I believe this will be a wave election," McCarthy said. "This will be a national election."

To regain control of the House of Representatives, Republicans must pick up 41 seats. If they win big in the House next year, it will be at least partly because the party put McCarthy in charge of its recruiting efforts.

It's the latest high-profile assignment for McCarthy, who serves as his party's chief deputy whip. Earlier this month, he was chosen in a poll of congressional insiders as the Republican member of Congress with the "brightest political future."

If GOP wins big in 2010, credit California;s Rep. McCarthy/McClatchy Newspapers

Rubio's Senate Run Puts Spotlight On FIU Ties

Taxpayers subsidize Rubio's job at a state-funded university.

MIAMI — Florida International University leaders were eager for one of their hometown legislators to become speaker of the House, and Marco Rubio delivered.

"We had a great year," FIU's lobbyist said of millions in new funding in 2007, crediting Rubio and the Miami-Dade delegation.

The following year, as term limits forced Rubio to exit the Legislature and contemplate his next political move, FIU offered him a $69,000, part-time job that was never publicly advertised

Senate run puts Rubio's ties to FIU under scrutiny/St. Petersburg Times

Photo: Marco Rubio by FrontPageFlorida.com(c)

 Dick Greco Pondering Another Run For Mayor of Tampa

Greco was a popular mayor, serving from 1967 to 1974 and again from 1995 to 2003.

TAMPA — When a local radio station launched a news talk show last week, host Malcolm Teasdale invited former Tampa Mayor Dick Greco as his guest of honor.

After shaking dozens of hands, hugging men, kissing and complimenting women and munching on some pulled pork, Greco took a flute of champagne into the studio where Teasdale introduced him as "a hero to many of us. A gentleman who's shaped this community."

Dick Greco pondering another run for Tampa mayor.

Democrats Hoping Dreams Can Come True

It's no suprise that the party has plenty to wish for.

By JOHN KENNEDY

THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

LAKE BUENA VISTA -- Some 3,000 Florida Democrats gathered Saturday for a state party conference at Disney World -- a place where the signs say `dreams come true.’

A decade after Florida’s last Democratic governor and even longer since the party held a majority in the state House, Senate or congressional delegation, it’s no surprise that the party has plenty to wish for in the pivotal election year ahead.

“Our goal here this weekend is simple: To start the process of taking back our state in 2010,” Democratic Chair Karen Thurman told the crowd.

Throughout the day, Democratic officials steadily pointed to signs of renewed life in a party which may have reached its low-point after the 2004 elections, when presidential nominee John Kerry badly lost Florida and House Democrats slid to a scant 36 seats in the 120-member House.

Since then, Democratic Party registration has grown – to a 700,000-voter edge over Florida Republicans, helped in part by enthusiasm for Barack Obama’s candidacy last fall.  No statewide Republican incumbents are seeking re-election next year, and term-limits in the House and Senate also are pushing far more Republicans out of office.

Thurman said that since 2004, Florida voters have been on the party’s side.

“Well, if I had told you that over the next four years, we'd send to Washington three more Democrats, add nine new Democrats to the Legislature, elect our first new Cabinet member in Alex Sink and deliver Florida's 27 electoral votes for Barack Obama, the pundits would have said we were crazy,” Thurman said.

But amid the chest-thumping, it’s clear the party has a long way to go.

Democrats are outnumbered 76-44 in the House and 26-14 in the Senate, and while three Agriculture Commissioner candidates and a pair of Democratic contenders for Attorney General were working the crowd Saturday, no candidate has emerged for the post held by Sink, now a candidate for governor.

Democratic chances in Florida also may be shaped greatly by how Obama fares in his first two years in the White House, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson conceded. In meetings with U.S. Senate Democrats, Nelson told the crowd the president has said, “My entire presidency will ride on the passage of health care reform.”

In turn, Nelson said success adopting a health care overhaul would prove “helpful to folks like Alex” running in Florida. But Obama’s health care initiative continues to be buffeted in Congress and his once sky-high popularity in Florida has flagged in recent weeks, polls show.

“I think it’s clear that many Floridians are anxious about the kind of change the president is looking to bring to America,” Katie Gordon, a Florida Republican Party spokeswoman, said Saturday. “If they would actually listen to what the people of Florida are saying, Democrats might not be so optimistic about next year.”

But several workshop sessions at the conference – which ends Sunday – tried to plot a course for next year.

Hispanic voters are emerging as a powerful and growing bloc within the party – especially across the crucial Interstate-4 section, where voters from Tampa to Daytona  Beach are seen as key to victory for any statewide candidate.

Fourteen percent of eligible voters in Florida are Hispanic – and 56 percent of them voted for George W. Bush in the 2004 contest, only to turn 57 percent in favor of Obama four years later.

Similarly, in 2004, 414,000 Hispanics were registered Republicans, compared with 369,000 allied with the Democratic Party. Again, last year those numbers flip-flopped – with 513,000 Hispanics now registered Democratic, compared with 445,000 Hispanic Republicans, party analysts said.

“The Hispanic vote is what controls Central Florida and Central Florida controls Florida,” said James Auffant, an Orlando-area consultant and party activist.

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, also urged Democrats to continue a focus on voter-registration and expand the use of absentee ballots – which he said helped him defeat four-term Republican incumbent Ric Keller last fall.

Given Florida demographics, “There are few places in the state that are so red that we can’t turn them blue,” Grayson said.

Critical for Democrats, too, are the FairDistrictsFlorida ballot initiatives, whose supporters were circulating petitions at Saturday’s conference. The ballot measures would revamp the legislative and congressional redistricting process, blocking districts from being drawn for political considerations or protecting incumbents.

Democrats see the measures, if approved by voters, as likely breaking Republican control of the Legislature and congressional delegation, giving Democrats a chance to regain power when lines are redrawn in 2012, following the next U.S. Census.

Nelson tried to emphasize the broad reach of the ballot proposals Saturday, telling Democrats, “You’ve got to play this one for keeps.”

Opinion

Sugar Deal Sound Package

Today, a decision in a West Palm Beach courthouse could determine how the state of Florida moves forward with obtaining land that many believe is vital to sustain the environment and the economy.

The acquisition of U.S. Sugar Corp. property by the state has been viewed favorably by most conservation-minded organizations, yet there has been limited analysis of the financial benefits of the transaction. There is no better opportunity to apply "eco-economics" theories and engage in an objective cost-benefit analysis to demonstrate how this acquisition makes perfect sense.

The estimated cost to acquire the initial 73,000 acres is $536 million. While it is a significant investment, it pales in magnitude to the economic value of eco-tourism and sport fishing in the Everglades region.

According to a recently published report on the economic value of the Everglades by Florida Atlantic University, the total annual impact of ecotourism in 2007 was $1.8 billion. In addition, the total annual expenditures of sport fishing in Florida are estimated to be between $3.4 billion and $5.6 billion.

Sugar deal sound package/Tampa Tribune/Andrew D.W. Hill