Dozens In Bradenton Protest Gov. Scott's Budget Proposals

As Republican Gov. Rick Scott started his first State of the State address at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Tallahassee, a group of residents were wrapping up a three-hour rally Tuesday in Bradenton to protest the governor’s proposals to balance the budget.

A coalition of political activists, retirees, teachers, union members and students waved signs and shouted slogans along Cortez Road in front of the business plaza where Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, has his local office.

“The purpose of this rally is to denounce the budget cuts Gov. Scott proposed,” said Jack Cole, one of the organizers of the local Awake the State rally. “He’s proposed the largest cut of state workers in history, while during his campaign his motto was ‘Lets Get to Work’.

“That’s doesn’t make sense,” Cole said. “That’s not how you balance the budget.”

In the proposed budget he presented to the Legislature, Scott proposed to eliminate more than 8,600 state positions, of which about 2,000 are vacant.

Cole said he and about six of his friends, all under 30, were having coffee last week at Lov A-Da Coffee, where they discussed going to Tallahassee to participate in the Awake the State rally.

“I said no, we should have it here,” he said Tuesday while waving a “Save Education” sign. “Then the whole thing exploded and we have all these people here.”

Throughout the three hours the rally was held, more than 70 people came and went, with a high of about 50 at one time waving and chanting to passing motorists.

At least one in 10 of the cars or trucks that whizzed by on Cortez tooted their horn or waved in support of the setiments on the signs the activists were holding.

The rally was one of more than 30 being held around the state Tuesday. In Sarasota, more than 200 people — — gathered in protest.

“It seems like the first thing people who get elected to office do is get rid of public employees,” said Troy Walker, who came to the Bradenton rally with his wife, Millie.

The couple felt so deeply about the issues, Walker said, that this is the first rally they’ve ever attended.

But the job cuts are only one of the many grievances the mixed crowd of young and  old voiced.

Francois Guillery, a member of the Allied Pilots Association, a union for airline pilots, said he was concerned union bargaining rights were being taken away.

“It’s the only thing the workers have to counter the companies' agendas,” Guillery said. “Without unions we wouldn’t have safe flying conditions.”

Governors of several Midwest and East Coast states are working to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public workers, but it was reported that Scott was fine with union collective bargaining.

What the governor has proposed was to have public workers pay 5 percent of their contribution to the state pension fund.

“That just not appropriate,” said Jody McBrien, an assistant professor at University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee's College of Education. “I realize the private sector does this, but public workers receive loser wages.”

McBrien said she hopes this rally shows the politicians they need to hear what the public is saying.

Victor Yengle, one of the young people in the coffee house who helped organized the rally, agreed.

“We’ve got to let the governor know he’s going to hurt students,” Yengle said.

The 22-year-old was referring to Scott’s plans to cut state per pupil funding by more than $700. He also proposed to cut property taxes, the main revenue stream for school districts.

Several of the signs referred to 63 percent of the voters approving the Fair District constitutional amendments, which would force the Legislature to draw state and congressional districts along county and municipal line.

Scott has withdrawn the U.S. Department of Justice review of the new laws, delaying their implementation.

That issue and the immigration bill Bennett has proposed drew Maureen Chiofalo to the rally.

“The bill is very similar to the Arizona law,” Chiofalo said. “No law enforcement officer wants the law.”

Thirteen-year-old Estefonia Romine said she did not like the immigration bill either.

“They call children of immigrants criminals,” Estefonia said. “But children don’t have a choice when their parents move.

“And how can human beings be illegal?” she said.

Because this was the first day of the legislative session in Tallahassee, Bennett was not in his local office and not available for comment.

The Rev. Doctor Bill Bailey, of Rogers Memoiral United Methodist Church, said he did not like the direction the government was headed.

The governor’s refusal of $2.5 billion for the high speed rail project from Tampa to Orlando was just to make a statement to President Obama, Bailey said.

“This is going to hurt the state employment opportunities,” he said, “and is bad for the state’s future transportation infrastructure.”

Also, the $3.3 billion cut in education funding has Scott “balancing the state budget on the back of the teachers,” Bailey said. “He’s taking from the children and giving it to the rich.”

Richard O’Brien, chairman of the Manatee County Democratic Party, said the party, along with unions and some nonprofits, are sponsors of Awake the State rallies.

“Scott is looking to tax firefighters and teachers to balance the budget,” O’Brien said.

“I hear people said Scott should be impeached,” he said. “The only job that needs to be lost is his.”

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