Alex Leary subbed in for Adam Smith this week in naming the ‘Winner and Loser of The Week in Florida politics,’ however the inexplicable decision-making did not take a break with Smith’s time off.
Leary named Will Weatherford the ‘Loser of the Week’ because, Leary explains, a “school voucher bill, which he made a top priority, crumble on Thursday when the Senate sponsor, Galvano, pulled it from consideration.”
Indeed, the demise of the voucher bill is a high-profile setback for Weatherford, but that was mitigated by Weatherford’s leading the Florida House in passing legislation that would allow some undocumented students in public schools to receive in-state tuition rates. The legislation still has to pass the Senate and be signed into law by Governor Rick Scott, but the political courage displayed by Weatherford more than makes up for whatever damage done to his personal pride with the withdrawal of the voucher proposal.
A Speaker of the Florida House batting .500 in the last weeks of his tenure is a pretty good record and should have been enough to keep Weatherford out of Leary’s doghouse, but if it wasn’t, news that Weatherford and his wife, Courtney, are expecting their fourth child (their first boy!) certainly is.
