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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 Saturday, February 11, 2012
"Passing the buck to local governments"
The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "The Florida Legislature is eyeing even more tax cuts this year, celebrating its free-market ethos by slashing business taxes and allowing consumers to 'keep more of their own money.'"
But as lawmakers take credit for handing out tax cuts to businesses and homeowners, most are not coupling the revenue reductions with equal-sized cuts in spending, leaving local governments to sort out how to balance their budgets. ...
In total, the Legislature has advanced proposals for several billion dollars in new unfunded tax cuts that, if passed, will come out of the coffers of cities and counties across the state. Local governments, which have hired lobbyists to fight back against some of the cuts, say state lawmakers are leaving them with a bleak choice: Either cut already-pared-back services and salaries to offset billions of dollars in reduced revenue, or raise property tax rates to cover some of the shortfall.
"Florida has been granted a waiver from the federal No Child Left Behind law, which will free the state from complicated school-accountability rules and allow it to use its school grading system as the sole judge of public education." "Florida educators praise waiver from federal No Child law".
Florida's "national hero" at CPAC
"With a rapt Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) audience at his command, Rubio poked fun at 'liberals,' warned against listening to the media, bashed comments by a U.S. Supreme Court justice, and fired at President Barack Obama."
The crowd loved Rubio, who appeared here two years ago when he was still little known on the national stage. Now he is constantly speculated about as a vice presidential candidate. But some of his biggest fans see bigger things. Al Cardenas, who helped Rubio get his political start years ago and now heads CPAC, introduced the Florida Republican as "a true national hero."
"Someone who I know I'm going to say hello to at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue some day," Cardenas said.
One topic that did not come up: immigration. But the bind Rubio finds himself in on the issue was on display. Outside the conference, a Hispanic advocacy group protested Rubio's hard-line stance on illegal immigration. Inside, someone was circulating fliers asking if Rubio has gone soft on immigration, a nod to his calls for less heated rhetoric.
"Attorney General Pam Bondi sent the legislature's redistricting plans to the Florida Supreme Court on Friday - a move that will start justices' review of the maps."
Justices will have 30 days to determine whether the plans for redrawing the state's 40 Senate districts and 120 House districts comply with state law, including new constitutional standards requiring that boundaries be drawn without concern for incumbents or either political party.
The Florida Democratic Party has filed suit in Leon County Circuit Court against the congressional map.
Gov. Rick Scott is expected to sign the plan into law next week. Scott's action is expected to bring a lawsuit by the League of Women Voters, La Raza and Common Cause of Florida, which contend that the legislature's ruling Republicans designed the plan to help the party maintain its majority in the congressional delegation.
The Palm Beach Post editorial board: "The best thing about Florida's new congressional and legislative maps is that they are through the Legislature so the court fight can begin soon."
The goal of Amendments 5 and 6 was to keep incumbents from drawing lines to help themselves and their party. ...
Sen. Gaetz argued Thursday that even if the new maps help one party at the expense of another or help incumbents at the expense of challengers, it doesn't matter in the courts unless opponents can prove "intent."
Let's see. The Legislature tried to put competing proposals on the ballot with Amendments 5 and 6. The House spent about $1.3 million of the public's money challenging the amendments, which the public passed. Last week, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the amendments. Now Sen. Gaetz wants Floridians to believe that any failure to comply with the amendments was unintentional. Consider us skeptical.
"California's hard bargaining, which included a very public withdrawal from the talks in September, earned assurances of at least $12 billion in mortgage debt reductions and short sales for homeowners. Its total take is an estimated $18 billion." "Florida wins rare promise in landmark $8.4 billion foreclosure settlement".
The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "A $25 billion financial settlement lets five of the country’s biggest banks buy their way out of a massive investigation into fraudulent and abusive mortgage servicing practices. Whether the deal is sound will depend upon enforcement." "Mixed bag on mortgage relief".
Never mind
"Hillsborough County Commissioner Mark Sharpe, a Republican, said he has decided it would be a waste of time and money to challenge Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor." "Sharpe suspends campaign for Congress".
Douglas C. Lyons: "Allen West is heading north. The GOP firebrand's decision to seek re-election in a more favorable congressional district now held by fellow Republican Tom Rooney has been called a 'cowardly act' by some of West's many detractors. The description misses the point. 'Opportunistic' is more accurate." "West goes north, but the shouting lingers on".
Padding the pockets of the state's largest businesses
"Legislative leaders said they expected a quiet 2012 session on growth management after the Legislature adopted sweeping and controversial changes last year. But SB 842 is raising concerns with regional planning councils and SB 1180 is facing opposition from 1000 Friends of Florida. Both are sponsored by Sen. Mike Bennett, chairman of the Senate Committee on Community Affairs."
SB 842 by Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton and chairman of the Senate Committee on Community Affairs, was supposed to be the main "glitch" bill to take care of problems created by last year's legislation.
But the bill is raising concerns among the state's 11 regional planning councils, which review some local land-use decisions. The bill bans them from both providing paid planning services for the cities and counties and then reviewing their land-use changes.
"Two more Republicans jumped into the 6th Congressional District contest Thursday, ensuring at least a three-way GOP primary there. Freshman state Rep. Fred Costello, R-Ormond Beach, announced his intentions a day after Rep. John Mica, R-Orlando, declared he would run for re-election in the neighboring 7th Congressional District. Mica's move sets up a primary showdown with freshman Rep. Sandy Adams there." "As Republicans Jump In, CD 6 Race Gets Crowded Quickly".
Voter suppression is expensive these days
"Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho warned advocates attending a State of Black Florida 2012 event today that last year’s elections law is costing Leon County money."
Last spring, the Florida Legislature passed an elections overhaul that tightens restrictions on third-party voter registration and reduces the increasingly popular early voting days.
Sancho said in Tallahassee today that absentee voting was very reliable. He explained that 5 to 6 perfect of absentee ballots typically are not counted, a factor in why he preferred expanding early voting days. But “with no warning,” he said, “with no input from supervisors of elections, early voting was cut in half” last year.
“It’s even worse than cut in half,” he added. “They said that you can have 12-hour days. That blows my budget.”
Sancho explained that staffing polling locations for 12-hour days will cost more money because he has to pay workers time and a half after eight hours. He said the new law will cost Leon County taxpayers “$112,000 more for fewer days.”
"A Florida immigration restrictionist group put up a billboard this week saying Gov. Rick Scott is welcoming 'illegal aliens' to Florida."
Located near the Georgia border, the billboard reads: “Welcome Illegal Aliens: We offer jobs, free health care, education and welfare. Thank Governor Scott.”
"The Florida Senate has released a health budget proposal that calls for deep cuts in mental-health and substance-abuse programs and includes a complicated plan that hospitals fear could cost them hundreds of millions of dollars." "Senate lays out health-care cuts".
"Florida's U.S. senators, who often divide on controversial issues, joined a chorus of critics on Thursday pressuring the White House to abandon a new rule that would require church-affiliated groups to provide birth-control coverage for their workers. Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio said the controversial rule violates religious freedom." "Rubio, Nelson both oppose contraception rule".
"Lynn Lindeman, the newly elected chairman of the Pasco County Democratic Party, knows he has a Herculean task ahead of him. Democrats used to dominate local elections in Pasco, but during the last decade, the party has lost its mojo. Republicans hold every elected office in the county except for tax collector — and they're gunning for that seat, too." "Democratic leader wants to re-energize".
"Eliminating 'protectionist' policies that keep out newcomers"
"Small but specific moves to scale back professional laws are proceeding through the legislative process, addressing a spectrum of regulations from continuing education hours to work experience and, most controversially, eliminating 'protectionist' policies that keep out newcomers." "Florida lawmakers tread carefully with deregulation of professions this time".
"Transparency: Hiding in plain sight"
Aaron Deslatte: "Florida's Republican legislative leadership has made a point the last two years of touting the transparent nature by which they do the difficult work of telling people no. No money for affordable housing. No money for renewable energy. No money for boosting the state's higher-education system beyond the mid-rungs of mediocrity."
But a thousand other decisions are taking place in the spending plan being drafted by both chambers, often with little public discourse or debate. ...
Then there are the pork projects littered throughout the $69 billion budget – with no names attached, just a wink and a nod between legislators. ...
Before he was indicted over an airplane hangar disguised as a college classroom, former House Speaker Ray Sansom and then-Senate President Jeff Atwater suspended a community budget-request system that required lawmakers to submit earmarks with their names attached. It wasn't perfect; powerful politicians always still slipped things in with little attention – like Sansom's hangar – but it provided considerable transparency.
Current House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, was asked last week why lawmakers hadn't restored that system, and he said it wasn't needed because the 400-page budget and dozens of "conforming" bills were publicly available – albeit without names attached.
"It's there," he said. "It's up to you guys and the public to review it."
"The Florida Senate is attempting, again, to award a health center in an area experiencing a high rate of environmentally caused illnesses half a million dollars to address the community’s health challenges." "Senate health budget awards Apopka half a million for health center".
"Home Rule"
The Tampa Tribune editorial board: "The Florida Legislature crafts state law, adopts an annual budget of tens of billions of dollars, and sets wide-ranging policies for the state. But for some lawmakers, that's not enough power. They like to stick their noses in the business of cities and counties contrary to Florida's 'Home Rule' authority, which became part of the state constitution in 1973." "Dictating from Tallahassee".
"In a Central Florida throw-down, Rep. John Mica said Wednesday night he will run for re-election in the 7th Congressional District, pitting him against freshman GOP Rep. Sandy Adams."
In a Central Florida throw-down, Rep. John Mica said Wednesday night he will run for re-election in the 7th Congressional District, pitting him against freshman GOP Rep. Sandy Adams.
"The Florida House of Representatives has teed up its $69.2 billion budget for a final floor vote Wednesday after beating back eight amendments from Democrats and approving one that would restore funding for a Jefferson County prison." "House tees up budget for final floor vote".
"Legislature has never been serious about renewable energy"
The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "The Florida Legislature has never been serious about renewable energy, or conservation for that matter, and pending bills in the House and Senate would only modestly advance the discussion. However weak, though, the legislation is a start in a tough political and economic climate. ... Florida is losing ground to other states with its voluntary approach to jump-starting renewable energy. " "Power up Florida's energy policy".
UN conspiracy theorists helps drive Tally Fla-bagger agenda
"Across the country, activists with ties to the Tea Party are railing against all sorts of local and state efforts to control sprawl and conserve energy. They brand government action for things like expanding public transportation routes and preserving open space as part of a United Nations-led conspiracy to deny property rights and herd citizens toward cities."
Fox News has also helped spread the message. In June, after President Obama signed an executive order creating a White House Rural Council to “enhance federal engagement with rural communities,” Fox programs linked the order to Agenda 21. A Fox commentator, Eric Bolling, said the council sounded “eerily similar to a U.N. plan called Agenda 21, where a centralized planning agency would be responsible for oversight into all areas of our lives. A one world order.”
The movement has been particularly effective in Tea Party strongholds like Virginia, Florida and Texas, but the police have been called in to contain protests in states including Maryland and California, where opponents are fighting laws passed in recent years to encourage development around public transportation hubs and dense areas in an effort to save money and preserve rural communities.
"The White House insisted Wednesday that the president’s commitment to contraceptive access for women is "absolutely firm" even as Republicans from Capitol Hill to the presidential campaign trail assailed the policy as an attack on religious liberty."
Joining the chorus of Republicans in protest was Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who is sponsoring the Senate bill that would repeal the requirement religious organizations provide birth control. "Bottom line is ... churches should have a right to express themselves," he said.
“We’re not banning contraception, and we’re not even asking that the churches be told that they can’t fund this stuff." Rubio said. "All we’re saying is that if the tents [sic] of their faith are such that they say a specific activity of their faith is something they shouldn’t do, the federal government shouldn’t use its power to force them to pay for that. That’s all we’re saying."
However, Rubio is merely carrying wingnut water.
A survey released this week by the nonprofit, nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute found that ... 52 percent of Catholics said religious institutions should provide coverage that includes contraception. The numbers were even higher among young people: 58 percent of people aged 18 to 29 religious institutions should provide health care plans that include contraception coverage. Women were "significantly more likely" than men to agree.
Catholic leaders and the GOP presidential candidates have intentionally distorted the Obama administration’s new rule requiring employers and insurers to provide reproductive health benefits at no additional cost sharing. Conservatives are seeking a way to politically unite Republican voters around a social issue and portray the regulation as a big government intrusion into religious liberties.
In reality, the mandate is modeled on existing rules in six states, exempts houses of worship and other religious nonprofits that primarily employ and serve people of faith, and offers employers a transitional period of one year to determine how best to comply with the rule.
Fred Grimm: "Senate Bill 1852 was rammed through the Senate Education Committee this week. Champions of public education can invoke that old Woody Allen line: Just because they’re paranoid doesn’t mean somebody isn’t out to get them."
Committee Chairman Sen. Stephen Wise’s bill would devastate school district budgets, taking millions out of their construction and maintenance funds and sending the money to the private players, mostly landlords, behind the state’s charter schools. The bill would require school districts to share, proportionately, on a per-student basis, property-tax collections earmarked for construction, maintenance and leasing of educational facilities and equipment.
Every urban school district in the state would get walloped. Broward schools figure passage of the bill would reduce their next fiscal year budget by $20 million. ...
Most of the charters lease space, many from entities controlled by the same for-profit management companies that operate under the ostensibly not-for-profit charters. The landlords and the management companies, in a number of these charter operations, are just one big familial enterprise. One big happy familial enterprise, if this bill passes.
“Our major objection is that we have the public capital outlay funds going directly to private companies,” Hinds said. “Aside from the appropriateness of doing that, this raises, in my opinion, serious constitutional questions.”
The bill also requires the district to distribute federal funds directly to the charter schools, without, Hinds said, any oversight from the district to insure that the money for, say, handicapped kids, actually gets spent on their needs. Yet the school district will be held responsible for the charter’s errant expenditures.
"The Senate health care budget includes cuts to hospitals and limits on emergency room visits but budget chairman says he wants headlines to point out that overall spending is up." "Negron: Don't call our budget a cutback".
"They led some folks on"
"Senate President Mike Haridopolos said Wednesday that it was the House's"
"choice" to kill a destination casino resort bill, but that they had "led some folks on."
"Given all the signals they were sending, what committees they sent it to, it’s pretty obvious they led some folks on and they weren’t really going to vote on it,"Haridopolos said.
He added: "What we said all along is we wanted to give it a vote up or down."
The two chambers are continuing to grapple with the issue of Internet cafes though. The Senate has signaled it prefers to regulate Internet cafes, while the House is forwarding a bill that would outlaw them.
The Senate's version could jeopardize the roughly $233 million per year that the Seminole Tribe gives the state though.
"During debate before the House’s final approval of the appropriations bill, state Rep. Chuck Chestnut, D-Gainesville, introduced an amendment that would remove the $2 million crisis pregnancy centers are slated to receive."
The House budget currently includes $2 million, yet again, for the state’s crisis pregnancy center network.
Crisis pregnancy centers, or CPCs, are mostly religious centers whose intention is to dissuade women from having abortions. Some Florida centers have been found to distribute inaccurate information about abortion to women seeking help.
These centers have not lost a dime of state funding in the past six years, while other health services have suffered deep cuts.
"President Barack Obama on Thursday will free 10 states from the strict and sweeping requirements of the No Child Left Behind law, giving leeway to states that promise to improve how they prepare and evaluate students, The Associated Press has learned." "Florida, 9 other states to get No Child Left Behind law waiver".
More tax dollars for GOPer lawsuit
"In case they needed any more lawyers in the fight, House Republicans voted Wednesday to give their presiding officer explicit authority to join in the legal challenge to the federal health-care act now pending with the U.S. Supreme Court."
House Democratic Leader-designate Perry Thurston, D-Plantation, had offered an amendment prohibiting the Legislature from spending more money on a federal lawsuit challenging the Fair Districts reforms. The chamber has been fighting the amendment in federal court for the last year.
But House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, offered a replacement amendment deleting Thurston's language and adding language specifically authorizing House Speaker Dean Cannon to use taxpayer dollars "as necessary to challenge the constitutionality of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act."
An overwhelmingly GOP Legislature in a state in which only 36% are registered Republicans
The Tampa Tribune editorial board wonders whether "the work of the Republican-dominated Florida Legislature sufficiently nonpartisan to withstand legal challenge?"
After accounting for race, the redistricting is supposed to produce compact divisions that respect county lines. Critics of the process say that despite the rules, politics crept in. They predict that the new maps will continue to produce an overwhelmingly Republican Legislature in a state in which only 36 percent of voters are registered Republicans.
Statewide, 41 percent of voters are registered Democrats, and 20 percent are independents. The rest belong to minor parties.
In [the editors'] view, the new House districts appear reasonable. But the complaint of partisan tampering deserves review. If rules have been violated, the courts should tell the Legislature how to make corrections and why.
"Fair-minded attempt to draw political lines". The editors have more to say in a separate editorial: "The Democratic minority" ("Let's look at how Republicans have turned their minority registration into a commanding majority in Tallahassee. Redistricting to weaken Democrats has played a part, but there are other factors.")
Republican majority rules in Tallahassee are outright loony
The Miami Herald editorial board: "Florida, short by billions of dollars each year to meet its most important public obligations, such as funding education, now has an opportunity to collect as much as $1 billion from out-of-state companies that sell their wares on the Internet."
And finally, after years of stalling, legislators seem interested in bringing fairness and parity to in-state retailers that abide by the law and collect the sales tax — only to see their out-of-state competitors skirt the tax obligation.
But then this is Florida, and apparently the rules under the Republican majority in Tallahassee are not only different but outright loony.
Instead of requiring all goods (whether bought at a big box store, a small business or on the Internet) to carry a 6 percent sales tax to go to Florida’s near-empty coffers, one proposal in the Senate would close the Internet loophole and then require the Department of Revenue to track the money collected and offer a sales-tax holiday for about the same amount.
"Rick Santorum’s victories in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado on Tuesday vindicated his supporters in Florida who told anyone willing to listen that their candidate should not be discounted in the on-going campaign. Many conservatives in Florida expressed their disdain for front-runner Mitt Romney, and some refused to coalesce around Newt Gingrich. That leaves Santorum as an alternative." "Santorum wins vindicate Florida supporters".
GOPers go after overpaid waitresses
"The Florida restaurant lobby is pushing a bill that would drop the minimum wage for the state's restaurant servers and other tipped employees from $4.65 to $2.13 an hour, creating the rare possibility of a legal wage floor being lowered rather than raised."
The bill under consideration by the state's tourism and commerce committee, SPB 7210, would allow restaurants to ditch the state's minimum wage for servers in favor of the lower, federal one, provided the businesses guarantee that their workers will earn at least $9.98 per hour after tips.
If the bill were passed, servers would end up taking home less pay, and customers would be paying a greater share of the salary burden.
The backers of the bill include
Tampa-based OSI Restaurant Partners, owner of Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba's Italian Grill and Bonefish Grill chains. OSI Partners gave more than $120,000 to 32 Florida Republicans -- and $500 to one Democrat -- during the 2010 election cycle, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
"Critics of federally mandated water pollution standards continue to challenge the costs and benefits of implementing the new water rules, while environmental groups maintain that the standards are necessary to ensure the health of Florida’s waterways, and its economy." "Free Market Florida releases new ad attacking EPA water rules".
"Longtime state Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, has been eying a run for Congress for years. He nearly ended up with a district that was virtually gift-wrapped — an open seat where two-thirds of the population live in Pasco. But the district was shifted west to pick up coastal Pinellas County — and incumbent congressman Gus Bilirakis' hometown of Palm Harbor."
If the court ends up redrawing the congressional map, the new districts likely wouldn't take effect until the 2014 election.
"I'm very disappointed in the final product," Fasano said.
Others speculate the district was changed at the last minute to punish Fasano, who had a very public falling out with the Pasco Republican Executive Committee over his support of Charlie Crist in the 2010 Senate race.
"The faith community appears to be delving into the prison privatization debate. "
Claudio Perez, president and CEO of South Florida Jail Ministries, Wednesday, delivered a letter to Gov. Rick Scott, Senate President Mike Haridopolos and House Speaker Dean Cannon advocating that the state move ahead with a plan to privatize correctional facilities in an 18-county region in South Florida.
The bill has gotten tied up in the Senate, which Haridopolos has said is split down the middle. He cut off debate on the issue last week instead of taking it to a vote as originally planned. He has said he is not sure when or if he will take it up again.
The House also pulled it from its Appropriations Committee agenda when it appeared that the Senate's version of the bill was in trouble.
Mr. Perez shares his wisdom:
"The Department of Corrections doesn’t need to perform any specific numbers or save any specific amount of money.," he said. "When you privatize, they have to perform because they are under competition. It allows companies like us, faith based to have the resources of the faith community, bring them in so all the programs could be focused and integrated so it is the outcomes that matter of the inmate, not necessarily cost savings."
Perez said he has already had conversations with some of the prison groups about his company providing some services should the bill pass, though he did not specify which company.
"Senate leaders inserted last-minute language in a budget bill Wednesday to immediately split the Lakeland campus of the University of South Florida into the state's 12th university."
This move would fulfill a top priority of Senate budget Chairman JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, who, because of term limits, is in his last legislative session. It would allow the 1,300-student branch campus in Lakeland to almost completely sever ties with USF and become "Florida Polytechnic" this year.
"Alexander, who has publicly pushed for a new state university in Polk County since last summer, did not attend Wednesday's meeting and did not return a call seeking comment. But as USF Poly's biggest backer, he clearly influenced the move."
The creation of the university was placed in a budget conforming bill, which changes state law to carry out how the Legislature wants money spent. Senators have criticized the volume of conforming bills in recent years, noting that they have started to stray from their primary purpose and receive scant scrutiny.
Senate President Mike Haridopolos signaled ahead of the 2012 session that leaders might steer away from using conforming bills to pass substantial legislation: "We can improve that part of the process," he told reporters.
Wednesday's bill earned quick disapproval from Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey. Fasano has been critical of the push for independence for USF Poly.
"This is so irresponsible, this move by Chairman Alexander and anybody else that's behind it," Fasano said.
Asked where this bill came from, Lynn said she and her staff wrote it.
And why go this route?
"Conforming bills appear, you know," Lynn said. "And things happen."
The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "Senate President Mike Haridopolos has used his procedural powers to kill a commonsense effort to impose a modicum of ethical standards on state legislators who can't recognize a conflict of interest when they see one."
For five years, Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, has waged a quixotic crusade for a reasonable proposal to ban state lawmakers from influencing bills that would have a direct financial impact on themselves, family members, friends or employers. The bill (SB 552) would go beyond banning legislators from voting on bills that specifically financially benefit them or others close to them (something the House already handles through a rule). Dockery's bill would also prohibit lawmakers with conflicts of interests from trying to influence their colleagues' votes.
Haridopolos has effectively killed the legislation for the second year, this time by assigning it to five different committees for consideration, where it is certain to die by delay, indifference and cronyism. And he has deflected criticism by embracing another so-called ethics bill (SB 1560) offered by the former House speaker and current Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, that won't be nearly so effective in stopping insider dealing.
"Miami-Dade commissioners postponed a discussion Tuesday on something unusual: giving up some of their power. Commissioner Bruno Barreiro deferred his proposal to transfer to the county’s aviation department director, Jose Abreu, some of the commission’s authority to waive competitive bids and to award, negotiate and extend contracts. The ordinance would apply only to Abreu, and not to any future department head." "Miami-Dade commissioner defers plan to give up power on airport bids".
Weak water pollution rules
"Water pollution rules that some environmentalists say are too weak are up for a final vote in the Florida Legislature. The Senate is set for a roll call Wednesday on a bill that would waive a requirement for the Legislature to approve the rules. The bill (HB 7051) passed unanimously in the House last week." "Senate vote set on Fla. water pollution rules".
"The United States House of Representatives will today mark up a bill that would outlaw abortions sought because of race or sex."
Late last year, Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. introduced the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2011, which would “prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex or race, and for other purposes.”
Florida legislators are moving forward a bill that mimics Frank’s proposal. So far, sponsors have not been able to justify a need for the bill, but rather claim it is an effort to protect Florida from becoming a “safe haven” for race- or sex-based abortions.
Reproductive justice advocates have long denounced any efforts to tie abortion to race, which is the crux of this legislation. Efforts to frame abortion in America as “Black Genocide” have grown since President Obama’s election in 2008, and have resulted in elaborate campaigns that spread this association.
Loretta Ross — the president of SisterSong, a reproductive justice collective for women of color — said there is no evidence that supports the need for such bills. She believes these bills are a “blatant attempt for southern Republicans to look like they are champions of racial justice,” while they actually attacking women’s rights. Ross says that painting women as propagators of genocide in this way is an “attack on women’s dignity.”
“Ultimately,” Ross said, “this shows contempt for women.”
"There is worry that Eglin Air Force Base's 46th Test Wing could be moved to California's Edwards Air Force Base and Sen. Don Gaetz says Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll hasn't played an effective advocacy role." "Gaetz critical of lieutenant governor's role with military task force".
DEm primary heats up
"Well-financed Democrats Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy have spent nearly a year running for the same Palm Beach-Broward congressional seat, but it hasn't been much of a primary campaign. Broward County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs' entrance into the race, however, could heat up the Democratic battle for the District 22 nomination." "Democratic primary for West's congressional seat may heat up with Broward commissioner's entry".
"Who would have thought Rush Limbaugh would draw flak from his right flank? But then, who knew about Scott Plakon, a state representative in the Florida Legislature who has a bone to pick with the talk radio icon over accusations that the Legislature went after Allen West in redrawing the congressman's political district." "Rush Limbaugh's Allen West comments draw flak from a far right lawmaker".
"Go ahead and sign up on the Do Not Call Registry, but it won't help. Cellphones are the new frontier for political 'robo-calling,' and politicians work the system to make as many of these cheap and easy contacts as they like." "Politics may be lurking in your cellphone".
"A new national study provides more evidence that school improvements may have stalled in Florida -- yet the overall grade appears to be incomplete. After a decade leading scholastic reform [sic], the Sunshine State lost ground on the 2011 Education Performance and Policy Index compiled by the American Legislative Exchange Council[*]." "With B+ Report Card, Have Florida Schools 'Hit a Wall'?".
- - - - - - - - - - *The utility of anything produced by ALEC is of course suspect: American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) "members, speakers, alumni, and award winners are a 'who’s who' of the extreme right. ALEC has given awards to: Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, George H.W. Bush, Charles and David Koch, Richard de Vos, Tommy Thompson, Gov. John Kasich, Gov. Rick Perry, Congressman Mark Foley (intern sex scandal), and Congressman Billy Tauzin. ALEC alumni include: Speaker of the House John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Congressman Joe Wilson, (who called President Obama a 'liar' during the State of the Union address), former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, former House Speaker Tom DeLay, Andrew Card, Donald Rumsfeld (1985 Chair of ALEC’s Business Policy Board), Governor Scott Walker, Governor Jan Brewer, and more. Featured speakers have included: Milton Friedman, Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle, George Allen, Jessie Helms, Pete Coors, Governor Mitch Daniels and more."
"Several big names in Florida are scheduled to make an appearance at one of the country’s biggest conservative conferences — set to begin this Thursday."
According to a preliminary schedule (.pdf) for the 39th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Rick Scott, and Reps. Allen West, Mario Diaz-Balart, David Rivera and Connie Mack will all make an appearance at the conference. ...
West, who has a penchant for controversy, will be taking the stage with well-known anti-Islamic activist Pamela Geller. The pair, along with others, will be part of a discussion about Sharia called “Islamic Law in America: How the Obama Justice Department Is Selling Us Out.” Geller is best known for her blog Atlas Shrugs, which has been described by The New York Times as a “site that attacks Islam with a rhetoric venomous enough that PayPal at one point branded it a hate site.”
"Substantial reason to believe that Buchanan violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law"
"The details of an ethics investigation into discrepancies on the 2008-2011 financial disclosures of Sarasota Republican Vern Buchanan were made public [yesterday]. According to its report, the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics recommended that the Committee on Ethics further review the allegations after finding 'substantial reason to believe that Representative Buchanan violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law' during the course of its investigation." "The Florida Independent". See also "House Ethics Committee continues Buchanan investigation".
"In the wake of the fractious Florida Republican primary, some disgruntled conservatives are thinking about sitting out the general election or turning to a third-party candidate."
One option is former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who will stump in Florida this week and make his case at the state Libertarian Party convention in Orlando. Other independent or third-party candidates may jump into the race, but the choices in November will not include casino/real estate magnate Donald Trump, who last week disappointed some tea party activists by endorsing Romney.
"The charter school movement flexed its legislative muscle Monday, taking a big step toward winning more funding from the state. After an hour of intense debate, the Senate Education Committee approved a controversial bill requiring local school districts to share their construction and maintenance money with charter schools."
Under current law, only traditional public schools can levy property taxes for building and maintenance. Charter schools — which receive tax dollars, but are run by independent governing boards — cannot.
Florida school districts fought hard to defeat the bill, saying it would all but kill their ability to pay down debt on existing construction projects. Parent groups chimed in too, saying public dollars should not go to charter school facilities, which are often owned by private companies and are not part of the public domain.
"As state lawmakers consider prison privatization, it's difficult to calculate any savings. The state’s own analysts warn against comparing cost. Privatization has polarized the Legislature: One side sees outsourcing as a way to cut costs; the other views it as a risky undertaking." "It's hard to calculate savings".
The Palm Beach Post editorial board: "How fitting that dissent among the Florida Senate's rank-and-file Republicans is threatening to head off the push to privatize 26 South Florida prisons and work camps. After all, the groundswell is due in part to legislative leaders' attempts to ram this massive privatization through their colleagues with as little debate or study as possible." "Critics right: No evidence to support privatizing state prisons".
"They punted"
The Miami Herald editorial board: "Faced with a political hot potato in the form of legislation allowing Las Vegas-style casinos in Florida, lawmakers in Tallahassee did what they usually do when confronting a tough issue: They punted."
What happened in the Legislature fell far short of a rigorous, honest debate on whether casino gambling is good for Florida, or even whether this is what Florida’s residents want. Instead, a badly needed discussion that Florida must have sooner or later over gambling was cut short because traditional interest groups with clout in Tallahassee lined up to oppose casino gambling.
That’s too bad. Opponents may be right about keeping casinos out of Florida. Certainly, the grandiose plan proposed by Genting’s Resorts World Miami, which bought The Miami Herald’s downtown property, raised a lot of eyebrows for its size and questions of compatibility.
That plan needed more study, more preparation, and more questions answered. But on the larger issue of gambling in this state , lawmakers ignore reality at the state’s peril. A failure to provide a full public airing of the issues does not serve the voters well and ensures that pro-gambling interests will be back to try again next year.
What makes this urgent is that Florida remains among the top states in the nation for gambling, minus full-scale casinos, but it lacks an appropriate regulatory structure. Gambling has been allowed to creep into the state by stealth, using laws such as the one creating the state lottery and other seemingly unrelated measures to cover their tracks and expand other forms of gaming.
Daniel Ruth: "Here's what you have to swallow if you want to believe that state Sen. Jim Norman, R-Will Work for Gratuities, isn't dirtier than a Florida swamp ape."
You have to con yourself into accepting that when the late Hillsborough County tycoon Ralph Hughes gave Norman's wife, Mearline, $500,000 it was merely a gift because the magnate thought the commissioner's spouse was the cat's pajamas.
You have to delude yourself into accepting the notion that Norman never bothered to ask his little apple blossom why Hughes gave her the money without so much as a shred of paperwork.
And most of all, you have to believe that when Norman claims (wink, wink, nod, nod) he did ask Hughes about the money, he was told to shut up and look the other way. And thus the commissioner blindly followed instructions and went about his business as a professional potted plant.
Is anybody dense enough to accept any of this?
Norman, R-Blue Light Special, was preening the other day over a decision by the Florida Commission on Ethics that he should be prosecuted for failing to disclose Hughes' $500,000 door prize when he ran for the Senate. The senator argued the ruling had cleared him of wrongdoing.
Only in Florida would a scruple-challenged politician regard it as a resume builder that an ethics commission wanted to prosecute him for a lack of ethics.
"The Florida Senate is proposing a nearly $1.2 billion increase in state spending on schools. A Senate panel on Tuesday rolled out its initial school budget that includes the proposed increase. The Senate proposal to boost state support for schools would increase per-student funding by 3.1 percent." "Fla. Senate boosts schools by more than $1 billion".
Keep tuition low
"The vice president spoke at Florida State University, pushing the president’s college affordability plan." "Biden in Florida: Keep tuition low".
Tolls ain't taxes ... or are they?
"A growing nationwide trend toward toll roads could see more of them rolling out in Florida. ... Scott hailed the extension of toll lanes on I-95 into Broward County last year, saying the move benefits all motorists." "More Toll Roads Coming, With a Fight Over the Money".
The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "Lawmakers need to heed Gov. Rick Scott’s call and shut down the state’s unregulated Internet cafe industry. The gambling parlors offer all the allure and pitfalls of South Florida parimutuels’ slot machines but none of the regulation." "Ban online gambling parlors".
"Mike Fasano's ambitions to represent Pasco in Congress appear to be dashed. ... The problem for Fasano? The district includes the home of a well-liked incumbent whose name is political gold around these parts: Gus Bilirakis." "Redrawn congressional boundaries create roadblock for Fasano".
Here’s what we’re watching on Monday edition’s of the 2012 Legislature:
• Vice President Joe Biden will visit Florida State University to talk about college affordability at 11 a.m.
• A controversial charter school bill comes before the Senate Education Committee at 3 p.m. If the bill passes, school districts would have to share their construction and maintenance dollars with charter schools, which currently don’t have the power to levy property taxes for capital projects. School districts and the teachers’ unions are fighting the proposal.
The Sarasota Herald Tribune editors: "The Florida House of Representatives is preparing to vote on an austere budget plan that eliminates 4,700 state jobs, raises college tuition and cuts payments to hospitals and nursing homes."
"We have a balanced budget that funds the state's priorities without increasing fees or taxes," said Rep. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
One of those priorities must be to guarantee that legislators — as well as the governor, Cabinet members and other top state officials — continue to pay ridiculously low premiums for health insurance.
Those top officials are among 32,000 state employees who pay $8.34 a month for individual coverage or $30 a month for family coverage.
That's one-sixth the amount paid by hundreds of thousands of rank-and-file state workers, whose costs are $50 per month for individuals and $180 a month for families. ...
The rank-and-file workers who pay the higher premiums have also gone without a raise, and also contribute toward their pensions, and they do so with less income than their better-paid bosses and "citizen legislators" with lucrative private-sector jobs.
Rubio a leading "warrior" in politically explosive cultural war
"Rubio, a Catholic, has always opposed abortion, including during his days in the Florida Legislature. In recent weeks, though, he has emerged as one of the leading national warriors in the politically explosive cultural war over what sort of healthcare women have access to."
His leadership on the issue is set against the backdrop of a national debate: the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity’s decision to end — then restore following an outcry — grants for breast cancer detection to Planned Parenthood.
Last week alone, Rubio keynoted the annual banquet of the Susan B. Anthony List, a political organization that helps anti-abortion office-seekers get elected, and he introduced the bill that would exempt religious institutions from complying with the contraception requirement. He has previously said he would vote to defund Planned Parenthood, which receives federal money to provide healthcare for poor women and men. The organization provides abortion services, long opposed by conservative groups.
At this point, Rubio has garnered 20 Republican co-sponsors in the Senate for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. A version of the bill in the Republican-dominated House stands a better chance of passage than in the Democratic-controlled Senate. ...
Another high-profile Florida politician, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had a far different take on the latest salvo in the cultural war. As a breast cancer survivor, she supported both Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Planned Parenthood.
Last week, “Americans made it clear that they support women having access to vital breast health services, including breast cancer prevention and awareness,’’ Wasserman Schultz said. “This outcome is proof of the power of collective voices coming together to effect change and save women’s lives.’’
The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "It defies common sense that the nation's fourth-largest state has such a loosely structured system to evaluate and oversee almost $51 billion in contracts for goods and services."
[S]tate agencies have their own unaccountable hodgepodge of rubrics in place to determine the service to be rendered, negotiate the contract, monitor the delivery of the service and pursue breaches of contracts with vendors. In a random review of 364 contracts worth more than $1 million in 2010-11, Atwater's auditors discovered 26 percent had at least one deficiency, putting some $13 billion in public money potentially at risk. Over the past year, Atwater's office has recovered almost $31 million in settlements from vendors due to faulty contracts.
"Millions of dollars in campaign contributions from for-profit prison companies may not be enough this year to push through a prison privatization plan that is a priority of Gov. Rick Scott and Republican legislative leaders."
The push to privatize one-fifth of the state corrections facilities along with all inmate health care could net prison companies hundreds of millions of dollars in state contracts, and those companies have spent millions in the past year trying to win support for the plan.
But Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, who made the prison outsourcing one of his top goals, put the bill on hold twice last week because he lacked the votes within his Republican caucus to pass it.
Research by The Palm Beach Post shows that Boca Raton-based GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America, or CCA, have contributed nearly $2 million to candidates and political parties since Scott's election.
GEO has contributed at least $475,000 in the past year, including $336,000 to the Republican Party of Florida.
During the 2010 election cycle, the company contributed at least $880,000 - more than two-thirds of that going to the Republican Party - including $25,000 to defray costs of Scott's inauguration. Just before last year's legislative session kicked off in March, GEO gave $25,000 to a political committee headed by House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park.
CCA contributed a minimum of $38,500 for the 2012 election cycle and at least $62,000 for the 2010 Florida elections.
The contributions do not include money given by principals of the corporations or their lobbyists.
"Asked about the companies' sizable contributions, Haridopolos said unions as well as the prison companies are big donors. And he's correct."
Labor unions in Florida have contributed more than $1.3 million since 2009 to legislators, the Cabinet and the political parties. That includes about $586,000 from the Florida Police Benevolent Association and $284,000 from the Teamsters. The PBA represented corrections workers until defeated by the Teamsters in the fall.
But privatization is not the only issue labor unions are fighting in Tallahassee. The unions lost one battle over pensions last year when the legislature ordered all state workers to contribute 3 percent of their salaries to their pensions. The retirement age for firefighters and police officers was raised from 55 to 60 and from 25 years to 30 years of service for full pensions, changes law enforcement unions are fighting to undo.
"Legislation that would let counties spend their resort-tax revenue on aquariums advanced in Tallahassee last week, without any opposition — at least so far — from a Florida hotel lobby that usually vehemently opposes measures designed to expand the number of approved uses of the tax." "Bill to expand uses for resort tax advances".
"Not everyone in Tallahassee got the memo"
The Orlando Sentinel editorial board: "Two years ago, Floridians voted 63-37 to change the state constitution to stop lawmakers from gerrymandering — drawing congressional and legislative districts with incumbents or parties in mind. Judging from the maps headed for approval this week in the House, not everyone in Tallahassee got the memo." "Districts: A mixture of progress, failure".
The Miami Herald editorial board: "Any way you slice and dice the numbers, Florida’s new way of ranking its 67 school districts — based solely on FCAT results, a one-shot test — tells parents and taxpayers absolutely nothing about the quality of their public schools, be they traditional schools or charters."
After a decade of reforms and setting an ever-higher bar for students’ performance (a race to achieve that this editorial board supports), the state’s new measure is a simpleton’s way that ignores today’s complex reality. It does not take into account the size of a district, whether it’s rural, urban or suburban or schools’ progress or lack of it year after year on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test. It ignores how many students are taking AP courses and passing, how many of them are minorities or poor and whether there’s improvement.
Fred Grimm: "Ever read a history of the confounding relationships, intricate strategies, shifting coalitions, mighty egos and stunning miscalculations that led to the First World War? It’d be a good primer for Florida’s casino gambling wars. With a flow chart to track the shifting alliances. (And a master plumber to keep the flow chart flowing.)"
Instead of artillery, the belligerents in this particular struggle bombarded Tallahassee with money. Gaming interests bestowed some $2 million on Florida pols in the epic battle over casino legislation. (Beyond what they spent on lobbyists)
Most of the money was spent trying to wangle support for those mythical “destination casinos” in South Florida. The Malaysian gambling giant Genting, with that prime chunk of Miami Herald property on Biscayne Bay, became the legislature’s Number One gambling sugar daddy, spreading $628,820 around to political PACs and political parties and various politicians’ campaign funds. Meanwhile formidable Vegas players like the Sands, MGM and Steve Wynn were buying up their own cadre of influential friends in Florida. ...
So one gambling entity takes on another as Florida’s gambling wars resume. Though, by mega-casino standards, this only amounts to a skirmish.
Fabiola Santiago: "The powerful forces conspiring to bring large-scale casino gambling to South Florida — legislators and special-interest groups who readily opened doors for Malaysian and Las Vegas bosses to set up shop in town, as if approval of this radical change to our economy and way of life was a done deal – lost a significant round, and they lost early in their run through the Florida House."
By most assessments, the bill that would have brought three mega casino gambling resorts to Miami-Dade and Broward died Friday in the House Business and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee — and that should be the end of an issue that threatened to irrevocably change the landscape and erode our quality of life, particularly in downtown Miami.
But breathe only a little easier. Bill sponsors won’t let the issue die.
When he couldn’t get the majority of votes he needed, Rep. Erik Fresen, R-Miami, asked the committee to postpone the vote, hoping for a chance to revive the bill when the Senate takes up a similar proposal sponsored by Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Ft. Lauderdale.
A postponement would keep the issue, as the press put it, and pardon the terrible analogy, “on life support.” But luckily, House Rules chairman Rep. Gary Aubuchon, R-Cape Coral, all but killed the bill when he quickly issued a statement saying that as long as he’s chairman he won’t allow the measure to be revived.
“Today’s decision by the House Business and Consumer Affairs Subcommittee to postpone a vote on a bill that would usher in the largest gambling expansion in state history means the issue is dead,” Aubuchon said.
The legislator went further and pronounced the bill’s certain death a “resounding victory for those of us who have opposed this assault on Florida’s family friendly economy.”
Exhale, yes, but still, just a little.
Those who aspire for better and more diverse choices of job creation in our cities can’t afford to take a breather, because Fresen and Bogdanoff are not giving up and neither are the casino operators who have their eye on Miami’s appeal to the international glamour crowd and on its role as the gateway to the Americas.
Immediately, casino gambling proponents and supporters vowed to re-group and return, looking to perfect their moves, deal other cards, and play another round of legislative poker, if not later in this session then in 2013.
"Turnout in last week's Republican presidential primary dropped more than 14 percent from Florida's 2008 GOP primary. Part of the reason for the stronger turnout four years ago was a property tax relief initiative that drew voters who were not especially interested in the presidential contest. Also, any lack of enthusiasm for the candidates this year might be because of the 10 days of overwhelmingly negative TV ads."
Mitt Romney trounced Newt Gingrich in Florida, of course, but those turnout numbers show one bright spot for the former House speaker: Turnout actually increased from four years ago in the mostly rural, North Florida counties won by Gingrich, according to Michael McDonald, a professor at George Mason University who runs the United States Elections Project to track election data.
The Orlando Sentinel editors: "Is state government more beholden to the billboard industry than the taxpayers? We'll find out. In a report released last week, a Tallahassee grand jury found that the Florida Department of Transportation had illegally issued permits for a billboard company to cut more than 2,000 state-owned trees without compensating the public. The company targeted the trees to clear the view from Interstate 10 of more than 100 of its signs. How thoughtful." "Billboard lackeys".
Rooney and West work it out
George Bennett: "After months of speculating and strategizing about Florida's new congressional map, it took only two brief phone conversations for Republican U.S. Reps. Tom Rooney and Allen West to dramatically rearrange their political plans."
With the Florida Legislature close to finalizing its once- a-decade redrawing of political boundaries, Rooney called West on Friday, Jan. 27, to let him know that he was considering running in a newly drawn rural congressional district.
That would leave the Palm Beach County-Treasure Coast district where Rooney lives open for West, who was in the market for a new seat because his Palm Beach-Broward district is being redrawn from one with an even partisan balance to one with a pronounced Democratic tilt. ...
West, who said he prayed and talked with his family about switching districts after getting the initial call from Rooney, was ready to jump at the opportunity.
Less than an hour after Rooney went public last Tuesday with plans to leave District 18 to run in the new District 17, West announced that he would leave his District 22 to run in District 18.
A day after the Rooney and West announcements, former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, a Boca Raton Republican, abandoned his difficult U.S. Senate bid and jumped into the District 22 congressional race with an endorsement from West, who usually declines to back candidates in primaries.
If the Florida Legislature's congressional redistricting plan survives an expected barrage of legal challenges, the maneuvers by Rooney and West should give both Republicans easier reelection campaigns than if they had remained in their current districts.
The moves also put an end to speculation that West might bolt his district to challenge Rooney in a bloody Republican primary.
"A record 210,000 U.S. students are using public funds to attend private K-12 schools, and Florida leads the nation with more than 60,000 of them, a new study reports." "Florida Leads Nation as School Voucher Programs Expand".
"In the months before Mitt Romney's resounding victory in Tuesday's Florida presidential primary, Palm Beach County business leaders threw their financial support behind the former Massachusetts governor. Fully $1.5 million - nearly 5 percent - of the $30.2 million raised by a pro-Romney "super" political action committee in 2011 came from Palm Beach County donors, according to financial disclosures released last week. " "Palm Beach County business leaders lift Mitt Romney's super PAC".
Mack's attendance problem
"Rep. Connie Mack was in Miami on Friday picking up the endorsement of Jeb Bush Jr., the ex-governor's son. But Mack, R-Fort Myers, was also missing from Washington — and not just on Friday. ... Of the 33 votes this year, Mack has missed 29, according to records. Many of the missed votes are on minor things." "Mack's missed votes".
"GOP candidates declined to disclose their top Florida bundlers"
"The Obama campaign periodically discloses its top fundraising bundlers — people who gather loads of contributions for the campaign ... Unlike the Bush-Cheney campaigns, GOP candidates declined to disclose their top bundlers." "Bundlers for Obama".
"The honor system"
The Sarasota Herald Tribune editorial board: "Florida has a 6 percent tax on goods bought from out-of-state retailers — with no "physical presence" in the state — via the Internet or mail. Few Floridians are even aware of the tax, and even fewer pay it because the state allows its residents to make such purchases under the honor system." "Time to tax Internet sales".
"Fasano, Dockery Find Own Prison"
Glenn Marston: "As the 2012 Florida Legislature chewed through bills mid-week, a priority of Gov. Rick Scott and Senate President Mike Haridopolos came before the Senate — prison privatization."
Senate leaders and the governor seek to privatize 26 state prisons and work camps in the southern end of the state. However, a group of Republicans and Democrats opposed to privatization held off the leadership's push Tuesday and Wednesday.
Scott made an effort at shaking the opponents loose by calling in Republican Sens. Charlie Dean of Inverness and Steve Oelrich of Gainesville. Both are former sheriffs. Neither warmed up to Scott's private-prison pitch.
As the leaders became more frustrated, punishment seemed likely.
Back in the Senate chamber, three Republican senators in particular stood in the way of Senate Bill 2038, reported the Tampa Bay Times. They are Jack Latvala of Clearwater, Paula Dockery of Lakeland and Mike Fasano of New Port Richey.
At the end of Wednesday, Haridopolos put the privatization effort on pause. Before leaving for the day, however, he stripped Fasano of his chairmanship of the Budget Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations. For more spite, Haridopolos booted Fasano off the subcommittee altogether.
"Expect an 'unbelievably vicious' campaign in Florida"
Zac Anderson: "Florida’s exceptionally negative and expensive GOP presidential primary could soon give way to an even nastier general election, with experts predicting Category 5-level ad wars. Blame the new super PAC campaign finance groups, Florida’s status as a must-win state, the increasingly poisonous political climate and the simple fact that negative advertising works."
Buried by an onslaught of negative advertising before Florida’s primary, Newt Gingrich saw a nine-point lead in the polls evaporate in little more than a week, and he ultimately suffered a double-digit loss. ...
Tallahassee political consult Rick Wilson said he expects an “unbelievably vicious” campaign in Florida in the general election.
“I think it will be almost 100 percent negative,” Wilson said. “It’s going to be a bar fight.”
An unprecedented 92 percent of the political ads leading up to last Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary qualified as negative attacks, CMAG says.
Political experts say the ratio is usually closer to 40 percent negative and 60 percent positive.
Even more telling, 100 percent of the ads run by the pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future were attack ads. ...
“If there was a market test for super PACs, we just saw the full measure in Florida,” said Adam Goodman, one of the state’s top political ad makers. “The primary will embolden people who want to use super PACs because they were clearly effective. They were a major deal.”
"Tax money used to support agenda of business group"
"A $50,000 payment to the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce is drawing fire from an array of critics who wonder why tax money was used to support the agenda of a business group."
The money, from taxpayer-funded Workforce Central Florida, financed the work of a chamber-led effort called Open for Business: The Central Florida Coalition for Growth & Prosperity.
One of its primary goals was to identify and eliminate "regulatory barriers" to economic growth. The coalition took $50,000 last year — a third of its total budget — from Workforce Central Florida, the region's jobs agency.
Aaron Deslatte: "never underestimate the election-year pull for legislators to deliver durable benefits to their constituencies, lobbyists and campaign donors. Approaching the midpoint of the session, there is a raft of potentially — or symbolically — significant legislation in play. Here's a sampling:"
•A bill pushed by Verizon Communications Inc., Comcast Corp. and other big telecom companies to exempt a host of digital items from the communications tax (HB 809 by Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa) is moving. ...
•On the consumer front, Citizens Property Insurance Corp. would lose some of its power to pass off big losses after a monster hurricane, under HB 1127 by Rep. Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula. ...
But the House also passed another bill, HB 245, allowing less-regulated "surplus lines" companies — which often charge more and cover less — to start taking homeowners out of Citizens. Homeowners who want to avoid this would have to "opt out" of being taken out. ...
•House Health and Human Services Quality Chairman John Wood, R-Winter Haven, advanced another bill (HB 7091) that would strip from health-insurance policies the currently mandated coverage for mental-health conditions, autism, cleft palates, bone-marrow transplants for children and other diseases. Associated Industries of Florida, the Florida Chamber, the Florida Insurance Council and life-insurance agents were backing it.
Democratic Reps. Mia Jones of Jacksonville, Scott Randolph of Orlando and Elaine Schwartz of Hollywood corralled enough votes to restore required coverage for cleft palates, autism and mental health, with the help of lobbying groups for doctors, dentists, pediatricians, the Broward Children's Center and the Dan Marino Foundation.
•Abortion is back. One bill (HB 1327) by Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, would be called the "Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity for Life Act" and ban abortions performed because of a "child's sex or race." Voting-rights groups such as the League of Women Voters are objecting to the name.
•Lastly, the insurance lobby tried to water down annuities reforms pushed by former Democratic Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink to better safeguard seniors from scams. ... The move drew the attention of current CFO Jeff Atwater, and the tougher Florida standards were restored last week at the behest of his office.
"Democratic tilt to longtime Republican hub of Orlando"
"The new political maps the Florida Legislature is advancing could deliver a new Democratic tilt to the longtime Republican hub of Metro Orlando. Although Orange County has shifted Democratic by voter registration during the last decade, it has sent a Republican-heavy delegation to Tallahassee for years, highlighted by current House Speaker Dean Cannon, past Speaker Dan Webster and Senate President Toni Jennings." "Democrats would gain House seats in Orange".
Rubio digs his own dirt
"Sen. Marco Rubio isn't running for anything right now, but that didn't stop him from spending more than $20,000 on a top national research firm to check out his own vulnerabilities. The website BuzzFeed reports that Rubio spent $21,421 for "research consulting" from MB Public Affairs, a well-regarded firm based in Sacramento, Calif." "Rubio's research".
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