Staff Reports
Gun control debate seems likely to last longer this time
The debate over gun control traditionally comes and goes following a tragedy. Last week’s murder of 14 high school students and three school employees in Parkland has elevated the rhetoric again, but this reaction has a feel that it will not go away as quickly as other times.
“When (an) 18-year-old turns 19 and he walks into a school with an assault weapon, then you have a massacre,” said Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson. “We’ve had too much of that in this state alone, not even to speak of the country.”
Boca Raton Democrat Ted Deutch, who represents the Parkland area, pointed to the ease of purchasing the AR-15 rifle, the weapon used in the most recent shootings, for sale just days after the Parkland massacre.
“Just 3 days after Parkland became home to one of the worst mass shootings in our history, a 600-booth gun show in Miami will offer AR-15s for sale to 18-year-olds,” he said. “I’m introducing legislation to make 21 the minimum age for all firearm purchases.”
Two of the worst shootings in history have come in Florida and during the past 6 months, the country has suffered through three tragedies. After initial cries for more gun control, the effort slowly faded each time.
After Stephen Paddock slaughtered 58 people in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017, the call for gun control quickly began. Even bipartisan majorities favored a ban on “bump stocks,” which Paddock used to turn his deadly tools into automatic assault weapons.
Despite this, Congress did not act and the proposed ban is “under administrative review.” Some states have taken action to ban them, but they remain unregulated at the federal level.
The Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando on June 12, 2016, is the second-worst in history. Calls for gun control quickly began, but the outcry subsided as the focus shifted to domestic terrorism.
On November 5, 2017, a gunman went into the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas and killed 26 worshippers. Calls for gun control were short-lived because the assassin, before taking his own life, was shot by a citizen legally carrying a firearm.
After the murder of first graders at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut on December 14, 2012, an emotional plea for gun control also faded. The shooter, a mentally ill 20-year-old, used one of his mother’s weapons and killed her before driving to the school.
The latest push for gun control has a better chance of lasting longer, if not succeeding. Assuming Congress cannot come to an agreement, a stronger push for state action is in the works.
In an election year, an emotional issue and 30-second commercials filled with hyperbole can be powerful. Former Democratic Congresswoman Gwen Graham, a candidate for governor, is going after GOP Gov. Rick Scott, who is widely expected to challenge Nelson in November.
According to Graham, Scott’s “legacy will forever be covered in blood” if the state does not take action to stop the sales of rifles like the AR 15.
Will there actually be some kind of gun control passed at either the federal or state level? Soon after the shootings, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio told Fox News that “there may well be” a reason to take action, but also said to wait for “a couple of days” for all of the facts to emerge.
The revelation that the FBI did not follow up on a tip that could have possibly prevented the shootings will give some cover to those wanting to avoid gun control measures. They might still say there is no law that will make a difference because the bad guys don’t follow the law.
In the end, this call for legislation could wind up like all the rest. But somehow, this one feels different.
Nelson: Feds should pick up entire tab of fixing Hoover Dike
Part of Donald Trump’s 2019 budget request calls for $96 billion to repair the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee and Florida’s senior Senator is not happy about it. Part of the President’s budget request would call for speeding up the project’s completion date to 2022, party by calling for the state to come up with $200 million to accomplish it.
“That’s absurd,” Nelson said in a statement last week. “Floridians shouldn’t have to pay a dime to finish the dike. Congress just gave the Army Corps all the money it needs to fully fund this project and get it done by 2022.”
Gov. Scott requested $200 million in 2017 to help complete the project by 2022, but indicated the federal government would reimburse the state. The Florida Legislature approved $50 million.
Recently, Nelson and Rubio wrote to the Army Corps of Engineers calling on them to use part of the $10.4 billion in disaster aid to fund the project.
In their budget overview, the Corps did not describe the state’s commitment as a loan. The language for the Herbert Hoover Dike is found on page 100 of the Trump budget proposal.
Activist group trolls Rubio with rolling billboards
An activist group took a cue from an Oscar-nominated film to troll Florida’s junior senator for not taking an active role in promoting gun control. The group, known as Avaaz, placed three billboards on trucks in a manner similar to the film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
The billboards traveled through Miami last week. The first said “Slaughtered In School” followed by “And Still No Gun Control?” with the third saying “How Come Marco Rubio?” The movie featured a grieving mother who blasted police for not finding the person who killed her daughter.
Rubio has drawn criticism for his early comments questioning the effectiveness of gun control. He said those who intend to carry out a mass murder “they will find a way to get the gun to do it.”
The two-term Senator has recently criticized the FBI for failing to follow up on a tip that possibly could have prevented the attack. On Sunday, he indicated he could support “red flag” law if the Florida Legislature would take it up.
These laws enable family members or law enforcement to ask a judge to temporarily strip gun rights from those with personal issues or behavior similar to that exhibited by the Parkland shooter, Nikolas Cruz. Rubio said Florida should “absolutely” consider enacting such a law.
Currently, only five states have such a law.
Floridians address Porter scandal
One of the issues moving off page one after last week’s tragedy in Parkland was the controversy surrounding former White House senior aide Rob Porter. There can be little doubt that the White House has made a mess of the Porter termination on accusations of domestic violence.
Porter’s background check has been a hot potato in recent days. Last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray contradicted a timeline proposed by the White House for looking into Porter’s recent past.
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said he was only made aware of incomplete security clearances, such as Porters, only recently, but that is coming into question. It brought a response from Miami Gardens Democrat Frederica Wilson, who had a highly public spat with Kelly late last year.
Kelly is “a four-star general, retired, who, I suppose, was an honorable man,” Wilson said in an interview published on Real Clear Politics. “And he wakes up every morning, watching TV, as each — he loses each one of those stars. Each one he has lost for lying.”
Winter Park Democrat Stephanie Murphy believes public officials holding only interim security clearances should have limited access to the nation’s most sensitive secrets. Responding to earlier testimony from Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Murphy offered a bill limiting that access, which she calls the “Coats Rule.”
“The ‘Coats Rule’ is simple: individuals in the White House and throughout the federal government who receive interim security clearances should have limited access to highly sensitive classified information,” she said in a news release. “As a former national security specialist, I know America’s adversaries won’t hesitate to exploit an employee’s undisclosed vulnerabilities through whatever means necessary, including blackmail.”
Murphy also serves on the House Armed Services Committee and is co-chair of the National Security Task Force for the House Democratic caucus.
Meanwhile, Portergate is ready to continue.
Lawson seeks national landmark for early civil rights activist
The birthplace of one of America’s first civil rights activists should be a national landmark if the Democrat from Florida’s 5th Congressional District has his way. This week, Lawson introduced the James Weldon Johnson Historical Preservation Act — to designate Johnson’s first home in Jacksonville Johnson as a national landmark.
Johnson (1871-1938) was a lawyer, diplomat, poet and a songwriter. He also became a leader within the NAACP.
He grew up in Jacksonville’s LaVilla neighborhood with his brother, composer John Rosamond Johnson. James Johnson later became the first African American admitted to the Florida Bar Exam since Reconstruction.
“I am pleased to introduce a bill designating James Weldon Johnson’s birthplace as a national landmark and memorialize his legacy as a leader for our community,” Lawson said in a news release. “Johnson contributed integrity, knowledge and dedication to our nation through his life’s work. Since his passing in 1938, he has remained an icon and inspiration not only to the city of Jacksonville, but throughout the United States.”
Lawson’s bill immediately garnered 19 co-sponsors, including Democrats Deutch, Debbie Wasserman Schulz, Alcee Hastings, Frederica Wilson, Kathy Castor, Murphy, Lois Frankel, Charlie Crist, and Darren Soto. Republicans joining as co-sponsors were John Rutherford, Bill Posey, Carlos Curbelo and Daniel Webster.
Murphy bill picks up two key backers
In March, the first-term Democrat from Winter Park introduced a bill advocating research to help get to the root causes of gun violence. The Gun Violence Research Act would eliminate a ban on the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) getting involved with the research.
Last week, Murphy picked up a key ally. Alex Azar, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, said he would like to see his department conduct research into the causes of gun violence.
“Gun violence is one of our nation’s most pressing public health crises,” Murphy said in a news release. “President Trump’s own HHS Secretary — who oversees the health and public welfare of our nation — now agrees that we need evidence-based research into reducing gun violence in America,”
Murphy’s bill picked up another backer when Kendall Republican Curbelo tweeted his support. Murphy and Curbelo made the deal over the weekend.
The “CDC should have never been banned from looking into gun violence as a public issue,” Curbelo said.
The bill has 122 co-sponsors, all Democrats, Those include Val Demings of Orlando, Hastings of Delray Beach, Soto of Orlando, Wasserman Schulz of Weston, Deutch of Boca Raton, Castor of Tampa, Frankel of West Palm Beach and Wilson of Miami Gardens.
T. Rooney adds to growing list of GOP retirements
On Monday, the GOP congressman from Okeechobee rocked the state’s political world by announcing he will not seek re-election to his seat representing Florida’s 17th Congressional District. He said his future would include serving “in a different capacity.”
“After what will be 10 years in the United States Congress representing the good people of Florida’s Heartland, it’s time to ‘hang em up’ as my old football coach used to say,” Rooney said in a statement.
While Rooney’s announcement was somewhat of a surprise, he was known to be frustrated with the current state of affairs in Washington. Describing the atmosphere on the House Intelligence Committee, on which he serves, Rooney called the atmosphere “poison.”
“The level of trust is just gone,” he said. Rooney also added that because of the climate “certain things definitely suffer.”
After thanking family and friends, Rooney ended his statement succinctly.
“Rooney out.”
Paulson’s Politics: Democracy, Congress and Trump
Three recent surveys of democracy have reached similar and startling conclusions. Democracy is eroding across the world and the results are particularly disturbing in the United States.
The Bright Line Watch, a survey of 2,000 American voters, found that the public faith in 21 of 27 key democratic principles is declining.
From September 2017 to January 2018, voter assessment of the courts, Congress and the courts to “effectively check executive power dropped by 7-8 percentage points.”
Confidence that the elected branches “respect judicial independence fell by 17 percentage points.”
Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World 2018 report and The Economist’s Intelligence Unit’s 2017 Democracy Index reached similar conclusions.
Freedom House concluded that 2017 “brought further, faster erosion of America’s own democratic standards than at any time in memory, damaging its international credibility as a champion of good governance and human rights.”
The Economist’s Democracy Index rated the United States as a “flawed democracy” for the second year in a row.
Some books have reached similar conclusions about the demise of American democracy.
Political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, in their book, How Democracies Die, argue that democracies have eroded across the world. This was enhanced when political leaders abandoned two critical norms — mutual tolerance and forbearance.
Even in publications that would normally be expected to side with Trump, such as the conservative Weekly Standard, wrote that the president “lacks a moral compass, is blinded by mind-boggling narcissism, has weak spots for despots, and is unfit for his job.”
Law enforcement was one of those areas that were consistently rated highly across the political spectrum, until the Trump administration.
A 1948 Gallup Poll found that 94 percent of Americans rated the FBI as doing an “excellent” or “good” job. No more.
Trump’s attack on law enforcement, and the FBI, in particular, has undercut support for the rule of law. Republicans, traditionally viewed as the law-and-order party, now ranks the FBI much lower than Democrats and independents. Only 38 percent of Republicans approve of the FBI, while 47 percent disapprove. 64 percent of Democrats give the FBI positive evaluations compared to 14 percent who disapprove.
What does this portend for 2018 and beyond? Trump supporters believe it signifies that the enemies of the president are trying to bring him down. Critics of Trump contend that Trump has caused not only his ratings to fall, but also has led to a decline in support of all political institutions.
The big question is whether Trump can survive the political turmoil associated with his administration?
The bigger question is whether American democracy can survive three more years of Trump.
Ros-Lehtinen: GOP ‘heading into trouble’
Sunday’s Face the Nation program on CBS featured a group of retiring Republican members of Congress, including long-serving Congresswoman from Miami. Also joining the discussion was Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona and Congressmen Ed Royce of California and Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania.
They talked about immigration and whether Chief of Staff John Kelly should step down for his role in the Porter controversy. But a focus was the future of the Republican Party and the role of Trump.
“I think we would be foolish not to see that we’re heading into trouble,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “I think we need to look toward the future, and we have to have the policies that attract millennials, women and minorities. I don’t see that.”
As for Trump, the veteran legislator expressed her frustration.
“On immigration, you look at the President’s position, and what he says on Monday may be different from what he says on Wednesday,” she said. “And that may be different on Friday.”
The lawmakers are among more than 30 Republicans who will retire at the end of the year.
Two former members describe DC gridlock
Two former elected officials, one from each party, have teamed up to launch a political road show to talk about the dysfunction of politics in Washington. Patrick Murphy, a former Democratic Congressman from southeast Florida, and David Jolly, a former Republican Congressman from Pinellas County, stopped by Florida State University last week to discuss “Why Gridlock Rules in Washington.”
Jolly told listeners that he arrived in Washington with a plan to tackle problems — only to be encountered with a “reality” where bipartisanship, cooperation and compromise were seen as pitfalls for incumbents seeking reelection. Like Jolly, Murphy said he came to Congress thinking he was going to “change the world.”
Both indicated their party’s leadership was reluctant to act in bipartisan favor in order to prevent the opposite party from achieving success. They also discussed problems that have led to the polarization and gridlock which included problems include gerrymandering, closed primaries, an overemphasis on campaign finance and the mainstream media habit of rewarding polarizing politicians with airtime.
Jolly said the turnout on the college circuit has been great — especially given the subject material being discussed.
“It’s not like we’re talking about really salacious things,” he said. “We’re talking about gerrymandering and open primaries — this isn’t ‘Fire and Fury.’”
Save the date
Chris Hunter, a Democrat running for Florida’s 12th Congressional District against incumbent Republican Gus Bilirakis, is hosting a fundraiser Friday, Feb. 23, at the Tampa Club. Former Florida CFO and gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink is the special guest.
Hunter is a former FBI agent and Department of Justice prosecutor who recently left DOJ to run for CD 12. According to his campaign, he is a friend of State Attorney Andrew Warren and brings policy expertise and political savvy.
Event begins 5:30 p.m.; Tampa Club is at 101 E. Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa.
On this date in the headlines
February 20, 2003 — Former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough from Pensacola made his debut on MSNBC, anchoring “MSNBC Live.” He is in negotiations for a show of his own similar to that of Chris Matthews’ “Hardball.”
February 20, 2008 — Cuban President Fidel Castro has stepped down but turned the reins over to his brother, Raul. “We must remember that Fidel Castro has resigned from a position he was never elected to in the first place,” said GOP Sen. Mel Martinez.
