Gov. Crist’s Other Wedding Day Script

When Charlie Crist was married recently, he and his bride, Carole Rome, had to navigate that gauntlet of protestors. Several causes were represented, notably Impact Florida’s protesting of the Florida Marriage Amendment and the Uhuru Movement’s protesting of the death of Javon Dawson. He’s the teen who was killed by a St. Petersburg police officer outside a high school graduation party in June.

            To the governor’s credit, he didn’t flinch or frown, simply noting airily that “Free speech is alive and well.”

            Well, Gov. Charlie couldn’t say it, but we will.

To Impact Florida: “Marriage is a cross-cultural institution comprising a man and a woman. It’s been around as long as recorded history. It’s not the product of any government’s decree – and no government has the authority to change its fundamental, gender composition. But civil unions, regardless of sex, make eminent sense – as well as practical, humane policy. Whether you are Adam and Eve or Adam and Steve, we will not back off on the commitment to civil unions. And simple fairness.

“And that ‘Charlie, Get Straight on Equality’sign. Very clever.”

To Uhuru Movement: “Once again, you have misplaced your outrage. How about being a positive force in the community for once, instead of a race-baiting grievance posse?

“Why not use the Javon Dawson tragedy as the centerpiece for a campaign that targets African-American teens who, for whatever unfathomable reason, feel the need to bring guns to places such as graduation parties? And then proceed to fire off some rounds.

“This isn’t Baghdad. Nothing good can come of such a witless practice. Indeed, an armed young man is needlessly and tragically dead.

“But let’s not blame the police, who were called by alarmed residents and implored to do something about a party that featured lethal weapons and, as it turned out, an armed Javon Dawson. But if we must place blame, let’s affix it where it belongs: Those who pack heat for graduation parties and those who scapegoat the police after a resultant shooting.

“Try being part of the solution for once. Now I know how Barack Obama felt when you showed up at his town-hall meeting at Gibbs High.

            “And that ‘Charlie Crist is a Murderer’ sign. A bit harsh. But that effigy of me in a jail suit. Nice touch.”

Ford’s PR Approach

So the upshot of the auto bailout is that two of the Big Three automakers, General Motors and Chrysler, will get fed loans — with strings — worth $17.4 billion. Ford, which has more cash on hand than the others and a hefty line of credit with banks that it presciently negotiated in 2006, is banking on being able to induce concessions — on its own — from the United Automobile Workers union.

Look for Ford to use the bailout scenario as part of a marketing pitch. It might not say: “Our Business is Cars – Not Bailouts” but it will connote that “Ford Has A (Much) Better Idea.”

Real Hero Honored

Arguably our most blatantly overused and misused word is “hero.”  Time was when it connoted feats of courage in the context of a noble, selfless purpose or an intrepid, even death-defying, end. These days – even in the throes of two wars – it’s more typically used to characterize athletes and their exploits in the arena.

            So, how welcome it was to read of those annually honored by The Carnegie Heroes Fund. And how gratifying that one of the 19 heroes honored by Carnegie is one of our own.

            Qemal Agaj, 65, of Tampa helped save a drowning woman, Maureen A. Jennings. Agaj received a Carnegie medal and $6,000. Jennings received much mor

Congratulations again, Qemal Agaj, for helping save a life – and for helping remind us all of what a real “hero” is.

Sanford Stimulus Plan

Is Mark Sanford now the designated GOP maverick?

The conservative South Carolina governor, 48, whose name surfaced before Sarah Palin won the Republican veepstakes, is now the head of the Republican Governors Association. It’s a forum that has him prominently positioning himself as the antibailout governor who’s almost libertarian in his limited-government philosophy.

At a time when the nation’s recession is deepening, unemployment increasing and state budgets plummeting, Sanford says no to help from Washington. No to help in the form of lifelines to the auto industry. In the form of public works projects. In the form of stimulus checks.

His rationale is simple. A nation drowning in debt doesn’t need any more.  

“We must be wary of the moral hazard present in the idea of bailing out the private or public sector,” he noted to President-elect Obama earlier this month.

It’s an intriguing, perhaps beguiling, position. Almost no one is in favor of more debt, any more than anyone is in favor of helping those whose cupidity and stupidity brought on their own demise. But the economic ripples are targeting everyone, and the cost of doing nothing — instead of stopping the bleeding — is an invitation to a depression.

Gov. Sanford’s “moral hazard” reference is revealing. He wants to spread the religion of fiscal restraint regardless of context, which includes unprecedented economic upheaval with national security implications. Sanford may disavow government stimulus plans, but it’s likely that his “moral hazard” rhetoric is intended to stimulate something else: his own political agenda in a GOP looking to regroup and searching for its identity.

Moving Statement About Florida

It was no surprise to read the data that confirmed that the go-go growth years of Florida have halted. Relocation patterns have been skewed as the housing crisis keeps more people at home. The South and the West – the traditional destinations of those migrating to warmer areas – have been notably impacted.

So, it’s no shock that from 2007 to 2008 more people — 9,000 — left Florida and its budget roulette for other states than moved here. Not long ago, such a cold-shouldering scenario would have seemed implausible.   

            What is also sobering is a look at the states that have attracted the most move-ins   — often at Florida’s expense — from other states. Among the top five: Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

They aren’t that far north.  

Clinton Revisited

Here’s an argument that has much credibility in Democratic circles and was recently given voice by David M. Shribman, the respected columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He was writing on the 10th anniversary of the Clinton impeachment.

His take:

First, the Clinton Administration could have accomplished much more had it not had to circle the wagons and defend the president against GOP-driven impeachment procedures.

Of course. Theoretically, the Clinton Administration might very well have spent its time determining that the high-tech bubble would be bursting and that Osama bin-Laden was worth catching or killing.

Second, it was no big whoop; it was personal. “The whole episode was more a crime against Clinton’s family than against Clinton’s country,” wrote Shribman. It was a “B-movie drama.”

I disagree. Would that it were merely a sordid, “B-movie” drama. Or just moral failings. Even setting aside perjury, the overriding issue — one that is typically short-shrifted — is that of national security. That kind of sleazy, intimate access to the president is rife with frightening blackmail scenarios.

As a country, we obviously learned nothing from the Kennedy years. Recall that it was President John F. Kennedy who not only slept with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana’s girl friend (Judith Campbell) while president, but also used his assistant Dave Powers as his personal procurer.

It wasn’t merely a family affair then – or a decade ago.

Too bad Clinton’s boyhood hero was John Kennedy – and not Harry Truman.

Make Special Legislative Session Special

Finally, it’s official.

There will, indeed, be a special legislative session next month. Even Gov. Charlie Crist, not a proponent previously, is now on board. That (2008-09) $2.3 billion state budget hole – that could deepen to $3.8 billion or more in 2009-10 – plus possible harm to Florida’s credit rating and Medicaid scenarios from hell has everyone finally fixated on a resolution. Presumably, everything is on the table – especially in a state that hasn’t fundamentally changed its revenue-raising ways from the LeRoy Collins Administration years.

            But you would presume wrong.

            According to House Speak Ray Sansom and Senate President Jeff Atwater, the legislators will be focusing on a “combination of spending reductions and trust fund transfers.” This is crisis management? This is a crisis made worse.

In the Republican-dominated Legislature, there’s negligible support for a review – let alone an overhaul – of Florida’s tax system. There’s no-tax ideology and then there’s no-responsibility idiotology. Now is not the time to tap reserves, such as the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund, or employ accounting sleight of hand.

For openers, it would be expedient for the Legislature to stop pouting about being a “rubber stamp” and finally approve the gambling compact with the Seminole Tribe of Florida and then get on with adding that $1 to the paltry (33.9-cent) state tax on cigarettes. Voluntary taxes should always be on the table, especially during a serious economic downturn. Especially those that would (combined) net the state more than $1 billion annually.

            Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink seems the only one with clout willing to say what needs to be said – now more than ever. She said it was time to re-evaluate — drum roll, please — Florida’s tax system. In short, “Every sales tax exemption ought to be back on the table,” proclaimed Sink.

            In other words, when rapidly ratcheting population growth largely insulated this state from recession, the old paradigm of a sales-tax skewed revenue system sufficed for the short term. The only term, of course, that mattered politically. But now that growth has flatlined, that system is insufficient. Woefully so.

            Perhaps Sink could borrow Crist’s unused bully pulpit to better make the case for forward-looking options. These would include the aforementioned general sales tax (6 percent) exemptions, including certain services, as well as becoming part of the concerted regional effort to collect sales taxes on catalog and Internet sales.

            And if the effort makes Sink look, well, gubernatorial, good for her. Perhaps Crist will take note – as well as notes.

            Florida can no longer afford populist piffle for leadership and ad hoc band aids for an economic strategy when confronted by a crisis of unprecedented proportion.

An Even Better Islamic Message

Perhaps you’ve seen that billboard in East Hillsborough (near the McIntosh Road-I-4 intersection) that asks: “Purpose of Life?” and answers with “877-WHY-ISLAM.” The message is that of a New York-based Muslim advocacy group, Islamic Circle of North America. The sponsors include members of the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay Area.

Good idea.

The more vehicles and venues for Islam to confront and debunk Muslim stereotypes the better. Anything that promotes cultural awareness and understanding is most welcome. Anything that could help defuse raw emotions is imperative. 

But here’s a suggestion for ICNA, which has 22 chapters and is engaged in a fairly aggressive marketing campaign that includes two dozen billboards in 18 cities.

Awareness, education and understanding are ultimately the only means for those seeking permanent rapprochement between Islam and the non-Muslim world. But it will necessarily be a time-consuming process and will take more than a billboard campaign.

So, there’s the matter of impact in the here and now. The Mumbai massacre was the most recent reminder that indiscriminate murders are still being committed by jihadists who are still perverting the Koran.

What would really get people’s attention? And help absolve Muslims from the criticism that they – collectively – have not been nearly outspoken enough about heinous acts committed in the name of their religion?

How about billboards that deliver the message that the world’s “infidels” have been waiting – and begging – for?

How about billboards that bluntly declare: “Stop Murdering In The Name Of Allah!”?

Strange Bedfellows

Often the United States finds itself in positions opposed by muslim countries. Let us not recount the ways. So, it seemed encouraging to learn that the U.S. and muslim nations – plus most Asian and African countries – were on the same side when it came to signing a recent (nonbinding) United Nations declaration. They didn’t sign.

The UN was calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.

Among those signing were those the US typically sides with, including (27) members of the European Union as well as Japan, Australia and Mexico.

For the U.S., strange bedfellows, indeed.

Bad Educational Parlay

It was not a good week for the Hillsborough County School District.

It began with the embattled principal of Alafia Elementary, Ellyn Smith, stepping down. She had her detractors and defenders, but ultimately the divisiveness at Alafia became a morale-sapping distraction impossible to overcome. That sorry soap opera is now over.

While that controversy has been quelled, another — arguably more disturbing — question arises. Smith is a veteran of the Hillsborough system. Her tenure has been marked by outstanding evaluations and promotions.

And yet, despite 34 years of experience, Smith had to be “mentored” and “coached” by a former principal for the two weeks prior to her announcement to leave. The mentor/coach was there at the suggestion of a school effectiveness assessment team that had reviewed the school in response to parents’ complaints about Smith. The mentor/coach’s responsibilities included helping Smith work on her personal interaction with teachers and parents.

And the coach/mentor, Grace Ippolito, was paid $340 per diem for her work. Smith was also slated for leadership training at Eckerd College that would have cost the county $4,500. What budget cuts?

So the key query is this: How do you get 34 years into your professional career – with a track record of positive evaluations and promotions – and still need a mentor/coach?  And more specifically, who did the evaluating? Who did the promoting? Who determined the criteria? And who is still perpetuating this system?

Another incident was worse. Much worse.

Christina Butler, a former Middleton High School special education teacher, was sentenced for having sex multiple times with one of her students. It brought back into public consciousness — aided by the media — all the other nefarious cases. May we never become inured to this sort of disgusting betrayal of trust.

The shock, however, was Butler’s actual sentence: five years of probation. Even more startling was Hillsborough Circuit Judge J. Rogers Padgett’s rationale. He noted that the victim, 16 and borderline retarded, was probably more mature and less vulnerable than Butler, 33. Padgett saw the student as more seducer than “victim.”

By contrast, he saw the defendant as immature, frightened and fragile – a bipolar woman who had been in way over her head by being in charge of high school students.

He took pity on her, which is his, however controversial, prerogative.

Butler has those five years of probation and can no longer teach.

Which begs two questions:

*Butler, as a registered sex offender, can’t teach. But can she learn anything from this sordid ordeal and do something constructive with her life?

*Granted, special education teachers are at a premium everywhere. With good reason. The field requires teachers with discipline, empathy and the right skill set, including diagnostic, for reaching and motivating a school’s most challenging learners. It’s the worst of all pedagogical places for the fragile and the incompetent.

So, how much lower can the bar get in Hillsborough for hiring special education teachers? Might not psychological screenings, which are not part of the background-checking process, be especially applicable for this field?