Why I Liked Rob Wallace
I was thrilled to hear that Rob Wallace was selected to replace Jim Norman on the ballot for State Senate, and I was disappointed that he will not be taking his unshakeable fiscal conservatism to Tallahassee, for now anyway.
Rob as elected two years before me and had already made a name for himself as a budget watchdog in the Florida House when I arrived on the scene. I quickly gravitated to Rob as a mentor and he taught me everything I know about the concept of a government that ‘lives within its means’ as a philosophy, not just a slogan.
Rob has a quick wit and he naturally found a way to add a dose of humor to his warnings about excessive government spending. In that vein, he created what he called the “Green Dog” caucus playing off of the conservative Democrat “Blue Dog” caucus. Only problem was that he was the only member of the Green Dogs, but that did not dissuade Rob from passing out the Green Dog budget analysis sheets to all the Members before budget votes, and so as not to be missed all Green Dog handouts were printed on a distinctive green paper! So, if anyone had an interest in how much the proposed budget was inflating the state budget or how fast the state budget was growing compared to the GDP, all you had to do is look around for a Green Dog analysis on a green sheet of paper.
One day I asked Rob if I could become a member of the Green Dog caucus, just to see what he would say. Always affable, he welcomed me aboard as the second member of the caucus and launched right in to a mind-numbing analysis of the rate of growth of some indicator versus another. The only problem was that I didn’t know that the Green Dog caucus had already decided to vote against the final budget proposal as a protest against the Senate’s demands that the budget raise spending more than we wanted in the House. Having been on the conference committee that developed the budget and wanting to get out of Tallahassee without a budget stalemate with the big spenders in the Senate, I voted for the budget (which by the way did not raise taxes, but just spent a little more that Rob thought we should). In the process I voted against the Green Dog caucus party line. Rob walked over with a smile on his face and said, “I’ve got to remove you from the Green Dog caucus!” We laughed. I had become a Green Dog and been summarily defrocked, all in the same day!
Rob served as chair of the Finance and Tax Committee where he loved to fight government waste and spending. He was adroit at drilling down into the budge to identify likely candidates for tax cuts. He and I actually sat down and drafted my first tax cut bill that would have cut sales tax on almost every consumer purchase in Florida. I filed the bill and although Speaker Webster and his team liked the idea, even they were not willing to support such a massive tax cut. They did take the bill and amend it to provide for the Sales Tax Holiday that we now have in Florida. So, Rob and I were in essence the impetus for the first sales tax holiday.
Rob also zeroed in on government outsourcing calling government contractors the ‘shadow government’ because it didn’t matter whether the tax dollars were spent on government ‘positions’ or private sector ‘privatized’ positions, the same excessive spending was in play. Small government was Rob’s goal and he sounded the alarm whenever something didn’t pass the smell test.
Finally, never to be outdone, in his last session he introduced a bill called something like “The Term Limited Legislators Relief Act” as a spoof on those of us who would be going back into our previous private sector lives. The bill provided for all kinds of government spending and relief, such counseling so that former legislators could resist the urge to make a speech anytime we were in a group setting, etc. I think it nearly passed!
I hope that Rob will follow his dream of serving us in the State Senate one day. I for one could rest soundly every night knowing he was there and that the Green Dog Caucus was once again alive and well. Read More...
Rob has a quick wit and he naturally found a way to add a dose of humor to his warnings about excessive government spending. In that vein, he created what he called the “Green Dog” caucus playing off of the conservative Democrat “Blue Dog” caucus. Only problem was that he was the only member of the Green Dogs, but that did not dissuade Rob from passing out the Green Dog budget analysis sheets to all the Members before budget votes, and so as not to be missed all Green Dog handouts were printed on a distinctive green paper! So, if anyone had an interest in how much the proposed budget was inflating the state budget or how fast the state budget was growing compared to the GDP, all you had to do is look around for a Green Dog analysis on a green sheet of paper.
One day I asked Rob if I could become a member of the Green Dog caucus, just to see what he would say. Always affable, he welcomed me aboard as the second member of the caucus and launched right in to a mind-numbing analysis of the rate of growth of some indicator versus another. The only problem was that I didn’t know that the Green Dog caucus had already decided to vote against the final budget proposal as a protest against the Senate’s demands that the budget raise spending more than we wanted in the House. Having been on the conference committee that developed the budget and wanting to get out of Tallahassee without a budget stalemate with the big spenders in the Senate, I voted for the budget (which by the way did not raise taxes, but just spent a little more that Rob thought we should). In the process I voted against the Green Dog caucus party line. Rob walked over with a smile on his face and said, “I’ve got to remove you from the Green Dog caucus!” We laughed. I had become a Green Dog and been summarily defrocked, all in the same day!
Rob served as chair of the Finance and Tax Committee where he loved to fight government waste and spending. He was adroit at drilling down into the budge to identify likely candidates for tax cuts. He and I actually sat down and drafted my first tax cut bill that would have cut sales tax on almost every consumer purchase in Florida. I filed the bill and although Speaker Webster and his team liked the idea, even they were not willing to support such a massive tax cut. They did take the bill and amend it to provide for the Sales Tax Holiday that we now have in Florida. So, Rob and I were in essence the impetus for the first sales tax holiday.
Rob also zeroed in on government outsourcing calling government contractors the ‘shadow government’ because it didn’t matter whether the tax dollars were spent on government ‘positions’ or private sector ‘privatized’ positions, the same excessive spending was in play. Small government was Rob’s goal and he sounded the alarm whenever something didn’t pass the smell test.
Finally, never to be outdone, in his last session he introduced a bill called something like “The Term Limited Legislators Relief Act” as a spoof on those of us who would be going back into our previous private sector lives. The bill provided for all kinds of government spending and relief, such counseling so that former legislators could resist the urge to make a speech anytime we were in a group setting, etc. I think it nearly passed!
I hope that Rob will follow his dream of serving us in the State Senate one day. I for one could rest soundly every night knowing he was there and that the Green Dog Caucus was once again alive and well. Read More...
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What I Like About Jim Norman
What I like about Jim Norman
by Johnnie ByrdIf Ralph Hughes liked you, I like you. If Ralph Hughes didn’t, I don’t either. Ralph liked Jim Norman a lot, and so do I.
Ralph Hughes was a great American who had unqualified disrespect for what he called the “so-called editorial committee” at the Tampa Tribune. He taught me that the Tribune editorial pages were a quick way to discern whether a Republican was a RINO, or not. If the Trib sang praises for a Republican candidate, we had better watch out. Even better, if the Trib waged war against a particular Republican, you could put your money on that person being a true conservative.
Would you like a case in point?
This morning I stopped in a local convenience store, and the newspaper rack caught my eye. Lo and behold, you’ll never guess whose picture the Trib had above the fold on the front page? Well, it was none other than Jim Norman! Of course, it was a non-story with a headline that some fools at the Trib had spent all Thursday afternoon brainstorming to sound like Norman was some kind of ax murderer. (And, newspapers wondering why their readership is in the toilet.) At any rate, the Trib made its contribution to Norman’s opponent and proved my case.
Unlike his opponent, who I can tell you from first hand experience is unpredictable and is soft on conservative Republican ideas, Norman is right on the issues. And, did I forget to mention Norman is willing not only to vote against new taxes but he has taken the lead to fight against crazy boondoggles, such as the Hillsborough Rail Tax. RINOs are saying that, “If we only had enough money, we could do better job in government.” Norman is saying, “Live within your means, just like the rest of us!”
Norman will be tough on illegal immigration. He will continue to support Jeb Bush’s education reforms – the only reforms that have made measurable changes in outcomes for Florida’s school children.
You should also know that Norman likes to talk to the ‘folks’ instead of the silk stocking, downtown Tampa crowd. Jim is an ‘animal’ at walking door-to-door to thousands of homes and hearing what ‘just people’ have to say about their vision of our State and Nation, not the elite vision for the great unwashed. Jim will not cater to those ‘wanna be’ political prognosticators with an irrelevant view, who are bought and sold by the old media and idle class. The silk stocking crowd will have their sad, pathetic minions trying to ‘take out’ Jim Norman with every known ‘black ops’ tool (unfounded ethics complaints etc.), but don’t be fooled - Norman is a conservative who will take things up a notch in Tallahassee.
As someone who has been on the front lines battling with Republican RINO State Senators in Tallahassee, I will tell you that there is one thing that would be a breath of fresh air in Tallahassee: If you want a change in Tallahassee, stop sending ‘moderates’ to the Senate and replace them with tough, knowledgeable and principled Republican conservatives.
That’s why I like Jim Norman. Read More...
