John Mica Votes Against Defense Spending

Obama this week signed the Hate Crimes Bill into law:

More than 77,000 hate-crime incidents were reported by the FBI between 1998 and
2007, or "nearly one hate crime for every hour of every day over the span of a decade," Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee in June.
The FBI, Holder added, reported 7,624 hate-crime incidents in 2007, the most current year with complete data.

The Hate Crimes Act was included in the Defense Spending Bill, and was the sick reason John Mica for the first time in his life voted against defense spending:

After decades of defaming every Democrat, every liberal of any kind, progressive politics in general and anyone who opposes their party’s line, as “weak on defense” or “soft on crime”, often using the most convoluted rhetoric to make the defamatory claims, 28 Republican senators and 131 Republican House members have now voted to cut off funding for the US military in order to give special rights to violent criminals driven by hate.
These 159 Republicans in Congress voted against the Defense funding authorization bill, because it included the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expands federal hate crimes law to punish attacks motivated by bias against gays.

John Mica in Anti-Stimulus Hall of Shame

Despite voting NO on the stimulus bill, John Mica immediately started taking credit for our nation receiving stimulus monies:

Representative John Mica (FL-07) - "I applaud President Obama's recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America's future." [Congressman John Mica Press Release; 2/13/09] Mica was also one of "Nine GOP House members from Florida, all stimulus no's, joined nine of their Democratic colleagues, all yesses, in asking the feds to grant a waiver giving them access to, you guessed it, hundreds of millions in state stabilization stimulus cash (for education)."

[Politico; 2/19/09]

Then he turns around and does NOT support High Speed Rail for his own state!

Ill-Fated Sunrail Project Cost Tax-Payers $832,000 For Public Relations

But that's not all. The total state tax-payer monies already spent on Central Florida Commuter Rail: a whopping $80 million.

Florida lawmakers this spring voted to kill Central Florida’s planned commuter-rail system, but state contractors still made nearly $44 million on the deal.
That’s how much the state Department of Transportation spent on nearly 60 contracts tied to SunRail, according to documents released Wednesday.
The total does not reflect all spending on the ill-fated project. For example, it does not include money spend on right-of-way acquisition. ( estimated at $20 million)
But it does include costs such as $802,000 on public relations, $91,000 for archaeological services and $30,000 for a website.

Yet Florida refuses to support the already existing South Florida Commuter Rail, Tri-Rail:

Legislators have previously rejected a proposed $2 surcharge on car rentals to
finance commuter-rail projects. That was despite the possibility that the state might have to give back some $256 million in federal aid if it
does not provide a continuing funding source for Tri-Rail.

The Sunrail project has failed twice and incredibly talk of it being resurrected is once again in the news. This time, let's investigate the special interests at work before proceeding with this ill-fated project.

But what the Orlando Republican did not reveal is that the engineering firm that bears his family name has received $1.7-million from the state to do survey and mapping work for the controversial CSX project in Central Florida. Nor did Precourt disclose his ties when he voted for the deal last session, as some other lawmakers have when their public and private interests appeared to overlap.
Now, CSX is back under the SunRail moniker, and a fight is brewing
-- one that will shine more light on advocates like Precourt.

Just one blatant example of the "personal" gains are at stake here.

Besides, the ill-fated project is said to reduce congestion on I-4 by reducing traffic by just 2%:

As a point of comparison, the Light Rail Transit System in the I-4 corridor had
a cost of $600 million and was voted DOWN by Orange County voters. It had a
ridership in excess of 24,000 per day.
Give the voters a choice between light rail (I-4 corridor) with 24,000 trips a day and commuter rail (on CSX tracks) with 3500 trips a day.

Now doesn't that makes sense!!

John Mica Solely Focused on US/Turkish Relations

The Sunlight Foundation has an interesting list tracking Foreign Lobbying Influence, and here are the results for John Mica:

John Mica, the Republican Representative in Florida's 7th District, appears solely focused on the nation of Turkey, meeting with lobbyists 5 times in 2007 about the
country. His donor list includes lobbyists representing New Zealand and
the United Arab Emirates.

http://jaxpoliticsonline.com/2009/10/11/jacksonville-area-congressmen-have-interesting-foreign-ties/

Sunrail based on Corporate Socialist Model of Florida

Before the Central Florida CSX commuter line is reborn, let's have a look at its start:

This plan, it seems to me, represents the apotheosis of the Florida land boom mirage of the middle of this decade. Everything about it screams early 2005. It’s the product of 2005 land values, hammered out by an imperial, sunshine-be-damned Republican governor who got rich through the classic “conservative” paths of inheritance and developer welfare and by John Mica, a corporate socialist Republican congressman who raised tons of campaign cash from Big Freight Rail and later was against stimulus spending before he was for it.

It relied upon perpetual 45 degree upward growth projections for Florida’s population and international shipping container traffic, not to mention contributions from local governments that signed on when they were artificially flush with property boom tax money. CSX and company dressed up all of this in the language of progressive priorities like transit and emissions reduction – "greenwashing,” it’s called.

The crash of the housing bubble, and all that ensued, eviscerated much of the underlying logic of the plan. The deal would have committed itself — and our money — to a model of Florida that no longer exists.

Billy Townsend in Lakeland Local also points out this:

I always considered this plan harmful to the long-term prospects of rail throughout Florida because of its cost, geographical patterns, and commitment to use CSX’s lines on CSX’s usurious terms. Those people who claimed it was a stepping stone for other rail systems never, ever explained how that could be.

The Central Florida CSX commuter Rail was a complicated plan, and Orlando would have done better to have refocused on Light Rail like Tampa is currently doing:

TBARTA has put together what seems to me a reasonable,
well-conceived plan that lays out a series of multi-modal projects and projected costs – starting with light rail [as Orlando should have] – and making it clear that it all requires publicly approved funding. Tampa and Hillsborough County may place a sales tax referendum on the ballot in 2010 to fund a light rail program. The Orlando plan had no such ongoing funding base, just a commitment from local county governments to cough up money they don’t have, forever.

Well, well, John Mica is at it again,.........this time he's trying to get dedicated High Speed Rail funding to pay for his Pet Project, and CRX give-away, on the basis that it might feed into the High Speed Rail that Mica doesn't really want for Florida:

http://hhbslawblog.com/news/articles/8.24.09%20State%20asks%20feds%20for%20$270%20million%20for%20commuter%20rail.pdf

The state is seeking $270 million in federal aid to help pay for
the planned SunRail commuter train that would run through
Central Florida.
An application filed Monday with the Federal Railroad
Administration said the money would be used to help offset
the $1.2 billion cost of SunRail, which would link DeLand in
Volusia County with downtown Orlando and Poinciana in
Osceola County.
The federal money would come from an at least $8 billion fund set aside to build high-speed trains in the country, plus some related projects.

Florida also wants $2.5 billion for a train that could hit 150 mph on a 90-mile route between Orlando International Airport and downtown Tampa, with a midway stop in Lakeland. A final application for that project is due Oct. 2.

The 51-page application sent in Monday would lighten the financial load on the state, as well as the five local governments banding together to operate the commuter rail system and to buy 61 miles of track from the CSX railroad company based in
Jacksonville.
Florida officials contend the federal money should come from
the high-speed fund because SunRail would feed passengers into the fast
train. U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, says Washington has already
pledged $300 million for the project, which has twice been voted down in the
Florida Legislature.

Opponents have criticized the price tag of SunRail, saying Florida
is doing little more than engaging in corporate welfare for CSX.
That criticism could be blunted somewhat if the federal government ends up paying
$570 million of the cost.
State senators twice have balked at approving a $200 million insurance pact that assigns liability in case there is an accident with SunRail. Critics contend the plan placed too much risk on the state and not enough on CSX.
SunRail enthusiasts hope to blunt that charge by having CSX assume more risk, particularly when its employees are at fault.

John Mica Plays Nice in Public, Yet Encourages Racist Attacks

https://secure.presenteaction.org/contribute/sotomayor

When it comes to Judge Sonia Sotomayor, some Republican leaders like John Mica have been talking out of both sides of their mouth: playing nice in public while privately encouraging racist attacks from the likes of Rush Limbaugh. That's why Presente Action is running radio ads calling out members of Congress like John Mica who refuse to condemn Rush's rhetoric. Please make a contribution and help us put these ads on the air.