Statement on Republican Budget “Transparency” Claims

Republican Leaders Mock Transparency,

Saying “This is the Way Government Should Work”

Newspapers are calling the Republican budget “midnight madness” and “an orgy of spending,” with unprecedented sums of taxpayer dollars handed out to special interests in the dead of night.

This is what the Republican Party of Florida calls, “the way government should work”:

• 90 new pages of the state budget appeared overnight, pouring millions in taxpayer money into pet projects backed by lobbyists and special interests.

• Behind closed doors Republican leaders added over $300 million dollars in taxpayer money for projects ”had never seen the light of day or public comment until late in the evening.”

• Shortly after the closed door meeting Shadow Speaker Richard Corcoran described the GOP charade as “the most open, the most transparent process, more than in any years previous.”

In response, Florida Democratic Party Chair Allison Tant released the following statement: 

“The only thing transparent about this farce is Richard Corcoran’s contempt for open and honest government. It is an insult to the people of Florida to spend $300 million of our tax dollars on budget pork behind closed doors, literally at the eleventh hour, and then call that process ‘transparent.’  

“No amount of Orwellian rhetoric can change the fact that the Republican leadership is raising local taxes to pay for their pet projects in the biggest budget in Florida history. To call this process transparent is as dishonest as it is laughable.”