News-Press du lieu suivant : Fort Myers, Florida • Page 14

2B THE NEWSPRESS, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2002 Local Class size reduction warnings called 'scare tactics' Poll: Voters cynical about Bush claims a concern by some voters that no one party ought to have a lock on Tallahassee. The impression is its own measure of Bush's personal power, deHaven-Smith said. "Governor Bush has probably been the strongest governor since Rubin Askew, and certainly the most aggressive in trying to accumulate power," he said. The GOP poll advised Republican lawmakers that "voters want to see accountability in their school system from the top to the bottom The A-plus plan, 'Sharpen the Pencil etc have introduced accountability into the Florida public school system for the first time." But deHaven-Smith said that emphasis on bureaucratic solutions has not served Republicans well on education issues, where parents can see the effects of state budget cuts on summer school cuts and crowded classrooms. "Listening to the debate yesterday, the governor is citing these technical things, like growth management And McBride would say anybody who drives the expressway knows the roads are terrible," deHaven-Smith said.

"The technical answer sounds contrived, and McBride's weakness (on policy issues) is being turned into his strength. He does-, n't get into those technical issues. He just points to the most obvious things." voters if superintendents, school administrators, teachers, students or parents were most responsible for the performance of their schools. Yet 9 percent of those polled instead said the Florida Legislature was most responsible and another 9 percent named the governor. "People have to feel very intense to volunteer," said Lance deHaven-Smith, a political science professor at Florida State University.

"Not only are they thinking that way, but they're thinking that way with a vengeance. They're angry about it It probably means they're going to vote." Bush's campaign staff failed to return calls Wednesday afternoon to comment on the GOP poll. The latest SurveyUSA poll conducted for Gannett newspapers in Florida showed 50 percent of those polled favored Bush, while 47 percent preferred Bill McBride. The margin of error on the Oct 8-10 poll was 4 percent, putting the results within the realm of a statistical tie. Democrats took heart in the Republican polL "It's obvious looking at the questions the people of Florida have not bought the Bush line earlier in the year that he improved education greatly," said Alan Stonecipher, spokesman for By PAIGE ST.

JOHN The News-Press Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE Republican policy consultants from Washington worried that the class-size initiative amounts to a referendum on Gov. Jeb Bush are encouraging state candidates to use four scare tactics with voters. A private Republican Party poll, and policy statement, obtained by Gannett News Service, encourages Republican candidates to send the message that shrinking class sizes will result in doubled-up school sessions, involuntary busing, removal of children from their teachers in the middle of the 1 school year and many more portables classrooms. They are the most effective messages," confirmed Al Cardenas, chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, which paid for the poll by The Tarrance Group. The state party has paid the national GOP firm, based in Alexandria, Va, more than $330,000 so far this campaign for weekly polls and consulting work.

The one message the Republican Party was told does not carry water with voters? It is the same argument used most heavily by Bush that setting constitutional limits on Flori-da class sizes would strangulate the state budget The GOP poll showed heavy support for the class-size initiative 60 percent in favor if the price tag was as high as $30 billion over the next eight years. State economists are divided over the true cost if this amend- ment passes, but the Bush cam-t paign has said it would be about $28 billion. If it passes, the amendment would be implemented by 2010. The estimate goes as low as $4 mil-; lioa Why has the governor not fol-' lowed the advice of GOP pollsters? That" a good question, why he doesn't talk about it more," Carde-' nas said Wednesday. They're the most effective arguments from the public standpoint He just feels again, that just the governor he feels the most important reason is because it is fiscally irresponsible.

This is how Jeb Bush is. Tve lived with the guy 20-some years. There are softer ways of saying things, bringing out different issues, and he is who he is The official line Hear state GOP chief Al Cardenas explain why Gov. Jeb Bush hasn't used "scare" messages to campaign against class-size initiative. "Believe me there is a much easier road map that I could have helped the governor with in terms of this election, but that is who he is.

I have to love him for it but it makes my job much more difficult" Democrats were not assuaged the "messages that work" will not yet appear, especially in the last days before Nov. 5 when there would be little time to counter them. They can put $5 million on TV the last week and try to scare people with this," said Alan Stoneci-pher, spokesman for the McBride campaign "Is this part of Bush's devious plan to avoid class-size reductions? Obviously they have polling that says they have messages that work. What are they going to do, use messages that don't work?" Sea Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and chairman of the class-size initiative group, called the four GOP messages "outright lies." He said there is nothing in the proposed constitutional amendment that would force any of the threats to become reality. "These scare tactics, this lying, race-baiting, shifting the blame for failing schools, is very appalling," Meek said.

"It sends the message to parents that the Republican Party of Florida leadership is willing to stop at no end to figure out the best way to lie to Floridians." Meanwhile, Cardenas said he has held several meetings with House and Senate leaders, both Republican, to unify the opposition to the initiative. The Florida Association of School District Superintendents in August struck a position against the class-size initiative, warning that it would, indeed, lead to more busing and school rezoning. "In some districts, especially larger urban districts, neighborhoods in which schools were built 30 or 40 years ago have changed and therefore, few children live in some neighborhoods where cur- McBride's campaign. "If you look at the funding question, more people believe he cut funding than raised funding. Two-thirds of the voters believe that government provides too little money for educatioa Even in their polls, 60 percent favor (class-size caps).

"So they had this information coming out of the primary and what has happened since then is Bush offers his own class-size reduction plan in a very hurried manner, to get on the right side with the voters, contrary to his record in four legislative sessions and three-and-a-half years as governor," Stonecipher said. "My point is the 'new Bush education plan is a poll-driven political plan. It has almost nothing to do with education policy and everything with getting the guy elected." There is no comparable poll done for the McBride campaign, Stonecipher said. "We've done none at this depth on educatioa" he said "(McBride) did his education plan on May 23 and that" been the basis for what we've campaigned oa" The poll attempted to measure the length of Bush's coattails: 44 percent of voters were more likely to support a Republican for the House if they thought, on Election Day, that Bush would likely wia and 31 percent were less likely to support another Republicaa DeHaven-Smith said that signals remark almost as an afterthought only to immediately be bashed. The implication is that students would be bused to less-desirable schools, and the ones typically to have extra classroom space are in low-income, high-minority areas.

Black lawmakers at the time accused the governor of "race-baiting." There's a fine line between raising fears of busing and appealing to racial prejudice so it is a very touchy thing for them," said Lance deHaven-Smith, an expert on Florida politics and a professor at Florida State University. "That's the issue, how do they raise these concerns without becoming vulnerable to criticism for using scare By PAIGE ST. JOHN The News-Press Tallahassee Bureau TALLAHASSEE Florida voters are willing to give Gov. Jeb Bush a passing grade, but there's strong cynicism for his campaign slogans, a party poll shows. The GOP poll conducted the day after the primary by The Tarrance Group and obtained this week by Gannett News Service, showed Bush had a 57 percent approval rating going into his reelection campaign But it also showed the governor has failed to convince those polled that he has cut state taxes, even when that message is backed up by complaints from Democrats.

Bush and Republican lawmakers lay claim to cutting state taxes in the past two years, especially corporate taxes and taxes on stock earnings, which Democrats blame for current state budget woes. Yet 50 percent said they thought taxes had remained the same and 21 percent thought they had gone up. And the poll shows there is no escaping the education issue for the seated governor. A small group of those polled insisted that Bush and the Florida Legislature are mostly in control of what happens at their local schools even when the governor wasn't offered as a choice The Tarrance Group poll asked rent schools are located," the report said The GOP survey urged a message that if the class-size initiative passes, 75 percent of the new space added could be in the form of portable classrooms. It predicted that "every" school district would be forced to rezone, that "many" schools would have to begin busing children, and that school district superintendents oppose the amendment "because they believe that the already strained public school system will be forced to go into double sessions during the school year." However, double sessions, where one set of students start school early in the morning and a Trevor Elmquist, D.O.

Board Certified Ophthalmologist in JJJP" m. ij.jiiijj 1 'j 7 Associates Cataract Eye Glaucoma Call: Dedicated tactics?" Beyond potentially alarming moderate voters, the GOP message also is based on suppositions about how school districts would meet class-size limits of 18 students through third grade, 22 through eighth and 25 students through high school. Class size initiative supporters contend that overcrowding is such a universal problem that it would not lead to widespread busing and school rezoning. "If you were committed to making it a disaster, you could implement in a way so that some of those things might happen," deHaven-Smith said. second set begins their day later, were not one of the ills predicted by the Florida Association of School District Superintendents.

The group did raise another grim outcome not addressed by the pollsters less money to fund expanded course offerings. There was no response from the association's headquarters in Tallahassee on Wednesday. There also was no response Wednesday from the Coalition to Protect Florida, the main group opposing the class-size caps and populated heavily by Bush supporters and former Bush staffers. Political watchers said Bush did mention the threat of busing early in his campaign, offering the 1 30THJ In Eye Care iEpjiEiluiiSaSa PERMITS: Corps says Cape lacks authorization UUUUUUUH Specializing In Implant Surgery Diseases Surgery Diabetes Management Macular Degeneration (239) 936-2020 To Your Vision Franklin Lock Buffet CruiseThurs. To The Gulf Of Mexico Buffet CruiseWed.

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Cape Coral officials said that they may have to re-evaluate their permitting procedures. "I think we're at the point now where the city should take a proactive position with the federal government," Cape Coral City Manager Terry Stewart said. City officials said Wednesday they will be meeting soon with the Corps to discuss the seawall permit issue. Some of the people who were sent the "cease and desist" letters can't understand why they're being threatened when they complied with all the city's rules. "It's just unbelievable," said Dredge Gregory, who never received the Corps letter until a reporter faxed him a copy.

"I got a seawall and dock permit from the city. The whole issue is stupid." Gregory's letter was sent to the address where the seawall is located and not his Cape Coral home. When the city issues a boat dock permit it notifies the contractor that a Army Corps permit is required. It is then the owner's or contractor's responsibility to obtain the federal authorization before beginning work. However, the city hasn't issued the same notice for seawalls.

Lee County requires copies of all federal or state permits before issuing a county building permit for a dock or seawalL The Cape issues the permit and assumes the builder or owner will get the required federal permit The city doesn't check to see whether that was done. "We always thought it was a better way to operate," said Rick Joyce, deputy director of planning for Lee County. "It keeps people out of trouble." Finding a balance between the rights of property owners and the endangered West Indian Manatee has been a struggle since the Save the Manatee lawsuit was settled. Little in terms of viable solutions have been offered by cither side. Ken Stead, executive director of the Southwest Florida Marine Industries Association, stiested federal, state and local eflorts go into better enforcement of speed laws, educating the public, establishing speed zones and adding signs.

The cases of the nine people with "cease and desist" letters will be investigated and a determination will be made in the future, Summa said He couldn't say how the Corps would decide or what the any, would be. From Page IB permits until recently when the manatee issue came to light" The city continues to issue boat dock and seawall permits even though a June 2001 letter from the Corps to the city said that, "Single-; family docks and other projects that provide watercraft access within the interior saltwater canals in Cape Coral do not qualify under the nationwide permit pro-! gram." The letter went on to say that "the city has no authority to short-circuit this procedure." Corps officials said the city did have blanket authorization to issue seawall permits but that entitle-1 ment no longer applies in the nearly 100 miles of saltwater canals in Cape CoraL "They don't have authorization from us," said Eric Summa, chief of enforcement for the regulatory division of the US. Army Corps of Engineers. The Save the Manatee settlement changed a lot of Enter the manatee A settlement agreement to a lawsuit filed in 2000 by the Save the Manatee Club and other environmental groups makes the VS. Fish and Wildlife Service part of the boat dock and seawall permit system that the Corps controls.

Fish and Wildlife is required to comment on whether any marine structure in the waters of inadequate manatee protection may have a detrimental impact on manatees. The Corps will not issue a permit with a negative comment from Fish and Wildlife. Those areas of inadequate protection in Lee County include the saltwater canals and riverfront in Cape Coral, the Caloosahatchee River, Ten Mile and Mullock Creeks and parts of Matlacha Pass and Pine Island Sound. Inadequate protection refers to a lack of proper speed zones, manatee safe areas and insufficient law enforcement to protect manatees. Without the US.

Fish and Wildlife comment the Corps will not issue permits. Fish and Wildlife already is holding up about 241 boat dock permits since February by not issuing comments to the Corps. "It's our opinion that boat docks may cause harm or death to manatees," said Bert Byers, a spokesman for VS. Fish and Wildlife. The Issue is to curtail the number of new boats in the Caloosahatchee River." The Grps maintains that any structure built in the area of inadequate protection is subject to VS.

Fish and Wildlife review. "If the project requires us to coordinate with US. Fish and Wildlife, then we will ask them to kik at each proposal and issue a ivrn one a 11 iSXtiMU OIL PAINTING OVER At you can find: CHOOSE FROM THOUSANDS OF ORIGINALS nn TROPICAL SCENES HARBORS PARIS SCENES IMPRESSIONISTIC EUROPE SCENES WILDLIFE BIRDS MUCH MORE Ml OCEAN SCENES MOUNTAINS PALM TREES LANDSCAPES FLORAL ORIENTAL SHIPS FRENCH CAFES ABSTRACT SOUTHWESTERN BOATS STILL LIFE SEA SHELLS SEASCAPES CLOWNS MODERN PAINTINGS FROM $3.00 SOFA SIZE FROM $15.00 Video clips of Betty Parker's political analysis Campaign filings and other election-related public documents Searchable database of local candidates' stands on key issues Archived local political coverage since September primary Live statewide updates from The News-Press Tallahassee Bureau ONE DAY ONLY! SUNDAY 11AM -4 PM HOLIDAY INN EELL TOWER MALL 13051 Bell Tower Drive Ft. Myers CASH CHECK VISA MASTERCARD Htvrrnirri Aft (364 n4 up) l1aM HgM1y tilghf prfc en..