It didn’t get a lot of attention, but Secretary of Community Affairs Tom Pelham gave an impassioned defense of his agency this past week.
DCA has constantly come under fire in the last few years, especially as Pelham has criticized legislative efforts to change the state’s growth management laws.
Pelham, however, fired back at critics when DCA was faulted for opposing a planned animal park in the Green Swamp area of critical concern in Central Florida.
He called it “demoralizing” that public servants at the land-planning agency were criticized for merely carrying out the laws and rules passed by elected officials.
Pelham also called the notion that DCA was “killing jobs” as nonsense, saying it was the economy and not state government that was to blame for a slowdown in development. He said the agency has blessed plenty of projects that have not gotten off the ground because of the financial collapse the last two years.
Read more about Pelham’s remarks here at the Florida Tribune.
For a DCA chief to have to defend his agency is a remarkable occurrance.
His complaining about how he is being treated is symptomatic of a larger problem. He is defiant and petulant, and apparently jealous of the legislature and Governor.
Why else would an agency secretary travel the state and try to help others detour around new laws, passed by both houses of the legislature, and signed by his boss, the Governor?
Self examination appears not to be a part of Secretary Pelham's skill-set. Anyone else would have been fired for such behavior. Here in Florida, it seems to be emblematic of today's political behavior in Washington…Everyone hates me, but I don't know why! Yes you do, sir. Take a long look in the mirror.