Mitch Perry
In Nepal, they’re still digging through the rubble after the devastating weekend earthquake that has taken at least 10,000 lives.
In Baltimore, the cleanup continues after Monday’s night of rage. Meanwhile, that city waits for a report on what actually happened to Freddie Gray, due later this week.
And in Tallahassee, House Speaker Steve Crisafulli decided to end the session early. But outside of Tallahassee, how much does the rest of Florida care?
This isn’t “partisan gridlock,” since that would mean friction between the parties. This is GOP versus GOP in Tallahassee.
Maybe there some adult supervision could come from Gov. Rick Scott.
Uh, no, not really. Scott decided Tuesday would be right for AG Pam Bondi to file the state’s lawsuit charging the Obama administration is trying to force it to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.
Heck, even though the Tampa Bay Times editorial page is slamming Crisafulli and Richard Corcoran, it also concedes that the “House’s decision to cut and run leaves the state better off because plenty of bad legislation will die, including Crisafulli’s water bill.” Hillsborough/Pinellas GOP Rep. Jamie Grant is on the same page, telling The Tampa Tribune that while a “lot of bills died today, but I fall in the camp that doesn’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing.”
So is it outrageous?
Maybe in a truly “purple” state, the Republicans would pay a price a year from this November at the polls. But that seems very, very unlikely. True, it will be a presidential election year, which means that in places like Hillsborough County, GOP incumbents like Shawn Harrison and Ross Spano should be a little more vulnerable than they were last fall. But the Dems are only going to be able to nip at the margins, unless they can really make something out of a broken Tallahassee.
In related news …
The end of the regular session for Florida House members prompted angry comments from Democrats.
Meanwhile, not everything is dead in terms of legislation, or so we’ve been told by backers of the measure that would provide incentives to lure Hollywood TV and film productions to the Sunshine State.
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Though liberals love to dump on them, the fact of the matter is that the Koch Brothers are serious about reforming the criminal justice system. On Monday Koch Industries announced that they would no longer include a question on their job applications about whether a perspective employee had ever been convicted of a felony.
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And this reporter and two others had the opportunity to spend a few quality minutes with Ben Carson Monday afternoon in Sarasota. The retired pediatric neurosurgeon is expected to announce his candidacy for the presidency next week, but was quick to back away from some of his more controversial statements in meeting with the press.
