Legislators, let community be your eyes and ears
State Rep. Bill Proctor and Sen. John Thrasher have brought key legislative posts to St. Johns County and Northeast Florida, a sign that leadership has great confidence in each of them. We hope it is to come up with the best ways to keep Florida and St. Johns County moving forward.
Proctor was named House Education Committee Chairman by House Speaker Dean Cannon earlier this month and Thrasher was named Senate Rules Chairman by Senate President Mike Haridopolus.
The Senate Rules Committee Chairman controls the flow of legislation to the Senate floor for debate and a vote. House Education Chair leads the committee's oversight of education policy for kindergarten through college, hence the acronym K-20.
Obviously each legislator that gets tapped for a leadership post has been vetted by the leader and his allies. It's no fluke that Thrasher and Proctor are where they are because of their past leadership. Proctor has served on almost every education related committee in the House in his first six years. Thrasher is a former Speaker of the House, already proven as a key figure in making laws.
So what does this mean to St. Johns County?
We hope it means that when the two lawmakers are doing their jobs that they will ask: How would this benefit St. Johns County? And we hope that they would hold town meetings here to get the public's pulse on the tough issues.
We are serious about those lines of communication because they did not work last year when the controversial teacher reform bill SB 6, sponsored by Thrasher, did not make an appearance at home before it was rushed through the Legislature. Fortunately Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed it for a lot of reasons, including a lack of face time with the constituents, particularly teachers.
As we move forward, we want Thrasher and Proctor to know that before they file big idea bills, to let The Record help them float those ideas beyond your their allies. It's the home voters that got each their decision-making seats.
If the public wants to have an impact, here are some tips, tried and true.
Get to know the county's legislators. It's not too early. Go to www.myflorida.com and look for House of Representatives and State Senate. Every legislator is on those lists and has an e-mail address, phone number and office address. Call, e-mail or write them your suggestions and concerns. In addition to Proctor and Thrasher, ours are: Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville; Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville; Rep. Ron Renuart, R-Ponte Vedra Beach, and Rep. Mike Weinstein, R-Jacksonville.
Then attend the St. Johns County Legislative Delegation's annual meeting on Dec. 10, 2 p.m. at the County Auditorium, 500 San Sebastian View. The delegation will hear public testimony on general issues and local bills.
This is probably the closest many people will get to all six of our members at one time all year. It is worth the time. To get on the agenda, contact Sandy Matthews in Weinstein's office by Dec. 6 at (904) 213-3005.
Go. Listen, Meet. Speak.
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