I caught the dual-speaker, Mike Fasano and Jim Davis show the other day at the Tampa Tiger Bay Club gathering at Jackson’s Bistro on Harbour Island. Two names, to be sure, that are synonymous with politics and the Tampa Bay area.
These guys have been around. Republican Fasano represented Pasco County for nearly two decades in the Florida Legislature before becoming his county’s tax collector in 2013. Democrat Davis is a former congressman and state legislator. He lost a gubernatorial race to Charlie Crist in 2006. Timing, we are again reminded, is everything.
It was refreshing.
That’s because of their amiable personalities, their easy, largely bi-partisan back-and-forth camaraderie and their welcome candor. And neither, of course, is running for anything.
But also deflating.
That’s, frankly, because of that candor. They acknowledged the inordinate influence of special- interest money, bemoaned a lack of transparency among party insiders and conceded the grim reality that Florida remains one of the country’s most gerrymandered states.
Fasano, sometimes called a “Rino” by Republicans from farther down the political spectrum, was especially critical of the Florida House. In a political environment where the GOP dominates everything from the governor’s office and cabinet to both the Senate and House, it is the top-down, more ideological-in-temperament House that is demonstrably worrisome, said Fasano.
“The (chamber) difference is huge,” underscored Fasano. “They’re like sheep in the House. There’s an understanding. ‘You want your bills passed? You want that appropriation for your home town? You want that decent office space? You will do as I do.'”
He cited Medicaid expansion as a prime example.
In 2013 a hybrid health care plan was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Joe Negron, R-Palm City, that would have led to federal dollars to help Florida’s chronically uninsured. It was nearly unanimous in its passage.
Fasano accepted the Medicaid-expansion baton from Negron and took the Senate bill to the House. He was encouraged, he said, by colleagues who promised to back the measure on the floor.
“They lied to me,” he said. “They were petrified of leadership.” It went nowhere.
Among those not surprised at such a mendacious scenario: Jim Davis. “The House is afraid to have an open and honest debate on Medicaid expansion,” he noted matter of factly.
Something else Fasano and Davis agree on: Marco Rubio’s next candidacy. It will be a gubernatorial run. Davis said Rubio’s ostensible presidential plans were more likely a pragmatic way to position him better statewide against Adam Putnam in 2018.
Added Fasano, who’s a Jeb Bush supporter: “Marco Rubio is running for governor–eventually.”
Last 2016 word to Davis: “Hillary will have more experience than any person who has ever run for president. Gov. Bush will have to defend his record in Florida, including standardized testing. He’ll have a hard time in the primaries.”