TALLAHASSEE, Fla., May 2 (UPI) -- The GOP-controlled Florida Senate rejected by one vote Gov. Jeb Bush's plan to enact a constitutional private-school voucher program, a report said Tuesday.
Four GOP senators, including Majority Leader Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, refused Monday to vote for the constitutional amendment to reverse a Florida Supreme Court ruling that found Bush's 1999 school voucher program unconstitutional.
Within minutes, Senate President Tom Lee, R-Brandon, stripped Villalobos of his leadership post, saying he no longer is viewed as a team player.
Villalobos said he never asked anyone to vote against Lee.
"I serve at the pleasure of the (Senate) president. He giveth. He taketh away," Villalobos told The Miami Herald.
Bush blamed a feud that began in February when colleagues removed Villalobos as Senate president designate in 2008.
"It's about a dysfunctional Republican caucus," Bush told the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel Tuesday. "That's what it's about."
New Majority Leader Dan Webster, R-Winter Garden, said the Senate would quickly take up an alternative voucher bill.
