It’s important to put the veto in perspective. As The Ledger pointed out, 25% of the Governor’s vetoes this year fell in Polk County. Last time I checked there are 67 counties in Florida. Sound equitable to you? Of course not, which further illustrates that this veto has nothing to do with education policy, spending policy, fiscal restraint, or budgetary prioritization. It has everything to do with the politics surrounding a fledgling administration mired in contradiction and unpredictability.

I frankly don’t plan to venture here into the political workings of a US Senate campaign and how they translate into the folly of inconsistency that has become the Administration. But suffice it to say, it’s mind boggling. Check out this press release which the Governor issued on June 11, 2008 marking his enthusiastic support of the campus name change and the critical first round of construction funding. To quote him, “I look forward to the great work…from this promising institution.” Huh?

That press release came the year after the very first Charlie Crist veto of construction dollars for USF Polytechnic. He issued that release and the region breathed a collective sigh of relief. We had convinced him. He endorsed us – and endorsed us publicly. What ensued were two solid years of construction funding with the Governor’s seal of approval.

If you have found yourself reading along just fine up until now, yes, you might have just stumbled on a mental speed bump of sorts. But what I’m telling you is correct. This Governor has now vetoed and signed construction dollars for the same project twice. I couldn’t make something this outrageous up. This is the inconsistency this region and decision-makers across the state are wrangling with. How do you do business with an administration that exhibits this type of irrationality? The truth is, you can’t. And you shouldn’t.

USFP’s chief Marshall Goodman on Thursday issued a candid statement to supporters reiterating the region’s commitment to the campus master plan, to the bold vision that USFP offers and to continuing the important fight to bring first rate economic advancement to Polk.

I congratulate him as well for reminding folks that while the vision of vertical construction on the Williams site has suffered a temporary setback of sorts, the mission remains strong and the delivery of the highest quality education by world class professionals flourishes. You see, the Governor left in tact the operating fund increases contained in the state’s budget. So, onward we march. You will see expansion of the high-tech business incubator efforts throughout the region, the hiring of some of the most qualified faculty ever assembled and the continuation of a mission that has been endorsed so enthusiastically by a loving community and a committed region.

And come January, the inconsistency that has become the Crist Administration will fade from power. Advocates, citizens and leaders will engage and we’ll succeed. The campus will be built. The Polytechnic vision will thrive and the region will claim victory because we remained fervently committed to bold vision and economic transformation.

photo credit: Tom Hagerty for Metro I4 News

However, this last week I got myself caught up in a bit of a political/religious dialogue at the Hookah Palace in downtown Lakeland. Passing a Hookah pipe around a group of friends, conversations arise that might not ever find space or time in the “small talk” world of most of our daily lives. One of the quaint niceties of the Hookah Lounge is that each little table/couch setting is sectioned off by a partitioning curtain. The curtains give the idea of privacy but give little actual seclusion from anyone else.

As I sat reading the other day in my little couch area, the group next to me was discussing the recent words of Virginia State Delegate Bob Marshall, Republican from Manassas.

The number of children who are born subsequent to a first abortion with handicaps has increased dramatically. Why? Because when you abort the firstborn of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children. — Bob Marshall, R-Manassas

Apparently he really believes that children born with disabilities are God’s punishment for abortion. Mr. Marshall based his understanding of God’s punishment off Exodus 13:2.

Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal.

In all honesty the conversation would not have bothered me enough to say something normally. People are always warping scripture to put God on the side of their power and control issues. What surprised me was that the group of college students started naming other tragedies, illnesses and disasters that they believed could be caused because of God’s wrath. I think I actually laughed out loud though, when I heard one person say that they thought that the earthquake in Haiti could have been God’s response to Obama becoming President!

I would like to tell you this misinformed conversation of the group that day was the simply the result of classism, racism and bigotry, though I want to blame schools, media and the literalist babblings of right winged bible thumpers. I fear the blame needs to fall on our churches, synagogues and other religious bodies who have either not taught their members how to love or taught them to love and then allowed them to keep their light –under a bushel.

It is easy for open minded, educated, loving people to turn the other cheek, in essence saying “I know God loves me…to hell with you!” I think this is one of the reasons why when Jesus talked about the spiritual gift of tongues, he focused more on the interpreting of tongues rather then the gift of speaking them.

5I would like every one of you to speak in tongues,[c] but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues,[d] unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified. (1 Corinthians 14:5)

It has been convenient for liberal minded, educated Christians to blame the moral, ethical and spiritual brokenness of society on close minded churches and believers. However, I fear the injustice and misunderstanding are more likely a consequence of the apathy of educated, Christian minds. Our society listens to Fox News, Rush Libaugh, Pat Robertson and Virginia State Delegate Marshall because they are the ones who are willing to teach and share answers to people’s questions.

It is of no good to anyone to have love, knowledge or inner peace if you are not willing to share it — fight for it — teach it — and when it comes to justice, sometimes even die for it.

Do your friends, family, co-worker and church know what you believe in — what you stand for? With all your education, years of church, bible reading and services attended, are you living a gospel of grace or just talking one?

hh

photo credit: Zooopreme

Scully: “Well, we know it can’t be a vampire.”
Mulder: “Why?”
Scully: “Because they don’t exist.”

This is what I think about conservatives, right now. They are mythological. Even Orange County mayoral candidate Matt Falconer, for whom I had great hope, just wants to tie government employee health benefits to the private sector, rather than cut them altogether.

“I do not want to eliminate employee health care, just put a limit on it,” Falconer said in an email to me. He also attached a report he co-authored looking into Orange County budget issues in which he points out that health care costs Orange County $7,000-$12,000 per employee each year. The authors complain about how much that is, but then proceed to do nothing about it. Capping spending on a thing which grows significantly in cost each year is weak sauce. Either cut it, or pay for it.

I challenge conservatives to explain why government should continue to provide health care to employees, if, indeed, government employees are coddled and overpaid and the free market provides answers to all problems.

Anyway, today we’ve got teabirthers rioting at town hall forums over the idea that the government might somehow intervene with itself in Medicare – and that would be bad, or something – as part of a far too modest insurance reform package. Below is from Kathy Castor’s town hall last night:

Funny, I remember all you Republicans dismissing these Ron Paul people as crazy when he was running in your primary. How quickly things change. But I digress. What’s missing from all this yelling and shoving, as always, is a willingness to actually embrace the consequences what you say you believe. If you don’t want big government, start cutting it.

But you won’t. Perfect example: State Sen. Carey Baker, from Lake County, wants to exempt Florida from any federal health insurance reform that emerges from Congress. But, of course, he’s all for keeping Medicare taxes and participation mandatory. States rights, indeed.

Bottom line conservatives, you can pander to teabirthers all you want. Get them to yell and fuss. But if you or they are not willing to start dismantling unsustainable things – by things, I mean Medicare, Medicaid, the US military – you’re not conservative. You’re just a dishonest liberal. You lack the courage of your convictions, which is why I’ve never shared them. They don’t exist.

Surprisingly enough, most of the commenters seemed to agree with me, which doesn’t always happen. But one person in particular took me to task pretty thoughtfully in a pair of long comments he or she must have spent some time composing. For the purposes of this post, here’s key passage:

And Mr. Townsend I wonder if it would not be too much trouble to disagree with people without making it personal. Is the “you people” to which you refer “Baby Boomers” in general? Or just the elderly who disagree with your political position? To suggest that Mr. Feuer’s was “The Dumbest Letter Ever Written to the Ledger” is offensive on its face. if one takes the time to write out of concern, should not the concern be addressed without throwing them under the bus? No , that’s not the way we do things anymore, we need to berate, and castigate them until they are silenced. Not everyone has the ability to make a point without writing a book, but you know that. So when a concern is raised, could just a little latitude be offered.

This is a point worth discussing, I think, if just for the sake of the commenter. (If the rest of you find this entirely too much narcissism, feel free to eject at this point.)

My first reaction was to emphasize that I attacked the author’s letter, not him. But that’s disingenuous. Clearly, I stuck it to an elderly man I don’t know to make a point, complete with a couple of turns of phrase seeking malicious laughs at his expense. It was not, as my mother might say, Christian behavior. And yet I stand by it fully and regret nothing. Why?

It has to do with the relationship between the abstract and the real, or the “personal”, as the commenter says. More and more, I see this as the key divide among citizens and the institutions – public and private – we allow to govern us. Far too many citizens of all parties are ignorant of the basic consequences of their beliefs – or at least the talking points they’ve heard other people say – and are unwilling to learn about them. This letter provides a beautiful example of that. The author repeats the talking points he’s heard — “The big government takeover has to stop. Ever since liberals claimed power, it’s been one bureaucratic scheme after another.” — while demonstrating utter obliviousness to the fact that his beloved Medicare is, in fact, next to the military and social security, the largest “bureaucratic scheme” in the history of the United States. If we did away with these dreadful big-government-takeover-liberal-bureaucratic-schemes, the author would suddenly experience what it means to be old and “conservative.” Doctors and pharmacies don’t take IOUs.

So here I am, reading this letter in The Ledger. What to do? Easiest thing is to ignore it. But these types of letters, ignorant as they are, repeat, perpetuate, and help establish longterm abstract narratives that harden into political realities which have no bearing on actual reality and prevent us from taking common sense action.

Here’s a good example: the carbon tax. Such a thing could long ago have helped spur alternative energy and transit investment and development – such as the Europeans enjoy – and helped us move away from Saudi oil. But because so-called conservative Republicans over the years so successfully turned the word tax, out of all relation to its meaning in the real world, into an abstraction roughly equivalent to child molester, we never grappled with the pernicious realities of foreign energy dependence. Remember, Bill Clinton wanted to institute an energy tax at the onset of his administration. Who filibustered that to death, I wonder?

Instead, we allowed reality, in the form of religious terrorists, corrupt regimes, and opportunistic participants in energy markets to provide the tax for us last year – on their terms. It took $4 gas about six months to kill the SUV culture in this country. A sensible carbon tax might have kept it from ever developing – and left us with viable solar energy like they have in Germany or fantastic public transit and high speed rail like France. Think we’d be better off, right now? Because of the lasting power of the tax bogeyman abstraction and big economic interests to cower politicians, we can’t even do a simple carbon tax now, which leaves us with this Godawful corporate grab-bag of a cap and trade plan to fight global warming.

In the case of health care, all those people talking in the abstract about the horrors of a “government takeover” seem completely unable to even consider that the entire private health care system depends on the willingness of employers to pay for its ever-increasing cost, as I laid out here. They want to stay with a model that is almost certainly doomed if it doesn’t change. And they give no thought to the consequences of that.

You could make an argument that the tax/government takeover abstraction would be legitimate if conservatives actually embraced the consequences of treating taxes as evil. But they don’t, because that would mean real, substantive, death enducing cuts in the services those dreaded taxes buy, such as Medicare and the military. That’s where the money is, folks. Nowhere else.

And that brings us to this “ever since liberals claimed power” nonsense. It is a fact that George W. Bush, in his first term in office, backed by a mostly Republican congress, launched two wars and created the Medicare prescription drug plan, the most expansive and expensive government entitlement program since the Great Society. He did all of this while slashing taxes. He then proceeded to account for all of this by keeping the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan off budget and by pretending that his tax cuts would sunset at the end of his term in office, thereby assuring that his successor – whoever it might have been – would have to either keep up the dishonesty or acknowledge a much larger US deficit than Bush was willing to acknowledge. This is breathtaking in its irresponsibility, dishonesty, and shamelessness. Throw out the value or morality of these policies for a second and just consider their budget impact. I know of no failure of US financial governance by a president of any party that remotely compares to this massive unfunded mandate on the American people. And while a number of craven, gutless Democrats helped, this was Bush’s agenda, fully backed by the institutional Republican party and helped along by a debt and housing bubble. I’d like my commenter to either acknowledge this or tell me why I’m wrong.

It is incredibly difficult, as a political opposition, to wrestle with opponents willing to engage in this level of shamelessness. Run on actually paying for all this government action, and you’re an income confiscating socialist tax-and-spend liberal. Run on ending the Iraq War or the Medicare prescription drug plan because we can’t afford them, and you’re an America-hating senior killer. Run on some messy combination of the two, and you’re all of the above plus a wishy-washy flip-flopper. That was John Kerry in 2004.

My commenter writes: “I am not a big fan of the previous administration either.” Really? See, I hear this a lot now. Oh, I couldn’t stand Bush. Not a real conservative. Really? Who did you vote for in 2004, when all of this was well-known? Put your money where your mouth is. John Kerry, for all his many problems, actually ran on trying to pay for some of Bush’s government. Bush did not. Nor did he run on cuts. Did you vote to repudiate this most unconservative of approaches to government?

I didn’t think so. And nothing changed in the next four years.

Now that we have a president who is trying to actually address these problems (getting out of Iraq, trying to reform health care in a way that restrains cost growth, and yes, borrowing money to nudge the economy away from bubbles while preserving public education and other services), letter-to-the-editor conservatives suddenly have rediscovered the principles they claim to hold, but don’t even understand.

And therein lies the problem. It isn’t the policy; it’s the political shamelessness behind the abstractions that lead to the policy and the grassroots willful ignorance that enables it.

And that’s why I went after this letter and its writer. I hate to say it, because it’s harsh, but he’s the problem. I want all my services, but I don’t want to pay for them because I’m an anti-government conservative – or something. And he is not alone. There’s an old saying that “all politics is local.” That could just as easily read: “All politics is personal.”

If I ignore his letter, it’s just another log on the fire of a wrongheaded, but powerful narrative. If I treat this letter’s repetition of talking points as a legitimate argument, I legitimize it. I have no interest in doing that. The author’s not making an argument or even asking a question, so there’s nothing to engage with in good faith. (In contrast to my commenter.) By calling him out, and by mocking that other old saw about how much better educated the previous generations were, I hoped to discredit him and the ignorance to which he contributes.

And, ultimately, I hope that I’ll discredit him effectively enough to protect him from himself. There’s another saying I’ve come to love, “Those who will not learn will be made to feel.” Let this letter-writer get his wish, and if he lives long enough, and he may get to feel what it’s like when government bureaucratic schemes that help millions of people stay alive fall prey to cynical abstractions.

That quotation comes from a letter City Manager David Greene wrote on Dec. 8, 2006 to then FDOT secretary Denver Stutler, explaining how important the Heartland Parkway is to the CSX rail hub/ILC planned for Winter Haven. The letter urges the state to “authorize commencement of the [preliminary design and engineering] process so the Heartland Parkway can soon become reality.”

The entire letter is a marvelously straightforward statement of the relationship between the proposed Heartland Parkway and the CSX deal, which I’ve always seen as the great untold story of both issues. Between them, these two proposals call for roughly $10 billion in public spending to reorganize where and how freight and people move in Central Florida. When you look closely at the effort to build this wall of money, and at who it might benefit other than CSX, more often than not you see state Sen. JD Alexander, members and alumni of Orlando’s GrayRobinson law firm, and a consistent cast of supporting characters and property owners, who between them own many properties that surround the hub or line the proposed parkway route.

For instance, Highland Cassidy, a partner with Alexander in pushing the Heartland Parkway and in several Winter Haven-area business ventures, has spent at least $8 million since 2004 to purchase at least 200 acres of property surrounding the would-be hub site, according to Polk Property Appraiser records.

I’ve made a habit in this space of casting aspersions on Alexander’s role in all of this, often noting his purchase of Phoenix Industries in the middle of the CSX fight and his relationship to the would-be Heartland Parkway. These references are a convenient shorthand for the set of interlocking and massively complex interests, stretching from Orange County to Hendry County and beyond, that have enormous potential stakes in what happens with the CSX deal. And the least of those interests is whether 3,000 people a day get to ride a train in Orlando.

I got to thinking about this again recently when I read this discussion with Alexander from a recent story in The Ledger:

“I think SunRail is a good policy. It makes sense. But it’s not to die for, for me.” He said the most important issue for him was the relocation of a CSX hub to eastern Polk County that would bring hundreds of jobs, “and that’s done,” he said.

Though a number of news organizations have danced around this, I don’t think anyone has fully laid out why relocating the hub might be “the most important issue” to Alexander. So I’m going to take a stab at it here, using just publicly available reporting, property records, and official government correspondence. I have to warn you that this will get long, but I don’t know how else to do it. Frankly, I’m under no illusion that anybody other than my mother will read all of this piece. But I think someone ought to put it all in one place.

“Final Frontier”

The best place to start, I think, lies in the first few paragraphs of “Final Frontier,” a fabulous piece of journalism from reporter Cynthia Barnett, which Florida Trend magazine published in July 2006.

In February [2006], longtime Orlando lawyer J. Charles Gray, representing a consortium of rural landowners, sketched a suggested route for a new highway onto a road map and faxed it over to Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, the agency that builds and runs the state’s toll roads…

…Gray’s map showed Turnpike officials how they could tweak a northern branch of the proposed highway to avoid a private golf community and to end closer to a recently announced intermodal hub for transportation company CSX Corp. in Winter Haven… [Emphasis Mine]

[E-mails Lindsay Peterson and I obtained from FDOT back in my Trib days indicate that Alexander met with then Gov. Jeb Bush and DOT secretary Denver Stutler on Dec. 5, 2005 to pitch the Heartland Parkway. It's not clear if CSX came up that day.]

…The plans made public [in March 2006] by the Turnpike Enterprise followed Gray’s cartography. In fact, internal DOT and Turnpike Enterprise documents show, Gray, [Rick] Dantzler and Florida Sen. J.D. Alexander, a Lake Wales citrus grower, so influenced the planning for the north-south route that they even convinced state officials to dub it the “Heartland Parkway.”

You really should read the whole thing. Using the Heartland Parkway as an object lesson, it explained how the housing/development bubble economy of 2003-2007 and the struggles of traditional agribusiness were pushing big landowners – like Alexander – into the home-growing business. It’s a valuable snapshot in time that includes many names familiar to Polk Countians.

J. Charles Gray is the Gray in GrayRobinson, the man as responsible as anyone for bringing Disney World to Orlando and USF Polytechnic to Lakeland during his long career of influential legal and development work. In 2006, Gray was the lawyer and registered agent for HEART – the Heartland Economic Agricultural and Rural Task Force – the “consortium of landowners” mentioned in Barnett’s story.

Back in 2007, I posted list of the landowning companies that made up HEART. They are a who’s who of west Central Florida Big Ag and development operations. I want to focus here on three of them: Atlantic Blue, Alico, and Highland Cassidy.

As has been widely reported, Alexander owns a controlling interest in the first two companies. The St. Pete Times delved into how Atlantic Blue and Alico stood to benefit from the Heartland Parkway in a March 2007 story titled “Who’s Driving This Road Effort: Big landowners, including a state senator, would benefit from a highway they want built.”

Follow the link to find a terrific flash map that matches the properties in question with the proposed parkway route that – remember – Gray reportedly drew. You’ll find Alexander’s Blue Head Ranch sitting dead in the middle of the swath, like a rabbit in a snake’s belly. Here are a few key graphs from the story:

Blue Head Ranch is flat, parched grassland split in two by a stretch of blacktop called U.S. 70.

But this dusty outpost could become one of Central Florida’s hottest real estate commodities if a mammoth toll road wins approval by the state. Nearly all of Blue Head Ranch lies within a large swath where a $7-billion expressway could go.

The 62,000-acre ranch belongs to a company headed by J.D. Alexander, a powerful state senator with Florida royalty in his blood.

Alexander has been instrumental in pushing for the road by helping to form a lobbying group stocked with some of the most storied real estate dynasties in Florida. They, too, own thousands of acres along the toll road route.

The road campaign comes at a time when Alexander’s businesses, and those of some of his relatives, are shifting from farming and ranching to land development…

The key thing about both this story and “Final Frontier” is that both focused on property south of Polk County and hardly touched on the spot where the parkway would meet the hub site on SR 60, south of Winter Haven.

With that in mind, let’s revisit Winter Haven City Manager David Greene’s Dec. 2006 letter to FDOT Secretary Denver Stutler, urging him to expedite the Heartland Parkway because of the impacts of the CSX hub, of which Greene may be the single biggest booster. Sorry, I only have this in hard copy. Key passages:

“This [CSX hub] project will significantly affect Intrastate and Interstate highways, as well as the City and County road network(s). The Heartland Parkway will allow CSX the ability to efficiently move goods throughout Florida and the Southeastern United States. Many of the approximate[ly] one thousand semi trucks that will enter and leave the ILC daily will be able to utilize the Parkway, which upon construction will be a more cost effective, safe, and environmentally sound way to move goods. This will significantly reduce traffic on US 27, SR 60 and US Highway 27…

“…The Heartland Parkway will be a vital link to the movement of goods and services throughout Florida and the Southeastern United States. The proposed CSX Integrated Logistics Center is very important to the future of Winter Haven, Polk County, Central Florida and the State of Florida.”

Got that? They’re a package. One helps justify the other. Everyone I ever talked to about the hub, on whatever side, agreed that the existing road network surrounding the hub was inadequate for its long-term traffic impacts. Now, how might you solve that problem?

Alexander himself sounded this theme when I interviewed him in April 2007, back when he would talk to me. I asked him if he was worried about the CSX road impacts, and he answered: “Sure I’m worried, but I have to look at what’s happening. The CSX thing is a reality. It’s going to spur economic development. The county really doesn’t have a choice but to improve our infrastructure.”

More technically, the 2035 traffic projection map Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise produced for the Heartland Parkway route pegs the currently rural hub section of the route as easily the busiest section not directly tied to I-4 by 2035. It’s seen as far busier than where the new highway would meet the Polk Parkway in heavily populated suburban South Lakeland. That would seem absurd if planners weren’t already projecting hub traffic, before the hub even exists.

People tend to think that Gov. Charlie Crist killed the Heartland Parkway in spring of 2007. Not true. The portion that would link the Polk Parkway, the hub, and I-4 is being studied right now. What’s gone is the PR campaign. HEART’s extensive website as been swallowed by GoDaddy, and I couldn’t find a link to the 2035 traffic study map I mentioned above anywhere online. It used to be a quick Google search. (I printed a copy back in the day.)

Anyway, it is true that this so-called “Central Polk Parkway” section does not include the north-south route that would run through Alexander’s property south of Polk and provided much of the highway’s controversy. But supporters always planned to start with the central Polk portion and move south from there. And the CSX hub traffic would greatly enhance the case for the road in Polk. Even I would admit it makes sense to build the Central Polk Parkway if the hub comes to fruition.

Which leads us back to the question of conflict. In the “Who’s Driving This Road Effort?” story, the SPT writes:

About the same time, Alexander said, he asked the Senate’s general counsel whether he had a conflict [related to the parkway]. He said he was told if he avoided discussions with government decisionmakers on a subject that affects him financially, he had no conflict.

Remember that.

The Hub, Highland Cassidy, and Phoenix

Here’s where Highland Cassidy , Alexander’s HEART partner, comes in.

The well-known Polk development company is actually a sort of joint venture of two other well-known Polk development companies: Cassidy Properties (owned by Winter Haven’s prominent Cassidy family) and Highland Equities (owned by Robert and Joel Adams).

Alexander’s Atlantic Blue is in business both with Highland Cassidy and what it calls the “Cassidy Organization” – in a Winter Haven housing development and two Winter Haven hotels, respectively.

By my count, Highland Cassidy owns at least 220 acres of land surrounding the hub site. All of it has been purchased since 2004 at what looks like a total cost of more than $8 million. That does not count the additional 22 acres that an entity called Winter Haven Investment I LLC purchased from Gerald Bowen and former state legislator Marty Bowen on March 15, 2008 for $1.3 million. The managers of that entity are listed as Robert Adams and Albert Cassidy It has since changed its name to Winter Haven Development LLC.

The Polk Property Appraiser web site is a little tricky to decipher, with some of the sales figures seeming to overlap parcels. So I encourage you to check my reporting and math for yourself. Here are the relevant parcel numbers I could identify: Highland Cassidy: 262915000000012030, 262915000000022010, 262922000000011010, 262923000000033010, 262921690500020600. Winter Haven Investment I: 262915000000012090. These two entities own most, though not all, of the undeveloped property shown in the map below. The rail line for the hub is in the southwest corner of the map. Some of the property is off this map, which I’ve provided just for orientation.

Bottom line: Business partners with JD Alexander have more than $9 million invested in 242 acres of land surrounding the hub site. I do not allege that Alexander is a partner in these hub properties. I have no evidence of that. But CSX has told Tom Palmer that the timeline of constructing the hub “will depend on whether the commuter rail legislation, which includes some funding to move some equipment to the Winter Haven facility from the current facility in Orange County, passes.”

CSX told the Tampa Tribune recently that it “will build the hub within the next five years even if the commuter rail deal fails.” Five years? Now that’s a number I hadn’t heard before. Think all that money Highland Cassidy spent on hub property might start getting heavy in this economy if it has to wait a few years for the hub?

It’s important to remember that the deal includes $23 million for “relocation” of the Taft Yard hub in Orlando to the Winter Haven site. No one I know, myself included, has been able to get FDOT to define “relocation” clearly. But the state’s announcements indicate that the money will save CSX some hub-related cost. It’s about a quarter of the $100 million price tag CSX has assigned to building the hub. Alexander has worked for and voted for this deal, particularly the hub part. One could reasonably ask if it’s in Alexander’s best interest for his business partners to receive a healthy return on their investments near the hub and if the hub’s quick construction would help. And will that relocation money he’s voting for help ensure that. I don’t know, but I think it’s a reasonable question. And for any reporters out there, keep an eye on that $23 million even if the CSX deal goes down.

And then there’s Phoenix Industries, which Alexander’s Atlantic Blue bought in very early 2008. The warehousing and distribution company sports CSX’s logo on its homepage and boasts of “unique dedicated service offerings with CSX and Union Pacific Distribution Services.” It’s an “approved transloader” for CSX and owns a warehouse a mile or two up the rail line from the hub site.

Alexander recently addressed the Phoenix question in a Ledger story:

He said that Phoenix does less than two percent of its business with CSX and he requested an opinion from the Senate lawyer before the 2007 purchase to make sure there would be no conflicts of interest.

“For me to be muzzled by unfounded allegations and not advocate for the jobs that will help the people in my district would be a much greater wrong,” he said

Maybe Alexander could make some of these legal opinions public?

Anyway, because it’s a fool’s game to argue with a company about its operations, I can’t confirm or refute that incredibly vague “less than two percent of its business” line. Phoenix doesn’t talk about its revenue. But assume for a moment that two percent of general revenue comes from CSX business. Phoenix employs more than 60 people, and I would guess that $20 million per year in revenue is a pretty conservative estimate. Two percent of that is $400,000. That’s not trivial, at least not for a schlub like me. And does anybody think that number is going down if the deal goes through?

Remember what the SPT reported in its Heartland Parkway story:

About the same time, Alexander said, he asked the Senate’s general counsel whether he had a conflict. He said he was told if he avoided discussions with government decisionmakers on a subject that affects him financially, he had no conflict.

GrayRobinson

A stone’s throw from Highland Cassidy’s hub properties, along SR 60, we come to our next chapter and ask this question:

What would it be like to own oodles of acres of undeveloped agricultural land at the very spot where an existing highway, a major rail distribution hub, and a major tollway are projected to meet? Ask the Stokes family.

CSX, in at least two separate transactions, has already paid a total of $1.2 million to Robert G. Stokes, Jeffrey Stokes, and Stokes Groves for the land with which to build the access road from SR 60 to the hub site. Again, here are the parcel numbers: 262927000000044010 and 262934000000033030.

Robert G. Stokes is a former Polk circuit judge who works for GrayRobinson. A Jan. 2007 profile in InTheField magazine says he joined GrayRobinson in 1995, but I don’t think that’s right. I think it’s more likely he worked with Lane Trohn in Lakeland until GrayRobinson absorbed it circa 2002.

The article is cute, waxing on about how “Robert and his family have always valued this beautiful piece of old Florida, but he realized then how important it was to other people, especially in times of so many developments.”

Meanwhile, back in the real world, in August of 2008, The Ledger reported:

Winter Haven City commissioners gave preliminary approval Monday night to develop 676 acres near the planned CSX rail facility with a mix of residential, commercial and industrial uses.

The property owned by Stokes Groves Inc. is north and south of State Road 60 and east of County Road 655A. It is now woodlands, pasture, groves and wetlands.

City officials said that within five years, 93 residential units, 100,000 square feet of retail, 65,000 square feet of office space and 500,000 of industrial space are planned. The rest of property will be developed over 20 years.

Whatever. It’s the Stokes’ land. Good for them.

But the whole thing is emblematic of how GrayRobinson people just keep showing up everywhere in the CSX/Heartland Parkway axis.

Obviously, Gray established HEART for Alexander and friends and apparently drew the Parkway route, as I’ve mentioned. I am told by a source I trust implicitly, who was there, that it was Gray who last year put Gov. Charlie Crist on the spot during a meeting in Tally with Orlando-area business and civic types by asking for and receiving a public statement of support for the CSX deal.

Gray also appeared with Crist, Alexander, and a few other folks last legislative session to announce Crist’s support for USF Polytechnic. Gray represented the landowner of the property in question — the Williams Company. But that’s a whole other story, as they say.

But it’s Gray’s partner, Fred Leonhardt, who gets much of the credit for pushing the deal on behalf of his lobbying clients, which include the city of Orlando, the Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority (LYNX), Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, and Floridians For Better Transportation.

Leonhardt’s Florida Chamber of Commerce bio identifies him as “the lead lawyer for the 55 West Condominium project in downtown Orlando.” I don’t know if that’s still the case. The troubled project appears to be the latest reincarnation of the once-famed Church Street Station complex. For what it’s worth, SunRail includes a Church Street Station stop on its line.

Lakeland native and future House Speaker Dean Cannon, the driving force for the CSX deal in the House, worked for GrayRobinson until 2007.

And last week, during a contentious committee hearing over the CSX deal, the parliamentary tactics of Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami on behalf of the deal left Sen. Paula Dockery fuming. And why might this south Floridian maneuver on behalf of an Orlando-area priority? Who knows? But it’s worth noting that his brother, Renier, is a lobbyist and lawyer working for GrayRobinson’s Miami office.

I’m sure there are other GrayRobinson connections I’m missing, but you get the picture. Look, I’ve got no problem with effective advocacy and skillful use of power. That’s what clients pay for. When that machine works for you, it’s great. See USFP. When it works against you, not so much. But at some point, just as a matter of general civic principle, it would be nice if I could tell the difference between my government and a law firm.

Conclusion

Yes, yes, I know, my God, he’s finally almost done. Sorry.

I started this off by talking about “a set of interlocking and massively complex interests” that have major stakes in this logistical reshuffling of Central Florida. I hope I’ve at least provided a comprehensible description of what I perceive them to be.

A couple of caveats: obviously, macroeconomic conditions are vastly different now than they were when all this began to play out in 2005 or so. I don’t know what ultimate impact that has, but it’s certainly likely to have some. I think the downturn has already made the CSX deal a much harder sell than it otherwise would be. That being said, every deal I’ve addressed here remains alive.

Also, it’s important for me to note that most of what I reported here is easily available online. Indeed, much of it has already been reported by other news organizations. Other elements come from public records that are a little harder to find, but still available. It’s hard to allege conspiracies when so much of this happened in broad daylight. It takes a certain size of stones for a sitting state senator to announce, in the middle of a heated legislative debate over CSX in which that senator taken CSX’s side, that he’s purchased a big company so tied to CSX that it keeps its logo on its homepage . I don’t think anyone can accuse Alexander of going out of his way to hide things.

Rather, I’m sure he thinks he’s done nothing wrong . And maybe he hasn’t. It’s not for me to judge in any official capacity. Maybe this is just the way things are done. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people tell me that in the last few years.

But I’m sure that’s what Ray Sansom thought, too.

PS — Anyone mentioned in this piece who wants to respond to anything in it will have free rein to do so. I will happily correct any demonstrable errors of fact.

(Note: First posted at Lakeland Local .)

Last week, Senate Democratic leader Al Lawson said that U.S. Reps. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, would be visiting the caucus to talk up commuter rail along with other backers such as Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. But over the weekend, Meek’s office said he wasn’t likely to be there and Brown would be out of the country. No word from Dyer despite our inquiries, but the Senate Democratic Office now says only Sen. Lee Constantine, R-Altamonte Springs, is confirmed to attend the meeting, where he’ll no doubt face a tough crowd of SunRail opponents, including fellow Orange County Sen. Gary Siplin.

Hmmmmm.

Why are U.S. Reps. Kendrick Meek and Corrine Brown planning to stick their noses into the state legislative battle over the CSX deal? And why are they taking the side of a deal that guts union jobs, hands over up to $600 million in cash and product to a highly profitable private company, and harms several communities for the benefit of another. Haven’t Democrats backed quite enough corporate bailouts of the powerful lately?

From the Orlando Sentinel:

Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, says his phone has been ringing constantly thanks to SunRail backers, a day after he tried to gut funding for the commuter rail project from the state budget.

So next Tuesday, he said, U.S. Reps. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer plan to meet with the Senate Democratic Caucus to try and massage concerns that the project is diverting money away from their hometown projects.

“It’s going to be a full-court press,” Lawson said. For his part, the veteran Tallahassee lawmaker says he still hasn’t gotten any answers out of the Department of Transportation (neither have we, for that matter) about where exactly in the state’s universe of trust funds and bank accounts it has socked away the $432 million it plans to pay CSX Corp. for the rail line.

By way of background, Corrine Brown is from Jacksonville, CSX’s hometown. Meek and Sen. Bill Nelson were sponsors of a 2007 bill laying out a $1 billion federal tax credit for freight track construction, as reported by my intrepid former colleague Lindsay Peterson of the Trib. CSX clearly has no trouble spreading aound its (almost) monopolistic wealth to the supposed party of the little guy.

From Lindsay’s story:

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., has signed on as co-sponsor of the tax bill in the Senate. Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, from Miami, is a House sponsor. Since 2005, Nelson has received $19,000 from railroad political action committees. Meek has received $18,000. In 2004, Nelson spent a weekend worth $3,072 at CSX’s Greenbrier [now bankrupt] resort in West Virginia. A Nelson spokesman has said Nelson visited Greenbrier at CSX’s request, to present a legislative overview at a company meeting.

They know where their bread is buttered.

For Meek, I will say that backing a coporate socialist, union-busting deal is a peculiar move for a guy running for U.S. Senate in a Democratic primary. Are you listening Dan Gelber?

How might a responsible Democrat, even one facing regional pressures, handle this deal? Maybe the way freshman U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando did in an interview with me Wednesday. When I asked him about the CSX deal, Grayson talked about the importance of mass transit and rail generally, noting that it’s rightfully a progressive priority. But, he said, in this particular deal, the state is paying CSX too much money and CSX has slipped what he termed “union-busting” measures into the deal. Grayson, who has little role in the ultimate passage of the deal, didn’t actually give it a thumbs up or thumbs down. But he did say he hoped the plan could be fixed. I do too. In fact, I’ll sign on right here to a deal that pays CSX less, doesn’t attack unions, and manages not to harm other cities.

I’ll have more from my Grayson interview soon, but I was struck by his ability to clearly communicate both support for transit and rail and opposition for using these progressive priorities as stalking horses for corporate anti-progrressive interests. Memo to Democrats out there, just becasue CSX – smartly – advertises on NPR and “Open Left” and puts you up at its fancy hotel doesn’t make the company your ally. This is Exxon with cool horns.

Homes:
Programs to prevent foreclosure don’t guarantee success
Regulators Expected To Tighten Mortgages

Homes can be rated for energy efficiency

Food:
That shrinking feeling: Instead of raising prices, manufacturers reduce package sizes
Tricks tame family’s wild food bill

Politics:

Orange unanimously OKs ethics, finance reforms
Public-Private Divide OK, that one gives you no clue the editorial is about the handing of e-mail under Florida’s Sunshine Laws. Public officials are using e-mail as a way to bypass the standards of the law. It is easier and cheaper to get e-mails than any form of public record. But too many departments use the public’s lack of knowledge of the software to hide e-mails and charge the public too much to get e-mail records.

Bonus:

How about some free bus tickets? Hey There, Want Some Free Gas?

Follow-up:
Deseret Ranch withdraws proposal for development near Orlando airport

Lakeland commissioners take a different tack in the long battle with CSX and FDOT: Lakeland to Hire Lawyer To Argue Train Issues

USF has a program for 1st generation college students: Program A Bridge To College Success

Trib editorial writers take on the gambling crisis: Gambling Governor Loses His Deal In High-Stakes Game Over Casinos

Bonus articles for today:

Freelance workers get together in Orlando’s coworking spot aiming to open in September

It seems that county mayor isn’t popular with everyone: Hillsborough County Mayor Ballot Initiative Challenged

A pair of home programs for the poor are having mixed results: For area homebuyers, ‘sweat equity’ pays off and Building for Poor Has Stopped with Lack of Mortgages

Others might turn in another direction: Buying Renter-Occupied Home: How to Get Good Deal

Finally, explaining traffic jams and tips after that next crash: No wrecks, so why am I in this traffic jam? and Clueless after a crash?

If people can’t afford to own their home then of course: Brokers, lenders like prospects for Orlando apartment market

(1) Cameras really aren’t smart. (2) People keep communities safe. Not technology. Yet, the Sentinel headline might lead you to think otherwise: ‘Smart’ cameras will help keep new Parramore community safe

Library’s big move kicks off at campus This might be a good idea for Lakeland USF Polytechnic. Lakeland doesn’t need a branch library in the 1-4/Polk Parkway area yet, but it will sooner than you think. Build a joint use building, with separate check out stations. Make it where you can close off the public area when they close earlier than the campus library. Just off the top of my head.

Tampa is looking into a different approach to growth: Tampa Contemplates Transit-Oriented Development Concept

Does the two-party stranglehold on power help or hurt local politics? This Tribune editorial has a problem with one aspect of it. Strip Write-In Candidates Of Power To Close Any One-Party Race

Report: Florida Treats Gulf As a ‘Toilet’

Newest Teachers Hit Hard By Layoffs

New Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy Quince makes history

Lakeland Downtown Development Seeks Branding Plan

Goodbye, jobs: Florida unemployment jumps

Drivers get little leeway on move-over law

Election Qualifiers See Some Surprises

Robbers beat workers, patrons in pharmacy

The Epoch Times is a privately owned, general-interest newspaper, originally published in Chinese. According to their own statement the founding Epoch Times started publishing to provide what they see as uncensored coverage of events in China and has been in continuous publication since May 2000. Headquartered in New York, the newspaper has local bureau and a wide network of local reporters throughout the world. Currently distributed free-of-charge in roughly 30 countries worldwide, The Epoch Times maintains editions in English and Chinese as well as nine other languages in print, and 17 languages on the web. It is often associated with the Falun Gong spiritual discipline. — Wikipedia

The Epoch Times had a reporter in Winter Haven doing exit poll interviews:

An Epoch Times reporter interviewed exiting voters outside a polling site in the small town of Winter Haven, where most voters seemed to support Republicans, and for reasons more varied than in other regions. — Epoch Times

The Epoch Times reporter, James Fish, photographed and quoted Winter Haven residents Ruby Parker, Melvin Parker, Todd Weihmeir, Caroline Hamm, Bruce Hughart, and Kevin Kibbee. Oddly, each person quoted in the story voted Republican. Looking for the results in Precinct 337 (assuming the pictured precinct sign was where Fish was stationed) there were 593 Republican votes compared to 371 for the Democrats. You would think at least one Democrat would have given a good quote.

Terisa Glover runs a grocery and gift shop on Kentucky Street.

“I’m worried about the working class, people like us,” said Glover, 40, who tends this shop each day “from dark to dark” but is unable to purchase a home and cannot afford health insurance.

“I’m looking for someone who will put their money where their mouth is, and not just talk about it,” said Glover, leaning toward McCain with her vote. “I’d rather have someone be straight up and say, ‘I don’t have all the answers.’” — Chicago Tribune

At a McCain rally at the Fantasy of Flight Museum in Polk City, voters who were thrilled to see Giuliani here recently didn’t even discuss him as a contender.

“I think he’s done,” said Chris McLaughlin, a Realtor from Lakeland who is now deciding between McCain and Mitt Romney.

The Giuliani camp dismisses that prediction, saying their emphasis on early voting could turn the race in their favor. Some 400,000 early votes are already cast, but the results of that balloting won’t be known until tomorrow. — Newsday

Thanks to The Ledger for keeping their archives free.