Daniel TilsonThe fast-approaching, official end of the Florida legislative session is known as “Sine Die.” That’s Latin. It means the legislature adjourns with no fixed date for future meetings.
True to form, when the respective House and Senate Sergeant-at-Arms stand side by side in the Capitol Rotunda on May 2 and drop their white hankies signifying Sine Die 2014, the Legislature will be putting on a public show.
Not to be a nitpicker or party pooper (well…), but March 3 has already been fixed as the starting date for next year’s session. Still, lawyers, legislators and such, they love their Latin phrases and ceremonial photo-ops. What the heck, at least this is a case of “no harm-no foul” falseness.
The same can’t be said for tall tales GOP legislators have been (and will keep on) spinning for months. This gives Sine Die some unintended symbolic punch. Here’s a pack of hyper-partisan politicians practiced at playing fast and loose with the truth, and soon they’ll stamp their duties done with a literally false label.
Harmless traditions aside, Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford signaled back in January they’d be prioritizing a “can do” platform in this midterm election year. They also made clear they’d be peddling it to voters with one false or misleading claim after another.
They introduced “Work Plan Florida 2014” and promised to “target low income and working Floridians,” presumably for tax cuts, education assistance and other goodies.
It was supposed to work hand-in-hand with Gov. Rick Scott’s “It’s Your Money Tax Cut Budget.” That’s the budget he said would “grow the hopes and dreams of Florida families.”
In the coming months, Scott and other Republican incumbents seeking re-election will keep reminding us how successful their plans were. They’ll exchange report cards and grade each other highly.
In truth, they set the bar so low in 2014 it was impossible for them to “fail.” Their “success” was in pre-selecting low-hanging fruit to pick and use as show-and-tell trophies on the campaign trail.
Tax cuts? What it amounts to is an average $25-per-person reduction in annual auto fees, and a handful of sales tax holidays. That’s it.
Education? Aside from universally agreeable moves to expand the state GI Bill and freeze state university tuitions for a year, there was little help.
To the contrary, the big GOP education push in 2014 was to radically expand a voucher program that encourages big businesses to trade paying corporate taxes for covering the cost of switching public school students into private schools.
While some lower and middle-income families are swayed by buzzwords “empowerment” and “choice,” many more now recognize vouchers as part of a systematic GOP plan to divert public school funding into private, for-profit schools. That recognition has fueled near-defeat of the plan, for now.
Compare supposed Republican 2014 “success” on taxes and education to a couple of epic failures.
Despite dogged attempts by badly outnumbered Democrats, Republicans refused to even debate the issue of raising the state’s minimum wage. They label it bad for “job creators,” who apparently take precedence over middle-class taxpayers paying public assistance for low-wage workers.
Then there’s the sorry spectacle of billions in tax dollars still paying Emergency Room costs for about 800,000 uninsured Floridians. These are the poor souls who should be covered by Obamacare Medicaid expansion. But Florida House Republicans would rather say “No!” to Obama, than “Yes” to their constituents.
Guess “hopes and dreams” of “low income and working Floridians” can wait.
Here’s more Latin for Florida’s Republican legislators to consider:Conscientia mille testes. It means “Conscience is as good as a thousand witnesses.”
Daniel Tilson has a Boca Raton-based communications firm called Full Cup Media, specializing in online video and written content for non-profits, political candidates and organizations, and small businesses. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
