Daily Archives: November 19, 2003

As Congressional Republicans plan to violate Washington DC's home rule, and force a school voucher system on the city, I think it's useful to review how vouchers are working here in Florida.

I'll support almost anything reasonably calculated to improve the access of poor people — and rich people too! — to quality schooling for kids. Abstractly, vouchers look like they might do that, subject to a small host of caveats about the effect on kids with serious problems who might end up being treated like the 'lemons' of a primarily for-profit system, or dumped into the vestigial remains of an underfunded public system.

Given the Florida experience, however, one has to ask whether vouchers in practice are in fact reasonably calculated to be helpful on balance. As usual, the Florida Blog is on top of this one, with links to:

• Nonpublic schools wrote own ticket on form
• Come fall, the heat is off: The state's much-touted sworn affidavits are making school vouchers look increasingly like blank checks.
• Avoid state meddling: Start a schooll
• Bush aides considered fabricating voucher explanations
• Cooking up a coverup
• Education commissioner concedes voucher failings

Talk about waste, fraud and abuse! Not to mention special interest lobbying, hogs at the trough, and every other cliche too.

I didn't see this one coming. Lieberman to pick up endorsement of Florida Rep. Hastings

I have no idea how much of this is tactical, and how much is something else like personal friendship. Alcee Hastings is running for Senate in Florida. In a crowded field he'd have a shot at the nomination, but how endorsing Lieberman helps him get that nomination I fail to see. Peter Deutsch will probably get most of the Jewish vote. And the odds of anyone being fooled into thinking Rep. Hastings is a conservative Democrat are pretty low, although he's less predictable and more interesting than most Representatives. I suppose there's some reason to think Lieberman will run strong in Florida, if his campaign has any juice left by the time we have our primary.

It could well be that Hastings just likes Lieberman for some reason. But it's hard to see what that reason could be other than something personal. Lieberman is my least favorite of the major Democratic candiates because of his disgraceful reaction to the courageous decision by Illinois Governor George Ryan to commute the sentences of 167 death row prisoners

“Governor Ryan's action was shockingly wrong,” Mr. Lieberman said … “It did terrible damage to the credibility of our system of justice, and particularly for the victims. It was obviously not a case-by-case review, and that's what our system is all about.”

Sorry, that decision of Governor Ryan's was shockingly right.

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