Florida Republicans put Big Oil over clean beaches: It's high noon in Tallahassee.

[seafan]

The St. Petersburg Times asks: 'Why are they afraid to let Floridians vote?'


My answer:

It's because a small faction of extremist Republicans have commandeered our state legislature (Senate since 1994/House since 1996), driven by a zealously conservative, authoritarian governor (1998-2006), and bolstered at the federal level by the same extremist faction on the US Supreme Court on December 12, 2000.




From the St. Petersburg Times editorial page:

Gov. Charlie Crist called the Legislature into special session Tuesday to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot to ban oil drilling in state waters. Republican leaders don’t want you to vote. They don’t even want to let lawmakers vote on placing the amendment on the ballot.

July 20, 2010

Senate President Jeff Atwater, incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos, House Speaker Larry Cretul, incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon. (photo credit: St. Pete Times)

Jeff Atwater

Senate president

Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, is running for chief financial officer. He wants your votes for statewide office, but he won't push the Senate to let you vote on oil drilling?

Mike Haridopolos

Incoming Senate president

Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, supported more drilling before the BP spill and pushed to lift the ban in state law. Now he has switched positions. How can voters be sure he won't switch again after the election?

Larry Cretul

House speaker

Cretul, R-Ocala, refused to listen to pleas to change the teacher tenure bill, which Crist vetoed. Now he's not listening on oil drilling. He's not seeking re-election. Will lawmakers stand up to the lame duck?

Dean Cannon

Incoming House speaker

Cannon, R-Winter Park, was a strong drilling advocate and passed a bill last year to lift the ban in state law. He says he won't try again. So why does he oppose allowing voters to decide whether to put the ban into the Constitution?

Much more detail below.


Florida GOP legislature likely to reject Crist's proposed drilling ban, July 16, 2010


Thrasher denies 'quid pro quo' in blocking a vote on oil amendment, July 17, 2010


BP means Bitter Politics, as GOP leaders and Crist battle over drilling ban and oil spill, July 19, 2010




Special session begins at noon on July 20, 2010.



It's high noon in Tallahassee.

[seafan]

1. House closes oil-drilling special session after 49 minutes, blowing off people of Florida

Well, there we have it. After just 49 minutes, the GOP-controlled House has gleefully left town.

Cost to taxpayers so far: $50,000.



The people just don't matter to this Florida GOP legislature.


July 20, 2010

TALLAHASSEE – In dramatic political theater, the Republican-led Florida House rejected Gov. Charlie Crist’s call for a constitutional amendment to ban oil drilling near Florida’s shores, calling it a “simple solution designed to produce sound bites, photo-ops and political attacks.”

A special session called by Crist lasted just 49 minutes in the House – from 12:02 p.m. to 12:51 p.m. – before legislators beat a path out of Tallahassee without any hearings or votes, despite objections from Democrats. It likely cost taxpayers around $40,000 to $50,000 for lawmakers to travel to the Capitol for the short-lived special session.

The vote to adjourn the session, without a vote on the drilling ban, broke down along party lines, 67-44.

The failed session, a rarity in the usually scripted world of legislative politics, occurred 90 days after the BP oil well exploded off the Louisiana coast, polluting the Gulf of Mexico and stretches of Florida Panhandle beaches. Oil drilling is banned in state law, but not in the constitution, which can only be changed by voters.

House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, blasted the governor for playing politics in calling lawmakers back to Tallahassee and said that legislators might entertain a drilling amendment next year for the 2012 ballot – in the “calm after the crisis.” Cretul also told lawmakers they’ll likely be back in September, in another special session, to address financial fallout from the BP spill.

.....

Crist told reporters, in a crowded news conference, that adjourning without a vote is the “ultimate snub” to Floridians. “This isn’t about me,” Crist added. “This is about the people of Florida.”
The amendment needed a three-fifths votes from both chambers to make it on the November ballot. The proposal would have applied to state waters three to 10 miles from the coastline.

While the House was rejecting the drilling amendment, environmental activists gathered outside the Capitol – sporting stickers and signs urging a November vote. One read: “Don’t Oil Me Bro.”
Democrats blasted the Republican legislative leaders for what they called a “gavel-and-go” strategy. “The tone-deaf state Legislature,” is how Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink, the chief financial officer, put it.

.....

Republicans portrayed the amendment as frivolous. “The only thing we can do in this special session is ban something that’s already banned. This is a waste of taxpayers’ money,” said Rep. Rob Schenk, R-Spring Hill.

.....

Once again, these creeps in the House don't mention that they tried (unsuccessfully) last year to revoke this legislative statute to which they incessantly refer to as *protection already in place*.

Advocates of a constitutional amendment say the current ban is only as permanent as the next legislative session. Indeed, in 2009 the House passed a bill that would have opened the shoreline to drilling. LINK

Fortunately, the Senate never took it up.



More from the Sentinel:

While House Republicans were blasting this week’s special session as a photo op and waste of taxpayer money, the GOP-controlled Florida Senate appears more willing to get some mileage out of Crist’s session call.

Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, just took a tightly worded shot at both Crist and his co-workers in the House for not using this week’s special session to tackling other oil-related issues.

Atwater told his chamber that despite repeatedly trying to build consensus, “unfortunately, I did not receive a receptive audience … the governor and the House have simply provided no latitude to expand our call.”

So, the Senate plans to keep meeting Thursday and Friday — potentially even debating their own oil-drilling ban, even though the House is adjourning sine die — meaning it cannot come back to pass the constitutional amendment even if the Senate does so.

*@$$*#% these @(#@&$$



Unless we banish these blindingly selfish extremists from our legislature, they will attempt to strip this legislative protection repeatedly until they succeed, continuing the gang-rape of Florida, as they have done under the direction of Jeb Bush for the past 15 backbiting years.

[Gaedel]

3. From a "good government" point of view

The state constitution should not be full of things that should be part of the state code.

Legislating by "constitutional amendment" can lead to some pretty bad government (anti-gay marriage?).

Charlie Crist called this session just to show off politically.

The Republicans said "Screw you, Charlie".

In this case, state Republicans are right for the wrong reasons and the state Democrats are wrong for the right reasons.

The whole thing is political theater and won't affect drilling one way or the other.

In light of the BP spill, drilling in Florida waters won't be legalized any time soon unless:

1. The Cubans/Chinese hit a big one in the Florida straits.

2. Oil hits $6 per gallon.

[Beetwasher]

2. Crist Is Crucifying Repubs In FL

Wow! I gotta hand it to Crist, the guy knows how to play the game.

[seafan]

4. Crist goes nuclear on 'Do-Nothing Legislature'

From Aaron Deslatte at the Florida Politics blog:



AP


July 20, 2010
3:48 pm

In perhaps the most forceful press conference of his term, Gov. Charlie Crist just unleashed on the Florida Legislature for adjourning a special session without taking up the oil-drilling constitutional ban he had summoned them to the Capitol to consider.

Harking back to President Harry Truman's successful branding of the legislative branch as the "Do Nothing Congress" in his 1948 re-election campaign, Crist said he would "give them hell" for mocking his special-session call as a publicity stunt.

"I can’t believe that this Legislature has shirked their duty so badly. They had an opportunity to put a referendum before the people, to allow the people the right to vote on this important issue and they wouldn’t even trust them," Crist told reporters.

“In the House, they didn’t even trust their own members. They wouldn’t let them speak. They limited their speech even among their colleagues. How arrogant can a Legislature be?

"When President Truman was president he called the congress the do nothing congress. Well, today I’m calling this Legislature the do-nothing Legislature. And I’m going to give them hell for it. I can’t believe they would have that much of a lack of respect for the people of Florida, that they wouldn’t even give them a chance to vote on an issue that is impacting Florida as much as this one is. It’s embarrassing to watch.”

The Legislature was facing an early-August deadline to place ballot measures on the Nov. 2 election ballot, but Senate President Jeff Atwater said today they had urged Crist's office to consider expanding the call to take up economic (measures) aimed at helping impacted citizens and businesses.

Atwater told reporters after his chamber voted 18-16 to follow the House's lead and leave town that he "needed a partner" to take quick action on the issue, and the governor's office wasn't interested in anything but passing an oil-drilling ban. Lawmakers are hoping to return for another session in September to take up economic issues related to the spill.

But Crist said no legislative leaders in either chamber were trying to work with him.

"This was the week to press this issue. We've been watching this thing for 90 days."

Just so everyone is clear, Florida Republican legislators have NO PROBLEM twisting the state constitution to their liking.




RE putting amendments ON the ballot:


Many of the same members of this regressive Republican crowd had NO PROBLEM pushing a constitutional amendment (Amendment 2) onto the ballot of November, 2008, Marco Rubio included, that not only defined marriage as existing only between a man and a woman, but also discriminated against same-sex couples by banning the creation of any type of civil union. This also negatively affects unmarried heterosexual couples living together. But why should these Republicans care about older people living together to conserve money? Nope.

These Republicans *trusted* the voters in 2008 with this hateful, discriminatory amendment. But, merely 20 months later, they don't *trust* them to vote on offshore drilling on July 20, 2010. See how that works?



RE repealing constitutional amendments voters already approved:


The Republican legislature had NO PROBLEM supporting Jeb Bush when he insisted that the voters did not know what they had voted for in 2000 when they approved a bullet train for Florida. Bush led the charge to repeal the very same amendment in November, 2004. Jeb won.


Many of these House members had NO PROBLEM saluting when Jeb "Devious Plans" Bush demanded that the legislature help him revoke the class size amendment that voters already approved in 2002. Jeb lost. Rest assured, Jeb Bush micromanaging from the shadows is not done yet.

The GOP's latest attempt to fulfill Jeb Bush's *legacy* to weaken class size? Amendment 8 on our ballot this year.



Just so we don't forget that episode:

Taped Comments Haunt Bush


`Sarcastic' Remarks Draw Fire From Teachers Union

ELECTION 2002

October 05, 2002|By Mark Silva, Sentinel Political Editor

Behind closed doors, Gov. Jeb Bush spoke of having "devious plans" for defeating a constitutional amendment for smaller school classes. He floated an idea to limit the money teachers' unions get for collective bargaining so the state can set higher starting pay.

But on Friday, in the glare of television news cameras, Bush insisted he had been speaking "sarcastically" about being devious. He also told reporters he will not try to hold back some of the money for teacher pay that goes to school districts.

.....

Jeb's credibility?


Actually, not so much.



These extremist Republicans will likely try the same stunt with the Hometown Democracy Amendment 4, if it passes in November, which would give voters a say in how land is used in their local communities.




And as we speak, these vitriolic Republican legislators are embroiled in an appeal of a judge's recent decision to throw the deceptive, Republican-crafted Amendment 7 off the November ballot. That amendment would have negated Amendments 5 and 6, which are the FAIR Districts Amendments, that would prevent lawmakers from drawing self-serving voting districts to guarantee their hold on power.



These Republican extremists have held our state government hostage for the past 15 years. And they show no signs of letting up the assault on the people of Florida, grinding their wingtips, tasseled loafers and GOP jewelry into Floridians' faces.




A look at the nine amendments on Florida's ballot, May 30, 2010


Update: A judge recently struck Amendment 7 from the ballot. The Republicans are appealing the decision.

[Scurrilous]

5. Thanks.

K & R :thumbsup:

[DCBob]

6. This is yet another Crist moment that will endear him to FL Dems..

BTW, these Republicans are scumbags.