Lawson not sure who gets his vote

[Freddie Stubbs]

By Bill Cotterell
POLITICAL EDITOR

State Sen. Al Lawson, an influential but independent Democrat in Panhandle politics for a quarter-century, said Monday he is undecided about supporting his party's nominee for governor.

As Attorney General Charlie Crist, the Republican nominee, and running mate Jeff Kottkamp campaigned around the state, touting a group of 100 Democrats supporting them, Lawson said he might decide to jump on the GOP bandwagon later. Lawson was not on Crist's list.

Lawson, D-Tallahassee, praised U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, for choosing former state Sen. Daryl Jones as the first black nominee for lieutenant governor. But he said he has to consider who is most likely to win, not just who heads his team.

"I'm not saying that I won't support Davis, nor am I saying that I won't support Crist," said Lawson. "I'm about winning and I always have been."

more: http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060919/CAPITOLNEWS/609190350/1010/NEWS01

[RockaFowler]

1. This guy is an idiot

"I'm not saying that I won't support Davis, nor am I saying that I won't support Crist," said Lawson. "I'm about winning and I always have been."

This is another dino we really don't need.

[seasat]

2. As they say when shopping for suppositories...

With friends like these, who needs enemas?

[madfloridian]

3. It's about vouchers.

http://tdo.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060502/CAPITOLNEWS06/605020341/-1/CAPITOLNEWS

Davis crossed him on vouchers.

[seasat]

4. Jim Davis has always opposed vouchers.

I noticed that Rod Smith opposes them too (LINK). I imagine that if vouchers were the reason, then he would also have the same reservations about Smith. It sounds to me like he is hedging his bets so he can maintain some influence regardless of who wins.

There is good reason for opposition to vouchers, especially in Florida. They have little to no oversight. While public schools are forced to abide by stricter standards of accountability, private schools have little. There have been numerous cases of fraud, especially under the McKay voucher program. Private schools pay teachers less (except for the very exclusive top schools...they pay about the same as public school). Private school teachers do not have to meet the same high standards as public school. You can literally have a teacher with an associates degree in liberal arts teaching advanced calculus in a private school. They pay the same cost as the standard public school student for private school vouchers but ignore the overhead in administering vouchers. Therefore a voucher program is more expensive than public school. Charter schools have lower state oversight than regular public schools and have a higher failure rate under Jebbie's FCAT system. Private schools would be the same. A GAO review of voucher kids in private schools found that when all factors were equal, they did the same as public school kids except for a slight improvement in scores of African-Americans. The improvement was linked to smaller class sizes. A large number of the schools in these studies that accepted vouchers were Catholic schools which do provide an excellent education but are subsidized by their parishes and therefore would actually cost more than public schools. Both Jim Davis and Rod Smith are right in opposing vouchers in Florida. The program only benefits folks that wish to send their kids to a religious school because they think public schools provide liberal indoctrination.

[TSIAS]

5. This isn't honorable

More like hedging his bets. Even if Davis is an underdog to win, Lawson should show loyalty and support the best candidate in this race (Davis).

On an aside, I can't believe how much Crist has rehabilitated his image. In 1998, he lost in a landslide to Bob Graham. Now, he's been elected AG and is the frontrunner to become Governor.