Lawson Calls Crist to Task on Stimulus

Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson (D-Tallahassee) on Tuesday called on the Chairman of the powerful Senate Policy and Steering Committee on Ways and Means to bypass a lengthy appropriations process and move instead to authorize immediate approval of stimulus funds for shovel ready transportation projects.

He also sharply criticized the apparent paralysis of the governor to create a federally-mandated website outlining the projects for both job seekers and job bidders, and the inability of the state transportation agency to move the proposed road projects from the draft stage to a final product.

“It has come to my attention that the federal stimulus money may be in jeopardy of speedily reaching those Floridians desperately in need of an economic life raft,” wrote Lawson in a letter to Chairman J. D. Alexander. “There appear to be three impediments to jumpstarting our economy via the stimulus package.”

According to Lawson, the first obstacle is the governor’s office, which has not followed the lead of Georgia or Alabama or any of the 26 states which have their websites up and running. “How are potential job seekers or potential job bidders supposed to know what’s available without the transparency the governor once promised? His office’s assertion that the website “is coming soon” is little consolation to those floundering in cyber silence,” Lawson noted.

The second is the perceived foot-dragging by the Florida Department of Transportation which, according to its own website, has not moved any of the proposed projects from the draft stage first outlined in early December. “Has nothing changed since then?” Lawson asked. “Is the agency prepared to explain why nothing more concrete has emerged to put tens of thousands of unemployed Floridians back to work?”

Lawson noted that while the Legislature may be unable to control the speed with which the governor and his agency move the stimulus plans forward, it does have the power to expedite approval of the road projects. It also has the power to remove potential political pitfalls.

“I don’t believe it is necessary to detail for you the concerns I have about legislative meddling in something so crucial to Florida’s recovery and her families’ survival. You and I are far too familiar with the political posturing and machinations that can occur when billions of dollars are at stake and individual lawmakers are deciding where that money is to go. Manipulation of those funds for political purposes is much too tempting, and I fear for the little guy when the big guys are calling the shots,” Lawson wrote.

“I respectfully request that rather than through a special spending bill, we authorize the Legislative Budget Commission, once the DOT submits a project request, to immediately release the necessary funds in order to get them moving.

“I think you will agree that with unemployment close to 9 percent, the last thing our job seekers want to hear is government bureaucracy impeding their ability to earn a living. AWI’s assertion that they’re ‘hoping it will be this year’ just doesn’t cut it.

“Floridians lining up for jobs are more than ready to don the shovels and get back to work. The power is in our hands to help them get there more quickly.”

From the Blogs

The latest stories from the Florida blogs...

Fried Gator: Add another name to the list of corrupt Republicans in Tallahassee: Charlie Dean

Fried Gator: Pick a title: Rivera calls out Kottkamp, or Rivera follows activists, or Pot calls Kettle black

Fried Gator: Charlie Crist is corrupt, yep I said it

Blast Off!: Today's Daily Schadenfreude: Jeff Kottkamp

Pushing Rope: 2 - 2 = 4 In Crist's World

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Fried Gator: Liveblogging Meet the Press with Charlie Crist

Fried Gator: As Promised: Thoughts on the 2010 Agriculture Commissioner Race

Fried Gator: Charlie Crist Releases His Budget

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Kottkamp and Crist Running Space Florida Into the Ground

Good thing superhero Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp is on the case:

Aerospace-industry leaders plan to tell Florida legislators today that unless some miracle takes place to breathe new life into the space business at Cape Canaveral, the state's most skilled workers will almost certainly be leaving in droves to take jobs in Alabama.

Thousands of top engineers are needed by 2011 at the Missile Defense Agency, an arm of the Pentagon in charge of developing an integrated U.S. missile-defense system for the country. The agency is moving its operations from its current home in northern Virginia to Huntsville, Ala.

Already NASA's shuttle contractor, United Space Alliance, is negotiating with the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce to find work for many space-shuttle engineers when the shuttle program ends 18 months from now.

The brain drain will be a huge blow to Florida and especially Brevard County, which is already braced for the hardship that the end of the shuttle program will bring to the area. At least 3,500 workers at Kennedy Space Center are in line to lose their jobs by the end of next year.

Without the tireless efforts and endless wasteful spending on behalf of Kottkamp, Florida's space industry might be in trouble.

Livetweeting the State of the State

I personally missed most of the State of the State address earlier. Don't have TV or full Internet access until tomorrow, so I couldn't check it out. I'll have a response tomorrow, but I did follow a number of people on Twitter who were responding to the speech as it went on. This is a new thing in Florida politics to have a wide range of people responding to the speech in real-time. We had a wide range of people from different parts of the political sphere tweeting while the governor spoke. Here's how they did.

@steveschale...5 tweets, 2 @ replies, no tags, best: "Does Crist just make up statistics?"

@eric_jotkoff...11 tweets, 0 @ replies, no tags, best: "Crist: 'Put solutions above credit' funny since Crist always does nothing then holds a presser taking credit for it"

@DanGelber...3 tweets, 0 @ replies, good tags, best: "Final on SOTS. Lofty, bipartisan but zero specifics on how fund public schools in peril. Ignores next weeks loss of revenue!"

@StateOfSunshine...10 tweets, 4 @ replies, good tags, best: "Sen. Lawson bemoaning tax breaks for small businesses and investors - calling them 'well heeled special interests.'"

@friedgator...2 tweets, 0 @ replies, no tags, best: "That speech by charlie was terrible, looks like he's given up and running for Senate. Read the liveblog here: http://bit.ly/SZj0Y"

That's who I found that followed the State of the State live. Did I miss anyone?

And this gets me thinking, we really need to come up with a hash tag for Florida Progressives on Twitter. Suggestions?

Conservatives have been using Twitter more at the national level. I've wondered why for a while. Someone suggested it was because all conservative slogans can fit into 140 characters or less. I think it may have something to do with that and the fact that the average liberal is a little too much in love with his or her solutions and thoughts that they can't narrow it down to that small an amount of space.

What Does Jeff Kottkamp Do?

Apparently, it costs a lot to help him travel around and to keep him safe (Sun-Sentinel):

A personal chauffeur and bodyguard, multiple airplanes and three sport utility vehicles stationed around the state are all part of an elaborate network used in transporting Florida's lieutenant governor, Jeff Kottkamp.

Records obtained by the Sun Sentinel this week show that Kottkamp, criticized for his frequent use of the state's executive aircraft fleet, also has flown extensively on a plane owned by the Florida Highway Patrol, which is charged with protecting the lieutenant governor.

On the ground, the highway patrol drives Kottkamp around in three SUVs purchased for more than $80,000 after he took office in January 2007. One is based in Fort Myers, where Kottkamp has a home, another in Tallahassee and the third in Central Florida.

The total tab for Kottkamp's travel and protection for his first two years in office: more than $700,000.

Apparently, in addition to editing progressive wikis, the Lt. governor is in charge of Space Florida. He apparently runs Space Florida by taking a lot of time off. Heck of a job, Jeffie.

Crist Opposed to Calypso

I agree with him on this one. Calypso has got to be one of the worst forms of music to invade our state. We really need to ban this mild, fake version of ...

What?

It's a huge undersea natural gas facility that could've possibly caused severe environmental damage to the state? Crist wasn't talking about the musical style? Oh, nevermind.

I'm still opposed, though.

Gov. Charlie Crist to unveil at least 4 tax-cut proposals

BY MARC CAPUTO AND STEVE BOUSQUET

Property taxes in Florida have not dropped ''like a rock'' as Gov. Charlie Crist said they would, but he's going to keep trying to make good on a promise made two years ago.

The Republican governor's goals for the spring lawmaking session include no fewer than four separate tax proposals that would go before voters on the 2010 ballot, when Crist himself would be seeking voters' favor as a candidate for reelection as governor or for the U.S. Senate.

The Florida Republican motto: "If at first you fail -- fail, fail again."