This hasn't been a good week for Florida Governor Rick Scott and judges.
Earlier in the week a Leon County court judge ruled against Scott over his cut to state employee salaries to offset pension expenses, saying it was an unconstitutional breach of contract:
The ruling leaves a $1 billion budget hole in the state budget for the 2011-12 budget year and another $1 billion hole for the 2012-13 budget year. It also has a $600 million impact on county governments whose employees are in the Florida Retirement System.
“The 2011 Legislature, when faced with a budget shortfall, turned to the employees of the State of Florida and ignored the contractual rights given to them by the Legislature in 1974,’’ wrote Circuit Court Judge Jackie Fulford, who also relied on a 1981 state Supreme Court ruling favoring public employees.
She said the Legislature’s decision to cut public employee salaries three percent, without renegotiating their contracts, was an "unconstitutional taking of private property without full compensation" that violated the rights of public employees "to collectively bargain over conditions of employment."
Vowing to appeal, Scott issued a statement, saying this:
“As you would expect, I believe this decision is simply wrong.
"The trial judge has ignored thirty years of Supreme Court precedent in a decision that refuses to allow Florida to have common-sense pension reform. This is another example of a court substituting its own policy preferences for those of the Legislature. The Court’s decision nullifies the will of the people and leaves Florida as one of the only states in the country in which public employees contribute nothing towards their retirement, leaving working Floridians with100 percent of the tab.
"The State plans to file a swift appeal to reverse this decision. Nonetheless, the Court’s order should be stayed throughout the appellate process, which will avoid an immediate impact on the 2012-2013 budget."
"As you would expect?" An odd way to begin a formal statement, but a statement just the same I suppose. More like Scott substituting his policy preferences for laws in Florida, because we've seen this movie before.
So we can add the appeal to the list of taxpayer funded court fights from Mr. Fiscal, Rick Scott.
Meanwhile, another case in the power struggle between Rick Scott and Florida's judicial system appears to be over at least for this year:
A proposal to give Gov. Rick Scott more power over the courts appeared dead Wednesday amid a disagreement whether Scott should have the power to fire people appointed by former-Gov. Charlie Crist to a panel that helps select judges.
The panels, known as Judicial Nominating Commissions, screen potential judicial nominees for the governor. A House bill, HB 971, would allow Scott to fire Crist’s appointees and replace them with his own.
Sponsor Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, said the proposal would allow voters to hold Scott more accountable for the decisions made by state judges.Sponsor Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, said the proposal would allow voters to hold Scott more accountable for the decisions made by state judges.
But the Senate amended the provision Wednesday so that it would not apply retroactively to Crist’s appointees. Senate sponsor Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said Scott had no intention of terminating Crist’s appointments anyway. “Gov. Scott agreed to it without any hesitation,” Simmons said.
But Gaetz said the change defeats the purpose of the bill and that he would not bring the amended measure back to the House floor before the session is scheduled to conclude Friday.
“The Senate bill preserves the dead hand of Charlie Crist,” Gaetz said. “So the issue’s dead.”
The Senate bill passed 24-14, with Republican Sens. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, and Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, joining Democrats in opposition.
Democrats said they wouldn't be in favor of such a thing regardless of which party held the Governor's office, and for good reason.
For now at least, we can breathe a sigh of relief over what would have been disastrous: Giving Rick Scott even more power over Floridians and the law than any other Governor in the state's history.
