On The Local Front
I located the Florida Sheriffs Association biography of Charles W. “Charlie” Morris (R), and it turns out I didn’t forget he was retired military. According to the timeline he was caught in Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney’s reduction in force after the first Gulf War and pushed out after 18 years, two years short of retirement. Cheney targeted people who were one more enlistment from retirement to be sure that they weren’t eligible for any benefits.
Fortunately the Air Force is part of the Social Security system, because Charlie only has 16 years in the state law enforcement retirement system, and, if he isn’t re-instated, that’s another retirement option that is gone. With no cash flow, by the time this trial is over, he will have lost all of his “encumbered” real estate holdings, so he is in deep yogurt regardless of the verdict.
In a related story, the Northwest Florida Daily News has more detail on the Sheriff’s Office shakeup. My initial reaction is two make-work jobs.
The Pensacola Beach Blog notes how bad the timing of the arrest was for Morris, because the Chumuckla Chucklehead, AKA Congresscritter Jeff Miller, had a $500K “enforcement technology” grant in the recently passed budget bill. Miller is, of course, a Republican fiscal conservative who doesn’t believe in earmarks or pork barrel spending. I haven’t got a clue as to what Charlie wanted, because our deputies would never be confused with geeks. Frankly I think they switched to Glock auto-loaders because revolvers were too complicated for many of them. I would really love to see that grant proposal.
