In Which I Am Called A Dolt, A Fat Windbag And A Slob (Although I Don't Think He Meant It Personally)

My Sunday column liked the state Senate's tax plan, a simple rollback of property taxes and a cap on future tax growth. I argued that reasonable property taxes are the price of civilization, and that the House's idea getting rid of homestead taxes altogether and increasing the sales tax is unwise. Most (but not all) readers continue to prefer the House's plan, with varying degrees of vehemence. Here's my favorite:

Hilarious--on one hand you have this dolt Troxler telling you how important it is to pay your inflated taxes. This fat windbags position is that the save Our Homes Cap is ruining it for everyone. In another article in the same paper on the same day, April 29th is a story about a Felon buying houses all over St Petersburg at inflated prices leaving behind foreclosures. Does this slob not see any connection between this felon and other flippers who have manipulated the market and inflated values? Do we need to remind him that people who have remained as residents through all this are not the ones driving up comps and taxes? I guess if you are with the Times though you love all the extra tax dollars flying around being put to ridiculous use. Need a trail, a park, an overpaid person on a planning council? Just ask..the money is there and the usual pigs are feeding. -- Charles

The ever-pointed James B. Johnson notes that the Save Our Homes cap has protected existing residents against getting socked for the cost of growth. He addresses newcomers:

It's my fault you paid 300 GRAND for a house that's worth 150 GRAND. It's my fault you moved here and created the need for more of everything. Twenty-five years ago you sold your Levittown house, you paid $10,000 for, for $250,000, and moved here. Your new house here cost $50,000 and you bought CDs with the rest, to augment your pension and social security. Today your kids are doing the same...retiring from NYPD or NYFD, selling the house for a MILLION, and buying a Florida cottage for 300 THOU....and buying Google stock. And those evil Cracker bandits are screwing you on your taxes.

Other excerpts:

Your column today was basically just a complete rehash of what you have already said two other times. I find it surprising that you have nothing better to add to the discussion when even your admitted to me that your readers do not support the Senate plan. Could it be that you are only allowed to relay the viewpoints of the Times and our Mayor and they just want to keep driving home how wonderful this plan is even when they know it does not have great support? -- Rich Knipe

As I see it local government is telling us to be careful what we wish for because if this passes and the citizens of Florida get their way we will see a decrease in services, especially in Police and Fire protection. This I find rather arrogant since the basic function of government is to protect the people that provide government the finds to do so. I am not looking for local government to provide me with another wonderful sidewalk (Riverwalk), or pay the bonds for an Aquarium. For this I will relay on the local business community and the private sector... Martin Saavedra Jr.

[I]f the cost of owning real property is reduced by cutting the taxes on it, then both residential and commercial real property become cheaper to own and rent out. The reduced renting/owning cost would reduce prices of goods and services throughout an economy. This would benefit everyone I can imagine, particularly the poor, for whom rent is perhaps their largest expense. -- Charles Matthews

... And A Few From The Other Side

On the other hand, these exceprts from e-mails skeptical of the House's sales-tax idea:

Our services in Pinellas County are great. Average time for an ambulance where I live is 4 minutes, hospitals - more than one - are within 10-20 minutes, even during rush hour. Our taxes pay for that, state, county, and city. Everyone now wants to buy the side of mountain in Tennessee because the taxes are low and they don't have State Income Tax.  I'm sorry - but who picks you up after the auto accident or the heart attack?  If you want to live in a safe and civilized location, it does cost more. -- Robert Albano

As a Single, Disabled Female and parent of a 17 year old I can not even fathom paying 9 1/2 % Sales Tax.  I have no problem with my Property Taxes.  I have a problem with the damned insurance.  Mine went from $535 to $1836 in two years.  Of course I am stuck in Citizens with no hope of getting out of it.  I was forced to go to an Interest only Mortgage and when my daughter graduates next May from Bogie's Wellness Program our income will drop even further into the poverty level.  How am I supposed to pay 9 1/2% sales tax?  Every time I go to the grocery store or have to by clothing I will get hit so hard I will be eating my 3 cat's food! -- JoAnn Markey, St. Petersburg

The Legislature has continually passed laws requiring local government to pay for services that the Legislature mandates -- where do they think the money comes from to do that? It wouldn't surprise me a bit if, on the day after the Legislature removes the property tax, a lot of local governments declare bankruptcy. After all, if the sales tax is the substitute, there is no guarantee that a particular local government will receive enough of it from the state to keep things going. --Sheryl Stolzenberg

Let's Make It A Standing Date

Check out the bold-faced announcement at the top of the right-hand column on this page: Starting Tuesday, May 1, I'll hold a regular weekly online chat here on TroxBlog to talk with readers about current events in Florida and the Tampa Bay area. At noon each Tuesday I'll put up a new post with the headline, "The Chat Is Open," and we'll use the "Comments" link of that post to do our talking. Just keep refreshing the comments page for the latest.

Here are the transcripts of the two chats we've had so far:

April 24 chat

March 27 chat

Oh, And These Three Friday Morning Things

(1) I know we've been jumpy these past few years, but college kids blowing up plastic soda bottles in an empty lot doesn't seem quite the same level as, say, setting off a pipe bomb. Two USF students face criminal charges for putting dry ice and water into bottles and letting the carbon dioxide pressure burst them. Next up: Authorities Bust Mentos-And-Diet-Coke Conspirators. I swear, if I were growing up today and did some of the same stuff I actually did in college, today I'd be in prison.

(2) As my colleague Jeffrey Solochek reports today, Pasco County is considering whether to bar students who haven't passed the FCAT from graduation exercises. Pasco apparently is in the minority; most places let high-school kids march anyway even if they haven't qualified to graduate. The article includes quotes about the emotional damage to kids who aren't allowed to march. Depends, I guess, on whether graduation is just a social goodbye ceremony, or a ceremony of accomplishment. I lean toward the hard-line side.

(3) Here's an excerpt from a reader's e-mail about drinking in public parks (in this case, Philippe Park in Safety Harbor last Sunday) and my reply:

Many families were out in the water with their jet skies.  A group of about 15 young adults, ranging in age from about 17 to 20 took the tables next to us. They also had their jet skies.  I could not believe it when I saw one of the young men blatantly take a beer bottle out of his cooler and proceed to drink it.  I know for a fact that county parks have a no drinking policy. There is a sign when entering the park. On our way out of the park, we stopped to alert the ranger. I was surprised by his response and lack of interest.  I suggested that perhaps he should go and check their cooler, he told me that they are not allowed to open coolers.  I was very surprised by this.  I then called the Pinellas County sheriffs office to also alert them since the ranger was limited in what he could do.  I was told by someone in dispatch that the ranger was correct, he was [not] allowed to open coolers and neither were they.  ...  I am flabbergasted by this response.

Me:

I am surprised that they don't police it, especially in terms of underage drinking or operating vehicles on the water. For my personal taste, I do not mind the idea of someone having a beer while fishing or having a picnic -- it's not the mere presence that bothers me as much as the idea of putting other people at risk...

Whack-A-Budget

Here's a letter (Download spb_letter.pdf ) from the mayor of St. Pete Beach to the governor pointing out the effects of the budget cuts the Legislature is talking about. Ward J. Friszolowski says the House plan would cut about $3.2-million out of the city's budget -- out of only about $10-million in general funds that could be whacked. He says for example the city could eliminate ALL library, park and recreation spending and only save $1.5-million.

Unfortunately for them, the recent efforts of Friszolowski and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker to slow down the tax-cutting train in Tallahassee are coming late in the game. The consensus is not WHETHER to cut local taxes, but simply by how much. I like to bash government spending as much as the next guy, but there ain't no way to cut $3.2-million out of $10-million without getting rid of something that is going to hurt.

How locals deal with whatever the Legislature does will be the Next Big Story across our state.

Mr. Feeney Could Not Be Reached For Golf-Related Comments

Recent press releases from U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, who is under a cloud for his golfing outing to Scotland with lobbyist Jack Abramoff:

4/26/2007: Feeney Thrilled the Dow Opens at Record High

4/24/2007: Feeney Reacts to Alarming Entitlement Report

4/18/2007: Feeney Recaps the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Tax Day 2007

4/18/2007: Rep. Feeney Applauds Supreme Court Ruling on Partial Birth Abortion

4/17/2007: Rep. Feeney's Statement on Virginia Tech Tragedy

4/11/2007: Feeney Responds to U.S. Trade Cases Against China

4/9/2007: Rep. Feeney Announces District Art Competition Winners

On the other hand, this paragraph from an article by my colleague Anita Kumar:

On Tuesday, his spokeswoman, Pepper Pennington, said he would not comment further except to say, "Rep. Feeney is anxious to discuss this matter at the appropriate time."

Update: Girls' Camp Recidivism

This from Tom Denham of Eckerd Youth Alternatives about my recent column and blog post on Camp E-Nini-Hassee north of Tampa Bay:

It takes awhile to get recidivism numbers, because they have to track the kids for one year after they leave camp.  The most recent data is from campers who were there in 2004-2005.  For that period, it had a recidivism rate of only 15%, which is considered extremely low.  Most other female camps had a rate of about 27%, and most boys’ facilities have about 44%.

Here's One Of Them-There Tax Studies

This is not the one I was thinking of, but here's one example discussing the regressive nature of Florida's tax structure:

www.itepnet.org/wp2000/fl%20pr.pdf

If you run a Google seach with the words "regressive," "Florida" and "sales tax" you'll find plenty of discussion and general acknowledgement of its regressive nature.

The question remains, as several folks have pointed out, whether this is outweighed by other benefits of the House plan.

What's 'Regressive' About Sales Tax, Anyway?

I decided to write .. after reading another article in today's paper, which once again tells how some feel that a sales tax increase will unfairly hurt the poor, but gives absolutely no details regarding how that would be so. I am beginning to wonder if there really is no basis for such statements, but the politicians think that if they say it often enough the proposal will be defeated anyway. (If you hear if often enough it becomes fact.) -- Bob Smith

Goood question. I do believe there is some actual research on this besides the jaw-flapping. The jaw-flapping explanation is that we ALL buy certain things that are taxed at the same rate. If I buy a $10 pair of shoes and the next guy buys a $100 pair of shoes, we both pay 7 percent -- perfectly fair.

Here's where it breaks down. There are hundreds of loopholes of what does NOT get taxed, and those loopholes tend to favor the things that people buy the more money they have. Bug spray: taxed. Pest control service: Not taxed. And many examples.

The net result is a study that I will try to look up that shows that as income goes up, the percentage of what a household spends on TAXABLE items goes DOWN. In other words, the more money I have, the bigger a share I am spending on dry cleaning, lawn service, attorneys, accountants, etc.

To recap: As income goes up, the percentage of income spent on taxable items goes down.

In addition to this, there is a flat $5,000 cap on items subject to the sales tax, also regressive.

Yours,
Howard

(P.S. -- Another question is, even IF adding 2.5 cents on the dollar has a regressive effect, whether the overall benefits, e.g., renters paying less hidden property taxes in their rent, would still provide a net savings...)

Snack Shack II

Today's print column follows up on yesterday's TroxBlog post about the fate of the former Snack Shack on Madeira Beach:

The people of Madeira Beach petitioned. They rallied. Some vowed, if necessary, to form a human chain to stop the bulldozers.

And, what the heck, it worked. To combine two sayings, now and then you really can fight City Hall, especially if it is a child (or an especially impressive sixth-grader) who shall lead you.

Let's begin at the site in question. If you take the Tom Stuart Causeway past the Bay Pines VA Medical Center all the way to the gulf, you will run smack into a place called Archibald Memorial Park... [more]

I Went To The Blog For Insults But An Intelligent Debate Broke Out

Check out the several comments to yesterday's post arguing in favor of cutting Florida's property taxes and replacing part of them with sales taxes. Most of my e-mail and comments seem to be learning toward this kind of swap-out, which is what out state House wants to do. The Senate's alternative is a more modest rollback of property taxes WITHOUT any change in sales tax.

Part of the debate hinges on what our goals are. Seems to me the biggest goal on everybody's mind is to cut net taxes paid, period. Even if you add back in the House's sales tax, the House property tax cuts are so deep that the House plan is still much bigger than the Senate's. (Now, mind you, after the Legislature does something, this state is going to go through a big round of teeth-gnashing and garment-rending over local budget cuts, but it looks like the political consensus is, look, we'll cross that bridge once it starts falling down.)

The secondary goals, about which there is still debate, deal with the unfairness of the Save Our Homes cap. Long-time homeowners in Florida are getting a much bigger tax break than newer buyers, and of course, non-homestead property owners are getting whacked with big increases. You'll see from the comments that some readers are perfectly willing to accept the current situation with a tolerant, "Look, life ain't always fair'' philosophy.

Both the House and Senate plans provide some relief for everybody in the form of a brute-force tax rollback to a previous year. Both House and Senate plans create some kind of cap on the growth of local spending, so we don't repeat the colossal tax and spending increases of the recent real-estate boom years.

The Senate plan also gives first-time homebuyers an extra break and lets people phase in the sticker shock when they switch to a different house, instead of getting whacked with a big tax bill all at once. I think those are at least mid-sized points in the Senate plan's favor -- but on the other hand, if ALL residential taxes are eliminated as the House plan allows, then heck, the whole residential-unfairness angle goes away! (That still leaves all the non-homestead folks paying property taxes, but they still get a rollback and are protected by the cap on local spending.)

This leaves us with the sales-tax increase of the House plan, up to 2.5 cents on the dollar above what we're paying now. Several folks have run calculations on what they're paying in property taxes versus what they would pay in sales tax and are saying, hey, this looks like a good deal for ME. I am still trying to figure this out and am gonna just ask the Senate folks -- why ISN'T that a good idea? So far I just know of the social argument -- sales taxes DO tend to be regressive, and no, my friend Mr. Johnson, it's not just because poor people are buying tattoos and "sugar crap.'' There's also the question of whether a sales tax of nearly 10 percent would have economic or tourism consequences -- most of the commenters figure the answer is "no." But I am middle-aged and cranky, and I distinctly remember my Laffler-curve lessons from my conservative friends in the 1980s, who told me that every tax increase has a consequence...

The Snack Shack

If you take the Tom Stuart Causeway over to Madeira Beach, you'll hit the beach just about at Archibald Park. Sitting on this public property is a log cabin that was originally built many decades ago by veterans, originally intended as a place for recovering patients to go as a respite. Over the years the building also has been home to a Boy Scout troop and a snack bar run by disabled vets.

The Madeira Beach Board of Commissioners proposed to tear down the building. A lively protest among citizens -- led, in part, by Kaitlyn Chalke, a 12-year-old sixth-grader at Madeira Beach Middle School -- rose up to try to stop it. The Board of Commissioners met again last night and agreed to delay a decision, instead of starting demolition as early as Monday as it could have done -- which, if you know beach politics, is a fairly refreshing decision. It seems like a fine topic for my column in tomorrow's newspaper.

Well, When You Put It THAT Way...

Here's part of an e-mail from a fellow in the mortgage industry on why Florida should cut property taxes and increase its sales tax, as our state House wants to do and our Senate opposes. Anybody want to answer him, you get your own post too:

1. It will allow instant relief from the over taxation of our homes.

2. It will allow first time home buyers the capability to hit their goal of owning a home sooner than expected as they could qualify for a home due to the extra income that can be devoted to paying the mortgage payment in the debt ratio  calculation of the lender

3. Who ever pays any property tax in almost all cases would save money compared to the 2.5% increase of sales tax that they would spend on taxable items currently. Only if they make huge taxable purchases every month could it effect them.

4. I doubt very much that it would effect any tourism, if someone is going to spend $3,000 of taxable spending on a vacation, I doubt they would cancel for an extra $75.00 more.

5. Senior citizens would be able to move to another location without any consequence to their income due to new valuation of the property they are buying

6. The real estate market will get a boost immediately and with that, growth in local economies will trickle down with more items purchased for the homes and more remodeling being done

7. The state and local governments increase of income from Doc and Deed stamps will increase tremendously due to more movement in sales, and thus add to the coffers to reimburse the counties that need it

8. On the theory that the rich will come out ahead, I assure you the person living in a $500,000 home spends a lot more on taxable items than the person in a $200,000.

9. The tourist use our roads, use our facilities, and then leave and we are left to update it, maintain it and provide security for them while they are here, the 2.5% is a small price to pay for that.

-- Jerry Schuetter

The April 24 Chat Is Over

The April 24 chat is over, but I'll leave comments open for a little while... to read the transcript, go to the following post on this blog -- the one headlined, "The April 24 Chat Is Open" --  and follow the comments.

We talked a lot about the pending plans in our Legislature for property and sales taxes. A high-school student had several good questions about juvenile justice. We also talked about gun laws, developers, media polls and even the merits of a national presidential primary.

The April 24 Chat Is Open

Okay, happy Tuesday and hello from fashionable downtown St. Petersburg. The April 24 chat is open -- post questions and comments to the "Comments" link of this post and I'll do my best to respond to them. Just keep refreshing the comments page to keep up with the latest.

So, is anybody there?

April 24: Chat At 11:30 Today

Here's how today's chat will work. At 11:30 a.m. I'll put up a new post here with the headline, "The April 24 Chat Is Open." We'll use the "Comments" link of that announcement to post questions, comments and answers. Just keep refreshing the comments page to get the latest.

If there are lots of folks, it will be helpful to space out the questions; no sense everybody posting a comment at 11:30 a.m. all at once. If nobody shows up, I'll just go eat lunch.

The comments link to this post is now closed. To take part in today's chat, add a comment or question to the item above headlined, "The April 24 Chat Is Open."

Tom, Tom, Why Not Just Say No?

No matter the result of the FBI's questions, here's have an underlying question for U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, and the golf trip he took to Scotland with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Why did you go at all?

I don't give a flip whether Feeney has a legalistic explanation about how he thought Group A or Group B was paying for the trip, instead of Abramoff himself. I don't care. I want to know, what made Tom Feeney think, "My goodness, the people of Florida have sent me to Congress as a sacred trust -- so I think I will fly off to Scotland to play golf with a big-shot lobbyist!"

By the way, the other two House members who went on the trip: former Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, now serving prison time for corruption, and former House Republican leader Tom DeLay, indicted in Texas for alleged improper fundraising. To paraphrase Borat: Very very nice, Rep. Feeney.

It Slices! It Dices!

In my dream I was standing in a supermarket aisle under a big sign saying, "Florida Tax Reform Plans."

There was a woman in a booth there. She was scooping something out of a bizarre-looking carton into a bunch of little plastic cups.

"Sir, try our House of Representatives Brand Tax Reform!" she chirped.

"What's in it?" I asked.

"It's a two-step program," she said... more

A Legislative Favor For FPL, Since Progress Already Got One And TECO Is About To?

My column last Tuesday talked about how the Legislature was going to give Tampa Electric Co. the same kind of advantages for a proposed coal-gasification plant that it gave last year to nuclear power plants. Chiefly among these is the ability to bill customers in advance for costs related to the new plant.

In that column, I joked bitterly that since Progress got its bill last year, and TECO was getting one this year, it would be Florida Power & Light's turn next year.

But maybe I was off by a year. If you look at pages 60-61 of this proposed amendment to Senate Bill 996, which is coming up today in a Senate committee, you'll see that the amendment changes the bill's language to give the same advantages to any "advanced technology coal power plant." The bill is on the committee calendar for Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations, which meets at 8:15 a.m. Tuesday in Room 309 Capitol. I am told the amendment might not be heard today, but will still be floating around out there...

Now, check out this March 15 article by my colleague Craig Pittman about FP&L's plans for a $5.7-billion "advanced supercritical pulverization" coal-fired power plant near the Everglades -- the site of which, itself, is the subject of a lawsuit.

A 10-Percent Sales Tax?

The first question being asked in Tallahassee is: Should we roll back local property taxes, which have gotten out of hand? Everybody in the Legislature says yes; it's just a matter of working out the details these final couple of weeks of our legislative session.

But there's a second question too: While we're at it, should we shift more of the burden in Florida toward sales taxes?

Make no mistake -- the plan being proposed by our state House is not just a "tax cut." It's a major philosophical shift, away from taxing property and toward taxing sales. The House would roll back property taxes to the level of earlier years, maybe even wiping them out altogether for homestead property, but replace part of the lost money with sales taxes. The House would add up to 2.5 percentage points to the existing 6-percent state sales tax. If you live in a county such as Pinellas or Hillsborough or Pasco, which tack on an extra local penny, we're talking a 9.5-cent sales tax!

The Senate has a more modest rollback in property taxes, but does not increase sales taxes. The Senate's plan also has more specific help for first-time homebuyers and for making Florida's tax break for homeowners "portable" when they buy their next house. (Hey, the House is now working on a portability idea too.)

As matters stand today, the Senate plan is more tempered and addresses more of the problems we've had under the Save Our Homes tax cap, which has benefited homeowners who don't move at the expense of everybody else. We get a tax rollback, an annual cap on the growth of local spending, and help for people buying a new home. The House's idea of trading ALL property taxes for a nearly 10-percent sales tax is dramatic but not deeply considered -- what are the effects on tourism, on consumers, on the economy?

Gun E-Mail. Gun E-Mail. Gun E-Mail. Alec Baldwin E-Mail.

E-mail excerpts:

Nothing can be done to stop such random tragedies  as Columbine, 9-11, the Amish girls' shootings, Virginia Tech, etc. but they could be minimized by properly trained and regularly tested and qualified gun carriers such as plane crews, school employees, doctors, lawyers, judges, business owners, and ordinary, responsible, everyday, people... Just ask an Israeli if he believes private citizens should have firearms. -- Gerald Doty, St. Petersburg

Someday it will seem silly it took 100 years to change the law.  For now maybe we can focus on removing guns from video games......why train people to shoot others...........no constitutioinal law that says we have such rights.  And yes, you have to have 33 kills to make it to the next level! -- Chuck Boyle

The mass murder problem will NEVER be solved, 50 years of bleeding heart Liberalism has provided effective immunity to criminals, and destroyed the effectiveness of and procedures of law enforcement and our military. Way back in my youth, an officer shouted halt three time and then shot to kill, thus all perpetrators foolish enough to run, usually stopped on the first halt, but either way they stopped! -- Miller

P.S. Any comment on the vile, profane, insane tirade of Liberal pillar Alec Baldwin to his 12 year old daughter, compared to the three words of Imus? -- Miller

Howard here in reply. Most of my e-mail has been along the lines of having more guns in society, not less. My previous comment was that if we're gonna go that way, we should require better training.

Re: Alec Baldwin, a/k/a "Daddy Dearest:" What do you want me to say? He sounded like an abusive, unconcerned and abusive jerk in that phone call. I ain't sure exactly how this relates to the Imus thing -- by "the three words" are you implyin' that Imus was overblown, and that Baldwin got kid gloves? Sheesh, you shoulda been watchin' CNN going berserk over Baldwin the other day, complete with Dysfunctional Family Expert Commentators, until there was a new shooter at the Johnson Space Center and they went berserk over that instead.

Camp E-Nini-Hassee

My Sunday print column is about Camp E-Nini-Hassee, a girls' camp near Floral City. Most of the 63 girls there have been sent via the Department of Juvenile Justice for offenses ranging from simple assault and battery to car theft to drug crimes. They live and work in an outdoor camp environment, cooking their own meals, attending classes and setting goals for themselves. The theme of the column is that this kind of program seems more likely to help those who still have a chance to succeed than throwing them into a grim prison-like environment.

Here are some amateur photos I took during the visit. The girls, ages 12 to 18, sleep in wood-framed tents that they build themselves, brush their teeth in an open-air wash-test, and prepare their meals just outside a cook-tent. 

Right: A boardwalk leads to the sleeping-tents of the "Cliff Dwellers," one of the subgroups to which all campers are assigned. Each group becomes a permanent "family" that sleeps, eats and works together, and enages in group huddles to plan the day, make decisions and resolve disputes and problems.

Note the stuffed animal on the bed -- although the girls often arrive in camp angry and defiant, most come to feel safe and secure enough in the camp environment to open up "and just be girls,'' as one counselor puts it. Given a food budget, they plan their meals by consensus, and alternate cleanup duties in the camp.

Before I Make This Ruling, How About A Nice Campaign Contribution?

Let's say it's the middle of the baseball game and the umpire starts hitting up the players for money.

"It's my daughter's wedding," the umpire says. Or, maybe he says, "It's for a good charity. At any rate, I thought it would be nice if you chipped in."

This is a terrible practice for two reasons. First, it coerces the players. The guy who is ruling on them and controlling their fate is asking them to pay him money. There's the implicit threat that they ought to do it. Second, it impugns the integrity of the umpire's rulings.

In sum: Umpires don't hit up players for money.

Now, here's today's front-page article by Jennifer Liberto on our state's insurance regulator, Kevin McCarty -- who sent out an invitation, created on state computers, to insurance lobbyists for a political fund-raiser. He was soliciting contributions for a candidate for local judge, the wife of a man who worked in his office.

Let's give McCarty the absolute best case and assume he was just doing a favor for a friend, did not realize the import of lending his name, and went temporarily crazy, and that this does not reveal a cozy insider attitude on his part. Even so, with all the insurance problems we have in this state, we do not need an insurance commissioner who thinks he is entitled to hit up insurance lobbyists for money -- not in any context. I don't care if it's for the Easter Bunny and little sick kids (which is also why I hate it with lobbyists, trying to curry favor, pony up big dollars for the favorite charities of big shots in the Legislature).

Two 911 Calls

If you're like me, you probably take the ability to dial 911 for granted, knowing it's there if we need it. In two cases in the past few days on the Suncoast, the 911 system broke down. But the cases are different, and so has been their handling.

In Friday's and today's newspaper my colleague John Frank has articles about a 75-year-old man in Hernando County who died after a mixup in which his son called 911, but no ambulance was sent. No one can say whether an ambulance would have saved him, but there was always the chance. Notice this from Frank's Friday article:

Hernando County Sheriff's Office and fire officials met with the son Wednesday morning to apologize. Sheriff Richard Nugent said the incident is under investigation.

That seems decent. The Hernando case seems better-handled than the previous case in Pasco County, where a woman choked to death while a 911 supervisor refused to deal with her boyfriend on the phone, saying he would not speak with "a hysterical caller."

Good grief! How many people who call 911 aren't hysterical to some degree? My amateur's take on the culpable negligence statute is the supervisor could be charged with a crime. Woman choking to death, boyfriend calling 911, he the 911 supervisor refusing to help? Sheesh. On the other hand, the legal profession is no doubt made much better by my absence, and here's a calmer article by Camille C. Spencer on why this is a grayer legal question than it might seem.

An Argument For More Guns

This excerpt from a well-written e-mail:

With respect for your evaluation of civilians shooting at each other, which has merit, I still strongly believe had there been one or more persons in a position to defend him or herself with a gun, far less loss of life would have occurred. The vast majority of people who carry concealed firearms realize the responsibility that goes with that territory. They also know they carry for one reason only, for defense of human life. At the very least the potential exists for a better outcome. With no gun defense there is no such potential against a madnan like Cho. -- Jerry Blomgren

Thanks for the e-mail, Mr. B. As I said in my print column, if we went the route of more gun ownership in our society instead of less, I would be more inclined to favor mandatory licensing, mandatory training and widespread familiarity from public school onward. Some of my Second Amendment friends resist ANY such kind of requirement as infringing on an unrestricted right of ownership.

Blaming The Inanimate Object

Here's a good e-mail:

Howard,

I read your piece in the 4/19/07 SPT, Tragedy demands a careful response. I have to admit, yours was more reasonable than most, but still a yearning to "do something", "anything" was present throughout.

Every time there is a tragedy that involves death in America, we try to blame something or someone. Usually, when there is gross negligence or crime, it falls on the someone. Not when there is a shooting. Here is where logic parts company.

In a shooting, it’s the weapon that is demonized. The media frenzy and the liberals go after the wrong thing. There is an innate fear of firearms, so blaming the weapon offers emotional relief, but places the blame for heinous crimes on an inanimate object. It's simply wrong and misplaced.

Think I'm wrong?

OK, there is a suicide bomber who blows himself and 30+ people up. Do you blame the bomb in his backpack? No, you blame the bomber.

A man goes berserk, a Virginia Tech style nut with mental problems, and he stabs 12 people to death. Do you blame the knife? No, you blame the felon. [Why, no outcry for "knife control?"]

A disturbed jerk decides he is going to ram his car into a crowded market, killing dozens on innocent shoppers with his vehicle. Do you blame the vehicle? No, you properly adjudicate this at the hands of the driver.

Other examples of everyday items, inanimate objects, that may be used to kill:

- baseball bat: Should we ban baseball, or is it the fault of the wielder of the bat?

- hammer: Should we tighten controls over at the Craftsman tool counter?

- THE LIST GOES ON AND ON AND ON.......

So, since all the items I've referred to above are all inanimate objects, incorrectly used by irresponsible humans, why is it guns and only guns you care about? Its just unbelievable.

Emotion trumps logic.

A.W. Yoder, Treasure Island

Howard here in reply. Thanks for the interesting e-mail. I might point out that in fact, in the United Kingdom, there IS a certain push for "knife control," since that is a leading instrument of homicide there. Police departments hold big rallies encouraging people to turn in their knives, as we sometimes do here with guns. Officially, young people can't buy them. And so forth... I wonder if anybody tries to argue, knives don't kill people, people kill people?

Chat Reminder: 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Tuesday

Full post on Tuesday's upcoming chat here.

Gun Comments

Here are some excerpts from reader comments on the gun issue discussed both in my print column this morning, and on yesterday's post here on TroxBlog. Feel free to add your comments either to that previous post, or this one:

I dont know how you protect yourself from a nut-job determined to kill people. I think arming everyone is inviting disaster, because people are pretty careless under the best of circumstances. I dont own a gun because it only invites problems. -- Jim Johnson

"If just one would have had a CCW [concealed weapon permit] gun this may not have ended as it did." If I live to be 110, I'll never understand thinking like this. There had to have been an all-time land speed record for people making this insane statement after the news broke. -- Jane

Gun control isn't the answer. Criminals will always be able to get weapons. Billy Ferry killed people with a gasoline can. Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people with fertilizer. Deranged people will find a way. -- Ron

We seem to forget that if these people were interested in obeying the law, they wouldn't be committing their crimes in the first place. If the VT shooter had not had legal access to weapons, there is a strong likelihood he would have obtained them illegally. Restrictions only make it tougher on law abiding citizens, gives other people warm fuzzies, and solves next to nothing. -- John Gibson

Even if you outlawed private weapon ownership, a distrubed person with enough determination will aquire firearms. Our multi-decade 'War on Drugs' is proof of how effective a deterent this would be. -- Rick Biggs

A Dissatisfied Customer (Part II)

Not to take away from the post below inviting comments on the gun issue, but I also wanted to mention a string of fresh comments to a post from last week. The commenter believes strongly that I was both unethical and ignored key facts in past columns criticizing Pinellas County over the Ft. DeSoto issue. Naturally I disagree, but figured our exchange might be of interest to some. Here's the link to that post and the comments that follow it.

Let's Talk About Guns

A few political-types in the past days, when asked about the Second Amendment, have ducked the question by saying it was too early to "politicize" the awful events at Virginia Tech University. On the contrary, this seems like a perfect time to talk about the role of guns in our society, what our laws say and what they ought to say. If you believe, as I do, that the Constitution includes a right for U.S. citizens to bear firearms, there is no shame in saying it; it does not make you pro-murder. But neither does this have to be an absolutist position -- all guns, everybody, everywhere, all the time.

Some of the comments coming in about Blacksburg are of the nature that if Virginia Tech didn't have a no-guns policy on campus, if any student or staffer or bystander had been carrying a concealed weapon, that the shooter would have been stopped. This buys into a Hollywood-and-network-TV view of gunplay -- the hero calmly produces his weapon and, 100 percent of the time, lays low the bad guy. The fact is that even police officers, with long hours of training and mental preparation, are hard-pressed to use their firearms accurately on the spot -- that's why they don't try to "wing" suspects the way everybody does on TV. It is amazing but true how often amateurs manage to MISS each other with handguns at relatively short distances.

If the accounts from Virginia are true, the shooter, Cho Seung-Hui, represents the worst case for gun stores --  a calm, clean-cut young college student with no warning signs. No way to tell at the time what he would be doing 36 days later. No criminal record that we know of yet. Nothing that a background check would reveal. He was not a U.S. citizen, but had a green card, yet that hardly seems the basis for denying a purchase. So if there is a Second Amendment basis for the right to buy and bear firearms, then there is no basis for denying it to this guy at that time -- right?

So, is there an Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms? Can that right be restricted by time, place and manner, like the other Bill of Rights provisions? Can we, should we, require licensing, training or other rules -- and what difference would that have made in Virginia? If there IS a Second Amendment right, is it time to think about amending the Constitution to change it? My answers are: yes, yes, yes, and probably none.

Beyond the gun issue, this case yet again raises the question of whether society can identify and deal with potential risks earlier. Few people who have committed such acts were seen as entirely "normal" by their peers, and some radiated strong hints of being dangerous. Just as we have become more aware and alert to risks of terrorism, we have to become more aware and active about risks in our own society. This is harder than ever, because the modern world is more disconnected than ever; we are more alone, and less likely to reach out to each other. Somebody else's problem is none of our business. Until it is.

Chat #2 -- Wanna Make It A Regular Thing?

Let's try a second, real-time chat on TroxBlog next Tuesday, April 24, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. I'll be at my desk, fired up and ready to answer questions and comments from readers submitted via the "Comments" function of the blog. With our Legislature in session and plenty of local issues to talk about too, there should be no shortage of topics.

Here's a link to the first chat on March 27, if you want to see the transcript and the kinds of stuff we talked about. Since those questions and my answers arrived in willy-nilly order, I'll try to do a better job this time around of referencing the earlier question in my replies.

If this one next Tuesday goes okay too, then there's talk of making this a weekly event, maybe a standing lunch date on Tuesdays (although probably 90 minutes instead of 2 hours), with some kind of catchy marketing name, don't you know.

(A couple folks had trouble finding the chat last time, so just to be clear: At 11:30 next Tuesday, I'll put a new item on this blog under the headline, "The Chat Is Open." We'll use the "Comments" link of that post to wage our chat.)

And These Mini-Comments...

I do not care so much whether Tampa Bay Water has settled its lawsuit over its four-year-late desalination plant, but only if the danged thing finally works. They soft-soaped me a couple of years ago about how it was going to be any day now... at least they're not calling the delay "a hiccup" any more.

So, Florida gun ranges operate on the honor system, counting on customers to tell them whether they are, say, convicted felons. The Tampa range where a patron took hostages last week just "pays careful attention to newcomers.'' In today's day and age, is it THAT hard to check somebody's record? I mean, I have to be treated like a criminal just to buy Claritin at the drugstore...

Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim Norman wants to know whether the county is duplicating its efforts with too much regulation of growth. You know, that's what I've been thinking for years... why have all those bureaucrats hanging around, when the County Commission is going to let people build whatever they want anyway?

Two Gun-Related E-Mails

Let all of us pray for the families that have loosed their children. If just one would have had a CCW[concealed weapon permit] gun this may not have ended as it did. -- rweyandtmaster

Can you believe [the Florida NRA's] Marion Hammer's guns in parking lots bill has been scheduled to be heard in the House on Wednesday! We thought it was dead, but this legislature doesn't care about recent gun deaths at Virginia Tech and the footprint of the NRA on this tragedy! -- Art Hayhoe, Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

At Least They're Not, You Know, Just Looking For A Handout From The Government

So, instead of giving away $540-million in sales-tax dollars to professional sports franchises, our Legislature is talking about "scaling back" to giving a one-time gift of $32-million apiece to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Orlando Magic and the Florida Marlins. Here's the story in today's newspaper.

Most of Florida's sports franchises already get $2-million annually. This new tax break would have to be used for stadium improvements. It would require a local referendum. And if a sports franchise left the state, it would have to pay back the difference between the $32-million and what it had generated in sales tax for the state.

Hey, I am a sports-lovin' kind of guy, and think that if a community or state really wants to subsidize professional sports, then go for it -- just don't try to sell me a bunch of nonsense about "economic impact" and all that. But I would change this deal in one way -- if we're going to give them almost ONE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS, I think we oughta chain 'em to the state, and demand ALL of it back if anybody ever left -- with a brutal penalty, and maybe somebody's firstborn child.

Coming Tuesday

Not coming Tuesday: A column about today's events at Virginia Tech University, on the grounds that I have nothing useful to say about it on the Times B-front. Maybe later, maybe not. But the nature of our instantaneous media-world makes me feel guilty for NOT leaping immediately into the commentariat. We don't even know what happened yet.

I feel even guiltier because instead it's kind of a wonky column about bills in our Legislature that are intended to benefit Tampa Electric Co. by letting the company bill its customers up-front for the $1.5-billion-or-so cost of a new power plant. This is a harsh calculation: I figure that the A section will have plenty to tell us about the events from Virginia, while the B section can still tell us about what's going on that affects us at home...

Because We FEEL Like Lowering Manatee Protection, That's Why

Given the Bush Administration's habit of replacing science with political judgments, I have just about zero confidence in the latest attempt to "downlist" the endangered status of the manatee.

In fact, my colleague Craig Pittman's article on Sunday shows that after the Fish and Wildlife Service assembled "the world's best scientists" to produce criteria for when manatee status might be eased, the service then decided to change two of the scientists' three main criteria, and to eliminate the level of confidence that the scientists had recommended.

To recap, after humanity has managed to wipe out most of a species that once populated much of the Gulf Coast, leaving it clinging to an annual count that we celebrate if the numbers killed each year aren't too bad, we now propose the unprecedented step of changing the status of a species that hasn't met any of its recovery plan goals. The reason, a F&W official says, is to have "a bit more flexibility."

A bit more flexibility! Well, that makes ME feel better.

Outta Here

Having escaped the Senate Finance & Tax Committee, I've written a column for Sunday's newspaper and now am exercising the privilege of the non-Tallahassee-captive -- getting the heck out of town. The next three weeks in the Capitol will be increasingly hectic and intense, until the decisive hours of the 60th day. I used to think they ought to stagger their work so that each week had its own agenda of bills for a final vote, but maybe that 11th-hour urgency after everything has percolated for nine weeks is an essential part of the process.

At any rate, as of Monday I'll be back in the Tampa Bay area, following both local and statewide issues.

You Put Some Sales Tax In, You Take Some Property Tax Out, You Put Some Exemptions In, And You Shake It All About

Without question, the biggest deal in this session of our Legislature is whether to change the way that the people of Florida pay local property taxes. Even if you don't own a house, this might affect you -- especially if the Legislature decides to cut property taxes and increase the state sales tax instead.

This morning, everybody will get a closer look at the Senate's ink-still-wet version of tax reform when the Senate Finance & Tax Committee meets at 10 a.m. for a workshop. The gist of it is to roll local government tax collections back to 2005-2006 levels and to cap the annual rate of growth after that. There's a lot more to it, including higher tax exemptions for first-time homebuyers and portability -- the ability to "move" your existing tax cap to a new home, instead of getting whacked with a huge tax increase.

The House, which already put out its ideas, actually has two plans. One is a law to roll taxes back to 2000-2001 levels with an annual cap after that, and replacing much of the school property tax with a 1-cent increase in the sales tax. The other is a constitutional amendment, requiring voter approval, that would allow local voters to kill ALL of their property taxes and raise local sales taxes even more.

Very complicated, lots of ramifications. Local governments seem destined for spending cuts either way, so if anything passes there will be a lot of budget-slashing and wailing across the state. This will be the dominant issue for the remaining 21 days of the session; some people have even already mentioned the idea of having to hold a special session afterward if the Legislature can't make a decision.

Tallahassee Tourist, Part III

The core of Florida's Historic Capitol dates to 1845, although the building has been renovated and expanded several times since. Hard to believe that it once held the entire apparatus of state government. The east face, shown here, grandly overlooks the Appalachee Parkway -- photos of the Capitol complex are usually taken from that direction, wth the modern Capitol looming over the old one in the background.

Most days during the 60-day legislative session there's some kind of exhibition, rally, outdoor meal or protest being staged in the courtyard between the old and new Capitols. For example, on Wednesday, about 4,000 people, mostly students, came from around the state for a march and rally in favor of private school vouchers for economically disadvantaged kids.

I always thought that one mark of a good public official was be able to laugh at jokes directed at himself or herself -- which is actually fairly rare. Recently, with the help of my colleauge Ron Brackett, I cooked up a sarcastic "map" of a proposed expressway through Central Florida that was being backed by, among others, state Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales. The map contained references to "Poke County" and included the locations of "Alexanderville," "Alexanderburg" and "Alexandria." Here is the sign that now hangs over the door of the senator's inner office in the Senate Office Building:

He also had the map itself blown up as a wall hanging.

Hey, Do You Guys Want To See A Whole Passel Of Lobbyists?

One of the bigger fights in this session of our Legislature is between telephone and cable-TV companies.