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An Opinion By Jan Bergemann
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.
Published
May 14, 2007
I
have to start with a little explanation for all the folks who are not so
familiar with the legislative process in
Tallahassee
. In case you think it's a democratic process, you are absolutely
mistaken. The House of Representatives works more like a dictatorship,
where the SPEAKER of the HOUSE is the dictator. More or less nothing works
without his consent. His lieutenants are the representatives of the
so-called House Leadership Team and committee chairs -- selected by the
Speaker.
When
bills are filed they will be assigned to certain committees, with the
committee chairs being able to ignore bills by not adding them to the
agendas -- more or less letting them die without ever seeing the light of
day!
Many
bills are changed -- or ordered to be changed -- before the first
committee hearing, because in many cases representatives would be forced
to vote NO in public on a consumer-friendly bill. I guess now you
understand why you see so many -- often even stupid -- bills pass with
consent of all committee members. Many -- what legislators think --
controversial issues have already been removed behind closed doors.
People
in Florida are suffering from high property taxes, high property insurance
premiums and special assessments from their associations. In case you
haven't figured it out: Many owners paid higher special assessments to
their associations than property tax and property insurance premium
together!
PROPERTY
TAX -- supposedly No. 1 on the agenda. Result: ZERO, ZIP -- NADA!
Obvious
reason: Our esteemed Speaker acted like a kid in kindergarten: "If
you take my toy away, I'm not playing with you any longer!"
PROPERTY
INSURANCE: A
good bill passed, but no thanks to the House Speaker and his “leadership
team.” They nearly derailed the bill trying to amend it
-- and finally tagged on a provision to create a task force costing
taxpayers $600,000 -- to give insurance industry partisans a platform to
cry all the way to the bank! Anybody who hasn't yet figured out that the
insurance industry only wants our money but not our risk must be living in
a dream world! And we don't even want to talk about the infamous insurance
"glitch bill." That was plainly a disgrace trying to bend over
to the insurance industry!
COMMUNITY
ASSOCIATION REFORM: A
comprehensive bill was killed by the House leadership before it even got a
vote! Another year for homeowners and condo owners without enforcement of
the statutes and accountability of the people in charge! Another year
where association members have to deal with financial mismanagement,
uncontrolled spending, stupid lawsuits and even clear embezzlement.
But
what else could we have expected from a Speaker who is a former employee
of the law firm of Becker & Poliakoff?
Oh,
gee -- I forgot: Florida's citizens actually were rewarded with some real
consumer-friendly measures. We got some more specialized license plates
and we can now be buried with the remains of our favorite pets!
BUT
WHAT ABOUT THE PEOPLE STILL LIVING IN FLORIDA?
FROM
THE CONSTITUENTS’ POINT OF VIEW THE SPEAKER AND THE HOUSE LEADERSHIP
TEAM DESERVE: F - ! (FAILED
-- AND THEN SOME!)
THE
TEAM THAT FAILED FLORIDA'S CITIZENS:
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SPEAKER
MARCO RUBIO (R-MIAMI)
HIS
ARROGANCE AND UNWILLINGNESS TO COMPROMISE HAS COST US MANY GOOD
CONSUMER-FRIENDLY BILLS. IN OUR TIME OF NEED WE REALLY DIDN'T
DESERVE A SPEAKER WHO IS AFTER HIS OWN PERSONAL AGENDA AND HIS
AMBITION TO BE ONE DAY
FLORIDA
'S GOVERNOR!
WE
CAN REALLY DO WITHOUT AN ELECTED OFFICIAL LIKE RUBIO!
COMFORTING
THOUGHT: OUT BY TERM LIMITS IN 2008!
BUT
THESE REPRESENTATIVES ARE PLANNING TO RUN FOR RE-ELECTION --
WITH
CAMPAIGN FUNDS FROM SPECIAL INTERESTS!
I
GUESS THEY EARNED IT?
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DAVID
RIVERA
(R-MIAMI)
Representative Rivera is not only Speaker Rubio’s First Lieutenant and friend, but Rivera is as well a Republican who isn't happy with our choice of Governor -- and Senator Alex Villalobos still being a Senator.
Rivera
surely tried everything to prevent this, together with his
friend and former colleague, EX - Representative Ralph Arza,
who made a name for himself with his infamous racial slurs.
He
was involved in killing many consumer-friendly bills behind
closed doors. He has proven on many occasions that he is for
special interests -- and against his constituents!
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ELLYN
BOGDANOFF
(R-FT.
LAUDERDALE)
Representative
Bogdanoff was elected in a district with many condos and
homeowners' associations -- and she did absolutely nothing to
help the owners with their many problems. Her appearance at
the Dog & Pony Show of Becker & Poliakoff's CALL in
2006 already made it very clear that she has little interest
to do anything for her constituents living in condos and HOAs.
She
excused her intense involvement in trying to pass the infamous
insurance glitch bill with her "job" as Majority
Whip. Gee, what a lame excuse when confronted with working
against her constituents! |
ANDY
GARDINER
(R-ORLANDO)
Representative
Gardiner has for many years favored special interests over the
wishes of his constituents. His votes against consumer-friendly
bills are proof of his dependency on the industry. His latest
stellar moment: His vote against the insurance reform bill that
showed exactly where he is coming from. Nicknamed
“Mr. Mickey Mouse” by some of his constituents, he can't be
fast enough to jump to the support of special interests -- and
has no quarrels putting his promises to kill certain bills into
e-mails. And he is running for State Senator in 2008! Didn't he
do enough damage to our wallets as a state representative for
eight years?
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RON
REAGAN
(R-CLEARWATER)
Representative
Reagan had his own ideas about property insurance reforms, but
his ideas were definitely not favoring the homeowners.
Under
the cover of calling it a "glitch bill," he tried to
sneak in many little details that would have given back to the
insurance industry some of the privileges it lost in the
January special session --
provisions we consumers had fought hard to gain.
During
the legislative session he surely worked hard: For the special
interests -- against his constituents!
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D.
ALAN HAYS
(R-UMATILLA)
Representative
Hays took it upon himself to educate the masses that were
hoping for relief from outrageous insurance premiums. He sent
out e-mails to warn people about the excellent insurance
reform bill the Senate passed by unanimous vote.
And
when he realized that the bill would pass, he made sure that a
provision was attached that would make the insurance industry
happy:
Creating
a task force to give the insurance industry a tool to try to
destroy CITIZENS -- the last hope for many homeowners -- and
at taxpayers' expense!
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These
HALL OF SHAME Representatives should resign, because
Florida
's citizens really can't afford them another year. While
we are going broke, they make headlines -- often negative – as they
pursue their own personal agendas.
IF
YOU VOTE FOR THEM AGAIN, YOU VOTE AGAINST YOUR OWN WALLET!
WANT
TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THE 2007 LEGISLATIVE SESSION?
LISTEN TO
"ON THE COMMONS"!
Speaker Rubio's "100 IDEAS" To Kill The Future of Homeowners!
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