THREE LEON COUNTY DEMS VYING TO REPLACE TERM-LIMITED LAWSON

By KEITH LAING
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, July 9, 2009……….Filling the shoes of a 6-foot-8 man is no easy task, especially one who has been at the job for nearly 30 years. But that is task of three Leon County Democrats who call themselves friends but will be opponents in next year’s Senate District 6 primary.

With Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson preparing to leave the Legislature that he has been a member of since 1982, the race to replace him has drawn two former Tallahassee representatives who want to follow his path from the House to the Senate and an educator who wants to jump straight to the upper chamber.

Lawson, who was elected to represent one of the Panhandle’s few Democratic-leaning districts in the Senate in 2000 after 18 years in the House, will face term-limits next year and is running for the U.S. Congress. The institutional memory that will go with Lawson to Washington, D.C. should he be successful is why the race to succeed him is so important, former state Rep. Curtis Richardson told the News Service of Florida in an interview in which he sized up the field that has quickly become crowded.

“Sen. Lawson is leaving after 28 years, which will create a leadership void for our area,” said Richardson, who served in the House from 2000 to 2008. “That’s why I’m running, to make sure that we still have the same level of representation, especially because we have two sophomore legislators in the House and Rep. (Michelle) Rehwinkel Vasilinda has gotten a challenge so we may have another freshman.”

Richardson and the other two candidates to replace Lawson – former Rep. Loranne Ausley and Florida Association of District School Superintendents chief executive officer Bill Montford – have about a year to introduce themselves to the parts of the nine county district that are not within shouting distance of the Capitol.

That could be the key to determining which one of them will be sworn-in after next November’s elections, Richardson said, and it explains why they are all already on the campaign trail.

“Politics in this area is retail,” Richardson said. “People want to know you and feel like you’re a part of the community, not just showing up at the times when you’re looking for votes. They want to know you understand their values.”

Ausley agreed, adding that the state worker-packed district is an informed electorate, making it one that will not easily be satisfied with platitudes. That’s why she has been pressing the flesh too, she said.

“Folks in these counties know about government and they want to know their politicians,” she said.

Ausley, Richardson and Montford are all Tallahassee-based – and will have to get out into the other areas of the district too. Despite attending both Florida A&M and Florida State universities, Lawson grew up in rural Midway before making his life in Tallahassee, giving him a natural connection to the non-Tallahassee parts of the Senate district.

While the Republican Party of Florida has drawn attention for a perception that its leadership chooses candidates for some races, and tries to push other candidates out of the primary, Ausley said that isn’t happening on the Democrat side.

“The party’s not ever gotten involved (in primaries),” Ausley said. “It’s up to us to prove our case to the voters and go from there.”

The candidates all agreed that it will take money to reach those deciders, making fundraising another possible determinant in the three-way race Montford compared to “a tennis match among friends.”

“It’s a large district,” he said. “It’s going to take a good deal of money to cover it.”

And with the primary 13 months away, they will have to watch how they spend it, Montford said. That’s why he has not made any staffing moves yet, despite the fact that he raised $110,000 from the beginning of April to the end of June.

“Once you hire staff, you’ve got to start paying them,” Montford said. “I’m just doing fundraising and renewing old acquaintances.”

On both counts, Montford said his background in education may be helpful. It’s produced a lot of grateful friends who might see fit to donate and volunteer for his campaign, he said.

“I’ve been in the school system so long, I hope my reputation as an educator among my former students and parents is solid and I’m looking forward to getting reacquainted with them,” he said.

Ausley, who has already launched a campaign Website, said she thought it would take between $250,000 and $500,000 to win the race. She has raised $170,000 in the first two quarters of 2009, she said. The deadline for state candidates to report fundraising for the second quarter is Friday.

“We’re getting ready to find out where everybody is,” Ausley said. “It’s really disgusting if you think about it, but if you look at back 2000, $750,000 was spent on the airwaves back and forth among interest groups. I hope it doesn’t get to that, but money is important.”

Richardson, who has not yet released his fundraising figures, said he took a different lesson from the campaign that produced Sen. Lawson, saying he would spend around the same amount that Lawson did in his race.

“Sen. Lawson won the district with about $200,000,” Richardson said. “That was some time ago, but I think you can do it for about that. I don’t think money will be what determines who win this race. You have to be able to get your message out, but money doesn’t vote. People vote.”

Richardson said the invisible money primary that is part of modern politics was never one that he was aiming to win.

“Knowing that I wouldn’t raise the most money, I got started early touching the people so they could know me and not make a decision based on a 30 second television commercial, radio spot or direct mail piece,” Richardson said. “That’s always been my strategy in the campaigns that I’ve run. I’ve never been a prolific fundraiser but what people will tell you about me is that there is nobody who will work harder or represent their district better.”

-END-
7/9/09

RACE TO REPLACE MEEK COULD PRODUCE FIRST HAITIAN U.S. REP

By KEITH LAING
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

MIAMI BEACH, Fla., June 3, 2009……….After an election year that produced the first African-American president, a South Florida congressional seat that will be vacant in the next cycle could see yet another barrier broken.

With U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek vacating his seat in a district with a large bloc of Haitian-American voters to run for the U.S. Senate, the race to replace him has drawn several candidates, including a few who are Haitian themselves, including state Rep. Yolly Roberson and former Rep. Phillip Brutus.

A third Haitian-American, Rep. Ronald Brise, has been mentioned as a potential candidate as well. The trio would be joined in the race by a crowded field that also includes Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami. The race is also expected to be joined by two members of the Miami Gardens City Council – Mayor Shirley Gibson and Commissioner Andre Williams.

But even with such a crowded field and a diverse electorate, one of the Haitian candidates thinks 2010 could easily be the year the first Haitian-American is elected to Congress.

“Obviously ethnic breakdowns being what they are, you have a large Haitian-American voting bloc, you have a large African-American voting bloc, you have a large Caribbean-American bloc,” Brutus told the News Service last week. “I think the Haitian bloc is the largest one and whoever gets the majority of that will win, so it behooves us in the Haitian-American community to find a consensus and have only one candidate who can win.”

U.S. Census data on congressional districts in 2000 did not include nationalities. The survey only divided residents into White, Black or African-American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, some other race, or two other races.

Respondents who picked African-American, some of whom were likely Haiti natives, were 56.9 percent of the 639,296 residents of the district. The respondents who picked “some other race” or “two other races,” a category which could have also included Haitians, were 3.6 percent and 4.7 percent respectively.

Additionally, 34 percent of the district’s residents were foreign born and 41percent speak another language other than English primarily, the same Census found. That’s why a Haitian-American in Congress is long overdue, Brutus said.

“I hate to sound so originalistic…or even (like) an ethnicist in a way because we’re all Americans, but the reality is the Haitian population being so large deserves a shot at a seat in Congress,” Brutus said. “We’ve lost races here in 2005, 2006, 2007 that we shouldn’t have lost, in communities where we are the majority, because of division and because of economic difficulties. We’ve lost races because people got paid to just lie and spread rumors and propaganda, knowing that you’re not raising the money to counter it because the community is poor.”

However, Brutus said times are changing. Citing three local elections this year in which Haitian candidates prevailed or ended up in a run-off, Brutus said that the Haitian-American community in South Florida may be ready now to fully assert itself politically. Brutus said elections for seats that Haitian-Americans have been previously unable to win are not as steep a climb because “even though the same folks tried to spread the same mud,” the Haitian community has smartened up.

“What we’ve learned is that we’ve got to be united, we’ve got to just not listen to the garbage,” he said. “Being divided, specifically being divided by folks who are brokering time on radio to pay their bills and live their lives, does not really do anything for the suffering masses who are facing unemployment and mortgage meltdowns, foreclosure, crime, HIV, bad schools, you name it. They realize ‘look, we voted against the Haitian candidates because you guys told us so, and four year later, we’re still where we were or worse.’ And the person they told us to vote for didn’t do diddly-squat for us.”

One of Brutus’ primary opponents – and his former wife – disagreed that the Haitian community needed to focus on just one of its candidates to elect a U.S. representative.

“This is America,” said Rep. Yolly Roberson, D-Miami. “America doesn’t hand anything to you on a silver platter. Anyone in this race is going to have to work hard to make sure that the voters of district 17 know their positions and that they present themselves as the best person for the job.”

But electing a Haitian-American to Congress would have immediate and long-term positive impacts for the community, Brutus said. A Haitian-American member of Congress would be able to push for more engagement with the country and the entire Caribbean region, he said.

The easiest way for any of that to happen, Brutus said, was if the Haitian community eventually united behind a single candidate. But it has to be one who can win more than just Haitian votes, he said.

“Obviously the Haitian vote is big, but you’re not a Haitian running in a Haitian election,” he said. “You’re a Haitian-American who has a base of voters who are thirsty for representation, but you always have to have an appeal to other folks. The Haitian community is your base. It’s a trampoline from which to jump. But as you jump, you need to fire your engine and fly higher and to do that, you need to grab the other communities and clear the hurdle.”

Roberson said she did not plan to make her ethnicity central to her campaign for Congress.

“I have a different view on it,” Roberson said. “Despite my accent, I don’t think of myself just as a Haitian. I think of myself as a black woman running for Congress who happens to have been born in Haiti.”

The Haitian community may not think of the campaign through a purely ethnic lens, Roberson added.

“The Haitian-American doesn’t only support Haitian-Americans,” she said. “The community has grown and made friends with other communities. People are not going to support Sen. Wilson because she’s African-American and I was born in Haiti and vice versa.”

Roberson added that her previous marriage to Brutus would not have as big an impact on the race as some observers have said. They served together in the Florida House from 2002 to 2006, she said, and both are lawyers who have been on opposites sides of each other in court.

“I truly believe when we got divorced, we got divorced,” Roberson said. “The people don’t care about that. You shouldn’t be asking me what I think of Mr. Brutus, you should be asking the people what they think of us as candidates. This is a serious race. It’s not everyday you have an open congressional seat. That may not happen again for 20 years.”

Perhaps the most well-known non-Haitian in the race, Sen. Wilson, agreed, saying that the focus on the Haitian community’s impact on the race is “kind of overblown.”

“It’s a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural district that has a lot of foreign-born residents,” Wilson told the News Service. “Some happen to be Caribbean, some happen to be Bahamian. We have people from the Virgin Islands, a Haitian population, a Jewish population and a huge African-American population.”

Wilson, who would give up a seat in the Legislature she would not be term-limited out of until 2012 if she is elected to Congress, said she was confident that she could appeal to all of the district’s ethnic communities, not just her own.

“I’ve dedicated many years to speaking on their behalf and fighting for them,” said Wilson, who is African-American. “You can’t say I’m just running from the Haitian-American community. We’ve got too many groups for that. You’ve got to have a crossover candidate who can go out and make their case to all ethnicities.”

Running for the seat as a state senator instead of a representative like Roberson or Brutus or a city council member like others in the race will help her cause too, Wilson added.

“It’s basically my Senate district, except for the part in Broward,” she said. “It’s a carbon copy, a smaller version of my Senate district.”

But Brutus is just as confident that the Haitian-Americans will seize the opportunity to send one of its own to Washington, D.C.

“I could see it in the horizon,” he said. “It’s like a rising sun. It’s like 6 a.m. now and I can see the sun. But it’s going to shine bright come August next year.”

–END–
06/03/2009

SINK PREVIEWS THEMES FOR GOV’S RACE AT MIAMI BEACH FUNDRAISER

By KEITH LAING
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, June 1, 2009……….Addressing her party over the weekend in Miami Beach for the first time as a full-fledged contender for the Governor’s Mansion, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink emerged as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sink.

Speaking to more than 1,000 activists Saturday evening at the Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner, which amounted to a Florida Democratic Convention, Sink took center stage with gusto and the opening themes she hopes will catapult her to victory became readily apparent.

Namely, she would be a “new and different kind of governor,” a wink and a nod to her bid to become Florida’s first female governor. And she would be a “working mom” with kids who are products of the public school system, a not-so-oblique gender reference. Sink also touted being raised in rural North Carolina, saying that her farm upbringing taught her values such as fiscal responsibility.

She also will take a page from last year’s Obama campaign – change. “The status quo has got to go,” Sink said, presaging what likely will be a prominent theme in a race that follows 12 years of Republicans living in the Governor’s Mansion.

It was a speech with a clear appeal to women, who made up 53 percent of the electorate in the 2008 election. And it was not lost on observers that large portions of the address were more likely to resonate with moderates in the I-4 corridor and conservatives in the Panhandle than liberal Democrats from urban South Florida, who nonetheless filled the room with attentive silence not given to any of the other dozen speakers at the fundraiser.

Former state Senate Democratic Leader Steve Geller told the News Service Monday that while Sink – who is not noted for her oratory – was not always perfect in her delivery, she was spot on in her messaging.

“The kind of speech she gave – in areas of the state Democrats have been lacking in – would be terrific,” said Geller, who attended Saturday’s fundraiser. “There was a lot of talk about farming and hard work, which might not resonate as much with highly urbanized Broward, Dade and Palm Beach County, but would go over terrifically in North Florida.”

But Geller, who served in the Senate from 2000 until being term-limited in 2008, added that Sink’s speech Saturday would have been effective anywhere on the campaign trail, not just in a room full of 1,100 of her biggest fans.

“It was a speech she could have given anywhere in the state, to any group,” he said. “She could have given it to the Democratic Party, as she did, or to the Chamber of Commerce, and it think it would have been warmly received. She had a presence.”

Being introduced by the Democrat’s elder statesman, former U.S. Senator and Gov. Bob Graham, proceeded by a five-minute biographical video and greeted by audience members waving placards, Sink did not look like one of the party’s candidates for governor – she looked like the Democratic candidate for governor.

“I saw a lot of people in the room who were from urbanized areas that were not as able to connect to (Sink’s) message, but I don’t remember the last time we had a candidate who could connect like that with areas we don’t traditionally do well in,” Geller said.

However, Geller said the Democrats’ palpable excitement about Sink Saturday could prove problematic later in the governor’s race.

“I’m a little worried about overconfidence,” Geller said. “Not on Alex’s part – she’s smart enough to know you’ve got to campaign like you’re two points down, not five points up – but in the party. There was a sense that she’s got it in the bag, so let’s focus on other races.”

It was a concern addressed by Sink herself in her 20 minute speech, telling the crowd that they should not “go resting on our laurels” from having helped Obama win the presidency. But Geller admitted that’s a good problem for a political party to have in an election that is beginning in earnest 17 months before voters go to the polls.

“I’ve been going to these things for 30 years, and some meetings, the activists go but they don’t think they can win,” Geller said. He added that the Democrats’ excitement could “lead to overconfidence, but optimism can lead to hard work.”

“It’s so much easier to get out volunteers and raise money when people are excited and everybody there was excited,” Geller said.

Former Republican Party of Florida executive director David Johnson agreed Sink used her first appearance in full-campaign mode to try to appeal to more than the party’s base, who already think she’s their best chance to occupy the Governor’s Mansion since 1998.

“The farming background could help in North Florida and the working mom thing could be very appealing to women in similar situations,” said Johnson, who worked for Sink’s 2006 CFO opponent Tom Lee but has not yet joined a 2010 campaign. “They want people who don’t have an opinion of her to come away with a warm feeling and think ’she understands me.’”

It’s a strategy Johnson said Sink successfully used in her first foray into Florida politics during that 2006 race. But he quickly added that Republicans have to poke holes in Sink’s story before it takes hold on the larger gubernatorial scale.

“Her situation was a little bit different because she was president of Bank of America,” Johnson said of Sink’s working mom description. “Her commutes probably involved a jet to Charlotte more than 10 miles in Tampa traffic.”

Still, Johnson said it was smart of Sink to focus on her biography this early in the race, because she is likely much less well-known than Republican frontrunner Attorney General Bill McCollum, who has run for statewide office three times.

“She starts with more room to grow because attorney general is largely a higher profile position than CFO,” Johnson said. “They’re both going to be raising lots of money and spending a lot of time defining themselves. It’s a question of how many people know me and how many people don’t. I want to get the percent that don’t know me on my terms, not on the opposition party’s.”

But Johnson also said that Sink’s personal story might not be as effective over the course of a much-higher profile governor’s race as it was during the first election ever held for CFO. Even if it is appealing to swaths of the electorate, he said, the Republican opposition will have the money to respond and those responses will draw more media attention.

“In a lower budget, lower profile race based on name identification, it was more ‘nobody knows either one of us, so let’s try to get our story out’,” Johnson said. “But the governor’s race will be very different. They’re both going to have 100 percent name ID.”

–END–
06/01/2009

FLA DEMS GATHER IN MIAMI BEACH FOR FUNDRAISER

By KEITH LAING
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. May 30, 2009……….Eager to repeat its 2008 national election success in statewide races in 2010, a fired up Florida Democratic Party gathered Saturday evening in Miami Beach for its annual Jefferson-Jackson fundraising dinner.

The Jefferson-Jackson fundraiser, named for former presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, is a staple of Democratic organizations across the country. The Florida JJ dinner, which took place at the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach, featured speeches by Democratic National Committee chairman and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, as well as Florida gubernatorial hopeful and current Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

Also speaking were House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands, D-Weston, Senate Democratic Leader-designate Nan Rich, D-Weston, former U.S. Sen. and Gov. Bob Graham and state party chairwoman Karen Thurman.

About 1,100 attendees who donated to the state Democratic got to hear speeches from the party’s elected officials. Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff said the event raised $625,000 for the party.

Sink, introduced by Graham and preceded by a biographical video, said it was time for Florida to have a “new and different kind of governor” and warned the state Democratic Party not to get too caught up in celebrating having delivered Florida’s 27 electoral votes to President Barack Obama last year.

“As we’ve giving ourselves lots of pats on the back tonight, let’s not go resting on our laurels tomorrow,” Sink told the enthusiastic crowd. “Because Florida needs your energy, your talents and your commitments more than ever.”

Much like Obama did in his campaign for president, Sink, who is seeking just her second elected office in running for governor, sought to paint the state Republican Party as yesterday’s news.

“All they seem to be willing to do is rearrange the chairs and maintain the status quo,” she said of the state GOP. “Because of the challenges we face, the status quo has got to go. It’s no longer OK to keep doing things the same old way.”

As she promised when she announced her campaign, Sink touted her business experience as the reason she should be Florida’s next governor. Sink spent 30 years in the banking business, rising to president of the Florida division of Bank of America.

“Too often politicians talk about jobs without ever creating any,” she said. “Floridians need jobs. Our families need help. It’s going to take a leader with nearly three decades of business experience to rebuild a strong economy for Florida.”

Sink was joined in her condemnation of state Republicans by Senate Democratic Leader-designate Rich, who said the GOP agenda was “filled with empty rhetoric and void of new ideas.” In particular, Rich criticized the GOP’s handling of the $66.5 billion budget signed last week by Gov. Charlie Crist

“This past session was one of missed opportunities, one of short term solutions for long-term problems in our state,” she told the crowd as they ate dinner. “We didn’t create a more equitable tax structure for the state of Florida…we didn’t close corporate and tax loopholes. We cobbled together a budget with federal stimulus dollars, fee increases, trust fund sweeps and a tobacco tax.”

House Democratic Leader Sands agreed, contrasting Rich’s characterization of the Legislature’s current Republican leaders with the Democratic Party, which he said stood for ordinary Floridians.

“We are the party that stands up and fights for working people, the struggling middle class and the undeserved,” he said. “The Democratic party is the party of the people. The people who go to work early and stay late.”

GELBER WITHDRAWS FROM U.S. SENATE RACE

Unlike CFO Sink, who delivered a campaign stump speech, state Sen. Dan Gelber used his time before the Florida Democratic establishment to announce the end of his campaign for U.S. Senate.

Gelber, who spent the spring in Tallahassee for the legislative session while primary rival U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek raised money and collected endorsements, has been mentioned as a possible candidate to replace Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum. But Gelber did not announce any other 2010 plans, saying only that he was withdrawing from the Senate race to “explore other opportunities in the Cabinet” and to promote party unity.

“Gov. Crist’s decision to run for the U.S. Senate has created a domino effect that has given us a real opportunity for change,” Gelber told the assembled Democrats. “But to get that change, we have to do something. We must shed our historical habit of having a circular firing squad. Instead, we must unify. It is for that reason…I’m going to step back from my U.S. Senate bid to contemplate other positions in the Cabinet and to give other Florida Democrats a chance to consider what they want to do.”

Gelber’s decision was immediately praised by Graham, the Democrats’ elder statesman.

“That was a very courageous, unifying statement that (Gelber) just made,” Graham said in his own speech minutes after Gelber’s announcement. “He’s going to sacrifice his own ambition for the future of taking back Florida that we can all have if we are a Democratic Florida.”

Speaking with reporters after the dinner, Meek also praised Gelber and said his decision would give Democrats a better shot at winning the U.S. Senate for which Crist is currently presumed to be the frontrunner.

“Dan’s a class act,” Meek said. “He’s a good guy. He’s always been a man of integrity. His decision tonight was difficult … (and) is going to result in our party coming together doing something that is going to give Floridians a chance to vote for a candidate that will be able to win this Senate seat.”

–END–
05/30/2009

RAIL AUTHORITY ROLLS ON DESPITE VACANCY, EXPIRED TERMS

By KEITH LAING
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, May 26, 2009……….The Florida High Speed Rail Authority last month had one of its most high profile members resign and the rest of its members terms have actually expired. But the authority has kept the wheels on its plan to apply for federal money that can be used to build a proposed Tampa-Orlando-Miami bullet train.

FHSRA chairman Lee Chira told the News Service Monday that the absence of Lakeland businessman C.C. Dockery — considered by many in the rail community to be the father of the train push in Florida — has not hindered the panel as its prepares to apply for $8 billion in federal stimulus money for high speed rail.

Dockery, who pushed for the bullet train in the late 1990s and early 2000s, resigned from the authority in April because of unhappiness with state support for the panel. He was also staunchly opposed to the panel’s decision to show solidarity on rail development in Florida by adopting a resolution in favor of the proposed SunRail Orlando commuter rail that was eventually derailed in the Legislature by his wife Sen. Paula Dockery.

“We have enough members,” Chira said Monday. “We only need five (to have a quorum), and there’s eight of us left. That’s sufficient to conduct business until a replacement is named.”

As the panel as the panel debated the SunRail resolution at its April meeting Dockery argued unsuccessfully that local commuter rail was beyond the purview of the High Speed Rail Authority. Once the commission took it up anyway, he echoed concerns about the plan often raised by his wife, Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, and when it was approved with only his dissent, he resigned from the panel.

Dockery did not mention SunRail specifically in announcing his resignation, and attributed his decision mostly to insufficient support from Gov. Charlie Crist in the FHSRA effort to win stimulus money for high-speed rail.

The panel was created in 2002 after voters approved a constitutional amendment for high speed inter- city trains in a campaign Dockery largely funded out of his own pocket. But it had been dormant since 2005, after voters put the brakes on the plans for the bullet train after a push by former Gov. Jeb Bush, who said the state could not afford it.

However, buoyed again this year by the possibility of receiving the stimulus money – without a requirement for matching funds from the state – the panel started meeting again and has met three times. It plans to continue doing so at least through September to complete an application for the money.

But Chira said the authority may continue to have an empty chair when they get together. Dockery, who was appointed to a second-term on the FHSRA by then-Senate President Jim King in 2004, was serving beyond his four-year term, as are the remainder of the high speed rail authority.

With stimulus applications due in September, the members decided to continue working, as state law allows them to unless they are replaced. The Department of Transportation has supported the panel’s work on applying for the federal stimulus money.

“We may have a different board (when the stimulus money arrives),…but I think they’re pretty happy with what we have,” Chira said of the likelihood of being replaced by Crist, House Speaker Larry Cretul or Senate President Jeff Atwater.

The 2002 legislation that created the High Speed Rail Authority allows the governor, speaker of the House and Senate president to appoint three members each. Having been appointed by a Senate president, Dockery’s replacement would be up to Atwater, R-North Palm Beach. An Atwater spokesperson said Tuesday that his office was not currently considering new FHSRA appointments.

Similarly, a spokesman for Crist said the governor would not immediately re-appoint the chief executive’s three appointees. Current members Leila Nodarse and Fred Dudley were appointed to the panel in 2004 by former Gov. Jeb Bush and the governor’s choice for Transportation Secretary is an ex-officio member.

“Appointments are a large part of the governor’s job,” Crist spokesman Sterling Ivey told the News Service. “He makes appointments to a number of boards and commissions and it takes time to put them in place.”

Ivey said the governor was reviewing the seats that could be vacant on the High Speed Rail Authority, along with other vacancies on state boards and panels.

Cretul spokeswoman Jill Chamberlin said the speaker’s office had similarly not made a decision about its FHSRA appointments.

“They’ve been inactive and unfunded for a couple years at least,” she said Monday afternoon. “We were not aware that they were meeting, so the answer is we don’t know yet. The staff in the House will look into this and make recommendations, but theoretically they can serve until they are replaced.”

Any new appointments to the High Speed Rail Authority – or the lack thereof – would come at a crucial crossing for rail in Florida.  The SunRail defeat and the funding woes for Tri-Rail in South Florida have clouded the future of rail in the Sunshine State, despite the eagerness to see it here in Washington, D.C. But Chira said he was confident the stimulus application would be submitted and said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has said publicly that Florida and California have an inside track on the federal dollars.

–END–
05/26/2009

THE FAIRER ELECTORATE?: GENDER AND THE 2010 GOVERNOR’S RACE

By KEITH LAING
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, May 20, 2009……….Capitol observers know well that Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink would be the first female governor if she wins her race for the office next year. Less certain, however, is how many of the voters that could send her to the Governor’s Mansion know that she’s a woman.

An early Sachs FlaPoll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling released this week showed the biggest Republican name in the race so far – Attorney General Bill McCollum – holding a slight lead over Sink, the only Democrat so far in the race. But Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said his university’s most recent polling of Sink and McCollum’s job approval ratings showed something that will likely be untrue by the time a general election between to two takes place: their support among men and women was equal.

A Quinnipiac poll conducted in April, before either candidate officially entered the race to replace Gov. Charlie Crist, showed 49 percent of men and 47 percent of women approved of McCollum’s handling of the AG job. Similarly, 34 percent of men thought Sink had done a good job so far in her first term as CFO and 32 percent of women thought so too.

Quinnipiac has not yet conducted a head-to-head Sink/McCollum poll, though each appears to be their party’s top choice for 2010. However, an analysis of voting patterns in the 2008 presidential election by University of South Florida political science professor Susan MacManus found that 53 percent of the electorate last year were women.

That’s why Brown said that as the race develops – if it is indeed Sink vs McCollum – the numbers will likely look much different in a few months than they do now. The candidates will become more well-known to voters, who will soon learn that Alex is a nickname for Adelaide, not an abbreviation of Alexander.

“One of the big questions of the governor’s race is do voters know that Alex Sink is a woman and when they do know, how does that change things?” Brown said.

Brown said female candidates tend to perform well with female voters because they are typically perceived to be more honest and pragmatic, though he cautioned that identity politics would not be the sole determinant in the potential race between Sink and McCollum. But it could make a difference between two pretty evenly matched candidates in a reliably toss-up state, he said.

MacManus agreed, telling the News Service that Florida women supported President Barack Obama over Arizona Sen. John McCain 52-47 percent according to exit polling of last year’s presidential race. But she added that those women likely did not all go for the Democrat for the same reason.

“Florida’s women’s vote is not cohesive,” she said.

She added that McCollum could be uniquely positioned to draw female support next time around, even in a race against the woman who would be the first female governor.

“Some women might find Bill McCollum’s strong stance against sexual predators appealing,” MacManus said. “He might be able to bring in some of the social conservative (women).”

However, MacManus also said that while Alex Sink’s atypically female name may be liability in polls 18 months from election day, it could come in handy later.

“That can work to a candidate’s advantage or not, that’s what so confounding about it,” she said. “Men may think she’s a guy and say ‘yay’ or women may think she’s not one of them and be disappointed.”

But with a clear majority of the electorate in the latter category than the former, Sink’s campaign would be wise to spread the word that she is a woman, MacManus said.

“Once more women find out that she’s a woman, that will probably help her cause a little bit,” MacManus said. “It certainly can’t hurt.”

That’s especially true among younger voters, MacManus said, who turned out in droves to help make Barack Obama the first black president with the help of Florida’s 27 electoral votes. MacManus said the appeal of breaking another glass ceiling could attract those same idealistic voters – male and female – to Sink’s campaign.

“It will be a path breaking candidacy like Barack Obama’s,” MacManus said. “It will probably get a lot of attention from younger voters and the majority of college students these days are females.”

And those voters will not register in many polls taken any time soon about the 2010 governor’s race, MacManus said.

“(Young voters) are not going to pay attention this summer,” she said. “Right now what you’re seeing is the opinion of people who really follow politics.”

–END–
05/20/2009

CRIST MAKES U.S. SENATE RUN OFFICIAL

By KEITH LAING
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, May 12, 2009……….Gov. Charlie Crist confirmed on Tuesday what everyone at the Capitol already knew, announcing he was running for the U.S. Senate in 2010 instead of re-election.

In a statement released Tuesday morning that turned out to be the “low-key” announcement Crist backers promised over the weekend, Crist said he would run to replace retiring Sen. Mel Martinez. Doing so, Crist said, would be the best way he could represent the people who elected him governor 30 months ago.

“For me it’s all about service,” Crist told reporters. “I am honored to be the governor of this great state. I also understand that the challenges that Florida faces are not just Florida challenges, they’re national issues. As a result of that, I believe I could best serve the people of Florida, if they’re willing to allow me, as their next United States Senator.”

Responding to criticism that a Senate run would cause him to neglect his current gubernatorial duties, a line of attack Democrats have already begun, he told reporters that he can do both well.

“My attention will be focused on Florida, as it always has,” Crist said. “It’s important to do the job, to do it well and to do it everyday.”

Another potential criticism Crist sought to deflect was his support of the federal economic stimulus package, which was vehemently opposed by hardcore conservatives and figures to be an issue in a contested primary with former House Speaker Marco Rubio. With closed primaries in Florida, some may have expected Crist to downplay his bi-partisanship to appeal to base voters, but he did not apologize for it Tuesday.

“We do things a little bit differently here in Florida,” Crist said. “We work together to solve problems and do what’s right for the people of our state. The people are the boss. Regardless of party, we have to work together to get things done. That’s what I’d like to take to Washington, D.C.”

But that did not stop Rubio from framing the coming primary as a fight between moderates and conservatives for the soul of the Republican Party, a strategy he telegraphed long before he formally entered the U.S. Senate race last week himself.

“Today Gov. Charlie Crist announced his candidacy for the United States Senate, kicking off a discussion to determine what it means to be a Republican,” Rubio said in a statement to supporters. “Indeed, this primary election will offer voters a front-row seat to a debate about the future of the Republican Party here in Florida and across the nation. Let the debate begin.”

However, the debate Rubio is eager for appears to be a conversation that national Republicans would rather not have. Within minutes of Crist’s formal announcement, the National Republican Senatorial Committee praised Rubio, but endorsed the governor.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also endorsed Crist.

“While I believe Marco Rubio has a very bright future within the Republican Party, Charlie Crist is the best candidate in 2010 to ensure that we maintain the checks and balances that Floridians deserve in the United States Senate,” NRSC chairman John Cornyn, R-TX, said in a statement. “Gov. Crist is a dedicated public servant and a dynamic leader, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee will provide our full support to ensure that he is elected the next United States Senator from Florida.”

Crist’s remarks about remaining an active governor until the 2010 election similarly did not stop state Democrats from repeating the charge already heard in a Tallahassee television ad from the national party that Crist is shafting Floridians by leaving the governor’s office.

“In the face of mounting problems, Floridians expect bold leadership and real solutions from our elected officials,” Florida Democratic Party chairwoman Karen Thurman said in a statement. “By running for U.S. Senate, Charlie Crist has cut and run on the Sunshine State, once again taking the easy way out, avoiding responsibility and leaving the hard work of facing Florida’s problems to the next governor. At a time when Florida needs real leadership, unfortunately Charlie Crist is running from the mess he created, which is why Floridians are going to send Crist into retirement come Election Day.”

But House Democratic Leader-designate Ron Saunders, D-Key West, candidly admitted that Crist could be tough for Democrats to beat in 2010.

“He’s the most popular politician in Florida right now,” Saunders told reporters Tuesday. “So if you’re running for higher office, that’s certainly a good position to start with.”

Saunders, who anticipated that Crist and other candidates would raise between $25 million and $30 million for the Senate race, added quickly though that a lot could change between now and 2010.

“Certainly if they were doing a poll right now, Charlie Crist would be the favorite,” Saunders said. “But as we’ve seen both nationally and in the state, sometimes high popularity does not always translate to success.”

Contrary to the official Democratic Party argument that running for Senate was an abandonment of his current job, Saunders said Crist’s Senate success could depend largely on what happens between now and Election Day in Tallahassee.

“The better job he does as governor, the better candidate he is for the U.S. Senate,” Saunders said. “I think the next year will be a good indication. If he has another successful session with the Legislature, and we don’t have any big hurricanes and we don’t have any catastrophe, I think he’s in good shape.”

Saunders also said running for Senate would not completely diminish Crist’s sway with the Legislature, which some speculated happened this year as large portions of his agenda stalled under the weight of $6 billion budget deficit.

“He’s still the governor until he gets out,” Saunders said. “He still has the power to veto as governor, even though he may be a lame duck.”

–END–
05/12/2009

MIXED BAG SESSION LAUNCHES CRIST INTO SENATE RACE

By KEITH LAING
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, May 11, 2009……….Gov. Charlie Crist appears poised to announce Tuesday his plans to run for the U.S. Senate in 2010, a race he is expected to have a good shot at winning.

But the session the current occupant of the Governor’s Manson waited to complete before deciding to pursue higher office saw few victories for the would-be senator. Crist got a few big things he wanted from lawmakers before they left town last Friday in the form of a Seminole gaming compact and a plan that would allow universities to raise tuition an additional 7 percent on top of the 8 percent base increase also approved.

Additionally, lawmakers used about $3 billion in federal stimulus money, a victory for Crist because he campaigned for the plan with President Barack Obama and used the funding in his budget proposal to avoid deep cuts.

Crist also got a sympathetic ear from lawmakers on property taxes, with both the GOP-controlled Legislature and the governor agreeing that more needs to be done to reduce them – and that call for lower taxes, a Republican standard, is something that has played well in the Legislature throughout his term.

And of course it plays well with most voters.

However, in the session that just was, lawmakers in Tallahassee just as frequently ignored the governor’s wishes as they crafted policy. Perhaps most prominently, in addition to using stimulus money, the $66.5 billion spending plan approved by the Legislature included a $1 billion tobacco tax increase that Crist said he was not “warm and fuzzy” about.

That wasn’t the only example of the Legislature cozying up to a plan Crist would have rather kept at arms-length this year. Crist got behind the proposed Orlando commuter rail known as SunRail, but the plan was voted down on the floor of the Senate after two days of intense debate.

Similarly, the two biggest pieces of Crist’s ambitious energy agenda are still where they were when session began: waiting on legislative action. The proposed renewable energy standard for power companies was approved by the Senate, but never taken up by the House. Worse for the governor, the plan to make Florida’s auto emission standards among the nation’s toughest by adopting rules already in place in California only made it out of one Senate committee.

Crist’s session scorecard shows that if anything, he seems to be in tune with what plays well with voters, but often can’t figure out what will play well among policymakers in his own party. And that’s often the case with executives – who can work in sound bites while the lawmakers writing the bills have to deal in the details of how to carry out the policy.

Crist’s populism also doesn’t always play well in the business community that often otherwise supports Republicans. Standing up for the little guy often means standing against the big guy, whether it’s a utility, a phone company, the oil companies (Crist threatened to investigate them early in his term over high gas prices), or insurance companies, leading further to some disagreements between Crist and other Republicans.

Crist sailed into office in 2007 as a populist, running against high property insurance rates and high property taxes more than anything else.

What has happened since to the property insurance debate in the state is perhaps most telling of Crist’s dwindled influence.

In 2007, lawmakers went along with Crist’s populist approach – taking on the insurance companies and moving to force rates lower. Like Crist, some Republican lawmakers were openly hostile to the insurance industry. Rates for the largest insurer in the state, government-backed Citizens Property Insurance, were frozen at well below what actuaries said was needed to keep the company able to pay claims. Crist made no effort to hide his contempt for the insurers, and repeatedly said that his policy on insurance was based on making it affordable and available to “the boss,” the voters of Florida.

But this session, the Legislature backed away from putting the rate-paying consumer ahead of the claim-making consumer. The Legislature voted to raise Citizens rates, and make other changes that could result in higher premiums – risking the possibility that premiums could be close to where they were when Crist took office promising to lower them.

University of South Florida political science professor Susan MacManus added that the possibility of a Senate run likely played a role in Crist’s mixed bag session.

“Certainly I think Republicans were thinking about that, no question,” MacManus said. “The party already knows that it is facing discussion of an ideological schism, so the need to come together was obviously affected by the Senate race.”

MacManus said that several state leaders eyeing Crist’s current post, and legislators considering the positions they might vacate to do so, also played a role in stalling some of Crist’s agenda.

“There’s always a nagging thought in the back of their minds of who wants to run for what,” she said.

Crist himself hailed the session’s victories for his agenda on its last day, though he did not acknowledge any of its defeats.

“In this tight budget year, we are continuing to invest in economic development and workforce training to strengthen our economy,” Crist said in his weekly video address last Friday. “We have been able to avoid deep cuts in services for our most vulnerable – and our children, the elderly and persons with disabilities. And we are maintaining Florida’s commitment to restore America’s Everglades and conserve public lands through Florida Forever. “

Former Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville, agreed that the tough economy played a big role in the inaction of the most ambitious parts of the governor’s agenda.

“It’s far easier to have really meaningful legislation when you have money to spend on it,” King said during the last week of session. “It becomes a whole lot more difficult when you don’t have the money to implement the programs that you might want to do. So that had a negative effect, if you’re looking at it as no big bills were passed.”

Current Senate President Jeff Atwater also cited the budget woes in his assessment of session as his chamber was debating many of Crist’s proposals in the final days.

“When all of these members were elected about 7 or 8 months ago now, unemployment was about 6.8 percent,” Atwater said on the second to last day of non-budget business. “Now it’s near 10. Foreclosures are up. The bottom continues to drop on revenues coming into the state, which the reflection is that Floridians incomes are dropping.”

But King also said earlier this year that the speculation that Crist would run for Senate was hurting the governor’s agenda, pointing out that if lawmakers believed Crist was leaving, he forfeited his leverage.

University of Central Florida political scientist Aubrey Jewett agreed the economy and the Senate speculation were twin daggers for most of Crist’s agenda this year.

“It was probably one of the worse kept secrets in Florida that he was likely going to declare he was running for Senate,” Jewett said. “He didn’t announce before session was over, because then he would have had zero influence. Who would listen to him then?

–END–
5/11/2009

WEEKLY ROUNDUP – A CONCLUSION AND A CONFERENCE CONSTANT

(Recap and analysis of the week in state government)

By KEITH LAING
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, May 8, 2009………There were many moving parts during a week of session overtime as lawmakers rushed toward a previously scheduled finale, but one thing was certain as they conferenced on the few remaining issues: the presence of Sen. JD Alexander.

The Senate’s chief budget writer was ubiquitous this week, representing his chamber in haggling over the compromise $66.5 spending plan and the proposed Seminole gaming compact that was integral to making it work. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, had different dancing partners for each conference, but he was often alone doing the Senate’s portion of the legislative two-step.

The doggedness of the senator who quipped in April that he “didn’t have anything to do this summer” when the possibility was raised of a special session was noticed by no less an authority than Gov. Charlie Crist.

“Every meeting that I was watching, JD was there,” Crist said during the traditional sine die ceremony heralding the close of business.

But the agreements Alexander helped hammer out were like nails on a chalkboard to many in both chambers, and when the House returned to take up the budget Thursday, they let it be known. Republicans crowed about how proud they were of the work they did to plug the $6 billion worth of holes in the budget, but it’s unlikely that’s really true for most of them. They call it a surcharge, but the spending plan has a major tax increase on tobacco that several of them had fought for years, and the budget is propped up on a big handout from Washington that many in the GOP didn’t really want to take.

It also relies heavily on nearly $800 million in fee increases that the party in power has never before thought a good idea. But when the economy does what it’s done the last year, there are few good choices, and many lawmakers are likely happy just to be heading out of town having done their constitutional duty in a year many thought they might not be able to.

Republicans were not alone in being conflicted on the budget compromise. The minority party has consistently said the Legislature has focused too much on spending cuts in the constricting economy instead of looking for new revenue. But after Republicans agreed to include the cigarette tax championed by the party and used federal stimulus money approved by a Democratic president and Congress, Democrats pelted them with criticism for not listening to their ideas anyway.

The cards were not dealt any better for Alexander in the Seminole negotiations. The House and Senate struck a gaming deal to permit full card games such as blackjack and baccarat at Seminole casinos in Broward and Hillsborough counties and give the state a cut of the tribe’s revenue. But the deal only came after negotiations between the two chambers – up against a Friday deadline if the state was going to get any badly needed revenue from the tribe – appeared to break down.

The Senate backed off from a previous offer that would have limited banked card games to select casinos and instead proposed that the tribe should offer the games at all of their properties. But in the end the Senate caved to what Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, called his “final offer.”

Alexander said the Senate’s stance was the minimum the tribe would accept, but a visibly frustrated Galvano, R-Bradenton, said the Senate was moving backwards.

But while the reshuffled negotiations looked like they would be enough to stack the deck against the compact, things were completely different the next day, with Alexander and Galvano finding the winning hand.

CHARLIE’S JOHN HANCOCK

With the House and Senate focusing on budget-related bills only during their week of overtime, the focus of the rest of the legislative process returned to the man who has to make it all official: Gov. Charlie Crist. The governor began trumpeting a few large bills with ceremonies this week, and he also quietly affixed his name to several others measures.

Crist signed legislation this week that will allow police to pull over motorists who aren’t wearing a seat belt. Since the requirement to wear a seat belt went into effect in Florida, police have only been able to ticket drivers for violations after they’ve pulled them over for something else. But that will change with Crist’s affirmation of legislation (SB 344) allowing primary enforcement, which was the culmination of a multi-year effort led in part by former Rep. Irv Slosberg, whose daughter Dori was killed in a crash.

All along backers said the measure would save lives, which was echoed at the signing ceremony by Crist. But with Crist’s signature making primary seat belt enforcement the law starting June 30, the state will qualify for more than $35.5 million in highway safety money that it has already built into its 2009-2010 budget. The money, which will come from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, will go to the state Department of Transportation.

Another bill signed this week that drew a lot of attention before reaching Crist was the confidential informant bill known as Rachel’s Law. Calling it a foundation and a model for the nation, the parents of Rachel Hoffman watched as Crist signed into law the measure named after their daughter killed a year ago to the day.

Flanked by her grieving parents, Irv Hoffman and Margie Weiss, and solemn lawmakers on the first anniversary of her death, Crist put his name to the measure that sets out stricter guidelines for the use of confidential informants in drug stings and other undercover operations. Backers hope the law, a compromise reached with state law enforcement officials, will prevent at least one future death by requiring police to give potential informants more information before they enlist their services and setting up guidelines for their use.

The ceremony was bittersweet for Hoffman’s parents, who planned to travel back to Tampa to visit her grave following the signing ceremony at the Capitol.

“If we can save one life, just one life, we’re pleased,” a tearful Irv Hoffman said. “It’s the first law in the country to help confidential informants. We made history today. Rachel made history today.”

RUBIO’S RUNNING, WILL CRIST?

Capital television viewers were frequently treated this week to an ad from the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee that assumes Crist will be the Republican Party’s candidate for the open Senate seat in 2010. But to get the nomination, Crist, who said he is considering the race, found out this week he’ll have to go through another Capitol veteran.

While national and Florida Republicans await a decision on the Senate race from Crist, who has said he would not decide until the conclusion of session, former House Speaker Marco Rubio threw his hat in the ring this week. As expected, Rubio, R-Miami and the son of Cuban immigrants, announced that he would seek the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Mel Martinez.

National Republicans have sought to draw Crist, whose popularity has thus far been unblemished by the state’s economic hardships, into the race hoping to retain what is expected to be a prime Democratic target. Crist has led the potential Republican primary field by a wide margin in a string of early polls. But that was not enough to keep the charismatic Rubio on the sidelines.

Still, even in declaring his candidacy, Rubio acknowledged the challenge the self-proclaimed people’s governor could present if he decides he wants to be the people’s senator.

“I’m under no allusions about how difficult this may be,” Rubio said in an video announcement on his Web site. “I know that there are people more famous than I who may enter this race.”

Rubio and his most likely roadblock to the Republican Senate nomination are hardly strangers. Rubio’s ascension to the House speakership in late 2006 coincided with Crist’s move into the Governor’s Mansion in early 2007, though Rubio was widely seen as more in line with former Gov. Jeb Bush’s staunch conservatism than Crist, an unabashed populist.

In their first year together at the helm of state government, Crist vetoed more than $450 million in state spending approved by the Senate and Rubio’s House of Representatives. While their agendas weren’t always the same, they weren’t openly hostile to each other.

But that could certainly change if a primary between them became a fight for the soul of the Republican party. The middle-of-the-road Crist was perhaps the most prominent Republican supporter of President Barack Obama’s federal stimulus package, which was roundly criticized in most quarters of the party nationally and in Florida.

The Republican-controlled Legislature – which though he’s gone still more closely reflects Rubio’s politics than Crist’s – left some stimulus money for unemployment benefits on the table this session, arguing that the requirements to access it would be too onerous when the money was gone.

Even before Rubio formally entered the race, speculation began building that a Crist announcement could come soon, perhaps as early as Monday. In the wake of the adjournment of the session – which he effectively used to deflect the Senate speculation for two months – Crist said that he doesn’t have an announcement yet on whether he’ll run for another term as governor or seek the emptying Senate seat in 2010.

“Got to contemplate over the weekend,” Crist said as he waded through the rotunda Friday.

With a budget passed and session now officially in the books, the rest of the Capital will likely join that contemplation, governor.

STORY OF THE WEEK: With the scheduled conclusion of the 2009 session having come and gone, lawmakers hammered out the lingering details of the $66.5 billion budget and the Seminole gaming compact. And no one did more hammering than Sen. JD Alexander, who represented the Senate in conferencing on both matters.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I think there’s maybe three members of the Legislature you haven’t been conferencing with,” Rep. Bill Galvano said of his negotiating partner on the Seminole gaming compact approved by lawmakers this week.

–END–
05/08/09

SUNRAIL OFFICIALLY RAILROADED WITH SENATE VOTE

By KEITH LAING
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

www.newsserviceflorida.com

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, May 1, 2009……….After rehashing much of Thursday’s contentious debate about the plan that would allow the proposed Orlando commuter rail known as SunRail to be built, the Senate officially slammed the door on the train for the year Friday evening with a 17-23 vote.

A day after unsuccessfully trying to amend an omnibus transportation bill (HB 1021) to allow the Department of Transportation to purchase 61 miles of existing tracks from CSX Corp. to run the train on, train backers attached the plan to another unrelated transportation bill hoping to get it back on track. But after a second day of nearly an hour’s worth of questions from senators about the cost of the project, the liability provisions, the planned route of the train and the plan to re-route freight trains that currently run on the CSX tracks, the Senate left no questions about SunRail’s fate in 2009.

At least one senator said the yay or nay vote was long over due.

“We all know what we’re going to do,” Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, said. “It is time to fish or cut bait.”

Before SunRail’s bait was cut, backers tried to woo the South Florida lawmakers with the promise of funding for the existing Tri-Rail commuter train in South Florida, as they have throughout SunRail’s often tumultuous trip to the Senate floor. But seven senators who represent parts of the three Tri-Rail counties – Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward – voted against the amendment, which co-sponsor Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate, said would raise $180 million for the train.

However, despite Ring’s plea, Sens. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, Nan Rich, D-Weston, Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, Frederica Wilson, D-Miami, Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, and Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, all voted no on the last ditch SunRail amendment.

After the votes were cast, Constantine said he was taken aback by the final tally, especially the South Florida nos.

“I was surprised that they were willing to throw (away) something they’ve been begging for years,” Constantine told reporters after the Senate adjourned. “We wouldn’t have brought it forth if we didn’t think we had the votes. There were some people that we depended on that said if we (added the Tri-Rail funding) would vote for us (that) didn’t.”

But Gelber said after the vote that local concerns about Tri-Rail were superseded by flaws in the SunRail deal. That’s why the 23 senators who coalesced against the train were a diverse group, Gelber said.

“If you looked at the folks who were against this…some people support unions, some don’t,” he said. “Some were Democrats, some were Republicans, some were upstate, some were down, some were in Orlando and some were even in South Florida like me where they wanted to add Tri-Rail as a sweetener. But that wasn’t the point. The point is it was a giveaway to CSX and the liability provision was just contrary to public policy in a very significant way.”

Before the Orlando train was officially parked this year, Villalobos questioned why it was necessary to link Tri-Rail’s funding to the development of SunRail. If the state wanted to give money to Tri-Rail, it could do so in a stand-alone measure, he said.

“So that I understand this correctly, what you’re telling me is in order for South Florida to get $120 million, we need to spend $720 million in the Orlando area,” Villalobos incredulously asked sponsor Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs.

Linking the two train systems was also questioned by Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, who again this year was perhaps SunRail’s biggest opponent.

“Tri-Rail is begging us for money — and they need it and I would like them to have it — but their destiny has been tied up with this project for three years,” Dockery said. “Why do we keep doing this to them?”

During her impassioned nearly 15 minute speech against SunRail, Dockery let it be known that the proposal to allow counties to tack a $2 surcharge onto rental cars to fund Tri-Rail was but one of her concerns.

“I defy you to find anybody in this Legislature who has fought harder for passenger rail than me, but it has to be a good deal,” Dockery said. “I asked FDOT why are we paying so much for this rail, and they said because CSX would walk away. Well you know what? Good. If the taxpayers of the state of Florida are not getting a good deal, then walk away.”

The Friday vote followed two years of debate on the Orlando commuter rail proposal, though backers said as session began that they thought this would be the year the train got actually rolling in the Legislature. Although the funding for the track purchase was already been included in the Department of Transportation’s five-year workplan, the train hinged on legislative approval of the plan’s liability agreement because the freight rail company has tied it to the sale of the track.

The agreement – a “no fault” indemnification agreement that would have the state and CSX each responsible for its own equipment, workers and passengers no matter who causes an accident and third party damage being split – was changed after the Senate balked at an immunity plan last year. Additional hope for SunRail came from the support this year of Gov. Charlie Crist, who mostly stayed above the fray during what was one of the Legislature’s most high profile fights last year, as it was again this year.

But neither the revised liability agreement nor the governor’s support was enough to get the Senate to get on board with the proposed Orlando train, which Constantine said after the vote was likely permanently derailed.

“There were folks that didn’t really want to believe it…(who) kept saying ‘oh you can come back with a new deal,’ but let’s be practical here,” Constantine said. “Do you really think a private corporation with a board of directors that doesn’t need a bailout that were willing to sell their property….is going to come back for this abuse? In one fell swoop, we have potentially lost the one major rail system we have in Florida, Tri-Rail,…we have definitely lost the ability to do SunRail (and) we have sent a very, very clear message…to the federal government that we don’t want rail money.”

–END–
05/01/2009