Bush demonstrates penchant for power

Jeb Bush's strengthening of his office has rankled even some Republicans.

By JO BECKER

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 23, 2000

TALLAHASSEE -- The doors to the governor's office were locked tight. Outside, dozens of lawmakers gathered to support two colleagues holed up inside to protest Gov. Jeb Bush's decision to scrap state affirmative action policies. They banged on the door. They shouted to be let in. But no one answered.

"We're embarking on a dictatorship," said Sen. Mandy Dawson, D-Fort Lauderdale. "If he's not communicating with his senators, who are elected across the state, then who is really running the show?"

The protest ended Wednesday when Bush agreed to seek more public input on the plan he put into action in November with a sweeping executive order abolishing affirmative action. But the sit-in has become a focal point in a growing debate over Bush's efforts to amass more power in the governor's office.

Since taking office a year ago, Bush has tried to gain more influence over judicial appointments and pushed through legislation dictating new death penalty appeals rules to the courts. In the name of promoting diversity, he plans to abandon measurable affirmative action goals and put state purchasing under his direct control. He has tried to wrest more control from the Legislature over the state's budget.

Bush, who never held elective office before winning 55 percent of the vote in 1998, said he has no "secret plan" to strengthen his office. The 46-year-old Republican governor does, however, admit to feeling "impatient" about carrying out his agenda.

But while Bush likes to view government as a business, some lawmakers see him as a CEO who treats the legislative and judicial branches of government like minority shareholders.

Even "his body language is "This is my Capitol,' " charged House Democratic Leader Les Miller.

Critics of Florida government have long advocated a stronger executive branch, saying that "government-by-committee" lacks long-term vision. Florida's governor shares much of his executive power with the six-member elected Cabinet.

"We have gone too much toward collective government," said former Republican Gov. Bob Martinez. "It's harder to manage, and it's harder for the citizens to know who to hold accountable."

Floridians agreed, voting in 1998 to shrink the elected Cabinet. Term limits also have helped tip the balance of power toward the governor's office: Legislators, like the governor, will have their time in office capped.

But Bush has not been content to wait for the constitutional reforms to take effect. Lance deHaven-Smith, associate director at the Florida Institute of Government, supports the concept of a strong executive. But he said some of Bush's actions over the past year might have crossed the line.

"Government will become tyrannical, all things being equal. That's why we've pitted three tyrannical powers against each other: the Legislature, the courts and the executive," deHaven-Smith said. "People like a strong governor because it's efficient, it's effective and it overcomes these bureaucratic hurdles. But you need a strong check on it."

Nowhere has the separation of powers clash between Bush and lawmakers been more apparent than over the state's budget.

"Jeb's not shy about it," said former Pinellas County Republican state Sen. Curt Kiser. "It's "I'll take the heat, but let me have the responsibility.' "

On the same day last week's protest ended, Bush released his second budget. He boasted that every dollar is tied to concrete goals and the computerized format would make it easier to understand.

But even Republican lawmakers are complaining that the lack of detail in the governor's budget gives the governor's agencies too much discretion to spend money as they see fit, making it more difficult for the Legislature to hold agencies accountable.

"We believe the Constitution says the Legislature does the budget of Florida," Senate President Toni Jennings said Thursday. "If there's no detail, then his agencies are free to do anything they want."

House Republicans, who have a closer relationship with Bush, also were concerned.

"We are not going to abrogate our responsibility to some agency," said Ken Pruitt, the Port St. Lucie Republican who chairs the House Fiscal Responsibility Council. "This is a $50-billion budget. It's not intended to be simple."

Last year, Bush angered lawmakers by vetoing a whopping $313-million in so-called "turkeys" -- local projects that members use to score points with constituents back home. This year, he persuaded legislators to allow him to have front-end influence on those projects in addition to his traditional veto power. Committees made up of representatives from the governor's office, the Senate and the House will rank the projects based on whether they meet certain state policy objectives.

But Bush's decision to include money for a medical school at Florida State University in his budget proposal had some complaining that Bush is okay with turkeys -- as long as they are his own. The medical school is a top priority for House Speaker John Thrasher, Bush's closest legislative ally. While a recent state study offers justification for the project, the state university chancellor has indicated that a new medical school is not needed.

"He tells us what he wants to do, but then he decides he should not be bound by the same guidelines," said Senate Democratic Leader John H. "Buddy" Dyer Jr.

Last year, the Senate sued the governor after he vetoed part of a $40-million appropriation to help schools move to longer school years. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that Bush violated the Constitution by interpreting his veto power too broadly.

This year, Bush's budget contains a lump sum for education. But the lack of detail means that there is no money specifically earmarked to continue the longer school year program.

"Last year, this was one of the Legislature's highest priorities," Sen. Donald C. "Don" Sullivan, R-Seminole, angrily told Bush's budget director on Thursday.

Budget director Donna Arduin also was questioned Thursday about the governor's decision to ask state agencies not to request more money from the Legislature this year than they got last year. State law requires that agencies give the Legislature an "independent" assessment of their needs.

Bush's "guidance" to the agencies has some lawmakers worried that the budget requests are merely a reflection of the governor's political goals.

Bush acknowledged that his actions haven't met with universal approval.

"There's a little natural friction in this regard . . . " Bush said Friday, noting that everyone wants "more flexibility to do our jobs."

"And there's going to be a little conflict there, so we're going to sort that out."

In some cases, the Republican-led Legislature has tried to empower Bush. That is particularly true when it comes to the judiciary.

Last year, the House pushed a bill that would have allowed Bush to dump the late Gov. Lawton Chiles' appointees to the state's judicial nominating commissions and immediately install his own people. Commission members, who serve four-year terms, send a list of candidates to the governor to fill judicial vacancies and state Supreme Court slots. The idea is to keep politics out of the process.

After the bill failed, the Bush administration hatched a behind-the-scenes plan in August to recruit new judges who are "ideologically compatible" with the conservative Republican governor. A shadow system of unofficial regional panels would recruit judicial candidates.

"We need to be careful, because we don't want to create a "kingmaker' perception," the governor's assistant general counsel, Frank Jimenez, wrote in an e-mail.

After the plan became public, the governor scrapped the idea. But last month, the governor once again prompted accusations he was overplaying his hand when he charged that the lists of judicial candidates the commissions were sending him were not diverse enough. He requested new names.

Bush's biggest battle with the judicial branch is yet to come. Viewed by Republicans as too liberal on the death penalty, the state Supreme Court now must grapple with a Bush plan to speed up death row appeals. It was passed earlier his month over critics who complained the Legislature and governor were unconstitutionally meddling in court business.

"This is about arrogance of power," said Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, during debate. "This is about a Legislature and an executive who have decided to become the court."

© Copyright 1999 St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.