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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
"every political insider should be reading right now."

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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.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

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The Blog for Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Dyer Indictment Hypocrisy

    Orlando Sentinel columnist, and generally reliable GOoPer sycophant, Scott Maxwell pens an almost evenhanded piece about the absurdity of the Dyer indictment. After all, as Maxwell writes,
    if investigators think that suspended Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer broke the law by hiring Ezzie Thomas to handle absentee ballots, shouldn't they have indicted every other politician who hired Thomas to do the same thing -- as well as politicians in every other Florida city who hired consultants for similar activities?

    But that hasn't happened.

    Even though the Sentinel wrote a lengthy article in 2002 that explained prominent politicians such as Glenda Hood and Mel Martinez had paid Thomas, Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar indicted no one. Nor did the Florida Department of Law Enforcement push for any indictments then.

    Why not?
    And the FDLE's response?
    "You're assuming that people in our office read the newspaper," said local FDLE office attorney Steve Brady.
    There's more:
    State Attorney Brad King, the Marion County prosecutor who Gov. Jeb Bush brought in to handle the Dyer case, acknowledged Monday that the 2002 article, coupled with Ezzie Thomas's candor about what he specialized in doing, could raise questions about why certain politicians are only being prosecuted now. But he stopped short of criticizing local investigators and prosecutors of failing to do their jobs three years ago, saying, "I can't speak for them."

    King said he can only do the job he was asked to do and noted that regardless, the three-year statute of limitations prevents prosecuting Hood and Martinez.
    And isn't it ironic see Orange County Chairman Rich Crotty whining about the charges against him (see "Bush Booster Crotty in Crosshairs")
    "How do you spell witch hunt?" he asked, referring primarily to the complaint against him, which he describes as bogus, involving the transportation-tax campaign he helped promote. "How do you spell political terrorism?"
    "Plenty of blame to go around in election-law mess". One would have more respect for Crotty if he had been saying these things when Dyer was indicted on the spurious allegations - Crotty instead sat on his hands, letting Dyer twist in the wind. But now that he's caught up in it (by a third party complaint), it's a "witch hunt". We agree, it is a "witch hunt".

    But Crotty need not worry - there will be no indictment. And we all know why.

6:58 AM

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