Currently, Florida Republicans are very responsible for Doge.
After Elon Musk avoided the chainsaw before the cheering crowd of Maga enthusiasts, Florida Republicans vowed to take the same kind of chainsaw for waste they say exists in the Florida government.
Obviously, some of this is just a political theatre. Just like when Musk’s government’s efficiency department misplaced a $8 million contract with ICE on a $8 billion contract. Or they were fired when the Trump administration had to immediately rehire some of the federal employees, as it turns out that those employees did something important.
But the Florida Republicans still want to get their dogs. And I’m here today to praise one of their ideas – eliminating the entire office of the Lieutenant Governor.
Not only do I like the idea, I have proposed most of my 20 years in 2009 with subtle columns like “Let’s Axe Lige Godner Post.”
Yes, I was all grown up long before these modern mini masks were. Still, if they want to start trimming Florida’s political fats now, I’ll say it slower than later.
Why x LG Post? Because the position is meaningless. The person literally has no particular obligations or obligations outlined in the state constitution other than being alive.
My daughter’s cat, Mildred, does so. When you think about it, Governor Millie will probably waste much less money than some of our actual LGs.
See, that’s one of the lieutenant governor’s biggest problems. They get in trouble from time to time because they have little to do.
The only time LG makes headlines in this state is when they are creating a scandal. (Jennifer Carroll had to resign when he was caught in a charge related to a gambling ring, like Li during Charlie Christ’s Jeff Cotkump when he got $425,000 worth of travel bills and Rick Scott’s li.)
Taxpayers spend a lot of money on such nonsense. Florida LG is usually assigned staff chiefs, program analysts, multiple assistants, personal aides and bodyguards.
That’s a lot of money spent on people with the main function of nodding to the governor’s press conference and attending the Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
At least five other states manage well without using LG and assign succession duties to people such as the Attorney General and the Senate President. In Florida, if there is no lieutenant governor, the obligation to succeed is sent to the Attorney General and then to the CFO.
In Tallahassee, insiders call the lieutenant governor “someone who has little or no work to do.” Do you know which insider said that? Former Lieutenant Colonel Frank Brogan.
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Brogan used that explanation when explaining why he left the post with Jeb Bush to get a job running Florida Atlantic University. Our latest lieutenant governor, Janet Nunez, also recently left the post to run a university at Florida International.
Can anyone pay $125,000 a year when you can make 4 or 5 times more to be someone?
This is the best time to x it, as Nunez has left the office. No one will ever lose his job.
And Florida knows that Florida comes well without LG because for most of the century, Florida hasn’t done well. Sunshine State was a lieutenant from 1889 until 1968, when the state’s constitution was rewritten.
Politicians really like political posts. But I think there are too many situations in this situation.
Florida, for example, would provide better services by having an appointed agricultural commissioner than the elected ones. As a politician, AG commissioners receive campaign money from big sugar, fertilizer companies and grocery stores, and operate for offices that regulate (wait) sugar, fertilizer companies and partially grocer stores. You can guess how it works. An elected agricultural committee member does not need more than the selected committee member of the theme park.
Cut the fat! Florida can save taxes by focusing on useless lieutenant colonels and elected agricultural commissioner posts
The same applies to local tax collectors. You don’t need politicians to collect taxes. You need a competent office manager. Do you know what happens when you invite politicians to a position that doesn’t require them? Joel Greenberg, that’s what happens.
Of course, there are politicians who kept these posts and did a great job. Most of the current tax collectors in Central Florida seem to be doing well. And as Jeb Bush’s second lieutenant governor, Toni Jennings was a savvy and class act.
But unless Florida wants to assign official duties to the lieutenant governor, it’s just a lot of dignity, circumstances and taxes for unnecessary positions.
The proposal to abolish the LG Post was introduced by Tyler Sirois, House Majority Leader at R-Merritt Island and John Snyder, R-Stuart MP. Sadly, the HJR 1325 is not as simple as it should be. Instead of simply asking voters to take the post and reallocating their obligations for succession, the bill also proposes creating another elected position, the “Commissioner of Government Efficiency,” and elevating the person to a cabinet-level position.
Politicians can’t seem to stop them from creating a more political bureaucracy, even if they’re probably cutting it. This is why political positions like these are maintained.
In fact, my experience has been with many politicians who have been vocal about the waste that is supposed to be about waste when demonizing frontline workers can’t pruned political fats for themselves and their peers. But I want them to prove me wrong.
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