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.

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, October 12, 2005

"Political Clout" ...

    and the diversion of funds:
    In 1999, the politically connected parent of a disabled Broward County youngster threatened to sue state social service officials who refused to pay for the youngster's care. The report, by the Agency for Health Care Administration's inspector general, says that state authorities diverted about $200,000 in federal AIDS dollars to pay for the child's care.

    The report raises several concerns. Among them: whether state social service administrators routinely pilfer money from one pot to cover shortfalls in another, and whether they play favorites when deciding whom to serve among a 15,000-name waiting list of disabled Floridians in need of care.
    "So who approved the diversion of funds?"
    According to the report, at least two high-ranking state administrators told investigators that former AHCA Medicaid Bureau Chief Shelly Brantley -- and perhaps others in the agency -- approved the funding. One of the administrators told investigators that when he questioned Brantley about the propriety of the diversion, she responded: "Find a way to pay it. Do what you're told to do." ...

    [T]wo high-ranking administrators told inspector general investigators that Brantley was involved in the decision to divert the money. It was not clear from the report what role Brantley had at the agency at the time, and her spokeswoman could not furnish a copy of Brantley's résumé to The Herald on Tuesday.
    "Report: AIDS funds wrongly diverted".

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