The criminal new governor of Florida, Rick Scott, introduced his budget this week.  Read all about it at the link, but here are a few of the highlights:

Scott proposed spending almost $66 billion — $4.6 billion less than this year’s budget. Scott also wants to eliminate 7 percent of the state’s government jobs, which would mean about 6,700 state-worker layoffs. He wants even more cuts the following year…

State Sen. Eleanor Sobel, D-Hollywood, noted the big cuts to education: $4.8 billion in the first year. She said that would hurt the state’s children, its educational environment and the state’s business climate….

Factor in the growth rates of Medicaid, and Scott wants to trim $3 billion from the program over two years. He wants to expand managed care, cut provider reimbursement rates 5 percent and reduce spending for the Medically Needy program serving the catastrophically sick.

He also wants to gut the state’s homelessness-assistance office and the observance of the Dec. 21 Homeless Person’s Memorial Day.

You get the idea. So, what do we do about it? Get organized!  A group of progressive activists here in Florida aren’t waiting to get starting. This Sunday, they’re holding the 1st ever Florida LegiCamp. Here’s the description:

LegiCamp

What

Proven leaders ready to build coalitions around issues before the legislative session coming together to present project briefs, take responsibility for tasks, and commit to deadlines.

  • Participants – have the capacity to work on projects and to build coalitions
  • Presenters – come to inspire commitment to legislative engagement projects and to coalition build
  • Sponsors – are leveraging their resources and network to draw presenters and participants

Why

If effective Florida progressive leaders personally invite others ready to work issues before this legislative session, we can bring together an extraordinary talent pool that can then cross pollinate, expand coalitions, and strengthen the movement as only personal interaction can.

  • Participants – Can be more impactful this legislative session if they commit to working projects with other proven leaders who share their interests
  • Presenters – Come to inspire commitment to a legislative engagement project
  • Sponsors – are nurturing a talent pool for the movement and building their brand among effective leaders from various movements

OK, I’m in.  It’s happening this Sunday, Feb. 13, in Orlando. All the details are here, where you can also reserve your space (tickets are a whopping $10.)

This morning, I was joined by Susan Smith, a progressive activist here in Florida, who invited me to the meeting.  She’s an organizer for DFA Tampa Bay and currently the Legislative Liaison Committee Chair for the Hillsborough Democratic Party…  best known for filing the ethics complaint in the Florida House against Ray Sansom.

Victoria Jones checked in with a news update from TRNS.

And I spent the second hour chatting with Howie Klein of Down With Tyranny and the Blue America PAC about what it takes to run for Congress and what will happen in CA’s 36th now that Jane Harman is resigning.  We also chatted about AOL’s purchase of Huffington Post and how it bodes for the future.

Howie spent many years as president of Reprise Records, a division of Warner Bros.  He told us about the AOL corporate climate when they took over, and why he opted to take the buy out for early retirement.  I hope Arianna Huffington did her due diligence before agreeing to this deal!