With apologies to William Shakespeare, the truncated special legislative session called by the newly independent Gov. Charlie Crist was a tragedy, not a comedy. First, that it was called at all. Second, that it was summarily dismissed only hours after being convened. (The House gaveled to a close in 49 minutes; the Senate followed less than 90 minutes later.) What a colossal waste of time, energy, and money, especially at a time when we can spare none of them.
I said as much in my June editorial after Crist floated his idea: "I see no need for a special session to craft a constitutional amendment banning oil drilling in Florida waters. It may be good political theater for candidate Charlie Crist to call everyone back to Tallahassee, but in reality, oil rigs are not going to suddenly emerge out of the Gulf like Botticelli's 'Venus.' Instead of treating a proposed constitutional amendment like a legislative form of speed dating, lawmakers should use these intervening months to fully assess the damage from the spill and to solicit legal advice and public opinion in preparation for conducting measured discussions in 2011."
Despite similar cautionary words from other media outlets, Crist forged ahead, demanding that lawmakers reconvene in July. He exacerbated his already tense relationship with the Legislature by rejecting suggestions to at least broaden the session's scope to include related issues, such as the economic impact of the current spill.
The push-back from the Legislature was swift and fierce.
Sen. Don Gaetz (R-Destin) theorized that the narrow scope that Crist insisted on contributed to the special session's failure. "There was a selfishness about the agenda that is unfortunate and unforgivable," he said.
House Speaker Larry Cretul (R-Ocala) made his position clear in his opening remarks. While conceding that the governor has the power to call lawmakers into special session, Cretul declared, "The agenda in this House is and always will be set by its membership." He said that the governor "has called us here at the last possible moment to consider a constitutional amendment for which he never proposed language and permitted far too little time for reflection and review. This is a terrible way to propose constitutional changes."
Crist remained unbowed, rallying his troops moments after the sine die announcement and proclaiming, "I can't believe the Legislature shirked [its] duty so badly. It is clearly the exercise of arrogance of power. They have lost their way. I'm going to call them a do-nothing Legislature, and I'm going to give them hell for it," he said.
Well, not exactly do-nothing. Before gaveling the session to a close, Cretul formed six working groups and charged them with finding solutions to specific economic and legal issues related to the oil spill: short-term assistance to impacted communities; private sector claims and compensation; state and local government damages; stronger civil and criminal penalties for environmental injuries; long-term recovery and economic diversification; and disaster response and preparedness.
The groups are to report back before another special session that Cretul and Senate President Jeff Atwater (R-North Palm Beach) plan to call in September. That session is expected to last longer (how could it not?) and presumably will focus on the areas studied by the working groups.
So now we gear up for yet another special session. Is it too much to hope that politicians will put politics aside and actually accomplish something? Oh, wait a minute, they did that during the regular session when they passed SB 2044 — and then the ultimate politician stepped in.
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