Personal Financial Gain Sometimes Drives Policy Making

I wrote last week about the bad teacher bill (Senate Bill 6) that tied teacher pay and retention to a large number of end-of-course student tests.

These tests would have to be created at a huge expense to local school systems. Companies that specialize in the formulation of these tests would be paid large sums of tax dollars to create them.

Senator John Thrasher, a Republican from St. Augustine, sponsored Senate Bill 6.

Let’s take a look at what Thrasher has been doing previous to his aggressive support of this bad law.

Up until last year he was employed by the lobbying firm, Southern Strategy. Thrasher’s firm was paid between $60,000 and $190,000 over a two year period ending in 2009 by two out-of-state education testing companies.

Of course, Senator Thrasher denies personally lobbying on behalf of the testing companies. The two companies are Ohio-based IQ Innovations and New Jersey-based Educational Testing Service.

These two companies are still clients of the Southern Strategy lobbying firm. The 2010 compensation reports are not yet filed with the state; therefore it is still unknown how much Thrasher’s former employer has received to date.

The Florida Times Union newspaper reported this week that “In 2009, Thrasher reported more that $1.5 million in income from Southern Strategy. Included in that amount is a $695,169 buyout, $614,613 in stock sales and $190,509 in salary, according to financial disclosure reports.”

Thrasher’s campaign for state senate last year received $7,200 from lobbyist in the Southern Strategy firm.

Let’s connect the dots. There is a state senator who less than a year ago was receiving large sums of money as an employee of a company that was lobbying for two out-of-state companies who create educational testing to be used in school systems .

Also, less than a year ago, John Thrasher (the former employee of the lobbying firm) was elected to the state senate.

Less than two months ago Senator Thrasher sponsored and aggressively worked toward passage of Senate Bill 6.

If Senate Bill 6 had not been vetoed by Governor Crist last week, companies such as the one Thrasher was working with very recently would stand to profit from Florida’s educational system which is already suffering financially.

Senator Thrasher predicts that the proposal will be back next year and he will work for its passage again.

It’s hard to believe that in these kinds of border line conflict-of-interest situations that everything is on the up and up.

As citizens who are paying the bills we should look closely at this situation and the many others that happen all too frequently with an eagle eye.

Thrasher may be as pure as the driven snow. The appearance here is certainly suspect.

Too many of our politicians evolve to a mind set of “what’s in it for me?” Also many politicians are statesmen and go out of their way to shun the appearance of wrong doing.

The Thrasher situation should make us all conclude that laws in Florida need to be changed. The swinging doors that allow for a person to hold public office one day and be a lobbyist later without there being a long interval in between need to be slammed shut.

Too many times in state and federal government, a person capitalizes on his/her contacts and influence that was gained while being paid by the hard working men and women who elected them to go forward and represent them…honestly.

Yes, John Thrasher is serving in public office; it’s just not clear that it’s the public he’s serving.

Ernie Padgett is a retired county administrator with over 30 years of government experience.

Elplcp@aol.com