The 2011 Legislature

Tallahassee 2011 was a one-sided battle between powerful corporate interests and public interest groups like FCAN, FPIRG, environmentalists, women, labor, and more. None of us could match the campaign money and the army of lobbyists representing big agriculture, theme parks, insurance companies, utilities, and all the rest. 

Represented by the Chamber of Commerce, Associated Industries, and various trade groups, the corporados swarmed and took what they believe is rightfully theirs :  tax breaks, growth management laws, voting rights, state worker pensions, school money, abortion rights, and more.

The only real drama came when corporations fought corporations, or corporations fought Republican ideology. For instance, the Tea Parties insisted on immigration laws, including use of the Federal E-Verify system. This caused agriculture, in particular, but many other businesses as well, to dread doing without the big profits they make from cheap immigrant labor.

So Sen. JD Alexander, the snarky owner of Alico farms, and a wealthy descendant of Ben Hill Griffin, made a show of caring about his workers, and stopped the bill. If he really cared about his workers he would be fighting for the DREAM act so they could become citizens.

Insurance

The insurance companies, savoring the opportunities of a veto proof Republican majority in the House and the Senate, went after everything that they could think of.  FCAN and others bravely fought back, but I cannot tell you that we could match their lobbyists or pubic relations firms. However, we did exploit their one weakness:  Legislators were afraid to raise rates during a difficult economy.

That proved to be the proper lever, and bills to raise Citizens’ rates by 50%, eliminate sinkhole coverage, and cut mitigation discounts fell by the wayside. It was easier for legislators to risk the 1% chance of a huge storm than to face voters with insurance bills and corporate profit reports in hand.

Voting Rights

Fear did not stop the Legislature from curtailing early voting and voter registration. I’m sure they feel such technical changes are lost on most Floridians and many will never know they’ve been disenfranchised until it’s too late. We’re going to take them on though, with big voter registration drives and GOTV plans. FCAN and its allies have always relished the opportunity to hold legislators accountable at the ballot box. We will not be stopped.

While it seems that our battle against the powers that run Florida is unlikely, and we are not winning at the moment, things do change. Ideas can carry the day. People can understand what is being done in their name and take action. We will stretch our resources as far as needed. We believe that we must fight for our values, no matter the odds, regardless of the strength of our opponents. To do otherwise would be to abandon our democracy and give up control to corporations, who are not people.

If you want to help, find the donate button and pitch in whatever you can. We’ll put it to work.