Tallahassee Shutting Out Locals in Water Policies - T. Swihart

Policy expert, Tom Swihart, weighs in. 

In his editorial carried this morning in the St. Petersburg Times, former Department of Environmental Regulation policy analyst, Tom Swihart, echoes the growing concern over the shift of local control of water policy decisions to the state and what it portends.  It's a trend, he notes, that flies in the face of the intent of former state leaders who, "... didn't think that all water wisdom resided in Tallahassee."

 Swihart is a respected thinker and author of a book entitled, Florida's Water: A Fragile Resource in a Vulnerable State," to be published next month.  Read about his book Here.

St. Petersburg Times

June 28, 2011

Takeover of Florida water shuts out citizens

By Tom Swihart, special to the Times

Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature are breaking a long-standing Florida tradition of shared water management power. They are shifting all of the big water decisions to Tallahassee. These decisions will be made behind closed doors.

Recent state power grabs have overturned four decades of making key water management decisions at the local and regional level in Florida. When the Florida Water Resources Act became law in 1972, the governor and Legislature didn't think that all water wisdom resided in Tallahassee.

Rather, the founders of Florida's modern water management system deliberately created a system of shared water power, somewhat akin to the balance in the U.S. Constitution between the states and the federal government. The governing boards of the regional water districts were given wide discretion to address the water problems of their region but always under the "general supervision" of the state.

With neither the state nor the water management districts having all of the power, the two levels of government sometimes disagreed on the best policy. But, like the relationship between the 50 states and the federal government, it is healthier to have many voices and open disagreement than having one central authority make all major decisions out of the public eye.

Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature are breaking this long-standing Florida tradition of shared water management power. They are shifting all of the big water decisions to Tallahassee. These decisions will be made behind closed doors in the capital, unlike the decisions made in public meetings by the governing boards of the regional water districts after hearing from local residents.

How have the levers of power shifted to Tallahassee? Start with the power to decide on taxes. During his campaign for governor, Scott did not say he wanted to cut the property tax levy of the water management districts. Nonetheless, right after being inaugurated, he announced his support for a statutory cut in regional water management taxes. An ideologically compatible Legislature soon passed that legislation and threw in additional provisions to give it more power over water management decisions. The Legislature declared that it would specify not just the overall tax levels but even how much the districts would spend on individual programs.

Water power is being centralized in other ways, too. In the Tampa Bay region, Scott refused to appoint members to the subsidiary basin boards that the Southwest Florida Water Management District established the same day as the district itself in 1961. He then successfully pressured Swiftmud to terminate the local boards. That action silenced local voices and makes it easier for all future governors to get their way without having to hear bothersome local opinions.

Only two weeks ago, Scott's Department of Environmental Protection sent a memo to all five water management districts emphasizing that they were to follow state directives. The district governing boards, including Scott's new appointees, appear ready to meekly comply.

It is not as if the water management districts have ever been free to act without substantial oversight. It is a question of balance - how far the governor and Legislature should go in micromanaging regional water management. For example, the governor has long had the power to review and disapprove district budgets. The 2011 Legislature gave itself the very same power to disapprove water management district budgets. The combined result is a confusing duplicative mess, sure to be saturated with politics.

Who is in charge of water management now? The governor? The secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection? Legislative committees that review proposed district budgets? All of them are "in charge," which means that none of them are. Keep in mind, too, that none of these supervising bodies is subject to the government-in-the-sunshine requirements that apply to meetings of the water management districts.

Big cuts to water management district budgets will prevent many Florida water problems from being solved. But over the long run, the centralization of water management power in Tallahassee will do even more harm. Citizens no longer have meaningful access to water management decisionmaking. Tallahassee does not know best. Our streams, lakes, springs, rivers, wetlands and estuaries will pay the price of this quest to centralize power over water management.

Tom Swihart worked until last fall as the administrator of the Office of Water Policy in the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. His new book, Florida's Water: A Fragile Resource in a Vulnerable State, is being published next month

Nancy Argenziano Rants About the Ugly Underbelly of T-Town Politics

I'm no fan of Nancy Argenziano.  In fact, I don't know anybody that's fan of hers, except maybe motorcycle riders who don't like to wear helmets ... and are still alive. 

She once wrote a letter about how people who work in government are just sucking at the public “teat” which was published in a local newspaper, including the use of that word.  She was in the legislature at the time doing a little “sucking” of her own and remained there for years until she switched nipples and got herself appointed to the Public Service Commission where she was pulling down a 6-figure salary.  Sucking, it turns out, was the only way she could make a living.

Recently, she published a lengthy, rambling diatribe about the ugly underbelly of T-Town politics which I reprint here.  The letter is floating around the internet but here’s a link to the Citrus Chronicle version if you want to see it published.  Prepare yourself.  There’s a picture of her there that’ll yank you right out of your boots if you’re not ready for it (not the one shown here).

Nevertheless, most thinking people will probably never acknowledge that deep inside they will think she’s more right than wrong in her rant.  The problem is that she is her own worst enemy.  Too shrill.  Like a banshee too shrill.  Too shrill because the internet has relegated shrill to junk mail status.  She’s lost her effectiveness. 

Read the comments to her article, if you can stomach it, and you’ll notice that few get or care what she’s really saying.  They just cast her into the sour grapes barrel because of her PSC fiasco (she was fired by an angry legislature consisting of many of her former cronies).  Many declare that all the points she makes are due to her loss of allegiance to the republican party, not because they may reflect truth.  Note that the concern is for the party not truth or country.

I think I’m going to call her.  Maybe she’ll get excited about the loss of the Withlacoochee Basin Board.  That would be really cool.  The new members at SWFWMD have never met her.  In the words of Jack Nicholson as The Riddler in the Batman movie, “Wait’ll they get a load of (her)!!!”

Heeeeeerrrsssss Nancy!:

Make no mistake: This is not about liberals vs. conservatives — or Republicans vs.  Democrats; it’s about what is right and what is wrong. The legislation and policies of the governor and legislative leadership are wrong. 

It’s about shouting a warning to Floridians that their elected leaders are selling them down the river, saying one thing, but doing another. 

At Least Hillsborough Gets A Representative At SWFWMD ... but what counties won't?



Read my lips, no more local basin basin board members!

 According to a SWFWMD communication received today, Governor Scott has announced the appointment of Michael A. Babb to the Governing Board, for the Hillsborough County seat. Babb, of Tampa, is the president of Two Rivers Ranch Inc.  He succeeds Maritza Rovira-Forino on the Governing Board and is appointed for a term beginning June 23, 2011, and ending March 1, 2014.

The Governor also accepted the resignation of SWFWMD's immediate past chair, Ronald Oakley. Mr. Oakley will be recognized for his four years of service at the July 26 Governing Board meeting in Tampa. 

It is unlikely the Governor will be in attendance to express his personal appreciation to Ron for a job well done.  Ron, as we know, was not among the governor’s Chosen Ones and thus appears to have been banished from the board for incompatibility.  Yes, I know he resigned, but probably only because he saw the guillotine on its way down.

At least we now know the Governor is capable of making appointments.

I was going to say it is sad, but outrageous is more appropriate, that he found it too much trouble to appoint local representatives to the district's now defunct basin boards and purposely let them become “unconstituted” (sic)  as members’ terms expired. 

The governor's lack of action is telling.  Shows what he really thinks about keeping the decisions of government closest to The People despite his public pronouncements to the contrary.

Lots of the governor’s actions are telling and are being noticed by his fellow republicans.  Makes me feel not so alone.   Have you heard what his latest approval rating is?  A Florida Trend poll shows him with a 19% approval by responding Florida voters!

Another poll by Quinnipiac University that was much more comprehensive gave him only a 29% approval rating.

But at 19% and realizing Florida Trend’s readership is primarily Florida’s Business Community, you have to wonder, is the governor listening?  Does he hear the poll bell tolling?

Scott Criticized For Rubbing Salt In Wounds To Make Questionable Political Point

Original story link:
  http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/scott-touts-property-tax-cut-bill-at-south-1554221.html

The Palm Beach Post News

Scott touts property tax cut bill at South Florida water district where public job cuts anticipated

By Christine Stapleton

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 5:57 p.m. Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Posted: 5:17 a.m. Wednesday, June 22, 2011

WEST PALM BEACH — Gov. Rick Scott was harshly criticized for being insensitive Wednesday after he traveled to the South Florida Water Management District to sign a bill that will cut $128 million from the district budget and cost many of its workers their jobs.

"We can agree to disagree on the merits of the bill the governor signed, but to come to Palm Beach County and rub salt in the wounds of people who will soon go home to their families unemployed is insulting and unnecessarily cruel," said State Rep. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth. "Can you imagine the governor showing up to celebrate your unemployment?"

Need a job? SWFWMD has an opening.

Qualifications:  Know the governor and how to spell “Tea-Party” very loudly.

Here's your chance to be the CEO of one of the most important agencies in Florida government today, though maybe not so much tomorrow. 

You’ll have the honor of serving at the pleasure of 13 governing board members, the governor of the great State of Florida and every Senator of the Florida Senate, who can hold up your confirmation or threaten you personally in ways that can render you no less potent than if you'd just suffered botched prostate surgery.  As such, you get to play tit for tat chess with any member of that auspicious group who will endlessly attempt to proffer their political ambitions at your personal and professional expense. 

You'll get to wrestle with a rapidly shrinking $200,000,000 budget and staff of over 800 employees, all for a salary that bespeaks your deep personal concern for the Florida taxpayer and which Sir Scott will not allow to be over, my guess, of about $150,000. (which works out, given it's a 24-7 job, to about one fourth of what a good mechanic gets or $17.12 per hour.).