Sands

His main contention is that Republicans are lining up behind a promise from incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, that he will abandon his two-year-long attempt to lift the current drilling ban in state law. Democrats and Crist say the drilling ban is more secure in the state constitution, which lawmakers cannot amend without a vote of the people.

“Well my friends, let me tell you that I have an issue with believing what Republicans say,” Sands said. “They also said they weren’t going to raise our taxes. And yet we walked out of session a couple years ago with $2 billion in new taxes. So I have trouble believing them.

“To me, the pledges that the Republicans have taken are written on toilet paper,” Sands said. “And we all know what you can do with toilet paper.”

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House and Senate Democratic leaders want the state auditor general to investigate Attorney General Bill McCollum after he filed a lawsuit challenging the federal health care reforms approved by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama.

Democrats accuse McCollum, a Republican who is running for governor, of using his office as the state’s chief legal eagle to promote his candidacy for governor.

“When a state official can deploy not only the vast resources of his office, but hire outside counsel at taxpayer expense to try and block millions of Floridians from finally getting access to health care, it’s time to stop and demand some accountability,” Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, said at a press conference this afternoon. “When the same state official, who happens to be a Republican, leads the charge on a national Republican mission to use health care reform as a rally cry in the upcoming elections, it’s time this legislature stops and asks how much in taxpayer money is being diverted from critical issues to advance a political agenda.”

The Dems complained that McCollum should be protecting consumers by going after pill mills and mortgage foreclosures and instead is using state funds to appeal to conservative Republican voters with the lawsuit.

“This is…for the rank political ambitions of the candidate,” Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, said. Gelber is running for attorney general in a Democratic primary against Sen. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres.

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In another example of legislating by anecdote, House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands filed a bill to let nursing mothers off the hook for jury duty.

Sands filed the bill (HB 79) after hearing from a breast-feeding constituent who wasn’t allowed to bring her baby along to jury duty.

Emily Schmitt sent the Weston Democrat a lengthy e-mail describing her tale of woe after showing up for jury duty in Broward County and being “completely demeaned, disrespected and humiliated” by workers who told her to pump her breastmilk in the bathroom like other nursing mothers have done in the past.

“That’s just plain wrong,” said Sands.

Florida law now currently excuses from jury duty pregnant women and parents who don’t work full time and have custody of children younger than 6 years old.

Sands’ measure, which would add lactating mothers to that list, was approved by a committee yesterday.

The Senate companion bill has yet to be assigned for a committee hearing.