The mail: Taxes, Jim Smith, political moderation & assorted other topics

You wrote that the Legislature last year ordered an actual reduction in  local property taxes. Last year they raised my taxes about 33% on my rental property [which I appealed & Lost] which I bought in 2002 ...they have raised my property taxes 177% since my 2002 purchase which is almost three times the average MLS increase for the same period 65.337%  -- Carol A Cels McCool

The law they passed ordered a rollback in OVERALL tax collections - the total dollars collected. Unfortunately, this still allows the government to stick individual taxpayers with increases, by continuing to increase their appraisals. Amendment 1, just passed in January by the voters, now limits the increase in tax appraisals to 10 percent a year for non-homesteads -- still a pretty big increase, but at least now there's a limit. My own thinking is there ought to be an overall cap on everybody's taxes equally....

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Would you be so kind as to provide either the e-mail addresses and phone numbers for our area state legislators or a web site link to obtain that information. -- Richard Ross, Tampa

Howdy. If you go to the legislature's web site... www.leg.state.fl.us and click on House or Senate, when you go to each member's individual page, there's an e-mail address listed.

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Haven't seen anything in the news lately about the Pinellas property appraiser's land deal. Has the State Ethics Commission issued any ruling on this matter? -- Hal Ward, St. Petersburg

Not that I know of. There was a grand jury report that criticized the whole deal, of course and there was later a ruling from the Florida Bar that the county attorney did not violate Bar rules in the Smith deal. Even if the Ethics Commission "clears" Smith, by saying that what he did was not illegal, it still was a cozy and insider deal that did the public a disservice. "Not illegal" is a pretty low standard for good government.

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If the Republicans want to really move toward the center, or embrace the conservatism of John Paul Stephens or the executive that appointed him. Why not throw Christine Todd Whitman into the VP mix?  It would also, should McCain win, truly set up the election of female president. -- Fred Dearman, Oldsmar

Because lots of Republicans don't want to move toward the center, or embrace the conservatism of John Paul Stevens or the executive who appointed him. Like the liberal Democrats, the more conservative Republicans would rather be ideologically pure than win elections.

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I've got to sound off on all this talk of budget cuts. No one ever says let us cut state legislator's salaries or out of state trips and severely restrict how many trips in the state that are made, right from the governor's office on down!  Of course, the cuts must be made in schools and health (which is in a sorry state here in Florida anyway)! -- P.J. Nette, Jr.

I agree with your spirit, but legislators' salaries and travel are a grain of sand against the state budget -- the cut would have mostly symbolic value.

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May I ask what your reasoning was in concluding that public safety employees should be exempted from [phasing out pensions]?  Why do you believe that carving these individuals out of any revision would in any way serve some purpose?  Where’s the equality or fairness?  Shouldn’t the rules apply to all employees in a similar manner?  Aren’t employers subject to great liabilities because we apply the “rules” inconsistently?  I know, I know, life is not fair...but, the belief that life is not fair is our crutch for not doing what is right for everyone, not just some.  -- John Wever

My thinking in excepting public safety workers from a general phase-out of public-sector pensions was that they spend their careers putting their lives on the line for the public interest, and their salary alone doesn't really compensate for that. Look, I doubt we will ever get the gumption to phase out government pensions in the first place, let alone be able to debate whether to phase out police & fire as well...

Happy Friday and best wishes to all for a good weekend....

Letter: Disrespectful reverse flag?

I have noticed, and I am sure I am not the only one but the right side rear (passenger’s side) of a lot of Saint Petersburg Police cars has a small  American flag sticker backwards. The left side is correct but who’s brilliant idea was this? I am very upset to see that we would let our city officials or city employee’s allow this to be put on the vehicle and be ok with this. I would like to see them removed completely or new flags ordered on the right side the correct way. Where is Mr. Rick when you need him to resolve such issues. What do you think? -- David K., St. Petersburg (Proud to be born and raised here but now starting to wonder.)

Howard here. I think you protest too much. Display of the flag with the stars to the right is not unheard of. In military uniforms with a flag patch on the arm, the stars are worn "closest to the heart," that is, on the right side of the flag on the right arm. Here's a photo of Gen. Petraeus with exactly such a patch. According to the web site www.ushistory.org, there are some people who would like to change the regulations and have the stars always on the left. Here's the link:

http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagetiq.html#q57

Things you don't see in Pinellas County, #347

(Miami Herald)

Eager to avoid a taxpayer backlash, Miami city commissioners Thursday voted unanimously against granting former City Attorney Jorge Fernandez any form of severance pay -- rejecting a proposed payout that could have cost taxpayers nearly $300,000.

That figure represented a combination of accumulated vacation and sick days along with six months of severance pay. Fernandez was earning $257,231 a year at the time of his resignation earlier this month.

[Link to full article]

... and these other Thursday topics

Okay, I think I am officially finished with "jail inmate claims to have been abused by deputies" stories.

Consider this from this morning's news account:

The Hillsborough Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that deputies moved to subdue Rayburn after he tried to stab a deputy with a glass crack pipe on Oct. 3, 2006. He then threw the pipe, which shattered and sent fragments flying at a deputy's head, according to a sheriff's report....

Rayburn has been arrested 17 times in Florida since 1993, state records show.

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Meanwhile, I do not know whether it even warrants a comment, but did you see this story about two teens who believe they were discriminated against by Southwest Airlines because they are, you know, young and pretty? I suppose that lying across rows of seats, getting into a shouting match with other passengers and generally acting like brats had nothing to do with it. "They were discriminating against us because we were young, decent looking girls," one of them says. Of course, that must be it!

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On a more serous topic, here is my colleague Asjylyn Loder's story this morning about the aftermath of the big power outage. One angle that caught my eye was the bit about "aging equipment." Considering the favorable regulatory environment in Florida and the profits that energy companies make, I would think they would be keeping things perfectly up to date... if they have been hauling away the cash all these years without doing that, something needs to change.

Thursday column: A tax on land, or at the register?

Here's today's column -- tell me if you think it was or wasn't useful. It ended up being a little more of an explainer of the tax swap than a complainer about the commission's rejection of a services tax...

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Hey, if you're a property owner, how'd you like to pay a lot less in school taxes - way less than half of what you're paying now?

Wait. Here's the flip side of that same question:

No matter who you are, how'd you like to pay a higher state sales tax?

That's the latest tradeoff being proposed for Florida.

This is a different idea from Amendment 1, which the voters passed in January for a higher homestead tax break.

Instead, this "tax swap" is one of the ideas being kicked around by a group called the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission, which meets every 20 years to recommend changes to our tax system.

[Link to entire column]

... and a gratuitous puppy photograph

I am hoping that they will let us take the black one.

Weird and vaguely scary news of the day

Just to change the subject from property taxes and baseball... here's the Canadian version of this news sent along by an alert reader:

Canada and the U.S. have signed an agreement that paves the way for the militaries from either nation to send troops across each other's borders during an emergency, but some are questioning why the Harper government has kept silent on the deal.

Neither the Canadian government nor the Canadian Forces announced the new agreement, which was signed Feb. 14 in Texas.

The U.S. military's Northern Command, however, publicized the agreement with a statement outlining how its top officer, Gen. Gene Renuart, and Canadian Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, head of Canada Command, signed the plan, which allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.

The new agreement has been greeted with suspicion by the left wing in Canada and the right wing in the U.S. ... On right-wing blogs in the U.S. it is being used as evidence of a plan for a "North American union" where foreign troops, not bound by U.S. laws, could be used by the American federal government to override local authorities. [link to entire story here]

And, for the record, here's the U.S. military's version:

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — U.S. Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command, and Canadian Air Force Lt.-Gen. Marc Dumais, commander of Canada Command, have signed a Civil Assistance Plan that allows the military from one nation to support the armed forces of the other nation during a civil emergency.

“This document is a unique, bilateral military plan to align our respective national military plans to respond quickly to the other nation's requests for military support of civil authorities,” Renuart said. “Unity of effort during bilateral support for civil support operations such as floods, forest fires, hurricanes, earthquakes and effects of a terrorist attack, in order to save lives, prevent human suffering and mitigate damage to property, is of the highest importance, and we need to be able to have forces that are flexible and adaptive to support rapid decision-making in a collaborative environment.”

They gathered for a live chat and an intelligent discussion of current events broke out! Here's the Feb. 26 chat transcript

[Note: The Feb. 26 live chat is now closed.]

Once again, the main topic in today's live chat on TroxBlog was the proposed baseball stadium, but there were quite a few angles.

Should there be a "public counsel" to look after the public's interest independently, since City Hall is pushing the deal?

We talked about a little bit about the fake class-warfare angle, the stereotypes of spoiled rich downtown types as the opponents, and honest hard-workin' middle-class folks supporting the stadium.

Other topics that came up in the chat:

* Pensions for government employees.
* Outrageous bounced-check bank fees.
* Unfair health-care costs if you're not insured.
* Property insurance (of course).
* The state's tax-reform commission, and the idea of swapping out property taxes for a higher sales tax.
* Electric companies and power lines.
* The governor and his prospects for being vice president.

Whew! Great chat. To read the transcript, just click on the "comments" link a few lines below...

Return of the TroxBlog live chat, Tuesday noon - 1 p.m.!

Here's hoping you can stop by TroxBlog between noon and 1 p.m. Tuesday for a live chat about current events in the Tampa Bay area and beyond. Feel free to join in the conversation with your own topic, comment or question, or just hang out to see what folks are talking about.

To observe or take part in Tuesday's chat, come to TroxBlog at noon Tuesday and look for a NEW ITEM with the headline, "The Feb. 26 chat is OPEN." Click on the "Comments" link of that announcement and you'll see a page with what's been said so far, and a space for you to join in.

There'll be plenty of stuff to kick around in our chat, from the presidential race (is Charlie the running mate>?) to state-level issues (taxes, insurance) to the stuff going on around here.

If you can't be here live on Tuesday, feel free to file an advance comment or question by clicking on the "Comments" link of this item, just a few lines below. And as always, you can stop by afterward to read a transcript of what was said.

I hope to see you at noon Tuesday!

Monday, Feb. 25 -- assorted topics

Happy Monday. I thought Julie Christie should have won best actress. But I just saw Michael Clayton the other day and thought Tilda Swinton did a great job as supporting actress. On the other hand, maybe she was born to play an uptight corporate lawyer... it'll be interesting to see her range.

But what the heck do I know? Let's catch up with a few other things:

* Another goooooood investigative story by my "retired" colleague Lucy Morgan on Saturday. This one is about a loophole in state law that lets folks "retire" and collect a pension while keeping their salary. It's now costing $300 million a year. In general, may I add, government is the last bastion of the "pension" in the first place -- a vanishing institution in the private sector.

* Another little gift from the insurance industry, with State Farm's announcement that it will no longer write new homeowner policies in Florida at all. If I understand the story right, it's the STATE's fault, for trying to get premiums to come down in exchange for putting the taxpayers more on the hook last year. The nerve of the state! Here's how it should work, I gather: the public sector takes all of the risk, and the private sector makes all the money.

* Shouldn't St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker have been at the first public hearing on the baseball stadium on Thursday evening? It is his staff, after all, that signed the secret deal with the Tampa Bay Rays and that has been pushing this whole thing. It's Baker who has put the City Council in the position of being the front guy. Meanwhile, the mayor is officially "uncommitted." Right. Looks to me like his strategy is, if the deal falls apart or the voters kill it, no fault of his; if it's a success, heck, it's another Great Day in St. Petersburg.

* My Sunday column had a little fun with Attorney General Bill McCollum and U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor for sending out tons of press releases. In McCollum's case, he is vigorously focused on child pornography, gangs and the threats of computer crime, which is of course a good thing in itself, but overall he conveys the impression that he lives in a Dark and Dangerous World, kinda like Rudy Giuliani. As for Castor, well, she is Fighting for You, and says so on the hour.

* My favorite article of the weekend dealt with the question of whether our society is becoming stupid on purpose. I am wondering whether I can develop a column out of this...

* Lastly, let's have a live chat about current events at noon on Tuesday! I'll post a separate announcement later today with details.

Two reader e-mails about columns

On Thursday's column (We don't need no dadgum higher ed) about the crisis in higher education in Florida:

May I suggest the following:  Every time you churn out another of your many articles on what the government should be spending more monies on, how about including not only the cost of such programs, but also state exactly where the funding should come from. I would assume you would see nothing objectionable in my suggestion. Lastly, if you were to spend as much time on locating where government is wasting our monies, as you do expounding on more and more government expenditures, we perhaps could afford some of your often mentioned programs. -- John Garner, Treasure Island

Dear Mr. Garner: Okeydoke. I would plug the loopholes in the state's retail sales tax. There are hundreds of loopholes mostly because lobbyists have gotten them in there. That should take care of the university problem and then some. If having a strong university system is a "government program," then I am all for it.

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And a comment in the wake of Tuesday's column, on a proposed state law making it easier for electric companies to run transmission lines:

I am all for letting the power companies cross public lands providing they bury the lines at least four feet deep.  I know, it is more expensive, but they have the money since we have to pre-pay for our power plants now.  And they would help with the "greening" of Florida since the lines would be buried; they need to do something since they do not really clean up all of the smoke from their power plants. -- Gerry Heideman

Dear Mr. Heideman: I am all for it, esthetically speaking, but I hope you do not mind a minor correction. The question is not whether "they" have the money, but whether you and I have it in our pockets, because every dollar of this cost is an above-the-line expense that can be billed to customers.

Two reader e-mails on the baseball stadium

Two reader e-mails about baseball stadiums:

Is this government in the sunshine? -- Kathleen Ford

Ms. Ford, a former St. Petersburg City Council member and a skeptic of the baseball stadium plans, sends along a memo of a "briefing schedule" for private sessions on the stadium proposal in January with individual council members, leading up to the council's decision to issue a Request for Proposals. I believe the answer to her question is "no." Here's the memo: Download briefings.pdf

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Here's a comment on the news that Rays ownership is willing to borrow its $150-million of the stadium's share privately, instead of cooking up some new entity to issue the owners' "share" as debt:

It is indeed a losing battle for opponents to the new waterfront stadium to continue any monetary attack they might have planned. The Rays just gained tremendous momentum by announcing they would pay their obligation of $150-million towards the proposed cost of $450-million to the new stadium upfront with a team loan... Jack

Dear Jack: I agree that I would rather see the owners ponying up their $150-million share through their own devices. There still is the important issue of redeveloping Tropicana Field, which is supposed to make up the other $300-million of the stadium's cost. If that deal does not include ironclad protections for the taxpayers, so that we never have to make up any shortfalls, then I don't think the voters will ever approve this deal.

Three reader e-mails not on columns or baseball

You probably don't have time to look at all the junk that gets sent to you.  I quit when you started your blog.  But the attached sounds like its just too much to believe.  If you have time I sure would like your take on this.  I know you cover state and local but probably have friends at the paper that are more familiar with national matters.  Is this truth, half truth of just a lot of hooey? -- John F.

Mr. F. sends along an e-mail that quotes U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as explaining that Congress is going to impose a 100 percent tax on the earnings from owning stock, so that we can give the money to illegal aliens. Setting aside the question of just how nutty Madame Speaker is, she isn't THAT nutty -- it is an obvious hoax. As always, check out e-mails like this at the hoax-busting web site of your choice. My own choice is www.snopes.com, which indeed is familiar with this Pelosi urban legend:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/pelosi.asp

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I entered a song in the contest for the new State Song of Florida.    For some reason....It didn't win. I'm thinking it got lost in the mail or something. Anyhow, I went ahead and made a, um, video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDgHSVYiq4M -- Grant Peeples

Pretty funny video, actually. Don't watch if you don't want to see occasional swimsuit shots.

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I¹m a Tampa resident who is lucky enough to benefit from the current property tax inequities...  It occurred to me that some citizens in my fortunate position might prefer simply to donate their property tax savings  (or more) back to the City.... My effort to get this information from the City brought a response that, while quite polite and obviously sincere, merely suggested that I send a donation to an independent not-for-profit organization called The Friends of Tampa Recreation.  No doubt, that is a fine organization that does important work, but what I have in mind is broader than that.  Why shouldn¹t I donate directly to the City for, say, storm water control? Or why shouldn¹t I simply contribute to the City generally to spend as it thinks best? -- hi77o

Dear hi77o: I confess to you, that no one has raised the question of directing contributions to specific local government functions. I think it could be a good idea, but at the risk of being cynical, I will point out this -- if lots of folks made contributions to some areas, the government would just cut back the tax revenues to that program and let the donations pay for the normal costs. That's exactly what's happened with the state lottery and education, for instance... I'll put your suggestion on my blog and see what people say!

For the record...

My column today as posted below refers to Gov. Charlie Crist as a "product of the Florida State University law school." But his undergraduate degree is from FSU; his law degree is from Cumberland. Thanks to reader Doug for pointing it out!

Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008

Happy Thursday. Happy fourth-episode-of-the-season Lost day. Any Losties in the crowd? Any theories on what's going on? Who is Mr. Abbadon?

Here's the link to today's column (We don't need no stinkin' higher ed) as it appeared in print and on the web. My editor suggested a slight rephrasing near the end but otherwise I think it's the same as what I posted yesterday. I also see our lead editorial is on the same subject today.

This puts me in the market for a Sunday column topic. I have been saving some string for a column about our state attorney general, Bill McCollum, whose focus is considerably different from our last attorney general, some guy named Crist. My plan B is a column based on the chef who, uh, seems to have gussied up his resume -- not as much about him, per se, as about our society, how eager we are both to spread and to accept b.s. these days... the more "reality" TV there is, the bigger a liar everybody is. I mean, really, if a guy tells me he's a Knight of the Royal Whatchamacallit, I am pretty much gonna want to see a photo of him and the Queen.

On various other fronts:

* I tend to believe this woman. I tend not to believe this woman. I am content to wait for the case to unfold to hear EVERYTHING that led up to the incident involving this guy. The video is harsh and maybe it does tell the whole story. But we'll see.

* The issue in the case of these two guys is not whether "the deputies were racist, so the evidence is thrown out," but whether it was "the deputies had no reason to stop and search the car." If their only reason was that it had Florida license tags and there were two guys who looked like "terrorists" in it, then the case is in trouble.

* I just wanted to give a big thumbs-up to my colleagues Alex Leary and Connie Humburg for this report on how much is spent on lobbying our state Legislature -- more than $200-million, they figure from poring through the records.

* The first in a series of public hearings on the proposed baseball stadium in St. Petersburg is this evening. Both sides are gearing up supporters who will wear color-coded T-shirts. The timing is weird to me, since the city has already issued the invitation to developers, and won't even get their proposals back until March 18. At any rate, I am not prepared to conclude anything about overall public opinion from which side gets the most T-shirts...

Cheers to all.

Thursday column: We don't need no stinkin' higher ed

We had a staff meeting today (I played hooky) that emphasized getting stuff on the web as fast as possible. In that spirit, and since we talked about this topic earlier today, I figured I'd post a draft of tomorrow's print column. This is the untouched-by-editors version so you can see whether there are any changes in the final product. The eds usually give me a nip and tuck here and there and save me from embarrassing flubs, so I am workin' without a net here... good thing I am not calling the state Senate president a banjo-pickin' rube or anything. No, wait! I AM....

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If they’re unhappy, maybe they should turn over the reins to someone else.
-- Gov. Charlie Crist, on the state’s university presidents

Here’s my proposal for an amendment to the Florida Constitution:

Let’s tie the budget for college sports in Florida to the state’s rank in money spent on, you know, actual college education.

“We’re Dead Last, And We’re Proud!” the Gator cheerleaders could chant then.

“We’re happy with our 1-10 record,” Coach Bowden at FSU could say, “because at least, dadgummit, we cost less than Mississippi.’’

Well? That’s exactly what we’re saying about academics.

Florida’s state universities are in trouble, folks...

Wednesday. Feb. 20, 2008

Hello and happy Wednesday. Happy lunar eclipse day, with totality just after 10 p.m. I noticed that the newspaper story added the helpful fact that you can look at it without it burning your retinas. Whew! :)

A couple of things:

* Thank goodness the Board of Education made a decision on this evolution business. The board agreed to keep it in the curriculum although labeled as a "theory." That's OK by me, since gravity and light are just theories too. Next up, I understand the board will be voting item by item on the periodic table of the elements.

* I am with those folks who say Fidel Castro's resignation is not especially significant since the regime has not changed. Now, if they let everybody ought of prison, apologized for murdering and torturing folks and gave everybody their stuff back, it might be different. (There are some folks who might say the same thing about Guantanamo.)

* This story about the Tampa Bay Rays says the team is willing to put up its $150-million share of a new stadium up front, instead of borrowing that sum against future team rent payments. This actually is not that big a difference from before -- the team would still borrow the $150-million against its own credit, instead of creating a new entity to borrow against the future rent. But at first blush I like this better, since it creates a total separation from the team's share and the public's share. Now, as for guaranteeing that we get the other $300-million out of redeveloping Tropicana Field...

* And notice this story about the president of our state Senate, Ken Pruitt, who wants to go back to having an elected state education commissioner, and wants a constitutional amendment making it clear the Legislature -- and not the Board of Governors -- is in charge of setting tuition in this state. Now, since it has been less than a decade since the voters said they did NOT want an elected education commissioner, and less time than that since they said the wanted a Board of Governors to run the universities, both ideas seem a little rash to me...

* Jim Johnson, I saw your note about "skedaddled." You caught me -- I did not post on Tuesday because I was still in shock from actually having to pretend to work. I was not happy with Tuesday's column, sort of discombobulated from not having a chat, and still answering a bunch of e-mails. Also, if it didn't involved a footnote with a Latin citation, I didn't remember how to write it.

What's on everybody's mind today? What should I write about for tomorrow's print column?

Happy Monday, Feb. 18

Okay, here's why I disappeared last week. I started writing my master's thesis and originally was going to take Mon-Wed off just to get a good start on it. But it was going so well that I ended up taking the rest of the week off -- and e-mailed the finished draft off to my thesis committee yesterday afternoon. So I am One Happy Puppy.

In case you have the slightest interest, not that you should, the title of my thesis is, "Electoral Abuse in the Late Roman Republic." (My M.A. is in ancient history.) The Romans had a Republic for 500 years before they traded it in for another 500 years of emperors. They had annual elections, checks and balances and a form of term limits, too.

My thesis is on the idea that the collapse of the Republic was preceded by an increasing pattern of abuse of the elections through delay, rule-bending, religious obstruction, violence, bribery and so forth, which devalued the meaning of free elections and made it easier to give them up. In fact, they gave them up while denying that they had done so.

Not that this has any modern relevance or anything. So, what's going on otherwise? Did they get that stadium thing figured out? Do I understand correctly that while I was gone the Board of Education  agreed to label gravitation as "just a theory"?

Three days off

I'm going to spend the next three days working on some personal stuff, which means no live chat on Tuesday. My apologies --- I should be back here on the blog on Thursday and back in the newspaper next Sunday.

Check out the lead editorial in this morning's newspaper (Council errors plague debate on new stadium), which reflects some of the themes I pointed out in Sunday's column. Exit the theories on "Times conspiracy to ram through stadium" and cue the theories on "Times conspiracy to kill stadium."

Have a good three days...

Here's the St. Pete City Council video

Here's a video of the St. Petersburg City Council's discussion on Dec. 20 in which the council re-confirms its intention to include the designation of Al Lang Field as a park when it next amended the city's land-use rules. The discussion takes about six minutes.

This past Thursday, the council finally passed that amendment -- but without the Al Lang designation. Citizens who supported the park idea were upset and said that the council had gone back on its word. But some of the council members deny it. So, I thought it would be useful to show the video.

Note that Bill Foster starts by asking his colleagues -- haven't we already agreed to do this? Am I crazy? Are we going back on our decision? Council chairman James Bennett assures him that the Al Lang issue will be "number one" in the ordinance. Others agree, and member Herb Polson says that anything else would be contrary to what had already been said.

But that was then, this is now... my Sunday column asks whether the council has yet something else up its sleeve for Al Lang, even if the idea of a waterfront stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays falls through.

Has the JQC lost its way?

My "retired" colleague Lucy Morgan (hi, Lucy!) has been writing a series of articles about this bizarre story involving the First District Court of Appeal based in Tallahassee. Here is the latest one today.

The gist is that a bunch of judges on that court got fed up with one of their colleagues, whom they described as increasingly erratic and whom they accused, among other things, of having affairs. (Here's a cute little photo that a court clerk took while hanging out with His Honor.)

But it turns out the errant judge has powerful friends. He was cleared by the Judicial Qualifications Commission, the outfit that polices judges in Florida. And instead, the JQC now is pursuing charges against one of the other judges who criticized him -- charges filed by the son of one of those powerful friends.

The last close-up exposure I got to the JQC was when it insisted on pressing blatantly bogus charges against a local judge in Hillsborough County, Gregory Holder. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how that the case was based on anything other than that somebody didn't like him. Maybe that is becoming the standard for disciplining judges in Florida.

The mail: ONE man and ONE woman?

On my Tuesday column about the proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage:

If marriage is a union between one man and one woman, does this eliminate divorce and make the subsequent second marriages illegal? -- Bill Duval

Dear Bill Duval: I think they just mean, "one at a time." But of course, this shows how hypocritical the thing is. Divorce and adultery are the true "threats" to the "institution of marriage." But when it is time to find perceived "sin," it's always easier to worry about somebody ELSE's than to condemn any fault in ourselves. For my authority, allow me to quote Matthew 7:3-5.

                                                          

'Summary of my year on the computer'

Reader Wayne Wright sends along this chain e-mail which sums things up perfectly. I tried to look up the original author without success, but it appears to be much-circulated...

Summary of My Year on the Computer 
   
I must send my thanks to whoever sent me the email about rat poop in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet towel with every envelope that needs sealing.

Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000.00 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special email program.

I no longer worry about my soul  because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers. 

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.   

Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking a man along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas. 

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put, "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer. 

And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup of water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face... Disfiguring me for life.

I no longer check the coin return on pay phones because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS. 

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.
 
I no longer receive packages from UPS or Fed Ex since they are actually Al Qaeda in disguise.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore and Uzbekistan

I no longer have any sneakers - but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from Nike.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

Thanks to you, I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown African spider is lurking under the  seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt.

Thank you too for all the endless advice Andy Rooney has given us. I can live a better life now because he's told us how to fix everything.

And thanks to your great advice, I can't ever pick up $5.00 in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg.

Oh, and don't forget this one either! I can no longer drive my car because I can't buy gas from certain gas companies!

If you don't send this email to at least 47,000 people in the next 47 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:47 p.m. this afternoon and the fleas from 47 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's Cousin's beautician.

Have a wonderful day... AND a scientist from Argentina, after a lengthy study, has discovered that people with insufficient brain and sexual activity read their email with their hand on the mouse. Don't bother taking it off now, it's too late.

I FEEL  BETTER!

St. Pete passes ordinance -- without Al Lang

I love government.

As expected, the St. Petersburg City Council this morning completed the process of breaking its word to the citizens about the future of Al Lang Field.

After months of saying that the "number one" priority in the land-use ordinance passed today would be protecting Al Lang Field, the council passed an ordinance without it.

Here is why I love government -- because of the way that government thinks. The council actually thinks that in breaking its word to the public today, it came up with an acceptable alternative.

Council member Jeff Danner offered a resolution to the effect that the city should now conduct a "visioning" process on Al Lang's future.

Visioning! That is a government and consultant word. The idea is that everybody should "vision" about what they want to see at the Al Lang site in a bunch of yak-yak sessions.

So, you see, last year's public hearings that discussed the Al Lang site, where the public said it wanted Al Lang protected as a park, do not count.

And the City Council's repeated statements dating from last August that it would make Al Lang the "number one" priority in today's ordinance do not count either.

So instead of doing what it said it was going to do, the City Council has delayed everything for months to come. And this "visioning" nonsense is just one more way for the city to "keep its options open."

* * *

Council member Leslie Curran, a few moments ago, tried to cast doubt on my column in this morning's newspaper about my representation of what the council said about Al Lang in its Dec. 20 meeting. I am not sure how she can deny what is on the video of the meeting. As I said in the column, you can see the discussion for yourself on the city's web site. The Al Lang discussion starts about 3 hours and 42 minutes into the recording.

* * *

Update, 11 a.m. -- actual closing quote from council chairman James Bennett:

"I think that this council has been very prudent and has taken its time and been deliberative on this issue, and open. This is a very fluid event, and I think we're doing very well."

Protecting Al Lang Field

One outrageous aspect of St. Petersburg's secret deal with the Tampa Bay Rays last year was that the city went right ahead and held bogus public hearings to ask for "public input" on the citywide land-use plan that was being re-drawn at the time. The city knew about the waterfront stadium proposal; the people didn't.

Several citizens, acting in good faith and believing they were taking part in an honest process, testified that the old Al Lang minor-league site should be used for a park or green space. The city kept putting them off, saying it needed to "keep its options open." After the stadium deal became public, the City Council said -- repeatedly -- that it would designate Al Lang as a park anyway, and if the stadium went through, it could always be changed. But now the council is backing off that statement. Here are a couple of citizen letters that have been sent to the council in advance of Thursday's meeting:

I am writing to propose that the City Council amend the Land Development Regulations (LDR's) for the property known as Al Lang Field and the associated parking lots to the north. The amendment would be to designate the aforementioned property as DC-P (Parkland), rather than DC-3. Making this change in the LDR's would be consistent with the waterfront park system which this City has been striving to protect for close to a  hundred years.  We were promised this “oversight” would be corrected in the first glitch meeting, when the Council presented the LDRs on August 9, 2007.  The Council’s promise was made in the face of significant public outcry on the DC-3 zoning designation for this important part of our Public Parks.  Postponing this change is not acceptable!!  Do it NOW........the citizens have already spoken. -- Lorraine Margeson

Last spring, when you considered the question of LDRs, I was part of a large group who spoke to you about Al Lang Field and its curious designation of DC3 instead of the DCP designation that the rest of the public parkland was given. You all declared, to our faces, that this would be corrected at a "glitch meeting" and merrily passed the LDRs without include Al Lang - and the Mahffrey and Dali - as park.
Many people have worked tirelessly to protect our waterfront. Members of Council have, in the past, worked to turn this city around - from a Green Bench ghetto to a vibrant center of cultural and residential distinction. You promised to correct that glitch but we, the citizens now know that, even when you were promising that to us you were promising something else to the Rays.
We feel betrayed. You are not listening to your citizens. I hesitate to consider what  or who you are listening to. But it's not us - the people that have taken the time to participate in our city government, listen to your campaign promises and hope for the best for our city. Mr. Straub and his friends meant for the waterfront to be one long. emerald necklace framing our fair city - not some disposable commodity to be given away in dribs and drabs. I urge you to do the right thing and make good the promise you gave us last spring. Fix the glitch and change the LDR for Al Lang Field to DCP this  Thursday. -- Faith Andrews Bedford, St. Petersburg

A tax question

I'm wondering what happens if I change homes and use portability, then  portability is struck down by the courts...what happens to mah taxes??? -- Bob V.

Dear Bob V: The answer to your question is: Who the heck knows! It depends on what kind of remedy the court ordered. It could simply strike portability from that point onward. It could strike portability and kill everybody's tax break. It could strike Save Our Homes entirely and kill everybody's tax break. It could order the government to PAY BACK everybody who got an unfair deal in the past, which would cost a bazillion dollars and probably require some kind of emergency assessment. Or any combination of these things, or something entirely different...

Same-sex marriage amendment dominates Feb. 5 chat -- here's the transcript

Hello, happy Tuesday, and welcome to the weekly live chat here on TroxBlog. Like Dick Cheney, I operated from an undisclosed location, taking reader comments and questions about current goings-on.

My column this morning was about same-sex marriage, which generated quite a few comments. Other topics included the new  voting machines, aftermath from the property tax vote, the DCF scandal, and of course the baseball stadium.

TO SEE THE TRANSCRIPT OF TODAY'S CHAT: Click on the "Comments" link of this announcement just a few lines below. You'll be taken to a page showing everything that's been said so far, and a box for you to add your own question or comment. Keep refreshing the comments page to see the latest.

Revenge of the live chat, noon - 1 p.m. Tuesday

Check out the two posts below on whether Charlie Crist's new love of gambling will come back to bite him, and whether I am part of a Times effort to protect the baseball stadium. And if that doesn't get the conversation started, be sure to check out my print column coming Tuesday morning on the same-sex marriage amendment.

I hope that you'll be fired up and ready to join me at noon Tuesday for the weekly live chat here on TroxBlog. For an hour or so I'll be taking comments and questions about current events or any other topic folks feel like bringing up.

Here's how it will work: Come back to TroxBlog at noon and look for a new post with the headline, "The Feb. 5 chat is OPEN." Click on the "comments" link of that post and you'll see everything that's been said in the chat so far, along with a place for you to enter your own comment.

As always, if you can't come by during the live portion of the chat but want me to throw something in for you, feel free to "pre-file" a question or comment to the comments link of THIS post, just a few lines below. And you can always stop by later to check out a transcript of the chat.

Tuesday's chat will be the last one for at least three weeks -- got an obligation for the next two Tuesdays... so let's make this one a good one!

The governor and gambling

Comments on Sunday's column about Gov. Charlie Crist's budget and his reliance on revenue from expanded gambling:

I believe the reality is that he continues to take the easy way out... I also think this is going to catch up with him and us.  I have known Charlie for some time and I have recently noticed that he has lost a lot of popularity with what I would call the more informed voters but his one-liners continue to work on those who aren't necessarily looking for much depth. Your thoughts? -- Rich

If Crist and others were to really get serious about this, why not shape up kindergarten children to gamble with pennies?  They could do this by rigging the system so children frequently won in the early stages. They could have lotteries in all the grades as pupils passed through school---and pay for school costs with the money kids brought in. Eventually, when the kids became voters they would eagerly support bigger and bigger lotteries.  It seems like everyone would benefit.  We would have a huge population of gamblers.  All of it would work ...........until the adults learned how they had been duped. Crist should be shamed for supporting ANY form of government sponsored gambling. -- Darrel Bostow

I don't get it.  In the past whenever the gambling question arose there was a loud hue and cry about how terrible it is to expand or support gambling. Most often cited was the fact that it is the lowest strata of the community who engage in gambling, the lottery being the best example - and proves the point. But now, because it's St. Charlie...all of a sudden it's OK to raise money based on the weakness and ignorance of people hoping to strike it rich while they're "one pay check away from homelessness". What am I missing here and where are the keepers of our "morals" in Florida? Prediction: when St.. Charlie is finally exposed for the $3 bill he is, he will take one of the hardest falls in political history.  Bet on it. -- Dan

Thanks for the e-mails, gentlemen. I agree -- he IS taking the easy way out. On the suggestion that we "train" kids from childhood to gamble to support the state, I have actually heard that idea in more serious terms! But as for the predictions that this will "catch up" with our happy governor, I don't think so. His critics have been waiting his enter career for things to catch up with him. My read is that most Floridians are happy to take the gambling deal if they think it means a couple dollars fewer from their own pockets, regardless of the hidden costs.

St. Pete Times pro-stadium conspiracy!

In doing more research on the Rays proposal, I now understand why we've not heard more under cover work about the real scoop re the Rays. Clearly your hands are tied with respect true, open reporting. According to Forbes magazine the Times is one of the major corporate underwriters of the Rays. Can we say conflict of interest? I am sorry for you ... I am sure you would like to be able to tell the true story -  to get to the bottom of what is "rotten in the state of Denmark." Used to be we little people could count on the Times to look out for us - to tell the whole story. But...... well, you guys gotta make a living. I understand. I'll send all the new, juicy stuff I uncover to the Tribune. FIA, Florida sunshine law, injunctions, power brokering - you know.  But you wouldn't touch it anyway. Just one problem of a newspaper underwriting a sports team. C'est la vie. -- Willie Doyle

Dear Mr. Doyle: I appeal to the record. I began my first stadium column with the words "No, no, no, no, no." I wrote columns accusing the city of St. Petersburg of being a liar, and accusing the city of conducting a fraud against the citizens by keeping this plan secret for most of 2007. I have said repeatedly that the city ought to conduct new elections for the City Council to replace the sham elections that it conducted last year while keeping this secret. I wrote that the City Council was rushing into issuing the RFP, and accused the City Council of breaking its promise to protect the waterfront Al Lang site as a parkland. I keep saying there is no way the city should ever, ever enter into this deal without ironclad guarantees that the taxpayers will not be at risk. I don't give a hoot in hell about who the Times' advertising or marketing partners are and I think that this track record proves it.

A tax talk worth revisiting

My blog post in the wake of last week's election on Amendment 1 provoked a lively exchange that's still in progress (70+ comments so far). Here's the link to the post; the comments follow it.

The mail: Henry VI, Act IV, Scene 2

Just an FYI:  I was surfing the net and came across a piece you did awhile back (July 10, 2002) about tort reform where you mentioned in closing the "...let's kill all the lawyers." quote came from an anti-government conspirator as being a good way to bring about social discord.  Not true. This bit of sophistry could only have come from the twisted mind of a lawyer... He's talking about bringing about social Utopia, not discord.  It's a lawyer joke that's stood the test of time and like all good humor...it's funny because it's true.

Man, no column ever goes away, it just floats around in the ether... I politely disagree with your counter-claim. The conspirators were taking about seizing power in the state and boasting about how they would make everybody bow down to them. They were going to run things as they saw fit, and the bit about killing all the lawyers -- although always a great laugh line, admittedly -- was part of their vision.  By the way, that column was part of a discussion about there being too much civil litigation in our society.

The mail: Don't mess with Iowa

I made a crack in Sunday's column about Florida supposedly not being as good a chooser of presidents as farmers in "East Hogwallow, Iowa." Naturally, this produced some reaction:

I lived in Iowa for 3 years and wanted to give you my impressions of Iowans.  Most of them are friendly, courteous and respectful.  Many of them are opposed to hog confinements which pollute the air and ground water.  Many of them oppose irresponsible farming practices which cause water pollution that not only harms local streams but ultimately ends up polluting Florida's waters.  Don't be sorry for not being Iowan. Nobody is perfect. -- Steven Scott, Tampa

I am from Des Moines Iowa.  I have never been in "Hogwallow Iowa" that you mentioned in your article. It is very sad to say , a bunch of Eastern & Southern people have a twisted knowledge of Iowa & the vast types of Industry, that goes on in that land of "Black Gold" meaning, its super rich soil. Oh yes we have  our "Hog Farmers , of which are very well off, as 80 or 90 % of high quality Pork, Beef, and many other food products, too many to mention, come from Iowa. Far from "Hogwallow"  is many well known manufactures of products the Easterns & Southerns use every day. To name a few, you may own, is, Maytag, John Deer. Amana, Winnebago, Collins Radio, etc. Even John Wayne, Jonny Carson, Andy Williams were born in In this land of "Black Gold"  So the hog farmer may have inhabited this state at the turn of the last century , long before my time. Now the grandchildren, tool around in their private Jets & Cadillics. Itrust this will give you a better view if the so called "Hog Farmer" of Iowa. -- Jim Aspinall New Pt. Riochey

Hope I didn't sound too critical of Iowa -- if I had a spare moment I would dig up past favorable comparisons between Iowa & Florida based on my time there. I'm from North Carolina, which in the years since my childhood has been overrun by the hog-farming industry, and they did NOT do it the right way either.

The mail: Dump the appraisers!

I'm not sure you get it after reading the No Black or White on Property Tax Column: Here it is in black and white: GET CONTROL AWAY FROM THE STATE FOR THIS ANTIQUATED SYSTEM. There is no reason to have appraisers since it opens everyone up to fraud. I can look up home values on the Interent in an instant on Zillow.com, who needs to pay $270,000,000 every year to employ these rude people. Time to boot them out. Im sure we can find a good use for that money. California has had the 1% tax rate now for 30 years and its still the 7 th biggest economy in the world since more companys relocated there because of taxes and weather. Coming from CA, the best plan for Florida is to go to a Flat 1% property tax rate based on when you buy your house: -- rp

Well, SOMEBODY has to set the taxable value of property. I don't think we can just "look it up on the Internet." And the reason we have independently elected appraisers is precisely so the taxing government does NOT have this power. I don't think the appraisers themselves are the problem -- in other words I do not think for the most part they have been abusing their authority or the law. We COULD revisit the standards in our law for how they are supposed to set values, such as the "highest and best use" standard.

The mail: Jaywalkers, Amendment 1, voting

Today our very brave sheriff's department set up in front of that den of crime Sickles High School and gave TICKETS TO CHILDREN FOR JAYWALKING. That is right. JAYWALKING. When was the last time you heard of somebody getting a ticket for that?  1964? You work in downtown right. People jaywalk all the time. Do they get tickets? NO.  Do they teach that at the academy? How do give tickets to children who commit such horrible crimes as JAYWALKING. Do you think they need a taser for that. Sounds dangerous to me.   What a joke. -- Carlos J DeCisneros, Tampa

Dear Mr. DeCisneros: Actually I got yelled at in downtown St. Pete just a couple years back for jaywalking, which is the act of crossing a street in the middle of a block instead of at a crosswalk or an intersection. There's a reason it's illegal -- it's dangerous. I agree there are plenty of things that law enforcement should be doing, but knocking a little extra caution into kids' heads does not seem like such a bad idea. I would think that issuing tickets with warnings rather than cash fines on first offense would be enough, though.

Hi Howard. Does the Florida Taxation and Budget Reform Commission have the authority to put a property tax plan of their design on the November ballot that would essentially override Amendment 1? -- Todd Christofferson

Dear Mr. Christofferson: Indeed it does. The whole point of the commission is to decide on proposed improvements or revisions to Florida's tax structure and put them directly on the ballot. Likewise, we have a Constitutional Revision Commission that serves a comparable function. However, it does not seem to me that the current outfit is going to be very adventurous.

Since only registered Democrats and Republicans voted in yesterday's primary, the 64% approval of Amendment 1 did not include the voice of citizens who are registered as 'unenrolled '. Is it constitutional? -- Suzanne G.

Dear Suzanne G.: The election was not only for Republicans and Democrats. The Amendment 1 question was on the ballot for all voters, regardless of their party or lack or party, as were the various county and city-level elections.

(Follow-up to previous) Thank you for your prompt response. I was 'declared' and thus able to vote.  However, my brother, who is 'unenrolled' in Manatee County was turned away from the polls. In other words, the people manning the polling venue did not tell him he could vote on state, county or municipal issues. -- Suzanne

If you mean he wasn't registered to vote at all... well, he couldn't vote. Some states allow election-day voter registration, but others such as Florida require advance registration (30 days, I believe). Of those who WERE registered to vote, you didn't have to belong to a party to vote for Amendment 1 or various local measures on the ballot.

The mail: MySpace and the school officer

Utterly ridiculous. A travesty of justice, and a waste of taxpayer time and money. This is the kind of crap that kills careers, ruins lives, and destroys initiatives taken on by forward thinking progressives to reach kids where they live and play.... Please focus on this, even briefly. -- Chris Jenkins

Mr. Jenkins refers to the story of a school resource officer