Saving Their Own Jobs Dominated GOP Agenda In Tally
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Gov. Rick Scott told the Jacksonville Times Union late Saturday he would veto anything in the state budget that doesn’t create jobs.
Don’t waste time, Rick. Just veto the whole budget.
Cloistered in their own Tallahassee Fantasyland for the past 60 days, House and Senate Republicans lost site of the recession. The only jobs they were concerned with were their own.
Republican legislators will be running in new districts in 2012. No matter what reapportionment tricks they pull, they still need to add voters and readjust the boundaries.
Worried that they could face a Tea Party opponent in the primary, GOP lawmakers ignored average Floridians while boosting their conservative credentials. They spent the session feeding red meat to the Republican far-right.
They leaned so far to the right I thought the Capitol would slide down Adams Street!
Abortion, gun rights, tort reform, teacher tenure, drug testing welfare recipients and state aid to religious organizations took up hours of debate.
Meanwhile, where are the jobs?
Republicans say they did create jobs. By gutting growth controls and cutting business taxes.
Calling it job creation is pure GOP spin. The real goal was to gin up campaign contributions from the development industry and big business. And keep Republican incumbents in office.
This state’s development industry did quite well for decades under the old growth rules. The business taxes are among the lowest in the nation.
Not one person will get a job because of this servility to big business special interests.
In all, the Legislature cut almost $4 billion from the state budget.
But, as Fred Grimm points out in Sunday’s Miami Herald, senators and House members did manage to bury tens of millions to fight fair reapportionment. They want to preserve their right to gerrymander.
That also about keeping their jobs.
Most of that money will go towards legal fees to contest the constitutional amendments passed last year. Grimm says the figure could be as high as $30 million at the same time legislators are helping lay off state workers.
The downtown Fort Lauderdale firm of Tripp Scott home to former County Commissioner and Senate President Jim Scott and local GOP power Ed Pozzuoli— earned $53,000 from the Senate. That was a figure from early January and should grow dramatically if the firm keeps the contract.
Hooray! Finally something to feel good about from the session. After all, Tripp Scott’s reapportionment money may be the only gift Broward got from the Legislature’s just completed session.
May 7th, 2011 at 7:13 pm
Despite your lies, Nevins, our hordes of truth will wipe the liberals away in 2012.
May 7th, 2011 at 7:32 pm
There will be tremendous kickback on this. Even the dummies who voted for these (R)otten legislators are having buyers remorse. They have given their millionaire backers tax breaks on the backs of children, the elderly, state workers, teachers, firemen and police officers. This will change in 2012
May 7th, 2011 at 8:03 pm
Buddy,
I heard from someone you are a registered Republican. Is that true?
May 7th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
Bring on the whores of truth. I’m hungry for a good mud wrestle.
May 7th, 2011 at 10:11 pm
Jesus was a Democrat and I’ll tell you why.
He wanted us to care for the poor and the sick. You cannot turn away from a sick child and be a follower of Jesus. Republicans want us to do that.
He wanted us to not be selfish, to give freely to others, to enjoy being generous, especially that the rich should do these things for others. Republicans are all about tax breaks for rich people that don’t need them even while the poor and the sick live more sad lives. You cannot support those things if you are a follower of Jesus.
He wanted us to not be selfish. You cannot want more and more for yourself while giving less and less to others and be a follower of Jesus.
He was more preached love and understanding. He commanded us not to be hateful to others. He wanted us to have hope not fear and to not be so tied to the things of this world but to the rewards of the next which we earn here on earth. Republicans today do none of these things. They cannot be followers of Jesus.
Republicans say they are the party of Jesus but they are not. Democrats are far from perfect. But they are closer to the teachings of Jesus, that is for sure.
God so loved us that he sent his only begotten son to be murdered so that we could be saved. Do you think he did that so that the rich could let the poor live in the mud, or so that we would be grateful and show some fraction of that love and mercy to others? Which of those two do you think pleases Jesus and God more?
Oh yes. Jesus was a Democrat.
May 8th, 2011 at 3:59 am
It doesn’t matter how you are registered. It’s what you believe in and how you vote. (It matters more that you ARE registered.)
May 8th, 2011 at 5:33 pm
Government is no longer about serving the people. It has become making as much money as you can and building your kingdom. It’s disgusting. The republicans should be ashamed of themselves.
May 11th, 2011 at 9:15 am
The me generation mantra of getting yourself a larger piece of the pie irrespective of the impact to society is a bankrupt and flawed philosopy. To be successful we need think about growing the pie not taking slices out of it. We need to think from the center of the pie out and not from the edges inward.
You know that a party is in power too long when it no longer connects with the center. It happens to Democrats and Republicans. They never learn from history and so they are damned to repeat it. This session was not about balancing a budget it was about idiological differences that would not be negotiated but instead imposed by the majority upon all.
Experience shows that this brand of leadership never lasts long. Change in direction is sure to follow.