Welcome to Bizarro Amerika!

Looks like Rick "lets get to work" Scott has a plan to reform the Florida State Retirement System.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-scott-announces-pension-reforms-20110201,0,5648809.story?page=1 (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-scott-announces-pension-reforms-20110201,0,5648809.story?page=1)

Scott wants public employees to contribute to pensions


Gov. Rick Scott released his plan Tuesday to cut costs in the state's pension fund by requiring all public employees — including teachers, police officers, current state workers and other government employees — to contribute 5 percent of their salary.

"We must bring Florida in line with the private sector and nearly every other state in the country by requiring government workers to contribute towards their own retirement," Scott said in an announcement.

The employee contribution would apply to the more than 650,000 government workers, ranging from firefighters and judges to clerks and cafeteria workers, who are covered by the Florida Retirement System.

A growing number of elected officials are quietly taking advantage of a loophole carved into the state retirement law a few years ago that allows double dipping -- collecting a state pension while still getting a regular paycheck from taxpayers.

The cost of pensions for "retirees" who have returned to the payroll was around $300-million last year, according to the Florida Retirement System.

Records indicate that 211 elected officials in Florida -- including legislators, judges, sheriffs, circuit clerks, school board members and county commissioners -- have taken advantage of the benefit. Thirty-one signed up in the past six months.

Another 203 senior management employees and more than 7,763 regular state employees are collecting retirement benefits and full-time paychecks.

i'm sorry...new here...just try'n to find my way around this island....

Since the guy's as bizarre as they get, we'll just dedicate an entire thread to his stupidity!

And start it off with a lilMike post!

Like Darth said, I'm cool with that.

Here's a better idea. Let's get rid of the double dipper loophole created by none other than JEB BUSH and his cronies in the state legislature a few years back...

http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/23/State/State_retiree_loophol.shtml
 


wow. 300 million is a big dent out of the budget.

Just curious, but since Bush didn't become governor until 1999, how did he create the DROP policy, which was enacted in 1998?

Which governor really is responsible?

In 2001, legislators amended the rules, exempting elected officials - such as themselves - from the retire-after-five-years rule.

Son of a Bitch! I just typed a nice long reply to you and lost it!

Let's try again...

It's not about DROP...its about an amendment to the retirement system in 2001 (gosh o golly gee...who was governor then?) that allowed this.

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/data/session/2001/House/bills/amendments/pdf/hb1821am562937.pdf

Good ol Jeb!

http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/23/State/State_retiree_loophol.shtml

Your precious pubs are really good at that "Oops! We made a boo boo in our favor! Sorry, didn't mean it, tee hee! stuff, aren't they?

The 2001 loophole allowed to participants to skip the 5 year limit that was on the original DROP legislation.  That's bad, but the original DROP was really bad.  I'm sure you will support the repeal of DROP, correct?

What's really bad is the fact that he's raped the state's education system, Medicaid system, and doubled his office budget.

"This budget from the governor is a frontal assault on the quality of life of every Floridian and will not create a single job nor spur our economy forward; instead it takes us further into the economic ditch,"

Gov. Rick Scott's proposed budget: By the numbers

$65.9B: Total spending proposed, $4.6 billion less than current year's budget

$1.6B: Combined proposal to cut property and corporate income taxes in one year

8,700: Number of state jobs proposed for elimination, through layoffs and attrition

$703: Reduction to per-pupil spending in K-12 education

Highlights

On Monday, Gov. Scott released a proposed state budget that cuts almost

$5 billion in spending.

EDUCATION: Cuts the education budget by $3.3 billion by slashing $703 per pupil in state spending — a roughly 10 percent cut from this year's $6,899 in per-pupil spending. Current K-12 budget is $13.8 billion and includes nearly 3,000 public schools. Increases the amount spent on private-school vouchers by $250 million in 2012.

MEDICAID: Proposes $3 billion in reductions over two years, including $1 billion in cuts to provider reimbursement rates. Savings are expected by receiving federal approval to transfer all 3 million Medicaid patients into a managed-care program that would control costs and crack down on fraud.

PRISONS: Proposes eliminating 1,690 employees — more than 5 percent of its work force — from the Department of Corrections by closing two prisons, a move Scott said was made easier by the state having 8,000 excess prison beds. Corrections houses more than 100,000 inmates in 146 facilities, employing 18,200 people.

PROPERTY TAXES: Proposes trimming state-set school property taxes by $1 billion over two years. Scott had pledged a $1.4 billion cut in the first year, but is phasing in a lesser tax cut over two years.

CORPORATE INCOME TAXES: Corporate income tax would drop from 5.5 percent to 3 percent in 2011-12 and be phased out by 2018. The tax cut would save businesses nearly $1.5 billion over two years. The first-year savings would be $458 million statewide.

ENVIRONMENT: Proposes merging the Department of Community Affairs with the Department of Environmental Protection, eliminating 530 jobs over two years. DCA staff will decrease to 40 employees within two years; budget drops to $70 million.

PENSIONS: Proposes state workers pay 5 percent of their pension costs. There are 655,000 active members of the Florida Retirement System; another 304,000 retired workers receiving benefits. Projected $2.8 billion savings over two years.

What's next

The Senate Budget Committee will take up Gov. Rick Scott's budget recommendation at a hearing Wednesday, to be followed by the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday. At the same time, budget subcommittees on education, health care and other policy areas will begin to scrutinize various elements of the spending plan.

What's really bad is the fact that he's raped the state's education system, Medicaid system, and doubled his office budget.

Raped?  They were asking for it.  Did you see the way that Medicaid system was dressed?

Anyway, he's hardly had time to do any rapin'.  His proposals still have to go through Legislature, so they won't come out the other end exactly as he envisioned.  On the plus side, he's proposing to get rid of the DROP program.  I'm sure we can all agree that has to go.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a better solution to handling the State Medicaid program other than turning to managed care.  If you've got a better idea (other than spending tons of money we don't have) I"d love to hear it.

There’s been a lot of talk in our state about health care reform, Medicare, Medicaid and so on. There’s one side who believes health care is a right, and another believes government intervention in health care is wrong.

We are seeing the penultimate example of why health care reform is so urgently needed in our country. For six years, I witnessed first-hand the rape of Medicaid and Ryan White funding at the hands of Florida’s Republican governors Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist. What were once viable programs providing health care to people in need became bureaucratic jungles of unpaid claims and unmanageable care based upon rigid guidelines designed not to provide the best health care possible, but to deny payment for health care.

Faced with decreasing payments caused by further cuts to these programs, physicians have been forced to quit seeing patients they care for, thanks to political appointees bogging down the system to “save taxpayers money.”

Ten years ago, this area had five physicians handling HIV patients. Today there are none. Now that Dr. Daniel J. Warner has been booted as “the area’s only certified HIV doctor,” can someone out there explain where the hundreds of patients he’s seen over the years are supposed to go? Many of these patients lack the funds and transportation to go out of our area to see a capable physician. Will they have to see a physician who (most likely) is overwhelmed already? A physician untrained in the complex and ever-changing scope of care these patients need? How does the Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida plan on ensuring proper care for these patients?

Here’s a message to Jim L. Mayo, chairman of the Health Planning Council: Instead of donating money to Republican political candidates and health insurance PACs, how about spearheading real reform to health care by supporting our president? Or will Mayo be content with the knowledge that his actions might very well lead to the death of so many patients?

In 1965, President Johnson signed the law establishing Medicare and Medicaid. The original purpose of the Medicaid program was:

The Medicaid program, authorized under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, was enacted to provide health care services to low-income children deprived of parental support, their caretaker relatives, the elderly, the blind, and individuals with disabilities.

Going way back to the days of Gov. Claude Kirk (whom I had the pleasure to know personally, regardless of his political leanings), Medicaid has been a prime target of Republican Death Squads.

Gov. Bob Martinez (whom I worked under while with the Florida Board of Nursing) cut, sliced, and pared Medicaid at an alarming rate, especially with regards to our elderly.

But it wasn’t until the reign of Jeb Bush (for whom I billed Medicaid and Medicare at a home health agency) that Medicaid in this state went under the greatest change.

One of Jeb’s first actions upon taking office was to kill his predecessor’s, Lawton Chiles (the only Florida governor in recent history to actually care about health care for children, the disabled and the poor) health care initiative for individuals and small businesses, the Florida Health Care Purchasing Alliance.

But that wasn’t Jeb’s first foray into the rape of Medicaid. In 2003:

Governor Bush is proposing to drop health care and long-term care coverage for about 26,000 seniors and people with disabilities, although they would retain prescription drug coverage.  The governor also is proposing steep increases in co-payments for prescription drugs, which likely would make it harder for some poor patients to afford their medications.  The state already implemented modest cuts in the Medicaid eligibility of elderly and disabled people last year.

In 2005, Jeb had the bright idea (not!) to be among the first to follow his brother George’s edict to make state Medicaid coverage over modeling it like (get this!) a health insurance company, complete with limits on coverage:

Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, both Republicans, have proposed radical changes intended to inject market forces and competition into Medicaid. Under their proposals, the state would give Medicaid recipients a fixed amount of money to buy health care or private insurance.

Under Governor Bush’s proposal, Florida would contribute a fixed amount toward coverage for each Medicaid beneficiary. Patients could use the money to “opt out of Medicaid altogether and purchase health care insurance in the private market,” Mr. Bush said.

(Ironically, today Jeb is on the board of Tenet Healthcare, the same company required to repay the government over 900 million dollars in Medicare and Medicaid overpayments and is plagued by scandal after scandal.)

Even today, Jeb Bush’s failed Medicaid managed care decisions are affecting the State negatively:

”We’ve done the experiment. It has failed,” said Durell Peaden, the Senate’s health care budget chief. “The reports are unsettling. People couldn’t get to specialists, couldn’t get adequate care. And they couldn’t do it cheaply.”

I’m sure Lawton Chiles, the only Florida governor in 40 years to care about it’s citizens, is rolling in his grave right now…
 
The son of Gov. Lawton Chiles said today Gov. Charlie Crist has “betrayed” needy children and old people by raiding a tobacco-funded trust fund for $700 million needed to balance Florida’s budget.

Let’s face it. Health insurance companies charge as much money as possible, and they provide as little care as possible. The difference is called profit. You can’t blame them for it; that’s what a corporation does. Birds got to fly, fish got to swim, health insurers got to rip you off. And if you get really expensive, they’ve got to pull the plug on you. So for those of us who would like to stay alive, we need a public option.

In many areas of the country, one or two insurers have over 80% of the market. They can charge anything they want. And when you get sick, they can flip the bird at you. So we need a public option.

And they face no real competition because it costs billions of dollars just to set up a national health care network. In fact, the only one that’s nationwide is . . . Medicare. And we limit that to one-eight of the population. It’s like saying that only seniors can drive on federal highways. We really need a public option.

And to the right-wing loons who call it socialism, we say, “if you want to be a slave to the insurance companies, that’s fine. If you want 30% of your premiums to go to ‘administrative costs’ and billion-dollar bonuses for insurance CEOs who figure out new and creative ways to deny you the care you need to stay healthy and alive, that’s fine. But don’t you try to dictate to me that I can’t have a public option!”

I didn't want this to get lost in the above.

Why don't we place income limits on persons receiving social security and medicare?
because they participated in the system,so they have a right to it also...irregardless of their financial sitituation

It pisses me off that John McCain, with his billions of dollars, draws a social security check every month.

you don't know what john does with that money...don't begrudge him...he paid a heavy price for his country

Do you really think that money means a hill of beans to him or any other rich person?

doesn't matter...much like their opinion of anyone else collecting

 Do you really think he or any other rich person is going to go to their nearest Doctor that handles Medicare patients and sit in the lobby with fifty other old people waiting to be seen?

of course not...but again...that doesn't make them wrong or stealing or cheating...

Hell no!

By setting an income limit, our government should have lots left over to take care of everyone who needs health care! As far as Medicaid's concerned, we won't need it anymore!

I didn't want this to get lost in the above.

Why don't we place income limits on persons receiving social security and medicare? It pisses me off that John McCain, with his billions of dollars, draws a social security check every month.

Do you really think that money means a hill of beans to him or any other rich person? Do you really think he or any other rich person is going to go to their nearest Doctor that handles Medicare patients and sit in the lobby with fifty other old people waiting to be seen?

Hell no!

By setting an income limit, our government should have lots left over to take care of everyone who needs health care! As far as Medicaid's concerned, we won't need it anymore!

Basically what you are talking about is means testing.  John McCain isn't the only rich guy on the government dole.  I'm basically in agreement with the general idea of means testing.  I don't know how much money it would save but it's a start.

only if the limit is the sky....

because they participated in the system,so they have a right to it also...irregardless of their financial sitituation

you don't know what john does with that money...don't begrudge him...he paid a heavy price for his country

doesn't matter...much like their opinion of anyone else collecting

of course not...but again...that doesn't make them wrong or stealing or cheating...

Then moving Medicaid to managed care state-wide? Hell...the four-county experiment has proven to be a disaster! But I'm sure he'lll be able to pad those pockets a little more will all the increased traffic to Solantic!!

that's the scariest part in all of this.. do people really trust Scott to bring 'managed' care to this state and it work out for the better?

of all people, he's the one to change our health care..

wtf?

1.7 BILLION dollars!! This guy was fined 1.7 BILLION dollars because of his management over his 'managed' care company.. how much did he have to steal to be changed with almost a 2 BILLION dollar fine? Obviously not enough to stop idiots from giving him their wallets to do it all again!

Holy shit this state is in trouble...

the denial of a prescription data base is a strong inicator of bink's loyalties...

this state is about to take its greatest fucking it had ever had...

Florida's congressional delegation, state officials and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer are pushing back against Gov. Rick Scott's decision Wednesday to reject $2.4 billion in federal stimulus money to build a high-speed train between Orlando and Tampa.

"This is a century-type decision that needs to be vetted," Dyer said. "I don't think it was given a fair hearing."

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood intends to meet either in person or by phone Friday with Florida elected officials, likely including Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Reps. John Mica, R-Winter Park, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, to discuss ways of keeping the project alive even as California, New York and Washington state offered to take some of the money.

And some officials were bitterly critical of Scott for pulling the plug even before bids had gone out to build the 84-mile system. Eight consortia of companies from 11 countries had indicated they would be willing to put up some or all of the state's $280 million share of the project, while the bid terms would have required them to absorb cost overruns and any operating losses for 20 years.

"Without letting the private sector come to the table, we really don't know how viable it is," said Sen. Thad Altman, R-Viera. "There's no rational reason at all not to allow that to happen -- unless you're afraid of what you might hear. We might hear that this thing will work."

Jobs derailed:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-scott-rejects-rail-money-20110216,0,2863027.story

Here's the thing...High speed rail may not be the answer today. But in the future? Are we going to wait until the interstates are so full nobody goes anywhere? (Well, they probably won't. Everyone in the state will be unemployed if Scott sticks around.) How many thousands of jobs will be lost by him turning down this money? Does he have jobs out there to cover? Maybe with his pill mill buddies? Too many Republicans are so short-sighted they only look at today and have no comprehension what tomorrow will bring.


I’m glad Scott wasn’t around during the Eisenhower years. We wouldn’t have any interstates today. ::)

It's a boondoggle.  If you are concerned about public transportation, more busses is an affordable answer.

High Speed rail?  As Chris Christie said, it's budget candy.  It's not a serious project.

It's a boondoggle.  If you are concerned about public transportation, more busses is an affordable answer.

High Speed rail?  As Chris Christie said, it's budget candy.  It's not a serious project.

Jobs derailed:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-scott-rejects-rail-money-20110216,0,2863027.story

Here's the thing...High speed rail may not be the answer today. But in the future? Are we going to wait until the interstates are so full nobody goes anywhere? (Well, they probably won't. Everyone in the state will be unemployed if Scott sticks around.) How many thousands of jobs will be lost by him turning down this money? Does he have jobs out there to cover? Maybe with his pill mill buddies? Too many Republicans are so short-sighted they only look at today and have no comprehension what tomorrow will bring.


I’m glad Scott wasn’t around during the Eisenhower years. We wouldn’t have any interstates today. ::)

Congress seemed to turn against the program, as representatives began to make speeches on the floor blaming a shortage of government funds on unnecessarily wasteful highway budgets. The Wall Street Journal was quoted in 1960 as describing the interstate highway system as “[a] vast program thrown together, imperfectly conceived and grossly mismanaged, and in due course becoming a veritable playground for extravagance, waste and corruption.”

60 years ago the interstates were considered a "boondoggle".

Do you really think commuters, et al., that would ride a high speed rail would take a bus? Any idea how long it takes Greyhound to go from Point A to Point B?

Chris Christie is an idiot. After Scott made his announcement, the congressional delegation from New Jersey was the first out there to say "Give it to us, we'll take it!" I'm sure many other states will follow.

is that true?

A veto-proof majority of the Florida Senate rebuked Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday in a letter that urged the federal government to give the state $2.4 billion in high-speed rail money that Scott wants to reject.

“Politics should have no place in the future of Florida’s transportation, as evidenced by this letter of bipartisan support,” said the letter, signed by 26 members of the Republican-controlled Florida Senate.

“This project would create real jobs, cleaner and smarter transportation and true economic development for Floridians,” said the letter written to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The letter was partly authored by one of Scott’s first senate backers, Republican Paula Dockery of Lakeland, who argued that the newly created Florida Rail Enterprise could act independently of Scott because the state’s share of the rail money -- $300 million – was already approved last year by a previous governor, Charlie Crist.

60 years ago the interstates were considered a "boondoggle".

Do you really think commuters, et al., that would ride a high speed rail would take a bus? Any idea how long it takes Greyhound to go from Point A to Point B?

Chris Christie is an idiot. After Scott made his announcement, the congressional delegation from New Jersey was the first out there to say "Give it to us, we'll take it!" I'm sure many other states will follow.

I don't know where you got that the interstate was considered a boondoggle.  Of course it's outside our living memories, but I kind of doubt it.

June 29, 1956

Washington (DC) - The raving socialist President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 today, a huge federal government boondoggle that will end up costing taxpayers $182 billion .

This is despite the obvious fact that this wasteful Interstate Highway-building scheme doesn't pay for itself, a point hammered home by the 1939 report to Congress, Toll Roads and Free Roads. The report showed that "revenue from tolls on most segments would not support the bonds issued for their construction."

We need to send Ike a message: we will not accept Federal Aid funding for this government waste!

I don't think commuters are going to be riding high speed rail at all.  There are just not enough people commuting from Orlando to Tampa and visa versa to make the project worthwhile.  It is budget candy.

The problem with the federal money is that it's just bait.  If the feds were picking up the entire cost of construction and maintence, I could see Scott taking it,

It's said in the news clip from the period...and in news items:

Source: Eisenhower Interstate Highway System -Frequently Asked Questions (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/faq.htm)

"Budget candy"? Like Boehner's engines or NASCAR advertising for the Army?

Fact is: We don't know who will be riding high speed rail once the system is finished in what, 10 years? Just like we didn't know who would use the interstates way back when...

You're kidding right?

I think a high speed rail from Jacksonville to Tampa and another from Jax to Miami would work.

"If Florida would've had a governor who rejected President Eisenhower's idea, we wouldn't have an interstate system," U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who has been vocally supportive of the project even as conservatives attacked him for it, said via Twitter Wednesday afternoon.

Tampa, Florida -- Meet Joel Chandler, who just paid his $1.00 toll on the Polk Parkway with a $100 bill, he is not allowed to leave unless he provides personal info to the toll taker. The toll taker tells Chandler this is what happens when they get large bills. She says this is what they have to do.

Chandler says to the toll taker, "So I'm being detained?" She says yes sir.

It is a policy the Florida Turnpike authority instituted for people who paid with $20, $50 or $100 bills. After it happened once, Chandler kept testing the system and taped his encounters as he went through the toll booths.

One time a toll taker told him, she wouldn't give him his change unless he gave her the information. Chandler replied, "So I'm being detained." He asked why he was being detained but never got an answer.

Chandler says this is a serious criminal offense, to detain someone without proper legal authority. He says that is exactly what the department is doing.

When Chandler called and e-mailed the Florida Department of Transportation to complain about the policy, he was told there is no policy to detain people who give large bills. He says that made him more concerned, because that meant there were individual rogue toll takers detaining people.

Welcome to the regime of Rick Scott! Racial profiling in BizarroAmerika2011!

http://www.wtsp.com/news/mostpop/story.aspx?storyid=178322&provider=top
 

Added: Know what's strange about this? All the right wing blogs, radio shows, and other crazies are pissed about this.

Don't they realize they're the ones who put this bozo in office?

What does this have to do with Rick Scott?

For the last three weeks, Governor Rick Scott’s liaison to the Florida legislature, Hayden Dempsey, has been trying to get a commitment from Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos that the Senate would confirm Washingtonian Tyler Duvall, a former Assistant Secretary of Transportation in the Bush Administration, as Secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation.

Duvall, who has no Florida roots, was selected for the job by D.C. lawyer Enu Mainigi. No Florida based candidate was considered, according to a source in the Governor’s office who declined to be interviewed on the record.

Unfortunately, Florida state law requires that the secretary shall be appointed by the Governor from among three persons nominated by the Florida Transportation Commission. The Florida Transportation Commission met last Friday in Orlando and selected the names of three potential Transportation secretaries. Due to a stunning screw-up by the Governor’s staff, Duvall’s name was not on the list.

Governor Jeb Bush solved this problem simply by having his choice for Transportation Secretary apply to the Commission and letting the Commission chairman know he wanted his choice on the final list of three. Governor Charlie Crist did the exactly the same thing. No such call was forthcoming from Scott or his staff.

The Florida Transportation Commission’s deadline has passed. Over thirty individuals applied to be included on the list, but Mainigi’s hand-picked choice was not one of them. “I can’t tell if this is arrogance or just plain incompetence,” one Florida Transportation Commissioner told the Clarion. “The Governor will have to pick from our list. I never heard of this Duvall fellow, myself.”

Mainigi headed Scott’s transition which ended Jan. 3. Since then she has continued to personally interview and select all candidates for appointment in the Scott administration, raising eyebrows in Tallahassee because Mainigi is not a state official and has no formal authority.

A lawyer with the D.C. based firm of Williams & Connolly, Mainigi has refused media requests for her post-Jan. 3 emails, which are public information under the State Sunshine law. Williams & Connolly serves a litigation counsel for a number of companies with business before the State.

One state senator told the Clarion that Duvall wouldn’t have been confirmed by the Senate anyway. “When Rick Scott pledged to create new jobs,” he said, “we thought he meant for Floridians.”

Why be so desparate to make stuff up to pin on Scott?  Don't you have confidence in his ability to fuck up on his own?

State makes it tougher for felons to ask for rights back
March 09, 2011|By Dara Kam, The Palm Beach Post

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet on Wednesday imposed a minimum five-year waiting period for felons to apply to have their rights restored, setting up a tougher standard than the state has used for years.

Florida now joins Kentucky and Virginia as the only states that require felons who have completed the terms of their sentences to apply to have their rights restored. Critics say the new process is a return to post-Civil War Jim Crow laws crafted to prevent blacks from voting.

"The Board today didn't just go back to before the Gov. Crist reforms; they went way, way past that — placing brand new, long-term restrictions on getting basic rights restored," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. "The new administration that runs Tallahassee today demonstrated their hostility to the fundamental right of any democracy, the right to vote."


Scott and the Cabinet, acting as the board of executive clemency, approved the new rules unanimously after hearing 30 minutes of public comments limited to two minutes per speaker. The rules were not available for review until minutes before the board's meeting began late Wednesday morning.

Under the new rules, felons convicted of non-violent crimes can apply to have their rights restored without a hearing five years after they have completed their sentences and paid restitution, while felons convicted of violent crimes must wait seven years to apply and then win approval in a hearing.

Florida had a five-year waiting period for all felons from 1975 to 2004, when then-Gov. Jeb Bush eliminated the waiting period for non-violent felons but required them to apply for the restoration of rights. In 2007, Gov. Charlie Crist and that Cabinet put in place the automatic restitution of rights for non-violent felons who had completed their sentences.

"Felons seeking restoration of civil rights demonstrate they desire and deserve clemency only after they show they're willing to abide by the law," Scott said before the vote by the all-Republican panel made up of Attorney General Pam Bondi, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. All four were elected in November.

Bondi, a former prosecutor, had floated the idea of the rules changes at the new board's first clemency meeting two weeks ago.

But on Wednesday, it was Scott who was calling the shots.

Howie here's more of your 'disenfranchisement'.. only it's JarJar's version...page 2 (http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-03-09/news/os-felons-rights-repeal-20110309_1_felons-restoration-of-civil-rights-basic-rights)


coming from a guy who took a fine of $1.7b instead of trial,  this would be entertaining if it was another state.. it's almost like the whole King <3's the IRA terrorists while investigating all Muslims just in case one of them might not turn in a terrorist....

I have every confidence in the world on that. Just trying to help...but. Are you saying that the Governor's unaware of a policy set forth by a Department directly under his supervision?

Still waiting on the link...

I bet the governor, any governor, is unaware of most of the policies in the various state departments.  This becomes a Scott issue if he instigated the policy. 

Every once in a while, the people win one.

Such was the case last week when one of this year's goofiest pieces of legislation went down in flames.

The idea — to turn state parkland into golf courses, bars and hotels — went from being introduced by one of the most powerful senators in Florida on one Friday to dead the next.

Its ill-fated journey involved the media, the residents of this state and two of America's most famous golfers, competing again for the first time in years … only this time in the political arena.

It started March 5, when I got a text message from a legislator. "Did you see the bill from Thrasher to build golf courses on state park lands?" it asked.

"The state wouldn't even sell off the land to make money (a bad idea also), but literally issue bonds to build golf course resorts (hotel, clubhouse, etc.) on park lands!"

It sounded so silly, it was hard to believe. And yet, when I returned home and looked it up, there it was: Senate Bill 1846.

Veteran politician John Thrasher, former head of the Republican Party of Florida, wanted to develop golf resorts inside at least five state parks.

Never mind that Florida already has such a glut of courses that many have gone bankrupt. Never mind that others are struggling — and would've had to compete with these new ones.

The state senator from St. Augustine wanted more golf courses.

And he wanted his friend Jack Nicklaus to be the only one to design them.

The legislation specifically excluded other designers and PGA pros with a clause that said every course "must be designed by Jack Nicklaus."

So much for free-market enterprise.

But Thrasher didn't stop there. He also wanted to give the courses the right to have hotels and bars — even if local laws otherwise would have prohibited liquor sales.

And he wanted taxpayers to underwrite the whole thing by issuing bonds.

Yes, during a session where lawmakers are talking about cutting funding to veterans, schools, the disabled and the sick, they were also asking taxpayers to help Nicklaus finance fancy new golf courses.

It didn't look as if any media had reported on the bill. So March 6, I typed it up on my blog.

The reaction was swift. Everyone hated it.

Readers described it as a betrayal of the public trust. Environmentalists, led by the Audubon Society, called it an assault on what should have been protected land. And supporters of the free market blasted it as a painfully obvious attempt to rig a business deal in an already overdeveloped industry.

As the week wore on, the story gained momentum.

Several newspapers blasted the idea. The Sentinel wrote a particularly blistering editorial, simply headlined: "Worst. Idea. Ever."

Radio stations picked up the gauntlet as well. Here in Orlando, popular afternoon host Jim Philips was particularly worked up. The patriarch at 104.1 FM urged his listeners to write Nicklaus and tell him that, if he proceeded with this plan, he would tarnish his legacy.

The pressure was building.

But then on Friday morning, one of Nicklaus' oldest friends may have delivered the fatal blow.

It was Arnold Palmer — a hometown hero to many in Orlando.

I called Palmer, and his design company issued a statement saying that, although it likes the idea of using golf to promote tourism, "there are alternative options than using our state parks for 'new' golf course development."

And even if the state did proceed, Palmer's company didn't think much of the state giving Nicklaus a monopoly, saying: "We also would hope that all the well-respected golf course architects who call Florida home are given an opportunity to bid on design …"

That statement was published late Friday morning. By Friday afternoon, the proposal was dead.

Link? You didn't ask for a link.

Since Gov. Binks has ordered a review of all policies within his agencies, I suspect he'll find out soon enough. Funny how he hasn't put an end to this practice, though, isn't it?

=========================

After doing some checking, I think this whole topic should be moved to FooFa's Conspiratory Theories. We should have known considering the source*.

The link used for the source is a video from a TV station in Tampa.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid35214809001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAACCtbLTE~,Euz3dgEqY7FO41McJges-UDcgJmMTpjJ&bctid=811113109001

What's not said is that it's from 2008. Incredibly, neither the station or the web has any other information about this...other than a hell of a lot of conspiracy theorist sites, including Alex Jones and your beloved WND.

I'm sure the source* got the link from his favorite extreme right wing teabagger radio station.

Y'all fell for it!


*If you don't know who the source is, send me a PM.  ;)

What exactly did I fall for?

What exactly did I fall for?

I knew all along it wasn't Scott's policy since the video was from 2008. I was perplexed why all the outrage over this all of a sudden...

We all, here and elsewhere, fell for this as a real news story as opposed to a manufactured conspiracy theory by the crazy right wingers who pray before Alex Jones and WND. Me, not so much, since I took the time to investigate the video the first day I saw it elsewhere. That's why I posted it here.

I still just can't understand the promulgated outrage over a supposed policy that, if true, would have had to been initiated by a Republican appointee at the least. Normally when these things happen the target of the supposed outrage is a Democrat. I just don't see how the perpetrators of this could have blamed a supposed policy on a dem.  :-\

If true (that you knew all along), then you deliberately tried to pass off a story you knew was misleading for the purpose of falsly slandering Scott.

Somehow, I'm about as shocked as finding out there's gambling going on in Rick's Cafe.


Well I wasn't promulgating outrage over the policy, you were, to blame on a 'pub.  You are doing a poor job of trying to twist this around.

right wing government conspiracy

Governor Rick Scott wants to deregulate the health care industry, privatize Medicaid and end medical malpractice lawsuits…. All of which could benefit his former company Solantic Urgent Care. But Scott signed over his ownership in Solantic to his wife so technically he’s not breaking any laws… but critics say he’s too close to Solantic for comfort. Scott was asked today if he saw a conflict of interest. He dodged the question.

“Everything that I want to accomplish in health care in Florida is basically what I’ve believed all my life. I believe in the principal that if he have competition it will drive down prices. If you have more choices it’s better for the consumer, also it will help to drive down price,” said Scott.

Scott quit the Solantic Board of Directors shortly before running for governor in 2010 and reportedly hasn’t been in contact with Solantic execs since then.

Huh. I thought I was wondering why all the right wing kooks were focusing on a made-up story and trying to place the blame on a right wing government conspiracy. Something just wasn't right about it.

Wow... you bring up the story, try to pin it on Scott, now claim you knew all along that it was an old story, and now you are blaming right wing kooks for it?

I agree that something isn't right!

Like THIS? (http://www.flanews.com/?p=11820)
 

earlier in the thread the accusation was made about WND/World Net Daily. While certainly no ultra conservative, I've enjoyed there reporting and never once found them to not use sourcing and proper journalism practices.

You wrote it in the thread page that you linked for me...the question remains.

I have no idea what you're talking about. What thread page and what question?

What is your name? Do you know what day it is? How many fingers am I holding up? ;D Jesus Christ lol! I asked you about Jack Nicholas, eventually you gave me a link to this thread which helped me understand that governor shit head wanted him to be the exclusive designer of the freaking golf courses. On that same page you made the comment regarding WND. Don't be waffling like slick willy :D.

it's about paying attention to the details.. and no one really wants to do that anymore.. you've just happened to stumble upon a group of snobs who do pay attention that's all.. ;D

And regardless of debka's bias, I don't believe there is any credibility problem with their reporting of troop deployment and what I would view as hard facts that I don't see anyone else talking about.

http://www.therealnews.com/t2/
http://english.aljazeera.net/
http://www.freespeech.org/videos-demand
http://www.mcclatchy.com/
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceWatch

Fair enough and I realized when I looked at the debka article that they are extremely anti Obama.

I must however disagree that any major American source is trustworthy and real media. Reason being, they present everything with the presupposition that our foreign policy is right.

since debka is a pay for premium thing that if it was not accurate, it wouldn't still be around

Seriously, have you been evaluated for aspergers?

RIF. I'll let you find it. ;) :D

I'm guessing you are betting that I actually won't go back and try to find "it", and this time you are correct.  The down and dirty is that you were dupped by that story, posted it, and are now trying to backtrack and act like you really knew all along that it was a fraudulent story on Scott

We all, here and elsewhere, fell for this as a real news story as opposed to a manufactured conspiracy theory by the crazy right wingers who pray before Alex Jones and WND. Me, not so much, since I took the time to investigate the video the first day I saw it elsewhere. That's why I posted it here.

I knew all along it wasn't Scott's policy since the video was from 2008.

Didn't I already direct you to this (twice)?

This statement could have caused some confusion and I apologize:

So let me break down the chain of events.

I saw the video elsewhere, and posted it here, thinking it was strange the source* would be dissing what had to be a policy of a republican appointee.

An hour or so after posting it, I started wondering why there was no source, so I did a google search and found it was all the rage of the extreme right wing.

Looking further, I found the video had been around for four or five years; making me wonder even more why the extreme right brought it up again....

Fair enough and I realized when I looked at the debka article that they are extremely anti Obama. I must however disagree that any major American source is trustworthy and real media. Reason being, they present everything with the presupposition that our foreign policy is right. Sure, they pay a little lip service to questioning it but surely you don't need reminded of the hose job all of them did leading up to the war in Iraq. I trust all of these more than any major American outlet:

http://www.therealnews.com/t2/
http://english.aljazeera.net/
http://www.freespeech.org/videos-demand
http://www.mcclatchy.com/
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=SourceWatch  They are pretty liberal-slanted aren't they?

As far as the Solantic story, maybe I'm missing something, but what is the issue?  I'm not following what the crime is.

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/03/rick-scott-florida-medicaid-solantic

Republican governor Rick Scott's push to privatize Medicaid in Florida is highly controversial—not least because the health care business Scott handed over to his wife when he took office could reap a major profit if the legislation becomes law.

Scott and Florida Republicans are currently trying to enact a sweeping Medicaid reform bill that would give HMOs and other private health care companies unprecedented control over the government health care program for the poor. Among the companies that stand to benefit from the bill is Solantic, a chain of urgent-care clinics aimed at providing emergency services to walk-in customers. The Florida governor founded Solantic in 2001, only a few years after he resigned as the CEO of hospital giant Columbia/HCA amid a massive Medicare fraud scandal. In January, according to the Palm Beach Post, he transferred his $62 million stake in Solantic to his wife, Ann Scott, a homemaker involved in various charitable organizations.

Florida Democrats and independent legal experts say this handover hardly absolves Scott of a major conflict of interest. As part of a federally approved pilot program that began in 2005, certain Medicaid patients in Florida were allowed to start using their Medicaid dollars at private clinics like Solantic. The Medicaid bill that Scott is now pushing would expand the pilot privatization program to the entire state of Florida, offering Solantic a huge new business opportunity.

"This is a conflict of interest that raises a serious ethical issue," says Marc Rodwin, a medical ethics professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. "The public should be thinking and worrying about this."

With Scott's blessing, the Florida statehouse is currently hammering out the final details of the Medicaid bill, with a vote expected in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, Scott has moved forward on another front that could also bring new business to Solantic. On Tuesday, he signed an executive order requiring random drug testing of many state employees and applicants for state jobs. He's also urged state legislators to pass a similar bill that would require drug testing of poor Floridians applying for welfare.


Among the services that Solantic offers: drug testing.

The crime is that he was elected. Now he's going to recoup the billions he spent to sucker the citizens of Floriduh:

I'm still trying to figure out the dark sinister conspiracy you are claiming about Solantic.

You do realize that medicaid isn't like the VA.  There are no Medicaid hospitals that the poor are herded into.  Medicaid patients see private providers who take Medicaid reimbursement.

In 2005, Jeb had the bright idea (not!) to be among the first to follow his brother George’s edict to make state Medicaid coverage over modeling it like (get this!) a health insurance company, complete with limits on coverage:

Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, both Republicans, have proposed radical changes intended to inject market forces and competition into Medicaid. Under their proposals, the state would give Medicaid recipients a fixed amount of money to buy health care or private insurance.

Under Governor Bush’s proposal, Florida would contribute a fixed amount toward coverage for each Medicaid beneficiary. Patients could use the money to “opt out of Medicaid altogether and purchase health care insurance in the private market,” Mr. Bush said.

(Ironically, today Jeb is on the board of Tenet Healthcare, the same company required to repay the government over 900 million dollars in Medicare and Medicaid overpayments and is plagued by scandal after scandal.)

Even today, Jeb Bush’s failed Medicaid managed care decisions are affecting the State negatively:

”We’ve done the experiment. It has failed,” said Durell Peaden, the Senate’s health care budget chief. “The reports are unsettling. People couldn’t get to specialists, couldn’t get adequate care. And they couldn’t do it cheaply.”

The Medicaid Reform Pilot program running in Broward County since 2006 has not improved or increased health care coverage, but has instead become a bureaucratic nightmare with lower costs because of reduced services. That was the consensus of speakers at a Tuesday evening workshop held in Hollywood and organized by Democratic state Rep. Elaine Schwartz. #

The Pilot created a managed-care approach in which Medicaid recipients must choose an HMO or other care-management organization to access services. According to Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Pembroke Park, this is a business model, not a patient-care model. #

State Sen. Joe Negron, R-Palm City, has proposed a bill that would shift the bulk of Florida Medicaid patients into HMOs and other managed-care plans. #

The managed-care approach is precisely what Broward residents said has not worked at Tuesday’s workshop. #

“I am outraged that after five years Medicaid Reform has not improved care in Broward and we are talking about expansion statewide,” Dr. Alan Aaron Elkin, vice chairman of the OB/GYN department at Hollywood Memorial Hospital and chairman of the Broward County Medical Association, told participants. #

In a March 2010 letter to Cindy Mann, director of the Center for Medicaid and State Operations, Elkin wrote, “Since Medicaid Reform was implemented in Broward County in 2006, a large number of my Medicaid patients have experienced significantly greater difficulties in accessing timely and quality care, including pre-natal care for which timing is critical.”

I know exactly what's going on. We've been over it time and time again on the muche and on my blog; you just seem to forget.

Remember this (http://theworldofhowey.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/the-rape-of-florida-medicaid/)?

Here's more (http://floridaindependent.com/23095/at-broward-workshop-testimony-that-medicaid-reform-pilot-is-a-failure) on the failed program Scott wants to expand:
 

As far as Scott's involvement, you don't see a conflict of interest? How many billions will he make if everyone on Medicaid goes to Managed Care? What if Solantic got an exclusive contract to see the MA patients?

I've said before Medicaid needs reform, but not this way. Let's try modernizing the claim process, making it less difficult for providers to get paid first. Then go from there...