July 20, 2010
By Jim Ash, news-press.com Capital Bureau Chief and Bill Cotterell, news-press.com Capital Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist earned rousing cheers this morning from a group of about 200 protesters who are determined to let lawmakers know that they want to see a drilling ban on the November ballot.
It won't happen. The House convened at noon and will adjourn before 1 p.m. without voting on the ballot question. Instead, House and Senate intend to return in September to consider economic-recovery proposals.
Crist insisted that he still didn’t know, 45 minutes before the gavel was to fall, whether Republican leaders would go along with his special session call to put the measure on the ballot.
“Thank you for caring so deeply about our beautiful Florida,” Crist said. “I am not going to presume that they will go one way or the other because I’m an optimist.”
The crowd began to roar when Crist repeated his favorite mantra, that the people should be allowed to decide.
“What’s more sacred than that in a democracy?” he said. “It’s not the House’s Constitution, it’s not the Senate’s Constitution, it’s the people’s Constitution.”
Ron Romano, a real estate broker with the Beach Group in Santa Rosa Beach, followed Crist to the lectern, saying a drilling ban is needed to reassure jittery buyers who have abandoned Northwest Florida in droves. Romano said his business was posting a record $65 million in residential and commercial sales from January to April, then fell "to zero" after the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and the oil spill catastrophe dominated the national news.
“All they know now is Florida, oil, nightmare,” he said of his potential customers.
12:15 p.m.
TALLAHASSEE -- House Speaker Larry Cretul this morning convened a special session called by Gov. Charlie Crist and immediately told members that the governor does not set the legislative body's agenda.
"The agenda in this House is and always will be set by its membership," Cretul said. "The fact remains (Crist) has called us here at the last possible moment to consider a constitutional amendment for which he never proposed language and permitted far too little time for reflection and review. This is a terrible way to propose constitutional changes."
Instead of acting on Crist's proposed constitutional ban on oil drilling, Cretul announced a group of work groups members will use to craft economic-response legislation to be taken up in a September special session.
"We agree that there is nothing we can do this week to improve the situation more than we could in September," Cretul said.
Among the work groups:
* Rep. Steve Crisafulli, a Merritt Island Republican, will lead a group looking at private-sector damages loss claims
* Rep. Matt Hudson, a Naples Republican, leads a group seeking to recover expenses of the state and counties
* Rep. Paige Kreegel, a Punta Gorda Republican, will lead the group considering long-term economic recovery.
* Rep. Trudi Williams, a Fort Myers Republican, heads up a group looking at disaster response in the future.
11:28 a.m.
TALLAHASSEE — David Rauschkolb, a Northwest Florida restaurant owner, surfer, and founder of the Hands Across the Sand drilling protests, was in Tallahasse to urge Republican leaders to put an amendment on the November ballot during today's special session.
Though the outcome of the House convening at noon is not known, it's expected Speaker Larry Cretul will quickly adjourn without action.
"I think it's arrogant and short sighted and it shows they're afraid that Floridians want this ban and it shows that they are desperate to fulfill their pact with the oil industry," Rauschkolb said.
The Seaside restaurateur organized the Feb. 13 protest on Florida beaches, then opposing proposals to open oil and gas exploration in Florida-state waters. Since the April Deepwater Horizon spill, the group has continued its protests and called for a ban in the state's constitution.
11:14 a.m.
TALLAHASSEE — Flanked by two Pensacola residents whose jobs have been impacted by the BP oil spill, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink urged the Legislature to take decisive action in its special session.
Sink, a Democratic candidate for governor, brought a dozen Democratic legislators to her Capitol office for a news conference with Escambia County Property Appraiser Chris Jones and Jeff Elbert, president of the Pensacola Beach Chamber of Commerce. She said "the tone-deaf Florida Legislature has been twiddling its thumbs" for 90 days as oil has polluted Panhandle beaches and the BP claims process has been bogged down in bureaucracy.
Elbert, owner of Island Style and the Life is Good stores in Pensacola Beach and Gulf Breeze, said his business is off by 30 percent because of declining tourism. He said he filed a financial claim with BP in May and has talked with four claims adjusters, but has not received any money.
Jones said property-tax notices will go out soon and that some owners will be shocked by assessments — and unable to pay because of lost business.
Sink said legislators could pass a law requiring BP to make payments, or at least give answers, within 15 days of receiving a claim. She said they could also provide tax relief, pending settlements from BP.
Sink said it is "unconscionable" for legislators to consider a quick adjournment without acting on Gov. Charlie Crist's call for a constitutional amendment banning offshore drilling in Florida waters.
"Last year, they shoved through a proposal (legalizing drilling) in just a few days," Sink said, citing a House-passed bill that died in the Senate. "Now, those same representatives will stand at their desks and say they don't have time to act."
11:05 a.m.
TALLAHASSEE –– Hypocrisy and a hidden agenda to sway the November elections are behind today's likely action –– or lack of action –– during today's special session, House Democrats said this morning.
Those are the charges House Minority Leader Franklin Sands of Weston leveled at Republican leaders this morning for their unwillingness to put a constitutional ban on offshore drilling on the November ballot.
The proposed amendment is the single subject Gov. Charlie Crist, an independent candidate for the U.S. Senate, wants the Legislature to deal with today in a special session that is expected to end with no action. Crist said he wants to limit the agenda to that single issue so lawmakers can beat an Aug. 4 deadline for printing the ballots. Republicans say it's a ploy to give his campaign a higher profile and that a constitutional ban is unnecessary because offshore drilling in Florida is already illegal.
House Speaker Larry Cretul of Ocala and Senate President Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach promise a September special session to take up economic legislation in response to the oil spill.
Democrats pointed out this morning that the same Republicans supported a constitutional ban on gay marriage in 2008, despite laws on the books that already prevent it.
The real issue, Democrats charged, is that Republicans don't want a question on the ballot that will drive more Democrats and independents to the polls.
"It's about voter suppression," said Rep. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando.
Franklin said voters should have a chance this year to enshrine a drilling ban in the constitution because Republican leaders only last year attempted to allow drilling as close as three miles from Florida shores. Their promise to put that effort on hold isn't worth the paper it's written on, Sands said.
"The pledges they have taken are written on toilet paper, and we all know what you do with toilet paper," Sands said.
House and Senate are both set to convene at noon. The Senate has a hearing set for the afternoon. The House only notes it will convene until it adjourns at an indefinite time. It's widely expected they'll do so almost immediately without taking up a resolution to add the drilling ban to November's ballot.
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