by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
It’s mostly good news for local legislators, according to the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
The Florida Chamber held its annual regional legislative awards luncheon Friday at the offices of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce and, although only Reps. Jennifer Carroll, Audrey Gibson and Stan Jordan were able to attend (the others are at a national conference for state legislators,) the news was predominantly good. The Florida Chamber gave virtually every local legislator an “A” for their work during the recent legislative session.
Jennifer Davis of the Florida Chamber said the session was successful from the Chamber’s perspective: almost 400 bills were passed and 17 of 23 Chamber issues were addressed to a satisfying degree.
“Tax rules were passed that will help bring businesses to Florida and help businesses already in Florida,” said Davis.
Davis said the Chamber scored well in four specific areas: the repeal of joint and several liability, a sales tax exemption for research and development, an intangibles tax repeal and class action reform. Davis also said the Chamber still considers there to be four threats to businesses statewide: a fragmented business community, trial lawyers, environmental extremists and unions.
Carroll said the Chamber is a valuable tool that enables her to quickly learn about issues that directly affect her constituency.
“It’s very important for us to have a good rapport. If I have an issue, I can pick up the phone,” said Carroll.
Being a Democrat can work against her sometimes, said Gibson, but overall the Chamber is an asset to her.
“Sometimes chambers feel that Democrats don’t support chamber issues,” she said. “I am delighted to support the issues that I can.”
Jordan, himself a small business owner, said he uses the Chamber to help analyze issues.
“Private enterprise is driven by the business community and things can move quickly,” said Jordan. “Sometimes it’s difficult to understand the complexity of an issue and the Chamber helps with that.”
There were a few light-hearted moments during the briefing:
• Shannon Hewett of Fiorentino & Associates moderated the briefing. When Hewett, who isn’t tall, took the podium she said, “Can you hear me? Can you see me?”
• Jordan, upon seeing Roger Weeder of TV-12/25: “Roger Weeder, my hero!”
• Noon Friday ended qualifying for all state elections this fall and when Jordan was asked to speak he noticed it was about 11:55 a.m. “In five minutes I’ll know, after 22 years, if I have an opponent.” (He didn’t.)
• The Florida Chamber graded every state senator and legislator. Locally, State Sen. Jim King scored the best with a 92 while Sen. Tony Hill received a 60. Nine senators were given perfect scores of 100 while Sen. Les Miller of Tampa received the lowest score, a 35. State senator and gubernatorial candidate Rod Smith of Gainesville scored a 44, a significant drop from last year’s 75.
• The Chamber also graded members of the House. Locally, it went this way: Aaron Bean (100), Carroll (96), Don Davis (100), Terry Fields (55), Gibson (45), Jordan (100), Dick Kravitz (100) and Mark Mahon (95). The lowest in the state was Ken Gottlieb of Miramar (24).