Caught playing politics, Jose Oliva pivots on firefighter cancer bill

• Tweet
• Sumo

• Tweet

State Rep. Jose Oliva, the Speaker of the House holding the firefighter cancer bill back all session, reversed his earlier decision and said Tuesday that he would bring HB857 — or something very similar to it — to the floor in the near future.

The legislation, four years in the making, aims to address healthcare shortfalls for firefighters who, because they are exposed to toxic burning substances, are diagnosed with cancer at a rate 9% higher than the rest of us and die of cancer at a 14% rate higher than the rest of us.

It has 82 sponsors from both sides of the aisle, more than any other measure possibly in history, and is certain to pass.

But Oliva wouldn’t let it go to committee. He released a statement weeks ago about this being better handled at the local level and not wanting to take control away from municipalities. But there are other bills moving through the House — including a bill that allows pet stores to sell puppy mill breeds — that would take local control away from cities and towns that want to ban those sales (more on that later).

Read related: Jose Oliva holds firefighter cancer bill hostage for political payback

He not only held the cancer bill back, Oliva also refused to respond to firefighters or the relatives of sick and fallen firefighters. He did not return their calls and emails. He did not respond to hand-delivered letters.

Only after Ladra exposed that the real motive behind the hold-up of the bill was political retaliation — and published his cellphone number so he could no longer hide from people — did Oliva say he changed his mind.

See? A Coral Gables firefighter named David Perez ran for senate last year in the open seat left by Rene Garcia. Former State Rep. Manny Diaz, Jr., who is an Oliva-made yes-man, also ran for the seat. And this gave the firefighters an opportunity to endorse one of their own.

That irked Oliva and his buddy, former State Rep. Frank Artiles, a staple in the Capitol this session even though he is not allowed to lobby for another three or four days. Artiles — who had been forced to resign after he made some racist remarks in a drunken rant — even wrote a comment on a David Perez Facebook post threatening to hold up this very cancer presumption bill as political payback.

This is not “according to” Ladra or Political Cortadito, like The Miami Herald and the Tallahassee Democrat stated. Ladra posted a screen save of the comment. Everyone can see it for themselves. It is posted here again.

And only after that political vendetta was exposed in Political Cortadito did Oliva change course, announcing it in another statement Tuesday.

“The debate this year, as in past years, was never against firefighters, nor was it political. It was the legislature that supported the funding to establish the proper need to begin with. Unfortunately, the debate became about whether we support our firefighter — of course we do. And it became about whether it was political — of  course it wasn’t. Still, the environment has become too toxic to debate the true original disagreement. As such, we will move legislation forward more so as the differences are not so great as to invite the assumptions now being made.”

First off, there was never an intention to “debate the true original disagreement,” as he says. If there was, it would have gone to committee for said debate. Instead, it was shelved so nobody could discuss it. He never had any intention to debate it in Tallahassee because he said it was a local issue.

Secondly, he said he would move legislation forward, not the legislation, which means he is still holding up the House bill and plans to present something different, perhaps the Senate Bill, as he indicated to Miami Fire Chief Joseph Zahralban, who sent an email about the conversation to his ranks.

Thirdly, if “the differences are not so great as to invite the assumptions now being made,” then why hold it up in the first place.

Lastly, the word “assumptions” is wrong. It should read conclusions. Because there was absolutely no other reason to hold back legislation that has more support than it had ever gotten in four years — including two thirds of the House as co-sponsors — and that was similar to bills passed in 40-some states.

And because, true to his form, Artiles couldn’t hold his ire back and posted a comment on this very blog admitting to the political retaliation against the firefighters and their union, giving #thanksfrank — a social media hashtag used by his political action committee’s barely dressed consultants — new life.

Read related: GOP gets desperate in Hialeah senate race against David Perez

“MDFD local with union President Omar Blanco is responsible for choosing and backing Gillum for Governor, Ring for CFO, Shawn Shaw attorney general, David Perez (Senate candidate), Ascencio ( your friend which I called a one termer), and many local Democrats over Republicans,” he posted in a rant with so much bad grammar that he likely had a couple of drinks in ‘im.

“My brothers that I served with in the Marines are firefighters, I support firefighters and their families… However, elections have consequences and the MDFD fire Union needs to clean house!”

So, the holding back of the bill was the consequences of the firefighters union supporting Perez and other Democrat candidates. That’s not an assumption of political retaliation, Mr. Speaker. That’s a confession.

Still, thank you for changing your mind. It is the right thing to do and Ladra doesn’t really care how you got there.

Betcha he changes his cellphone number next.

  firefighters, Florida House, Frank Artiles, Jose Oliva