As the swordfish in the governor's kitchen broiled this week, the press corps stewed, and then was left out and got cold.

Tallahassee insiders this week were atwitter about the increasingly icy relationship between the governor’s office and the traditional media – a sideshow that distracted a bit from meatier issues that were being discussed in Florida government this week, from immigration to the role of the courts versus the Legislature, to redistricting, property insurance and a deepening hole in the state budget.

Several of the state’s largest business groups that normally support Republican initiatives asked lawmakers to turn the temperature down a bit on the immigration debate because the state's economy and culture are indelibly linked to foreign labor, and to the state’s positive image around the world.
The Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida – two of the largest business lobbies in the state – told a Senate panel that foreign-born workers, both legal and illegal, bring more to the table economically than they take away in state expenses for education, criminal justice, health and social service programs.

They also were not ready to bless the federal E-Verify system, an Internet-based program to track immigrant status at the job site. It is flawed and not ready to be relied upon by businesses to accurately determine who to hire, they said, giving lawmakers something to chew on.

Over in the House, the lower chamber’s point man on immigration was trying to take the issue off the high heat as well. Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, who has been fine-tuning an immigration proposal he made several months ago, said this week that he would be willing to look at changes to make the plan less like the Arizona law that has been criticized as unecessary in a nonborder state like Florida.