The best they can do?

Beth Reinhard: "It takes moxie to stop the Republican Party of Florida chairman from clearing the field for the sitting governor's U.S. Senate campaign."

And it takes even more guts to run for the party's top spot when virtually the entire, mostly male political establishment has thrown its weight behind another candidate, former House Speaker John Thrasher.

Those who know Sharon Day say they aren't surprised, considering that she drives through Democrat-heavy Broward County every election season in a Lexus SUV shrink-wrapped with the Republican ticket's banner. ...

Day doesn't look grass roots. She's frequently decked out in diamonds and Republican red pant suits. She's been lining up support for a party chair campaign from her high-rise condo in Fort Lauderdale valued at $2.4 million.

Crist's "rough start"

"Talk about a rough start to the new year."

The ouster of Gov. Charlie Crist's hand-picked Republican party chairman looks like only the start of Crist's problems as he faces a tougher U.S. Senate campaign than he ever expected.

His emergency management chief quit this week under fire, and his juvenile justice administrator is under investigation for excessive travel. Any day now U.S. Senate rival Marco Rubio is expected to report another improved fundraising quarter.

And this has to hurt: Republican activists who know Crist best, members of the Pinellas Republican executive committee, are scheduled to hold a "straw poll'' Monday where Rubio is favored to emerge as the preferred U.S. Senate nominee of Crist's home county.

Welcome to Walmart

"A central Florida Walmart greeter seen on video getting punched by a customer says he's been fired." "Walmart greeter attacked says he was fired".

Crist admin corruption pales in comparison to Jeb's

Steve Bousquet reminds us that "Jeb Bush had major problems with a series of agency chiefs. One faced a grand theft charge. Another was run off after female co-workers complained of sexual harassment."

Former child welfare Secretary Jerry Regier and two top aides resigned after an inspector general's report found unethical contract practices at the Department of Children and Families, but three subsequent investigations found no laws were violated.

The worst of the worst, of course, was Bush's prison boss, Corrections Secretary James Crosby, who's still serving time for accepting kickbacks from a prison vendor.

"Corruption had become a cancer on the department," said Crosby's successor, Jim McDonough, in 2007. "My office was a crime scene, taped off, an indication we had serious problems."

Nobody is saying things like that about any of Charlie Crist's agency heads. These latest developments look like small potatoes in comparison to the Bush era.

As the RPOF grubs for dollars ...

The Palm Beach Post editors: "The Florida Supreme Court's order last week that lenders and property owners in default attend mediation is an attempt to do what the state and federal government have failed to do: ease the foreclosure crisis." "Foreclosures and Florida: Courts have stepped in where politicians haven't".

Lawson works it

"Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson wants Sen. John Thrasher stripped of two important committee assignments if he is annointed chairman of the state GOP as expected. Lawson asked Senate President Jeff Atwater today to remove Thrasher as chairman of the Ethics and Elections Committee and off the powerful reapportionment committee if he is also chairman of the Republican Party of Florida." "Conflict of interest for Thrasher as Senate elections chairman and head of RPOF?".

Silly ethics stuff

"Broward's state legislators are responding to months of attention on government ethics in the aftermath of last year's corruption-related arrests of local officials -- by voting against one proposed new ethics law and postponing action on another." "Broward legislators balk at new ethics law".

Crist, Rubio want it both ways

Randy Schultz: "Just as George H.W. Bush in 1988 wanted voters to see Willie Horton's face every time they saw Michael Dukakis, Mr. Rubio wants GOP voters to see President Obama every time they see the governor."

Specifically, Mr. Rubio wants those voters to see Gov. Crist's embrace of the president 11 months ago in Fort Myers and his support of the stimulus.

Like Gov. Crist, however, Mr. Rubio wants it both ways. He blasts Congress for "spending money we don't have," but admits that he, too, would have accepted the money if he had been in the Legislature. How does Mr. Rubio explain this inconvenient hypocrisy? Here's what his spokesman, Alex Burgos, e-mailed me ...

Sansom speaks

"Former House Speaker Ray Sansom will refuse to testify before a panel of peers investigating his dealings with a Panhandle college, but his voice will be heard anyway."

A judge ruled Friday that a House prosecutor can use Sansom's testimony before a grand jury investigating similar issues, including a $6 million appropriation for an airplane building that a private developer wanted to use.

Union bashing, Trib style

The Tampa Trib editors surprise no one with yet another union hating editorial today: "Voters won't fall for police union's tactics".

Union bashing, Orlando Sentinel style

The geniuses who are running the Orlando Sentinel's newspaper business into the ground, are now experts on how the teachers' union should do business: "With millions slashed in successive years from Florida's education budget, Eric Smith's two years as state education commissioner have resembled a captain helming a sinking ship."

Unfortunately, Mr. Smith has been unable to steer the effort around weak concerns and selfishness from Florida's education union, whose opposition threatens the effort. ...

Unions must steer past their selfish careerism to help Florida bring much-needed money into Florida's port.

The arrogance of some employees ...

"Worker electrocuted, disrupts power to 1,000 customers".

Sea cows

"More than 200 manatees are wintering in a balmy canal outside a power plant, the latest exotic Florida animals seeking refuge from the state's frigid temperatures." "Fla.'s big chill: Manatees huddle, turtles stunned".

Brown pushes "path to citizenship"

The Daytona Beach News Journal editors: "Immigration cases started under the Bush administration resulted in a 16 percent increase in prosecutions last year over 2008, making up half the total caseload of federal prosecutions. Obama will now get the chance to live up to his reform pledge. U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and 80 co-sponsors, including U.S. Rep. Corrinne Brown, introduced legislation that drops many of the more draconian approaches of the 2007 versions of reform while keeping and refining some of the better approaches. The principles remain the same: Giving undocumented immigrants the path to citizenship they deserve and that, to a great extent, the country owes them." "Reform with dignity".

To the Democrats this means, "The Republican Party is narrowing ideologically," their ad says. "If you don't pass the right-wing purity test, there is no room for you."

Tea party activists are fueling that impression.

"If they continue to do things like they did in Florida, it's not going to be good for them," Dale Robertson, founder of the TeaParty.org Web site, warned GOP leaders in an interview published Thursday. "If they don't get that, and their party chairmen don't get that, they are going to be ostracized."

[I]t's an open question whether the fissioning of the Florida GOP presages a destructive tea party rebellion. ...

If the Florida party is wrought with internal bickering, that could carry consequences for Republicans nationally, said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.

"This is turning into one of the big stories of campaign 2010," he said. "Is the Florida GOP imploding or not?"

"If they have a total meltdown, it could cost them the governorship and conceivably even the Senate seat," he said.

On the heels of his ouster from the Republican Party of Florida, Greer tried to claim that some Republicans just weren't ready for all the big-tent inclusion he tried to promote. ...

But nowhere was Greer's version of "inclusion" better on display than at the past Republican National Convention. That was where Florida sported one of the least diverse delegations in modern history — and the country. Out of 114 delegates, three were black. There were also so few women that on "Ladies Night" at the convention — an evening meant to show support for Sarah Palin by asking all the female delegates to sit up front — Florida's delegation didn't even have enough to fill the seats. They had to recruit non-delegate seat-fillers to help out.

So, for Greer to claim that he was ousted because he was just so gosh-darn inclusive is to ignore reality.

And the RPOFer is the House's lawyer?

"The Florida Supreme Court has reprimanded former Miami state Rep. Miguel De Grandy, now a special counsel for the Florida House."

The justices Thursday accepted De Grandy's plea of guilty with conditions that included the reprimand for violating legal ethics due to a conflict of interest in his private practice.

"Indict[ing] a secretive state budget process"

"Meggs has shaken the Legislature with his prosecution of former House Speaker Ray Sansom. In a broader sense, he indicted a secretive state budget process." "In Sansom case, prosecutor 'just trying to do what I think is right'". Related "Sansom taking 'The Fifth', so House lawyer wants grand jury testimony".

RPOFer whitewash

"A top Florida Republican leader and a key critic of outgoing party chairman Jim Greer announced his resignation Thursday."

The departure of state party vice chairman Allen Cox allows Republicans to avoid a messy grievance dispute about whether Cox leaked internal budget documents that showed the party faced a deficit.

The Klan speaks

"The Imperial Wizard of the United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is guarded about discussing his organization's membership. But this much Cole Thornton openly shares: Florida cops belong to his Klan group because he said they like its rigid standards and its adherence to a strict moral code."

Florida ranks third nationally, behind California and Texas, in the overall number of identified hate groups, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center ...

The United Northern and Southern Knights of the Ku Klux Klan is listed as one of 56 Florida "hate groups" identified by the law center.

"Crist long on platitudes and short on specific promises"

"With the Space Coast facing the loss of as many as 19,000 jobs when the space shuttle is retired later this year, Gov. Charlie Crist came to town to check out what the state might be able to do to soften the blow. But anybody hoping that Crist was going to throw a lifeline to a deeply anxious region was left disappointed. Crist was long on platitudes and short on specific promises." "Crist short on details on help after shuttle".

McCollum's "extreme position"

The Saint Petersburg Times editorial board: "As Congress negotiates the final version of health care reform legislation there is a move to derail the effort through legal action among Republican lawmakers and state attorneys general, including Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum."

They claim requiring nearly every person to have health insurance or pay a tax or fine would violate the U.S. Constitution, an extreme position disputed by many legal scholars. This is less about protecting constitutional rights and more about Republicans using the courts to accomplish what they have not accomplished so far in Congress. ...

There are nearly 4 million uninsured Floridians, yet McCollum is using the attorney general's office to explore using the courts to block the most promising health reform effort in years. He may win more praise among conservatives, but his actions will be hard to explain this fall to voters who have lost their health coverage or wonder how they will care for their sick children if they lose their jobs.

It's obvious there are political advantages to Mr. McCollum, the GOP front-runner to be Florida's next governor, leading the charge among Republican attorneys general against legislation that is poison to the party's voters. But that doesn't mean his argument should be waved off by health-care reform advocates.

There is an irony in Republicans, who claim the mantle of personal responsibility, taking up the case of people who refuse to buy health insurance. When those free-riders wind up in hospital emergency rooms with serious illnesses or injuries, and no way to pay for their care, they end up raising the costs of insurance for those who pay for coverage.

Another fine Jebacy

The Daytona Beach News Journal editorial board: "For the first time since 1916, the federal estate tax is dead. The rate, 45 percent last year, zeroes out this year for everyone. It's been heading there for most of the decade, for individuals and family businesses. The exemption that kept more than 90 percent of estates immune from the tax for decades doubled, then more than tripled, in the past decade, part of the conservative push to eliminate the tax. By last year, only estates worth $3.5 million or more -- affecting less than 2 percent of the population -- would be subject to the estate tax."

Florida's estate tax, indexed to the federal tax all along, died in 2004, when the federal exemption grew to $1.5 million (making Florida's tax obsolete). Florida lawmakers could have chosen to de-couple the state's estate-tax structure from the federal government's, as several states did. Had it done so, Florida's budget woes would have been considerably eased. In 2002, the last year the state applied the tax under its Clinton-era rate structure, it collected $558 million. Receipts fell gradually to zero by 2007. ...

Such a tax is not only fair. It's a useful tool against the concentration of unearned wealth, an anti-stimulant to economic growth and innovation. "Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise. Equality of opportunity has been on the decline," Warren Buffett, the second-richest man in America after Bill Gates, said in response to the Bush administration's push to eliminate the estate tax. "A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward plutocracy." ...

Next year, the estate-tax rate is scheduled to return. The exemption on estates will fall to $1 million, the top tax rate will go back to 55 percent -- what it was in the 1990s. That's where the rate should be. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the combined estate and gift tax will raise $35 million in 2012, rising to $60.3 billion by 2019. The risk is that Congress, in an election year, would get used to the zeroed out estate tax and prolong its death past 2010. The Treasury couldn't afford it. The more prudent course (for federal and state lawmakers) is to see a zeroed-out estate tax for what it is: the blowing of an unnecessary, larger hole in the federal budget, and a lesson in what not to do in the coming decade.

Caning might be more appropriate

"Fla. man fined for destroying bald eagle nest".

Evil unions

The union haters at The Orlando Sentinel post this headline today: "Don't let teachers unions kill $1 billion grant, state says".

Greer "putting noble lipstick on the pig of practicality"

Paul Flemming: "Greer said he is stepping down for the good of the party, appeasing opponents who would otherwise "burn the house down and destroy" the RPOF."

That's putting noble lipstick on the pig of practicality. It wasn't Tea Partistas, it wasn't Marco Rubionettes that were Greer's undoing. It was the money, honey. When political heavyweights — wealthy ones, with lots of loaded friends such as Southwest Florida's Al Hoffman and the Panhandle's Charlie Hilton — say they're not giving money to the party until Greer is gone, you're Melba.

We'll see more clearly after Monday, when campaign-finance reports for the 2009 fourth quarter are released, how the GOP fared. The party said this week it raised $4.5 million in the final quarter of the year. The details of the filing will give an indication of how that money was raised, whether by party efforts or the related, but distinct, toil of legislative leaders.

Good question

"From the school board to the state Capitol, public officials love texting. It's a convenient way to dash off a message -- to a lobbyist, aide or family member. But when they hit send, are they creating a public record?" "Officials' text messages at heart of open-government controversy".

Yaaawwwnnn ...

"Crist to GOP: Return to basics".

Bright futures

The Palm Beach Post editorial board: "Free ride needed new rules: Bright Futures fixes were way overdue".

A country clubbers' thing

Lucy Morgan: "Crist recently challenged President Barack Obama to be more transparent while negotiating the final details of health care reform legislation in Washington."

Perhaps the governor would like to support a little more transparency closer to home, within the Republican Party of Florida. So far he's dodged every opportunity to say the beleaguered state GOP should come clean and make credit card statements public.

It might cause you to wonder why anyone would donate money to send Sansom and several family members on trips to Europe and western North Carolina. Sansom charged about $173,000 to a party credit card during a two-year period, according to documents that surfaced as a result of the criminal charges against him. That was just a fraction of the more than $3.6 million charged by party officials to credit cards between January 2007 and June 2009. The image that emerges after a look through Sansom's bill is far different than the public image of a small town guy who talked about fiscal restraint.

Corruption

Jackie Bueno Sousa: "Corruption usually unseen till it's too late".

Running government like a business

"A state review found that the state's juvenile justice chief traveled extensively between Tallahassee and his St. Petersburg home, with taxpayers picking up the tab for short-term parking, flight changes and hotel stays." "Juvenile justice secretary's travel expenses questioned".

There's an idea

"The League of Women Voters of Volusia County will host a meeting to discuss the pros and cons of the Coquina Coast Seawater Desalination Project, a collaboration between the city of Palm Coast and other local government entities to solve area water woes." "League of Women Voters hosts desalination meeting".

Thrasher, a St. Augustine Republican whose state Senate district includes parts of Volusia and Flagler counties, issued a statement saying he would seek the chairman's position but serve only for the coming year. ...

A former lobbyist who has close ties to the business community, Thrasher has long been a major player in Republican politics. He served in the state House from 1992 to 2000, including two years as House speaker. ...

Jaryn Emhof , a spokeswoman for Senate president Jeff Atwater, said it did not appear that any rules or laws would prevent Thrasher from serving both as a legislator and party chairman, though Senate attorneys were looking at the issue.

But Senate Minority Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, blasted the possibility, saying "you cannot serve two masters."

"In a body that has long been known and respected for its collegiality, its decorum, and most of all, its bipartisan independence, a decision to simultaneously remain in this Senate while leading the Republican Party of Florida threatens its very foundation," Lawson said.

The staged show of support carried unpleasant echoes of the party establishment's push to crown Gov. Charlie Crist as Florida's next U.S. senator over rival Marco Rubio.

Questions cropped up about Thrasher's ability to represent his constituents and the party at the same time in a crucial election year. "The heavy-handedness of what happened yesterday was disrespectful,'' said Sharon Day, a longtime activist who has been lining up support to challenge Thrasher from her Fort Lauderdale condominium. "It was like, 'By the way, here's your new chairman.' ''

Some election law experts and Democratic leaders have questioned whether the party can raise money at all during the session with Thrasher at the helm. Party staff members report to him and he signs off on checks coming in.

But state Sen. Alex Villalobos of Miami, who heads the Senate's rules committee, said the fundraising ban applies only to senators, not to party staff. He also said Senate rules do not prevent Thrasher from heading both the Senate's ethics and elections committee and the state party.

"He was firmly aligned with the conservative faction when he was speaker of the house," Jewett said.

Greer emphasized the inclusion of Republican moderates in the party and was criticized for his endorsement of Charlie Crist in the Senate primary.

If Thrasher takes over he'll be charged with unifying the party ahead of the 2010 elections that provide Republicans a chance to make gains if they can put fourth dynamic campaigns.

"To the degree unifying the party means making sure that the conservative faction continues to be the dominant faction, I think he'll be excellent at that," Jewett said. "If it means reaching out to moderates, I'm not so sure that he's going to that."

Mind you, he's not offering to give up his policy-steering Senate chairmanship for the most partisan job a state political party can bestow — its chairmanship. He's looking to juggle both. It has conflict-of-interest written all over it, and it's a move Mr. Thrasher speedily needs to give up.

Not because holding both positions simultaneously will make him a less effective state party chair, though it will.

a committee chairman can control how legislation gets debated and whether it's altered. And there's not a committee that needs its chairman to exercise that power more judiciously than elections.

To satisfy the public, what passes that committee needs to pass the smell test: It's got to be fair, not awash in partisanship.

But how could a state party chairman put partisanship second? He couldn't. Not Mr. Thrasher, or any other party chair given a legislative committee chairmanship. Hence, some of the worst examples of partisanship that routinely get introduced in Tallahassee could advance more easily under a state political party-legislative committee chair.

Partisan bills that subject people who circulate petitions registering new voters to criminal penalties if they miss deadlines for turning in signatures. Or bills that seek to gut laws facilitating early voting.

Mr. Thrasher shouldn't put himself or the state in this position. If he wants to pursue the GOP chairmanship, he needs to relinquish his legislative committee chairmanship. If he wants to help steer the state's elections, he needs to give up on running the Republican Party.

Wingnuts open their wallets

"In the race for campaign cash, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum outraised Democrat Alex Sink in the final three months of 2009. But the Democratic state chief financial officer still has a considerable fundraising lead over the Republican attorney general, having raised more than $5 million to date, compared to roughly $3.3 million by McCollum." "Bill McCollum outraises Alex Sink in 4th quarter".

Wingnut watch

Joel Engelhardt: "Mr. Fruth says he's not a Tea Partier or Glenn Beck devotee, though his ideas are similar. ... For the past 15 years, Mr. Fruth has been an economic consultant advising cities and states." "The next James Madison? Stuart man wants to be the new Framer".

"Crist pal" crashing and burning

TPM: "The Florida attorney and Charlie Crist pal who vigorously denied charges that he was running an elaborate Ponzi scheme out of his law office and continued to live it up in public after being charged has decided to plead guilty." "Crashed and Burning".

"A disbarred South Florida attorney agreed Wednesday to plead guilty later this month to charges arising from an alleged Ponzi scheme that cheated thousands out of $1.2 billion." "Alleged Florida Ponzi schemer Rothstein alters plea to guilty; hearing Jan. 27". See also "Rothstein to plead guilty to unspecified charges, his attorney says".

Mike Mayo has "no idea what's going on in Rothstein's head now. Rothstein is known as a huge fan of mob movies such as The Godfather and Goodfellas, where the code is to not rat out others. But he might want to drag down everyone around him, especially those he considers dishonorable and hypocritical." "Michael Mayo: Rothstein to admit the crime — will he do much time?".

Related: "Fort Lauderdale chief: Rothstein fooled me, but I'm not alone".

RPOFers running government like a business

"South Florida school districts will lose millions of dollars in funding because more students enrolled in public schools than the state was expecting." "Unexpected enrollment surge cuts cash for schools".

Crist swings and misses

Mark Lane: "This is the first week of Gov. Charlie Crist's last year as governor. A good time to review the swings his political reputation has taken."

January 2006: Crist is a nice guy but out of his depth. It's not his time yet.

January 2007 (Inauguration Day): Crist is a political genius. He senses trends before they happen. A charmer with first-class temperament. He's the New Model Republican.

January 2008: Crist's act may sound corny at times, and some of his proposals are amazingly slight, but people are eating this up and things are running smoothly. It's nice to have a governor who occasionally listens to people and doesn't get snippy when somebody steps out of line. This guy's going national.

January 2009: Too bad about that whole adventure with Sen. John McCain. Now, without the distractions of national politics, he'll be able to, you know, actually accomplish things.

January 2010: Crist is The Man Who Can Do Nothing Right. He seems unable to react to the recession or anything else that happened last year. The man he picked to head the state party was run out of town. A nice guy but out of his depth. It's not his time yet.

There are many theories about how this drop in political fortunes came to pass.

Rumors

"Crist shoots down re-election rumors".

Sansom back in hot seat

"In a surprise escalation of the case against ousted House Speaker Ray Sansom, a state prosecutor Wednesday charged him with grand theft and conspiracy to commit grand theft for directing $6 million in taxpayer money for an airport building that a private developer wanted to use."

Leon County State Attorney Willie Meggs filed identical charges against former Northwest Florida State College president Bob Richburg and developer and major GOP contributor Jay Odom.

'Glades

"Everglades advocates gathering to push for restoration progress".

Castor

"U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor told President Barack Obama in a letter this week that Florida needs the jobs and economic investments high-speed rail can provide more than any other state." "Castor cites woes in call for high-speed rail money". Meanwhile, Mica is mired in his own irrelevant hubris: "Mica: Florida among 4 high-speed-rail finalists".

Yaaawwwnnn ...

"Haridopolos seeks testimony to boost port security in Florida".

And where did these workforce boards come from? ...

... goodness, they're a another fine Jebacy ...

"A local lawmaker is angry at a new report showing that the state's Workforce boards spent more than $600,000 on food and drink in a year and is calling for the president of the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance to step aside." "Fasano blasts Workforce chief".

DBNJ

"A new media company backed by a powerhouse Arkansas investment firm has agreed to pay $20 million for the News-Journal Corp.'s publishing assets."

Documents filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Orlando name Halifax Media Acquisition LLC as the buyer of The Daytona Beach News-Journal, the Pennysaver shoppers and the Complete Phone Book.

The sale also includes the News-Journal offices and printing plant at 901 Sixth St.

Sea cows

"Manatee death rate hit record high in '09". The Miami Herald editors: "Opinion | MiamiHerald.com".

As Charlie sleeps ...

"Turmoil and finger-pointing within the state's disaster planning agency intensified Wednesday -- with the recently resigned general counsel accusing top officials of wasting taxpayer dollars and violating state laws for bids and contracts." "Accusations continue at Florida emergency management division".

The runner-up is … Gov. Charlie Crist! He is the man who, against all odds, will not be Sen. Charlie Crist.

The man who couldn't make property taxes drop like a rock sure pulled off that trick when it came to his approval ratings. They've dropped like a boulder, making Marco Rubio, the baby-faced neo-con from South Florida, the growing favorite to win the Republican primary.

Don't blame this on the birthers, deathers and tea-baggers. Every one of Charlie's initiatives, from property insurance to property taxes, from global warming to health care, has floundered or failed. And now even the mainstream media has caught on, ending its love affair with its favorite Republican.

Making matters worse, Charlie may have boxed himself out of a do-over race in 2012 against Bill Nelson. He appointed his best pal and political mastermind, George LeMieux, to the Senate. The idea was for Charlie to win this year and set up George to run against Nelson. And the two would live happily ever after in D.C., Charlie raising money and George telling him how to vote.

Greer on the ropes

Adam C Smith: "As pressure builds for him to step down as chairman of the Florida Republican party, Jim Greer announced Monday that the party raised a hefty $4.5 million in the final three months of 2009."

Details including where the money came from and how much has been spent will not be available until next week.

Party leaders are scheduled to meet in Orlando on Saturday to consider pushing Greer out, and another broadside against the controversial chairman came Monday from nine Republican former legislative leaders.

While some critics hope Greer will step aside quietly before the weekend, there is no certainty that he will lose his position, particularly as Gov. Charlie Crist has continued to stand firmly behind him. A spokeswoman for Crist's U.S. Senate campaign said nothing had changed.

One scenario being circulated among Greer critics is for him to survive this weekend, in a face-saving favor to Gov. Charlie Crist, with an understanding that he will step down in a month or two to work on Crist's U.S. Senate campaign.

A similar edict is coming from former Senate leaders, unless Greer steps aside before a critical annual GOP meeting in Orlando on Friday and Saturday. Last week, 12 major political fundraisers said they have lost confidence in the chairman and a petition signed by dozens of GOP state committee members a week earlier called for a vote on removing him at the party's annual meeting.

Stats

"Fla. population shrinking or expanding? Not even movers or demographers agree on stats".

Business groups whine

"Florida businesses are being hit by a sharp increase in unemployment compensation taxes coming due just as many of them are struggling to emerge from the Great Recession."

Business groups say the increases, which come due April 30, are a blow to companies fighting for their survival as well as an obstacle for those considering hiring back workers.

labor groups contend Florida's deficit is not as large [as other states] because the state's unemployment benefits are not as generous as states such as California and New York. Legislation to expand those benefits failed to pass last year in the [AIF/RPOF/Chamber controlled] Legislature.

SD 2

"Florida’s Senate leaders, Niceville’s Don Gaetz among them, are poised to endorse state Rep. Greg Evers as their choice to succeed Durell Peaden. Peaden, R-Crestview, will step down from his District 2 seat after the 2010 legislative session because of term limits. He has served 10 years." "GOP leaders ready to endorse Evers in Senate race".

However, "Critics take aim at GOP endorsement of Evers": "State Sen. Don Gaetz’s decision to name Greg Evers as his choice to join him in the Florida Legislature’s upper chamber in 2010 has been greeted with some skepticism."

"A big victory for U.S. Sugar"

"If there was any doubt that U.S. Sugar Corp. was worth as much as its brass claimed, those doubts dissipated in June 2008 when Gov. Charlie Crist unveiled his extraordinary, $1.75 billion bid to buy the company and its land to restore the Everglades."

Besides thrilling environmentalists and gusting Crist's political sails, the state's blockbuster buyout offer had a less-noticed effect: It torpedoed the central argument of the lawsuit that about 5,000 employees had filed against the behemoth sugar producer five months earlier.

Two years after the suit was filed, a federal judge on Monday approved a $15.9 million settlement in what amounts to a big victory for U.S. Sugar.

The suit had originally sought $150 million.

The attorneys say they cannot discuss how they arrived at the figure because of confidentiality agreements. But they did say that the deciding factor was the size of the state's buyout offer.

The employees, who invested in the company through an employee stock ownership plan, alleged in the lawsuit that U.S. Sugar robbed them by concealing a lucrative, $293-per-share buyout offer made in 2005 and renewed in 2007, while at the same time cashing retiring employees out of their shares for about $200 per share.

Regulators give green light

"Florida Peninsula Holdings has won approval from state regulators to acquire Edison Insurance Group, which operates two property insurers with more than 25,000 policies." "Insurance firm acquiring two others".

The name thing

William March: "Is she Janet Cruz or Janet Rifkin? Or maybe Janet Gonzalez?"

Janet Cruz is the front-runner in the special election to replace state Rep. Mike Scionti in state House District 58 in heavily Hispanic West Tampa and Town 'N Country.

But for the past six years, she has been known as Janet Rifkin.

"State emergency official resigned Monday in a swirl of accusations"

"The man in charge of disaster preparedness for the state abruptly resigned Monday amid allegations from his own employees that he discriminated against female staffers, overstated department travel savings and made improper purchases with his state taxpayer-funded credit card." "Disaster-preparedness official quits". See also "Florida emergency managament director resigns against will" and "State emergency management chief resigns".

Whatever

The Sun-Sentinel editorial board: "About time smoking curbed at Florida colleges".

"Wave of corruption cases in Broward County"

"Next Sunday, The Miami Herald will publish a detailed examination of why there has been a wave of corruption cases in Broward County." "Share your views on 2009 corruption cases in South Florida".

Once seeming invincible in his bid for the U.S. Senate seat prematurely vacated by Mel Martinez, Charlie is now in a dead heat with former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio. His upstart challenger came at him out of right field, appealing to the ultra-conservative base of the Republican Party.

No doubt, the guv is reeling from the assault on his best-laid plans. Who would 'a thunk it? He probably can't be thinking straight. But he's gotta have a Plan B. So, out of the goodness of my heart, I've given a lot of thought to what Chas can do when, as is increasingly likely, he loses the Republican nomination. I'm pleased to say that I've come up with a world of bright futures for him.

Where's Charlie?

"If you thought state budgets were in bad shape last year, just wait: 2010 promises to be brutal for lawmakers - many facing re-election - as they scramble to find enough money to keep their states running without raising taxes. Tax collections continue to sputter. Federal stimulus dollars are about to dry up. Rainy day funds have been tapped. And demand for services - like Medicaid, food stamps and unemployment benefits - is soaring." "State budget pictures bleak as lawmakers head back".

Well ... Charlie's busy "fighting poll numbers"

Josh Hafenbrack has been reading the cross-tabs: "After years of enviable approval ratings and bipartisan accolades, Gov. Charlie Crist discovered a political problem in 2009: He has no base. Or at least not an enthusiastic base — a core of supporters to rely on in tough times." "Polls suggest Crist needs to win back conservatives in Senate race". See also "Crist begins decade fighting poll numbers".

Dead kids

The Tallahassee Democrat editorial board: "Statistics are elusive in the arena of child-abuse deaths, but the new numbers, regardless of how they compare to previous years, are unnerving. About 200 children were fatally abused in Florida in 2008, which is a 20 percent increase over the year 2007." "Child-abuse deaths".

Sink cloud

The St. Pete Times editors: "By showing favoritism to one law firm firm, no matter the ultimate impact, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink's office has opened itself to scrutiny that won't soon fade. " "Favoritism cloud hangs over Sink".

RPOFers set to kow tow to developers

The Tampa Trib editors: "Florida's job loss is the state's biggest issue, and legislative leaders are right to put a better employment climate at the top of their agenda."

Florida's job loss is the state's biggest issue, and legislative leaders are right to put a better employment climate at the top of their agenda.

But the state's residents need to watch carefully to make sure the Legislature doesn't once again try to weaken growth rules, scrap environmental protections, ignore road and water needs and generally promote the fast-buck mentality that has left Florida in deeper financial trouble than most other states.

One goal of the upcoming summit on jobs in Orlando, led by Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos and House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, is to "remove government obstacles to growth."

Many obstacles do exist, but removing them is no guarantee of growth, and the wrong kinds of growth are no guarantee of economic improvement. Many poor, Third World nations are growing rapidly, but no one wants to move there or invest there. ...

The way to restore growth is face the state's problems honestly, not seek scapegoats.

Right wing gibberish

Mary Ann Lindley gives us a strange column this morning: "In the drizzle of Thursday morning, Charlie Ranson and his wife Sheryl were running along a side street where I was driving to work on the last day of what I believe to be the last day of the decade ... Ranson is running for the U.S. Congress, taking on incumbent Allen Boyd, though on this particular morning he was merely running toward the intersection of Alachua and Hillcrest."

Because he's running as a Republican, Ranson may have a good chance of getting in the Aug. 24 primary showdown with either Democrat Boyd or Al Lawson, our term-limited state senator whose large legislative district is similar to the rambling 2nd Congressional District. It's a rural and rather conservative district except for Tallahassee, which is the largest population center and typically votes for Democrats.

When smart, thoughtful, well-meaning people decide to run for office, I applaud them. Ranson, a lawyer with a Harvard MBA degree, son of a central Florida (Apopka) preacher and teacher, qualifies as all three.

- Ranson has worked as Executive Director of the Florida TaxWatch Center for a Competitive Florida

- [He] Helped defeat a statewide sales tax on services

- [Ranson is Director of The] Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce

Justice ain't cheap

The Daytona Beach News-Journal editorial board writes that its "analysis of 16 years of alcohol-related driving arrests in Volusia County reveals a disturbing pattern. A first-time DUI charge was reduced or dismissed 64 percent of the time when the defendant hired a private attorney. When the defendant had a public defender, charges were reduced or dropped just 30 percent of the time. Overall, 48 percent of DUI-level charges are reduced or dropped." "DUI disparities".

"South Florida cannot hope to regain its economic strength ..."

The Miami Herald editors: "For most of the past decade, the United States has been living beyond its means, borrowing money frantically to compensate for tax cuts and pay for unfunded wars, new entitlements, bank bailouts, you name it. The breakdown in fiscal discipline is evident in the numbers."

In financial terms, fiscal year 2009 was a horror. The $1.4 trillion budget shortfall was equal to 10 percent of the economy, the worst showing since World War II. Much of it was due to the bailouts under former President Bush and President Obama and the $787 billion stimulus package, which kept the economy from sliding into another Great Depression.

History suggests it can't.

That's why some deficit-conscious lawmakers, including Florida Senators Bill Nelson and George LeMieux, want to create a bipartisan task force to find ways to overcome the budget crisis. That's a good idea, but Congress must commit itself to heeding the recommendations. Another strong proposal would create a similar commission on "entitlement reform'' -- i.e., stopping the runaway growth in Social Security and Medicare.

None of this will be painless. Only by spending less and getting more revenue can the government avoid new rounds of crushing debt. New taxes could hobble the economic recovery, but the government has to find ways to balance its books. It must look for savings in programs. A war surtax is worth considering, too.

Perhaps a small increase in the federal gasoline tax, which could bring in tens of billions of dollars, is warranted. A broad consumption tax, eliminating exemptions in the income tax (and cutting rates), a carbon tax -- all of these are measures that may be necessary in order to get out of a very big hole.

Some ideas have more merit than others. As the year goes on, we will be examining fiscal-rescue plans and the proposals that President Obama has promised to offer in greater depth. What is beyond question at this point is that South Florida cannot hope to regain its economic strength unless the federal government puts its own fiscal house in order.