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FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

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The Blog for Friday, March 25, 2005

Dyer Wins Civil Suit

    In the Orlando mayoral election civil suit - which spawned the pending criminal indictment - Circuit Judge Theotis Bronson dismissed the lawsuit by failed GOoPer mayoral candidate Ken Mulvaney in its entirety.

    The Court Order is here (in html not .pdf form).

    This is a huge victory for Dyer, and bodes well for the coming criminal case (which involves slightly different issues, although the complaint to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement mirrored the allegations in the civil lawsuit).

    That the case was decided at the "summary judgment" stage exposes the frivolousness of the GOoPer lawsuit. Because the case was resolved on "summary judgment", the judge was required to, and did, apply the following rigorous standards:
    - the court must "draw every possible inference in favor of the non-moving party", GOpPer mayoral candidate Mulvaney; and

    - "if the slightest doubt exists as to the presence of an issue of fact", then summary judgment cannot be granted.
    Court Order. To avoid summary judgment, and get to a trial, Mulvaney merely had to show some evidence of pervasive irregularities involving absentee ballots. The Court concluded that, even giving Mulvaney the benefit of every possible inference, there was absolutely "no evidence" of pervasive irregularities:
    Judge Theotis Bronson ruled there was no evidence of pervasive irregularities involving absentee ballots alleged to have been illegally collected for suspended Mayor Buddy Dyer.
    "Runnerup's request for new Orlando mayoral vote denied". From the Orlando Sentinel:
    The court ruling is a victory for Dyer, though it's not a part of the criminal case that led to his arrest and suspension by Gov. Jeb Bush two weeks ago. Still, lawyers for Dyer and the city said the judge's ruling could help his defense in the criminal case, as well.

    "I'm extremely pleased with the result," Dyer said. "As I've said all along, we would work through the process instead of playing the case out in the media -- as my opponent has done -- and be vindicated once the court had a chance to look at the facts."
    "Mulvaney loses bid for runoff election".

5:56 AM

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