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Crist, Peyton and politics as usual
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This has been a busy week for the Republicans in the Sunshine State but don't tell the GOP rank and file.
On Tuesday, Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill that puts decision making on community waters permits in the hands of appointed executives and away from local boards. This was followed by Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton agreeing to shelve his 14% hike on property taxes and replace it with a 12% hike.
We hear a lot about "tax and spend" Democrats who think government is the solution to every problem. Listen to Rush or Hannity. Read National Review or the Weekly Standard. Listen to Republicans, like Jacksonville Congressman Ander Crenshaw, decry the Obama bailouts as socialism while supporting the Bush bailouts.
Republicans talk a good deal about how the best decisions should be kept at a local level. States know what to do more than Washington does. Counties know what to do more than the state government does. Towns know what to do more than the county does. Families know what to do more than the town does. Republicans also talk a good deal about how decisions should be made by voters as opposed to nameless government bureaucrats or judicial activists.
So what does Charlie Crist do? He decides that the bureaucrats should have control of the issue while the public has no say in it.
Back in 2003, John Peyton ran for mayor as the major conservative candidate (Ginger Soud, bless her heart, was not a major candidate) and, in the first mayoral election that year, he edged out then Jax Economic Development chairman Mike Weinstein and former City Council President Matt Carlucci who were both seen as more moderate. Peyton then beat Nat Glover in the final election and became mayor. I don't remember tax hikes being part of the conservative credo. Maybe Peyton needs to go back to Barry Goldwater and William F. Buckley.
A lot of attention has focused on Republican politicians who talk about family values and then are entangled in sordid personal lives. Just ask Mark Sanford, John Ensign, Larry Craig, David Vitter, Mark Foley and Newt Gingrich. But Republicans are not taken to task for being hypocrites on taxation, spending and government structure and they should be.
I'm starting to think conservatives are the biggest group of suckers in America. They rage against the Supreme Court and cheer Republicans who bash it. Somehow it never comes up that seven of the nine justices over the past few years were named by Republican presidents. Conservatives rage against government spending and supported the GOP during one of the largest periods of federal growth under President Bush, Speaker Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Frist. Peyton and Crist are just the latest pair who have gotten away with it.
