Florida Chamber of Commerce Fails Again

The Florida Chamber of Commerce released its 2013 Legislative Report Card on House and Senate members and not surprisingly Orlando area Republican legislators got full marks or nearly so, while their Democratic counterparts received mostly failing grades, “Fs” or “Ds.”

Republican Reps. Steve Precourt (Orlando) and Bryan Nelson (Apopka) earned a perfect 100 score, as did GOP Senators Andy Gardiner (Orlando) and Kelli Stargel (Lakeland).  Others who fell just shy of the perfect score were Reps. Mike LaRosa (St. Cloud) with “97”, Tom Goodson (Titusville) with “96” and Jason Brodeur (Sanford) with “97.”

Meanwhile, Reps. Randolph Bracy (District 45), Joe Saunders (District 49) and Karen Castor Dental (District 30) all earned “F” grades from the Chamber or scores of 58, 57 and 55, respectively.  The top scoring Democrat on the House side was Rep. Linda Stewart (District 47) who scored “68” followed by Rep. Bruce Antone (District 46) who scored “66.” Both earned a “D” rating.

Senate Democrats didn’t fare much better, according to the Chamber’s score card. Sen. Geraldine Thompson (District 12) scooped up “66” to earn a “D” while Sen. Darren Soto (District 14) also earned himself a “D” with a score of “60.”

The Chamber’s rankings were based on 8,000 votes cast during the 2013 Legislative Session which concluded earlier this month.

Nearly 59 percent of the 160 lawmakers earned an “A” (90-100) for “voting to make Florida more competitive and in support of the priority jobs issues outlined in the Florida Chamber’s 2013 Business Agenda,” according to a Chamber press release.