Contrary to Charlie Sheen-esque claims of a "winning" legislative session, Republicans settled for a watered-down compromise on public pension reform and punted on other key labor issues.

Florida is a right-to-work state with an impotent Democratic Party, but don't tell that to public-employee labor unions like the AFL-CIO, AFSCME and SEIU. They wielded political clout as if they were in Madison, Wis.

The Tallahassee cave-in collapsed the conservative credentials of Florida's Republican lawmakers. And Gov. Rick Scott, a multimillionaire supposedly beholden to no one but the taxpaying public, will take a political hit when he signs off on the diluted pension reforms.

Instead of requiring government workers to contribute 5 percent toward their pensions, the final package settled for 3 percent. That surrendered nearly $1 billion in savings to state and local governments and schools.

Lawmakers completely ignored Scott's call to put all new hires on 401(k)-style pension programs, which would have further stabilized the Florida Retirement System while containing future costs.

And while Republicans in Wisconsin reduced collective bargaining privileges there, Florida Republicans ran away from the fight altogether.

The closest the GOP came to addressing labor hegemony was Sen. John Thrasher's "paycheck protection" bill that would have halted payroll deductions for union dues. Though it's widely acknowledged that unions are money-laundering operations for the Democratic Party, Florida's Republicans couldn't even pass the Thrasher bill.

In their defense, GOP leaders say something was better than nothing. And, indeed, the pension package was progress, considering that Florida was the only remaining state to fully fund its government retirement programs.

But was the paltry 3 percent really the best that could be gotten by a party that controls supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature, as well as the governorship? For all the ritual bashing of turncoat Charlie Crist, it appears he wasn't the only RINO in the field.

"A lot of the laughably superficial analyses of the 2011 legislative session are peddling the line that public employees endured major losses because state workers, like their counterparts in other states, will now have to contribute a modest amount toward their pensions," says Robert Sanchez, policy director for the conservative James Madison Institute.

"The focus on this lone setback has had the effect of masking the real story: that Florida has quietly passed a 'tipping point' at which the power of the government employees’ unions defeated the interests of the taxpayers.

"Indeed, if the taxpayers couldn’t prevail this year, with this Legislature, when will they?" Sanchez asked.

It's not a rhetorical question.

Sanchez predicts that "the clout of government employees’ unions can only be expected to grow after the liberal Florida Supreme Court takes control of the redistricting process next year and hands over significant legislative power, if not an outright majority, to the forces of big government."

In Sanchez's view, government employee unions have already established a beachhead through their control of most of Florida’s large cities, counties and school districts. This provides a steady stream of dues money to spend on their lobbying efforts and their political campaigns on behalf of liberal candidates and causes.

"Once the forces of big government expand their beachhead to include the state government, you could expect Florida to emulate other fiscally troubled, union-dominated states such as California, Illinois, New York or Ohio," he said.

And speaking of Ohio, the JMI policy guru offers a chilling observation in closing.

Once home to bustling industrial centers, Ohio's largest cities have shrunk dramatically since the 1960s -- except for one: Columbus.

Seat of Ohio’s state government and largest university, Columbus now has more residents than Cleveland and Cincinnati combined.

"What, exactly, is produced by Columbus -- or most other state capitals?" Sanchez asks. He answers: Taxes. Fees. Bureaucracy. Rules. Regulations. Edicts. Mandates. Red Tape. Costs.

"For parasitic state capitals to thrive, while the areas whose taxes support them languish, is a novel way to define “capital-ism.”

We know where union-subsidized Democrats stand. Why are Florida's leading Republicans serving as their enablers?

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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.