LEGISLATURE
In House of Representatives, Democrats kill time
Democratic lawmakers used rules of debate to slow down the House's legislative process.
Posted on Sun, Apr. 20, 2008
BY MARC CAPUTO AND MARY ELLEN KLAS
TALLAHASSEE --
A toxic political drama of partisan rancor played out in a marathon show of one-upmanship in the Florida House of Representatives that kept bleary-eyed lawmakers feuding and punchy from Friday morning until 2:14 a.m. Saturday.
When the curtain finally fell, House Speaker Marco Rubio of West Miami had spent 16 hours and 14 minutes gaveling, threatening and finally joking around as he grappled with the fact that Democrats now have sufficient numbers and the will to cause gridlock and inflict embarrassment on him and his fellow Republicans.
The Democrats' message: Power has shifted in the House this presidential election year.
So when Democrats were blocked Friday morning from fully debating an education bill that's a Rubio priority, they rallied behind their leader, Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, to slow things down. They voted to use an obscure parliamentary stalling procedure that requires every word of every bill to be read in its excruciating entirety on the chamber floor.
The scene was already tense due to an unprecedented economic crunch that's leading Republicans -- who want to avoid tax increases -- to slash a record $5 billion from the budget. The cuts hit kids and poverty programs, and courts and schools harder than ever.
Rubio was clearly caught flat-footed when Gelber sprung his time-killing trap just before 11:28 a.m. Friday. Rubio said he limited debate on his education bill to save time, noting that Democrats supported it anyway and that they were scheduled to debate their measure this week.
''I could understand if our motion to limit debate was part of a pattern of behavior. But this was the first and only time we have ever done this. To respond with an unprecedented procedural obstruction was simply a temper-driven overreaction,'' Rubio wrote in an e-mail.
''The move also accomplished nothing,'' he continued. ``We still passed every single bill we intended to pass[Friday], it just took longer.''
It took 14 hours and 46 minutes for numerous clerks and lawmakers to read 398 pages of material. Miami Republican Rep. David Rivera jokingly read a portion of one bill in rapid-fire Spanish; and Republicans had the last bill read over loudspeakers by a sped-up computerized text-recognition machine.
`CHILDISH'
''When you have to use a chipmunk voice, that's a pretty childish stunt that's not accomplishing very much,'' Gelber said. ``It should have taken less than an hour. All we wanted was for our amendment to be heard. This is a Republican Senate bill, but only in the Florida House does a Republican Senate bill become a partisan issue with Republicans and not Democrats.''
Many of the House leaders have been reared in South Florida's aggressive political hothouse, and Gelber and Rubio -- who entered office amid the ultra-partisan 2000 recount -- are friends as well as competitors. Gelber has long praised Rubio for helping Democrats.
Despite the hard feelings, both men pledged to try to work things out. On Monday, the education measure Democrats are pushing -- to de-emphasize the FCAT exam in schools -- will be heard in committee. If approved, it could go before the full House on Tuesday.
But if the bitterness persists, the $66 billion state budget could be tougher to pass along with loads of legislation that ranges from health and property insurance to alternative energy initiatives to protecting animals from abuse.
Three Democratic bills -- concerning nurses, AIDS testing and a license plate to benefit the historically black Bethune-Cookman University -- were stripped from the floor by Republicans Friday when Democrats decided to press ahead.
Gelber said Democrats didn't have a choice in slowing the process down. Members were grousing because their bills look like they're dying as the 60-day lawmaking session comes to a close May 2. Coupled with the budget cuts, that gives members little to brag about come election time.
So shutting off debate was the last straw.
''This isn't about me or Marco,'' Gelber said. ``Trust me, I have a lot of members who are ready to do this for the rest of the session.''
The real political hard feelings first surfaced Wednesday, when Rubio dispatched guards with the sergeant-at-arms office to fetch Democratic Miami Beach Rep. Luis Garcia to force him to vote on a resolution concerning trade with Colombia -- a highly unusual strong-arm tactic.
Rubio suggested it was no big deal because Garcia said he supported it and voted for it, anyway.
Rubio also used the sergeants forcefully Friday. He repeatedly, and angrily, gaveled the chamber into silence. He then ordered the members to sit down and be quiet. He cut off their Internet service for a time, but had it restored once he realized that the Democrats were in it for the long haul.
''The only time I got upset is when I felt they were being disrespectful to the readers. These kids were really the ones that got the brunt of this,'' Rubio said.
''I never felt betrayed or angry. This is all business to me,'' Rubio said, ``but during the first bill reading I felt I needed to get everyone settled down. Tempers were raw. And if you don't settle things down, things can escalate and become personal. After that things went back to normal.''
Normal?
RUBIO LOSES FACE
Rubio got punchy late at night. He compared the long day on the House floor to the squalid Superdome after Hurricane Katrina. Then he laughed himself to tears as fellow Republicans engaged in a mock whodunnit by issuing a fake ransom note to Republican leader Adam Hasner of West Palm Beach.
In the estimation of many Republican lawmakers, lobbyists and veteran staffers, Rubio came out the most bruised. He looked like he couldn't control his chamber. And Gelber has started to isolate House Republicans from Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and the GOP-controlled Senate.
After all, the amendment Democrats want to add to Rubio's education bill was sponsored by a Senate Republican. Democrats also chastised them for not backing Crist's health plan -- the last bill debated and approved on a party-line vote Saturday morning.
One reason Rubio was so unbending: The education bill Democrats wanted to change is the first idea of his 100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future initiative. So when Democrats tried to bring up the amendment Friday morning, Fort Lauderdale Republican Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff pulled a procedural move to limit debate.
Gelber huddled with his members and sprung the delay plan demanding all the bills be read in full. Democrats hold 43 seats in the 120-member House, three more than needed under the Constitution to demand to have an entire bill read.
The obscure measure has been used before as a protest by the minority party, most recently in 2006 for a brief time on the Senate floor, and in the House in 2001 when Gelber was in his first year. Remembering the experience, Gelber told his members early in the political show Friday: ''Nobody drink water,'' so they wouldn't have to go to the bathroom.
Rubio noted that members would be delayed due to the Democrats. But he didn't know how committed they were. And when he had the Democrats' bills stripped from the agenda, the fight went from partisan to political to personal. Lawmakers forfeited plane tickets home -- a number to celebrate Passover -- good meals, sleep, goodwill, or the chance to attend the Black Caucus gala.
But the pride stayed.
''I'm from Harlem,'' said Democratic Rep. Joe Gibbons of Hallandale Beach. ''We don't get punked.'' Miami Herald staff writers Laura Figueroa and Gary Fineout contributed to this report.
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