Polticians talk tough — but it’s all just talk.
All over Florida, politicians are vowing to get tough on businesses in the wake of Hurricane Irma.
“Legislators grill Duke Energy about power outrages,” read a front-page headline Wednesday.
“Florida governor issues new nursing home rules after posthurricane deaths,” said CNN. Blah, blah, blah. It is all so easy to talk a big game. But that’s all this is: talk.
Politicians know you’re ticked off. About power outages. About dead people in nursing homes. About gas shortages and shoddy cable service. So they’re tripping over each other to grandstand.
The most dangerous place to be in Florida these days isn’t in a hurricane’s path. It’s between a politician and a TV camera.
But none of this showboating matters. What matters is what they actually do about it.
And often, their actions don’t match their tough talk. I’ll give you an example. Last February, residents of Seminole County were furious to learn that Utilities Inc. of Florida planned to raise water rates by as much as 110 percent.
And just like now with Irma, the politicians chimed in to share their outrage. Among them: Seminole County Republican Reps. Bob Cortes and Scott Plakon, who attended a public meeting, talking of empathy and action.
“They shouldn’t be able to just pile on a rate increase all at once,” Cortes said, calling the rate hike “extremely off the charts” and saying he’d look at legislation to cap hikes.
But six months later, the higher rate was approved. And still, no legislation has been filed.
I asked Cortes this week why that was. He offered some legitimate explanations — about how, since Utilities Inc. had already filed the request for its new rate, he couldn’t pass a new law retroactively restraining it. And about how the Public Service Commission really has most of the power.
OK, but that wasn’t really the message conveyed to citizens back in February. Back then, it was all: Yeah, we’re on your side and we’re gonna fight these sons-of-guns, too!
Just like we’re hearing now, post-Irma.
Cortes said he still hopes to make good on his pledge with legislation that would limit future increases. If he does so, mazel tov. But he also said: “Sometimes, at the end of the day, our hands are tied. It’s easier said than done.” Remember that. Also, remember this: All this big talk about regulating businesses is absolutely at odds with what many Tallahassee politicians scream about the rest of the year — about “freeing business from regulation” and “breaking loose the shackles of government.”
What the heck do you think that actually means?
You weaken care standards at nursing homes — and then wonder why the standards aren’t very good?
It’s the same way when politi-