"Craven, Lickspittle [FL] State Legislature " or "When Billboards Kill Trees"

["The very craven, lickspittle state Legislature has deemed it appropriate to give the billboard companies the ability to cut down trees on public property to enhance their ability to make money on private property," he said. "In many states, this type of legislation wouldn't have a prayer of passing. But in Florida … we have the most billboard-friendly statutes in the United States."]

So much outrage; so little time.

On some days--with murders, oil spills, and starving children in the news--it gets hard to blog.

Political outrages du jour?  Atrios does it better.

Scouring news feeds and posting progressive points?  Suburban Guerilla rules.

Shining a klieg light on how race and racism still inform and infirm American society?  Read the Field Negro.

Why do my 3 fave bloggers write from Phiilly?  I don't know.  Why do I root for the Cubs?  Unfathomable.  How can a Jamaican born, US educated, Philly lawyer write better 'bout race than a literate southerner?  Beats the Faulkner out of me.

Some days, stories just fall into into my lapbook as with this item from Ft Lauderdale Sun Sentinel--the former some area south of Orlando but north of Miami, the latter owned by Zell Miller's Tribune Corp.--which dettails how my state legislature gives favors to monied interests through sweetheart laws.

[Hoping to beautify a stretch of State Road 84, a group of boating businesses planted rows of sabal palms along the swales and median, brightening their gritty industrial corridor with patches of green.

Clear Channel Communications Inc. was not pleased. The national radio and advertising company owns two billboards on the street, now partially blocked by the trees. The company filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Transportation, which notified the Marina Mile 84 Association it would have to move 18 of the trees or see them destroyed.

It is an increasingly common occurrence in South Florida, as Clear Channel aggressively invokes a 2006 state law that requires unobstructed viewing areas of 350 to 500 feet for billboards. Companies can win compensation in court for lost profits if the state fails to arrange the removal of trees on public rights of way...

Bill Brinton, a Jacksonville lawyer and board member of Scenic America, which fights what it considers visual blight, said the 2006 law was one of several favors the Legislature has done for the industry.

"The very craven, lickspittle state Legislature has deemed it appropriate to give the billboard companies the ability to cut down trees on public property to enhance their ability to make money on private property," he said. "In many states, this type of legislation wouldn't have a prayer of passing. But in Florida … we have the most billboard-friendly statutes in the United States..."

Margaret Croxton, executive director of the Marina Mile 84 Association, said they may be able to reach a compromise that will allow the trees to remain on the street and Clear Channel to make money from its billboards.

"I don't mind billboards — they're ugly, but I don't mind them," she said. "But when billboards kill trees, it's ridiculous."] emphasis added and found link at http://www.flapolitics.com/main.htm

Lickspittle: "1.A fawning toady; a base sycophant."

Craven:  "1.Unwilling to fight; lacking even the rudiments of courage; extremely cowardly."

FL: Governor Grovel Guts Growth Management Act

For those of you who don't live in FL, we have a governor named Charlie Crist, a dirtbag politician now changing his positions to ingratiate himself to the conservative base of the RepubliKKKan party for a primary election for US Senator in 2010.

Say what you will about Sarah Palin, at least she resigned her post rather than go through the motions like our Governor Gutless, who left the Capital of Tallahassee for an $430000 European junket while leaving legislators to close a $2.3 BILLION budget shortfall :[Governor Charlie Crist isn’t answering questions about his pricey overseas trade mission to Europe.

In July taxpayers picked-up a 430,000 dollar tab for Governor Crist and 25 state employees to travel England, France, Russia, and Spain. The goal of the trip was to bring jobs to Florida. Some say the trip was a waste of taxpayer money.]

On his trip, Governor Missing In Action took business leaders and had them pick up part of his tab, which included a $2179 a night suite in London.

[Crist, a Republican who calls himself the people's governor, chose to lessen the burden on taxpayers by having businesses pay his expenses.

But that kind of arrangement can pose conflicts, said Nova Southeastern University law professor Bob Jarvis, a public policy expert.

"It looks like you're buying influence and access to the governor, or to any elected official, when any part of the trip is paid for by outside interests," Jarvis said. "If the trip is important enough to do, then it should be built into the government budget."]
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-flgovtrip07sbdec07,0,5721620.story

Of course, Governor Gutless used this trip to prime the $ pump for his Senate run, raising $4.3 million, mostly from rich folk, developers and the like.

[Gov. Charlie Crist has a lot of wealthy friends.

And many of them, from plaintiff lawyers and corporate executives to New York socialites and Tallahassee lobbyists, have cut checks to his U.S. Senate bid for the full $4,800 they're allowed to give to a federal candidate, according to Crist's fundraising report.

More than one-fourth — 580 — of the 2,100 contributors who helped Crist raise a whopping $4.3 million have now maxed out for both the 2010 primary and general elections, meaning they can't be asked to give again...]


[...Crist's fundraising strategy has already shifted to target more out-of-state dollars in places such as North Carolina, where wealthy Floridians spend their summers; and New York, where he raised funds at private dinners last weekend.

Earlier this year, billionaire developer Donald Trump and Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon showed up at ritzy dinners in the Hamptons for Crist, whose wife, Carole Rome, has helped him gain entrance into New York social circles.

This week, he was in Washington for back-to-back fundraisers hosted by federal lobbyists....]

[...Crist's campaign has leaned on a handful of "bundlers" — lobbyists who collect multiple checks from friends, clients and relatives — to raise nearly $190,000 so far.

Ponte Vedra Beach-based lobbyist T. Martin Florentino, whose clients include CSX Transportation and AT&T, collected $139,250 for Crist. Tallahassee-based health-care lobbyist James Eaton raised another $50,700.

The list of 580 contributors who maxed out includes U.S. Sugar Corp. CEO Robert Buker and chief company lobbyist Bob Coker. Both were at the center of Crist's successful push for the state to buy U.S. Sugar's land holdings to try to restore the natural water flow of the Everglades...]

Sorry, Charlie, most politicians wait a bit before selling out themselves and their state. Governor Grovel gave his fat cat developer friends a huge boost by signing Senate Bill 360, the Developers' Relief Act as Carl Hiaasen calls it below.

Is Crist Fundraising While FL Burns?

[And the bucks keep flowing in
BY CARL HIAASEN
chiaasen@MiamiHerald.com

Unlike Sarah Palin, Charlie Crist has chosen not to quit his governorship early. Florida's own one-term wonder is using his remaining time to ingratiate himself with as many deep-pocket interest groups as possible.

The governor's unseemly burst of groveling is directly connected to his upcoming run for the U.S. Senate. Sucking up to the National Rifle Association and the Christian right, Crist last week declared his opposition to the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, whose confirmation is already a done deal.

Many of Crist's longtime supporters were surprised, but they shouldn't have been. Charlie has no problem with timely pandering.

Take Senate Bill 360, which he signed into law last month. Authored by lobbyists for developers, it's one of the worst pieces of legislation to come out of one of the country's most buyable legislatures.

The law emaciates Florida's Growth Management Act by removing state oversight of massive residential and commercial projects known as Developments of Regional Impact, which put enormous stress on neighboring communities.
More outrageously, the new law will stick taxpayers -- not developers -- with most of the high costs for roads and other infrastructure that housing subdivisions require.

It's a recipe for more reckless sprawl, which is the last thing Florida needs, and the last thing a self-baptized environmentalist like Crist should be endorsing.

Lobbyists for the building industry say SB 360 will jump-start many stalled construction projects, a dubious claim in a state with a pandemic housing glut and practically zero demand for new units. The real motive is to gut land-use regulations before the next boom.

Republican lawmakers who lovingly embraced the bill named it the ``Community Renewal Act,'' which is more digestible than the ``Developers' Relief Act.'' Here's all you really need to know: The Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Association of Realtors love it.

Guess who doesn't: Cash-strapped cities and counties that will be saddled with the fiscal burden of supporting the new projects. They say the law wrongly restricts a local community's ability to plan and regulate its own development. One way or another, the tab for roads and sewers must be passed along to a public that's already fed up with how overbuilding has damaged the quality of life. Passed 25 years ago, the original Growth Management Act was porous and too easily subverted. The new bill is a toothless farce.

Crist was well aware how strongly local governments opposed it. Officials from Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and several other counties urged the governor to use his veto. His own growth-management guru, Tom Pelham, thought the bill was lousy.

The governor signed his name anyway, saying, ``It's probably one of those bills where nobody's going to be overly happy on either side of the argument.''

Really, Charlie? The developers were beyond overly happy; they were turning cartwheels.

That wasn't the reaction in most city and county halls. So far, at least 16 municipalities have joined a lawsuit seeking to have SB 360 declared unconstitutional.

Lawyers for Homestead, Weston, Miami Gardens, Key Biscayne and other cities say the measure is an ``unfunded mandate'' that unlawfully heaps costs on local governments without providing necessary sources of revenue.

They also contend that the bill, which is cluttered with provisions unrelated to development, violates a constitutional requirement that statutes must deal with a single subject.

Like his stance against Sotomayor, Crist's unexpected support for the lax development law disappointed those still clinging to the notion that he's a different breed.

The same fellow who fancies himself a crusader for the Everglades has -- if SB 360 is allowed to stand -- essentially guaranteed that the remaining wetlands of western Miami-Dade will be paved, dooming any hope for reviving the Everglades.

Only as craven political strategy does Crist's latest cave-in makes sense. You can't win a U.S. Senate seat without a war chest, and developers, builders and banks are among Florida's most prolific campaign donors.

As of mid-July, the governor had already raised $4.3 million for his 2010 Senate race, a record-breaking sum. He seems in no hurry to reveal who gave what. He won't even identify his ``bundlers'' -- the major players who solicit and collect campaign checks on his behalf.

Late last week, the Federal Election Commission began posting Crist's donor information. Nobody will be shocked when big money starts rolling in from those who stand to benefit from the Developers' Relief Act.

Obviously Charlie would rather be a plump turkey than a lame duck.

© 2009 Miami Herald Media Company. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.miamiherald.com]
emphasis added
used under faie use doctrine