FOR JEB BUSH, A WILD RIDE IN YEAR ONE GOVERNOR'S QUICK MOVES AIDED BY THE LEGISLATURE
Miami Herald, The (FL) - Monday, January 3, 2000
Author: STEVE BOUSQUET, sbousquet@herald.com
Jeb Bush promised changes when he took office as governor of Florida a year ago, and he has delivered in ways his friends - and enemies - never thought possible.
Bush marks his first anniversary in office this week riding a booming economy, a wave of popularity with voters, and an extended honeymoon with fellow and doggedly faithful Republicans in the Legislature. They rubber-stamped his agenda for school vouchers, limits on lawsuits and $1 billion in tax cuts, but seethed as Bush vetoed $313 million worth of projects in their districts - one of many ways he rejected status quo politics in 1999.
``We're getting people in some cases to think differently than they have been, just by simply asking the old `Why not?' question. Why the heck not?'' Bush said.
Bush's opening act as governor was successful, but it will be a hard act to follow.
``He may have peaked in his first year,'' says Sen. Buddy Dyer, D-Orlando, Senate Democratic leader. ``I can't think of a Democratic governor who had a Democratic Legislature that let him impose his will on them the way Bush did.''
As Bush begins his second year Wednesday with a special three-day legislative session on the issues of giving Death Row inmates a choice of execution methods and shortening court appeals, some of his initiatives face challenges in court. His most controversial proposal - replacing affirmative action with voluntary diversity - has revived an old debate about racial discrimination, the reverse of what he hoped to do when he unveiled his ``One Florida'' plan in November.
``You have to hit the ground running. If you don't, it's not going to happen,'' said Richard Scher, a University of Florida political scientist who has studied Florida governors. ``He has stepped on a lot of toes. My guess is Mr. Bush's honeymoon is over, and I think there will be increasing resistance to what has amounted to a one-man show.''
Bush governs like a man making up for lost time. It took him five years and two campaigns to attain what he calls ``the most incredible job in the world.''
His first year was a blur of 14-hour days, a cadre of loyal young aides struggling to keep up. He had to end his daily sprint up the stairs of all 22 stories of the Capitol last summer because it consumed too much time. But he finds an hour every week to tutor a middle school student, and challenged everyone else in the bureaucracy to do the same.
TOO MUCH, TOO SOON?
Bush single-handedly canceled a $6 billion high-speed rail system, secured the first installment for a $3 billion preservation of green spaces over the next decade and won a $1.7 billion endowment in the name of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles to pay for social services.
He convened a statewide task force to attack public corruption, unveiled a $1 million program in South Florida to promote literacy in families and reorganized disjointed state anti-drug efforts with a goal of cutting drug use in half within five years.
But when he proposed an overhaul of the state's 14-year-old growth management laws, even Republicans groused that it was too much, too soon. A review is moving ahead, but planners have set up local workshops and invited people to fill out a growth survey on the Internet.
There are complaints that Bush is rushing into a sweeping overhaul of the death-penalty appeals process, a complex issue about which most lawmakers have only a hazy understanding.
A cartoonist for The Tampa Tribune drew Bush as the Tazmanian Devil, zigzagging through traffic. Bush says he only appears to be governing at warp speed because his predecessor, Chiles, governed at a slower pace and was less willing to try new things.
RESISTANCE NATURAL
Bush views resistance as a byproduct of change.
``The more one wants to change things that aren't working, the greater the likelihood that the opponents of change will seek remedies in the courts. That's kind of the nature of the beast,'' Bush said.
Tension between the executive and legislative branches is nothing new, but it surfaced repeatedly between Bush and lawmakers in 1999.
First, Bush angered lawmakers with his meat-ax approach to vetoes of budget projects known as ``turkeys.'' The Senate challenged Bush's partial line-item veto of a longer school year, and won in court, and senators questioned whether state agency heads were obeying the law when they followed Bush's orders and asked for no new money next year.
``Obviously, some people got mad at the line-item vetoes,'' Bush said. ``My error may have been in not communicating my intentions eloquently enough or accurately enough. I thought I did.''
The political wounds have healed - for now. ``You have an extremely popular governor, and you have a Legislature which is Republican and wants to make Jeb Bush look good,'' Sen. Locke Burt, R-Ormond Beach, said. ``We're not the enemy.''
ALWAYS ON THE GO
As governor, Bush gets straight to the point with an exclamation mark, just as his campaign's red-and-white ``Jeb!'' bumper stickers did. He answers up to 100 e-mails a day, spending most of his time in a small office in the governor's suite.
On Bush's office walls hang a copy of a Herald cartoon on the death of the bullet train ``boondoggle,'' a poster in Spanish for a new state law imposing tougher sentences for crimes committed with guns, and a little holographic sign that reads: ``Normal people worry me.''
On the job, which is most of the time, Bush is energetic and intense, and the public seldom sees his humble side. Speaking recently to middle schoolers in Tallahassee, he said: ``A majority of Floridians think I'm doing a good job, which makes me feel good. But I know I can be better at what I do.''
Indeed, his critics say, Bush's greatest weakness is his compulsion to make changes quickly. They say the current backlash against his promise of racial diversity in government and state universities is a result of too little diversity of thought.
``He didn't think it through,'' Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, said. ``To undo [affirmative action], that is a hard pill to swallow for folks who have scrubbed toilets and cleaned rooms.''
Scher, the UF political scientist, agrees that Bush's proposal was ``rushed,'' but says the governor deserves praise for trying to head off a petition drive by California businessman Ward Connerly, who wants to end racial preferences in state contracting, education and employment with a state constitutional amendment.
``Somebody had to have the moxie to put a new proposal on the table,'' Scher said. ``I applaud him for it.''
THE 2000 AGENDA
If Bush's second year is like the first, Floridians are in for another wild ride.
In the year ahead, Bush must deal with the reality of an eight-year term limit for legislators taking effect in 2000 and its housecleaning of the state Legislature, and a possible U.S. Supreme Court rejection of the electric chair - while also helping his older brother, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, win the White House.
His 2000 agenda includes more tax cuts, a $400 million investment in transportation, a multibillion-dollar restoration of the Everglades and an overhaul of the budget system that will allow people, at the touch of a computer mouse, to find out how the state is spending money and whether Bush's goals are being met.
His fascination with a $50 billion state budget irks some lawmakers, who say Florida's Constitution makes them, not Bush, stewards of the state purse. Florida's governors are weak by design, they say, with the executive sharing power with six elected Cabinet members.
``He's trying to take over the entire budget process. He's acting like the governor of New York, in a state with a weak governor,'' Sen. Walter ``Skip'' Campbell, D-Tamarac, said.
``This isn't about power or one-upping people,'' Bush insists. ``This is about service, and how is the best way to do it.''
The new chief executive is still learning. Reflecting on his first year in public office, Bush says his biggest frustration is sitting through ``hours and hours of meetings'' each week: ``It can wear you out where you're sitting and working on other people's agendas. We've had a couple of periods where I just felt like I lost control over what we were doing, and what I was doing personally.''
To help Bush manage his time better, his staff sets aside one day each month when Bush controls his schedule and ``nobody schedules me but me,'' he said. He wants to spend more time reflecting, bouncing ideas off others and anticipating problems before they happen.
``That's kind of my job,'' Bush said.
BUSH'S FIRST YEAR
Highlights of Gov. Jeb Bush's first year in office:
BUDGET: Vetoed $313 million in projects in lawmakers' districts, most of which he called ``turkeys'' lacking any statewide benefit. Imposed criteria for future projects - including advance review by the governor's staff.
ENVIRONMENT: Expanded Preservation 2000, the state's open-space program, by $3 billion over the next decade. He angered environmentalists by not approving $100 million for restoration of the Everglades, but said Glades restoration will be a priority in 2000.
HUMAN SERVICES: Facing a federal lawsuit he inherited when he took office, Bush increased the state budget for the developmentally disabled by $200 million a year and accelerated the trend of having nonprofit private groups provide foster care and family services.
RACE RELATIONS: Uncharacteristically for a conservative Republican, Bush declared diversity an ``important state goal.'' But he angered black leaders and some women when he proposed ending affirmative action and racial preferences in state contracting, hiring and university admissions, replacing it with a voluntary diversity program and guaranteed university admissions for the top 20 percent of high school students.
TRANSPORTATION: Derailed a costly high-speed rail system planned to link Miami with Orlando and Tampa, calling it a boondoggle, and diverted $70 million to a new ``fast-track'' program of road projects with a tie to economic development.
Bush marks his first anniversary in office this week riding a booming economy, a wave of popularity with voters, and an extended honeymoon with fellow and doggedly faithful Republicans in the Legislature. They rubber-stamped his agenda for school vouchers, limits on lawsuits and $1 billion in tax cuts, but seethed as Bush vetoed $313 million worth of projects in their districts - one of many ways he rejected status quo politics in 1999.
``We're getting people in some cases to think differently than they have been, just by simply asking the old `Why not?' question. Why the heck not?'' Bush said.
Bush's opening act as governor was successful, but it will be a hard act to follow.
``He may have peaked in his first year,'' says Sen. Buddy Dyer, D-Orlando, Senate Democratic leader. ``I can't think of a Democratic governor who had a Democratic Legislature that let him impose his will on them the way Bush did.''
As Bush begins his second year Wednesday with a special three-day legislative session on the issues of giving Death Row inmates a choice of execution methods and shortening court appeals, some of his initiatives face challenges in court. His most controversial proposal - replacing affirmative action with voluntary diversity - has revived an old debate about racial discrimination, the reverse of what he hoped to do when he unveiled his ``One Florida'' plan in November.
``You have to hit the ground running. If you don't, it's not going to happen,'' said Richard Scher, a University of Florida political scientist who has studied Florida governors. ``He has stepped on a lot of toes. My guess is Mr. Bush's honeymoon is over, and I think there will be increasing resistance to what has amounted to a one-man show.''
Bush governs like a man making up for lost time. It took him five years and two campaigns to attain what he calls ``the most incredible job in the world.''
His first year was a blur of 14-hour days, a cadre of loyal young aides struggling to keep up. He had to end his daily sprint up the stairs of all 22 stories of the Capitol last summer because it consumed too much time. But he finds an hour every week to tutor a middle school student, and challenged everyone else in the bureaucracy to do the same.
TOO MUCH, TOO SOON?
Bush single-handedly canceled a $6 billion high-speed rail system, secured the first installment for a $3 billion preservation of green spaces over the next decade and won a $1.7 billion endowment in the name of the late Gov. Lawton Chiles to pay for social services.
He convened a statewide task force to attack public corruption, unveiled a $1 million program in South Florida to promote literacy in families and reorganized disjointed state anti-drug efforts with a goal of cutting drug use in half within five years.
But when he proposed an overhaul of the state's 14-year-old growth management laws, even Republicans groused that it was too much, too soon. A review is moving ahead, but planners have set up local workshops and invited people to fill out a growth survey on the Internet.
There are complaints that Bush is rushing into a sweeping overhaul of the death-penalty appeals process, a complex issue about which most lawmakers have only a hazy understanding.
A cartoonist for The Tampa Tribune drew Bush as the Tazmanian Devil, zigzagging through traffic. Bush says he only appears to be governing at warp speed because his predecessor, Chiles, governed at a slower pace and was less willing to try new things.
RESISTANCE NATURAL
Bush views resistance as a byproduct of change.
``The more one wants to change things that aren't working, the greater the likelihood that the opponents of change will seek remedies in the courts. That's kind of the nature of the beast,'' Bush said.
Tension between the executive and legislative branches is nothing new, but it surfaced repeatedly between Bush and lawmakers in 1999.
First, Bush angered lawmakers with his meat-ax approach to vetoes of budget projects known as ``turkeys.'' The Senate challenged Bush's partial line-item veto of a longer school year, and won in court, and senators questioned whether state agency heads were obeying the law when they followed Bush's orders and asked for no new money next year.
``Obviously, some people got mad at the line-item vetoes,'' Bush said. ``My error may have been in not communicating my intentions eloquently enough or accurately enough. I thought I did.''
The political wounds have healed - for now. ``You have an extremely popular governor, and you have a Legislature which is Republican and wants to make Jeb Bush look good,'' Sen. Locke Burt, R-Ormond Beach, said. ``We're not the enemy.''
ALWAYS ON THE GO
As governor, Bush gets straight to the point with an exclamation mark, just as his campaign's red-and-white ``Jeb!'' bumper stickers did. He answers up to 100 e-mails a day, spending most of his time in a small office in the governor's suite.
On Bush's office walls hang a copy of a Herald cartoon on the death of the bullet train ``boondoggle,'' a poster in Spanish for a new state law imposing tougher sentences for crimes committed with guns, and a little holographic sign that reads: ``Normal people worry me.''
On the job, which is most of the time, Bush is energetic and intense, and the public seldom sees his humble side. Speaking recently to middle schoolers in Tallahassee, he said: ``A majority of Floridians think I'm doing a good job, which makes me feel good. But I know I can be better at what I do.''
Indeed, his critics say, Bush's greatest weakness is his compulsion to make changes quickly. They say the current backlash against his promise of racial diversity in government and state universities is a result of too little diversity of thought.
``He didn't think it through,'' Sen. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, said. ``To undo [affirmative action], that is a hard pill to swallow for folks who have scrubbed toilets and cleaned rooms.''
Scher, the UF political scientist, agrees that Bush's proposal was ``rushed,'' but says the governor deserves praise for trying to head off a petition drive by California businessman Ward Connerly, who wants to end racial preferences in state contracting, education and employment with a state constitutional amendment.
``Somebody had to have the moxie to put a new proposal on the table,'' Scher said. ``I applaud him for it.''
THE 2000 AGENDA
If Bush's second year is like the first, Floridians are in for another wild ride.
In the year ahead, Bush must deal with the reality of an eight-year term limit for legislators taking effect in 2000 and its housecleaning of the state Legislature, and a possible U.S. Supreme Court rejection of the electric chair - while also helping his older brother, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, win the White House.
His 2000 agenda includes more tax cuts, a $400 million investment in transportation, a multibillion-dollar restoration of the Everglades and an overhaul of the budget system that will allow people, at the touch of a computer mouse, to find out how the state is spending money and whether Bush's goals are being met.
His fascination with a $50 billion state budget irks some lawmakers, who say Florida's Constitution makes them, not Bush, stewards of the state purse. Florida's governors are weak by design, they say, with the executive sharing power with six elected Cabinet members.
``He's trying to take over the entire budget process. He's acting like the governor of New York, in a state with a weak governor,'' Sen. Walter ``Skip'' Campbell, D-Tamarac, said.
``This isn't about power or one-upping people,'' Bush insists. ``This is about service, and how is the best way to do it.''
The new chief executive is still learning. Reflecting on his first year in public office, Bush says his biggest frustration is sitting through ``hours and hours of meetings'' each week: ``It can wear you out where you're sitting and working on other people's agendas. We've had a couple of periods where I just felt like I lost control over what we were doing, and what I was doing personally.''
To help Bush manage his time better, his staff sets aside one day each month when Bush controls his schedule and ``nobody schedules me but me,'' he said. He wants to spend more time reflecting, bouncing ideas off others and anticipating problems before they happen.
``That's kind of my job,'' Bush said.
BUSH'S FIRST YEAR
Highlights of Gov. Jeb Bush's first year in office:
BUDGET: Vetoed $313 million in projects in lawmakers' districts, most of which he called ``turkeys'' lacking any statewide benefit. Imposed criteria for future projects - including advance review by the governor's staff.
ENVIRONMENT: Expanded Preservation 2000, the state's open-space program, by $3 billion over the next decade. He angered environmentalists by not approving $100 million for restoration of the Everglades, but said Glades restoration will be a priority in 2000.
HUMAN SERVICES: Facing a federal lawsuit he inherited when he took office, Bush increased the state budget for the developmentally disabled by $200 million a year and accelerated the trend of having nonprofit private groups provide foster care and family services.
RACE RELATIONS: Uncharacteristically for a conservative Republican, Bush declared diversity an ``important state goal.'' But he angered black leaders and some women when he proposed ending affirmative action and racial preferences in state contracting, hiring and university admissions, replacing it with a voluntary diversity program and guaranteed university admissions for the top 20 percent of high school students.
TRANSPORTATION: Derailed a costly high-speed rail system planned to link Miami with Orlando and Tampa, calling it a boondoggle, and diverted $70 million to a new ``fast-track'' program of road projects with a tie to economic development.
No comments:
Post a Comment