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Crist Won Big - But He's Still Rolling Dice

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 13, 2008

Updated: 02/11/2008 09:22 pm

Gov. Charlie Crist, we are continuously reminded, is on a roll. The popular Republican hybrid has been riding high since hitting the daily double with John McCain and Amendment 1.

No one doubts Crist's political instincts - ever since taking one for the team and sacrificially running against the unbeatable Bob Graham in the 1998 Senate race. It brought Crist statewide name recognition and a bunch of IOUs. And his gut obviously didn't desert him when it came to getting out in front on behalf of fellow maverick McCain as well as the delusory property-tax cut.

But if Crist really wants to take one for the home team - as in the state of Florida and its long-term economic viability - there's something that needs all the political capital and bully-pulpit skills he can muster. Right now.

How about trying hard to help fix a broken tax system, one that hasn't changed meaningfully since LeRoy Collins was governor? One that has yielded - thanks to the end of the rapid-growth era and the onset of mortgage meltdowns and property-tax cut fever - a $2 billion shortfall. No, that locust-like, once-every-20-years Taxation and Budget Reform Commission won't do anything dramatic.

It's time for Florida's quintessential populist - the one who's "open-minded" and all about doing "the people's business" - to do the right thing by getting behind the sort of tax reform that Florida's 21st century economy demands. The sort of tax reform that would make possible substantial property-tax cuts across the board. The sort of tax reform that is, perforce, politically dicey and would take guts as well as "open-mindedness."

To wit:

•There's the multibillion-dollar laundry list of sales-tax exemptions, a sizable chunk of which is NOT for food, prescription drugs, health services and solar-energy investments.

•We are a service economy. Yet, we don't tax services. Sure, it cost Bob Martinez in his re-election bid, but a real leader with a real feel for the financial fix that Florida is in today won't continue to treat services like another political third rail.

•As Florida Tax Watch has noted, the state could reduce property taxes by at least $2 billion annually if Florida collected sales taxes owed on Internet purchases. Of course, it's problematic, but nearly two dozen states belong to the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, which hopes to build enough leverage to prod Congress into mandating collection of e-sales taxes by retailers. Florida is not among those states.

•Then there's Floridians' birthright: No to even a minimal state income tax, the least regressive alternative of all.

Meanwhile, Crist keeps manipulating the ad hoc shells of the revenue-raising game. Expand the lottery. Sell the lottery. Lease bridges. Raid a trust fund. Oversell Seminole gambling. Impose strip-club surcharges. Delegate state services to locals.

The time for making the tough, gutsy calls is never politically ideal. But with the governor riding high and Florida's future riding on serious revenue reform, the time right now is as good as it will get.

Watch The Wording

The passage of Amendment 1, even with the 60 percent threshold, is a reminder of what is so critical to the passing of a referendum issue. How well financed the opposing sides are and who has the better demagogues are obvious. But more determinative is how the issue is viewed in its most simplistic terms.

We have the law of unintended consequences imposed upon us thanks to "smaller class sizes." Who's not in favor of better student-teacher ratios? The average homesteaded home owner will save $240 per annum, but might not like the quid pro quo of services reduced or eliminated. Who's not in favor of paying less in taxes?

Remember how Gov. Jeb Bush characterized his educational reforms and initiatives? We have the onerous FCATs because the issue was couched in terms of "accountability" in our schools. Who's not in favor of accountability?

The question ultimately begged is this: Anyone not in favor of reading the fine print?

High School 'Free Agency'

The trend of high school students transferring for better athletic opportunities isn't new. It was happening when I was coaching football in the '70s in Pennsylvania; it happened long before then; it happens in a lot of places. Notably, places that have really good teams and successful, high-profile programs.

Call it "free agency" or "passive recruiting." It happens. Especially in Florida. And it can be abused. That's why Miami-Dade and Brevard counties have rules that penalize students (with lost eligibility) who switch schools - sometimes yearly - for athletic reasons. That's a sham.

But excellence in anything is always its own allure. Ask Brandon or Plant or Armwood high schools. If they're a standard for excellence and a beacon of opportunity, that should be acknowledged - and lauded.

Too often school transfers for athletic purposes are defended by equating it with those for other purposes. A typical analogy is the student who might transfer to, say, a better music program.

Please.

Such reasoning is specious. The case should be self-evident that music or other arts are well within the curricular mandate of a school. Any school. It's part of educating the whole person, a theory that's been around a while. It's not exactly the new enlightenment. Those blessed with certain aptitudes would understandably want the best learning vehicle available.

But football, basketball, wrestling? They are extracurricular, societal adjuncts of a school. They are fun; they help give schools a rallying point; and they provide post-high school opportunity for some athletes. Period.

Student transfers, whether for sports or aesthetics, will continue. But let's not confuse the issue. Unless sophistry is now a sport.

Signs Of Other Times

Here's a suggestion for when Super Bowl XLIII comes to Tampa next year. Don't give visiting media - by and large, cynical freeloaders with too much time on their hands - any extra help in putting down the area beyond Chapter 11 condos, a notorious lap-dancing rep and a seeming surfeit of Waffle Houses (thanks, Tony Kornheiser).

Arguably, it's time to take down those signs, especially the one at Tampa International Airport that welcomes the world to the "City of Champions." That would be the Tampa Bay Bucs, Lightning and Storm. It's a bit dated, especially if the Bucs don't make a serious run at playing in next year's Tampa Super Bowl.

Fear Factor Middle School

A lot of you likely caught that story out of Pinellas County where the Osceola Middle School principal ate live crickets for lunch as his end of a bargain with students if they showed sufficient academic improvement. Anyone else wonder what schools do in the formerly good name of "motivation?" All of a sudden, dunk tanks, water-balloon targets and cream pies-in-the-face gambits seem almost pedagogical.

Is this where high-profile, high-pressure "accountability" in schools has inevitably brought us? Is this what "proactive" and "kid-oriented" has come to mean? Is there any wonder that the teaching profession doesn't get the respect it deserves? Or maybe, in some cases, doesn't deserve?

Joe O'Neill is a South Tampa writer who can be contacted at www.OpinionsToGoOnLine.com.

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