Going Indy?

Remember how Republicans were in an uproar that Washington Democrats failed to listen to overwhelming taxpaying voter discontent over health care reform? Of course you do!

Every public opinion poll showed that American’s were angry at the out-of-sight, out-of-their-mind, closed-door dealings that eventually ensured the necessary votes to get the legislation passed through the Senate. It gave cause for coast-to-coast protests and a level of social unrest not seen since the Viet Nam War. There have been tints of racism, a clash of the classes and has ultimately taxed the financial future of the young and healthy against the old and infirm.

Americans continue to demonstrate their displeasure at the tactics that led to what will undoubtedly become the largest entitlement program in the history of United States, more so than Social Security and Medicare, both of which will have to be overhauled by raising the eligibility age and reducing current levels of benefits.

As if taken from the same playbook used by the U.S. Congress, the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) sly-dogged a piece of legislation of its own through the Florida Senate that would have made it possible to fire teachers for students’ failing grades, nullifying their earnings potential with decertification, leaving them with little means to repay their student loans and ruining their chosen careers.

The ‘tenure bill’ would have required local school districts to set aside 5 percent of their available funds to cover merit pay, test development and related administrative expenses. There would have been forced participation in the program or resulted in the loss of the funds entirely. It reminds me of the medical coverage ‘option’ as mandated by the federal health care bill.

It’s as though the RPOF expected fellow-Republican Governor Charlie Crist would have done an ‘Obama’ and hailed the bill as a triumph for educators, students, taxpayers, etc. But, contrary to right wing Republican assumptions, Charlie is not a mirror image of Obama’s political makeup. Thank you very much, Charlie.

Speaking of political motives, House Majority Leader Adam Hasner (R-Delray Beach) said, “The governor would still veto it if he thought it would help him get elected.” He added, “The veto was poll-driven, not policy-driven.” And yet, he and every other Republican would have praised President Obama if he had heeded public opinion polls. Ergo, surveys can paint a Mona Lisa smiling or picture a Whoopi Goldberg poised for discharge.
And speaking of discharging, the tenure bill was ballyhooed by former Florida House Member John Thrasher (1992-2000 and House Speaker 1998-2000) who, in 2001, became a partner at Southern Strategy, a lobbyist firm that represented not one, but two, companies that offer educational testing services, including end-of-course assessments tests not unlike those that would have been used to evaluate teacher assessments as provided by Senate Bill 6, the tenure bill, that was introduced by none other than Thrasher himself on March 1.

Thrasher, newly elected Senator from District 8, and dutifully elected Chairman of the Florida Republican Party on February 21, said of a possible conflict of interest, “I never had any connection to (the testing companies). I was bought out last May and don’t even have any connection with them anymore.”

In 2009, Thrasher reported a buyout income of more than $1.5 million from Southern Strategy.

Coming off the heels of the Governor’s veto of HB 1207, which would have created ‘leadership funds’ that could have allowed unlimited ‘soft money’ political contributions, the RPOF has nailed Crist as a Judas to their ultra-conservative edicts. The political crucifixion of Crist has thusly been decreed by the pompous pilots of the Republican Party.

Going as far back as last June, following an early endorsement of Charlie Crist by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said, “There is no question Marco Rubio will be a big part of the Republican Party’s future… Marco Rubio needs to be a big part of the Republican Party’s present.”

Just this past week, Rob Jesmer, executive director of the NRSC, released the statement, “We believe there is zero chance Governor Crist continues running in the Republican primary. It [is] our view that if Governor Crist believes he cannot win a primary then the proper course of action is he drop out of the race and wait for another day.”

Wait for another day? Unlike many other candidates, Charlie Crist is no political patsy to a Republican Party that is still in denial of the historic losses in the 2008 elections, the very reason it remains constrained as the party of ‘no’, acting much like a child in the midst of a temper tantrum, known in psychiatry as Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD).

Charlie Crist need not ‘wait for another day’ to confirm that he is who he is – a free and willfully independent decision maker.

The Pace of the Senate Race

Governor Charlie Crist will never successfully overcome the political attacks wrought upon him from the conservative right for his act of enthusiasm at accepting Florida’s share of President Obama’s stimulus package. It will haunt his senatorial campaign up until the very last negative political advertisement is aired on Primary Election Day, August 24. It is the one single act that has propelled Marco Rubio to prominence among state Republicans.

The criticism of Crist comes from fiscal conservatives who sure do talk up a good storm, but that’s all it is… talk. Fiscal responsibility is billed as the best idea ever, especially for out-of-office opposition hopefuls. But the track record of the past decade proves that from any political perspective it is more about rhetoric than resolution.

The thing is, at one time or another, every politician is self-serving themselves a tasty heaping of pork dressing, topped with a steady flow of dollars from the gravy boat of taxpayer-provided funds. The problem is, when one of the pack of political piglets feeds from the goody trough, others follow suit and there goes the whole pot of gruel. And fiscal responsibility remains an elusive fortune.

Unfortunately, being fiscally conservative at a time when vast numbers of workers have been unemployed for months, or years, during this recession that just won’t quit could endanger the political survival of the candidate.

Consider taxpayer’s lament if they had been denied access to their fair share of the President’s $787 billion stimulus package. There certainly were no grievances expressed when the Republican-controlled legislature utilized more than $15 billion in stimulus funds to help fill the gaps of lost revenues. Still, they had to vote for a number of tax increases to balance the state budget. And yet, Crist is harshly criticized.

Are Florida’s fiscally responsible conservatives also critical of the $728.9M in education funds that the Obama administration released to the state this past week, some of which would have run out next year? This is on top of the $3.7B in education funds Florida already received from the original stimulus package. What of Crist’s solicitation for a portion of the $4.3B Race to the Top Fund? I suppose fiscal responsibility would dictate denial of accepting these benefits for the good of…?

So, Charlie Crist’s gotten a bum deal out being socially responsible for looking out for the well-being of recession-weary Florida residents. The timing of this act of what was deemed treasonous to the conservative right proved to be the perfect queue for Marco Rubio to make a grand entrance into the political foray of the Senate race. It’s not as though he hadn’t been primed for the position while serving his term as Speaker of the House.

Although Rubio has considerably less in campaign funds ($2 million) than presumed Democratic candidate Kendrick Meeks ($3.4 million) and Governor Crist ($8 million), interest in his senatorial bid has yet to reach its peak. His electioneering earnings potential among supporters has yet to be fully realized.

Although Jeb Bush has yet to give his direct support for either candidate, his sons George P. and Jeb, Jr. having issued endorsements and held fundraisers for the Rubio campaign. It seems ‘the plan’ now is for Jeb to make an official announcement during the final weeks leading up to the primary election, which would supposedly be a slam-n-dunk victory for Rubio. Still, speculation has it that the former governor may make an endorsement of his own timing at the Pasco County Republican Party’s Reagan Day Dinner on May 7, an event at which he will be a featured guest speaker.

Since he no longer holds public office, the daily routine of Rubio is concentrated on campaigning with no consequences of making critical policy decisions. This thought was best expressed by Governor Crist, “I don’t have the luxury of going around the state and politicking all day. I’m going to do my job.”

The most bewildering aspect of the Florida senate race is that, while Marco Rubio is acting the part of a Tea Party hero, he has aligned himself so closely to the Republican Party, and the Republican Party has embraced him so dearly that, as I had already suspected, the Tea Party is the Republican Party is the Tea Party…
And yet, it’s Crist who has hinted at running for the senate as an independent candidate. Go figure – Charlie Crist non-partisan populist politician. It just might meet voter appeal.

At this point in the election process, it would pointless to comment on approval ratings and such, what with double digit uncertainty among all constituency groups. And what with the Republican Party in disarray, who knows, maybe Kendrick Meeks will make the most of the in-squabbling and do some poll vaulting of his own.