Three strikes should apply to politicians
Tom Gallagher Florida’s chief financial officer has once more thrown his hat into the ring as Republican Candidate for governor. We’d like to point out that in one breath he wants to bow to the rich by telling them he’ll cut taxes on stocks and bonds and yet supports vouchers for those whose children find themselves in failing schools. Mr. Gallagher, where do you think the money for teachers and schools come from? Come on. Do the math Tom.
Also he wants to increase the sales tax which falls mainly on the poor and middle class families of the state to help expand prison space and stop the early release of prison inmates. Tom must have been feeling a bit inadequate running behind "Chain Gang" Charlie Christ and has decided to play the tough on crime card early in the game.
In fact in the last legislative session after trying to cut Medicaid, class size, teachers salaries, Pre-K etc. Jeb somehow found enough money for an additional 4000 prison beds. Is there some kind of competition among governors to see which state can build the most prisons?
For those of us who believe its way past time to start thinking about ways to be smart on crime we need to let our candidates know we want treatment and prevention measures funded first. Building prison beds to fight crime is like building more cemeteries to fight disease. It would seem to me that if a candidate Gallagher can’t come up with better ideas than that after three attempts maybe it’s time to step aside and leave the field to those with more progressive ideas to run for governor.