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 Friday, July 29, 2005

Three GOoPer Sell Outs

    Oil Drilling Wrangling:
    Florida lawmakers won a last-minute pledge from a powerful House committee chairman to seek long-term protections for the state's coast, but it wasn't enough to win most of their votes on the federal energy bill.

    With the vote looming Thursday, Florida Reps. Cliff Stearns and Mike Bilirakis struck an agreement with Rep. Richard Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee, to work on future legislation that would codify protections against oil and gas drilling.

    But the deal lacked specifics, and their Florida colleagues were wary of a provision in the bill that mandates an inventory of gas and oil reserves in all U.S. waters, including Florida's. Many say they fear the inventory will be a precursor to drilling.

    The delegation had met several times before Thursday's vote to discuss how to proceed. While the bill passed the House easily, 275-156, all but three of the Florida's 25 House members voted against the bill: Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs, Stearns, R-Ocala, and John Mica, R-Winter Park, whose brother heads the Florida Petroleum Council.
    "Drilling promises don't win Florida lawmakers' votes".

    Remember these three delightful fellows:

    - Mike Bilirakis, R-Tarpon Springs. Perhaps his would-be successor will care to explain daddy's vote?

    - Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala.

    - John Mica, R-Winter Park, whose brother heads the Florida Petroleum Council. Don't count the Orlando Sentinel editorial board - which loves Mica - to say much if anything about this.

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