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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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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 Friday, July 01, 2005

Audit Clears Maddox

    But will it cleanse the stain on his reputation?
    Melanie Hines, a former statewide prosecutor who led the audit, said the $926,000 had simply been miscoded through a series of mistakes by the party's bookkeepers. And she said Griffin-Bruton, who Maddox hired as the party comptroller, did not intentionally withhold taxes from the federal government, but was simply "in over her head."

    Maddox never signed the tax documents, and Hines said Griffin-Bruton used a stamp of his signature when turning them in, a practice that Maddox said was misused in that instance.

    "The problem occurred because of a poor hiring decision, a lack on internal controls and a lack of strong oversight of the financial records of the party," Hines said. "There is, however, no direct evidence that the former chair was aware of the tax deficiency."

    Maddox, a former Tallahassee mayor, hailed the audit as a vindication and defended his hiring of Griffin-Bruton based on her 20-year history of running Tallahassee's city parks and recreation department's $15 million budget.
    "Audit clears Maddox of blame for taxes, finds 'missing' money".

    Now compare this headline about the same story: "Maddox's lack of oversight cited". You might be surprised where that came from. See also "Maddox faulted for poor hiring" and "Maddox Shares Heat For Dems' Fiscal 'Mess'".

    Now here's a kinda neutral way to put it: "Audit resolves Democrats' budget woes".

6:09 AM

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