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Don't Ya Just Love it? Pam Bondi Blows Off Bubbletown
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State officeholders serve the state, not the state capital. So, good for Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi who had the guts to break out of the Tallahassee bubble.
It drives the capitol press corps nuts, this wanderlust Bondi's got.
Everywhere you look these days, there she is, laughing it up with Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, working the GOP mystique with Rudy Giuliani in Tampa, guest-gabbing on national television. Face it, Pam Bondi has manufactured a little celebrity and become a darling of the Republican Party.
Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General Pam Bondi
Well, we can't have that. We in Tallahassee can't have her running all over creation without telling us. Reporters are here to cover state leaders and, by God, state leaders have no business galavanting around the country or going home whenever they want.
"State statutes say Bondi is to reside in Tallahassee and keep her office in the Capitol," wrote Tia MitchelI of the Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau.
So, take them statutes, Madam Attorney General.
Except that the attorney general complies with the law. She rents a house in Tally and the office comes built in -- it's right off the Capitol lobby. In fairness to Mitchell, her story did point that out. What it didn't mention is that the law is so vague, it gives no clue what percentage of her time must be spent in Tallahassee.
Thank God.
The truth is, so strange is the karma up here in the capital, a get-out-of-Tallahassee week should be a once-a-month mandate for all policymakers.
It blows my mind how quickly lawmakers and those who feed off them -- their bureaucratic handlers, the lobbyists, the press corps, and the press handlers like high-powered flacks who profit off of Tallahassee centric governance -- can arrive in town and careen from zero to 100 on the ain't-I-swell-o-meter.
How quickly this self-important lot piles into the capital bubble. And there they all live for as long as they call Tallahassee home.
In the capital bubble, everything is the most important thing.
Bubbletowners fill their days having conversations with themselves, with people who think just like they do. And they believe -- truly believe -- that the folks in Miami, Ocala, Leesburg, Clearwater are hanging on their every word.
Hanging out full-time in Bubbletown is the best way I can think of to twist or lose touch with the things Floridians want or need for their families and for their state. And Pam Bondi knows it.
She clearly wants to be closer not just to home in Tampa, but near a substantial population center.
Fifteen years ago, this Times/Herald story might have been quite a shocker. But today, technology and able staffs have given statewide officials an opportunity to reach out, to spread their wings. Bondi has no state-issued car for travel. But she gets to Cabinet meetings, no problem.
Nothing unnerves the keepers of Bubbletown more than seeing electeds leave it behind.
Bondi is on the side of the angels.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
Comments (19)
Problem is they may not be qualified for most jobs where people actually "work."
As they might say on the Space Coast, she's a definite GO!
Her work, as you call it, has been bringing court challenges and being found to be incorrect/unconstitutional, time after time after time. Most recently she got tossed out for not even understanding she couldn't file.
Yes, that's someone you can be proud of, but not for Florida. If incompetence is your god, you can't go wrong with Scott and Bondi, as losing court case after court case has plainly demonstrated.
I'll bet you even fantasize that Scott has a 60% approval rating. Geesh.
Guess not. Maybe that's why she doen't seem to understand the Florida Constitution, or even the U.S. Constitution. Too much partying while receiving a salary from Florida citizens.
What' s your "Constitutional problems" ? Again, no fact - just throw dung like any good mindless leftist.
As far as her lack of understanding of the law, (and I guess you could extrapolate that out to the Constitution) I know several people who work for her in the AG's office and they are not too impressed. Word is, her eyes glass over when they delve into anything too complicated. Also, she takes credit for the work of others. She is basically just a spokesperson. But, I will give her credit, she has some really good, smart people around her that helps offset her lack of intelligence. She is also known to be arrogant, vindictive and cannot stand to be criticized... for anything.
And who, exactly, do you think is paying for all that travel outside of Tallahassee that Nancy so touts? What did you think Nancy was talking about when she wrote:
"Everywhere you look these days, there she is, laughing it up with Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, working the GOP mystique with Rudy Giuliani in Tampa, guest-gabbing on national television."
I'm sure those were all in a work effort for the citizens of Florida. Don't you even read the articles you're commenting on? PATHETIC!
bit.ly/Ncq16v
May I suggest the nickname "Lassie Town" after Freedie Cannon's hit from the 50's "Tallahassee Lassie?" "She's my Tallahassee Lassie, down in F-L-A."
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