Politicians lament lack of action

The most recent state Legislature session was widely recognized as one where not much got done.

To many executives and entrepreneurs that lack of action was a good thing. (See Business Review, May 14, 2010.) Coffee Talk also recognizes the perils of a legislative body that passes lots of bills so it can say it 'got something done.'

Don't count state Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton and state Rep. Keith Fitzgerald, D-Sarasota, in that group. The duo, in an odd-couple like routine, recently spoke before a group of executives at a Sarasota Area Manufacturers Association dinner.

“The Legislature wasted a huge amount of time not solving any real problems,” says Fitzgerald, who lamented that too much time was spent passing declarations and proclamations. “It took care of a lot of nonsense issues.”

Added Fitzgerald: “We didn't get the job done this time around.”

Bennett agreed: “It was a tough session. A lot of the bills we had ended up on the veto side.”

Still, even as the duo bemoaned lost opportunities, Bennett, whose term expires in November, recognized that passing bills could sometimes do more harm than good. “We have put so much rules and regulations in the state that we are running the manufacturers out of here,” Bennett told the dinner crowd.

Bennett mentioned Chris-Craft, the Bradenton-based boat builder that built a large facility in North Carolina in 2007 instead of expanding in Florida, as one example of an over-regulated company that sought to grow elsewhere. The room full of manufacturing executives nodded in unison.

“We should have been looking to get the government out of your business,” says Bennett, “not ways to get the government in your business.”

Perhaps that becomes the mantra of the 2011 session.