Steve Wise and the Senate Strong Arm the People

From Scathing Purple Musings

by Bob Sykes

When the student member of the Florida Board of Governors, Michael Long, dared to stand up to Senator JD Alexander, the powerful republican told him that he had “jeopardized his future career.” Alexander just got closer to following through on his threat. From the Miami Herald:

The bill that would make the student member of the Florida Board of Governors a position appointed by the governor moved ahead in the House education committee Tuesday, despite fervent testimony on students from both sides.

As the state constitution now spells it out, that member is the chair of the Florida Student Association, an organization made up of student body presidents from the state universities. The problem, says bill sponsor Rep. Matt Gaetz, is that the FSA charges dues. He sees the set-up as “pay-to-play.” Only one university is not an FSA member — Gaetz’s alma mater, Florida State University.

But the current FSA chairman and BOG student member, Michael Long, says the current arrangement works. FSA recently amended its bylaws so that membership is not contingent on dues. If FSU’s student body president wanted to join the group, even as a voting member, the school wouldn’t need to pay a dime. Plus, another change to the bylaws says that a unanimous vote among all members is required to implement dues. So if FSU wants to do away with all dues for everybody, they could be that lone dissenting vote

Gaetz – or any republican in the legislature for that matter – has some nerve to use “pay to play” as justification for a bill. Not with all the campaign cash that flows into their coffers from contributors like charter schools and the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Jacksonville Senator Steve Wise made the laughable statement this week that “this senate doesn’t strong-arm people.” Riiiiiiiight. When they’re not trying to eliminate opponents like Long, they’re scheming secret privatization measures.

If that’s not strong-arming, the only other viable description is that its corrupt.

http://bobsidlethoughtsandmusings.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/steve-wises-laughable-this-senate-doesnt-strong-arm-people/