Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Upcoming Florida Elections

I know most of us are looking forward to November 4th so we can return to a life without the nasty television ads, mailboxes full of campaign literature and the frequent robo calls.  But there was one national political story that caught my attention this week because it indirectly referred to a member of a well known St. Lucie County family.
A story in last week’s New York Times Magazine centered on the money behind Florida’s gubernatorial race.  One of Charlie Crist’s biggest supporters is Tom Steyer, who according to the article, has earmarked $50 million of his own money for candidates with strong environmental records.  The American for Prosperity, a group sponsored by the Koch brothers, is helping out the Scott Campaign.
The lengthy article details the environmental differences between the two candidates and pointed out that when Rick Scott took office he removed the head of Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection, who was a trained scientist with “decades of experience in environmental policies.”  That scientist is Mimi Abood Drew, who was raised in St. Lucie County, graduated from Dan McCarty High School in 1968, received a Master’s Degree from the University of Florida in Environmental Engineering, began her environmental engineering career at the Department of Environmental Regulation (now the Department of Environmental Protection) in 1978 and quickly moved up the ranks serving under both Democrat and Republican governor.  (Full disclosure I was her roommate at UF).
In 1991, she was named the University of Florida’s “Alumni of the Decade” for the 1970’s and cited her environmental expertise and accomplishments.  She brought the department into the computer age and deftly helped manage a staff that needed to balance Florida’s growing population with the environmental ramifications of that explosive development.
Although she lives in Tallahassee, she frequently returned home both on business and to visit family.  Her sister, Carol Hilson, is also known for her public work works, serving as a St. Lucie County School Board member.  Her mother, Anne Abood, was co-founder of the Treasure Coast Opera Society and led the non-profit for years.   Growing up in Fort Pierce in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Drew has a special appreciation for the Indian River and area beaches.  At the DEP, that carried to her concerns over to the Indian River Lagoon and the deterioration of the Everglades.
When Rick Scott won the election four years ago, Drew retired and formed her own company (Drew & Associates, LLC).  The DEP saw other changes, according to press reports, 58 employees, many of them scientists Drew had worked with for decades, were laid off.
Less than a year after his election, Governor Scott boasted at a Conservative Political Action Conference that he had laid off 15,000 public workers, saying “government does not create jobs.”
Governor Scott did realize that he did need one of those employees back on the state payroll.  He asked Drew to return as a consultant, working as the state’s chief negotiator on the BP oil spill settlement.  She was still at the DEP when the spill occurred and one to the leaders in assessing the damage and mitigation needed.  It certainly made sense that she could help figure out how much the stated deserved and how the money should be spent.  So for the past three years she has worked with the other Gulf States, the U.S. Department of Justice and BP, figuring out how the billions of dollars were to be distributed and analyzing comprehensive plans for restoration projects.  Again Drew is using the lessons she had learned at the DEP---juggling the needs of the environment with the demands of politicians, trying her best to get what is due to the Florida counties affected by spill and then making sure that the settlement money is spent properly.
As she has her entire career, Drew quietly does her job and does it well, whether it is testifying before a U.S. Senate Committee in Washington or meeting with her counterparts in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas to hammer out the specifics of restoration projects.  She is reluctant to talk politics and says she just wants to do what’s right for the environment, no matter who is in office.
After reading the New York Times article, I called Drew and asked her who she thought was going to win the governor’s race, and I asked her what she was going to do when her consultant’s job was over.
I wasn’t surprised with her reply.  The woman who has worked with and won the respect of governors who included Bob Graham, Lawton Chiles, Bob Martinez and Jeb Bush, was not going to predict the winner of this race.  And she certainly wasn’t going to speculate on whether she would be offered her old job back.
“I just don’t know,”  was her answer to both questions.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Poindexter Williams

                  During these dog days of summer, I find myself flipping through the TV stations, listening to the squabbling among the talking heads about what to do in Iraq and alternatively reliving my teenage years with CNN’s series on the Sixties.
            Vietnam has been featured prominently in both venues.   Will we repeat the mistakes we made in Vietnam by putting in more troops in Iraq?  CNN’s portrayal of the Vietnam War also brought back personal memories that put Fort Pierce in the national news in a very bad way.   While in high school in the late 60s I worked part-time for Hillcrest Memorial Gardens on North U.S.1 between Vero and Fort Pierce.   My job was to call residents to let them know that any serviceman killed during the Vietnam War would receive a free burial plot at Hillcrest.  
 During the evening hours my friend, Pam Rose, who worked with me, and I would receive a list of people to call.   Then before leaving the small office at the cemetery, the manager would give us another directive. “Remember, if a black person picks up the phone, just hang up,” he said.  The free plot offer wasfor whites only.
          Even though I held that job 45 years ago, I was still astounded at the blatant discrimination against blacks.   And I certainly did not keep quiet about it.   Pam and I would make those calls, but also took a few “breaks” to call our friends.  We didn’t know it, but all of our calls were being recorded.  The rants about the anti-black policy to my friends got me fired.   The termination did not bother me in the least.
      And I felt vindicated a year later, when Hillcrest and that policy made national news when the cemetery owners refused to bury a 20- year- old GI named Poindexter Williams.   Williams was serving with the 1st Air Calvary Division in Vietnam in 1970  when he was killed in a mortar barrage.   He was also black.  The rest of the country watched as the legal wrangling about a soldier’s burial in Fort Pierce cemetery made the nightly news.
             I can’t recall exactly what the final outcome was, but Poindexter Williams had a huge funeral in Fort Pierce’s National Guard Armory that was well televised.   And 20 years later, when I first visited the Vietnam War Memorial, I quickly found his name and traced it on paper as a keepsake.
                So much has changed since Poindexter Williams’s mother challenged a small town cemetery in the early 1970s.   Lincoln Park and Dan McCarty high schools were combined to conform with a federal court anti-segregation order.   The “White” and “Colored” signs over water fountains in downtown stores were eventually removed.   Hillcrest was sold to a very reputable funeral home business.
                 But some things never seem to change.   Again the United States is embroiled in another controversy over its role in what is becoming a civil war in a country on the other side of the world.  President Lyndon Johnson worried about the integrity of his advisors who were selling him on Vietnam.
We now know the premises of going to war with Iraq were wrong.  There were no weapons of mass destruction, nor was there any Iraqi involvement in 9/11.
                Johnson realized he could not untangle the quagmire of Vietnam and decided to just get out. He retired to his Texas ranch rather than run for a second term.   As we debate whether the 4,000 plus U.S. and allied soldiers will have died in vain if we pull out of Iraq now, I think about Poindexter Williams and wonder how his family felt when we left Vietnam three years after his death. I hope they are consoled knowing that Poindexter Williams’ death did lead to meaningful changes in his hometown.   It  helped expose a nasty, racist policy during an unpopular war.   And, at the time, it forced the people of Fort Pierce to ask—is this the way we treat a soldier who has given his life for his county?   Indeed, no matter how Vietnam ended, Poindexter Williams’ death was not in vain.


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Our local Boy Scout's and an update on previous issues.

   For years I quietly shied away from donating to the Boy Scouts of America. Locally, the Boy Scouts consistently received a far greater share of money from larger umbrella charity groups than the Girl Scouts received. On a national level, I strongly disagree with the Boy Scouts' stand to prohibit gays from joining troops or serving as adult leaders.
   But when Mike Wetzel suggested that Sunrise Ford pay for tickets so that the members of Boy Scout Troop 772 attend a Dolphins game last season, I didn't object. Scott Van Duzer's latest project---to establish a troop for at risk adolescent boys attending Dan McCarty Middle School---is one I strongly endorse. Scouting has always had a large appeal to middle class families who can afford the uniforms, volunteer for activities and guide the youngsters through the merit badge and Eagle Scout programs. It's not easy for the struggling poor or the disenfranchised to come up with the time or money --- or even motivation ---to encourage their sons to join the Boy Scouts
   Van Duzer's Scout Troop 772 initially attracted 51 students who wanted to sign up. The troop has more than 20 members whose expenses are funded by donations. Community leaders volunteer to serve as scout leaders. For many scouts in troop 77, their scout leader likely is the most influential male model in their lives. The hope is that scouting will encourage these 12 and 13 year olds to continue their education and instill the self esteem and good sense so they will avoid gangs, drive by shootings, and other crimes that have become way too prevalent in our area.
Troop 772 has drawn many supporters and donors, but still has some bumps to overcome. Already some of the scouts have been disciplined and even been suspended for violating school rules or scouts' policies. But I am hopeful that this program will be one that sticks.
   Two other developments have also helped me overcome my reluctance to donate to the Boy Scouts. Three months ago, the Boy Scouts of America allowed gay boys to join the scouts. And Van Duzer has shown that he is an equal opportunity philanthropist. He is now establishing a scouting troop for disadvantaged girls.


A couple updates:
   The last blog I wrote detailed the arduous and emotionally draining time I had as a plaintiff in a medical malpractice case against the local doctors who failed to diagnose the breast cancer that eventually spread to my lymph nodes and ended up as stage 3 cancer.
   One of the disadvantages in filing such a suit is the state imposed a limit on what can be collected in such uneconomic damages. In many cases, a single plaintiff could not collect more than $500,000 in such damages, no matter how severe the pain, anguish, and devastating effects that were caused by the malpractice.
   Last week the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the cap on malpractice cases were unconstitutional. the 2003 law, pushed by former Gov. Jeb Bush, was supposed to prevent a "malpractice crisis" which would drive doctors out of Florida. But a majority of the Supreme Court judges rules there was "no rational basis" to substantiate such a crisis and, in fact, the number of physicians in Florida was increasing not decreasing during the "alleged crisis."
   Many plaintiffs who have files suits in recent years have delayed going to trial or settling cases waiting for the Supreme Court ruling. I chose to go ahead and settle, figuring that dragging it out would cause more stress. My attorney told me that there was an average of 80 malpractice cases filed in the state of Florida each year. There are now approximately 700 pending cases in the system. A 2007 study by FSU estimated there are 34,000 physicians practicing in Florida
   By my count, that means that .02 doctors in the state are being sued for malpractice. Like the Florida Supreme Court said-not exactly a crisis.


Last year, I wrote that Sen. Joe Negron was pushing to reduce the fees to register vehicles. He proposed to offset the state losses by closing a tax loophole enjoyed by insurance companies in Florida who received a tax credit equal to 15 percent of their payroll expenses. To no one's surprise, the insurance industries lobbied hard against Negron's bill and it failed.
  This year, with the state expecting $1.2 billion surplus, Negron once again submitted a bill that would cut the cost of re-registering a vehicle by $25. The average cost is now about $70. This time the cut was not tied to the insurance industry and it easily passed the Senate this week and is expected to be approved by the House and enacted into law. Rental companies and businesses with large fleets will see the largest windfalls from this bill, but Negron also hopes it will help all Florida Families.
   As a car dealer, I was a big proponent of Negron's bill last year and still think its a good idea. But it will not affect the much heftier increase the state imposed a few years ago---increasing the registration of new vehicles from $200 to $450. And this bill will cost the state 309 million in lost revenue next year and $400 million in subsequent years. Gov. Rick Scott, buoyed by the budget surplus and worried about an upcoming election, is proposing $500 million in tax cuts and reduction in fees.
   One state legislator figured that would amount to $25 for each Florida resident. "Enough to buy a cheap $25 shirt made in China," he said. This may have been the one opportunity when two Republicans ---Negron and Scott---could have been true heroes to all Florida environmentalists and most Treasure Coast Taxpayers who have been fighting for the salvation of the Indian River Lagoon.
   Could that surplus have been put to better use by completing the reservoirs and buying Big Sugar's land? That would be a substantial start to the big fix. Just something for Negron and Scott to think about. A huge down payment towards restoring the Everglades seems like a much better legacy than a cheap Chinese-made shirt.