The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • B1

Orlando Sentinel: PRODUCT: OS DESK: LOC DATE: 03-30-2006 EDITION: FLA ZONE: FLA DEADLINE: 21.42 OP: apinkston COMPOSETIME: 08.15 CMYK STATE THURSDAY MARCH 30, 2006 BID FOR CONVENTION: TAMPA JOINS RACE After losing to New York in 2004, Tampa on Wednesday said it's going to try to win the 2008 Republican National Convention. The GOP is taking bids from 31 cities, including Orlando. Finalists should be named in July and the winner in January. MAXWELL: DEMOCRATS GET FEISTY PAGE B2 Orlando Sentinel NEWS ARCHIVES Search for news from the Orlando Sentinel's past issues back to 1 985. OrlandoSentinel.comarchives COMMENTARY 'I Orlando Sentinel Attorney opposes 'perverf talking with new teachers JOB PERFORMANCE How would you rate the performance of Jeb Bush as governor? Poor 16 nt 24 Fair 21 Good 39 NOTE: Poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling Research from March 21 -23 with 625 registered voters who said they vote regularly in state elections.

The margin of error is 4 percentage points. SOURCE: Mason-Dixon Polling Research ORLANDO SENTINEL ple." This month, Orange Circuit Judge Bob Wattles proposed that he and former Boone High instructor Dang Van Dinh give a presentation to incoming teachers about the dangers of pursuing sexual relationships with schoolchildren. The judge said in a letter that Dinh, who is serving five years in please see TEACHERS, B4 day night's board meeting as he recommended that district officials politely decline a judge's offer to lecture new teachers with the help of a former teacher convicted of having sex with a student. Kruppenbacher said the message of the district's four-hour mandatory ethics-training session already is loud and clear "Don't put your hands on kids" and does not need to be repeated for "99 percent of peo By ERIKA H0BBS SENTINEL STAFF WRITER No sex offenders will be warning Orange County's new teachers to avoid relationships with students anytime soon. "We're not going to have a pervert talk to our employees," said Frank Kruppenbacher, the school district's attorney.

His comment came during Tues Mike THOMAS SENTINEL COLUMNIST Things aren't so hot for our Kathie of Arc Governor receives top marks, poll shows Jeb Bush fares better than his brother, but some of his ideas are short on support. WHAT WENT WRONG IN 2002 A foam-rubber mattress was used to fuel the training fire, which violated training standards. Mickel and Begg died after a colleague broke a window, allowing fresh air to rush in and fuel the fire. A supervisor thought the 2 had exited the building. WHAT'S DIFFERENT TODAY Training fires in Osceola are now in a gutted and stripped house that has no carpet.

Hay is the only fuel. Windows have been replaced with plywood shutters, and extra exits were cut into the house. Orange arrows were spray-painted on the floors. BEGG MICKEL PHOTOS BY ED SACKETTORLANDO SENTINEL With the emergency exits closed, Lt. Ed Brown of the Osceola County Fire Department waits to go over the final safety checklist before setting the fires Wednesday for live training.

In January, state law tightened safety measures for such training. With care, fire training resumes By JOHN KENNEDY TALLAHASSEE BUREAU CHIEF Gov. Jeb Bush is drawing all-time-high approval ratings from Florida voters, but he's struggling to win support for the top priorities of his final year in office, a new statewide poll shows. Bush earns "excellent" or "good" job-performance ratings from 63 percent of voters, matching the highest grade of his governorship a level he last reached in June 2000. But the poll also contains bad news, with a majority of Floridians rejecting his demand that they weaken the state's class-size amendment approved by voters four years ago.

Other key Bush initiatives that would keep private-school vouchers alive and provide a $100 property-tax rebate also earn only modest support in the survey conducted for the Orlando Sentinel and WESH-Channel2. Pollster Brad Coker said voters are more generous in assessing Bush's two terms in office than the issues he advocates. "At this point, they're focused more on what he has done his last seven years in office than what might happen in the next 30 days," said Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling Research, which surveyed 625 registered voters March 21-23. The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points. With the legislative session nearing its midpoint, the public's opinion on class size might be the most ominous for the governor.

The survey found 51 percent of Floridians oppose efforts to scale back the amendment, while 40 percent support the idea. The state Senate, which defeated a similar Bush proposal last year, narrowly approved the latest PLEASE SEE POLL, B5 After watching Katherine Harris in action lately, I don't think we should let her pick any more presidents. Oh, how the glamorous have fallen. I recall the 2001 Florida inaugural ball, watching Republicans celebrate President Bush's 1 -0 victory at the Florida Department of State. Katherine was the star, radiant in her black gown, the object of a thousand whispers and turned heads.

This is how she was introduced: "In France, there was Joan of Arc; in Crimea, there was Florence Nightingale; in the Deep South, there was Rosa Parks; in India, there was Mother Teresa. In Florida, there was Katherine Harris!" A lesser woman would have been embarrassed. Katherine of Arc rode her white horse to Congress in 2002. But this was not a woman who could live happily ever after eating Big Macs with Ric Keller. Her destiny was the United States Senate.

Bill Nelson could do it. How hard could it be? Katherine aimed at 2004. She would join George W. on the ballot, the king and the king maker. But the people who run the Republican Party were anxious to put the dangling chads of 2000 behind them.

Karl Rove did that voodoo that he does so well. He cast his chicken bones on the floor, and they spelled Mel Martinez. Katherine took it well. She would wait for 2006. But then it was Brother Jeb's turn.

He tried to recruit House Speaker Allan Bense to run against her. Bense could not beat my old running shoes in a race for the Senate. But he would lose without causing collateral damage to other Republicans. A man who knows his limitations, Bense declined the invitation. A woman who does not, Katherine carries on.

Her campaign has been a nonstop series of gaffes illegal campaign contributions, staff defections and statement retractions. She is so busy attacking herself, the Democrats can't get a word in edgewise. Bill Nelson is a blessed man. First there was Bill McCollum, and now there is Katherine Harris. Nelson may not have enough depth to float a minnow, but he has been at this long enough not to blow a double-digit lead.

On the above list of historical figures likened to Katherine, you will not find Rocky Balboa. What can the Republicans do? Jeb Bush could take out Nelson. The idea of a fiscally conservative Republican in Washington is intriguing. But Jeb hates legislative politics. He would be as at home in the Senate as Yo-Yo Ma would be in Black Sabbath.

U.S. Rep. Mark Foley wants in, judging by the stream of spam he sends out bragging about his pork-barrel additions to the federal deficit. He has not perfected the art of pandering with dignity. You can't beat Nelson with a lesser version of Nelson.

Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher could trade the governor's race for the Senate race. That depends on whether he prefers losing to Nelson or Charlie Crist. Of course, both he and Foley could lose to Katherine in a primary. The fond memory she resurrects from 2000 is not to be underestimated. So I doubt they will enter unless she drops out.

She isn't inclined to do that, even if all she shares with Joan of Arc now is a pole position amid the flames. Mike Thomas can be reached at 407-420-5525 or mthomasorlandosentinel.com. Osceola hadn't practiced on live blazes since 2 firefighters died in a 2002 exercise. By ELAINE ARADILLAS SENTINEL STAFF WRITER KISSIMMEE Osceola County firefighters resumed live-fire training exercises this week, nearly four years after two firefighters were killed in a training drill. Since Lt.

John Mickel, 32, and rookie Dallas Begg, 20, died in July 2002, the Osceola County Fire Department had conducted no training that involved actual fires. The two were killed in a flashover, when fire in an enclosed area gets hot enough to melt steel. As a result of the incident, the department worked with the Florida State Fire College in Ocala to prepare an up-to-date safety plan, Tad Stone, assistant county manager of public safety, said Wednesday. "We wanted to make sure everything was punctuated and crossed," he said, "before we started burning again." In January, the Lt. John Mickel Dallas Begg Act became state law to tighten safety measures for training exercises.

PLEASE SEE FIRE, B4 Osceola firefighters enter the building Wednesday as part of live training. The department spent 3 weeks ensuring the house was as safe as possible for the weeklong training. ADHD or an anger problem? Experts disagree about judge 'Sloop appears ready to deprecate anyone who challenges his dominance or s. cial Qualifications Commission, the state board that polices judges. Prosecutors for the commission want Sloop kicked off the bench.

The six-member panel began deliberations Wednesday night on Sloop's fate. It's not clear when it will report its findings to the Florida Supreme Court, which has the final word on whether or how Sloop should be punished. Defense attorney Marc Lubet on Wednesday begged the panel not to PLEASE SEE JUDGE, B4 By RENE STUTZMAN SENTINEL STAFF WRITER SANFORD A psychologist testified Wednesday that the judge who locked up 1 1 people after they went to the wrong courtroom could, indeed, have a mental disorder, but that his real problem is that he's an angry man who uses intimidation to control others. Seminole County Judge John Sloop, 57, did not dispute those allegations on the second and final day of his trial before a panel of the Judi DEBORAH DAY, PSYCHOLOGIST, ON JUDGE JOHN SLOOP 1 JOE BURBANKORLANDO SENTINEL Psychologist Daniel Tressler testifies Wednesday in Sanford at a hearing into the conduct of Seminole Judge John Sloop. COLORSTRIP: I.