Beach Peanuts

Action: Tell Rick Scott To Veto Preemption Bill

Yesterday the Florida House gave Disney World and Darden Restaurants a gift they've been hoping for: They joined the Senate and passed a bill that will prohibit local governments from enacting their own sick-time policies for workers. 

This comes after a long fight between workers who only want what's fair, and "Big Mickey" and other businesses who pocket huge profits at the expense of those workers who already forego benefits.

While legislators pat themselves on the back and claim victory, this was also a victory for ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) who are behind a larger push for “preemption bills,” laws that override any efforts to implement paid sick days, and write the laws that Florida legislators "adopt" as their own. For them it's as easy as "cut and paste." They do little work at all to pass it, and reap rewards from those businesses, while the workers who will suffer from it work long hours in return for very little. 

The bill now goes to Gov. Rick Scott's desk for his signature, but he should veto it. For once he should actually "do the right thing" rather than merely using the phrase as a campaign slogan.

Call Gov. Scott and ask him to REALLY "do the right thing" and veto HB655.

(850) 488-7146.

Workers deserve better.

The Florida GOP And Sick-Time: "Small Government" Hypocrites

Big Government, Small World

Conservative Republicans claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility, and yet Rick Scott threw away taxpayer dollars along with stimulus money and the promise of jobs when he rejected high-speed rail, a project that was years in the making. That money is now in California, where Floridians will have to go if they want to experience a ride on the rails after it's completed.

Republicans in the Florida legislature are also poised to throw away more of those tax dollars when they likely will do nothing about Medicaid after turning down federal dollars to expand it in Florida for those who really need it.

And all because President Obama favored both.

They also profess to hate "big government," and yet one of their latest moves has them wearing their hypocrisy on their sleeves, and they don't seem to care if Floridians who are flailing desperately in this economy know it, simply because they have the power to say "no."

Last Friday the Senate passed a bill that will prevent local governments from enacting their own sick-time policies for workers. Because nothing says "small government" like a bunch of Republicans stepping in to block the will of the locals when big businesses whine over having to give employees paid time off when they're sick. 

Now the bill goes back to the House, where they'll have to act on it by May 3.

The sick-time battle in Florida has been a long, drawn out struggle between activists, voters, employees, and big businesses who have fought against them from the get go. When voters finally won the latest battle to get a sick-time measure on the ballot, along came the Republicans in the legislature who stepped in on behalf of large employers who are against it, like Darden Restaurants, the owners of Red Lobster and The Olive Garden, Walt Disney World, and of course, on the behalf of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.

Let there be no doubt who Republicans are standing up for in this fight:

"We cannot have a patchwork of local governments trying to impose upon private employers a set of requirements for employee benefits,' said Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, who is carrying the Senate version of the bill. "This is a situation that cries out for uniformity across the state."

Supporters in both chambers have argued the Orange fight has inspired them to at least temporarily preempt the "patchwork" of local government sick- and medical-leave policies in order to provide "certainty" to businesses.

This lends a bit of certainty to employees as well: The certainty that unless they want to lose their jobs, they'll be showing up every day, sick or not.

Advocates haven't given up, but in an added punch in the gut from Mickey Mouse, the group MomsRising was turned away when they tried to deliver a letter signed by 6,000 supporters asking Disney to stop opposing sick-time measures.

Representatives for MomsRising.org attempted to deliver the letter, signed by more than 6,000 people demanding Disney stop working to block earned sick time initiatives in Florida to the Disney Team Resources building yesterday. A spokesperson for Walt Disney World informed the moms that they would not be allowed to deliver their letter and asked that they leave the premises.

That's right, the "happiest place on earth" does not extend that emotion to their employees, and just like magic, they want to make that letter disappear.

There's no shortage of villains in this story. Helping the Republicans out in the fight is another group who professes to subscribe to "small government" policies, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), who write the legislation for lawmakers in the first place. ALEC has had an active role in the sick-time fight as well through "preemption bills" like this one, and in addition to Florida, similar model legislation has been "written" in New York, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Mississippi.

ALEC does the bidding for their funders like the Koch brothers, and for their members. Darden Restaurants was an ALEC  board member until this month, when they claimed to have cut ties with ALEC. Disney is not listed as a member. Of course, just because they aren't technically members, it doesn't mean they won't benefit from any ALEC legislation passed by the Florida GOP in the legislature.

The theory behind paid sick-leave is that it would drive up costs for companies who provide it, but studies have shown this not to be true. Forcing employees to work when they're sick, or give up pay if they can't, is bad for business, not only for a decrease in productivity, but time and money spent on turnover, especially when the same companies don't want to pay decent wages or provide benefits. It's also bad for business when you consider the potential to spread an illness to customers.

How many would want to be served a meal by a sick service worker given the choice? How many tourists coming to Disney World would want themselves and their children to be exposed to something easily passed on to them by a hug-friendly life-sized Disney cast member? When it comes to contagious illness, you could say it's a small world, after all.

The Florida GOP can say they're for "small government" all they want, but this is really a big government overreach that's also bad for big business and tourism.

That's not fantasy, it's reality. 

(Photos: Florida Senate, Martha Jackovics)

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Tampa Invited To Bid For 2015 Super Bowl Against Arizona

Tampa has been invited to make a bid to host the 2015 Super Bowl, it was learned today.

From TBO:

The National Football League has designated Tampa Bay and Arizona as the two final competitors vying to land the 2015 Super Bowl.

League spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed Thursday the NFL has informed the Bay area and Glendale, Ariz., they are the only two regions still in the running for the next available Super Bowl. Both suitors are required to submit formal bids before league owners vote in October at the NFL's fall meetings.

If Tampa is chosen, this would be the fifth Super Bowl for the city. Tampa's first Super Bowl was in 1984.

Rick Scott "Trusts BP To Do The Right Thing," Do You?

Photo by Tom MacKenzie, U.S. Fish and WIldlife Service

Is Florida Gov. Rick Scott poised to let BP and Transocean off the hook for last year's Gulf oil spill as far as Florida is concerned? It sure looks like it.

Do Rick Scott's loyalties lie with the citizens and businesses who have lost so much along the Gulf coast of Florida, or do they lie with the oil companies? His business friendly demeanor seems to suggest the latter, and his actions, or rather his inaction, seem to suggest that he will let time run out on joining a lawsuit against the oil companies as the deadline approaches. 

Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region

You've probably seen the ads recently claiming that BP has cleaned up and everything is just fine along the Gulf coast, but evidence suggests otherwise for those who are really looking:

BP, which seemed in danger of collapse a year ago, is on the financial rebound. Ken Feinberg, the independent administrator of BP's $20bn compensation fund, says he is close to finishing compensating individuals and businesses who were hurt by the disaster – without even coming close to exhausting the $20bn. He paid out only $3.6bn last year.

The cleanup operations are also winding down, at a cost to BP of about $13bn (it has also pledged $500m to scientific research in the Gulf). The company took out an ad campaign this week to express regrets for the spill, showing a picture of shimmering Gulf waters. It could still be liable for up to $18bn in penalties and fines, however, under a US law that imposes a levy of $4,300 for each barrel of oil. But Feinberg was so upbeat he told reporters the Gulf could see a complete recovery by 2012.

Government scientists have not gone so far. A spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) said there was "no basis to conclude that the Gulf recovery will be complete by 2012", and warned that some of the consequences of the spill may not be known for decades. The spokesman went on to note that about 60 miles of the coastline remain oiled. Tar mats continue to wash up on beaches in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. And although Gulf waters have reopened to fishing, many oyster beds were wiped out when state authorities flushed fresh water into the Gulf in the hopes of rolling back the oil. At a public meeting last month in Biloxi, Mississippi, fishermen said they were hauling up nets full of oil with their shrimp.

So how could the disaster possibly be over, asks Joye. "You talk to people who live around the Gulf of Mexico, who live on the coast, who have family members who work on oil rigs. It's not OK down there. The system is not fine. Things are not normal. There are a lot of very strange things going on – the turtles washing up on beaches, dolphins washing up on beaches, the crabs. It is just bizarre. How can that just be random consequence?"

More than 150 dolphins, half of them infants, have washed up since the start of 2011. At least eight were smeared with crude oil that has been traced to BP's well, NOAA said, and 87 sea turtles – all endangered – have been found dead since mid-March.

"To me it makes no sense to think that it is random consequence, but it is kind of maddening because there has been a lot of energy and effort put towards beating the drum of everything is wonderful, everything is going to be fine by 2012," says Joye.

Again, which side does Rick Scott really side with? It would seem to be the oil companies:

Rep. Rick Kriseman of St. Petersburg, the Democratic Caucus policy chair, accused Scott of being too chummy with the company. Earlier this week, Scott stood with a BP senior vice president to herald a company grant of $30 million to promote tourism in seven Gulf coastal counties.

"The governor accepted $30 million which he dedicated to marketing in the Panhandle. Wonderful. We're glad he's doing that," Kriseman said.

But that's peanuts compared with the $1 billion that one attorney insists Florida could recover in a lawsuit, Kriseman said. Kriseman complained that Scott has so far failed to indicate whether he would meet a deadline — the April 20 anniversary of the rig's explosion — to join a federal lawsuit.

"What is he thinking? Who does he represent? Does he represent Floridians or is he more concerned about a foreign corporation like BP," Kriseman said. "It makes no sense. We have to ask this question loud because we are running out of time."

Scott said he's considering all his options.

"I want to make sure litigation is the last resort so we are sitting down with BP, making sure we know what our claims are and using our best efforts to make sure the state is treated fairly without having to file a lawsuit," Scott said.

Not long after he took office in January, Scott dismissed a "dream team" of attorneys and dissolved an oil spill recovery taskforce, both put together by Scott's predecessor, Charlie Crist. Scott is working with Attorney General Pam Bondi and his own attorneys to explore all options, Scott spokeswoman Amy Graham said.

Rick Scott seems to have embraced the "just trust us to do the right thing" attitude blatantly displayed by the oil companies since this entire disaster unfolded last April:

Scott told reporters at the event that he saw no need for a lawsuit. "I'm very comfortable that my discussion so far with BP is that they're going to continue to do the right thing," he said.

Tampa lawyer Steve Yerrid questioned that assumption. He spent eight months last year documenting the short- and long-term damage from the blowout for then-gov. Crist but has been rebuffed in his efforts to share it with Scott, he said.

"Imagine someone owed you a million dollars and gave you $30,000 and said 'trust me for the rest.' How would you feel?" Yerrid asked.

"BP has the best legal defense in the world and now Gov. Scott is going to trust them to do the right thing. They should have already done the right thing."

While not always the answer, a lawsuit can be important because it creates pressure for action, Yerrid said. And in this case, Florida has the advantage because the damage and the causes of the damage are so well documented.

I would venture to say we can trust BP and Transocean to do the right thing about as much as we can trust a governor who ran a health care company and bought his way into office while doing his best to defeat a health care bill that would save money and lives while trimming costs from insurance companies. Not so much.

Kriseman and Yerrid aren't the only ones baffled by Scott's lack of action. U. S. Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) has been fighting for Floridians on the oil spill since it began. She worked with former Gov. Charlie Crist, but when Scott took over, her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Scott has also heard from U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, a Tampa Democrat. In a letter on Monday, she urged Scott to join the Transocean lawsuit, saying "Florida needs you to steadfastly fight for the sovereignty claims of the state. Florida taxpayers should not be left on the hook for one dime of BP's damage."

She hasn't received a response, she said.

She had been working with former Gov. Charlie Crist to pursue "any and all causes of action against BP," she said.

After Scott's election when he came to Washington, she said she talked to him about the issue and gave him a packet of information.

"He ensured us he would be just as proactive. He took the packet and thanked me, and I didn't hear anything back," she said. "We've heard nothing about any strategy."

Kriseman also pointed out another reason why he believe Scott may not be eager to join a lawsuit, and it's hardly because of an interest to stand up for those who suffered damages from an oil gusher in the Gulf. It's personal:

Kriseman voiced the same criticism. "Instead of joining the lawsuit at a time when we're in position of negotiating from strength," the governor seems only to want to talk with BP about reparations.

Referring to Scott's CEO experience with health care giant Columbia/HCA, Kriseman suggested that Scott wasn't comfortable "making a claim for a billion (dollars) and suing a big corporation because he's personally experienced it himself and didn't like the feeling of it."

For a governor who  claims to have no conflicts of interest (Solantic anyone?) it sure doesn't look good.

I'm sure those businesses who will be damaged beyond repair from oil washing up on the beaches may feel a little differently about the governor who rode into office claiming he'd be a businessman's best friend. 

Running a state like a business and actually "governing one" don't exactly mix.

If Rick Scott hasn't figured that out by now, he's probably in for more than a rude awakening.

Gov. Scott: You Just Turned Down High-Speed Rail, What Are You Going To Do Next?

President Obama weighed in on high-speed rail projects today in an address to the nation's governors at the White House. In his address, he reiterated that the nation can't afford not to make infrastructure investments a priority, a concept which most Floridians understand.

Unfortunately our Gov. doesn't grasp this concept, or if he does, he doesn't care. Given another week to "come around" on taking that $2.4 billion for high-speed rail in Florida, he's still saying "no deal" on the money AND the 23,000 or so jobs that would have come with it.

Gov. Scott, incidentally, was in Washington this weekend along with those other governors, but whether Scott got the message from President Obama's address is anyone's guess. While the President didn't mention any names, he did mention how high-speed rail has become a partisan issue instead of a matter of common sense.

Oh Gov. Scott, I think he was talking to you, among others:

(President Obama) he argued that spending on infrastructure projects "hasn’t traditionally been a partisan issue.  Lincoln laid the rails during the course of a civil war. Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System.  Both parties have always believed that America should have the best of everything. We don’t have third-rate airports and third-rate bridges and third-rate highways."

He said that new businesses are going to want the "fastest, most reliable way to move goods," whether its Chicago or Shanghai. And he wants them to stay in the United States.

New businesses.

Gov. Scott claims to be the king of "bringing business to Florida" and is the self-proclaimed "Let's Get To Work" guy, so you would think this would be an obvious step in the right direction for Florida. Not to mention moving tourists from point A to point B in the state via high-speed rail, especially those from countries with high-speed rail who have their choice of Orlando vs. some attractive tourism destinations on the Continent, but who must rent cars or take buses from Orlando to visit Florida's beaches.

But Gov. Scott has what he thinks is a better way to bring tourists to Florida. Today he came up with something he calls his "Share A Little Sunshine" tour. (And no, the "Sunshine" he plans to share has nothing to do with his conducting of state business. That will still be conducted under cover of darkness. Sorry "Government In The Sunshine" fans, dream on.)

His "tour" will consist of a two-day whirlwind visit to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City, and Chicago along with his "Sunshine Ambassadors" in which 120 people will be awarded a prize: a free trip to Orlando on a plane with "Mr. Sunshine" himself, Gov. Scott. (I know, I know.) That's some idea there, Gov. No one has EVER thought of making a free trip to Disney World a prize before.

I'm sure those 120 people will make all the difference in Florida's budget woes. Unless of course, taxpayers are footing the bill for Scott's big brainstorm.  If not, thank Disney the next time they raise prices for their help in this "contest." Of course, Southwest Airlines is no fan of rail as potential competitors, so it's no surprise they're kicking in as well. Are their prices going up or down these days?   

But getting back to infrastructure and business, it would be nice to think that Gov. Scott stuck around to listen to the President's advice and perhaps take it, but I have my doubts. 

In Scott's initial refusal letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, rather than rail Scott recommended widening the Interstates through Tampa and Orlando, as if that's not been done before. Or as if there aren't plans in place to do more on that already. That was it for Tampa and Orlando, whose economies otherwise would have benefited from the $2.7 billion to build the project, let alone the businesses built up around it.

Instead Gov. Scott is preparing to show a handful of prize winners a real rail system, Disney's Monorail that only goes in circles, just like Gov. Scott's transportation planning.

Of course he better hope the Florida visitors don't find out that Disney put in a newer monorail at Disneyland in California, the state which will probably get Florida's high-speed rail money as well.

(Cross posted at Daily Kos.)