Tampa Bay News
Politics
'Backed ourselves into an oligarchy': Hillsborough Republican lawmaker chimes in on influence of lobbyists and party leadership
"An archconservative Harvard Law School-educated attorney, Beltran held a safe Republican state House seat in right-leaning east Hillsborough County, easily winning elections in 2018, 2020 and 2022.
But in 2024, Beltran announced unexpectedly in June that he would not seek reelection. He gave some of the common reasons " a growing family, a law practice and an elderly father out of state, all needing his attention.
But there was another reason, which Beltran didn't want to talk about at the time:
What he describes as an oppressive and dictatorial atmosphere in the Florida Legislature, where all legislative initiatives and even members' votes are tightly controlled and monitored by top leaders in the House and Senate.
That system, according to Beltran's view, stifles independence by rank-and-file members and forces them to consider the demands of legislative leaders more than their own consciences or the wishes of their constituents.
"It's a culture from the top that encourages groupthink and conformity," Beltran said. "It's like going to the cafeteria in a prison where they serve what they serve and you eat it. If you don't take what they serve up, they think you're a bad person and treat you accordingly."
"We have taken what is on paper a constitutional republic and we have backed ourselves into an oligarchy," he said.
'
The system also forces legislators to kowtow to special interests and the money they give legislative leaders to fund campaigns, Beltran said.
It comes in unlimited soft-money donations to political committees, routinely six or seven figures, from the state's largest and most powerful corporations and their lobbyists.
"As long as you have a soft-money loophole allowing committees to raise and spend unlimited money, you will allow special interests to have an outsize influence on politics," Beltran said.
"It also allows legislative leadership to essentially control the rank-and-file members by controlling access to fundraising."
www.cltampa.com
He could have been describing the Republican-led House in Washington.
In the NT the dead are all in a place called Paradise awaiting the slightly judgey part.
Psalms 103:14
"For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust."
(he occasionally stuttereth)