Florida News - Oct 20-31, 2002

NOTE - 
If the link to the on-line articles has changed, search the paper's archive section by date and title - i.e. Sometimes Palm Beach Post links are only good for the day posted, and there is a fee to access archived articles. 

October 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20

10/31/02

Much of the business of state government has gone private
Bush's push to privatize services will have an impact long after he leaves office. While some moves have drawn praise, others have wound up in court.

GOP using subtle threats for funds, Democrats find-- Bush is hardly the first governor, Republican or Democrat, to dominate a state's political fund-raising. But many Florida Democrats say his and his allies' tactics are unusually blunt. Republicans in the governor's administration and the Legislature, they say, have warned prospective donors who have business with the state to make sure they give much more to Republicans than to Democrats.- 
Democrats still get money from organized labor and trial lawyers, but so far this year the state GOP has raised $37.8 million to the Democrats' $11 million.- 
Martha Barnett, former president of the American Bar Association and a partner in McBride's law firm, Holland & Knight, said her efforts to raise money for McBride ran into repeated roadblocks. "Any number of people I have called ... have told me they would like to, but they had been given a strong message that if their name shows up on any list, they should worry whether they will continue to get state work," she said.

Groups will help votes be counted-- A nonpartisan civil-rights group has teamed up with activists with the goal of ensuring that all Florida votes are counted on Election Day.-- 
The People for the American Way Foundation has launched a project called "election protection," consisting of a team of volunteers who will monitor polls and answer voters' legal questions in the event of problems.

Black vote could help McBride; Bush hopes to chip away
TALLAHASSEE — Bill McBride is hoping for a large turnout among black voters. Gov. Jeb Bush is hoping fewer of them vote Democratic than in years past. Bush led a news conference with several black community and church leaders Wednesday in Miami while McBride spoke to a standing room only crowd at New Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jacksonville. In what is shaping up to be a close race, it's clear black voters could play an important role in election results. Analysts say if black turnout is similar to the 2000 presidential election, McBride could win.

Poll shows Gov. Jeb Bush gains lead over Bill McBride
MIAMI — Gov. Jeb Bush has built a lead over Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride less than a week before Tuesday's election, a poll published Wednesday showed. A poll conducted Oct. 28-29 by the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., showed Bush ahead of McBride by 51 percent to 43 percent, with 5 percent of the 800 registered voters interviewed undecided.

Poll shows Bush with open road to victory-- TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush is poised for re- election Tuesday, barring a dramatic turn of events or an extraordinary outpouring of Democratic voters for Bill McBride, a new statewide survey shows.- 
The governor leads the challenger 51 percent to 43 percent in the final week of the race, according to the telephone poll of likely voters conducted for the Orlando Sentinel, WESH/NewsChannel 2 and other Florida media.-
Bush's advantage is overwhelming in most parts of the state, the poll shows. The independent-minded "swing voters" critical to any electoral victory in Florida are supporting the governor, and even one in five Democrats supports Bush

Five points up, five days to go
To be five points ahead five days before the gubernatorial election is to draw a veritable pantheon of Republican Party stars to campaign by your side and sing your praises, as Gov. Jeb Bush has this week. 

Bush leads in Mason- Dixon poll
Gov. Jeb Bush is right back where he was on the eve of his election four years ago, a new poll indicated Wednesday. As he and Democrat Bill McBride head into a nonstop long weekend of campaigning, the governor scored a lead of 51 percent to 43 percent in a Mason-Dixon Florida Poll.

Haitians' outrage spills into Bush stop
MIAMI -- The motorcade slipped past barricades and protesters, pulling up behind a little green building. Gov. Jeb Bush, accustomed to wading through adoring crowds, slipped in a back entrance.-- 
It wasn't supposed to happen this way

Governor pressed to 'call brother' for help
Tensions over U.S. treatment of Haitian refugees spilled into the governor's race Wednesday when U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek confronted Gov. Jeb Bush, demanding that he wield his sibling power to free from detention 235 refugees.

Source of U.S. policy on Haitian migrants a well-kept secret
WASHINGTON - Ten months after it was put into effect, the origin
of the policy of incarcerating Haitians who arrive on Florida shores seeking political asylum remains a mystery that even veteran legislators apparently can't solve.
Critics decry the policy as discriminatory, saying that no other nationality is singled out and jailed. But where the policy came from within the Bush administration -- or even who established it -- remains unknown.

END THE DOUBLE STANDARD
Packed into a rickety 50-foot boat, more than 200 Haitians beached on Rickenbacker Causeway Tuesday -- their heart-wrenching desperation in plain view on national TV. The Bush administration must offer the Haitians a fair chance to plead their cases to stay. This isn't asking for special treatment, only an appeal for a fair chance to pursue their cases.

Tenacious lawmaker thorn in Bush's side
By S.V. Date, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Gov. Jeb Bush is white, and attended an elite private school in Massachusetts. State Sen. Kendrick Meek is black and graduated from the public Miami Springs High School. Bush is a millionaire. Meek ranks among the poorest of 160 state legislators. Bush and Meek. Jeb and Anti- Jeb.

Budget problems are likely, no matter who is governor
Set aside for the moment who your choice for governor is.

Election 2002: Bush endorsements
Here are excerpts from newspaper endorsements for Jeb Bush in the gubernatorial race.

Election 2002: McBride endorsements
Here are excerpts from newspaper endorsements for Bill McBride in the gubernatorial race.

Where Bush and McBride stand on education issues

FBI looks into misleading voter calls
ORLANDO — An FBI agent has interviewed Florida Democratic chairman Bob Poe about a phone call he received urging him to cast his absentee ballot days after the Nov. 5 election. Poe said Wednesday that an agent from the FBI's Orlando office interviewed him by phone for about 15 minutes on Tuesday about the call he received late last week from a man purporting to be with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride's campaign.

Florida draws most national hard money from GOP
WASHINGTON — Florida, where presidential brother Jeb Bush is trying to win re-election as governor, has drawn the most money from the national GOP of any state this election, while the Democratic Party has taken aim at President Bush's home state of Texas, a study released Wednesday shows. The Federal Election Commission analysis also found the Republican Party's national fund-raising committees with a more than 2-to-1 advantage over the national Democratic committees in "hard money," limited contributions the parties can spend directly on candidates.

Nelson for agriculture
Sentinel position: David Nelson would better represent Florida in the agriculture post.

Ag candidate criticizes land deal
The wife of New York Gov. George Pataki is an investor in the 1,410-acre deal.- A $15 million state land purchase meant to help the Loxahatchee River is a "swindle" that would enrich the wife of New York Gov. George Pataki, Florida agriculture commissioner candidate David Nelson charged Wednesday.
"This is just another example of special-interest politics," said Nelson, who issued a news release reciting information from a recent article in The Village Voice.

Bronson Spends; Nelson Contends
TALLAHASSEE - Charles Bronson is finding out that money can't buy you love - or an election. Bronson, appointed last year as commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, is beloved by Florida farmers and ranchers. But he remains virtually unknown to most state ...

Bronson has tough challenge in Nelson
The race for Florida commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services has quietly become one of the most curious, hotly-contested statewide elections this fall.

Rhea Chiles, consumer group support class-size measure
TALLAHASSEE — Rhea Chiles, the widow of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles and a longtime advocate for social services and groups representing seniors and retirees, endorsed the class-size ballot measure on Wednesday. Budd Bell, a veteran advocate for the Clearinghouse on Human Services, also backed Amendment 9, as did the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans and the Florida Consumer Action Network.

Voters will have say on open records, meetings
A year after state lawmakers launched the strongest assault yet on Florida's constitutional guarantee to an open government, voters are being asked to make it harder than ever to seal public records or close public meetings.

State auditor recommends further election reforms
TALLAHASSEE — The state should take a stronger role in voter and poll-worker education to avoid problems like those experienced in the September primary, an auditing agency said Wednesday. The elections division should identify options for improving the effectiveness of education programs and monitor counties' processes for determining voter eligibility, said the report from the state Office of Program Policy Analysis and Governmental Accountability. The report noted the problems in Broward and Miami- Dade counties Sept. 10 when some precincts did not open on time, some voting machines failed to operate and there was an insufficient supply of ballots.

Long delays likely at polls
A ballot larded with election contests, judicial retentions, county questions and constitutional amendments could produce long delays at the polls Tuesday even if the new voting machines work perfectly, according to local and national experts.

State attorney probes ballots
A suspected ballot-stuffing scheme aimed at Hispanics prompted Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar to launch an absentee-ballot fraud investigation Wednesday.

Bush centralizes governor's power
TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush manages the nation's fourth-largest state a little like Bill Gates manages Microsoft -- he wants all systems to evolve around his concept and he uses his computer finesse to separate him from the opposition.
The 49-year-old governor has moved mountains in state policy by his strict adherence to a tough management style that stays focused, solicits broad input, and punishes public dissent. It helped that he had a Republican-led legislature to enact his lengthy agenda.

McBride a consensus-builder
Bill McBride says he would like to think of himself as a manager who seeks consensus.

Graham sees uphill task on universities' overhaul
Bob Graham is gambling he can persuade voters to dismantle the overhaul of the public universities system.

Postage goof returns ballots to Seminole absentee voters
Confused Seminole County voters are mailing their absentee ballots without enough stamps, resulting in postal officials stamping them "Return to Sender" a week before Election Day.

Oviedo sues, says Web site intercepts council e- mails - SANFORD -- Oviedo sued the founder of a government watchdog group this week, accusing the organization of intercepting e-mails intended for City Council members.- 
Oviedo CANDOR, or Citizens and Neighbors Deserve Openness & Responsibility, launched a Web site Oct. 1 that includes e-mail addresses for each City Council member.- 
The lawsuit states that CANDOR has no authority to set up such addresses and should be barred from doing so. Also, because e-mail to elected officials is considered public record, CANDOR is interfering with the collection and maintenance of public records, the suit states.

Health costs raise the ire of seniors, HMOs
With insurance companies announcing this week that Medicare HMO members will face major increases in out-of-pocket costs next year, desperate seniors are clamoring for help to Washington politicians. So are the health plans.

Refugees: Graham, Nelson seek change in Haitian refugee treatment
WASHINGTON — Four months before 200 Haitians came ashore near Miami to seek asylum in the United States on Tuesday, Florida's senators began a public campaign to reverse a Bush administration policy that treats Haitians differently from any other asylum seeker. At issue is an unwritten policy initiated in December that calls for the imprisonment of Haitian asylum seekers until their court hearing. Other asylum seekers are released to live freely in the United States until their court dates.

Meek urges Gov. Bush to ask brother to free jailed Haitians
MIAMI — A black congresswoman pressed Florida Gov. Jeb Bush Wednesday to ask his brother, President Bush, to order the release of 211 Haitian migrants captured as they waded ashore on national television, calling their detention discriminatory. U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek confronted Bush, who is fighting for re-election, during a campaign stop where he accepted the endorsement of some local blacks. The Miami Democrat told Bush the Haitians should be treated like Cuban migrants. "All you have to do is call — the wet foot-dry foot policy would take effect," Meek said, referring to a policy that specifically allows Cuban migrants to remain in the United States permanently if they reach land, while those intercepted at sea are usually returned.

Medical students won't face charges in I-75 terror scare
Florida authorities will not file charges against three medical students involved in a terror scare on Alligator Alley last month that ended with their release 17 hours after they were detained. Florida Department of Law Enforcement spokesman Larry Long said the three — Kambiz Butt, 25; Ayman Gheith, 27; and Omar Choudhary, 23 — won't face charges because "there is nothing to charge them with."

Sierra Club settles litigation against developer
ST. AUGUSTINE — The Sierra Club has settled litigation seeking to halt the construction of Nocatee, a 15,000- acre development in northeast Florida. Specific details of the agreement, announced jointly Tuesday by Sierra Club and development officials, will remain sealed. Identical statements released by the club and Nocatee said the agreement "will benefit the environment and the long-range quality of life" in St. Johns County and the area.

Builders in rush to get permits - For the average 2,000-square-foot home, the road impact fee increases from $2,433 to $5,113. -- The cost of housing in Collier County is going up few more thousand dollars Friday. To beat the deadline and save enough money to pay for, say, an affordable kitchen appliance package including dishwasher, microwave oven, stove and refrigerator, builders are making a run on building permits.

Proposals to settle Collier rural growth plan challenges rebuffed
Landowners pleaded during a mediation session Wednesday that they deserved a break from a new plan for rural growth in Collier County, but they didn't get very far. Collier County representatives, backed by the state Department of Community Affairs and environmental groups, rebuffed proposals to settle challenges the landowners filed in September to the new plan.

Gulf Breeze council defers major talks on Florida Water
GULF BREEZE — City officials in this Panhandle community may have gotten a taste of criticism to come Wednesday as they continue their quest to buy the state's largest private water utility with holdings on Marco Island.

The right to counsel
A federal court of appeals in Richmond, Va., is hearing for the third time the case of whether Yaser Esam Hamdi should be allowed to see a lawyer, in this case a federal public defender. A federal district judge said he should. Hamdi, 22, a Saudi who served briefly with the Taliban, was a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay until interrogators found that he had been born in Louisiana and could plausibly claim American citizenship.

Inside the First Amendment: Respecting the rights of campus newspapers
The administrators at Governors State University must have watched one too many old newspaper movies. "Stop the presses" was a shout by crusty old newspaper editors when big news broke. It wasn't intended as a rallying cry for college administrators eager to cut off student expression. Next month, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is to hear arguments in a case with the potential to undercut First Amendment freedoms on college campuses.

Maureen Dowd: Rummy runs rampant
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld fired off a memo last week revoking the longstanding title "CINC," or "commander in chief," bestowed on Tommy Franks and the cadre of other four-star military chieftains who plan and fight American wars around the world. He's been on a rampage for months about top generals and admirals getting to call themselves commander in chief. Himself, as Rummy is known behind his back at the Pentagon, is not being a total tyrant.

10/30/02

DOE fails to conduct audits
The internal watchdogs who make sure the Florida Department of Education is complying with state law and spending taxpayer dollars efficiently were too overwhelmed to do their jobs last year, state auditors said Tuesday.

As you vote, remember Legislature's greatest hits
This morning, let's do precisely what many members of the Florida Legislature hope that we will not do. Let's remember some of what the Florida Legislature did to us in its annual session last spring.  The reason your state House member and your state senator do not want you to remember is that the election is Tuesday.  Your legislator instead wants you to think only of all that stuff he or she has been sending you in the mail more recently. It probably says something like, "Fighting for You."  Just remember:

Relentless growth alarms Floridians, becomes major campaign issue
Rows of barrel-tiled roofs march across the landscape. Earth-moving equipment lumbers through old farm fields, building houses for the thousands of newcomers arriving each year for sunshine and golf. 
Gov. Jeb Bush, a former Miami developer, said the arrival of thousands of newcomers each year boosts the state's economy. But he said the state can do a better job of managing growth. He has signed bills to link local development decisions to schools and water supplies. And his Department of Community Affairs stepped in to restrict development in Collier County. But his commission on reforming growth-management laws saw most of its proposals die in the Legislature, and environmentalists blame Bush for failing use his clout to prevent that.
Democratic challenger Bill McBride has made the need to control growth an important part of his pitch to voters. In a speech on environment issues delivered on the Manatee River, he said the state's "growth as usual" must come to an end. The state must stop developers from continuing to pave over farms and pastures, he said. Instead, the state must direct future development into areas that already have the infrastructure to support it.

After two foul-ups, election system hopes to get it right
The hanging chads and the butterfly ballots are long gone, but there is fear across Florida that at this time next week, everyone will be laughing at the state's election system again. "I think there are going to be some glitches," sighed Henry Callahan, a Fort Lauderdale business consultant. "It's too soon for there to be no glitches."

Bush Ads Hammer McBride In Stretch
TAMPA - As Election Day nears, Gov. Jeb Bush is seeking to bury challenger Bill McBride under a landslide of negative advertising, some of it distorting McBride's career and positions on issues. ...

Congressman says feds should investigate misleading voter calls
TALLAHASSEE — A Michigan congressman asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate who called the chairman of the Florida Democratic Party and urged him to vote — after the election. Florida Democratic Party Chairman Bob Poe said he received a call Friday from someone who apparently didn't know his position reminding him to cast his absentee ballot Nov. 10 — five days after Election Day.

Justice Department will send election monitors to Duval
JACKSONVILLE — The U.S. Justice Department will send civil rights monitors to Duval County for next week's general election, officials said Tuesday. The move adds Duval to the list of four other Florida counties targeted for federal monitoring, Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez said. Broward, Miami- Dade, Orange and Osceola are the others.

McCain lauds 1 Bush, raps other
The Arizona senator criticizes President Bush's policies during campaign appearances for the governor.

McCain is a little too blunt for Bush
U.S. Sen. John McCain flew to Florida on Tuesday to inspire his fellow war veterans to back Gov. Jeb Bush's reelection, but a little bit of the Arizona lawmaker's famed straight talk took the edge off the governor's finely honed message.

Blacks: It's all about beating Jeb Bush
For Bill McBride to win, it could all come down to the black vote.

McBride goes on offensive -- Bush hammers him on taxes
Democratic candidate Bill McBride went on the attack Tuesday in the governor's race, saying Gov. Jeb Bush has demeaned the office with campaign charges and failed to lead on critical issues from schools to jobs and health care.

He's A Nice Guy. No He's Not. Yes He Is. No He's Not! - DANIEL RUTH - "Chaos reigned through the re- election campaign of the governor, Jeb!, in the wake of his opponent's..."

Man on a mission, but going it alone
Gubernatorial hopeful Bob Kunst, an independent and universally ignored, brings his campaign to Tampa. He predicts an upset.

Elders' advocate backs class size cut
He says Gov. Bush is trying to pit seniors against students, and it won't work.

Crist attack ad draws an angry reply from Dyer
Less than a week after chastising his opponent for "going negative," Republican attorney general candidate Charlie Crist launched a television commercial accusing Democratic state Sen. Buddy Dyer of helping criminals and corporations instead of consumers.

Republican candidate lands Democratic backing
TALLAHASSEE — Several top Democrats, including a former governor, two former House speakers and several former state lawmakers endorsed Republican Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson on Tuesday.

Republican Milligan endorses Democrat Butterworth for Senate
FORT LAUDERDALE — Outgoing Republican Comptroller Robert Milligan endorsed Democratic Attorney General Bob Butterworth on Tuesday in his race for a state Senate seat, saying no one has more integrity.

Panel says pig proposal backers broke election law
TALLAHASSEE -- Supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment to protect pregnant pigs have been charged with 210 counts of violating Florida elections laws.

Minors still executed
It's disappointing that the U.S. Supreme Court would continue to allow minors to face the death penalty. If Amendment 1 passes, Florida may be next to allow it.

Theft charge dismissed against former state tech chief
TALLAHASSEE — A judge threw out a theft charge against former state technology chief Roy Cales and threw out key evidence in a forgery charge. Cales, 40, resigned in August 2001 as the state's Chief Information Officer after being charged with grand theft.

Activists urge Gov. Bush to intervene before Haitians deported
MIAMI -- Activists urged Gov. Jeb Bush on Wednesday to help prevent the deportation of 200 illegal Haitian immigrants who jumped overboard from a freighter after a weeklong voyage and made a dash for a new life.

Citrus canker found in Okeechobee County
OKEECHOBEE — A lime tree in Okeechobee County was infected with citrus canker, agriculture officials said Tuesday. Inspectors found lesions on the tree, located at a residence, earlier this week during a routine inspection of trees.

EPA is sued over spraying
mosquito pesticide

Consumers' outlook sours
Consumers, are caving under the pressure of the job and stock market and war anxiety.

An insurer's bold move
A health insurance company that provides coverage to senior citizens has sent a resounding message to pharmaceutical companies and federal officials with its decision to reimburse seniors who obtain prescription medications outside the country. UnitedHealth Group, Inc. has informed members of the AARP that it will pay the claims for prescription drug purchases that they make in Canada and other countries.

California election a new nadir in modern politics
SAN FRANCISCO — He was the rarest of all rare breeds — a mensch from Minnesota. But this is not a column about Paul Wellstone. No one has to wonder for a minute what he would have wanted, "What would Wellstone do?" The answer all but roars back, "Don't mourn, organize!" The contrast between Paul's passionate populism and this dreary mid-term election is as sad as his death. There's many a contest between political pygmies this year — we're down to seeds and stems again — but even in proud Texas we have to admit that this year's palm for nose-holding voting must go to California.

For the people
Ghoulish but true: as Minnesota mourns the death of Senator Paul Wellstone, many of the state's residents have been receiving fliers bearing a picture of a tombstone. The fliers, sent out by a conservative business group, denounce the late senator's support for maintaining the estate tax. Under the tombstone, the text reads in part: "Paul Wellstone not only wants to tax you and your business to death ... he wants to tax you in the hereafter." 

The rights of 'enemy combatants'
Yasser Esam Hamdi, an American citizen captured in Afghanistan, has been held since April in a naval brig, without formal charges or access to a lawyer. The Bush administration told a federal appeals court in Virginia on Monday that as an "enemy combatant," he is entitled to neither. The administration's position would give the president sweeping powers to strip citizens of their rights and hold them indefinitely. It is unconstitutional, and the appeals court should reject it.

Israeli government on brink of collapse as Sharon's coalition crumbles
JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's hardline government crumbled Wednesday, after Labor Party ministers submitted their resignations in a dispute over funding for Jewish settlements.

FBI gives terror tip 2nd look
U.S. plans to deport Walid Arkeh when his prison term ends. 

Is Big Oil lubricating drive for war with Iraq?
Does the Bush administration have a hidden agenda? If you want to know how utterly estranged Europe and the United States have become, listen to the talk in the streets over the possible U.S. invasion of Iraq.
In the United States, most Americans believe President Bush when he says we have a moral obligation to protect the world from Saddam Hussein's pathological desire to build and employ weapons of mass destruction. In Europe, by contrast, most people believe that the United States is planning to invade Iraq to secure its oil fields.

Wellstone infused politics with soul
"Something died in America," said civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis of Robert F. Kennedy's untimely death. "Something died in all of us."

10/29/02

Candidates to get air waves for free
Giving free air timeto political candidates sounds like a pipe dream, so maybe it's appropriate that the idealists at Tampa community radio station WMNF-FM are offering just that.

Rights activists question U.S. attorney general's plan to monitor Miami-Dade polls - A group of civil rights leaders and community activists took issue Monday with Attorney General John Ashcroft's decision to send lawyers and other observers to the polls in Miami-Dade County, saying his poor record casts doubt on the effort.-- 
The Miami-Dade Elections Reform Coalition, composed of the NAACP, ACLU and black community activists, charged that Ashcroft has repeatedly ignored evidence of discriminatory voting procedures in Miami-Dade and Florida. As a result, its members said, Ashcroft's decision to spend up to $100,000 and send 20 observers to Miami- Dade is suspicious.

Of democracy's many voices those not voting may be loudest
A week from today some of us will head to the polls and vote. Most of us won't. Voter turnout has been declining so stubbornly since the 1960s that barely half the electorate votes in presidential elections, and only 36 to 38 percent does in off-year elections such as this one. Actual voters, in essence, are America's newest, most powerful minority. 

McBride struggles to a slim lead in S. Florida
Outside a strip shopping mall in Hialeah, a crowd of antsy Democrats milled Monday, waiting for Bill McBride, the man they hope can unseat Gov. Jeb Bush next week.

Thousands to lose drug benefits
Prescription drug coverage will end or be scaled back for thousands of county seniors.- Thousands of Palm Beach County seniors will lose their prescription drug coverage in January as several Medicare HMOs cut the coveted benefit to control rising health-care costs, according to data obtained Monday by The Palm Beach Post.- 
Both Health Options and Neighborhood Health Partnership -- with 19,296 and 1,185 Medicare customers, respectively -- are eliminating prescription drug coverage. ... ... In addition to paying more for drugs, most Medicare HMO members next year will face higher fees for hospital stays and visits to specialists.- 
Humana members, for example, will pay $250 a day for their first five days in the hospital next year instead of the $250 per admission they pay now. America's Health Choice members in the Treasure Coast will pay $100 a day at network hospitals, up from nothing this year.

Soaring medical costs a big issue for S. Florida retirees
At the billiards room where he hangs out, military veteran Bob Trader tells his pals he is upset by a news story on how the U.S. Army served Porterhouse steaks and crab legs to soldiers in Afghanistan.

Canker is a key Cabinet race issue
South Florida voters angry with the state's Citrus Canker Eradication Program may play a key role in deciding who becomes the next commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services and captures a powerful seat on the newly revamped Florida Cabinet.

Bush calls in GOP star power
With a week to go before Election Day, Democrat Bill McBride is not only running against Gov. Jeb Bush, but he's battling a seemingly endless stream of political celebrities intent on sealing Republican control of Florida.

Judge guts case against Cales
A circuit judge Monday eviscerated the state's case against former state Chief Information Officer Roy Cales by throwing out one count and suppressing the evidence on the second. 

Vote "no" on vague price-tag amendment
Most of the amendments on the ballot next Tuesday are an exercise in hocus-pocus at worst and wishful thinking at best. It sounds reasonable, for example, to let voters know the fiscal impact of constitutional amendments. But Amendment 2, which presumes to attach price tags to proposed future amendments, is flawed in two big ways.

Yes on Miami-Dade home rule
Thanks to a county charter written into the state Constitution in 1957, voters throughout Florida are being drawn into a heated intramural fight in Miami-Dade County. The question is this: Should state lawmakers from Miami-Dade be able to ask county voters whether they want to change their charter?

Paper renews Earnhardt autopsy-photo law fight
A law passed after the death of race car driver Dale Earnhardt that restricts public access to autopsy photos should be tossed out as unconstitutional, the attorney for a student newspaper has urged the Florida Supreme Court.
This is Miami attorney Tom Julin's third attempt to convince a state court to overturn the controversial Family Protection Act passed after the NASCAR driver's death Feb. 18, 2001. 
Julin, representing the Independent Florida Alligator, wrote in part to the justices, "Once a record has been requested, the right to the record is an immediate, fixed right of present enjoyment. To hold otherwise would destroy the operation of the public records law." 

Felons' money still good
As the world learned two years ago, Florida makes it hard for ex- felons to vote. Too hard. They're banned for life, unless the governor and Cabinet act to restore their civil rights. The hoops are easier than they used to be, but Florida ought to do it the way most other states do: by making restoration automatic once one's debt to society is paid.

State reports general election voter registration figures
TALLAHASSEE — Florida gained 143,944 voters since registration closed for the September primary, figures from the state elections office showed Monday. There were 9.3 million voters registered for the Nov. 5 general election.

Reject county term limits
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Term limits is an idea built on myth. Rather than promote democracy, term limits undercut it.

Former poll worker says she was forced out by official's mom
FORT LAUDERDALE — A Broward County poll worker said she lost her job after 15 years of service because the election supervisor's mother wanted the position Kathleen Weinstein, a paraplegic who lives on Social Security, said she needed the $135 wage from the primary election.

Disabled elections worker displaced by official's mother is rehired in Broward
A paraplegic widow living on Social Security, who lost her poll worker position in the primary to make way for Elections Supervisor Miriam Oliphant's mother, will get her old job back.

Prison racial discrimination suit in Ocala begins
OCALA — The white employees and supervisors at Marion and Lake county prisons had a shared sense of contempt for black workers, an attorney said Monday during opening statements of a discrimination trial. The federal lawsuit alleges that white corrections officers at prisons in Marion and Lake counties discriminated against black employees.

Federal program to pump $153 million to Florida sensitive lands
WEST PALM BEACH — Hundreds of farmers in Florida can volunteer to plant native grasses and vegetation in place of crops through a new program designed to restore environmentally sensitive lands. Federal and state agriculture officials announced the $153 million project Monday on the banks of the ailing Lake Tohopekaliga near Kissimmee.

Wildlife will roam on rented land
State and federal agriculture officials went to the edge of Lake Tohopekaliga in Osceola County on Monday to announce a $153 million effort to turn farmland into wildlife habitat.

'Case of paralysis by analysis'- Environmentalists suing EPA in attempt to suspend use of mosquito-fighting pesticide-- 
Environmental groups filed suit Monday asking a judge to suspend the use of a mosquito-fighting pesticide used in Collier and Lee counties and to order the EPA to work with federal wildlife officials to devise new rules for spraying it. Fenthion, sold as Baytex, is suspected in the deaths of hundreds of shorebirds on Marco Island beaches in 1998 and 1999, including birds protected under the Endangered Species Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. A federal investigation is ongoing. The lawsuit was filed by the American Bird Conservancy, Defenders of Wildlife and the Florida Wildlife Federation against Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman

U.S. violent crime rises for 1st time since 1991 - ...The FBI reported violent crime, except for aggravated assault, had risen 2.1 percent in America last year, the first increase since 1991. Some experts cited the worsening economy as a reason.- 
Florida reported an increase in major crimes, except for murders

SECURITY WAKE-UP CALL
On the day that the FBI warned that another terrorist attack on U.S. soil might be imminent, a bipartisan task force reported that the country is unprepared to protect people or targets against such a disaster. By now, we should be doing better at safeguarding the nation.

Big sell-off in Washington on reform of accounting
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Industry undercuts push for tough oversight.

10/28/02

10 Reasons Not to Vote for JEB 
Make no mistake. Americans do love their royalty. Our founding fathers may have given the finger to the royals in England, but generations later the monarchy still rules. The lack of an official king and queen has only allowed the American public to anoint several unofficial royal lines instead. As much as Americans extol the virtues of hard work, most of us probably would have preferred the silver spoon route. Work is fine, but really, wasn't leaving the womb hard enough? For some lucky sperm, the birth canal is the last tight spot they'll have to find their way out of. Like the Kennedys and the Rockefellers, the Bush clan is a monument to unearned privilege and power, but they've distinguished themselves with their capacity for denial. ...

Bush letter shows need for university system repair
On the 11th of this month, Gov. Jeb Bush sent a letter to each member of the board of trustees of each state university in Florida.
The recipients of this letter already knew Bush, of course. Every one was named to his or her post by Bush last year as part of the brand-new "reorganization" of the state university system.
Every one of them, in the future, might need to be in Bush's good graces to be reappointed.
In his letter, Bush asked his appointees -- actually, he "strongly urged" them -- to give him political help.
Bush asked them to give money to defeat Amendment 11, a proposal put on the Nov. 5 ballot by a citizens' petition. ... ...
Amendment 11 would return us to an independent state university system, under a new Board of Governors.
Do you see a certain irony here?
The very purpose of Amendment 11 is to try to reduce the direct influence of politicians over higher education. ...

Election puts One Florida offstage
As universities' minority enrollment holds steady, the governor's race is dominated by public education issues. (??? see One Florida)

Governor stands by One Florida
In March 2000, opponents of Gov. Jeb Bush's One Florida plan marched on the Capitol 11,000 strong, calling him ``Jeb Crow.'' The marchers, including civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, predicted that the plan to do away with affirmative action in university admissions would undermine decades of progress in minority enrollment.

Day's issues precise
FORT LAUDERDALE -- With two new polls showing him maintaining his lead over Bill McBride, Gov. Jeb Bush found time Sunday to rally opposition to his other opponent on the ballot, the class-size amendment.

Education Measure Roils Florida Race
Ballot Measure to Cut Class Sizes, Opposed By Jeb Bush, Boosts His Democratic Rival

Caution, accuracy now paramount in projections
An exit polling consortium's new approach is at the heart of media reforms triggered by missteps in 2000.

McBride aims to reassure North Florida Democrats
Despite having a centrist image expected to woo conservative voters, he trails Bush in a poll of the region.

Mass mailing from GOP attacks McBride
A flier mailed by the state Republican Party accuses Democrat Bill McBride of entering the governor's race mainly as an escape from his ``failing law firm.''

Bush attack puts rival on defensive
Once viewed as the most potent weapon for Democrats eager to cast Gov. Jeb Bush as a failure on schools, a measure to cap class size instead has turned into an unexpected burden for Bush's Democratic rival, Bill McBride.

McBride has a two-part strategy
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride, trailing Gov. Jeb Bush as the race enters the final stretch, is pursuing a two-part strategy to overtake his rival by Election Day.

McBride encourages blacks to vote
By Brian E. Crowley, Palm Beach Post Political Editor
Black voters are crucial to McBride's effort to deny Bush a second term.

Jeb Bush woos Christian Coalition
By Marc Caputo, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The governor's views on abortion, gay rights please the group.

DCF workers hard to hold on to
Gov. Jeb Bush has shoved money at the problem so more could be hired. Bill McBride says it's not enough.

New security is cheaper, but will it be better?
When legislators and department heads discuss privatization of state functions, they always say services will be cheaper and better.

Are FCAT grades true barometer?
By Nirvi Shah, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Some educators say the grades don't reflect the reality of achievement inside their schools.

Florida in the habit of Sunshine
Like alcoholics searching for their next drink, Florida legislators are addicted to hiding one public record after another and holding one public meeting after another beyond public view.-- 
In the 10 years since voters embedded the requirement for open government in the Florida Constitution, lawmakers have approved more than 800 exceptions. So it's fairly astounding that this Legislature -- which offered up a record 125 exemptions last session -- would agree to make it harder to pass them.-- 
Maybe lawmakers know they need help breaking this horrible habit. Voters should help them.

Panel's makeup bothers some
Not everyone views the group of 21 people charged with relieving Orange County's gridlock as the perfect mix.
Some see in the lineup appointed by Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty the usual suspects of powerful leaders with ties to business, politics and each other.
Many have sat on previous transportation commissions and organizational boards, raising questions about whether today's problems flow from their lack of prudent planning.

Corporations just the tonic drug benefit effort needed
WASHINGTON -- Georgia-Pacific was one of several large corporations that decided to speak out this year against soaring drug prices.

Strapped charities request 'bailout'
By Andrew Mollison, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Shrinking investments lead ailing nonprofits to consider lobbying the government to raise taxes to pay for services they can no longer provide.

What the insurers don't tell you
The insurance industry -- you may be pleased to hear, as you recover from your premium notice -- is on "The March to Profitability."- 
That's the title of an eight-page advertising feature the industry paid for -- ultimately with your premiums -- in the Oct. 28 issue of Business Week. I usually pass over sections of puffery that advertising departments write with the help of advertisers. But I read this one, and then couldn't wait to pass on the message to those who pay insurance premiums and those who wish they could find a company to cover their home or condo.-- 
The industry, the puff says, "staged a remarkable recovery" from the events of 9/11/01, surviving "the stock market decline that has hurt so many other sectors over the past 12 to 18 months." Insurance company stocks are up again after falling only 1.9 percent for 2001, compared with declines of 12 percent in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and 21 percent in the Nasdaq." Message for investors: Happy days are here again.
That message isn't for policyholders.
How did the companies avoid "what could have been a catastrophe of even greater proportions than it was"? The section explains....

'Theological gynecologist' bad pick for FDA panel head
President Bush's pick to head a key FDA reproductive health committee is a practicing obstetrician/gynecologist who has a long record of practicing "theological gynecology" -- that is, gynecological care based upon a doctor's religious beliefs instead of science.

10/27/02

Bush brother trying to sell FCAT software to Florida schools
A software company run by Neil Bush, a younger brother of Gov. Jeb Bush, hopes to sell a program to Florida schools that students would use to prepare for the test that is key to the governor's education policy. Texas-based Ignite Inc. makes software being used in a pilot program at an Orlando-area middle school to help students prepare for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which the governor has championed as a yardstick for school performance.

Neil Bush touting education venture
TALLAHASSEE - Neil Bush, a younger brother of Gov. Jeb Bush, is
promoting a new business venture in Florida with the potential to benefit from his brother's policies.
The Texas-based business, called Ignite, is tailoring software to help middle-school students prepare for the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, a standardized test that is the backbone of Gov. Bush's ''A+'' plan that grades schools.

As state services go private, GOP reaps donations
The moment he set foot in the governor's mansion, Jeb Bush set
out to run state government like a Fortune 500 company.
He promised to slash costs and improve services by awarding government work to competing businesses while eliminating state jobs.
Four years later, the governor's record of privatizing various services can be viewed as ''mixed,'' his staff acknowledges.
But politically, his bold experiment has been a success -- at least for him and the Republican Party, records show. The policy has spawned a network of contractors who have given him, other Republican politicians and the Florida GOP millions of dollars in campaign donations since 1998....

Firm donated after permit
Representatives of a company that sought permission to build a cement plant in North Florida gave more than $180,000 to the Republican Party after Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet approved the deal, two newspapers reported Saturday.

Florida's political power shifts to governor's mansion
TALLAHASSEE - There was a time when Florida was governed by a
strong Legislature full of savvy operators and a Cabinet of politicians with sweeping statewide power.
But in just four years, Jeb Bush has fashioned an empire ruled largely by one man.
Now, Bush and his chosen lieutenants decide how Florida's children learn, who presides over the state's universities, who nominates judges and Supreme Court justices, and which hometown projects get money.
He alone has transformed the way public schools are judged, the expectations for Florida students and state workers, the standards by which minorities gain admission to college and win state contracts, and the process that state agencies use to upgrade technology...

Rampant growth is good? No way
During an otherwise solid performance in last Tuesday's gubernatorial debate, Jeb Bush blurted something so wacky that I could hardly believe my ears.

McBride optimistic despite polls giving Bush lead
Democrat Bill McBride said he can win the race to be Florida's next governor with high voter turnout, despite two polls released Sunday that show him stalled in his attempt to overtake Republican Gov. Jeb Bush. McBride, campaigning Sunday at three black churches in Orlando, said recent polls have shown him both even and behind Bush and that no one knows right now which way voters are going to go.

Closing The Deal In Politics Ain't Patty- Cakes
... Tuesday night, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill McBride had perhaps his last big chance to close the deal in his quest to unseat Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.
And what happened?

Young voters feeling ignored by candidates
A cork bulletin board inside the Lenholt Student Center speaks to the busy lives of the young adults who, maybe, spare a glance as they hustle to the Daytona Beach Community College cafeteria. 

Democrats want call investigated
The chairman of the state Democratic Party asked U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft on Saturday to launch an investigation into possible dirty tricks in the final weeks of the governor's race.

Butterworth seeks Senate seat after 16 years as A.G.
Forced out by term limits after 16 years in office, Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth is running for a state Senate seat, a baffling decision for those who believed he'd challenge Gov. Jeb Bush. Now the Republican governor is trying to edge his way out of a statistical dead heat with political newcomer Bill McBride, and the Democratic attorney general is battling a freshman state representative in what's shaping up to be one of Florida's most expensive and competitive races.

Polls show close races for agriculture commissioner, A.G.
With just over a week to go, Florida's two Cabinet races are too close to call, according to two polls released Sunday. Education Commissioner Charlie Crist received 41 percent and state Sen. Buddy Dyer was at 40 percent in the race for attorney general, according to a poll taken Oct. 23-25 for The Miami Herald and the St. Petersburg Times. A total of 19 percent of respondents were undecided.

Not many congressional districts in play after redistricting
Artful redistricting gives Republicans an inside track for winning the state's two new congressional seats and could help them defeat a Democratic incumbent in what may be Florida's only competitive race for the U.S. House.

Yes to protect pregnant pigs
Critics of Amendment 10 -- which would regulate treatment of pregnant pigs -- have loaded up on sarcastic puns as they attack the issue. "This is the archetypal pig-in-a-poke," said Pat Cockrell of the Florida Farm Bureau, the amendment's main opponent, calling it a "greasy attempt" to "lard up our state's Constitution." But there is nothing funny about the conditions addressed in this amendment, titled the Animal Cruelty Amendment.

Support ebbs for class size limit
Amendment 9 is still popular with voters, but concerns about cost could drive it to defeat.

Amendment frenzy suggests death of common sense
...Pity either Jeb Bush or Bill McBride if Amendment 9 passes - also if it doesn't. Florida is in a mess financially because Bush and the GOP Legislature spent nonrecurring revenues on recurring annual expenses.-- 
Bush seems oblivious. In the October issue of Florida Trend, he didn't even acknowledge the projected shortfall of $2 billion to $4 billion Florida faces, depending upon the rate of economic recovery and unanticipated expenses like amendments.

Bush left trail of hard feelings
The governor won often in the Legislature but bruised lawmakers' egos while doing so.

The Golden Age of the Florida Legislature
LAKE BUENA VISTA -- Brooklyn had the Boys of Summer, Notre Dame the Four Horsemen. Ancient Britain, so the legends go, had Camelot. The Florida Legislature had its Golden Age.

Prescription drug costs are busting my budget
In these days of rising drug and medical costs I find myself caught in the middle of the eternal battle between research and the dollar.

High court leaves young killers' fates to states
A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling won't affect four young murderers on Florida's death row, but some death penalty opponents say a proposed state constitutional amendment could cause the execution of killers as young as 16. Amendment 1 on the Nov. 5 ballot would put the death penalty into the Florida Constitution and change its prohibition against "cruel or unusual" punishment to "cruel and unusual" punishment — the same wording in the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment.

First in a series: Has education changed?
By Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Governors' vows aside, per-student spending has fallen to 40th among 50 states.

As prosperity returns, Florida's jobs may not
Core businesses wracked by change
No matter who wins the Florida governor's race, the victor will have
to grapple with an increasingly serious problem with no easy answers -- rising unemployment.
After dipping below 4 percent in early 2000, Florida joblessness has gone on a steady march upward. While it now stands at 5.1 percent, considerably below the national rate, the sheer size of Florida's labor force makes that a big headache. It translates to 401,000 people out of work, or 130,000 more jobless Floridians than in 2000, and the numbers seem certain to grow in the coming months....

Lessons of a true disaster
Don Meritt describes the bleak future of the state's native oyster population as he stands near a huge tank at the University of Maryland's Horn Point Laboratory where researchers grow oysters.

Desal proposal receives early public criticism
Homeowners present a petition to Tampa Bay Water with concerns over sinkholes, dirty water and their home values.
CLEARWATER -- A plan to pump brackish water from wells to a desalination plant may be years from reality, but some residents who live near the proposed well sites hope the project never gets off the ground.

The Clean Water Act's early midlife crisis
Clean water is one of the American people's most basic expectations for a quality environment. And as of this month, we have lived for 30 years under the law that guarantees it: the Clean Water Act.
The White House on Oct. 18 even proclaimed this the Year of Clean Water - ignoring the Environmental Protection Agency's statement in a September report that unless a widening funding gap is closed, "by 2016 pollution levels could be similar to levels observed in the mid-1970s."
Far from congratulating ourselves on a job well done, we should be debating whether the nation's glass of clean water is half full or half empty. The administration is charting a course that threatens to unravel three decades of progress.

Thousands march against Iraqi war as Protesters converge on D.C.
WASHINGTON - Thousands of protesters from across the country
marched from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the White House on Saturday to oppose a first strike U.S. attack on Iraq.

Where are veterans' friends now?
The White House has riled up the enemy. But is the enemy Iraq's
Saddam Hussein or the hundreds of thousands of U.S. career military veterans who have become disabled fighting to protect America for all these years?
Many disabled veterans and their families may wonder. They are frustrated by years of political double-talk, and they are particularly angry that President Bush, who campaigned two years ago as a friend of veterans, would now hide from them and have House Speaker Dennis Hastert maneuver more delays on so-called concurrent receipt legislation.
It all comes down to money and priorities, and apparently disabled vets who are hurting are not a Bush priority. Tax cuts certainly are, though, for a president who in his first year in office rammed through Congress $1.35 trillion in tax cuts that will kick in over a decade. Yet the Bush administration can't find $58 billion for those Americans who sacrificed their lives and suffer all sorts of maladies. Pathetic....

10/26/02

Did cement deal pour money into GOP? - Paving firm gave $190,000 to Republican Party accounts after N. Florida deal was sealed-- TALLAHASSEE - A year after Gov. Jeb Bush canoed down Florida's beloved Ichetucknee River and vowed to protect it, he shocked environmentalists by allowing construction of a cement plant nearby that they claim could pollute surrounding air.- 
Now, a Herald analysis reveals new information about the controversial episode: Executives and lawyers representing Anderson Columbia Inc., the big paving firm that sought approval for the plant, poured nearly $190,000 into state and national Republican Party accounts over the two days after a key part of the deal was concluded.- 
At the same time, a Herald review of public records shows that one critical component of the deal -- the $23 million price the state paid to buy a lime rock mine from Anderson Columbia -- was based on an unusual appraisal process.

Ballot chock full of amendments- 
TALLAHASSEE — Florida voters going to the polls in 10 days may be well advised to pack a lunch. Included among the lists of candidates for governor, Congress and state Senate and House seats are 10 proposed constitutional amendments ranging from the death penalty and school funding to homestead exemptions and pregnant pigs. And with so much at stake, the attention being paid the governor's race and the sheer length of the ballot has election observers worrying that voters may just quit early. That would work against some of the amendments nestled near the bottom of the heap.

For better universities, approve Amendment 11
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Amendment 11 not only deserves to be in the state constitution, the state needs it there.

McBride unveils ad showing Bush praising him
MIAMI — Gov. Jeb Bush appears in a new ad released Friday lavishing praise on Democratic challenger Bill McBride, calling him "one of the great Floridians of our time." The McBride ad — utilizing a 3- year-old videotaped testimonial — seeks to confront critical spots by the governor's campaign calling him a "reckless corporate lawyer," ending with a challenge to voters: "Does Jeb Bush believe his own negative ads? You be the judge."

Ad shows Bush praising McBride
By Brian E. Crowley and Marc Caputo, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
The governor says his foe was also full of praise at the '99 event.

The 'Bubba image' can boomerang on McBride
He played football. He was in the Marines. He sounds Southern. ... "Bubba" might be an appealing candidate to men, but it's more likely that the election will be decided by a single mom living along the I-4 corridor, with two kids in overcrowded public schools. She didn't see the debate. Her kids had too much homework....  Here's the irony in McBride's "Bubba" TV image. On the day before Tuesday's last debate, the McBrides' housekeeper called in sick. With Sink campaigning in Tallahassee, guess who had to load the dishwasher, pick up his son from school, and fight the rush hour traffic in Tampa to take his daughter to basketball practice?
Bubba McBride. That's who.

Complaint filed against Gov. Bush on air travel
TALLAHASSEE — A complaint was filed with the Florida Elections Commission over Gov. Jeb Bush's use of private airplanes as a newspaper reported Friday that the governor used a private jet to fly himself and his two sons to the Rose Bowl last year.

Elections law complaint filed against Bush
By S.V. Date, Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau
A consumer group claims the governor failed to properly report travel on corporate jets as donations.

Political allies manage Bush's not-quite blind trust
Some of the governor's money is in a mutual fund that has investments in companies tied to Florida.

Florida Lottery's ad company is big GOP contributor
When the contract was up for bid, other firms viewed the current holder's tightness with the party and concluded, why bother?

TV ads in attorney general's race pack more punches
TALLAHASSEE -- With the race tight and the clock running out, the two candidates for Florida attorney general are getting increasingly hostile.

No-show Crist forfeits election--  Buddy Dyer opened an early Christmas present this year.
Charlie Crist, his rival in the race for Florida attorney general, declined a long-offered invitation to attend the only statewide televised debate of their campaign.
Crist, in effect, has forfeited the election.
In this close contest -- a virtual dead-heat in the latest Mason-Dixon statewide survey -- both Democrat Dyer and Republican Crist are airing arsenals of paid TV ads.
"Say no to negative ads," Crist says in one of his ads, "and yes to making Florida safer."
But Crist has said no to the one free forum that offers Floridians statewide an opportunity to compare candidates for one of the state's most important offices.

Group buys TV ads to aid Crist-- A national group funded by secret donors has launched a television ad campaign across the state on behalf of Republican attorney general candidate Charlie Crist.- 
The American Taxpayers Alliance started airing a 30- second spot this week that promotes Crist's tough-on- crime record and urges voters to "Call Charlie Crist and tell him to keep fighting for Florida families."

Review shows Oliphant ignored state staffing directive
FORT LAUDERDALE — Democrats held every poll clerk and inspector job at more than 20 percent of Broward County's election precincts during last month's primary, violating state law.

Some counties advertise early voting to avoid election lines
MIAMI — Several Florida counties are urging people to vote early and avoid lines during the Nov. 5 general election as officials try to prevent a repeat of the botched September primary. Federal officials, meanwhile, also are working to ensure a smooth election by preparing to monitor some precincts in Broward County, with additional observers possibly going to Duval County.

Ethics commission dismisses complaint against Feeney
TALLAHASSEE — The state's ethics commission Friday dismissed a complaint accusing House Speaker Tom Feeney of wielding his influence to help a legal client in an $8 million contract dispute with a state agency.

Excuses fly as ethics group hears appeals
Public officials who didn't file required financial disclosure reports tell the Florida Ethics Commission why.

DOJ recommends long distance for BellSouth in Florida
WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice recommended Friday that federal regulators approve BellSouth's application to provide long distance in Florida. BellSouth's pending application with the Federal Communications Commission is the company's last hurdle to be able to provide Florida customers with long distance.

The red ink returns
It's official: The U.S. government is back in deficit. Closing the books of fiscal year 2002, which ended Sept. 30, the White House budget office reported that spending exceeded revenue by $159 billion. Thus, four straight years of budget surpluses and a substantial pay-down of the national debt came to a formal end. Fiscal 2001's $127 billion surplus may be the last one we see for a while.

Dead parrot society
A few days ago The Washington Post's Dana Milbank wrote an article explaining that for George W. Bush, "facts are malleable." Documenting "dubious, if not wrong" statements on a variety of subjects, from Iraq's military capability to the federal budget, the White House correspondent declared that Bush's "rhetoric has taken some flights of fancy." Also in the last few days, The Wall Street Journal reported that "senior officials have referred repeatedly to intelligence ... that remains largely unverified." The CIA's former head of counterterrorism was blunter: "Basically, cooked information is working its way into high-level pronouncements." USA Today reports that "pressure has been building on the intelligence agencies to deliberately slant estimates to fit a political agenda."

Farewell, Son of Enron
Palm Beach Post Editorial
The 2001 energy bill is President Bush's health-care bill, which makes Vice President Dick Cheney his Hillary Clinton.

Turbulence for new transportation security agency
WASHINGTON — Most Americans probably haven't heard much about the newest federal alphabet agency — the Transportation Security Administration. That's good. Knowing about the TSA would just make them angry. After Sept. 11, 2001, Congress set up the agency to make travel — especially airline travel — and transportation of commerce safer. An absolutely first-rate lawman, John Magaw, former head of the Secret Service, was named director. Surely a new agency with a vital mission, launched amid the post- 9/11 determination to protect Americans, would be a boon to everybody.

Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone killed in Minnesota plane crash; election thrown into chaos
EVELETH, Minn. — Sen. Paul Wellstone, the passionately liberal Democrat whose re-election campaign was vital to control of the Senate, was killed in a plane crash in northern Minnesota on Friday along with his wife, daughter and five others. The crash came just 11 days before the election and sent state and party officials scrambling to see about a replacement. The twin-engine private plane went down about 10 a.m. in freezing rain and light snow near the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport, about 175 miles north of Minneapolis.

10/25/02

Jeb enlists half-truth to fool vets
By Dan Moffett, Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
His support for benefits is markedly less than Bill McBride's.

Bush radio ads target McBride on gun control issues
TALLAHASSEE -- A former Marine, Bill McBride likes to say he's been on "the working end of a rifle.''...And as the Democratic nominee for governor, McBride says Florida doesn't need more gun-control laws. "I'm in favor of leaving the gun laws in the state like they are,'' he said during a televised debate this week.
But in recent days, radio listeners in Jacksonville have heard a different story. Republican Jeb Bush has started running an ad in Northeast Florida that says McBride and Democratic running mate Tom Rossin "support liberal gun control.''..."Big spending, higher taxes, a moratorium on the death penalty, and more gun control,'' the ad says. "That's the real Bill McBride. Too liberal for Florida.''
But McBride supporters said the ad was misleading, with State Attorney Harry Shorstein, who co-chairs McBride's campaign in Duval County, calling it "outrageous.''
"They [the Bush campaign] are desperate,'' said Clyde Collins, chairman of the Duval County Democratic Party. "They're promoting flagrant lies.''...

Corporate dominance belies representative democracy
Recent scandals have revealed the greed of corporate CEOs and board members to increase their income without any concern for the adverse consequences on their employees and shareholders and investors in the stock market. Some have been so very successful in satisfying this greed that many other corporations have become afflicted with it, and it has become institutionalized in corporate boardrooms. - 
The methods utilized to satisfy this greed have also multiplied. The most dangerous is the control corporations have accumulated over politicians and government, state and local as well as federal. -- 
Corporations with their generous contributions to both major political parties, their propaganda mills that mislead the media and public opinion and their lobbying activities that prevent fair hearings and real debates have gained special favors from government that are very harmful to our country. ...

Governor's use of pals' jets questioned
By S.V. DATE, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Did Jeb Bush's Rose Bowl trip aboard a developer's jet, among other private flights, violate ethics?

In McBride, voters see Chiles
Bill McBride runs as the anti-Jeb wrapped in old he-coon fur - warm and fuzzy and down to earth. McBride's a Southern-drawl kind of guy, which reminds people of Lawton Chiles, the late "He-Coon" governor who beat Jeb Bush in 1994 by the narrowest of margins, using his folksy ways to hide his cut-throat political instincts.

McBride unveils ad showing Bush praising him
Gov. Jeb Bush appears in a new ad released today lavishing praise on Democratic challenger Bill McBride, calling him "one of the great Floridians of our time."

Cheney comes to praise security and to politick
TAMPA -- Vice President Dick Cheney swept through Tampa on Thursday to make a direct appeal for a Republican in a tight congressional race and a thinly veiled pitch for his boss' brother.

Problems already being reported in three Florida counties
FORT LAUDERDALE — The general election is still nearly two weeks away, but voting problems are already popping up in three Florida counties. In Broward County, where voting officials received an emergency influx of $1.4 million to avoid another election debacle, some residents have reported receiving the wrong absentee ballot, ones with missing pages, or no ballot at all.

Ads mimic GOP attack on Butterworth-- For the second time in three days, state Attorney General Bob Butterworth on Thursday denounced television ads that accuse him of plotting to raise taxes and favoring a personal income tax.-- 
But this time, the state Republican Party insists it has nothing to do with the ads. So does state Rep. Jeff Atwater, Butterworth's Republican opponent in a state Senate race in Palm Beach and Broward counties.-- ... a mystery group calling itself People for Integrity in Government is sponsoring the commercials ... It also uses the same partial quote from The Ledger newspaper in Lakeland, implying Butterworth's support for an income tax, that have appeared in Republican fliers and TV ads for Atwater.-- 
Like the GOP ads, the new one is "a flat-out lie," Butterworth said Thursday. And he scoffed at the notion that Atwater knows nothing about it.

Mix-up switches candidate's party-- STUART -- State agriculture commissioner candidate David Nelson wants Martin County voters to know he's a Democrat -- a feat an elections office printing blunder hasn't made easy.- 
A sample ballot sent to about 7,000 registered voters mistakenly lists Nelson as a member of the Constitution Party of Florida, an error he worries will cost him votes in the Nov. 5 general election.- 
"They are sample ballots, but they carry a lot of weight," said Nelson, who'll face incumbent Charlie Bronson, a Republican. "I put a lot of effort into this thing to win the primary as a Democrat. After the problems we've had in Florida, you'd think it would be picture perfect."

Do you want anchovies with that amendment?
After Tuesday night's debate I dreamed that Jeb Bush and I were hanging out over at Bill McBride's house. We were having a big fight over whether to order an extra-large pizza.

Bush cools tone on initiative
He says he will deal with it if voters impose a Board of Governors to oversee 11 universities.-- For more than two years, Gov. Jeb Bush has bitterly opposed an attempt to revive a separate governing board for Florida universities.-- 
Now less than two weeks before voters decide the fate of the proposal, Bush has toned down his rhetoric: He's not bothered by it.-- 
"I'm not going to lose any sleep over it," he said recently. "It will be cumbersome, but we can still develop new partnerships and strategies."

Colleges' new setup draws fire at UCF-- Florida officials who are trying to persuade voters to keep the state's university system as it is have garnered endorsements from university and student leaders throughout Florida, but they still haven't won over the campuses.-- 
Florida Board of Education Chairman Phil Handy was reminded of that during a public debate on Amendment 11 on Thursday night. Appearing before more than 100 professors, students and others at the University of Central Florida, Handy frequently appeared to be positioned against questioners as much as against his formal opponent, Lake Wales attorney Robin Gibson.

McBride may be vague but seems genuine
I sat down in a room with Bill McBride for 90 minutes. He comes off better than when giving 90-second responses in a debate while Jeb Bush rolls his eyes in disbelief and makes finger horns behind his head.

McBride defends himself against 'tax-and-spend' label
ORLANDO — Bill McBride defended his campaign on Thursday against charges from the Bush campaign that he would preside over a massive tax increase if he reached the governor's mansion. McBride touted the class-size initiative to members of the Florida Chamber of Commerce board of directors, describing an integral link between economic growth and school achievement.

Bush won't budge on class size
In Hernando County, the governor repeats his opposition to the amendment. But what if it passes?

National Dems say McBride top priority, but most donations in state
TALLAHASSEE — Democrats nationwide say beating Republican Gov. Jeb Bush is their top priority, though Bill McBride is relying mostly on Floridians in his campaign for governor. And that's how McBride wants it, says state Democratic Chairman Bob Poe, who says the campaign to unseat Bush is focused on Florida issues today.

Coming soon: Jeb Bush praises McBride in TV ad-- Bill McBride, the Democratic nominee for governor, has bagged the biggest endorsement of his campaign: Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.
"He really is one of the great Floridians of our time," Bush says of McBride -- the same opponent the governor has been attacking as a "reckless corporate lawyer" in ads for months.
Bush's high praise, videotaped for an awards ceremony at McBride's former law firm in 1999, begins airing today statewide. The McBride campaign has made Bush's remarks the centerpiece of a new TV ad challenging the governor for running attack ads against McBride.

Polls indicate close agriculture, attorney general races
TALLAHASSEE — Although he's been outspent by nearly $1.5 million, Miami school teacher David Nelson is in a neck-and-neck battle with Republican Charles Bronson in his bid to unseat the sitting agriculture commissioner, a new poll shows.

Feeney's ethics case goes before state today-- In a campaign once run on core Democratic issues, Harry Jacobs has staked his bid for a Central Florida congressional seat on his opponent's ties to an obscure Oviedo software company -- Yang Enterprises.
In a stinging TV ad, direct mail and pointed debate sound bites, the Altamonte Springs attorney charges that House Speaker Tom Feeney was "unethical" and allowed Yang to buy his influence.
His accusations boil down to this question: Did Feeney, Yang's registered local lobbyist and lawyer, use his position to lean on state officials for his clients?

Candidate mistakes his opponent for another in negative mailing
WEST PALM BEACH — A state Senate candidate sent out a mailing blasting his opponent, David Aronberg, for suing the school district and canceling children's field trips. Turns out he had the wrong David Aronberg.

Friend of Bill hopes to trip up Harris' cakewalk to Congress
SARASOTA — Katherine Harris has only one thing in between her and her congressional aspirations — a Democrat with no name recognition and barely any money in the bank. But Jan Schneider, a Sarasota attorney and friend of former President Clinton, is hoping for a monumental upset in her race against the former Florida secretary of state for the 13th congressional district in southwest Florida.

Labor using phones, fliers, Katherine Harris to mobilize voters
WASHINGTON — It's a striking cover on the union magazine: Katherine Harris with a sour expression on her face. Below her photo in bold yellow are the words, "Don't Vote." The International Association of Machinists is hoping to use the former Florida secretary of state to stir emotions and energize its members, just one of labor's tactics to get workers to the polls on Election Day.

Computer glitch spreads inmates' wealth around
TALLAHASSEE -- For dozens of Florida prison inmates, it was a windfall. -- Suddenly those inmates in three state prisons had an extra $200 to spend on candy, cigarettes, shampoo and other items sold in the prison canteen.-- 
A computer program being modified to create a central bank account for all inmates dumped the extra money into some inmate accounts. At the same time, the computer deducted $2,000 from the accounts of 40 inmates.--... a total of about $80,000. The errors were discovered after the inmates who lost money began to file grievances. ...... 
The state has repaid the inmates who lost money and collected about $22,000 of the $80,000 spent by those who got the extra.

FDLE files more charges
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has filed additional charges against a former state Department of Insurance employee. FDLE arrested Jamie Glenn Payne on July 25 and charged him with one count of unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior for improperly running a public records request. Payne now also faces a grand theft charge in excess of $20,000 and two charges of unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior. The charges are felonies.

Horne speaks of new teacher salary system, higher starting pay
ORLANDO — Education Secretary Jim Horne made a proposal at a Thursday board meeting for a new teacher salary system, improved recruitment and retention and increased starting pay. Horne noted that the school system's current salary system was adopted in 1921 and is based on experience and higher degrees.

State board endorses idea for teachers-- Florida could end up with four tiers of teachers in the public schools, each with its own pay scale, hours and performance expectations.

Supreme Court backs neighbors in growth fight
Ruling against hotel on Intracoastal stands-- The Florida Supreme Court yesterday ended a complex fight over a city's freedom to interpret growth plans by siding with neighbors who sued Jacksonville City Hall.
The court withdrew from the case, upholding an earlier verdict that Planning and Development Director Jeannie Fewell wrongly approved construction of a hotel on Intracoastal Waterway property intended for other uses.
City lawyers argued it was the planning director's job to interpret the intent of the local growth management plan.
The case had implications for growth planning statewide and drew broad legal attention. The Florida League of Cities, the Florida Home Builders Association, a section of the Florida Bar and 1,000 Friends of Florida, a growth-management advocacy group, all filed briefs with the court.

Algae, illnesses linked
Scientists Thursday announced that they have linked a frightening string of illnesses caused by eating pufferfish from Central Florida's east coast with a deadly algae toxin never discovered in the state before.

Panhandle tree saver wins small victory over progress
NAVARRE — Leroy Wells won a small victory over progress when the state agreed to bury utility lines instead of cutting through two majestic oaks to move overhead lines for a road widening project.

Bill O'Reilly: This ain't no game
Now that the sniper case has apparently been solved, it is time to take a hard look at the media's saturation coverage of this horrendous story. And the harsh truth is that some of us actually made the murderous rampage into a game, a kind of macabre sporting event. Because facts were few and public interest was so intense, TV and radio commentators were forced into the murky world of speculation and drama creation. Is Chief Charles Moose employing the right strategy? Should the authorities pay a ransom? What about the kids? And on and on.

U.S. deficit for year $159 billion
By Marilyn Geewax, Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau
Just a year ago, the government enjoyed a $127 billion surplus, the second- largest in history.

10/24/02

Key evidence missing in case
A missing piece of evidence could cause charges to be dropped against a former state official accused of using a forged letter to secure a loan from a local bank.-- Former Chief Information Officer Roy Cales, 40, allegedly forged a letter of credit to get money from Farmers and Merchants Bank in 1996, three years before taking the state job. Cales resigned after his arrest last year and has pleaded not guilty.-- 
The missing evidence - the original letter that was supposedly forged - hasn't been located by Assistant State Attorney Sean Desmond....
The letter promising future computer work for Cales was used to persuade the bank to loan him $30,000. He used the loan to start a software company - which he named Integrity Data Inc. He and his wife, Dawn Cales, a business partner who now works for the Department of Education, later defaulted on the loan and declared bankruptcy.--
Cales took a job with the state after working on Gov. Jeb Bush's 1998 campaign. The governor has said he relied on Cales heavily when setting up the new centralized technology office that Cales was to head.-- 
Bush had consistently defended his CIO as the best pick for the $95,000-per-year position, despite a bankruptcy and another grand theft charge in Cales' past. The charge that Cales embezzled $1,800 from a lumber company he worked for in 1985 was dropped after Cales admitted to the crime and repaid the money.

The truth is you're not getting the truth
This is the season of the Big Lie. Everywhere you turn, the people you most count upon to tell you the truth are lying. Politicians are lying to you so they can win, or keep, a job. And the journalists who cover the politicians are lying — lying down on their job. They are failing to perform the watchdog role that is essential to our democracy, the job of telling you what you need to know before you are asked to vote...

Tax cuts merit a mere whisper
In his last debate with challenger Bill McBride, Gov. Jeb Bush emphasizes his largesse, not his billions in tax cuts...

War of words intensifies as Bush, McBride trade accusations and insults -- TALLAHASSEE -- Insults and accusations of lying flew between the campaigns of Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic challenger Bill McBride on Wednesday, as the two escalated their battle over taxes, spending and how to pay for reducing class size.-- 
While flatly refusing to say how he would fund the popular class size reduction amendment, Bush lashed out at McBride for supporting the proposal, insisting the Democrat would have to raise taxes or cut programs to pay for it...

Governor attacks McBride on taxes
By Brian E. Crowley, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Bush says the Democrat will cut programs and raise taxes to pay for smaller classes.

McBride's latest TV ads polish homespun image-- In campaigns, like boxes of chocolate, you never know what you're going to get.- 
But Gov. Jeb Bush never bargained for Democrat Bill McBride, a disarmingly simple opponent who walked into three broadcast debates without practicing for them. ... On the street -- and most importantly, on TV -- the shambling, sometimes rumpled Democratic nominee for governor, a TV repairman's son who waited on tables to work his way through college, comes across as your best bass-fishing buddy.-- 
This is The Real McBride, and his strategists are playing it for all it's worth, both in broadcast debates that ended this week and in a deluge of paid TV to come.

Bush says data shows increase in black students taking advance placement tests
TALLAHASSEE — The number of black and Hispanic high school students taking advanced placement tests in Florida increased 21 percent in the current year, Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday. The number of black students taking the tests was up 21 percent and Hispanics 22 percent, with both exceeding the average national increase, he said.

Bush says McBride will cut services to pay for smaller classes
CALLAWAY — Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic challenger Bill McBride accused each other Wednesday of misrepresenting the cost of a proposed constitutional amendment limiting public school class size. The Republican incumbent told a crowd of flag-waving veterans in this Florida Panhandle city that McBride would cut services to pay for the amendment, which would lower and then cap the number of students in public school classrooms. McBride, speaking at a Broward County luncheon that raised $25,000 for his campaign, said the state's students need the amendment and that Bush is exaggerating its cost.

Bush: Initiative imperils veterans
Backed by a Pearl Harbor survivor who got White House help through his office, Gov. Jeb Bush said Wednesday a constitutional amendment cutting class size in public schools will hurt services to Florida veterans.

Tide shifts: Bush takes the offensive on tax issue
After months of successfully framing the Florida governor's race as a referendum on Gov. Jeb Bush's controversial education agenda, Democrats are suddenly feeling the political ground shifting beneath their feet.

Memo surfaces pointing to cuts if class size passes
TALLAHASSEE — Doomsday scenarios about what lawmakers may have to do to meet the cost of a proposed ballot measure capping class sizes are being floated by its opponents, but supporters say the grim warnings are unrealistic scare tactics. A memo from Sen. Ken Pruitt to incoming Senate President Jim King outlining some ideas for meeting the class size reduction requirement surfaced Wednesday.

Put limits on class size so Legislature will act
Palm Beach Post Editorial
The best reason to vote for Florida's class-size amendment is the campaign against it.

Four years later, Gov. Bush's DCF vows remain unfulfilled-- Tallahassee -- They came in with big plans and bigger promises to remake Florida's child welfare system. Gov. Jeb Bush and Kathleen Kearney, the judge he picked four years ago to lead the Department of Children & Families, vowed to overhaul foster care, reduce case backlogs and pay workers more to keep them from leaving.-- 
Today, Kearney is gone, the number of children in state care has nearly doubled and workers are fleeing the agency faster than before. New attention on missing children -- highlighted by the case of Rilya Wilson -- has put the state's woes on a national stage.
As Bush's first term comes to a close, the agency he promised to fix is stumbling, despite a child welfare budget that doubled to about $845 million a year. What's striking, child advocates say and agency records show, is that DCF's most troubled areas are among the ones Bush and Kearney called their top priorities: foster care, worker turnover and runaway children.

Referendum on statewide university panel splits top politicians - The question -- whether to appoint a statewide group to oversee Florida's public universities -- amounts to a referendum on one of Gov. Jeb Bush's signature education reforms. And it represents a face-off between two of Florida's most prominent politicians: Bush, the state's top Republican, and Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, who is leading the drive to reinstate a system much like the one Bush pushed to get rid of.

Lobbyists shut out of Beach campaigns
Lobbyists representing clients who do business with Miami Beach wouldn't be allowed to make campaign contributions or hold political fundraisers for City Commission and mayoral candidates under a new ordinance given preliminary approval Wednesday.

2 state races could have photo finish
The races for attorney general and agriculture commissioner remain too close to call, according to a new opinion survey that shows Democrats giving their better-known Republican opponents tough fights.

Activist running without a party
Bob Kunst is on the ballot, but his campaign has only about $16,000 to compete with Bush and McBride.

Reno predicts ballot woes outside Fla.
She says that other states could have more problems than Florida when voters go to the polls Nov. 5.

Monitor the monitors
Palm Beach Post Editorial
State will be packed with election watchers.

Florida Supreme Court upholds death penalty law
The Florida Supreme Court ruled today that the state's death penalty sentencing law is constitutional, even though it lets a judge overrule a jury's recommendation.

Orange Bar takes on Barry grads' case
Another rescue is being attempted for forlorn Barry University law graduates who have a degree but weren't allowed to take the Florida Bar exam because their school wasn't accredited when they graduated.

Blue Cross seeking layoff volunteers
Hoping to reduce costs by about $20 million, Blue Cross and Blue Shield is asking 3,000 employees this week to consider leaving the company.

Officials seek wider citrus canker search - West Palm Beach · State Department of Agriculture officials will seek warrants to search for citrus canker-infected trees in approximately 2,700 additional properties in a West Palm Beach neighborhood, an agency spokesman said.-- 
The agency finished serving 1,442 warrants in the same neighborhood at the south end of Lake Mangonia on Wednesday, spokesman Mark Fagan said.

Ocala National Forest closing 7,000 acres from offroad access
OCALA — Off-road enthusiasts will lose access to 7,000 acres of the Ocala National Forest starting next month, in an effort to prevent further damage by the vehicles. Wildlife, vegetation and other delicate resources have been damaged by the new trails continually created by off-road users in the Lake Delancy and Paisley Woods areas, forest officials said.

City agrees to mark manatee zones
Jacksonville has agreed to install buoys every half-mile through the St. Johns River in Duval County to help clear the way for three major boating projects.

Posters warn of toxic algae-- ST. PETE BEACH -- Posters with the question "Have you been 'slimed'?" soon could go up around Lake Seminole -- a smallbody ofwater surrounded by development in St. Petersburg.-- 
Officials say the popular recreation spot is dominated with large amounts of toxic algae throughout the year, which makes it an ideal candidate for the warning.-- 
However, lakes, rivers and ponds across the state also have turned up with large amounts of the blue-green algae -- including some used for drinking water.-- 
The Harris Chain of Lakes in Lake County is the source of several studies because it has so much toxic algae. Algae also is suspected in hundreds of alligator deaths on Lake Griffin in Leesburg.

Weapons in mosquito war are mostly a bunch of duds
They sound like the wares of a traveling medicine man: lotions, patches, grids, coils, candles, incense, mysterious ultrasonic gadgets that promise to protect, kill, distract, confuse, attract or repel.

Miami seafood importer charged over infected lobster
MIAMI — A seafood importer sold tons of imported lobster tainted with salmonella in the United States despite an order to destroy or send back the shipments, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday. Carlos Seafood Inc. was charged with three felony counts, one for fraud and two for forgery, covering its sales of 24,750 pounds of tainted lobster in 10 shipments from Jamaica and Mexico in 1997 and 1998.

Return of the chicken hawks
The war wimps are at it again. They're the disingenuous politicians who are aggressive advocates for war but who never actually served in the military. Call them chicken hawks. And in Georgia they're running a TV ad featuring the images of Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, claiming that Sen. Max Cleland lacks the "courage to lead" at a time "America faces terrorists and extremist dictators." This despite the fact that Senator Cleland, a Democrat running for a second term, lost both legs and his right arm to a grenade blast as a U.S. Army captain during the Vietnam War.

Big bucks for the bang
In a Rose Garden ceremony, surrounded by the joint chiefs and key members of Congress, President Bush signed the largest increase in Pentagon spending since the end of the Cold War. Congress, without much fuss, gave the president almost everything he asked for in the defense bill; at $355 billion, it is only $1.6 billion less than the administration had requested.

Iraq: The Case Against Preemptive War*
The administration’s claim of a right to overthrow regimes it considers hostile is extraordinary – and one the world will soon find intolerable.
Most Americans seem little concerned at the prospect of an American war on Iraq. This is surprising considering that, of America’s friends and allies, only Israel openly supports it, while other states in the Middle East, including longtime rivals and enemies of Iraq, warn against it, and the Europeans view it with alarm and growing frustration. Those challenges to the planned war now being raised, moreover, tend to center on prudential questions – whether the proposed attack will work and what short-term risks and collateral damage might be involved – rather than on whether the war itself is a good idea.

What happened to Bush's promise of corporate reform?
The famous Texas two-step is getting a heavy workout in Washington. You glance away for just a moment to watch the World Series and — oops — we're no longer for regime change in Iraq. We've spent the last two months having it pounded into our brains daily that we must have regime change in Iraq, nothing else will do. But now — not so. Well, you say, people are allowed to change their minds, even presidents. But that's where we come to the awkward part, because the administration is insisting it hasn't changed its mind at all.

Escalating tuition bills
The public universities and colleges that grant three- quarters of this country's degrees are becoming increasingly unaffordable to the poor and working- class students who have traditionally used them to move out of poverty into the middle class. This troubling trend was underscored yet again this week when the College Board released alarming data showing that public-college tuition had risen by nearly 10 percent — the largest increase in a decade. This sharp tuition rise follows a period when the costs of higher education have outpaced tuition aid.

10/23/02

Bush says McBride will cut services to pay for smaller classes
CALLAWAY, Fla. - Gov. Jeb Bush told a crowd of flag-waving veterans Wednesday that he feared his Democratic opponent, Bill McBride, would cut services for them and other Floridians to pay for reducing school class sizes.- 
The Republican incumbent seized on a comment McBride made during their debate Tuesday in Orlando about cutting spending to help fund a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit the number of students in public school classes, which McBride supports.- 
"By his own admission yesterday, he said that he would make across-the- board cuts," Bush told about 300 people at a Veterans for Jeb breakfast in this Florida Panhandle town near Panama City. ...

State pension plan audited
Florida's public employee pension plan is once again under scrutiny. This time, federal auditors want to make sure the U.S. government isn't paying more than its share to run the investment fund.

Company that runs prison gets ultimatum
The company that runs the Gadsden Correctional Institution has 20 days to fix a series of personnel problems or risk losing its contract with the state. - Officials with Corrections Corporation of America acknowledged Tuesday during a meeting with state agencies that they "dropped the ball" on following state rules when it comes to hiring correctional officers at the women's prison near Quincy and promised to fix the problems.

Bushes pay visit to Noelle in jail
Gov. Jeb Bush and his wife saw their daughter at the Orange facility for the first time.

Bush, McBride meet in final debate
ORLANDO — Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic challenger Bill McBride were largely steered away from education Tuesday during a debate that highlighted several other differences between the candidates. Bush and McBride did argue over a proposal to limit class sizes during the final debate before the election, but McBride had few other opportunities to attack Bush on education — a theme that dominated their first two meetings.

Candidates abandon cordiality
Gov. Jeb Bush says Bill McBride is fuzzy on details. McBride says Bush will say anything to win re-election.- ORLANDO -- In their last and liveliest face- to-face encounter in the race for governor, Jeb Bush and Bill McBride drew starkly different visions of Florida before a statewide TV audience Tuesday night, their disdain for each other more visible than ever.
Bush portrayed McBride's rookie political campaign as long on promises and short on details. McBride, meanwhile, suggested Bush thinks Florida is better off than it is and will say anything to get elected.

Harsh words fly at debate
Jeb Bush, Bill McBride tangled in their final television debate.

Debate centers on taxes, tactics
A proposal to reduce class sizes exposes differences between Bush and McBride.

McBride Pushes Trust; Bush Shines In Details
TAMPA - Apparently trying to capitalize on news stories that have raised questions about Gov. Jeb Bush's veracity, Bill McBride sought in Tuesday's debate to shift the Florida governor's race onto the issues of trust and character. ...

Round 3 Turns Raw
ORLANDO - Bill McBride, his face
red - not from the bright lights, but from a perceived accusation - seized his moment.

Bush's poise holds off McBride's final charge
ORLANDO -- For 18 months Bill McBride has been pining to debate Jeb Bush one-on-one. Over and over, the first- time candidate predicted he would win the comparison between a governor born of privilege and the folksy ex- Marine vowing to fix Florida schools.
But McBride underestimated his opponent.

Debate viewers left with more questions than answers - DAYTONA BEACH -- Aaron Gee was more frustrated with what he didn't hear during the final gubernatorial debate Tuesday night. -- 
"Both of them were asked direct questions but both refused to give direct answers," said Gee, 33, one of 15 Volusia/Flagler County voters who participated in a political forum at The Daytona Beach News-Journal after the debate between Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic opponent Bill McBride. 

McBride lost the chance to make case
ORLANDO - Bill McBride bumbled a big opportunity Tuesday night.
With the race for governor coming down to a handful of waffling
voters, the most widely viewed televised debate of the campaign offered the Democratic nominee a prime-time stage to make a compelling pitch for ousting Republican Gov. Jeb Bush.
But a flurry of questions from the debate's relentless moderator, NBC's Tim Russert, flummoxed McBride and laid bare an agenda lacking in specifics.

McBride good, but probably not good enough
This was it -- the World Series of politics, the game for all the marbles, the whole shebang -- the defining moment of a year-long campaign for governor, The Debate. 

McBride ad criticizes 'scare tactics'
TALLAHASSEE — A new television ad by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill McBride that began running statewide Tuesday accuses Gov. Jeb Bush of using scare tactics and fake numbers in campaign advertising.

Leaving the bully pulpit
At his last Cabinet meeting, the attorney general hears praise from the causes he championed.

Buddy Dyer is best prepared to serve state
Florida's second most influential official is the people's lawyer. That's how Democrat Buddy Dyer sizes up the job of attorney general, and his consumer approach is one of the big reasons he is best suited to hold this key Cabinet post.

Public records exemptions would be harder to come by
TALLAHASSEE — Following a flurry of successful attempts to carve out exemptions to Florida's public records law, voters in November will determine whether to make it more difficult for lawmakers to take information out of the public eye. If adopted, Amendment 4 would require a two-thirds vote in both state legislative chambers to enact exemptions to Florida's Sunshine Law.

Opponents of class size amendment lagging in money
TALLAHASSEE — Opponents of a proposal to put limits on public school class sizes have raised less money than they had hoped, limiting their TV advertising in South Florida. The Coalition to Protect Florida had raised $175,000 through Oct. 11 and still plans to run a limited media campaign about Amendment 9.

FCAT inflicts a senseless humiliation on dyslexic students
The FCATization of Florida schools has not been without side-effects. I'm sure the Legislature didn't mean to cut out playground time, to end class field trips, to force schools to open in the middle of summer and to de-emphasize the teaching of history, civics, foreign languages, art, music and everything else not on the test. 

A smart choice: New university board can stimulate economy
Florida's universities need Proposed Constitutional Amendment 11. The proposal provides a proven formula for this state's university system to grow and flourish academically, compete for high-quality professors and attract research dollars. 

Another University Overhaul?
TAMPA - Voters are about to decide whether to change fundamentally the way public education is run in Florida. So there's not much time left to get a handle on the abstract Amendment 11, better known as the Graham Amendment. ...

No strangers to pressure, Miami police enlisted for role in elections
MIAMI — The Miami-Dade Police Department has managed hurricanes, Super Bowls, a visit by the pope and the Year 2000 computer problem. But can it handle an election in Miami-Dade County? That is the mission given to the police by the county manager here, one of many extraordinary measures cities and counties across the state are taking to avoid another disastrous day at the polls next month.

Incumbent Thurman vulnerable in redrawn district
BROOKSVILLE — When the Florida Legislature redrew congressional districts this year, Republicans hoped to push five-term congresswoman Karen Thurman out. Her 5th District was reconfigured to eliminate her Democratic stronghold in Alachua County, home to the University of Florida.

Katherine Harris House campaign draws many non-Florida donors
SARASOTA — Retiree Richard Allison can't vote for a congressional representative from U.S. House District 13, representing Southwest Florida. That's because he lives nearly 4,000 miles away, in Anchorage, Alaska. But the distance didn't stop him from giving $300 to Republican Katherine Harris' campaign for the open seat against Jan Schneider, the Democratic candidate. Allison said he liked the way Harris handled the disputed 2000 presidential election as Florida's secretary of state.

Immokalee-area growth plan OK'd
A groundbreaking plan for rural growth around Immokalee won unanimous support Tuesday from Collier County commissioners, putting an upbeat ending on a three- year process that began amid distrust and low expectations. Over environmental advocates' objections, county commissioners gave landowners control over a study of almost 200,000 acres around Immokalee and appointed a citizens oversight committee. Landowners hired powerhouse engineering and planning firm WilsonMiller Inc. to do the job. The result of that study, called a stewardship overlay plan, was approved Tuesday — with the unanimous backing of the county's three most prominent environmental groups.

State extends ban on taking puffer fish in five counties
TALLAHASSEE — State officials are extending a ban on catching and eating puffer fish caught in the waters of five Florida counties for a year because of fears of a potentially deadly toxin. The ban has been in effect since April and was scheduled to be lifted Wednesday.

The Clean Water Act at 30
The Clean Water Act of 1972, one of the most successful and popular of all the environmental laws enacted under Richard Nixon, turned 30 last Friday. What should have been a celebratory moment, however, was instead an occasion for grumbling, mostly directed at President Bush. His administration has done little to broaden the reach of the law, and there are those in the environmental community who fear that he is now plotting to weaken it in fundamental ways, chiefly by narrowing its scope.

Algae toxins in water supply worry health experts
Seminole county commissioners will study housing issues near Lake Jesup. ... Studies from most of the state's 20 surface-water-treatment plants two years ago showed that although rigorous cleanup methods could remove algae from water, they often could not clean up toxins the algae released, according to a report by the Florida Harmful Algae Bloom Task Force.

And now, this breaking news report on something
No, as a matter of fact, I am NOT trying to be funny at a time like this. ...

Former president tells vets his son doesn't want war
JACKSONVILLE — Former president George Bush said Tuesday that a military conflict with Iraq is not inevitable and that his son "clearly does not want war." Bush said his son, President George W. Bush, "wants to see Saddam Hussein comply with the resolutions which were passed by the United Nations ... 11 years ago."

Business as usual
The mood among business lobbyists, according to a jubilant official at the Heritage Foundation, is one of "optimism, bordering on giddiness." They expect the elections on Nov. 5 to put Republicans in control of all three branches of government, and have their wish lists ready. "It's the domestic equivalent of planning for postwar Iraq," says the official. The White House also apparently expects Christmas in November.

Trying to find Waldo
I keep playing "Where's Waldo?" but I still can't seem to find him. The only deduction I can make is, he must be a Democrat. Because they're hiding, just about every last one of them. With mere weeks to go before the voters decide in whose hands to put both houses of Congress, Democrats have a lustrous opportunity to slam their Republican opposition with our listless economy, but all they communicate is silence. They seem to be afraid of their own shadows....

The Versatility Of Humble Duct Tape
It comes as no surprise that medical researchers have found that common duct tape can be used to remove warts.-- 
It is just one more practical use for duct tape, one of the universe's great inventions. Its versatility is unlimited. It can be used to tape up fractured limbs, close wounds, repair engine hoses or hold together the fabric on small planes.

10/22/02

Bush, McBride prepare for final debate
ORLANDO — Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic challenger Bill McBride are scheduled for their third and final debate Tuesday night, a crucial confrontation as their tight race moves into the final two weeks. A poll to be released late Monday shows Bush slightly ahead of McBride, who had recently pulled into a statistical dead heat in other polling. "This debate will help set the tone for the last two weeks and whoever can come out of the debate looking good will have some momentum," said Matthew Corrigan, a University of North Florida political science professor. "It will probably be a very spirited debate."

Debate format poses big risks
Meet the Press' moderator and a looser format may stir up the candidates' final debate tonight.

Today's debate should clinch race for Bush
Jeb Bush should secure his re-election tonight with the final gubernatorial debate.

Host pivotal in Bush-McBride debate
By Brian E. Crowley, Palm Beach Post Political Editor
NBC's Tim Russert has hosted debates that have affected two previous governor races.

TV war previews key issues for debate
Reacting to Republican accusations that he's a big spender, Democrat Bill McBride began rolling out a new TV commercial on Monday focused on the core issues of his campaign for governor -- public schools and children.

Vanquished Reno stumps for McBride, Democrats - "This is one of the most important elections in history," says the soft-spoken Reno, leaning into the microphone inside Florida City's City Hall, imploring every Democrat to support the Democratic ticket.

The power of family politics- 
President Bush pulls out all the stops to help his brother in a tight race in Florida. He may reap the rewards in 2004.

Mother's day for Bush campaign
By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Stumping for senior votes, Gov. Jeb Bush unleashed a 77-year-old secret weapon -- his mother.

Bush raises income-tax bugaboo in ad
TALLAHASSEE — Bill McBride's campaign cried foul Monday over an ad by Gov. Jeb Bush that implies McBride might impose an income tax if elected governor. It would take a constitutional amendment, approved by the voters, to authorize an income tax in Florida. The state constitution specifically forbids such a tax. To even put an income tax on the ballot, it would take a three-fifths majority of both houses of the Legislature or a citizen's initiative collecting more than 400,000 signatures.

Governor held stock in oil firm
TALLAHASSEE - At a time when his brother was deciding whether
to allow oil rigs off Florida's coast, Gov. Jeb Bush's personal portfolio included stock in a politically connected Texas company seeking to drill in the Gulf. ... Pioneer, whose largest single shareholder is former George W. Bush business partner Richard Rainwater, was bidding for a lease in waters off Florida. ... But aides to the governor were quick to point out Monday that his investments are handled in a fashion similar to a blind trust to avoid ``any conflict or even the appearance of a conflict.''
According to the trust document, reviewed Monday by The Herald, the investment decisions are made by two of Bush's closest friends, Winter Park financier Phil Handy and former U.S. Attorney Roberto Martinez of Miami.

Bush Taps University Leaders For Support - 
TAMPA - Gov. Jeb Bush has asked his appointed university leaders across Florida to give money to the political action committee that's trying to preserve his higher education overhaul.- 
The move has resulted in more last- minute cash for that committee, but critics say the fundraising pitch represents the university politicization they want to end.- 
At issue is proposed constitutional Amendment 11, known as the ``Graham amendment'' because of its lead sponsor, U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, D-Miami Lakes.

No on fake price tags
Palm Beach Post Editorial
Telling voters the cost of constitutional amendments could be good if lawmakers hadn't shown how they can abuse it.

Amendment aims for open government - ... On the general-election ballot, voters have an opportunity to make it harder for legislators to enact exemptions to public-records and open-meetings laws. Proposed Amendment 4 would require a two-thirds vote, rather than the current simple majority vote, in each chamber of the Legislature to pass any such exemption.-- 
The proposal is being considered almost a decade to the day after Florida voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the state constitution guaranteeing the right to open government.-- 
But since passage of the so-called "Sunshine Amendment," lawmakers have approved more than 850 exemptions, with only a handful generating any serious discussion in the Legislature.

Debate fans House candidates' fires
Depending on who's talking, the past four years have been a disaster for the Florida Panhandle, or there's been continual improvement in the economy there.

Florida Power goes dark-- Sentinel's position: It's disappointing to see the utility trying to keep city matters secret.

State voters to decide on death penalty's fate — again
In a couple weeks, Florida voters will be asked to add the death penalty to the state's constitution. The question should sound familiar. Four years ago, Florida voters were asked the same question and overwhelmingly supported the constitutional amendment. The amendment passed in 1998 by a margin of 73 percent to 27 percent.

Court: Juveniles can face execution
The Supreme Court revealed deep divisions over the death penalty Monday as justices used unusually strong language regarding the constitutionality of executing people who killed when they were juveniles and allowing exceedingly long waits on death row.

Measure would end Miami-Dade's autonomy
By Jim Ash, Palm Beach Capital Bureau
If approved, the amendment would let the legislature propose changes Miami-Dade County's charter.

Miami-Dade, Broward hope to avoid repeat of botched primary
MIAMI — Two years after hanging chads became a symbol of Florida's dysfunctional election system, officials in the state's two most voter-rich counties are still trying to get it right. Miami-Dade and Broward counties, which account for nearly 2 million registered voters, botched September's primary election and for weeks have been hastily working to fix what went awry before the Nov. 5 general election. Both counties are spending untold amounts of money and county employee hours to make things right.

Why police the polls? It's idiocy, not thuggery
Like many of our neighbors here in the tropics and subtropics, we Floridians are a simple people with a worldwide reputation for good drugs, bad elections and just a teeny bit of political corruption.

Doctors, lawyers, insurers square off over insurance
ORLANDO — Doctors and lawyers squared off Monday before a governor-appointed task force that will recommend ways to halt skyrocketing malpractice insurance rates that doctors say are causing some of their colleagues to flee the state. The meeting of the Select Task Force on Healthcare Professional Liability Insurance marked the first battle of what is expected to be a contentious fight pitting doctors and insurance companies against trial lawyers and consumer groups during next year's legislative session.

Facing facts: Florida's schools need help, not slogans
In national education-quality rankings, Florida usually lands near the bottom. The same is true for the amount of money spent on education. ... It's misleading for state leaders to claim credit for education- funding increases while failing to reveal that recent budgets have barely kept pace with inflation. It's doubly dishonest when money for the meager increases didn't come from state coffers. --
That's not the only facet of education getting the smoke-and-mirrors treatment from state leaders. Bush and legislative leaders -- like House Speaker Tom Feeney -- struggle to show that their policies have improved public schools. And they ignore numbers that say otherwise. -- 
Earlier this year, the Bush administration was hard-pressed to deny allegations of attempted censorship on a Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation report. The report was harshly critical of Florida's failure to provide an education system that could train needed workers. 

The next school busing debate
This time, the issue is poverty, not race.

BellSouth seeks to disconnect Supra
Consumers who figured they had beaten BellSouth's local telephone rates by signing up with discount rival Supra Telecommunications now will likely have to resume paying the Atlanta-based phone giant's higher prices.

Court filings charge water deal violates Sunshine Law
Grumbling from Marco Island and Collier County officials about the potential illegality of the swift deal struck between two Panhandle towns and a private company that owns the island's water operations, has turned into a full-fledged legal storm. In recent days, legal filings by Marco, Collier County and communities statewide have rained upon the towns.

Desalination Plant Neighbors Fear Sinkholes
CLEARWATER - Worries about sinkholes, saltwater intrusion and damage to private wells prompted a swell of opposition Monday to a water project in Pinellas County.- 
About 20 neighbors of Tampa Bay Water's proposed desalination plant between Clearwater and St. Petersburg urged the regional utility to drop the proposed project.- 
The residents presented the water board with petitions containing 1,564 signatures against the project.

Researchers work to predict red tide
Researchers are seeking ways to predict when deadly blooms of red tide will hit Florida's coastlines.

Dan K. Thomasson: The real champions of civil rights
Mythology always has been an ingredient in the business of politics. And when it comes to the politics of race, not only is the measure doubled but it seems to be built on appearance rather than substance. That reality was driven home recently by the selection of Bill Clinton as the first white in the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, certainly an honor he deserves if the criterion for choosing him is attitude and respect and enlightenment.

A new organic era
Monday marks a milestone in American farming. The Agriculture Department introduces a set of standards that define what the word "organic" means and which growers and products are qualified to use it. While most Americans tend to think of organic food as somehow healthier for themselves and their children, there is no hard evidence to support that. The real value of organic farming is its impact on our soil and water and livestock, on the very idea of farming itself. For that alone, it deserves our support.

Molly Ivins: Our poor government is just so broke
AUSTIN, Texas — As all the Miss Witherspoons of our lives used to call in those clear, fluty tones, "Attention, girls!" Heads up, women, we've got problems. The latest in a long line of anti-woman decisions by the Bush administration is, for once, getting some attention, in part because of the sheer cheapness of the move.

10/21/02

ACLU check: Miami-Dade blacks affected more by primary problems - MIAMI - Hundreds who showed up to vote in several Miami-Dade precincts that reported problems during the primary did not get to vote or had their votes go uncounted, according to a study released Monday by the American Civil Liberties Union.-- 
The study of 31 of 198 precincts that reported voting machine problems during the Sept. 10 primary shows 18,752 people signed voter rolls at the precincts, but only 17,208 votes were recorded, leaving a 1,544-vote shortfall, the ACLU said.

UCF activists to use debate as launch pad
Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic challenger Bill McBride will have to pass through a phalanx of student activists and outside agitators to get to Tuesday's debate at the University of Central Florida.

Not Easy Raising A Daughter Or Running A Campaign- When you're in a tight, tough campaign, every utterance, every gesture, every miscue, every judgment - fairly or not - takes on heightened value through the skewed prism of politics.

Bush, McBride prepare for final debate-- ORLANDO -- Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic challenger Bill McBride are scheduled for their third and final debate Tuesday night, a crucial confrontation as their tight race moves into the final two weeks.

State increases school spending, pays less of bill
Although Florida's spending on public schools has increased since Gov. Jeb Bush took office, the state has paid for a smaller share of total education costs during the same period, a newspaper reported Sunday. The state's share of the education budget has declined from 61 percent in 1998-99 to 55 percent in the current year, an analysis by the St. Petersburg Times showed.

McBride bristles at a Bush ad as he campaigns in Broward
Bill McBride on Sunday blasted Gov. Jeb Bush's suggestion in a new negative television ad that McBride would impose a state income tax to pay for a ballot measure that would mandate smaller classes in public schools.

Gov. Bush raises income-tax bugaboo in campaign ad
Bill McBride's campaign cried foul Monday over an ad by Gov. Jeb Bush that implies McBride might impose an income tax if elected governor.

In governor's race, school numbers add up differently - In the race for governor, incumbent Jeb Bush and challenger Bill McBride are bombarding voters -- and one another -- with statistics about Florida's struggling school system with each using numbers to support opposite views.

It's back to schools for Bush and McBride-- TALLAHASSEE -- Both Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and Democratic nominee Bill McBride have anchored their campaigns firmly in the problems of Florida public schools, far and away the leading concern among voters statewide.

McBride hopes to walk to victory as the light of day approaches - ...Despite Bush's '98 campaign promises to listen to the people's concerns, to move beyond ideology to a more humble post as statesman for all, Bush too often has embraced the far-right agenda of House Speaker Tom Feeney. Moderate voters made the difference four years ago, and Bush seems to have forgotten that.-- 
Prime example: In the last legislative session, Bush acquiesced to the House and another round of tax cuts for big business. He could waited until the economy became more stable before yet another tax cut, particularly when there was no back-to-school sales-tax holiday this year. The tax cut came on the heels of drastic budget cuts post terrorist attacks, when Florida's economy went into a tailspin. Bush later managed to increase education funding, but a bitter taste lingers for many. After all, Jeb! tax cuts since 1999 have taken $6 billion out of potential spending that could have helped children and elderly the most.

Yes on Amendment 11
The Florida university system needs Amendment 11 to restore discipline and financial reality with the creation of a Statewide Board of Governors.

Government should restrain damaging urge to 'educate' voters
Let's talk again about the government spending money to influence the outcome of our elections. .... 

Four newspapers endorse McBride; two back Bush - TALLAHASSEE -- Bill McBride picked up four newspaper endorsements Sunday in the race for Florida governor, while Gov. Jeb Bush garnered two.- 
McBride, the Democratic nominee for governor, was endorsed by the St. Petersburg Times, the Tallahassee Democrat, The Daytona Beach News-Journal and The Tribune of Fort Pierce. He earlier received the endorsement of The Daily Commercial of Leesburg, his native city.
Bush received the endorsement of The Stuart News and the Vero Beach Press Journal.

2 newspapers endorse Schneider over Harris
Democratic political newcomer Jan Schneider, who is running for a congressional seat also sought by Republican Katherine Harris, has picked up endorsements from two southwest Florida newspapers.

Common sense, pickup propel Nelson
Democratic agriculture commissioner candidate David Nelson isn't a household name, but people are beginning to know him.

Insurance moves to top of state's 2003 priorities
Palm Beach Post Editorial
State Farm approval latest hit for consumers.
If it wasn't official before last week, it is now: Florida faces an insurance crisis that goes far beyond malpractice, and the Legislature can't run from it.- 
A three-member arbitration panel ruled last week that State Farm, Florida's largest insurer, can raise homeowner premiums an average of 19 percent. For some residents in this area, the increases will be much higher. But, not to worry. Even though State Farm won another rate increase this year, premiums overall can't go up more than 42.5 percent over last year. For policies that renew between July 2003 and July 2004, however, homeowners could see another 42.5 percent increase. Allstate, the second-largest carrier, got a 15.7 percent increase two months ago.

Spin patrol: Candidates rely on polls more than they like to say
After the McBride campaign released an internal poll last week showing their guy tied with Bush, the Republicans countered with their own poll showing Bush ahead by 9 points.

King challenger takes green stance
Differences are plentiful in the state Senate race between a powerful political fixture in Northeast Florida and the energetic newcomer taking him on.

Environmentalists study cabinet races carefully
TALLAHASSEE -- Remember Orimulsion, that tar-based fuel Florida Power & Light Co. wanted to burn at a Tampa Bay power plant? The Florida Cabinet killed that idea. And when lawmakers wanted to let private property owners fence off part of the state's shorelines, Cabinet members persuaded them to back off.

Homeowners reeling under insurance burden
In addition to skyrocketing rates, coverage has declined.

Springtime for Hitler
You may recall that George W. Bush promised, among other things, to change the tone in Washington. He made good on that promise: the tone has certainly changed. - 
As far as I know, in the past it wasn't considered appropriate for the occupant of the White House to declare that members of the opposition party weren't interested in the nation's security. And it certainly wasn't usual to compare anyone who wants to tax the rich — or even anyone who estimates the share of last year's tax cut that went to the wealthy — to Adolf Hitler. 

Pension accounting whoppers
For all of this year's accounting scandals, one of the most perilous financial minefields may still lie ahead — corporate America's management of traditional pension plans covering some 45 million Americans. The fate of these funds in the boom-to-bust financial cycle is at once a glaring accounting scandal and a looming threat to the economy.

The Souffle Doctrine
WASHINGTON — The Boy Emperor picked up the morning paper and, stunned, dropped his Juicy Juice box with the little straw attached. "Oh, man," he wailed. "North Korea's got nukes. Sheriff Musharraf was helping them. Al-Qaida's blowing stuff up again. The Pentagon's speculating that the sniper might really be Qaida decoy teams trying to distract the law while they plan a bio-blitzkrieg or a dirty bomb attack on the capital. Tenet's broken out in hives about the next 9/11. Powell spends all his time kissing up to the Frenchies. Saddam's ranting about a river of American blood. Jebbie's in a world of hurt. The economy's cratering. At least Karl says our war strategy will open up a can of Election Day whoop on Congressional Democrats.

Divided Congress was long on talk, short on action - WASHINGTON -- Here's what the 107th Congress, consumed by partisan politics and the prospect of war, failed to do this year:

During this war of words, let's read words on war ...But the truth is, we need more books that teach us how to stop killing each other. We need a new short list of required reading for our leaders, for ourselves and for our children. What kind of syllabus can we imagine for a world way past the deadline for disarmament?
Start with Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, the tale of a convalescing and heartsick Confederate soldier who only wants to return to his sweetheart but who can't find his way out of the morass that war has made of his home country.- 
Then pick up Johnny Got His Gun, by Dalton Trumbo, a book on my list for nearly 30 years. Written in 1938 and published on the eve of World War II, this novel about a World War I doughboy who loses everything, including his identity, will leave you transformed. Try to read this book and remain unaffected by what war can do to the human consciousness.

First, let's go after al Qaeda
Suddenly and terribly, al Qaeda is back in the headlines. Intelligence officials in Indonesia say that the infamous terrorist network had a hand in the car bombing that destroyed a nightclub in Bali, killing more than 200 people.

10/20/02

President Bush supporting brother and defending his own policies-- 
President Bush rode into town last week to rescue his brother from the barrage of criticism that the governor's education innovations are ruining the state's public schools. - The president arrived at the little yellow-brick elementary school in New Smyrna Beach to deliver a double-barreled defense of Jeb Bush's most controversial school reforms, praising the FCAT as the indisputable key to accountability and blasting those who would do away with it as an antiquated supporter of an old, failed system. -- 
The president never mentioned Gov. Bush's chief critic, Democratic challenger Bill McBride, because to do so would be to expose the hasty visit for what it was -- an attempt to shore up Bush's popularity in the waning days of an ever-tightening gubernatorial race.

The Need To Think Through What We Want Florida To Be -
Florida's inability to contend with its rapid development is illustrated by a shocking number.- 
If each city and county developed to the capacity allowed by its land-use plans, Florida would swarm with 86 million people. As the Tribune's Kathy Steele found, most of them would be located along the coasts and across the center of the state, flanking the I-4 corridor.- 
It's not hard to imagine the scope of the chaos should the state - which is already straining to provide roads, water, schools and other necessities for its almost 16 million residents - ever reach that number.

Voters should hold them accountable
TALLAHASSEE -- There is one question that will never be settled to everyone's satisfaction: Would George W. Bush be president if Florida's votes had been fully and fairly recounted two years ago? -- One fact, however, is beyond argument: Without waiting to learn whether Bush actually had won the election, the Florida House of Representatives voted to steal it for him.-- 
It did so in the form of a resolution, passed 79-41 on Dec. 12, to officially appoint the 25 electors pledged to the governor's brother. The Republicans asserted, with straight faces, that it was simply a well-intentioned effort to ensure that Florida's votes did not go uncounted. ...

Bill McBride is clearly the choice
When Jeb Bush became governor four years ago, he promised above all to improve public schools. He set to work, implementing the A+ Education Plan that mandates annual testing, which is criticized as one-dimensional, and bases a school's funding on its test grade.

An inclusive leader, McBride has acute grasp of issues - The bottom of the November ballot says a lot about the race on top. There are 10 proposed amendments to the state's Constitution -- and five of them have been placed there by thousands of Floridians' signatures on petitions. The issues range from forcing better funding of education to preserving open government to limiting indoor smoking -- all issues that voters might have reasonably expected elected leaders to deal with. -- 
Many Floridians feel shut out of state government, and for four years, Gov. Jeb Bush has been in charge of the battalion blocking the door. - 
It's time to remove the obstruction, and replace Bush with a leader who focuses on inclusion rather than government by and for the favored few. 

Blacks hold key in close election
Gov. Jeb Bush had just finished fine-tuning his standard stump speech for a rally of black supporters when his smile turned into a frown, as if he'd just remembered something important.

Algae bloom in New Smyrna Beach may cause reactions in humans
NEW SMYRNA BEACH — An algae bloom officials suspect killed thousands of fish this month could be causing allergy-like reactions in humans, biologists said.- 
Several beachgoers — including surfers participating in a competition near Ponce de Leon Inlet last weekend — felt sick after being in the Atlantic Ocean off New Smyrna Beach.

Colin Powell bamboozled
SAN ANGELO, Texas -- The recent flap between calypso singer Harry Belafonte and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell goes to the heart of American history. During a radio interview, Belafonte compared Powell with a "house slave" -- a harsh insult in black culture. 

Sen. Bob Graham Graham's opposition to the resolution to wage war
U.S. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida was one of the 21 Senate Democrats who recently voted against a resolution authorizing President Bush to wage war against Iraq. The resolution passed by a vote of 77 to 23. The following is an excerpt from the speech Graham made on the Senate floor explaining his opposition:

Doesn't anyone notice the erosion of our freedoms?
Just like the frog in a pot of water that doesn't realize it's being boiled to death because the temperature is raised so gradually, so too can a populace fail to appreciate the erosion of its freedom.

 (Top)   (Current Week)  (Previous Week)  (Home)