The place to be yesterday for those following Florida politics was at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota, where many of the major candidates for governor and senator spoke at the Florida Press Association/Florida Society of Newspaper Editors annual convention.
Bill McCollum made the most news regarding policy, boldly declaring that if elected, he will seek to impose a two-year freeze on property tax rates for local governments across Florida.
That might sound great on one level to your average voter – until he or she learns that such a freeze would very likely lead to billions of dollars in cuts to local governments, probably affecting parks, libraries, and potentially police and firefighters.
No doubt such a freeze would not endear him to the mayors and city council representatives of communities around the state. And combined with the fact that property values have been plunging the past few years, some could argue that it's irresponsible to make such a claim.
Then again, when you're in a heated GOP primary where some polls show you losing, as in "General" McCollum's case, breaking out the "I'll cut your taxes' argument has been a proven winner for several decades.
This article appears in Jun 17-23, 2010.