Mark Pafford: Florida Democrats will stay focused on our key issues

Clinton and a Bush are gearing up for a run at the White House. Is it 1990 or 2014? Congress is under Republican control with a Democrat in the White House. Is it 1946, 1994 or 2014? A Republican is heading to Florida’s Governor’s Mansion after just half of registered voters turned out to vote. Is it 1998 or 2014?

It is déjà vu all over again. It’s “Groundhog Day” without the benefit of Bill Murray. There’s nothing new under the Sunshine State.

It is the same with Democrats in the Florida House of Representatives where, in all likelihood, we’ll start the legislative session in March with 39 members in our caucus. Is it 2010 or 2014?

Nothing about these repetitions brings delight to me. The Florida Democratic Party is going through a soul-searching exercise headed by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. When you lose at the ballot box, it’s appropriate and necessary to figure out how best to correct course and improve navigation.

But let’s not overlook a fundamental reason for the number of Democrats in the Florida House: Redistricting. District lines, after 16 years of total Republican control of the state and two rounds of reapportionment, have left us with a political map that segregates and concentrates the Democrats.

It’s not just me who thinks so. A circuit judge has ruled the redistricting process “evidenced a conspiracy to influence and manipulate the Legislature into a violation of its constitutional duty.” Emails among Republican schemers released after the election demonstrate pervasive efforts to subvert not only fairness, but the Florida constitution and voters’ express prohibition of such pernicious gerrymandering.

Thus a Republican majority in the Legislature is baked into elections. Add to that a second-term governor elected once again by a bare plurality of the electorate. Less-than-majority votes for a chief executive and a majority propped up by partisan district lines do not a mandate make.

We believe in representing the people, not the wishes of the few, and as House Democrats we look forward to a legislative session with a focus on areas important to our constituents and all Floridians.

As it happens, four of these issues have won the overwhelming support of voters through constitutional amendments – access to public records and meetings, passed in 1992 with 83 percent; public education funding, passed in 1998 with 71 percent; class-size reduction passed in 2002 with 52 percent; water and land conservation, passed in 2014 with 75 percent; and medical marijuana, failing the new higher standard for passage but earning 58 percent of voters’ approval. Rick Scott can’t claim any of those clear mandates.

Furthermore, we’re confident expansion of health care coverage would pass overwhelmingly as well, if put to the voters.

House Democrats remain steadfast, determined to advocate for our core values and those of Floridians.

• Florida House Democrats continue to advocate expansion of health care in Florida.

It is not only our caucus that continues to beat this drum. A coalition of business groups – the reliably conservative Associated Industries of Florida and dozens of chambers of commerce around the state – has proposed an expansion of coverage that would make health care accessible to more than 800,000 Floridians now left out. House Democrats remain adamant about a substantive discussion. As we have already noted, failing to take full advantage of federal programs, Republicans this year rejected $3 billion of our own federal dollars. We are fiscally responsible.

• Florida House Democrats want better schools and more resources for educators.

Republicans have created education policy that was misbegotten in theory and has proved disastrous in practice. Subjecting students to an unending schedule of high-stakes assessments is wrong. Judging the value, pay and continued employment of hard-working teachers on the basis of flawed tests and outcomes beyond their control is unfair. It is past time to correct course on the testing-industrial complex and fund our best teachers while demanding reasonable, solid and straightforward accountability. For it is the workers seeking quality of life that a sound public education system establishes.

• House Democrats seek to protect Florida’s natural wonders and public resources.

The voters’ voice on Nov. 4 was loudest when it came to protecting the state’s environment. By a resounding 75 percent, Floridians approved Amendment 1, committing existing public money to preserving the environment. This should be done without budgetary sleight of hand. House Speaker Steve Crisafulli desires to focus on water policy in the upcoming session. We commend this attention to our public resources and look forward to a lively pursuit of good policy.

• House Democrats support voters’ wishes

While Amendment 2 didn’t clear the artificially high bar required to change the state’s constitution, a huge majority of voters sent a clear message: They want access to medical marijuana. At the ballot box, 58 percent of Floridians told us loud and clear what they want. Florida lawmakers can put a medical marijuana question before voters in 2016. We should do so.

• House Democrats support clear, accessible budgeting

House members will soon begin work on the state’s spending plan, projected to feature a $1 billion surplus. Democrats will work, to the extent we’re allowed, to settle budget issues in open forums, decide on spending priorities in public and eliminate the secretive practice by a handful of individuals – for the last two decades those select few have been Republicans – making decisions behind closed doors.

Republicans have the prerogative of power, but we urge the equally important responsibility of leadership to insure a beginning-to-end budget process conducted in the open. Could we also please talk about long-range planning? It’s possible to bring greater certainty and allow better planning, particularly for our public schools. Our transportation spending is effectively guided by a five-year plan. Let’s discuss doing something similar with education budgets.

Florida schools in the last four years have had to swing from billion-dollar cuts in one budget to billion-dollar corrections in another. Teacher layoffs followed by teacher raises. Can you imagine trying to manage something as important as the education of our children under those circumstances? Employers, too, would benefit. Business needs to be able to depend on a well-prepared, educated workforce.

Just because we’ve always done it one way is no reason to continue to do so. Let’s hope that will be true for midterm elections, too.

Mark Pafford represents District 86 in Palm Beach County and is House Democratic Leader for the 2015-16 sessions of the Legislature. Column courtesy of Context Florida.