Is the TBRC one big conflict of interest?

The Florida Education Association thinks it looks that way following last week's voucher-related vote by the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission.

In a letter to be delivered to Chairman Allan Bense tomorrow, the FEA's Andy Ford questions whether seven* of the 25 members should disclose conflicts of interest and not vote the voucher proposal when it comes up again and related one to be debated Friday.

For example, the letter notes that Julia Johnson and Susan Story serve on the advisory board of Step Up For Students, a voucher funding organization. And Darryl Rouson, as an active candidate for State House, got a $500 contribution from the president of Step Up.

Writes Ford: "Aside from the fact that the commission is exceeding its constitutional authority by considering educational policy issues beyond the scope of the commission's constitutional charge, it appears that these members  ... are disregarding the ethical standards established by the commission's rules and Florida law, as modeled by your own action in recusing yourself from voting on an issue which had the potential to benefit your business, and instead are proceeding to vote on these matters despite their conflicts of interest."

Prior to a vote on a transportation measure, Bense said he would not participate because he is in the construction business.

The letter notes that Brian Yablonski serves on the boards of voucher advocacy organizations. But it does not point out that the St. Joe employee also got approval for a ballot measure that would provide significant property tax break to his employer and other large land holders provided they do not develop open land.

On the flip side, the FEA ignores the fact that commissioner Jade Moore, Pinellas teachers association executive director, could fall under the same conflict scrutiny. How about John McKay, whose name graces the McKay Scholarship Program?

*The union also goofed by stating that the newest TBRC member, Richard Corcoran, was a lobbyist. In fact, that's his brother, Michael. The FEA corrected the letter Tuesday evening.

Comments

The union is getting desparate!

BIG BOSS ANDY FORD IS WAY OFF TARGET HERE.

Are you kidding me??? Why dont these guys do their job and teach Children? If parents and children are happy at school with the service they are getting they will stay!!! Teach children or be honest that all you really care about is your govt checks and more vacation time than ANY other occupation in the World.

If there are politicians involved, you can bet it's one HUGE conflict of interest.

You anti-union nut jobs are just suffering from CPIIDS (Corporate Profit by way of Illegal Immigrants Syndrome)

You monkey-sticks don’t even realize that were it not for unions, you wouldn’t be you are.

… putz

*ALERT: Gov Charlie Crist has said he can support the tax swap proposal.

link-

http://blogs.news-journalonline.com/politics/2008/04/crist_gives_nod_to_sales_tax_p.html

wrong link sorry-

correct link

http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/040108/D8VP4QE81.shtml

*ALERT: Gov Charlie Crist has said he will give up photo-ops, tanning beds, pretend girlfriends, and show up for work at least once a week!

... APRIL FOOLS!

Gov Crist is already on board. If the school unions are smart, they will support the tax swap, otherwise we will contantly be attacking property taxes.

We will gut you & local government spending like a pig. Every legislative session will be dominated by property tax relief until we get it!

So - already it starts with Rouson.

terminator?

Wherefore art thou?

[Don Mott]

I kinda figured St Joe was behind the huge tax break for keeping property natural. Politics as usual!

The April Fools (aka FEA) are slinging mud again.

The children are suppose to be educated in a fashion that will enable them to compete in a global economy yet the teachers union still thinks the isolation strategy works. Did it for Ford? Has it for GM?

Competetion is needed and if the Teachers Union cannot embrace that then they just need to be cast aside as irrelevant whiners so the rest of us can move forward without having to carry dead weight.

[terminator]

Andy shouldn't sweat it.
The proposal will never get close to the 60% it needs for passage (it may need to meet the 2/3rd's threshold since it deals with fundamental changes to Florida's tax structure). That's what I'd be challenging.
Let's face facts, there are a number of far right wing nut jobs that were appointed to the board (Levesque/Yablonski/Turbeville/et al).
You knew they'd pull something like this even though religious school vouchers are so far out in left field they aren't even remotely associated with the scope of Constitutional powers that bind the commission.
If it's anyone who's desperate, it's Jeb and company who are still smarting from the spanking we've given them over the past five years. The Jebster and his henchmen hate public schools, hate teachers and hate unions. They will stop at nothing in their lame attempt to push unconstitutional private school vouchers on Floridians.
Jeb, we've kicked your *ss many times before and we will kick it again. This time there will no hiding in the broom closet (like up in Pittsburgh).
The last thing you want to do is piss off the Terminator. Don't make me humiliate you more than we already have.

Ps How's that whole deal with Lehman Bros and Coleman Stipanovich coming along? Miss Sink should be getting to the bottom of any influence peddling schemes that may have gone on.
Well, look at the bright side of things. With brother chimpy almost out of office you can rest assured, it will be a heck of a long time before anyone bearing the Bush last name ever gets elected to any political position for quite awhile.

Choice is one reason our national university system is the best in the world -- schools compete for the students' dollars. Vouchers will help K-12 schools compete for voucher dollars, and improve education in the process for everybody. If you really prefer the Soviet-model system of government run schools, go ahead - oppose vouchers and other school choice reforms, Comrade.

Termie,

You need to pour yourself a glass of wine and relax a little.

Question--Jade Moore is a memeber of, in fact a former local President of, the Pinellas teachers' union. Why doesn't the FEA volunteer to recuse him from this vote as well?

This is hilarious. Rouson received a contribution from someone involved in the choice program, so he should be removed. Did TBRC member Les Miller ever receive a contribution from the teachers' union? Yes indeed--so is the FEA willing to have him excused from the vote as well? Any other TBRC members ever receive a contribution from the union or work for a public school district? They're gone too.

Get real, teachers' union.

[terminator]

8:48
Actually my drink of choice is Makers Mark.
That's ok, if Jeb wants a war we'll give him a war. It will be like old times. Nothing galvanizes the rank and file like Darth Vader Jeb and his anti-Christ sidekick Pat Levesque (have you seen her lately, God the woman looks awful)!
Terminator's primary mission is to exterminate Jeb Bush education policy.
The main problem for current R leaders (Crist, Gaetz, Pickens, Ed Commish Smith) is do they want to risk the collateral damage caused by the fallout?
Florida voters, the Supreme Court and Senate have already repudiated Jeb's far right wing agenda.
Ron Meyer having to file suit against this and possibly McKay won't do anything positive for Charlie, Sansom and whoever the *ell the next Senate President is going to be.
Jeb and his buddy Levesque are living in the past. They can't get over the fact they have no power anymore and they're irrelevant. This was their last desperate act in the tragedy that was Jeb Bush right wing neo-fascist ed policy.

don mott, don't know who you are, but boy did you break the code!!

Terminator, shame on you!

Not only is Patricia Levesque an intellectual who's on the mark on this issue; she's expecting a baby soon.

She looks beautiful, as do all pregnant woman.

Patricia's not living in the past; the FCAT scores and gains from Education Reform in FL cannot be disputed.

[terminator]

9:57 (Mrs. Levesque)
she has a face only a mother could love.

her child will be born with 666 on the forehead and will be able to twist her head around as if on a swivel while thrusting vomit forward with great force (a la Linda Blair)

when you spend all your time teaching to a test, scores better be up.
How about drop out rates, SAT and ACT scores, AP passage rates, etc?

are you one of Jeb's reject legacy staffers over at DOE?

There's been some pretty lousy threads here but this one of the real dogs. You people sound like a bunch of winos arguing around a blazing oil drum under an interstate overpass.

[Zhombre]

Lay off the Maker's Mark, termie. Keep guzzling and pretty soon you won't even be able to find the keyboard.

if the FEA is so stupid as to challenge the McKay scholarships, they deserve whatever comes their way.

those scholarships have been a godsend for thousands of kids that could have fallen through the cracks. I know, because my child is one of them.

isnt one of the commissioners Paid by the FEA?

bye bye, Jade.

The teachers union representation here sounds rational and mature to say the least.

Lets see we are making fun of peoples looks, calling names like fascists to express how we disagree with someone etc.

Yea, just what I have come to expect out of that bunch.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that we need to have vouchers available for all students so that the weak links in the education system can be exposed and eliminated.

[terminator]

Zhombre:
that doesn't happen very often (us cyborgs can hold our liquor).
come to think of it there may have been a few times I fertilized the bushes next to Clyde's and Andrews!

10:46
I doubt that would happen although I'm sure there are many who aren't getting the appropriate services at the voucher schools they attend (just a false sense of better because it's private, have a lot fewer students and teach religion).
Wonder how many of those kids will actually be able to make it into a real university?

11:33
no, you'd only get the voucher if you're poor and black. If your white or middle class you need not apply.
I guess you'd rather have your kids taught by uncredentialed teachers many of whom lack even a Bachelor's degree, get paid illegal immigrant wages with no pensions and bogus HMO's for health care coverage?

The FEA has nothing to FEAr but FEAr itself.

[UF Grad Student]

Termie

This time there will no hiding in the broom closet (like up in Pittsburgh)

When did Governor Bush hide in a broom closet?

her child will be born with 666 on the forehead and will be able to twist her head around as if on a swivel while thrusting vomit forward with great force (a la Linda Blair)

Linda Blair is HOT!

The TBRC was created to give the FL GOP one step of remove from the terrible policies they are creating. Let's face it, its dominated by nut job tax cutting fanatics and the Republicans are responsible and should be held accountable for all the bad decisions made by this bogus group.

[terminator]

9:18
several years ago on a trip to downtown Pittsburgh the Jebster ran into some teamsters union folks who weren't real enamored with Bush policy.
Jeb and an undisclosed aide were forced to cower in a maintenance closet at a transportation stop that had been provided in the nick of time by a quick thinking custodian.
Us Florida labor folks aren't quite as physically aggressive as our northern brothers, however, we will take him to the woodshed (politically speaking) and rub his face in it for good measure when we're done.

I haven't seen Linda lately but if Levesque's kid comes out blurting "redrum" you'll know they're the devil incarnate!

Wonder if Jeb will be the Godfather?

Wow, Termie has finally lost it. What a pitiful display.

[tr]

FASINATING READING. . .EVEN BOOKMARKED THE SITE
I'm from PA and our tax structure consisted of: 1% of income for the municipality, $ 3,800.00 property taxes for the county, 2.43% of income for the state, 6% (7% if Phil or Pitts) sales tax, and finally federal income tax. Please explain how the people of FL need tax relief . . . .Fl homesteaders pay ridiculously low taxes . . .You need to stop your whining, VOTE NO, and get on with your lives . . . .The voucher thing will not make it past the fed, but you have to wonder how much is Florida’s defense going to cost us?? Shouldn’t the religious fanatics be picking up the tab??

I don't think it was our Termie posting. I think it was an imposter. The writing was too good.

[Boca Grande]

Is that really Termie? Oddly shrill. You're squealing like a stuck pig.

[A Blue Voter]

Boca - he made perfect sense yesterday at 8:34, and I agree with every word he said.

[terminator]

Boca:
you don't really think this will get close to 60% do you? If you do pass what you're smoking cause it's good *hit!

How will Darth Vader Jeb and his anti-Christ buddy (the now bloated and portly looking) Levesque explain to voters in a time we're cutting public school budgets by $1.5 billion, we've got $138 million to give away to unregulated and uncertified private/religious school operators?

Now I know most Floridians aren't the sharpest tools in the shed but they aren't dumb enough to continually fall for the Bush brothers ill fated social and economic policies that have put us trillions of dollars in debt and will take over a decade of good economic times to dig out from the mess that's been created by chimpy and his sidekick little brother, the Jebster.

Blue Voter: thanks for the support. If anything all of the mismanagement that's gone on over the past eight years is now crystalizing and will lead to massive upheavals at every level of government come November.
We need to get rid of almost every incumbent and start from scratch. We couldn't do any worse than we already have.

8:51:
you don't give me enough credit. just because I'm a cyborg doesn't mean I can't write. And I was educated in public schools (K through Masters and Specialist Degrees).

Termie: I would never underestimate you. I was just funnin' By the way, I think portly was a good choice of words :)

8:51

[Boca Grande]

Termie, I said nothing about passage of anything. I just noted your apoplexy. Plus, your comment about smoking something is hackneyed and unimaginative. You must be a senior citizen, using such a trite cliche. I'll bet you drive a Crown Victoria. Are sure you are not Tony Clifton?

[terminator]

3:01
thanks. I've got some other words I could use for that witch but family decency prevents me from doing so

Boca:
No, I don't even know who Tony Clifton is.
Actually I drive an Expedition but I like Crown Vics (they're nice big sturdy and luxurious cars).
Down where I live the young kids buy them and trick them out.
I'm not apoplectic. If it passes the final committee meeting I'm positive it won't get close to 60%.
I'm a product of the 70's and went to FSU...what can you say. Smokin greens is what we did in addition to playing FB, drinking lots of beer, chasing skirts and partying out at the frat.
What are you, some private school sissy? Hey, even Charlie smoked and I'll bet Jeb did lots worse than that!
We know Chimpy sure did.

[zenatress]

terminator:

Your need to share intimate personal details does not equal our desire to know them.

Your record at prognositication will remain consistent, however. You've been incorrect most of the time on matters related to the ballot, and your prediction that the McKay/Rubio plan will fail will surely be added to that list.

Termie - don't hold back (although I see your original post has been deleted). A lot of us feel the same way about the portly lady.

3:01

[terminator]

Zenatress:
I think you've been dipping into too much of the cooking sherry.
The voucher amendment has nothing to do with McKay.
You're confusing the tax swap proposal which I do support.
I also support TABOR and predict it's passage.
The voucher will go down. Mark my words.
Ps I think you like Termie. Maybe we could hook up at Clyde's one afternoon following session? Sorry about too much personal info but I like full figured girls with big bosoms. Do you fit that mold?

terminator seems to have gone off the deep end . . . again.

[zenatress]

terminator:

I stand corrected, as I did misunderstand your post.

good taste precludes me from accepting your most gracious invitation.