BlogWood: MT Archives

Republicans dis voter mandates

Here’s the deal: in Florida, voters can amend the constitution and mandate that the State enact their wishes. Republicans hate this, as it forces them to actually listen to the voters needs and wants and cuts into the Legislature’s ability to control discretionary spending.

Jeb Bush has been leading the fight against two high profile amendments, and has basically said that he and his administration will not follow the law and the will of the people.

Official: Class size law futile

Education Commissioner Jim Horne said Wednesday that the state can't meet the voter-approved mandate to reduce class sizes in Florida.

"The class-size amendment will never be implemented," Horne said at a meeting of the Board of Governors, which oversees higher education in Florida.
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The amendment requires the state to give schools enough money to lower class sizes from kindergarten through high school. By 2010, they can be no larger than 18 in grades pre-K through 3, 22 in grades 4 through 8, and 25 in high school.

Horne, a Bush appointee who opposed the amendment before the November election, said Wednesday he can't force superintendents to reduce class size.

Jeb has been pitting K-12 against state universities, claiming that there is not enough money for both:

Florida's university presidents told Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday that the state's national reputation for short-changing higher education is making it hard for them to recruit top faculty.
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"The word is out that Florida is not committed to higher education," said Modesto Maidique, president of Florida International University in Miami.
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The governor is proposing cuts of $148.8-million from university operating expenses while providing no money for increased student enrollment. He also would cut up to $30-million out of Bright Futures scholarships.
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For the 260,000 students at Florida's 11 universities, that would mean fewer teachers and degrees, larger classes and more competition to get into schools because of enrollment caps.
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Bush, who also met with student leaders Monday, has repeatedly blamed the cuts on the cost of a voter-approved constitutional amendment mandating a reduction of class sizes in public schools.
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Next year's proposed cuts would come on top of a $167.5-million drop this year and could leave Florida last in the nation in per capita spending on higher education. When inflation is factored in, the amount of state money allocated for each university student has dropped 15 percent in the past four years.

A very similar attitude persists among high speed rail opponents:

High-Speed Train Opponents Rearm - from Tampa Bay Online

Signaling new legislative resolve to derail the high-speed train mandate, the first bill filed for the 2004 legislative session would send the costly constitutional amendment back to the ballot for voters to reconsider.

House Joint Resolution 0003 was introduced Tuesday by state Rep. Bob Allen, R-Merritt Island, a critic of the voter- mandated transportation project.
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Gov. Jeb Bush unsuccessfully lobbied lawmakers to send the measure back to the ballot this year.
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Proposals for the first line, from Tampa to Orlando, would cost the state $75 million a year for 30 years. Construction is supposed to begin no later than next year.

Now, whether or not you agree with these amendments, the fact is that the citizens of Florida put them into the constitution that state lawmakers vowed to uphold. Bush and his cronies are breaking the law as well as the will of the people of Florida.

This situation is illustrative of a national trend of Republican led initiatives to block and subvert the will of the people. In California, the GOP, angered after losing a fair, regularly scheduled election, has bought the right to recall a Democrat governor. In Texas, Republicans are attempting to ram through a redistricting plan that will guarantee a surge in Republican held seats in the next congressional elections. This despite the fact that they just redrew the maps a couple of years ago, based on the 2000 census.

If you’re a Republican and you lose at something, don’t worry. Change the rules. Ignore the rules. Abuse the rules. Cheat. Make your opponents, who won fair and square, play again and again until you mange to eke out a victory. Then change the rules once more so that your opponents will never again be able to play.