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Published on Saturday, February 21, 2004
in the Miami Herald
TALLAHASSEE - When two brothers were killed in a wrong-way crash with an FBI agent in 1999, the Florida Highway Patrol initially blamed the two victims -- only to reverse itself later.
Charges of racism and a cop-help-cop coverup ran rampant after FHP acknowledged the error, which it partly blamed on not having a spokesman to disseminate information to a hungry news media at the crash site near Pompano Beach.
Now, FHP's top information officer warns that a similar public relations disaster could happen again, because Gov. Jeb Bush's budget recommends eliminating all 27 positions in the agency's public information and safety education bureau. The cut would save about $2 million.
FHP Lt. Col. Ken Howes said it's not money well saved. He said the agency needs specially trained officers to inform reporters and the public about events such as crashes and DUI task-force check points.
''If this goes through, you would have a hard time getting information from FHP,'' Howes said. ``And that can be a problem in cases like we had in Broward County. We added another public information officer there just to make sure there wasn't a repeat.''
Bush said the cuts were needed to rein in spending as the state's $55.4 billion budget grows at a faster rate than the incomes of Floridians.
''So I guess we should just have government grow and grow and grow, just never change anything, just only add to it,'' said Bush, who recommended a total of $14.9 million in transportation and economic development cuts.
The reductions, which were scheduled to be debated Friday in a House subcommittee, were deferred until March 5, by which time House budget writers will have determined which of Bush's recommendations to take up.
One committee member, Miami Republican Marcelo Llorente, said he didn't know enough about the issue to comment fully, but said he had ''grave concerns'' if it led to a repeat of the fallout over the deaths of Maurice Williams, 23, and brother Craig Chambers, 19, the two men who died in the 1999 crash with the FBI agent.