Jax Daily

Central Florida lost significant clout in Washington during the most recent elections, with the defeat or retirement of three heavy-hitting Congressmen.

From the Orlando Sentinel…

Three veteran U.S. House members from the region are being replaced by rookies, a potentially painful loss in a system that runs largely on seniority. Among the departed: U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Indialantic, whose retirement likely leaves no one from the region on the powerful Appropriations Committee.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow is stepping down from his post as the third-ranking Republican in the House. And U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., a former co-chairman of the Republican National Committee, is a lame duck since announcing he won’t run for re-election in 2010.

That leaves Central Florida with no lawmakers in the top tier of party leadership — in either party — in the House or Senate.

The so-called silver lining for the region is that two of the newly elected Representatives are Democrats, part of the new majority in D.C. and more able to steer federal funds to their districts. That’s particularly true for freshmen Congressmen who are vulnerable to a challenge in two-years, such as Democrat Alan Grayson.

“Having Suzanne Kosmas and Alan Grayson taking over as part of the majority party is certainly a good thing. It will enable them to get funding for things that Ric Keller and Tom Feeney wouldn’t be able to,” said Greg Schuckman, a lobbyist for the University of Central Florida.

Schuckman said the university likely would seek federal funds for three big-ticket programs: modeling and simulation, optics and photonics and its new medical school. He estimated that since 2006, UCF has received more than $14 million in federal earmarks, a small fraction of its overall federal grant total.

Still, rookie lawmakers rarely can deliver federal dollars as well as their senior colleagues.

The exception is when party leaders view a rookie as endangered and steer earmarks so he or she can brag about new parks or roads in a re-election campaign.

Grayson falls in this category, as local Republican leaders vowed to reclaim his seat as soon as he won. The veteran attorney knows it too. Soon after winning, he vowed to bring more federal dollars back to Central Florida and used the Orlando phone book as an example.

“There’s only one page for federal [services],” he said. “If you look at Chicago, it would be a dozen pages. People in Orlando need more from the federal government. . . . I want to try and increase the amount.”

One has to wonder if the people of Orlando really want to be able to open their phone book and flip through page after page of government hand-outs. Then again, their attitude may be “if it’s good enough for the auto companies… why not me?”