Posted on 04/14/2015 6:36:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
One of the recurring knocks on Senator Marco Rubio, now officially a presidential candidate, is that as a senator, he’s never run or managed anything — a criticism that isn’t quite accurate. Rubio managed the Florida House of Representatives as speaker for two years, a period marked by some distinct successes but also lingering frustration with Republicans he deemed too passive and comfortable with the status quo.
As speaker and in earlier leadership positions in the Florida House, Rubio demonstrated a willingness to delegate to focus on his strengths, communicating and negotiating. The record suggests that a President Rubio would drive a hard bargain, and hold out until the eleventh hour, but rarely walk away from the table without a deal.
Nelson Diaz met Rubio when both were working for Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign in Florida, and was the first legislative staffer Rubio hired, working for the young lawmaker from 2000 to 2003. Diaz, who became a lobbyist after leaving Rubio’s staff, describes his old boss’s management style as “principled . . . I wouldn’t say unbending, but even as close as I am with him, one time, as a lobbyist, I remember sitting there with some gaming legislation, and he said ‘no.’ He couldn’t [support] it. You knew what you’re getting with Marco.”
The speaker of the Florida House is an important and powerful position, but one perhaps a bit easier to reach than comparable positions in other states. Representatives in Florida are limited to four two-year terms. Florida’s speaker is elected by his fellow representatives for a two-year term, and is usually in his final term – meaning the Florida House is effectively led by a new speaker every two years.
Because of the term limits and constant turnover at the top, careers in the Florida state legislature accelerate quickly. The legislature works a brief, fast-paced schedule, a 60-day session starting in March, supplemented by occasional special sessions. The legislature is the GOP’s ballgame; Republicans have controlled the Florida House and Senate since 1996. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t often deep divisions; Rubio’s tenure as speaker exacerbated friction with the man who would later become his defeated Senate rival, then-governor Charlie Crist.
Rubio won a special election to his state House seat in February 2000, giving him an extra half-session that didn’t count toward his four-term limit — a small-but-key advantage in seniority. By December 2000, just nine months later, the incoming majority leader, Mike Fasano, tapped Rubio to fill his old job as majority whip.
At the end of the 2000–2001 session, Rubio aimed to step up to the position of Florida House majority leader, but he was warned by veteran lawmakers that the arm-twisting the job required would cause tensions with his colleagues, most likely derailing any hopes he had of becoming speaker. So Rubio and the speaker for the upcoming session, Johnny Byrd, agreed to shift the vote-counting responsibilities to the whip’s office — leaving Rubio to focus on communicating the majority’s goals. Two years and nine months into his state legislative career, Rubio was majority leader. It was a high rank for a young man who looked even younger; Rubio was mistaken for an aide and ordered to make copies by the lieutenant governor, Toni Jennings, in 2003.
The race for speaker began with intense competition, but Rubio had the advantage of that slight edge of seniority, four years in leadership positions, and the failed effort by Representative Gaston Cantens of Miami to be the state’s first Cuban-American speaker the previous cycle. Despite some past tensions between the pair, Cantens endorsed Rubio, and Rubio went on to become the first House speaker from the Miami area in more than three decades.
Just as he had when he was majority leader, Rubio didn’t hesitate to delegate power as speaker. He allowed his leadership team to decide which members should chair which committees, and allowed committee chairs to skip the subcommittee step when considering legislation. Committees were given budget allocations and authorized to determine how to fund their priorities within those allocations.
Florida speakers had the ability to decide which committees could consider a bill — an authority that amounted to a de facto veto power, as a bill assigned to several committees was much less likely to pass than a bill assigned to just one, particularly in an abbreviated 60-day session.
“Under my speakership, committee chairmen would have more power than ever before, but a greater share of the responsibility as well, and greater accountability,” Rubio wrote in his autobiography, An American Son. “I trusted the leaders I had chosen.”
Right before taking the speakership, Rubio headed a special committee assigned to craft legislation in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo vs. New London, which broadened the power of governments to take private property through eminent domain. Rubio put together a bill that limited the state’s authority to seize property and declared that the prevention or elimination of slums, blight, or public nuisance was no longer considered a valid public purpose for the government’s use of eminent domain. Few lawmakers wanted to stand up for the government’s right to seize private property, and the final bill passed with only three nays.
Rubio began his tenure as speaker with a dramatic — some would say flashy — public-outreach effort. He was officially designated the speaker in September 2005, and at the ceremony in the House chamber, every member had a book printed with the cover, “100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future.” Rubio asked the members to pick up the book and look inside. The pages were blank, and Rubio told them that he expected the lawmakers to fill them with ideas from constituents by the beginning of the next session. “Together we will write a book which will detail and outline our vision for the future,” he said.
Rubio’s biggest win came on the issue of taxes. The tax cut enacted during his speakership in 2007 was touted as “the largest tax cut in Florida’s history,” although it was significantly smaller than what he’d originally proposed. Florida is perceived to be a low-tax state because it has no income tax, but its property taxes remain high; from 2000 to 2007, property taxes in cities doubled, and county taxes jumped as well.
Rubio’s initial solution was bold: Roll back property tax rates to their 2001 level and replace the portion of property taxes used to fund schools with a 1 percent increase in the sales tax. Counties could chose to eliminate the rest of the taxes on primary-residence properties in exchange for another sales tax increase of 1.5 percent. The move amounted to trading the elimination of all property taxes for a 2.5 percent increase in the sales tax. It would have meant a $40 to $50 billion reduction in property taxes.
But neither the Florida Senate nor then-governor Crist liked the sweeping plan. Crist pushed for a smaller alternative: doubling the state’s property tax exemption from $25,000 to $50,000. He estimated it was a $33 billion tax cut, but Rubio contended it amounted to small potatoes, particularly in parts of the state where real estate values were skyrocketing.
“Governor Crist fought him on it, just because Governor Crist didn’t like Marco,” Diaz recalls. “It was always this battle between the two. Charlie was not going to give Marco a victory on that.”
After the House passed Rubio’s bill, the Senate ran out the clock on the 60-day session. But the issue had generated enough public interest that not delivering any property tax relief would be a political disaster, so both chambers agreed to a special session. Rubio saw himself as fighting for the principled approach of limiting government and not taking taxpayer dollars for granted; the Florida media saw him as stubborn.
“Rubio’s insistence on deep cuts contributed greatly, if not entirely, to the stalemate that led to a special session,” wrote the then-St. Petersburg Times. “But it may also reward taxpayers with more relief and put a bigger hurt on local governments — factors that only elevate his stature as the tax cut king.”
The property tax elimination–for–sales tax increase swap was dropped, and House and Senate negotiators came back with a two-stage plan: a $15.6 billion property tax cut over five years, and another $16 billion in property tax exemptions to be approved through a referendum. But a court struck down the proposed referendum, so the House and Senate had to go back for another special session. With time in the legislative year ticking down, the House agreed to Crist’s original proposal, on top of the non-referendum cuts enacted earlier.
“If we rejected it, there would be no property tax relief that year,” Rubio wrote in An American Son. “I knew the bill wasn’t good enough. I knew it would be hard to bring the issue back up if we passed it. But I also knew we had gone as far as we could. We had done our best, and fallen short. I accepted the hard reality of the situation, and let the bill pass.” Rubio called his legacy on property-tax reform “incomplete.”
The second-biggest piece of legislation passed on Rubio’s watch was insurance reform, where again he held a limited amount of leverage against a Republican Senate and a Republican governor with quite different philosophies.
Crist had run for election in 2006 demonizing the state’s insurance companies. Seven big hurricanes had hit the Sunshine State in 2004 and 2005, and rates increased as the companies paid out more claims. Crist sought an expansion of state-sponsored reinsurance for private insurance companies and froze rates for Citizens Property Insurance Corporation, the state-run insurer that had picked up an additional 400,000 policies from 2004 to 2007. The move was popular, but also put taxpayers on the hook for gargantuan payouts if the state took a direct hit from a major hurricane. Democrats in the legislature wrote large portions of the bill, and largely loved it, despite occasionally griping that it didn’t go far enough.
“Everything Crist found convenient, he would say was part of the Republican philosophy,” Diaz says. “That’s not the way Marco is; either it’s a conservative principle, or it isn’t. Increasing taxes to increase the size of government — Crist could turn around and say that was part of the Republican philosophy.”
The bill was stripped of a provision banning Florida-only insurance subsidiaries, and a proposal to limit the types of policies insurers could provide was phased in instead of starting immediately. But the law represented de facto price controls and, in the words of some state Republican lawmakers, amounted to “socializing the state insurance market.”
“[Crist] had beaten us in a game of chicken over the property insurance bill, threatening to veto anything that didn’t meet his demands,” Rubio wrote. “We won a few concessions and let it go. I had passed a bill I didn’t like.”
Though Rubio might not have reached the post of speaker without the state’s strict term-limits laws, they also limited his leverage, particularly in his second year in the job. But even so, throughout his term, everyone around Rubio seemed to sense he wouldn’t be done with the world of politics when his time in the Florida House ended. The seeds for his bitter rivalry with Crist had been sown, and a future statewide bid seemed assured. Some of his colleagues went further, suggesting he was destined for the national stage.
Shortly after Rubio became speaker in 2007, State Representative Dennis Baxley told the then St. Petersburg Times, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s governor some day. Or maybe even president.”
Now Rubio’s hoping the country sees in him a hard-nosed dealmaker, the right combination of principled conservatism and pragmatic compromise — and wants to put him into the Oval Office.
– Jim Geraghty writes the Campaign Spot for NationalReview.com.
Rubio managed the Florida House of Representatives as speaker for two years
This assignment will certainly be a focus of investigation by the Hildabeast forces. Florida has always had a current of illegality just below the surface and I'd be surprised if they don't find some financial dirt on Marco from his term as Speaker. Allegations of impropriety, at the very least.
If it just wan’t for amnesty I could support him.
I think Rubio showed poor judgment and let himself get snookered into the immigration deal. Bad choice and I am supporting Cruz for President. That being said, he is still the third most conservative Senator and I would not have minded if he stayed there, particularly since I think he learned his lesson. I don’t think he is going to win the nomination although being Hispanic and from Florida makes him a VP candidate if Walker gets the nod. Otherwise, I think he is tired of the games in the Senate and will be running for Governor in Florida after Rick Scott. The big issue is who will run for his Senate seat in Florida.
I liked and agreed with what Rubio said in his announcement.
I have to agree he was quite elegant in his comments. Mrs Zuben was really impressed, too, and that’s an accomplishment.
I agree with your assessment . I’ll be voting for Cruz, Walker or Rubio in the primary. See how things go. I’m in Colombia now and get a lot of questions about various pols....seems to be a. More positive view of Rubio than Cruz here....but that could easily change.
I agree with your assessment . I’ll be voting for Cruz, Walker or Rubio in the primary. See how things go. I’m in Colombia now and get a lot of questions about various pols....seems to be a. More positive view of Rubio than Cruz here....but that could easily change.
I agree with your assessment . I’ll be voting for Cruz, Walker or Rubio in the primary. See how things go. I’m in Colombia now and get a lot of questions about various pols....seems to be a. More positive view of Rubio than Cruz here....but that could easily change.
I agree with your assessment . I’ll be voting for Cruz, Walker or Rubio in the primary. See how things go. I’m in Colombia now and get a lot of questions about various pols....seems to be a. More positive view of Rubio than Cruz here....but that could easily change.
I tend to agree with you. I like Rubio but getting snookered by Schumer into the Gang of Eight was really naïve and showed a lack of maturity and judgement. I just don’t think Rubio is ready for the Presidency.
My guy is Cruz who shares my vision for America. That being said if Rubio should win the nomination I will vote for him for President. My only line in the sand is Bush and Christie.
Funny.
Investigation journalism is back ... Now that Obola is not running for dictator any more.
[My guy is Cruz who shares my vision for America.]
TED CRUZ ON IMMIGRATION
• End Obama’s illegal amnesty via Congress’ checks & balances
• Defund amnesty; and refuse any nominees until rescinded
• No path to citizenship for 1.65 million illegals in Texas
• Give police more power to ask about immigration status
• Boots on the ground, plus a wall
• Triple the size of the Border Patrol
• Strengthen border security and increase enforcement
http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Ted_Cruz_Immigration.htm
[Rubio managed the Florida House of Representatives as speaker for two years]
* While Florida has been among the states with the most job growth, much of the increase has gone to immigrant workers — legal and illegal.
*Since 2000, more than half of the net increase in employment among the working age (16 to 65) has gone to immigrants, even though they accounted for only one-third of population growth among the working-age.
* Relative to other states, Florida ranked second in the nation in the increase in the number of 16 to 65 year olds holding a job, but ranked 34th in terms of the labor force participation of its native-born population in 2014.
* Perhaps most troubling, the labor force participation of Florida’s working-age natives shows no improvement, even after the jobs recovery began in 2010.
* The total number of working-age natives (16 to 65) not working (unemployed or out of the labor market entirely) has increased 62 percent since 2000, and stood at 3.3 million in the first quarter of this year.
* Immigrants, on the other hand, have fared better; their labor force participation is higher now than in 2000 and has nearly returned to its 2007 level.
* Despite what can only be described as a bleak employment picture for natives in the state, many of Florida’s biggest employers have lobbied for increases in the number of foreign workers, both skilled and unskilled, allowed into the country.
* Both of Florida’s senators supported the Gang of Eight bill (S.744), which would have roughly doubled future legal immigration, on the grounds that there are not enough workers in the country.
* But employment data for the state do not support the idea that workers are in short supply. In fact, the available evidence indicates that there is an enormous supply of potential workers of every education level in the state.
* While the Gang of Eight bill is now considered politically dead by all observers, in the future Florida’s political leaders should at least consider the employment situation in their state before supporting calls for significantly increasing the number of foreign workers allowed into the country.
http://cis.org/jobs-in-florida-most-employment-gains-went-to-immigrants
If only these LIBERALS, SOCIALISTS and COMMUNISTS “Lame Stream Media” types had only VETTED OBAMA the way they are VETTING all these republican wanna bees, we would have the problem that we now have, cause OBAMA wouldn’t have been elected.
I skimmed the article but did not see anything on immigration. I think I remember seeing Florida FReepers contend that Rubio stymied immigration enforcement legislation while he was in the state house. Anyone know if that is true? If so, I wonder why Geraghty didn’t mention it in his article.
It's early and I haven't made up my mind. I like Rubio and could vote for him, but I also like Cruz and Walker.
Eh! Everybody is allowed at least one big lapse of judgement as long as he LEARNS from it. But just to be safe he should chew on garlic whenever in the vicinity of that vampire, Schumer.
Eh! Everybody is allowed at least one big lapse of judgement as long as he LEARNS from it. But just to be safe he should chew on garlic whenever in the vicinity of that vampire, Schumer.
Problem with Rubio is Cruz and Walker who are both better candidates. Rubio flip flopped after believing that he would get establishment support. Conservatives shunned him and the establishment turned their back on him.
He’s toast.
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