Senate Bill 552 should be re-named to either the [B][I]"good ole boy bill"[/I][/B] or the [B][I]"Walton County BCC Bill" [/I][/B]:shock: Either are quite appropriate.:idontno: ======================================================== Bill to curb public corruption faces uphill battle in Legislature November 11, 2011 07:32:15 AM TOM McLAUGHLIN/Florida Freedom Newspapers More than 70 Florida tea party organizations, state Sen. Paula Dockery, State Rep. Matt Gaetz and co-sponsors from both parties hope to pass an ethics bill targeted at changing how some state lawmakers do business. It will be introduced when the Legislature convenes in January. •View a copy of the bill. But Henry Kelley, spokesman for the Fort Walton Beach Tea Party and a key bill advocate, already has pronounced it “dead on arrival.” Senate Bill 552, the Ethical Practices Act of 2012, attempts to incorporate into law the recommendations of a grand jury impaneled by Gov. Charlie Crist in 2010 to study public corruption. If passed, the bill would prohibit legislators from voting or participating in legislation that would benefit them or a relative. It also would prevent members from participating in legislation that could benefit their business associates, employer, a board they sit on or a “principal that has retained the member,” according to bill talking points provided by Dockery’s office. Like Kelley, Dockery, a Lakeland Republican, has little faith that Senate leaders will allow her bill to pass through the Legislature’s upper chamber. She wrote in an email that one indicator of the bill’s ultimate fate is that it will have to be considered by five committees before it can reach the Senate floor for a vote. “Three to four committee references are an average number. When a bill is assigned five, it is a clear indication that the leadership does not want the bill to make it to the floor of the Senate for a vote,” Dockery wrote. State Sen. Don Gaetz of Niceville, slated to be the next Senate president, is clearly considered a member of the “leadership.” Gaetz acknowledged that Dockery’s bill doesn’t have much of a chance to pass the Senate as written. But he added that a separate piece of ethics legislation he intends to co-author with Sen. John Thrasher should move through the Senate “with a strong following breeze.” Gaetz said he knew of nothing specifically wrong with Dockery’s bill, but pointed out that she has tried unsuccessfully for the last five years to pass similar legislation. “Sometimes in the Legislature an issue and advocate get tied up together,” he said. “I believe a bill led by Sen. Thrasher has a better chance to pass. “Maybe some of her good ideas and our good ideas will get into the same bill,” Gaetz said. Dockery said last year the Senate leadership “made a show of introducing their own (ethics) bill.” That legislation never made it out of committee. “It was just for that — show,” she said. Gaetz’s son, Matt Gaetz of Fort Walton Beach, is co-sponsoring a House bill identical to Dockery’s. He said he and his co-sponsors are “probably on the leading edge of this issue” and shouldn’t expect passage of their bill, House Bill 359, this year. The younger Gaetz added that he will continue to support bills “ensuring legislators don’t find ways to enrich themselves while serving.” “Service, like church, is supposed to be sacrificial,” he said. Matt Gaetz said his father’s words, “we have to have government we are proud of” — spoken at the ceremony designating Don Gaetz as the next Senate president — serves as a “constant reminder” to him to fight for transparency in government. Kelley has taken the ethics bill “issue lead” for Florida’s Tea Party Network, an organization comprised of more than 70 independent groups. He said the only way the legislation will survive in the Legislature this year is through a bipartisan effort. Dockery said some Democrats have signed on to her ethics bill. “Ethics is not a partisan issue, and I seek the support of anyone who understands that those who are elected to serve should have only the highest standards,” she said in her email. However, Dockery added that “a coalition doesn’t make a difference if leadership does not allow a bill to be heard.” And that leadership includes both Democrats and Republicans, according to Kelley. He said he has spoken to minority leaders in the House and Senate and received no offers to help push the ethics bills. “As disappointed as I am in the Republican leadership’s failure to put this bill in front of the entire body, I’m equally disappointed that I can’t find any Democrats to support it,” he said. “It shows me that no one in leadership in either party is interested in it.” Read more: [url]http://www.newsherald.com/articles/state-98308-legislature-bill.html#ixzz1dPf78bqK[/url]
