Cutting criticism
Jeb! displays a little compassionate conservatism by cutting a government program that cruelly gives false hope to those who think that tenants in this state might somehow force a landlord to maintain his rental property or even return a security deposit now and then. The poor will be much happier in the long run if they are not offered the delusive contentment that comes with the belief that someone actually cares.
Bush's largest single veto involving state tax dollars was $5-million to expand a 3-year-old program that offers legal services to the poor. The Civil Legal Assistance program, run by the Florida Bar Foundation, received $1-million this year to operate in about a third of the state's 20 judicial circuits.
Bush said the expansion was too great.
"I'm not sure it's the appropriate role for the state to expand, in such a dramatic fashion, paying lawyers to do their work," Bush said.
In vetoing the project, Bush upset its champion, Rep. Dudley Goodlette, R-Naples, one of the Legislature's most respected members. Goodlette said the program helped the poor with landlord-tenant disputes, domestic violence, immigration and abuse cases but prohibits any legal work in criminal cases.
"I don't understand his view that we shouldn't be paying lawyers to be lawyers," said Goodlette. "We need these kinds of programs, to reach those people who otherwise are not going to have access to legal advice."