Howard Troxler thinks he has a recipe for reforming the Florida Legislature. He seems to feel much the same way as me about the current situation in Tallahassee:
Honestly. It has never been this brazen. Lobbyists write bills openly, and stand up to present them in front of committees. Some legislators who supposedly “sponsor” the bills can’t even explain what they say. It used to be that members at least were ashamed when it came out that their bill was lobbyist-written. Now they just file blank bills, waiting for lobbyists to fill in the content.
Howard sez all we need do is take away a little power, in the form of redistricting, and a little money, mainly the soft money from party headquarters, and we’ll be well on our way to having a Legislature that is actually responsive to the voters. I don’t know if those ideas will be enough, but they’re not a bad start.
your page is inspirational