Florida Governor Faces Common Core Dilemma

Florida governor Rick Scott

When we last visited Florida governor Rick Scott, the Sunshine State's fearless leader was ducking an education conference the gov himself had requested. In recent days, as a Miami Herald story noted, Scott has picked up the education mantle he so unceremoniously dropped. The governor is now considering making a statement about Florida's commitment to Common Core standards in K-12 education.

His position on the subject will be interesting. Scott's GOP base is very restive regarding anything involving the federal government, and downright nasty if Barack Obama has any association with a program. Common Core hits the bull's eye on both counts. Scott's larger issue is that his principal political benefactor is Jeb Bush, who happens to favor Common Core initiatives.

Scott's dilemma mirrors the Republican Party's schizophrenia on many social issues. I suspect the Florida governor will back Common Core standards and related assessment testing, simply because the state is already in immersed in the K-12 world's deep water: Common Core, charter schools, and the tech mafia that offers "solutions" to problems that conveniently suit its commercial needs. Also, in Florida, what Jeb Bush wants, Jeb Bush usually gets.

Florida Governor, Jeb Bush Hold Hush-Hush Meeting About Education

Florida governor Rick Scott

Florida governor Rick Scott provided some curious political acrobatics involving the Sunshine State's education system this week. For starters, he convened a three-day education summit. One might infer that the gov attended the gathering. Au contraire. Governor Scott was a no-show to his own event. However, according to the Miami Herald, he found time to arrange a get-together the day after the summit with none other than Jeb Bush.

Also attending the meeting were the state's Board of Education chairperson and a powerful state senator closely allied to Bush. The three-dozen Florida education leaders who participated in the summit were not invited. The governor's spokesperson had no details to add to the story; Scott's schedule simply indicated "Miami FL."

Did anyone say "transparency?"

Florida Electoral Board KOs Christian Slater's Provisional Ballot

Miami-Dade Election Board letter
to "Christina Slater"
(photo:  Miami Herald)

Florida continues to be the epicenter of the political fight for voting rights. The most recent episode involves the Miami-Dade electoral board, which decided to void a provisional ballot cast by movie star Christian Slater. The board's reasoning was that Slater's ballot signature did not match the John Hancock on his voter registration form.

The story, as reported in a Miami Herald blog includes a ribald touch. The board's notification letter addressed the highly visible actor as "Christina Slater."

For the record, the Herald noted that portions of the Slater "rejected" vote story first appeared in "the website BuzzFeed."

The most disturbing aspect of the incident was properly noted by the Herald:

Get ready for more stories like this in Florida. Tens of thousands of provisional ballots were cast in Florida and many of them didn't count.

Voting American Style

Election Day for the presidency, many US senate seats, a posse of House reps, state and local offices is two days from today.

Early voting line/Miami
(photo from The New York Times)

In a number of states, early voting has commenced. Not surprisingly, Florida's early voting is already controversial. Officials of Florida's Republican governor says the early voting process is operating smoothly. That's true if your standard of a well-run process is a seven-hour wait for the opportunity to vote, as some south Floridians have experienced, according to a Miami Herald report.

In New Jersey, where I live, early voting became something of a necessity for many people whose lives were disrupted by the effects of Hurricane Sandy. Voters could go to the county seat and cast a ballot. The obvious problem is that the Garden State is experiencing gasoline rationing and many people are afraid to drive in this fuel-challenged situation. In fairness, New Jersey's GOP governor Chris Christie is trying to do the right thing for voters, something Florida governor Rick Scott's administration cannot honestly claim.

Sign on Milwaukee's East Side,
October 2012
(photo by Tim Hoey)

What's striking in this presidential election is the rendering of the electoral garment into two roughly equal pieces. My wife and I were recently in Wisconsin, a so-called "battleground" state. Really, the Badger State was the 2012 election's version of the Spanish Civil War, courtesy of the election of Scott Walker to the governor's office, his subsequent evisceration of public workers' collective bargaining rights, and a failed recall vote. Walker's victory in the recall balloting has not diminished the electoral fervor this fall. Wisconsin is home to the GOP's vice presidential candidate, borders Barack Obama's home base of Chicago, and has a very tight US senate race that features an openly lesbian candidate.

In Wisconsin, my wife and I saw an astonishing number of intense TV political commercials. We expected that. What we were unprepared for was a parade of billboards that mostly featured pro-Romney messages or strongly anti-Obama messages. Nothing seemed very sacred, least of all the politicized churches, the majority of which felt comfortable embracing the GOP message.

Billboards paid for by venture capitalists
Stephen and Nancy Einhorn.
They also contributed $50,000 to
Scott Walker's election as Wisconsin governor.

Last night, we attended a small dinner party a short drive from our home. One of the hosts was an Italian-born painter. The Italian voting system is quite different from the American version, in that Italians have to travel to the town or city of their birth in order to vote. The entire country is literally on the move during the Italian election period. I asked the painter if he could envision Americans mirroring the Italian voting procedure. He laughed and simply said, "Basta, Tim."

If we could only say that for our own country's very screwed up political process.

Univision, Senator Marco Rubio, and Alleged Media Muscle

Media outlets have their ways of trying to get what they want. Generally, if there is any reporting of episodes involving media muscle, it's subdued. So, when an exception to the media's "look no evil, speak no evil, see no evil" approach to its peers' actions, it's a noteworthy event.

Senator Marco Rubio

That's what makes today's Miami Herald's story about Univision's  dance with US Senator Marco Rubio so fascinating. The newspaper's report carefully noted how a Univision news executive contacted Rubio's office with a deal he might not want to refuse. The Herald article alleges that, in exchange for a personal appearance by Rubio on a Univision national program, an unflattering story about a Rubio relative would "be softened or might not run at all."

Now, it's possible that interests opposed to Univision, or aligned with Rubio, provided useful details about this story. It's also entirely conceivable that the Herald published the article with good journalism as its sole rationale. What's much more interesting is Univision's motivation.

The Univision ploy, if the facts, inferential details, and likely conclusions hold water, is a vivid demonstration of a major media firm attempting to coerce an elected federal official for corporate gain. We've seen this scenario over the years in the business of celebrity journalism, in which extortion, blackmail, and other unsavory tactics are among the media's darker arts. Of course, politics is no stranger to these schemes. For the layperson, the Herald's story opens a fascinating window into how things really happen from the inside out.