by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Ask Fraternal Order of Police President Nelson Cuba a question and one thing is certain: you are going to get an honest, unrehearsed answer.
The 2009 Legislative session has crossed the midpoint and so far Cuba is not happy with what’s happened and just as unhappy about what’s not going on in Tallahassee.
“The session has been terrible,” said Cuba Wednesday at the first FOP luncheon of the year. “There has been so much fighting and bickering over money and where it’s going to come from. Nothing else is being accomplished.”
Cuba has a full-time lobbyist in Tallahassee — Lisa Henning — and the two speak or trade e-mails several times a week. He’s been to the capital a few times and has come back frustrated with how law enforcement is being treated in general.
“There is some tough, good criminal legislation they (the Legislature) could be getting done, but all they concentrate on is where the revenue shortfalls are,” said Cuba, who will spend the entire last week of the session (which ends May 1) in Tallahassee. “I will spend the whole week representing the interests of the FOP.
“The last week of the session is when they sneak things in and sneak out the good things for the police.”
Aside from pushing for new legislation that will help officers across the state, Cuba will make sure the state’s lawmakers don’t undo laws that help police and employees in general.
“I want to make sure we don’t lose the gains we made in the past,” he said, pointing to workers’ compensation laws that protect the employer and don’t, Cuba feels, do enough for those injured on the job. “Once more they want to limit the compensation for the workers’ compensation attorneys. The employer can spend as much as they want on an attorney. We have said, ‘Let us hire a private attorney’ and the Legislature has said, ‘No.’ That’s un-American.”
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