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As if enduring America's financial crisis isn't bad enough, we've also had to suffer through the partisan sniping with the two parties having entirely different opinions about what we need to do to dig ourselves out.  Is the answer intervention by the government as the spender of last resort, to prime the economy?  Or is it all the spending that's damaging the economy, with the resulting taxation creating a burden for the businesses that would drive a recovery?  Each argument has its own think tanks, its own facts, its own version of American history. 

Specifically, how does this dynamic play itself out in Florida?  How are the decisions we've made about public policy playing out in our state? What has worked and what still needs to be done?  What innovations does Florida need to make to adjust to changing circumstances and what is the role of government relative to private business?

We thought we'd have a real conversation between smart people who won't necessarily have similar views on how to fix the problem. Are there changes that we should expect will be enduring in our state and in our nation? Is there a new normal?

Joining the conversation: Don Winstead 

Public Policy Consultant, former Special Advisor to the Governor for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Governor Charlie Crist called on Don Winstead to serve as Special Advisor to the Governor for the Implementation of the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  Working in coordination with the Governor’s Federal Stimulus Working Group, he was responsible for overseeing and tracking the distribution of Florida’s federal stimulus dollars and ensuring taxpayers had access to the information needed to hold government accountable for its use of the funds.  Overall, Florida expects to receive over $26 billion in Recovery Act funding. Don served as Deputy Secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families for a total of eight years, serving four Secretaries and three Governors. Don served for four years as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the George W. Bush administration under Secretary Tommy Thompson. Don is a nationally recognized expert on federal funding issues. In 2011, he founded Don Winstead Consulting, LLC.

Moderated by Dr. Carol Weissert; Director, LeRoy Collins Institute

Dr. Carol Weissert is the director of the LeRoy Collins Institute and professor of political science at Florida State University. She has published over four dozen articles in political science, public administration and public policy journals and is the author or co-author of four books including Governing Health: The Politics of Health Policy. She was the co-author (with David Denslow) of Tough Choices: Shaping Florida's Future and co-authored several reports in the Tough Choices series on the relationship between state and local government in Florida which includes Report Card: Florida Municipal Pension Plans and Trouble Ahead: Florida Local Governments and Retirement Benefits. Prior to coming to FSU in 2003, she was professor of political science and director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University. She is the editor of Publius: The Journal of Federalism, an international journal on federalism and intergovernmental relations published by Oxford University Press. Her doctorate in political science is from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.