The Electronic Newsletter of the Florida AFL

New Members according to the AFL-CIO Work in Progress
This week's WIP: 12, 876
Year to date: 41,566

With the outsourcing of American jobs becoming a major political issue, the official Bush-Cheney campaign merchandise includes clothing made in

Burma

-a country whose goods President Bush banned for sale in the

U.S.

because of systematic violations of human rights, according to "Newsday." The newspaper ordered several items from the official Bush-Cheney merchandise website and found a $49.95 fleece pullover embroidered with the Bush-Cheney '04 logo and bearing a label stating it was made in

Burma

. Last year, Bush signed legislation banning the import of Burmese products and declared, "the

United States

will not waver from its commitment to the cause of democracy and human rights in

Burma

." Official merchandise for Sen. John Kerry's campaign is manufactured in the

United States

by union workers, according to the firm that licenses and markets Kerry merchandise.

Kids may take it in the teeth
(03/22/2004 © Daytona Beach News-Journal)
TALLAHASSEE -- As summer approaches, Kathie Shepard is keeping her fingers crossed that her daughter doesn't get sick and her son doesn't get a cavity. If they do, she'll be scrambling to pay for treatment on her own. Not only is her almost 20-year-old daughter aging out of the Healthy Kids state insurance program, but legislators are looking at cutting dental insurance to the 290,000 child

A Governor Of Two Minds
( 03/22/2004 © Lakeland Ledger)
Gov. Bush's political disease is costing taxpayers There are really two Jebs. There's Jeb Bush the prudent steward of the public purse. And there's Jeb Bush the profligate squanderer of the public dole. The problem is, it's difficult to tell from one day to the next exactly which Jeb is occupying the governor's mansion.

Raid on housing funds stalled
( 03/22/2004 © Orlando Business Journal)
TALLAHASSEE -- In a move applauded by the home-building industry, Florida 's Senate has stalled a raid on two trust funds financing affordable housing. Earlier this year, Gov. Jeb Bush announced he wanted to allow Florida 's two affordable housing trust funds to expire.

Unconscionable cuts Cutting health care for the needy and taxes for the rich
(03/22/2004 © Sarasota Herald-Tribune)
As the Legislature attempts to deal with the annual budget shortfall, the poor and the sick are once more the first targets, even as the governor and lawmakers weigh a tax break for the richest 1 percent of Floridians.

Budgets in, bickering begins
( 03/23/2004 © Tallahassee Democrat)
The proposed budgets were barely printed before the battles began. House Speaker Johnnie Byrd on Monday praised his budget chairmen for coming up with a "real" budget. The House version came out about $1.1 billion higher than the Senate version, even though both chambers in theory had the same amount of revenue to work with.

$1.1 billion separates 2 state budgets
( 03/23/2004 © Orlando Sentinel)
TALLAHASSEE -- With vastly different approaches to spending, the House and Senate unveiled budget proposals Monday separated by a massive $1.1 billion difference in the bottom line.

Talk of vouchers in pre-K causes stir
(03/22/2004 © Palm Beach Post)
TALLAHASSEE -- When Florida voters went to the polls 17 months ago, they read the words, 'Every four-year-old child in Florida shall be offered a high quality pre-kindergarten learning opportunity by the state,' and 59 percent of them decided they agreed.

Pre-K Bill Won t Cut It
( 03/22/2004 © Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel)
The Florida House has started down the wrong road in its efforts to implement the state constitutional amendment requiring universal pre-kindergarten education. It is either misunderstanding or ignoring the will of the voters who passed the amendment. On Wednesday, the Education K-20 Committee approved legislation to create a state-funded voucher that parents could use to help pay for the presc

No new medical schools
(03/22/2004 © Palm Beach Post)
So Florida's higher-education priority is to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for two new medical schools at Florida International University in Miami-Dade County and the University of Central Florida in Orlando? That's as ludicrous as the rationale:

Bush says preschool plan falls short
(03/23/2004 © Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel)
Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday the House blueprint for Florida's new pre-kindergarten program falls short of his requirements. Bush said he was confident lawmakers would approve a more-palatable, final pre-K bill. If not, he said, they'd have to try again next year because he would not sign a bill that "falls below a threshold" and doesn't offer youngsters quality pre-K classes.

House Panel Approves FCAT Alternative
(03/23/2004 © Lakeland Ledger)
By BRENT KALLESTAD The Associated Press TALLAHASSEE -- With the backing of the Department of Education, a House subcommittee approved a measure Monday that would give high school students an opportunity to graduate even if they can't pass the state's 10th-grade FCAT exam.

Teacher-pay plan lacks cash
(03/23/2004 © Palm Beach Post)
TALLAHASSEE -- Republicans last year promoted the teacher career ladder as a magic potion for the public education system, a new way to pay teachers based on performance rather than just years of service.

Representative Susan Bucher – tells is like it is!
There is a reason that Representative Susan Bucher received the highest rating from the United Labor Lobby and was given the Distinguished Legislator Award at this year’s Legislative Conference…she has integrity and tells it like it is. Last week the House Leadership staged a real dog and pony show in a rigged vote to put surgery patients at risk by creating a new classification of health care worker who can perform anesthesia (See Vol. III of the ULL Reporter for more details). I was there and it was a real scam. At the end of the meeting, Representatives Bucher and Vana read their offense into the record and now Representative Bucher is in trouble. Read on.

How to Pass a Bill
(03/22/2004 © Lakeland Ledger)
Some Florida legislators think a colleague should be punished for putting them in a bad light by questioning the sincerity of their votes on a special-interest bill. Last week, Rep. Susan Bucher, D-Royal Palm Beach, was on the losing side of a 15-10 House Health Care Committee vote approving a Florida Medical Association-backed bill creating a profession called anesthesiologist assistants.

Hot Words, But Are They True?
( 03/22/2004 © Tampa Tribune)
W hen state Rep. Susan Bucher, D- West Palm Beach, couldn't get satisfactory answers to her questions regarding proposed health care legislation this week, she lashed out at the committee's leadership. ``

Constitutional Amendment Plan May Get Test
( 03/22/2004 © Lakeland Ledger)
TALLAHASSEE -- The move to restrict the right of citizens to amend the state constitution could face a critical test as early as this week in the Florida Senate.

Senatorsd scrutinize initiatives
( 03/23/2004 © Ocala Star Banner)
TALLAHASSEE - The move to restrict the right of citizens to amend the state constitution could face a critical test as early as this week in the Florida Senate. Senate leaders want to put the proposed changes before voters in the Aug. 31 primary, rather than waiting for the November general elect...

AARP faces huge credibility gap
( 03/22/2004 © Miami Herald)
''No good deed goes unpunished.'' That ironic aphorism has become the opening line for Bill Novelli, the embattled chief executive of AARP, the 35 million-member behemoth of Washington interest groups.

Geez, Imagine If Byrd Were A Fiscal Liberal!
( 03/22/2004 © Tampa Tribune)
When it comes to fiscal restraint, Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Drinks On the House!, is to penny- pinching what the Liza Minnelli/David Gest wedding was to understatement.

Byrd changes dial tone
( 03/23/2004 © Palm Beach Post)
Johnnie Byrd says he wants to repeal last year's record phone-rate increase. No, he wants to become a U.S. senator.

Byrd seeks to unring phone law
( 03/22/2004 © St. Petersburg Times)
TALLAHASSEE - House Speaker Johnnie Byrd wants to repeal a law, which he strongly supported a year ago, that set the stage for the biggest jump in local phone rates in Florida history.

House speaker: Lawmakers were wrong in enacting phone rate bill
(03/22/2004 © Miami Herald)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A quick repeal of a new law that allowed local phone companies to seek rate hikes isn't likely in the Senate despite a declaration from the House speaker that the attempt at deregulation hasn't worked.

Abuzz over turnabout on phone bill
(03/23/2004 © Miami Herald)
TALLAHASSEE - In an election year about-face, Florida's speaker of the House said Monday that he wants to repeal the telephone-deregulation bill that he supported last year before it led to the largest rate increase in state history.

Byrd pumps up Senate campaign
(03/23/2004 © Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel)
TALLAHASSEE Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd is trying to build interest in his trailing U.S. Senate campaign by trumpeting legislation and new state spending meant to appeal to suburban and moderate voters.

McCollum wants to send undercover agents to Cuba
(03/22/2004 © Gainesville Sun)
MIAMI Republican Senate candidate Bill McCollum wants to send undercover agents disguised as tourists into Cuba and wants to change U.S. policy so that no one fleeing the communist country has to be returned, he announced Monday.

Election 2004: Klayman says hes not afraid to buck the party
( 03/23/2004 © Naples Daily News)
MIAMI ? Republican leaders in the U.S. Senate have helped run up a record federal deficit, haven't made tough budget cuts, and failed President Bush.

Election 2004: Touch-screen voting faces criticism
(03/22/2004 © Naples Daily News)
Close to a third of voters who cast ballots in the November election will do it by touching a screen or pressing buttons that will electronically record their choices. In Florida , more than half of the voters will cast electronic ballots this fall.

Hey kids…smoke up!
When Jeb was elected to his first term he rode in on a wave of big campaign donations from out of state tobacco companies. Now we know why they gave so much.

Tobacco Program in Jeopardy
( 03/23/2004 © Capitol News Service)
Health advocates say they've found a report state officials didn't want you to see. It shows Florida isn't putting nearly enough money into efforts to fight teen smoking. The report is being made public just as lawmakers debate wiping out the anti-smoking campaign altogether.

Anti-tobacco campaign vanishes like a puff of smoke
(03/23/2004 © Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel)
TALLAHASSEE · I'm here for a week, hoping to sample first-hand the skullduggery, deceit and self-interest that give Florida's politics so much of flavor and interest. It took me all of about 15 minutes.

Quality court system essential to democracy
(03/21/2004 © Daytona Beach News-Journal)
In 1972 Florida voters decided to abolish the local Justice of the Peace courts, city courts, traffic courts and county courts and develop a uniform system of state courts funded by the state. The cost of operating the courts has been largely borne by county government, but in 1998 a constitutional amendment was approved that required that the primary funding responsibility of the court system be

Process frustrates KidCare applicants
( 03/22/2004 © Jacksonville - Florida Times Union)
Two of Laurie and Jimmy Riley's three daughters have attention deficit disorders that require separate daily medications. The family can't afford health insurance, so to save money they fill one prescription and split it in half between the two girls.

Michael Peltier: Bush continues privatization push
( 03/22/2004 © Naples Daily News)
TALLAHASSEE ? During the annual Capital Press Corps skits earlier this month, a particularly funny offering had a parent trying to sign up for the state's KidCare program, which provides subsidized health care for low-income working families.

The day in Tallahassee, Monday, March 22, 2004
(03/22/2004 © Miami Herald)
Democrats say the budgets written by the Republicans in control of the Legislature ignore the needs of ordinary Floridians in favor of tax cuts for big businesses and people with large stock portfolios.

Legislative agenda: Sales-tax reform needed
(03/23/2004 © Miami Herald)
Even though Florida lawmakers have $1 billion more to spend this year than they anticipated thanks to an improving state economy, it appears that they don't intend to share it with the state's cities and counties.

Democrats push for tax cuts to be stalled
(03/23/2004 © St. Petersburg Times)
TALLAHASSEE - Democratic legislators Monday called on their Republican counterparts to postpone a series of planned tax cuts to spare the state deep cuts in social service programs. Florida shouldn't lower taxes for corporations and investors when the state is considering eliminating prenatal care for an estimated 7,000 poor pregnant women, Democratic leaders said.

Survey shows mixed feelings in state agency
( 03/22/2004 © Tallahassee Democrat)
Working for the Department of State must be like working for Martha Stewart - you do your job but worry about what will happen next. Probably no state agency has gone through so much change in the past 10 years, and it's not over yet.

Fifty-one workers, one from each state and the District of Columbia , will roll out on the Show Us the Jobs(TM) tour March 24. The workers will tell their personal stories of how the nation's job crisis affects them, their families and communities. Every day in

America

, 85,444 people lose their jobs and economists say many of those jobs aren't coming back. The

United States

has lost nearly 3 million private-sector jobs since President Bush took office in 2001, including more than 2.8 million manufacturing jobs. Beginning with a rally in St. Louis and ending in Washington , D.C. , the workers will spread the word to policymakers, the media and the public about the effects of joblessness and low-wage, no-benefit work. You can follow the workers as they travel through eight states and 18 cities March 24-31 by visiting a new website, http://www.showusthejobs.com . On the site, you will find the 51 workers' stories and their daily accounts of the tour. The site also includes an activist toolkit you can use to fight for good jobs in your community, opportunities to speak out for better jobs and Show Us the Jobs(TM) gear you can order online.

Republicans seem in good position to retain House control
(03/22/2004 © Daytona Beach News-Journal)
WASHINGTON -- Buoyed by the prospect of strong gains in Texas, a financial advantage and a relative shortage of competitive seats, Republicans are strongly positioned to hold control of the House in 2004, according to strategists in both parties. At the same time, Democrats point to their recent ...

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