Gainesville Sun: Window Dressing
Editorial Board
Gainesville Sun
Nov 25, 2009
State Attorney (and gubernatorial candidate) Bill McCollum doesn't think much of a lawsuit filed last week contending that the Legislature has failed to live up to its constitutional duty to provide a "high-quality" education for all of Florida's children.
"These lawsuits appear to be driven by political and financial motives with little or no regard to educating our children," McCollum said Tuesday. "Florida's focus must be on making progress with our children's education, not on fighting baseless legal battles."
Judging from his statement, we presume that McCollum's legal strategy, when he defends that state in court, must be to contend that a constitutional amendment declaring a high-quality education the state's "paramount duty" is nothing but window dressing and cannot be imposed upon the Legislature.
Seventy-one percent of voters approved that amendment in 1998. Does candidate McCollum really intend to tell Floridians that they voted for window dressing?