When Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles T. Canady was called to task by a frosty state Senate budget committee to explain lavishly furnished interiors at the new 1st District Court of Appeal building, he came with the political credentials to weather the cold.

Yes, the building has 27 flat-screen TVs, granite counters and ostentatious vistas of mahogany. Granted, that looks bad on television newscasts when the state faces a minimum $3 billion budget shortfall.