In an incredible display of limitless arrogance, House Democratic Leader Perry Thurston demonstrated once and for all why Florida Democrats in Tallahassee are incompetent, powerless and just plain stupid. The Dem Leader, opened his mouth and inserted his shoe and caused several promising bills, with significant importance to Floridians to die, after Gov. Rick Scott had promised to sign them into law if they got out of the House.
People aware of the disaster are scratching their collective heads, perplexed why Thurston would try to push a point about Medicaid that he was bound to lose, fully aware that there was nothing to gain in a pissing match with Florida Republicans who dominate Tallahassee.
Perhaps Mr. Thurston would do well to help his party mount a state-wide effort for seats in Tallahassee instead of seeking headlines for personal gain.
Maybe someone should remind Florida Democrats that they are the Super Minority, as in clout-less in a town dominated by Republicans. According to several well-informed sources:
As the recently concluded legislative session wound down, House Democratic Leader Perry Thurston made a last-ditch effort and took the extraordinary step of requesting that all bills coming to the Florida House be read in full. This unusual move, which purposefully slowed deliberations, was aimed at putting pressure on House Republicans to accept $51 billion under the Affordable Care Act, thus allowing 1.2 million uninsured Floridians to receive health coverage.
But, Thurston’s and the House Democratic Caucus’ “drastic tactics,” aimed at calling attention to Republican lawmakers’ lack of responsiveness on Medicaid, appears to have backfired. Several goods bills which would have gotten the green light from Gov. Rick Scott, never made it out of the House, as there was insufficient time to read them in full.
One bill that died was aimed at creating a Black Cultural Tourism Enhancement Commission for marketing Florida’s black cultural sites with the objective of expanding tourism, creating jobs and stimulating economic development.
Another bill was the Transactions at Farmers’ Markets that would have improved access to fruits and vegetables, particularly for low-income people. Specifically, it would have authorized vendors at farmers markets to form a third-party, FNS certified entity, thus allowing for more wide-spread use of electronic benefit transfers (EBTs) and a win-win for all parties.
Political watchers who closely followed the goings on in Tallahassee say, Thurston and the Democrats would have known House Republicans were in no mood to accept Federal monies under Obamacare, although the Senate had earlier approved a bill that would have done just that. So why introduce the “extraordinary procedural step” of requesting that every bill be read in full, thus killing the chances of other bills getting out of the House?
Senator Geraldine Thompson (District 12), doesn’t think that the procedural manoeuver by House Democrats was well thought out, although she understands why it was done.
“I don’t think that it [House Democrats request that all bills be read in full] was well thought out,” she said. “It was done to bring attention to the Medicaid expansion issue, but the votes weren’t there.”
“So what was the purpose of it? A lot of good bills were sacrificed in the process, ” Thompson added.
