On politics and Tweeting and my aching head

Bob Gabordi's blog Bob Gabordi is executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com. He can be reached through this blog, at bgabordi@tallahassee.com or (850) 599-2177

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On politics and Tweeting and my aching head

Posted 1/28/2010 6:32 AM EST on tallahassee.com

After tweeting my way through The Associated Press Legislative Preview yesterday, let me say this: Good Lord, my head hurt.

Please understand what this event is. The Legislative Preview is an annual conference hosted by the AP that brings together the political leadership of the state to talk about what's going to happen during the upcoming session. It's like a series of press confrences one after another after another after another.

It draws lots of media to the 22nd Floor of the Capitol Building for a discussion of the big issues.

Or that's the intent. I decided when I read today's Tallahassee Democrat that what I really pay Bill Cotterell to do is to translate, not report. For the life of me, what I heard was the language of Gobbledygook, which Cotterell -- God bless him -- managed somehow to put into English.

At one point, I actually started tracking each time a politician found a new way to not say a darn thing. Some for instances:

In explaining why Florida must further reduce spending on important state programs, Senate President Jeff Atwater spoke at length and eloquently on the federal budget.

Asked if he agrees with Gov. Charlie Crist’s rosy projections for state revenues, House Speaker Larry Cretul smiled and said: The reality is we deal with the budget numbers we have.

At one point he began talking about the film "Seabiscuit," which I never saw but learned from the Internet is “True story of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of their nation.”

I tweeted ????

At another point just Grrr.

Then this: “Not sure why (he’s saying this).”

Let me repeat that: ???? then Grrr followed by not sure why.

That about sums up my feelings.

My head hurt.

Oh, there were a few things that made sense.

I understood completely what it meant when President Atwater said he was not sure if they could get throughout the budget process this year without reducing the state’s workforce or cutting wages. If you are a state worker, you know that that means, too. You’re getting slapped. Again.

Not that the Democrats were any better or more clear, except for one sentence by Democratic Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson. Asked what he thought of Crist’s proposal to cut corporate income taxes, the senator from Tallahassee said: “It’s insane.”

That's plain enough. It is almost shocking when someone says aloud exactly what he’s thinking in those situations, if only because it almost never happens.

House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands said that some tax cuts and some tax increases are good and it is a matter of who we are taking money from and who we are giving it to and that he’s proud of the work of Floridians in Haiti and the media does an important job in keeping a watch on government and there needs to be transparency in the budget process and he’s a small businessman and knows they need a tax break.

Or at least that’s how it sounded to me: just one big long run-on sentence of scattered thoughts.

But it could have been just me, I don’t know: My head was really hurting by then.

And it wasn’t just them hurting my head; it was us, too -- that is the media.

First up was Crist who was charming as usual. Next was former House Speaker Marco Rubio, who was straightforward and on point, as usual. He was late getting there though, saying he was locked out of the 22nd floor elevator and that only a few people have a key to that elevator.

The governor said he was not there as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, but as governor, although he is both. Rubio said he was there not to answer questions about the Florida Legislature or state issues, but about his campaign for the U.S. Senate, though he got both.

Following me so far?

They behaved exactly as expected.

But the tone of the two sessions was different and I blame the media for that. I thought we were too cozy with Crist, too accepting of his dodges. Not so much with Rubio. It’s just the comparison to the two sessions left me feeling we cut Crist a break.

I heard lots of explanations on why the media would treat these two differently. Rubio is now the frontrunner in the race and he has to expect tougher questions; Rubio’s personality makes things feel combative; and Rubio is dismissive of questions he doesn’t want to answer.

All true, but none a good reason.

And Crist, well, he’s just hard to dislike. At one point a reporter sneezed off to the side. Without missing a beat in midsentence he looked over and said “God bless you” and continued on. It was so smooth and natural that I’d bet half of the crowd missed, but not the sneezer. He calls reporters by name. Knows where they are from and asks about their family.

He is genuinely a nice man and gets treated that way in return, which is something I think we have to think about as the campaign moves forward.

On Rubio’s personality, well, let's just say he'd better hope nice guys really do finish last. He's not a bad person either, and in full disclosure my daughter is engaged to marry a relative of Rubio's wife, a cousin, I think.

It's just that he's different and dismissive of questions he doesn't want to answer. Plus, he uses big words to talk about things like “fundamental issues of our time” and “untenable economics.”

He’d better learn that with just 140 characters, that’s a lot to Tweet.

And enough to make my head hurt.

You can send your comments by clicking the button below, e-mailing me at bgabordi@tallahassee.com, sending a private message on Tallahassee.com, Twitter @bgabordi, LinkedIn or Blogger.com.

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These Tallahassee stories aren't newsworthy?

These Tallahassee stories aren't newsworthy?

Posted 1/25/2010 6:44 AM EST on tallahassee.com

A local official had a “private” conversation last week with a Tallahassee Democrat employee, saying he was disappointed – as were others, he said – with the newspaper’s coverage of the city.

Too much attention is being given to issues that put the community in a negative light, things like the Rachel Hoffman murder, homelessness and the commission voting itself an increase in compensation through deferred retirement pay. These issues are not newsworthy, he suggested.

He said he wants to come over to the Democrat and talk to me about it. The newspaper should be highlighting more good things.

Yes, I think it is time we have a talk. But let’s do it publicly, and let’s start right now.

There are many wonderful things happening in our community, and we do our best to highlight those things. Our pages are filled with “good news” every day.

Life is good in Tallahassee for those whose lives are good.

But a newspaper worth the paper it is written on cannot be so dismissive of those for whom life isn’t so good. Nor can it stop being a watchdog on government activity. We’re not the public-relations arm of city government.

If a newspaper won’t question authority, who will? You certainly won’t get independent analytical conversation or debate on tough issues from the city-owned TV channel, WCOT.

It’s been my experience in 30 years as a journalist that the most newsworthy stories from the public’s viewpoint are the ones the politicians don’t want us to write about.

Let’s take some of the issues brought up to our reporter as not being newsworthy:

On deferred compensation: The commission votes to enrich its own members and city staff – without a vote of the public – to the tune of $1 million since the vote was taken five years ago, as reported in the Sunday Tallahassee Democrat – and that is not newsworthy? I wonder how city employees who have lost their jobs feel about that.

We were told the city could not afford to follow the charter to conduct an election to replace a vacant commission seat without cutting more jobs. Now we know why.

Look, all of this occurred at a public meeting. It was under-reported in the media, maybe missed altogether. Legal? Probably. Ethical? I don’t know. Moral? It seems to me that if you are going to take a million dollars out of the public’s pocket over five years, you want to make darn sure they know about it.

On homelessness: I spoke with a homeless man last week – a good and honest man, I might add. For much of his life, things were “normal.” Circumstances have conspired to have him living on our streets. He is 47 years old and desperately needs a job. With temperatures at life-threatening lows, he was handed a mat and told to sleep outside, even with beds available inside.

“This is how they do people,” he said, shaking his head. “This is how they do people. This is how they do people.”

Not newsworthy? I guess that depends of which side of the door you’re on when it’s cold outside.

Employers: If you need a man with character and integrity, call me. I’ll introduce you.

On Hoffman: Where do I begin? After all that we have learned about the city’s behavior in the death of this young woman, I’m simply amazed that this was brought up as not being newsworthy.

After all this, nearly two years of news stories by media outlets across the nation, changed state law and police procedures and a pending lawsuit, this is not newsworthy?

Doing these stories is just a matter of the newspaper trying to sell papers to fix declining circulation, our reporter was told. Instead we are only hurting our own reputation and losing readers.

But it’s not that people aren’t reading us that creates the worry, is it? If so, rest easy. The reality is our readership is strong; combined with Tallahassee.com, our readership is growing.

But come now, it’s not the newspaper’s reputation you are really worried about, is it?

You can send your comments by clicking the button below, e-mailing me at bgabordi@tallahassee.com, sending a private message on Tallahassee.com, Twitter @bgabordi, LinkedIn or Blogger.com.

You can also find links to my blogs on Facebook but you have to request to be my friend.

No one can tell you what's the right thing to do

Bob Gabordi's blog Bob Gabordi is executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com. He can be reached through this blog, at bgabordi@tallahassee.com or (850) 599-2177

Report item as: (required) X Obscenity/vulgarity Hate speech Personal attack Advertising/Spam Copyright/Plagiarism Other Comment: (optional) No one can tell you what's the right thing to do Posted 1/18/2010 8:44 AM EST on tallahassee.com The question has been bothering me for almost a week. “Where does it end?” the caller asked. He had just read my blog on how our leaders – especially governmental – failed to act decisively, leaving homeless people out in the bitter and life-threatening cold. With so many needs in these tough times, he said, where does the public obligation to help end? That day, the earth shifted in Haiti, crushing – and now starving – tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands, of people. Where, indeed, does it end? The answer, I guess, is a matter of priorities and faith. No one person can answer that question for another. As city leaders and local community agencies gather tomorrow to assess how to better respond to a local cold crisis, I hope that they will consider both priorities and faith. I hope that they will consider not only “where does it end,” but also how we begin. The Rev. Michael Foley, pastor of Good Shepherd Catholic Church, noticed a shining crucifix among the rubble shown in our front-page photograph from Haiti. He took that as a symbol, as if God were saying, “I’m still here,” and calling on the world to help. As the richest nation in the history of man, he said, it is a matter of duty and faith to do everything we can. The Rev. Pat Robertson saw things differently. He called the earthquake a “blessing in disguise” in one moment and later repeated what he called a “true story” about how the Haitian revolutionaries made a deal with devil while attempting to throw the French out. “And so the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.' They kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got themselves free. Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other.” Robertson said that last week while attempting to raise money for Haitian relief efforts on his show, “The 700 Club.” They had turned away from God, he said, and this is their punishment. Our obligation was to turn Haitians back to God. What then was that crucifix doing in the rubble? Did God somehow save only the Christians – or even certain kinds of Christians – and not others? According to the CIA’s The World Factbook, about 96 percent of Haitians are either Catholic or Protestant, with about 10 percent Baptists. The same report says more than half of the population also practices voodoo. It would be easy enough to ridicule Robertson for repeating as “true story” something for which there seems to be no historic basis. It has been told and retold, especially in the last couple of decades to explain why Haiti – the poorest country in our hemisphere with infant-mortality rates of more than 50 percent – has been allowed to suffer. It proves again that the bigger the lie the more the people will believe it. Does thinking that there are theological and not simply geological reasons for the horror that has occurred just 700 miles off the Florida coast make it easier to turn away when there are tough choices to be made about where our resources go? But Robertson did what we all do, or at least what many of us do. I hear it in the reactions to news reports all the time. When I wrote about our community leadership’s failure to respond to the needs of the freezing people sleeping on the streets, one person said, “Don’t you think some of these people could help themselves if they wanted to?” Another called to say, “Well, whose fault is it they are on the street? It’s not mine.” Like Robertson, we judge the victim before considering the need. Where does it end? I guess when it’s over, when either the need for help or our capacity to help is gone. Until then, maybe it never ends. But everyone has their own moral compass. Knowing what is the right thing to do is something for each person to decide for him or herself. You can send your comments by clicking the button below, e-mailing me at bgabordi@tallahassee.com, sending a private message on Tallahassee.com, Twitter @bgabordi, LinkedIn or Blogger.com. You can also find links to my blogs on Facebook but you have to request to be my friend.