Steve MacNamara, who was widely credited with helping Scott improve his poll numbers when he joined the administration last July, said Scott has expressed full support for him.

"The governor's been very supportive of me. He's (also) been unfairly attacked himself in the past," MacNamara said.

The Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times last weekend ran a lengthy profile of MacNamara, calling him the Wizard of Oz manipulator behind the governor's throne, followed by a critical column criticizing him as the ultimate insider working for a studiously "outsider" governor.

The complaint comes at a time when MacNamara has drawn media scrutiny for steering contracts to friends or associates and getting involved in personnel matters. He and Scott are scheduled to meet over the weekend to talk about MacNamara’s future. ...

In the past week, the Herald/Times has reported that MacNamara intervened to give a $5.5 million no-bid contract to the business partner of a friend, overruled an agency head to approve travel for the state film commissioner . The Associated Press reported that MacNamara gave a $360,000 no-bid contract to another close acquaintance. ...

MacNamara also challenged the Herald/Times’ account of his decision to overrule the former secretary of the Department of Economic Development, Doug Darling, and allow the film commissioner, Shari Kerrigan, to attend the Sundance film festival in Utah in January. He said that Kerrigan’s trip had been previously approved by the deputy secretary and Darling “unreasonably withheld permission.”

Darling was among several agency heads who — at MacNamara’s request — had agreed to step down at the end of the legislative session in March. But, after receiving a memo from Darling complaining about Kerrigan, MacNamara ordered Darling to leave by Jan. 26.

MacNamara, who considers Kerrigan’s father a friend, also disputed that he acted on her behalf because of his friendship with her family.

Week in Review

"The Week in Review for May 7 to May 11". See also "Weekly Roundup: High Court in High Gear".

"Job changes for state workforce"

Bill Cotterell: "The 2012-13 state budget approved by legislators provides for 4,354 fewer authorized positions as of July 1. But that doesn't mean mass layoffs state employees. Instead, management will be deciding where to cut and employees will be deciding whether to switch jobs or leave state employment." "Spring is in the air, and so are job changes for state workforce".

LeMieux calls it "a coordinated campaign effort"

"Nearly 58,000 pieces of mail touting a key component of U.S. Rep. Connie Mack's Senate campaign were sent to voters outside of his district at taxpayer expense this month -- a violation of congressional rules that Mack blamed on a vendor error but GOP primary rival George LeMieux called 'a coordinated campaign effort.'" "Franking violation a vender error to Mack, 'campaign effort' to LeMieux".

Campaign Roundup

"This week saw the Division of Elections embark on a review of thousands of voter registrants suspected of not being U.S. citizens. There was also the withdrawal of endorsements in one northeast Florida state Senate race, while a candidate in a nearby district dropped out." "Campaign Roundup: Voter registration review, and the endorsement shuffle in NE Florida".

Voters scrutinized in predominately Democratic Miami-Dade

"More than one of every 100 registered voters in Florida, many in predominately Democratic Miami-Dade County, are being scrutinized for their citizenship and eligibility to cast a ballot." "Florida Scanning Driver's License Lists for Possible Ineligible Voters". Background: "State looks to ax non-citizens from voter rolls".

Equal Access to Justice Act

Nancy Smith: "The arrival in Florida earlier in the week of the lawyer-packed environmental group Center for Biological Diversity has renewed a conversation in Washington and elsewhere that it's time to find out exactly how much money the government is forking out to this cottage industry." "How Environmental Lawyers Are Fleecing the Taxpayers and Why Nobody Notices".

"Scary silence"

The Palm Beach Post's Randy Schultz: "Four weeks ago, The Palm Beach Post reported that the campaign to make Dave Aronberg state attorney of Palm Beach County included intimidation of two criminal court judges. Krista Marx heard that if she ran as a Republican against Democrat Aronberg, her husband, Judge Joe Marx, would face a re-election challenge. To drive the point home, Krista Marx would face a trumped-up ethics charge from attorneys to be named later. She probably would have been Mr. Aronberg's toughest opponent."

The story should have outraged Mr. Butterworth, Ms. Bondi and Mr. Krischer. They swore to protect the criminal justice system from such political corruption. Mr. Butterworth showed up when Mr. Aronberg announced his candidacy in January. Ms. Bondi gave Mr. Aronberg the title-heavy, results-light prosecutor's job that he used to give his campaign credibility. Mr. Krischer is a prominent Aronberg supporter.

Yet not one of them has criticized the tactics of the Aronberg conspirators. Not one has criticized Mr. Aronberg for his weasel-wording defense that such "rumors" are part of campaigns, though the facts are clear. Not one has criticized Mr. Aronberg for failing to disavow the sleazy tactics carried out on his behalf. ...

Ms. Bondi won't even talk to The Post about the man for whom she created a $92,000-a-year job to do not much.

Rubio doesn't impress in Iowa

"U.S. Sen Marco Rubio, R-Fla., spoke to business leaders in Iowa Thursday, setting off speculation that he could be angling for a future presidential bid."

But a poll released this week shows that the junior senator from Florida has some major competition in the Hawkeye State. Rubio next week is headed to South Carolina, another early state in the presidential nomination process.

A poll released this week from Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connections to prominent Democrats, shows that Rubio and two other Republicans with ties to the Sunshine State would start off the 2016 presidential contest in solid shape in Iowa, home of the first caucus. The poll finds that Iowa is solidly behind Hillary Clinton if she makes a second bid for the Democratic nomination, while two previous winners in the Hawkeye State -- Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum -- start out ahead on the Republican side.

"Arrivals and Departures"

"David Halstead retires from the Division of Emergency Management", and much more: "Arrivals and Departures".

"If a big storm hits"

Travis Pillow: "Groups calling for changes to the fund that backstops the state's property insurance market have seized on the latest estimates released this week, which show the state may not be able to borrow enough money to meet its obligations if a big storm hits." "Hurricane fund possible shortfall spurs calls for changes".

The rhetorical shift comes while his plan continues to face skepticism from Democrats and as sharper objections are bubbling up in conservative circles. ...

Casting it as humanitarian — he likened it to the special status afforded to "Cuban refugees" — is a newer approach that seems to indicate the difficulty Rubio is facing in pitching his plan, which has still not been officially released. ...

The GOP is trying to seek a more moderate stance on immigration as the Hispanic population grows and the problem at the border subsides. But Rubio's plan has come under fire from the right. Anti-immigration groups have mobilized to call his office in opposition and urge other Republicans against it.

On Tuesday, a group of GOP House members joined with the Federation for American Immigration Reform and conservative radio hosts in an effort to caution the party not to back down on illegal immigration.

"Rubio needs to wake up, or those who follow him are going to fall off a cliff," FAIR spokesman Bob Dane said, according to Congressional Quarterly.

Republican clears Mini-Mack

"The Republican head of the House Franking Commission says 'no further action' will be taken against U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, whose mailer this week violated House rules because it was widely distributed beyond his district." "Rep. Connie Mack all clear in mailer violation, official says". See also "Mack defends mass mailing mistake".

CIA had no problem declassifying earlier volume attacking the Kennedy brothers

"A federal judge has ruled that a final volume of the CIA's three-decade-old history on the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba can remain shrouded in secrecy because it is a draft, not a finished product."

The CIA characterized the volume in court papers as "a polemic of recriminations against CIA officers who later criticized the operation."

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler accepted the CIA's arguments that the fifth volume entitled the "CIA's Internal Investigations of the Bay of Pigs Operations" did not even pass through the first stage of a multilayer review process. The volume represented a proposal by a subordinate member of the history staff that was rejected by the chief historian as containing significant deficiencies, the CIA argued.

The CIA said the volume is protected from disclosure under the deliberative process privilege, an exemption in the Freedom of Information Act.

The National Security Archive, a private group seeking transparency in government, sued the CIA to declassify the volume.

The CIA had no problem declassifying an earlier volume of the history in which the author attacked President Kennedy and Attorney General Robert Kennedy, said Peter Kornbluh, who directs the National Security Archive's Cuba documentation project.

CAT Fund

"CAT Fund Advisers Seek to Add Billion$ to Reserves".

Friends of MacNamara

"When Gov. Rick Scott took office, he adopted a policy for his agencies that required out-of-state travel to be 'cost effective' and 'have a direct and measurable benefit to getting Floridians back to work.'"

It was a point that Scott's chief of staff, Steve MacNamara, hammered home at staff meetings. It prompted the head of the Department of Economic Opportunity, Doug Darling, to compile a list of trips that had "true market impact and the best chance for success" and get MacNamara's approval.

But MacNamara changed the rules for Shari Kerrigan[*], a lawyer and friend of MacNamara's whom the governor appointed the state's film commissioner in December.

A month on the job, she asked MacNamara to let her travel to the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, even though the trip wasn't on the list approved by MacNamara before Kerrigan had the job.

When Darling told Kerrigan she couldn't go, "her reaction was unprofessional and abusive to staff,'' he wrote in a Jan. 24 memo to MacNamara. "Without notifying either her direct supervisor or myself, she attended on her own. Unfortunately she did not notify us that she was attending and, to date, has not called. We only learned this by contacting her staff."

Kerrigan took the trip to the world famous film festival, stayed three nights at the Zermatt Resort in Park City, Utah, and ended with a trip to Miami Beach for a meeting of television executives. ...

MacNamara acknowledged Wednesday that he had approved the trip — over Darling's objections.

"Yes, I did,'' he said. "I'm the chief of staff."

Senate President Mike Haridopolos agreed to [Nan]Rich’s unusual request for a lawyer to advise the Dems.

Rich, D-Weston, made the ask because of Haridopolos’ own unusual move: his chief of staff Steve MacNamara is serving a dual role as the Senate’s general counsel.

Rich objected that MacNamara, who earns $175,000 a year, is, as Haridopolos’ chief, too partisan to provide objective counsel to both sides of the aisle.

“The dual roles assumed under this administration raised fears that that objectivity and legal even-handedness would be compromised. We were left with no choice but to request our own attorney who would fill that critical void. I am pleased that the Senate President agreed,” Rich said in a statement announcing Haridopolos’ approval.

"Miami-Dade wetlands off the trade table"

"Water managers have decided to draw up new plans on how to use a chunk of West Miami-Dade wetlands once sought by Florida International University." "South Florida water district takes Miami-Dade wetlands off the trade table with FIU".

Robo-signing scandal

"A Florida Supreme Court case could have huge national implications on how courts will handle the robo-signing scandal on foreclosures." "Florida foreclosure case could have wide reach".

"One of the most ethically challenged figures on Capitol Hill"

Daniel Ruth: "From the day he arrived in Washington raising one hand to be sworn in as a member of Congress while extending his other outstretched palm, Rep. Vern Buchanan of Sarasota has consistently been considered one of the most ethically challenged figures on Capitol Hill."

How proud the National Republican Congressional Committee must be to have Buchanan, R-Subpoena-in-Waiting, as its leading fundraiser, which has to be a shot in the arm for the brown bag industry.

The investigators found evidence that Buchanan tried to get a former business associate whom he owed a $2.9 million settlement to sign a cooked-up affidavit falsely claiming that the congressman knew nothing about $100,000 in illegal contributions to his 2006 congressional campaign.

For you legally challenged types, like Buchanan, this is a really big naughty no-no.

Buchanan's mouthpieces were shocked, shocked that the ethics committee concluded there was "substantial reason to believe" the congressman knew the affidavit was full of phooey when he pressured the ex-business partner to sign a manifesto of fibs.

Buchanan was more than welcome to testify before the committee, but he chose not to cooperate. That's understandable since he would have been required to tell the truth. Uh-oh. And now he's whining about the results.

The lawyers labeled the report "fundamentally flawed" and "bizarre," just for the flair of it all.

The problem for Buchanan, who makes Crime and Punishment look like a pamphlet, is that the aggrieved business partner, Sam Kazran, was able to provide the sleuths emails and voice mails between the two men that indicate the congressman knew about the hinky campaign contributions and the fraudulent affidavit.

Buchanan left a trail of recordings and documents linking him to the shenanigans? Texas Gov. Rick Perry isn't this dense.

Now the ethics committee, which seems to be enjoying itself immensely investigating Buchanan, R-Tom Delay-lite, has decided to extend the scrutiny.

Well, why not? Everyone else is!

Vern Buchanan has been in Washington for less than six years, yet he has managed to become the target of investigations by the FBI, the IRS, the Federal Elections Commission and the House Committee on Ethics.

Stand 'yer stoopid

"'Stand Your Ground' Remains Popular in Florida After Trayvon Martin Shooting".

Court upholds term limits

"Court upholds term limits for county commissioners". See also "Florida justices uphold term limits in Hillsborough, Polk". More: Jeremy Wallace's "Court ruling reinvents Sarasota County politics".

Enuf "blue ribbons"

The Palm Beach Post editorial board: "If Gov. Rick Scott wants to remake Florida's higher education system to meet the demands of a knowledge-based economy, he should start from a personal knowledge base rather than appoint a 'blue ribbon' task force. ... Florida's higher education system doesn't need a task force. It needs informed politicians making wiser decisions." "Scott's task force a waste".

Mack and LeMieux take off the gloves

"The two leading Republican candidates looking to challenge incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson took off the gloves Thursday and ripped into each other on a range of issues." "Connie Mack and George LeMieux Exchange Fire in GOP Senate Primary".

Separation of church and state kerfuffle

"A group that advocates the separation of church and state is accusing Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins of violating the U.S. Constitution by using state e-mail to send a prayer to employees of his department asking God to help them 'find their identity in You.' Wilkins, who also recently became Florida's chief operating officer, sent the email to DCF workers Thursday after offering the prayer at a National Day of Prayer event also attended by his boss, Gov. Rick Scott, in the Capitol." "Group objects to Florida DCF head using state email to send prayer to employees".

"An increasingly partisan dogfight"

Marc Caputo: "Amid an increasingly partisan dogfight, Florida elections officials say the number of potential noncitizens they're examining on the state voter rolls is 180,000, a figure far higher than what was initially reported."

Florida's Division of Elections said Thursday that it's combing through this initial, mammoth list of names — which were flagged during a computer database search — to make sure its list is as clean and as small as possible. The state is then turning over smaller batches of the more-verified names to county elections supervisors, who are contacting the potential noncitizens to see if they can lawfully vote.

By the end of the process, the state could send counties as many as 22,000 names to check, one election source indicated, in a state with more than 12 million total voters.

Right now, local supervisors have been sent nearly 2,700 names, about 2,000 of which are in Miami-Dade, Florida's most-populous and most-immigrant heavy county.

But Detzner's office said he's trying to make sure no unlawful votes are cast — and it indicated that President Barack Obama's administration is stonewalling the effort by refusing to share Department of Homeland Security databases that could more easily show who's a citizen and who's not. ...

The effort in Florida was inspired by Colorado Republican Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who said last year that he initially identified a pool of 16,000 potential noncitizen voters in his state. New Mexico — also run by a Republican secretary of state — searched and found 104.

Florida, Colorado and New Mexico are all immigrant- and Hispanic-heavy swing states that could play a crucial role in this year's presidential election.

"Republican Party on the wrong side of history"

The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "In a courageous act of moral leadership, President Barack Obama has made civil rights history by announcing his support for same-sex marriage."

Despite the vote Tuesday in North Carolina that amended the state Constitution to bar same-sex marriage and civil unions — like one passed by voters in Florida in 2008 — Romney and the Republican Party are on the wrong side of history. Attitudes are changing quickly, as is evidenced by the noncontroversial nature of the domestic partnership registry passed in Tampa and being considered in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Gulfport and Pinellas County. The St. Petersburg City Council voted Thursday to direct the legal staff to draft an ordinance creating a domestic registry that the council can adopt within the next month.

Orlando the Smuttiest City in America

Nancy Smith: "Isn't it supposed to be the casinos, not Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, that attract the porn? That's not what happened in Orlando, just named by Men's Health Magazine as the Smuttiest City in America. It's true. Without a roll of the dice or the ka-ching of a single slot machine, Orlando looked up one day and realized it had become Gomorrah."

With apologies to Mickey and Minnie, I think maybe it's time for the folks at www.NoCasinos.org to rethink their motive for keeping casinos out of Florida. That family-friendly postcard they see in their dreams disappeared somewhere between the time Walt Disney World closed down Pleasure Island and grad-trippers discovered they could beer-binge their way around Epcot.

Here's how Men's Health Magazine jumped Orlando over Las Vegas and into the No. 1 spot:

"We peered through a statistical peephole to tabulate the following criteria: the number of DVDs purchased, rented, or streamed (AdultDVDEmpire.com); adult entertainment stores per city (StorErotica.net); rate of porn searches (Google Insights); and, for fans of soft-core, percentage of Cinemax-subscribing households (SimplyMap). Not only were Orlando folks the randiest residents, but Florida was also the most salacious state."

By "most salacious," the magazine editors meant that many states didn't have a single city in the Top 100 Smuttiest. But, besides Orlando, Florida had four -- Tampa at No. 8, Miami at 12, Jacksonville at 52 and St. Petersburg at 60.

Atlantic City, incidentally -- target of an over-the-top, even frightening anti-casinos ad during the last session of the Florida Legislature, didn't even make the magazine's Top 100.

"Embargo of Cuba is getting in the way of safety"

"The 50-year-old U.S. embargo of Cuba is getting in the way of safety when it comes to deepwater drilling in Cuban waters, an expert on the communist country's offshore drilling activity said Thursday." "U.S. embargo of Cuba adds risks to country's deepwater oil drilling, expert says".

Plenty of room (in the rafters) for Florida GOP convention delegates

"Florida Republicans better not count on a lenient national GOP to give them prime floor seats to the Republican National Convention in Tampa after they broke the party’s primary schedule rules."

But RNC chairman Reince Priebus said Thursday that they don’t have to worry about access to the Tampa Bay Times Forum in August.

“The rules committee made a decision that Florida’s going to lose half of its delegates,” Priebus told the Tampa Bay Times and Bay News 9, in taping a local interview to air Sunday in the St. Petersburg-Tampa area. “I have not heard a single person on the rules committee make any movement or request or anyone from any part of this operation to change that.”

Still, Priebus left the door wide open to allowing more state party activists into the Tampa Bay Times Forum for the Aug. 27-30 event, even if they aren’t seated on the floor with the 50 voting delegates.

“We’re talking about 50 seats on the floor. Believe me, we’re going to need a lot of people here in Florida filling that arena. It’s really not something that I think people here in Florida should be obsessing over,” Priebus said.

The numbers also show what seems to be an enthusiasm gap for Romney as a candidate – when asked "Is your vote more a vote for Romney or against Democrat Barack Obama," only 51 percent of Romney supporters said they were for the former Gov., with 49 percent saying they were just against the President. The split was 77 percent for Obama and 23 percent against Romney when the question was asked of Obama supporters.

Both Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush could move voters to Romney. A Romney-Bush ticket would lead Obama-Biden by 2 points, and a Romney-Rubio ticket would lead Obama-Biden by 3 points, 47 percent to 44 percent.

Florida's mortgage delinquency rate highest in nation

"Florida's rate of borrowers 60 days or more behind on their mortgage dipped slightly from the fourth quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012, but is still the highest rate in the nation." "Mortgage delinquency down nationally, but Florida rate is highest".

Baxley's "cure worse than the problem"

"Nearly 2,700 potential non-U.S. citizens are registered to vote in Florida and some could have been unlawfully casting ballots for years, according to a Miami Herald-CBS4 analysis of elections data. ... Even if voters are on the list, it doesn’t mean they’re not eligible to cast a ballot.

Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, sponsored the election law and said he feels “validated” by the state’s actions in keeping its voter rolls clean.

But University of Florida political science professor Dan Smith, a critic of Baxley’s law, said the state purges could block eligible voters from casting ballots, thereby making the cure worse than the problem.

"This attests to the fact that there’s very little voter-registration fraud," Smith said. "This purging can be a real problem."

To be eligible to cast a ballot in Florida, a voter must be a state resident and a U.S. citizen with no felony record. Those who have been convicted of felonies can cast ballots if their rights have been restored by the state. It’s a third-degree felony to commit voter fraud in Florida.

Neither the state nor the county’s election office would release all of the suspected names, in part because the list contains personal data such as Social Security and driver-license numbers that are not public record.

Of the partial Miami-Dade list given to the Miami Herald, Tampa Bay Times and CBS 4, less than a third of the potential non citizens had voted, going as far back as 1996. About 39 of them are Democrats, 39 Republicans and 26 are independents or third-party voters.

"Don't wait until 4:30 a.m."

The Palm Beach Post editorial board: "One thing is clear from the problem with legislation to reform Florida's no-fault auto insurance system: Don't wait until 4:30 a.m. on the last day to complete a major, complex bill." "PIP bill dinged but fixable".

Whoop-dee-doo

"Jeb or Rubio as VP Would Help Romney Against Obama in Florida".

Vern's newest ethics issue

Jeremy Wallace: "A congressional committee is looking into whether U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, tried to influence a potential witness during a federal investigation into his fundraising practices, new documents released on Wednesday show." "Buchanan is dogged by new ethics issue".

Same-sex marriage likely a "political wash" in Florida

"Social significance aside, President Obama's announcement that he supports same-sex marriage may prove to be a political wash in America's largest swing state, some Florida experts and operatives said Wednesday."

Florida voted 51 percent for Obama and 61.9 percent for a ban on gay marriage in the same 2008 election. Polls point to another close Florida presidential election this year.

Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who ran Obama's Florida campaign in 2008, said he doesn't believe Wednesday's announcement will help or hurt the president in the Sunshine State this year.

"I believe this was a decision beyond politics," Schale said.

"I really don't believe there are any significant electoral implications. Remember, Obama opposed the gay marriage amendment in 2008 and we won Florida while that amendment passed, and certainly the needle on the issue has moved in the last four years. It might motivate some base voters, but I believe that's where the politics ends," Schale said.

Republican pollster Alex Patton agreed.

"I just think President Obama was looking to shore up his base a little bit," Patton said. "I still think that this is an economy election and some of these social issues, they're just not weighing heavily. It's an issue, but it's not a driver."

University of South Florida political scientist Susan MacManus voiced a similar view.

"I still think the economy is the big issue and voters are not going to be as focused on the gay rights issue," MacManus said.

Not a peep about Walmart using Chinese inmate labor

"U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, along with U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, Miami, and U.S. Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, were among the signers of a letter seeking a prompt meeting over reports that IKEA had teamed with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in the 1980s to use political prisoners to make some furniture." "South Florida Congressional Members Question if IKEA Had Cuban Prisoners Make Furniture".

And then there's Walmart, but never mind.

Low Income Housing Tax Credits

"Seven companies are disputing the way the Florida Housing Finance Corporation scored their applications for millions of dollars in federal Low Income Housing Tax Credits." "Affordable housing developers challenge state housing group over federal tax credits".

Charter madness

"The move means the Northeast Florida Virtual Charter School and the Central Florida Virtual Charter School can form their schools, but the school boards of Duval and Seminole counties have promised an appeal." "Board of Education vacates stay of two virtual charter schools' appeals". See also "State overrides districts on charter schools".

"Floridians don’t much care if they convict the wrong guy"

Fred Grimm: "Some 14 death row inmates in Florida have been cleared by DNA testing, after spending an average of 20 years on death row. Outside of the old Confederacy, that might be cause enough to reexamine the underlying morality of capital punishment."

Instead, Florida Gov. Rick Scott vetoed funds earmarked for the Florida Innocence Commission, charged with sorting out flaws in the criminal justice system — an embarrassing mess of misidentifications and false confessions and lying jail house informants — that made Florida the national leader in wrongful convictions.

Sadly, DNA samples only show up in a small percentage of cases. A bit of extrapolation indicates a near mathematical certainty that innocents are among the 400 convicts now on Florida’s death row. But I can tell you, based on my own e-mail in-basket, Floridians don’t much care. I’ve done scores of columns about Broward County’s brutal penchant for sending innocent men to death row, but had a stronger reader reaction after a column about a Palmetto Bay teenager wrongfully accused of a cat-killing spree. (Most of those responses were demands that the kid go to jail anyway.)

Floridians don’t much care if they convict the wrong guy. They just want retribution.

"Five of the nation’s greediest banks"

The Miami Herald editorial board: "Advocates of affordable housing in Florida, listen up: You have a chance to weigh in on how the state uses $300 million to ease the pain of the foreclosure crisis, but you must act quickly. The funds were part of a court-approved, $25-billion settlement that Attorney General Pam Bondi and 48 of her counterparts in other states managed to wrest from five of the nation’s greediest banks and mortgage servicers to clean up the robo-signing scandal that delivered grief to tens of thousands of homeowners across the country." "Florida’s $300-million housing bounty".

Mini-Mack mailer "violates House rules"

"A government mailer sent to voters across Florida by U.S. Rep. Connie Mack violates House rules barring distribution outside his district and raises questions about his U.S. Senate campaign, which features the penny pinching plan that was the subject of the mailer."

The color brochure, complete with a photo of Mack, began showing up this week in Hillsborough County, Miami Beach and Sarasota, among other places beyond Mack’s district in southwest Florida.

A mailing list vendor, who has done work for Mack’s Senate campaign, took responsibility for the "mistake" Wednesday and wrote a nearly $18,000 check to the U.S. Treasury to cover postage. Mack, in a letter to House officials Wednesday, said any violation was due to the vendor and was "unintentional."

"Absolutely no taxpayer dollars will be spent on this project," Mack wrote to the chairman of the House Franking Commission.

But as he sought to contain the problem, political opponents pounced. George LeMieux, a rival in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, released a statement calling it an abuse of office. "Voters are fed up with this type of behavior from Washington politicians like Mack and there’s no doubt Floridians will reject his candidacy."

White supremacists in your backyard

"Supporters of suspected members of an Osceola County white supremacist group charged with preparing for a race war have started an online petition calling for their release." "American Front supporters call for release of suspected white supremacists". Background: "11th defendant arrested in Osceola roundup of white supremacists".

Chamber merely a Florida GOP front group

"The U.S. Chamber of Commerce isn’t waiting to find out who will challenge U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando, this November."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced Wednesday it is pumping big bucks into Florida with its first multimillion-dollar ad blitz of the 2012 cycle, aimed at Nelson and a pair of Democrats running for the U.S. House: former Rep. Alan Grayson and longtime state and local politician Lois Frankel.

The developer of the program, Anna Jo Mattson, owns a software company with Tallahassee lawyer and lobbyist Jim Eaton, MacNamara's long-time friend. She also owns Spider Data Services, the company that developed the software program licensed by the Senate. She said Tuesday the companies are not related.

MacNamara did not respond to requests for comment.

MacNamara negotiated the contract with Mattson in February 2011 when he worked for Senate President Mike Haridopolos. He left the Senate to become Gov. Rick Scott's chief of staff in July. To date, Mattson has been paid $5 million for development of the no-bid project. Another $2.5 million has been set aside in the governor's 2012-13 budget to pay for access to her patented program next year.

$148.6 million in rebates for Floridians, courtesy of the Affordable Care Act

"A recent report from the Kaiser Family Foundation, notes that health insurers in Florida are expected to pay out $148.6 million in rebates to consumers because they spent more on administrative costs than allowed by the federal Affordable Care Act." "Report: Florida health insurers owe $148.6 million in rebates".

Republicans fumble Hispanic outreach

"They were supposed to be introducing the team whose savvy grassroots work would sway the nation’s 12 million Hispanic voters to the Republican Party in six battleground states, including Florida."

Instead, the Republican National Committee demonstrated Tuesday just how far behind it is in persuading Latino voters to pick former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama.

When asked what they’d tell voters about Romney’s tough immigration talk, Bettina Inclan, the RNC National Hispanic outreach director, replied: He is "still deciding what his position on immigration is."

Oops.

Another top RNC official, Kirsten Kukowski, interrupted the meeting to tell reporters that Romney’s position on immigration is, in fact, very clear. After the meeting, Inclan tweeted that she "misspoke," and posted a link to the immigration policy page on the Romney campaign website.

That includes pledging to veto the DREAM Act and his assertion during a debate in January in Florida that undocumented immigrants should "self-deport." He also called parts of Arizona’s disputed immigration law a model for the nation "and has paraded around the country with the nation’s leading anti-immigrant voices," said Gabriela Domenzain, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign.

Over the past year, he has "proven time and time again that he is the most extreme presidential candidate in modern history on immigration," she said. "His position may be inconvenient, but it has been clear. Mitt Romney has decided to be the most extreme presidential candidate on immigration; Hispanics and all Americans have heard it loud and clear." ...

Registered Hispanic voters back Obama by a 67-27 percent margin, according to a mid-April poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Those findings were consistent with a Pew Hispanic Center survey of 557 Latino registered voters in December, when 68 percent backed Obama and 23 percent Romney.

Chamber shills

"The Chamber also recognized 42 House and Senate members as 'distinguished advocates' of business. Recognition was based on voting records reflecting the Chamber positions on bills affecting job creation, economic recovery and Florida's business climate." "Florida Chamber of Commerce commends Cannon, Dorworth for their voting records".

Freedom to pollute

"HB 1263, a Department of Health reorganization bill, repealed a 2010 requirement for septic tank inspections statewide. But the bill still required 19 counties with the largest first-magnitude springs to conduct inspections unless they opt out by Jan. 1, 2013." "Hernando poised to become first county to opt out of septic tank inspections". Meanwhile, "Federal, state negotiators close to deal on Everglades water quality".

Raw political courage

"Jeri Muoio stepped out of her role as non-partisan mayor on Tuesday and into the world of fiery partisan politics. Muoio stumped for President Obama's reelection at a City Center event billed by his campaign as an anti-Mitt Romney speech highlighting the negative side of the presumptive GOP nominee's job creation record. While former Mayor Lois Frankel was identified as a Democrat and served as her party's leader in the State House before being elected mayor, Muoio has never held partisan office." "West Palm's mayor dips toe in partisan waters in speech for Obama".

"It's political prostitution"

Daniel Ruth on when then-Congressman Adam Putnam

recalled a moment when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appeared before the Republican caucus to provide a briefing on the spreading financial cancer. Widely regarded as an astute, sober-minded economist, Bernanke was met with ridicule and derision by the Republican House members.

Putnam was flabbergasted by the show of disrespect. "There were guys (in the caucus) who couldn't count the commas in a trillion dollars talking to Bernanke like he was a dog."

Tipping point? Maybe. It's one thing to be designated a leader. It's quite another when you are expected to lead a pitchfork of zealots who are in denial over reality.

As 2010 rolled around, Putnam took a pass on re-election, returned to Florida and won the job as agriculture commissioner, trading in one barnyard substance for another. Indeed Putnam may be the first politician to leave office "to spend more time with the family" who actually spent more time with his family.

Putnam returned to a vastly changed Tallahassee political culture from the one he experienced as a state House member from 1996 to 2000. Unbridled partisanship grips the Florida Legislature, too, Putnam noted.

Stricter ethics laws have made it more difficult for bipartisan collegiality. And term limits make sure members rarely develop any expertise on their assigned committees, only enhancing the influence of lobbyists.

"The eight-year (term limit) time frame virtually guarantees the likelihood of someone spending more than one term as a committee chair is almost nil because it suggests you are ineffective," Putnam said. And so the rush is always on to move up to higher-profile, influential committees that have greater fundraising potential.

That's not governance. It's political prostitution.

Just months shy of 38, Putnam is hardly without a vast array of elective options.

There is a sense that with Rick Scott's approval ratings somewhere between the Taliban and the Greek Parliament, there might be a young, attractive, articulate, popular Republican who isn't crazy lingering in the woodpile willing to take on an incumbent governor in 2014.

Perhaps there is, but it won't be Adam Putnam, who insisted that he's quite content where his political life has taken him these days.

Ah, but 2018 might be an entirely different story. By then the Opie of the Apalachee Parkway will still only be a mere child of 44.

Did Rubio pay his college loans with his GOP credit card?

"Florida senators voted along party lines Tuesday as Republicans blocked a tax-raising Democratic bill that would have driven up Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes for some -- in exchange for keeping interest down on federal student loans. Bad bill, insists Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Miami, who sided with the GOP in the 52-45 vote." "GOP, Marco Rubio Block Democrats' Election-Year Bill on Student Loans".

"The true battleground is Central Florida"

Scott Maxwell: "Politico recently quoted Democratic operatives as saying they have calculated 1,024 possible outcomes among those 10 states. Of those 1,024 scenarios, only 85 allow Romney to win."

Of those 85, all 85 require Romney to win Florida.

If you don't believe the Democratic operatives, listen to the Republicans.

Just this week, the Republican Party of Florida sent members a letter that declared: "Florida isn't just a battleground state. It's THE battleground state which will determine who wins the White House." ...

Everyone agrees: Florida is ground zero.

But it gets more specific than that.

South Florida is full of Democrats. North Florida is full of Republicans.

That means the true battleground is Central Florida — your backyard.

Yes, the part of the country that brought America Casey Anthony will decide who inhabits the Oval Office.

Oh, but it gets even more specific than that.

Survey after survey shows that most people already have their minds made up. A big segment simply won't vote for Obama. Another big chunk won't vote for any Republican.

So now you have the tiniest of slivers — independent-minded voters … in Florida … who live along the Interstate 4 corridor.

If you are one of those folks, you are very powerful this year.

Desperately seeking vote fraud

"Thousands of foreign citizens — particularly in South Florida — might be registered to vote in Florida and could have unlawfully cast ballots in previous elections."

Over the past year, the Florida Division of Elections has begun identifying potential foreigners on the rolls in coordination with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, Division of Elections spokesman Chris Cate told The Miami Herald. He said the state has forwarded the names to county elections supervisors, who are in charge of the rolls.

One of Scott's top accomplishments flawed

"A state agency issued a memo Tuesday aimed at fixing a flaw in Florida's new auto insurance law, which Gov. Rick Scott has hailed as one of the top accomplishments of the 2012 Florida Legislature. The state's Agency for Health Care Administration said in the three-page memo that it intends to eliminate a six-month gap in eligibility for health care professionals that potentially would allow insurance companies not to pay some personal injury protection (PIP) providers such as doctors, chiropractors, medical schools and dentists." "State issues rule to fix error in new car insurance law".

"May 9 is 'D-Day' for Sarasota Congressman Vern Buchanan"

"May 9 is 'D-Day' for Sarasota Congressman Vern Buchanan. That's the day he finds out if the U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee will pursue charges against him. Although the wealthy Republican dodged a bullet on charges he violated federal election laws, regardless of what the Ethics Committee decides, Buchanan faces other severe legal problems."

"We're talking about thousands of fraudulent transactions, thousands," said consumer advocate Duane Overholt.

It's not exactly a glowing endorsement, especially when you're talking about a U.S. representative. Overholt is talking about the car dealerships owned by Buchanan. "How many people would conceive that a U.S. congressman who took an oath to protect the consumer, his voters, would break the law? Well, he had according to the whistle blowers and, according to the documents, he has?"

Overholt has compiled thousands of documents, complaints, and lawsuits filed by former employees and customers. Some of the lawsuits have been settled out of court and some are working their way through the system. Buchanan denies any wrongdoing.

"More political jockeying than a legitimate concern"

The Tampa Bay Times editors: "The dust-up over using state employees to finalize election ballot paperwork for the merit retention of three Florida Supreme Court justices is more political jockeying than a legitimate concern over lawbreaking."

A conservative legislator upset with the court is exploiting the situation by calling for a criminal investigation. In fact, public employees commonly notarize election documents, and a cursory review should suffice. Gov. Rick Scott should not inappropriately politicize the merit retention election in November by overreacting.

The amendment had been sponsored by state Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood. Plakon seized on the notarizing incident to ask Scott for a law enforcement investigation into whether the justices illegally used state employees for electioneering purposes during working hours. Scott is reportedly considering the request, but he should deny it. ...

If the governor ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate, the result could be a long, open investigation that puts the justices under an unnecessary cloud and provides campaign fodder for those looking to oust them for political reasons.

Workers fired after forming a union committee

"Hallandale Beach Police say about 100 protesters blocked the west entrance to keep patrons from entering the casino. Police and casino officials warned them they were trespassing. The protesters who refused to leave were arrested. The Herald reports the 10 former workers are union organizers for a local chapter of UNITE HERE. They were fired in November after forming a union leadership committee. Police say the protesters were arrested peacefully." "Police arrest 23 union protesters at Fla. casino".

Bid challenge upheld

"An administrative law judge is siding with the Florida Department of Health's decision to reject all bids for a contract to provide laboratory services to the state's 67 county health departments. In a 33-page recommended order on Monday, F. Scott Boyd of the Division of Administrative Hearings wrote that Laboratory Corporation of America (aka LabCorp) had not met its burden to prove the department had acted improperly when it decided to reject all the bids and restart the procurement process after finding flaws in its solicitation." "Judge sides with Department of Health in contract dispute".

Florida closely behind Mississippi and Texas

"The number of Floridians who have gone without medical care they needed because they couldn't afford it has increased to 1 in 4 over the past decade, according to a study released today."

Florida — where 25.1 percent of residents said they did not have their medical needs met because of cost — ranked third worst in the nation for that category, following closely behind Mississippi and Texas.

White supremacists

"White supremacists trained with AK-47s, planned for 'inevitable' race war, affidavit says".

Expensive publicity stunts

"Accompanied by staff and security, Gov. Rick Scott and Cabinet members descended on the Florida Keys Monday night, 590 miles from their Tallahassee base. The elected officials are in Marathon, one of the northern Keys, to discuss water quality and emergency management, among other things. It's the second time this year the Cabinet is vacating Tallahassee to interact with citizens around the state, said Lane Wright, a spokesman for the governor's office. These Florida field trips aren't cheap, especially when home is the out-of-the-way Tallahassee, where flights are often expensive and inconvenient." "Florida Cabinet trip to the Keys doesn’t come cheap". Related: "Cabinet in Keys: Gimme shelter plan".

Mini-Mac's "troubling socialite image"?

"In a new attack on his GOP Senate primary opponent, George LeMieux charges — without concrete evidence — that Connie Mack IV doesn't spend much time in Florida and has a 'troubling socialite image.'" "LeMieux lobs unsubstantiated claims at Mack". Related: "GOP Senate Candidates Battle for Position".

"Florida's voter-approved ban in the state Constitution"

The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "While Vice President Joe Biden made news over the weekend by declaring that he is 'absolutely comfortable' with same-sex marriages, that issue is off the table for now in Florida because of a voter-approved ban in the state Constitution." "Cities and Pinellas should pursue registry for unmarried couples". The Sarasota Herald Tribune editorial board: "States of denial".

An at-times ethically challenged Tallahassee insider, MacNamara was hired by the neophyte governor as his chief of staff to avoid the very type of major embarrassment Scott suffered last week.

Last Tuesday at a Miami Freedom Tower event, Scott ceremonially signed a law cracking down on firms that do business in Cuba and Syria. But he then issued a letter that called the very law he signed unenforceable and unconstitutional because it infringes on foreign trade.

The about-face transformed Scott from the Cuban exiles’ toast of the town into a suspected foe politically undermining their bill to help big business.

The Cuban-American Republican lawmakers at Scott’s side were blindsided by his letter. They wondered whether his office was double-dealing. Even the team supporting Attorney General Pam Bondi — Scott’s most-powerful and helpful elected ally in the state — is suspicious.

The Rick Scott of 2010 could have predicted as much when he campaigned against Tallahassee insiders. But after a few rookie missteps, Scott last year hired MacNamara from the office of the Senate President, who incidentally had one of the most politically embarrassing years under MacNamara’s watch.

In the Senate, the Associated Press reported Friday, MacNamara “helped steer a no-bid consulting contract worth $360,000 to a friend who now leads a task force rooting out state government waste.”

Questions about MacNamara’s integrity go back a decade. In between his stints as staff chief to the Florida House Speaker in 1999 and 2000, MacNamara secretly worked out a lobbying gig to help persuade the state to reverse course and permit a cement plant on the scenic Ichetucknee River. More than two years later, the Commission on Ethics cleared him after another lobbyist and MacNamara ally changed his story.

Once on Scott’s team, MacNamara the insider got to work.

MacNamara walled off the governor from others, played agency heads against each other, hired loyalists at six-figure salaries (paying them more than women in the same jobs), forced out his rivals and helped out his buddies, according to a Herald/Times story published Sunday. ...

The Florida Democratic Party couldn’t have picked a better chief of staff for Scott.

"Accusing lawyers of pandering to the court"

The Sarasota Herald Tribune editors: "Three justices will be up for merit retention in the November general election; two of them face some organized opposition. The opponents also criticized the Florida Bar for its public-awareness campaign, accusing lawyers of pandering to the court." "Editorial: Judging on merit".

"Republicans entering Florida with distinct disadvantage with the Hispanic community"

"The presidential race could come down to this: "

To win in November, President Barack Obama or Mitt Romney needs the biggest swing state: Florida. For that, either man needs Florida's critical swing area: the I-4 corridor. For that, he needs the corridor's swing counties: Orange and Osceola. For that, he needs the emerging Hispanic base.

Exit polls showed that Obama won 57 percent of Florida's Hispanic vote in 2008 and 67 percent in the I-4 corridor, said Florida International University political scientist Dario V. Moreno.

He narrows down this year's race even further than just the I-4 corridor, to voters within Florida's 9th Congressional District, which covers much of the Puerto Rican-heavy areas of south Orange, and all of Osceola. YaYa's is in that district.

"I think it's going to be one of the 'ground zeros' of this presidential election," Moreno said.

Since the 2008 election, he said, Republicans may have put themselves into an even deeper hole, through several partisan battles, most notably over the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor, the first Puerto Rican U.S. Supreme Court justice; strong state enforcement laws against illegal immigration in Arizona and Alabama; and the DREAM Act — Obama's proposal to create a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants.

A Jan. 24 Univision/ABC poll of 517 Hispanic voters in Florida showed 70 percent were more likely to support someone who supported the DREAM Act. Only 45 percent expressed confidence that Democrats could improve the economy, yet an even smaller percentage, 38 percent, expressed confidence in Republicans.

"I think the Republicans are entering Florida with a real, distinct disadvantage with the Hispanic community," Moreno said.

"LeMieux insists that he's feeling the love"

"Republican U.S. Senate candidate George LeMieux insists that he's feeling the love on the campaign trail — despite public-opinion polls and campaign fund-raising that suggest otherwise." "LeMieux struggles in Senate race against Mack — but won't give up".

Surely firefighter pensions are to blame for this

The Miami Herald editorial board: "When does cost-cutting become self-defeating, generating more loss than gain? The answer may well be found in the title of Broward County Independent Auditor Evan Lukic’s interim-report memo to county commissioners: Lack of Fundamental Control over County Disbursements."

Mr. Lukic found that there is such weak oversight over the county’s payment system that he didn’t even wait to complete the audit, instead going straight to the commission a month ago. The situation wasn’t discussed in public, however, until the commission met on Tuesday. Mr. Lukic says that he told commissioners a month ago that, “this has to be remedied quickly, because basically you have little or no control right now.”

What that lack of control means is that the county has paid out an unknown amount of money without proper documentation. Although Mr. Lukic thinks most bills were paid accurately, the situation is serious enough that in his memo, he used alarm-bell phrases such as “absence of management oversight” and “failure to adhere to established policy and procedures” and “duplicate and erroneous payments.”

The problem stems, apparently, from the deep cuts in staff brought on in recent years by the drop in revenue during and after the Great Recession. When the number of employees in the county’s finance and administrative services department were reduced over the past several years, the remaining staff sometimes took shortcuts. Or there simply weren’t enough administrators left to provide adequate oversight. Or a staffer took a supervisor on his or her word, not on the hard numbers. Corners were cut, period. And that meant that checks were written without the paper trail to justify them.

"Mostly True"

From the very generous Politifact: "Scott's claim that 230,000 fewer people are receiving unemployment benefits than when he entered office is pretty close to the actual drop (216,684)."

But the figure is not completely an indicator that the economy is improving, as Scott suggests, and is somewhat the result of a strict new state law. Also, the trend of jobless claims started falling in mid 2009, more than a year before Scott took office. That undercuts, to a point, the suggestion Scott should get the credit.

Scott's statement is accurate but can use some additional information. That's our definition of Mostly True.

Scammers

The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "The IRS will test a new program in Florida to make it easier for local law enforcement to prosecute income tax fraud. But the IRS cannot let another tax season go by without putting better locks on the federal Treasury and aggressively going after those who try to pick them." "IRS losing fight to scammers".

Next chapter in U.S. space exploration begins

"The next chapter in U.S. space exploration should begin in about a week when a California company becomes the first private firm to send a rocket to the International Space Station." "Florida’s new Space Coast prepares to launch".

The Republican Party of Florida has paid almost $1 million since March for a TV campaign, promoting the governor's push for $1 billion more for public schools and helping state unemployment fall to a three-year low behind what the ads label Scott's "pro-business initiatives."

But even with the PR offensive, Scott's approval numbers continue to scrape bottom.

Two separate polls late last month showed 54 percent of Floridians dislike what he's done.

"It's clear that the Republican Party sees Rick Scott as a drag on the ticket and is doing everything it can to try to prop him up," said Brannon Jordan, a Florida Democratic Party spokeswoman.

But Republican activists dismiss talk that the governor's poor support among Floridians will hurt the party's political brand in the state. They point out that Scott polls strongly among Republican voters.

A new Rasmussen Reports survey showed 72 percent of Florida Republicans approve of Scott's work, despite his mediocre 43 percent backing from overall voters.

In the presidential contest, Florida Democrats hope to capitalize on their party's almost 500,000-­registered-voter advantage in helping Obama again carry the state. Republican activists, though, say Scott can help counter that by pushing supporters to the polls.

"Aura of 2008"

"Obama kicks off campaign with rallies trying to recapture aura of 2008".

Old man

Randy Schultz: "Gov. Scott may be a contemporary regulation-hater, but when it comes to Cuba, gasoline still sells for about 30 cents a gallon, and The Beatles still are playing Hamburg, West Germany."

Last week, the governor traveled to Miami to sign a bill that supposedly prevents the state or any local government from doing business with a company that does at least $1 million worth of business with Syria or Cuba. Forget that the governor signed House Bill 959 before a delegation that included Syrians. This bill is all about Cuba.

To Gov. Scott, every regulation is a weed to be pulled from the lawn of business. Yet the governor signed a bill that could kill Florida jobs. It is a sop to Cuban exiles and their patrons who have frozen U.S. policy toward the island for 53 years.

The sponsor of HB 559 was Rep. Frank Artiles, R-Miami, whose parents are Cuban exiles. Adding Syria was clever. It probably brought along any reluctant Democrats, many of whom are Jewish and didn't want to vote against legislation that seeks to punish an enemy of Israel.

In 1962, three years after Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista [a murdering, torturing dictator if there ever was one], the United States imposed a trade embargo on Cuba, intended to push out the dictator we couldn't dislodge in the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion the year before. Forty-six years later, an ailing Castro turned over power to his brother, Raul. ...

Florida's Hispanics are no longer just Cuban exiles in Miami. Gov. Scott, though, indulged them, like all powerful Florida politicians before him. The exiles, Cuba's monied class, resettled, learned the language and moved back up from working-class jobs. Their descendants keep the failed policy in place. The father of Miami Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart was speaker of the Cuban parliament under Batista. Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero is Batista's grandson.

To appreciate how incendiary Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen's pro-Castro comments were, the Marlins' stadium displaced the Orange Bowl. In the Orange Bowl on Dec. 29, 1962, President Kennedy held up the flag of Brigade 2506, the Bay of Pigs unit, and proclaimed that the flag "will be returned to this brigade in a free Cuba."

Under Batista, though, Cuba was far from free. During a second stint as president, from his coup in 1952 to his exile in 1959, Batista used repression and terror, closed universities, restricted the press, held two elections that were free in name only, skimmed a fortune from the American mobsters whom he gave free rein and ignored the poor. There was a reason peasants were trading Castro's rebels a gallon of gasoline for a gallon of milk.

Castro, of course, became his own dictator. Cuba boasts of having a literacy rate equal to ours and an infant mortality rate that is lower, but the gulags, political killings and stripping of freedoms that Americans take for granted is not a fair exchange.

Still, HB 959 wrongly equates Cuba with Syria as sponsors of terrorism. So does the State Department, though 14 years ago U.S. intelligence analysts concluded that Cuba posed no threat to American security. ...

It is in Florida's interest to stop pretending that it's 1962.

Mitt moves to Tampa

"Mitt Romney's general election campaign is starting to take shape in Florida."

The campaign is close to leasing space in Tampa for its Florida headquarters — not far from the Barack Obama campaign's state headquarters — and the Florida primary band is getting back together.

Molly Donlin is state director, having led the Florida primary campaign, as well as successful primary campaigns in Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin. The pride of Xavier University was RNC victory director in Michigan in 2010, field director for the Rudy Giuliani campaign in Florida in 2008 and worked on George W. Bush's Ohio campaign in 2004.

Mini-Mack "flummoxed"

"U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, front-runner for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, is not keen on questions that veer from his prepared script. A few weeks ago, he appeared on MSNBC and was flummoxed when Chuck Todd tried to get his position on extending low interest rates on student loans." "Mack sticks to script".

Meanwhile, "Mack pounced on a statement by GOP Senate primary opponent George LeMieux that he would have voted for the Restore Act, differing with U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who voted against it. The issue is complex and ironic, considering that Rubio initially was a sponsor of the Restore Act, intended to make sure that most of the fines paid by BP for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster go to restoration of Gulf waters." "Mack rips LeMieux for Restore stance".

Wingnuts want it all

"Challengers to the federal health care act have accused the federal government of placing a loaded gun to their heads. They have waved the rattlesnake flag bearing the words Don't Tread on Me, popularized during the Revolutionary War, just below the U.S. Supreme Court steps. And some, including Florida Gov. Rick Scott, have refused to comply with what they say is an unprecedented overreach by the federal government."

The incendiary language, the split-off of 26 states legally challenging the law, and the outright rebellion of some top state officials have drawn parallels to the Civil War. In fact, the struggle encapsulated by the Affordable Care Act harks back to the founding of the republic and the central question considered by its founders: Should power lie in the hands of the federal government or with the states? ...

States opposing the law have accused the federal government of "coercion" because they risk losing all of their Medicaid funding if they do not agree to add thousands of Americans to their rolls.

Or as South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson put it: "States are having a loaded gun put to their heads by the federal government - forcing them to choose between their fiscal and physical health."

If the Court does declare the act unconstitutional, it would have ruled that Congress lacks the power to adopt what it thought the most effective, efficient, fair, and politically workable remedy—not because that national remedy would violate anyone’s rights, or limit anyone’s liberty in ways a state government could not, or be otherwise unfair, but for the sole reason that in the Court’s opinion our constitution is a strict and arbitrary document that denies our national legislature the power to enact the only politically possible national program. If that opinion were right, we would have to accept that our eighteenth- century constitution is not the enduring marvel of statesmanship we suppose but an anachronistic, crippling burden we cannot escape, a straitjacket that makes it impossible for us to achieve a just national society.

The crucial constitutional challenge is to one central provision of the act. The act provides, among other benefits, health care insurance for the 16 percent of citizens who now lack it, and it forbids insurance companies to deny coverage or charge higher premiums to those who have a preexisting illness or risk. These obviously just benefits cannot be provided, however, unless all citizens—the young and healthy as well as the elderly and already sick—join the insurance pool. If only those likely to need treatment seek insurance, the insurance companies would have to charge astronomical premiums that most of those needing coverage could not afford. The premise of all social insurance plans, including the Social Security program, is that inescapable risks should be shared across a political community between those more and those less at risk. The act follows this principle; it provides that with few exceptions Americans who are not insured by their employers or by other government programs must purchase insurance themselves or, if they do not, pay what the act calls a “penalty” on their tax return amounting to the greater of $695 or 2.5 percent of their income. There is no other sanction for a failure to buy.

It is this so-called “mandate” that the plaintiffs in this case—twenty-six states, a group of businesses, and some private citizens—challenge as unconstitutional. They say that although the Constitution gives Congress the power to limit or forbid commercial activity that has a significant impact on the national economy, it denies Congress power to require commercial activity, like buying health insurance, even when that activity is crucial to the national economy. That distinction between negative and positive regulation—between dictating the terms of insurance and requiring people to buy insurance—is the heart of the constitutional challenge. It was treated as potentially decisive by all the conservative justices who spoke—Justice Kennedy, for instance, asked whether the mandate doesn’t “create” commerce rather than regulate it. Why is that difference between restricting and requiring activity so important?

We cannot ignore the political dimensions of this case. The Republican Party and the candidates for its presidential nomination relentlessly denounce the act, perhaps largely because it was one of President Obama’s main domestic achievements during his first term. They hope that the conservative justices will declare the act unconstitutional; they think that will help them defeat the president in November. But the act is plainly constitutional and it will be shaming if, as so many commentators now expect, those justices do what Obama’s enemies hope they will.

Our recent history is marred by a number of very badly reasoned Supreme Court decisions that, deliberately or not, had a distinct partisan flavor: Citizens United, for example, which, most critics agree, has already had a profound and destructive impact on our democratic process. These decisions soiled the Supreme Court’s reputation and they harmed the nation. We must hope, though perhaps against the evidence, that the Court will not now add to that unfortunate list.

Fla-baggers frustrated as lobbyist pulls Scott's strings

"Steve MacNamara has officially become Tallahassee's Wizard of Oz."

The lawyer-lobbyist turned university professor is the brass-knuckles gatekeeper and omnipotent adviser to Gov. Rick Scott.

Since becoming the governor's chief of staff last July, MacNamara has controlled access to the governor and his schedule, assumed authority over appointments and dictated press releases and policy memos. He has directed the governor's message and reached into the bowels of agencies to remove people he doesn't like and install favorites.

His critics call him Florida's "shadow governor," noting that agency contracts have been redirected, gambling allowed to expand, and a policy to privatize state prisons, which Scott didn't focus on during his campaign, has become an administration priority.

"I voted for the outsider and he has hired the consummate insider and he is acting like an insider now,'' said Henry Kelley of the Fort Walton Beach Tea Party. "It's very disappointing."

MacNamara's first orchestrated ouster came with the removal of Department of Corrections Chief Ed Buss. The prisons chief had been lured to Florida from Indiana but, once here, became a vocal critic of a Senate-led effort to privatize 30 South Florida prisons.

The idea was an important one to MacNamara whose close friend, Jim Eaton, is the lead lobbyist for the Geo Group, one of the nation's largest private prison companies which stands to make billions in state business if they win the privatization contracts.

'Glades

"Negotiators are on the verge of a major agreement that would commit Florida to $890 million more for Everglades cleanup." "Settlement close in Glades cleanup suits".

Rubio "trying to rebrand himself"

Andres Oppenheimer: "Sen. Marco Rubio, the 40-year-old rising star of the Republican Party and among top contenders to be Gov. Mitt Romney’s running mate, is trying to rebrand himself from a right-wing Cuban-American politician to a center-right Hispanic one." "New Marco Rubio faces key test".

Fla-GOP's "advantage is the smallest it's been in a decade"

Aaron Deslatte: "Now that the major court challenges to new political districts seem to have ended, politicos can return to their regular campaign-season summer jobs of pleading for checks, promoting themselves and trashing their opponents. But for voters curious whether the 2010 Fair Districts constitutional standards made a difference, the unequivocal answer is — look around."

It's true that the House, Senate and congressional maps all still favor Republicans in a state with a half-million more Democrats — and GOP leaders did manage to protect a few of their friends.

But the advantage is the smallest it's been in a decade, and the ripples from Fair Districts will run all the way to the ballot boxes this fall.

"Modernizing the state's antiquated tax system"

Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy: "The deadline for filing federal income tax returns serves as a reminder of a distinction Florida shares with only six other states: imposing no state personal income tax."

The absence of the tax is appreciated by most Floridians. But it has consequences on Florida's tax structure, affecting who pays for public services and whether the revenue generated by the tax system is adequate to meet state needs.

In summary, Florida is a low-tax state, rated the second-worst in the nation, inadequate to meet the need for public services, and worsened by subsidies and tax breaks to large, profitable corporations. It would be made even worse by elimination of the corporate income tax.

Keeping that tax and modernizing the state's antiquated tax system would best serve Florida.

"'Depopulating' Citizens"

The Miami Herald editorial board: "'Depopulating' Citizens requires careful approach" "Florida’s risky business".

Scott's "way or the highway"

Thomas Tryon: "Rick Scott is driving home this message to trustees of colleges and other board members appointed by the governor: It's my way or the highway."

Dissent and independent thinking -- even in their mildest and most respectable forms -- apparently are considered conduct unbecoming board members appointed by Gov. Scott.

"Pretty, pretty please nominate Marco Rubio"

"Maybe they're whistling past the graveyard, but Florida Democrats say they're not worried about Rubio as Mitt Romney's running mate in the presidential race. A memo from a state Democratic Party official says, 'pretty, pretty please nominate Marco Rubio.'

"In the midst of Veepstakes, Rubio has hit a few speed bumps as questions about whether he is too risky to be on the ticket hit a fever pitch," said Scott Arceneaux, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party.

The memo reflects the second thoughts being voiced by some conservative commentators as well as Democrats about the "Rubio fever" in the running mate race. It lists eight reasons Arceneaux thinks Rubio won't help Romney.

- "Rubio provides Romney no cover in the Sunshine State." True, one poll showed Romney performed no better in Florida with Rubio on the ticket, but that's just one poll — and it didn't measure whether Rubio would create excitement among the Florida GOP base.

- "GOP still have a Hispanic problem." True, but a Hispanic name on the ballot wouldn't hurt.

- "Bio flap still looms large." By misstating when his family came here from Cuba, Rubio appears to have sought to associate them with anti-Castro, anti-communist refugees, when in fact they came here among the economic refugees from the pre-Castro, Fulgencio Batista era. But anti-Castro Cubans still love him, and does it matter to anyone who isn't Cuban?

- "No love from the ladies." Rubio voted against re-authorizing the Violence Against Women Act and favored the Blunt Amendment allowing employers to decline to offer health insurance that covers birth control. That won't help Romney close his gender gap.

"Bumper stickers at the Feather Sound Country Club offered the first clue"

Tim Nickens: "Bumper stickers on the cars and pickups outside the Feather Sound Country Club offered the first clue about the group inside."

Ron Paul for president. Support state Rep. Larry Ahern and Pinellas County Commissioner Nancy Bostock, two of the county's most conservative Republican officeholders. "Fluoride: There is poison in the tap water." Pro oil drilling and anti-Obama.

Inside, Barbara Haselden from the South Pinellas 912 Patriots tea party group stood before an audience of about 60 last Sunday and opened the meeting about light rail. The St. Petersburg insurance company executive said elected officials from throughout Pinellas had been invited, but the only familiar faces I saw were county Commissioners Neil Brickfield and Norm Roche, who are also on the board of the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority. They are no fans of building light rail in Pinellas. They also are half of the Fluoride Four — the county commissioners who voted last year to ignore science and public health and remove fluoride from the county's drinking water.

It would be easy to write off 60 folks listening to rail opponents on a Sunday afternoon more than a year from any referendum. That would be a mistake.

These are the dedicated voters who elected conservatives in 2010 such as Roche to the County Commission and Ahern and Rep. Jeff Brandes to the Legislature. The St. Petersburg Republican lawmakers opposed legislation that would have required the PSTA property tax to be repealed if the voters approve the sales tax increase and the money is used for the project.

These are also the voters and legislators who persuaded Gov. Rick Scott to veto the bill. And Scott relies on voices like O'Toole and the Cato Institute to justify killing high-speed rail and growth management.

Second, the rail opponents are poisoning the Pinellas light rail debate before it starts. Haselden said her group has met with hundreds of businesses along the proposed rail route. A website and yard signs opposing the plan are already up.

Those who believe mass transit and smart growth are essential for Pinellas' future better start moving. Otherwise, this train could run off the tracks pretty fast.