Some thoughts
Posted: September 06, 2009

I’ve had a few thoughts since learning that not everyone was happy with the idea of President Obama delivering a message to America’s students.

…Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer weighed in on President Obama’s education speech to students before even reading the speech’s text. Many others did the same thing. Instead of worrying about the president’s message, critics should worry about the example they set for our children when they ignore facts and believe hype.

…Lately, we’ve witnessed a complete lack of respect for the Office of the President of the United States. It seems like those who love to claim the mantle of patriotism are being most unpatriotic in their treatment of President Obama’s office. Whether you agree with his policies or not, Barack Obama is the duly-elected President of the United States. He has earned the right to be shown the same respect given to past presidents. Questioning the motives of a simple education speech and vilifying (death panels!) just about everything else he’s attempting to accomplish is not the kind of civics lesson we should be teaching our children. And yes, I believed this during the Bush years.

…Some people are acting like this has never happened before, that the president has never spoken to school children before. Presidents visit schools all the time. One such famous visit was here in the Tampa Bay area on September 11, 2001. We’ve all seen the footage of President George W. Bush reading to a classroom of children when the terrorist attacks occurred. Was he indoctrinating those children to fascism? No. He was reading The Pet Goat, and I trust whatever other message he relayed to those kids before learning of the attacks was a positive one.

…Just who is in charge of our school system? Since when are parents given final say over the content of what is taught in public schools? Why would the superintendent grant an excused absence to a child because their parent doesn’t want them to hear from the President of the United States?

Things are really upside down, folks.

I'm running for a third term
Posted: August 26, 2009

It’s that time again. I am running for a third term in the Florida House of Representatives.

Your support and generosity through the years has allowed me to serve both the City of St. Petersburg and the State of Florida, and I’ve done so humbly and with great respect for the offices I’ve held and the people I’ve represented.

For all that we accomplished during my time on city council, during our city’s renaissance, I am especially proud of my work in the Florida Legislature. In a time of tremendous turmoil, of partisan rancor and broken government, I’ve made the most of my three sessions in Tallahassee, staying focused on the issues and my constituents. In addition to the countless hours working to amend legislation, to make bills better, and to stop bad bills from becoming bad laws, I’ve passed several positive reforms through bipartisan legislation generated from our office. I’ve worked to make Florida a leader in the new, green economy, fought for more protection of our natural environment, been a champion for public school teachers, parents, and students, and sponsored or co-sponsored numerous initiatives to grant equal rights to all Floridians.

I’ve stood firm or alone at times, and at times I’ve stood with my colleagues across the aisle. I’ve strived to be thoughtful, to approach the issues with the same common sense found around kitchen tables and water coolers across our state, and not in the halls of the capitol.

In order for me to continue, I need your help, as I now have two opponents. Under Florida’s election laws, you are permitted to contribute up to $500.00 per person or entity to my campaign. If you feel strongly about my campaign and wish to donate more than your limit, your spouse or your business may also make a separate contribution.

Please send your contribution, made payable to the Rick Kriseman Campaign to:

P.O. Box 48806, St. Petersburg FL 33743-8806, or you can make a secure contribution on this website by visiting the ‘Campaign’ link at the top of this page.

These are difficult times for our state, and we have A LOT of work to do, but we’ve done it before. Your support means a lot to me, and I pledge to work as hard as possible to make sure we do it again.

West St. Petersburg Mayoral Debate
Posted: August 21, 2009

Our District 53 Office has teamed up with St. Petersburg College’s Student Government Association to host a West St. Petersburg Mayoral Debate on September 8, 2009 at 6:30 PM at the college’s music center. The St. Petersburg College/Gibbs Campus is located at 6605 Fifth Avenue N. The debate format will include standard question & answer including questions submitted by District 53/West St. Petersburg residents and SPC students, candidate questions of each other, and questions submitted by the audience. If you would like to submit a question, please contact my office at 727.552.1380. I look forward to seeing you there.

A letter to the editor of the St. Petersburg Times
Posted: July 05, 2009

re: School vouchers flunk test, July 1, 2009

The recent study by Northwestern University professor David Figlio helps to affirm my longstanding opposition to our Corporate Tax Credit voucher program. And while I understand his study is a mere snapshot, it still contradicts the many claims made by voucher advocates.

Finally, while this issue has been polarizing among Tallahassee lawmakers, it’s important to acknowledge the shared goal of all involved. We want the best education for our children, and in doing so, we will produce a more talented workforce for our state. Thoughtful debate over our education system, including vouchers, should occur and impartial studies should be respected; however, until the reasons above are addressed, I will continue to oppose vouchers in Florida.

Responsibility, Opportunity, Common Sense
Posted: June 18, 2009

I was recently named chairman of the Florida Mainstream Democrats. It is an honor. I have long been involved with the Democratic Leadership Council, an organization that once advocated for centrist political messaging, but that now prides itself as a place where ideas happen, a place for policy. Like the DLC, the Florida Mainstream Democrats began when a group of Tallahassee Legislators grew frustrated with polarizing politics. Just as the DLC recently changed their mission, so now has Mainstream.

As you’ll see in our mission statement below, this isn’t about Liberalism vs. Centrism, it’s about how we approach the issues. It’s about being thoughtful. I really believe that the Democratic Party is the only Party that represents the values of everyday, mainstream Floridians, and I want this organization to help carry that banner. I want us to complement the work of our state party by identifying, recruiting, and electing good Democrats. As we approach a very busy 2010, I will need your help.

“The Florida Mainstream Democrats exists to connect community leaders statewide, to promote the exchange of ideas, and to identify and assist Democratic candidates for public office who exhibit the values of mainstream Florida by recognizing the need for Responsibility from all, Opportunity for all, and a Common Sense approach to solving Florida’s problems.”

Great to be Home!
Posted: May 12, 2009

The extended legislative session has finally concluded. As you know, this has been a very difficult session, for both our state and its citizens. Despite the fact that the budget dominated my time in Tallahassee this session, our District 53 office was able to claim a few victories for Floridians.

Service-Learning, a teaching and learning strategy that I first filed in 2006, finally passed as an amendment to another education bill. I am hopeful that Governor Crist will sign this bill into law.

Contamination Notification and Mangrove Protection both cleared several hurdles in each chamber and are both ready and likely to be passed in the 2010 session.

As the Ranking Democrat on the Energy & Utilities Policy Committee, I again pushed for legislation that would have provided our state with a new economic engine by creating a cleaner, greener Florida. At a time when most states are moving forward with innovative policies, such as feed-in tariffs, and are making real progress in adhering to a true renewable portfolio standard, Florida continues to be stuck in neutral. As such, I led the House Democratic Caucus in imploring Speaker Larry Cretul to consider a renewable energy package. Believing in renewable energy, I fought against the state senate plan, which created a “clean” energy standard, which included nuclear power and coal gasification. Unfortunately, despite all of our efforts, there was no renewable energy package this year, and none of the governor’s priorities (or mine) were met.

When I wasn’t working on the budget or advocating for or passing progressive legislation, my time was spent stopping bad things from happening. Secret ballots in the work place were under attack. Insurance companies sought additional deregulation. Attempts were made to interfere with our voting rights. The class-size amendment was under attack again, with efforts to dilute the will of the people and remove the vital funding associated with the class size amendment. Even worse, was the effort at passing a late-filed amendment to allow oil drilling in the Gulf 3- 10 miles off our shores. This amendment was heard with almost no notice given to the amendment’s likely opponents. Fortunately, this amendment died.

I worked diligently to make the telecommunications bill more consumer friendly. For awhile, this bill, dubbed the “Consumer Choice and Protection Act”, offered neither choices or protection. It allowed for a maximum rate hike, removed all regulatory power of the Public Service Commission, and generally just put a strain on seniors, rural residents, and small businesses. In committee, I was the lone NO vote. In council, only two of us voted NO. By the time this bill was heard on the floor of the House, many of my recommendations were incorporated into the final product, creating a bill which provided many of the consumer protections I was pushing for and only some of the regulatory relief sought by the telecommunications companies.

Finally, I voted against a bad budget. Aside from the cuts in this budget which will hurt our most vulnerable citizens, the budget included tax increases aimed at middle class Floridians. This budget was built on short term fixes to long term problems. Given that the budget blues aren’t going away, and that State economists do not expect Florida’s population or revenues to grow, as Floridians, we can only hope that the short-term quick fixes implemented by Leadership do not hurt our state in the long-term.