Scott took pen in hand to issue a manifesto of phooey, decrying what he perceived to be efforts by the party opposite and its comrades to subvert the election process by allowing noncitizens to vote. . . .

But for pure piffle, wrapped in fiddle-faddle and enshrouded in claptrap, even Scott managed to top himself when it comes to hypocrisy by insisting, "I don't view the world through a partisan lens." . . .

This odd burst of faux nonpartisanship rings a bit hollow for a pol who has practically relocated the governor's mansion to the Villages.

[W]hen his own party is up to its ascots engaging in vote fraud, Scott's missionary zeal comes off flatter than a bucket of warm beer. Rather than vigorously condemn the GOP vote fraud and the baseless, politically motivated campaign against the Florida justices, the governor has turned into the Marcel Marceau of elective ethics.

Scott's letter isn't a statement of principles, but of principal. To fight against his imaginary foes, Scott asks recipients of his note to contribute to the Republican Party of Florida. Any amount will do, but $1,000 would be simply swell.

To be fair, considering the legal bills likely to be associated with a FDLE criminal investigation into the tainted voter registration forms, it's understandable why Scott would be shilling for the party.

The governor concludes his three-card monte solicitation by fretting over how the voter fraud debate has turned into "circus sideshow." He's quite right about that. Ringmaster Rick Scott has the uncomfortable role of having to clean up the mess after the GOP elephant parade.

Hispanic voters in Florida heavily favor Obama

"Hispanic voters in Florida heavily favor President Obama, strongly back his immigration positions and are highly enthusiastic about voting, according to a new poll [conducted by Latino Decisions for America’s Voice] released Thursday."

Obama pulls 61 percent Hispanic support compared to 31 percent for Republican Mitt Romney, the poll showed. The Hispanic support measured in the poll mirrors other Florida surveys that show Obama with a large lead among this crucial and growing segment of the Florida electorate. Hispanics comprise about 14 percent of the active voter rolls. Still, this 30-point margin is the largest Obama lead to date.

West called out for for "extremism"

"Congressional candidate Murphy calls out rival West for 'extremism'; West says he’s guided by founding fathers".

Country clubbers converge on St. Pete

"Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is headed to St. Petersburg on Friday for a rally. Romney’s visit comes roughly two weeks after he went to Sarasota for a rally that drew about 4,000 people." "Mitt Romney to hold rally in St. Petersburg on Friday".

"A blatant attempt to use public money to finance private religious institutions"

The Miami Herald editors write that "school boards rightly oppose Amendment 8, as it would open the door wide for a student voucher program, where state taxpayers’ money would be used to pay for tuition at private religious schools."

Supporters insist the amendment is needed because pending lawsuits threaten the ability of religiously affiliated organizations to provide services to the needy under government contracts. Yet the courts have made clear that contracting services with such groups as Catholic Charities, Habitat for Humanity or Jewish Community Services to feed the poor, house the homeless or help immigrants would not be imperiled. These organizations already are eligible for — and receive — federal and state dollars to operate many such programs. We find this amendment still disingenuously worded. The proposal is not about religious freedom at all, but rather a blatant attempt to use public money to finance private religious institutions.

Teabaggers in a dither as unemployment falls again

"U.S. jobless rate falls to 7.8%, 44-month low".

"Romney stuck with the fantasy that everything can be made right with tax cuts"

The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "Americans heard two starkly different approaches to fixing the economy and cutting the federal deficit on Wednesday night in the first presidential debate."

President Barack Obama offered the realistic approach of mixing spending cuts with new revenue. Republican nominee Mitt Romney stuck with the fantasy that everything can be made right with tax cuts and spending reductions. The first debate broke no new ground and had no clear winner, but it reaffirmed the clear differences between the candidates in a tight race with few undecided voters left.

"Florida Republicans revel"

"A day after GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney turned national media coverage from the verge of writing his campaign obit to watching him hurl a zestless President Barack Obama against the ropes, Florida Republicans reveled." "Romney Debate Performance Spices Up RPOF Victory Dinner in Orlando". And the wingnuts a running wild: "Allen West: Romney Took Obama 'Behind the Woodshed'".

"Measure would gut women’s reproductive rights"

The Miami Herald editorial board: "Amendment 6: Measure would gut women’s reproductive rights". See also "Florida Abortion Amendment: Protecting Parents' Rights or Intruding on Women?".

Unlike ACORN, Florida's Republican fraudsters tried to keep the fraud under wraps

"As criminal investigators sift through hundreds of questionable voter-registration forms filed by the Republican Party of Florida, it’s hard not to see parallels with a case four years ago that made election fraud the campaign issue it is today."

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — ACORN — became conservative shorthand for systemic voter fraud and threatened to undermine confidence in elections throughout the nation. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said as much during his final debate with Barack Obama in 2008, declaring that ACORN was “destroying the fabric of democracy.”

The offense — filling out hundreds of fraudulent voter-registration forms — is strikingly similar to what a vendor hired by Republicans is accused of doing in what has now prompted a criminal investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

In June 2008, ACORN’s Florida organizer alerted Miami-Dade County law enforcement that 1,400 registration forms that had not been turned in appeared to be problematic. Of that total, 888 were found to be fraudulent, in some cases registering the likes of actor Paul Newman and singer James Taylor.

“To their credit, they brought the forms to us,” said Joseph Centorino, who successfully prosecuted that case against 11 ACORN workers in Miami-Dade. “They turned over a whole box of forms that they thought had been done fraudulently. As far as I know, these forms were never filed at the elections offices.”

That level of cooperation has not been exhibited by Strategic Allied Consulting, the vendor hired by the Republican Party of Florida in July. No company official alerted state elections officials about problematic forms until they had already been detected by elections workers. On Sept. 17, an elections worker in Palm Beach County flagged questionable forms after spotting obvious irregularities.

It was not until that discovery was reported by the Palm Beach Post on Sept. 25 that state Republicans say they knew about problems with forms the firm was filing on behalf of the party. After firing the company last week, the state GOP filed an election-fraud complaint against it.

But in late August, an elections worker in Lee County found problematic forms filed by Strategic Allied Consulting. Although company officials on Sept. 10 fired the employee who filled out the 11 forms, they left officials hanging about what to do after their only meeting.

“I never heard back,” said Cheryl Johnson, Lee County’s voter registration director.

"Single mothers like you don’t deserve to make as much"

"When Boca Raton resident Christina Going asked her boss at Walmart what she could do to snare a higher-paying position, the answer sounded like it was designed to give her ammunition for a discrimination lawsuit."

“Single mothers like you don’t deserve to make as much. You should be in a two-income household,” Going remembers being told. On Thursday, Going joined 10 other Florida women in a federal lawsuit, accusing the retail behemoth of intentionally discriminating against women in pay and promotions. The women who lent their names to the lawsuit hope it will help hundreds of thousands of other women who they say were victims of Walmart’s discriminatory employment practices at hundreds of Walmart stores and Sam’s Clubs in Florida and along the eastern seaboard. “Walmart is definitely a man’s club,” said Going, 59, who worked at the Walmart in Clewiston from 1999 to 2003. “Women were almost like second-class citizens.”

Buyin' jobs

"Gov. Scott unveils plans for nearly 500 jobs in Central Florida".

Hager forgot voting for pregnancy ultrasound bill

"Since Florida Rep. Bill Hager was elected in 2010, no fewer than 25 bills that would restrict abortions have been filed by state lawmakers."

While most of the bills went nowhere, Hager joined the GOP-controlled legislature in approving hotly contested legislation that requires women to get ultrasounds before they have abortions. He also gave a thumbs-up to “Choose Life” license plates and agreed to put a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 6 ballot that would restrict public funding of abortions and give opponents new tools to fight legalized abortion in court.

Still, when a Delray Beach area retiree on Thursday asked if the legislature “votes on pro-life issues” and wanted to know where Hager and his opponent in the upcoming District 89 State House race stand, Hager said such legislation hadn’t been considered during his two-year tenure.

His Democratic opponent, Tom Gustafson, quickly took the microphone, reminding the roughly 50 people at the Voter’s Coalition meeting that the legislature in 2011 approved the ultrasound bill.

Reagan appointee green lights purge

"A federal judge in Fort Lauderdale ruled Thursday that Florida's purge of potential noncitizens on the voter rolls can go on."

U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch [and Reagan appointee] said federal law does not prohibit the state from removing voters who were never lawfully eligible to register in the first place. Florida has identified 198 voters as potential noncitizens — among an estimated 11.4 million registered voters — and sent the names to independent county elections supervisors for their review.

A coalition of liberal-leaning voting-rights groups had asked the court to halt the purge, arguing in a hearing Monday that federal law prohibits purging the voter rolls 90 days before an election. Attorneys for Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner countered that the state could purge noncitizens at any time because they should have never been on the voter rolls.

"We're very pleased another federal court has ruled that Florida's efforts to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls are lawful and in the best interest of Florida voters," Detzner said in a statement Thursday. "Ensuring ineligible voters can't cast a ballot is a fundamental aspect of conducting fair elections."

Zloch's ruling follows one issued by a Tallahassee federal judge in June in a separate case filed by the U.S. Justice Department. That judge also opined that the 90-day purge prohibition in the 1993 National Voter Registration Act applies to people lawfully registered to vote, such as felons, and is silent as to noncitizens.

Dawson to prison

"An eleventh-hour bid by former state lawmaker Mandy Dawson to delay going to federal prison has failed and she must turn herself in and start serving her prison sentence in Tallahassee on Friday." "Former senator's last-ditch effort to delay prison sentence fails".

Butterworth might have taken advantage of holes in the state law

"Former Department of Children & Families Secretary Bob Butterworth lobbied heavily this year to persuade his former agency to award his nonprofit company — and its for-profit partner — a $44 million-a-year state management contract."

Butterworth, however, is not registered in Tallahassee to lobby state officials. . . .

One state ethics expert said Butterworth, a Democrat and also a former judge and prosecutor, might have taken advantage of holes in the state law regulating lobbyists.

“It’s like Swiss cheese,” said Philip Claypool, the retired executive director and general counsel for the Florida ethics commission.

Florida law broadly defines lobbying as “seeking, on behalf of another person, to influence an agency with respect to a decision of the agency in the area of policy or procurement.”

But its definition of a lobbyist is narrower, turning on questions of a person’s employment, pay and job description.

“I think there is an argument on both sides,” said Claypool. “The question would have to be determined by knowing who paid whom, for what, and when, as well as what communications were made, when and under what circumstances.”

Submitting false voter registration information is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in jail and a fine of up to $5,000. Questionable forms in a dozen counties, spanning from South Florida to the Panhandle, have turned up that suggest fraud on a wide scale. Many were incomplete, at least one was registered to a dead person, and some in Palm Beach County included addresses for voters that were business locations, such as a gas station, a Land Rover dealership and a Port Everglades administrative office.

"Please limit access to the registrations to yourselves and a trusted member of your staff," Miller said in the email. "At some point, these registrations may become evidence used in court, so it is important for you to take steps to protect them from tampering."

Counties now must go back and review the forms that have been filed by the RPOF, which many have already started doing.

It is unlikely Miller's email will be enough to prevent spoilage of evidence of registration fraud. Recall that in the runup to the 2000 election, Republican Supervisors of Election actually permitted Republican Party of Florida operatives to alter thousands of absentee ballot request forms after they had been submitted, and in one county actually allowed Republicans to take absentee ballot request forms out of the Supervisor's office to be altered, and later re-submitted. One can only imagine what might happen to the current evidence of fraudulent voter registrations now in the possession of supervisors of elections.

Only 78 felons regained right to vote in 2011

"Six million Americans, including 1.5 million Floridians can't vote because of felony convictions. While more than 154,000 people had their voting rights restored during the Crist administration, 78 ex-felons regained that right in 2011." "NAACP brings campaign for voting rights restoration to Capitol".

Big ballot blues

"County election supervisors are bracing for an unprecedented influx of frustration from voters in the coming weeks, thanks to the extraordinary length of this year's election ballot." "Huge ballot likely to test voters' concentration, patience".

"Republicans say there's no 'suppression' effort"

"A coalition of union and immigration activist groups said their voter registration drives are working despite an elections law they say is designed to dampen turnout among Democrats. Republicans say there's no 'suppression' effort, and that they're closing the registration gap before the deadline." "Liberal groups tout get-out -the-vote efforts, bemoan 'suppression'; RPOF says there's no problem".

Environmental groups oppose Amendments 3 and 4

"The amendments seek to limit state and local tax increases. 1000 Friends of Florida says limiting revenue hurts programs affecting growth and quality of life, including the environment. Audubon Florida is considering opposition to both, and Sierra Club Florida is opposed to Amendment 3." "Environmental opposition announced to Amendments 3, 4".

"Disparate instances of imprudence"

Fred Grimm: "Who would have thought that two disparate instances of imprudence back in 2003, one in wartime Iraq, one in party-time Miami Beach, would come to have such relevance in the Florida election of 2012?"

Yet, the poor folks trapped in Florida’s 18th Congressional District have been subjected to a barrage of attacks ads suggesting that the events of 2003 tell all one really needs to know about their candidates.

Back in 2003, U.S. Rep. Allen West, then a colonel in the U.S. Army, was charged, though never actually court marshaled, for firing a gun near an Iraqi prisoner’s head. The Army didn’t think much of his interrogation technique, fining him $5,000 and forcing him to retire. Perhaps the incident foretold something about West’s brash character as a politician, but after two years in office, his actual congressional record informs voters exactly how this Tea Party firebrand would perform as their U.S. representative.

In 2003, when challenger Patrick Murphy was 19, he was rousted for disorderly intoxication, a fake ID and mouthing off to a cop outside a Miami Beach night club. The charges were later dropped. This incident too has become the stuff of an attack campaign, as if someone’s behavior as a 19-year-old loose on South Beach might be a useful barometer of his political acumen nine years later.

Meanwhile, a SuperPac has gone after West with a nasty cartoon ad that depicts him with an outsized head knocking old ladies around a boxing ring. Another SuperPac goes after Murphy as one of the generic Democrats who support “wasteful spending like exotic ant research,” as tiny ants scurry across the TV screen. Apparently, the ad refers to a science grant derived from an emergency bipartisan bill passed without safeguards against the money going to the forbidden reaches of entomology.

Politicizing the judiciary

The Miami Herald editorial board: "Once again the Florida Legislature can’t seem to keep its collective hands off the separate and co-equal branch of government, the judiciary." "Don’t tread on judiciary".

Meanwhile, Bill Cotterell reports that "State Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith says his party won't follow the GOP lead and take a position on Florida Supreme Court retention -- but he will as a private citizen." "Democratic chairman: 'Don't politicize the judiciary'".

"Young voters riled up over tuition increases"

"Democrats campaigning to get young voters riled up over tuition increases, state higher-ed budget cuts." "Graham and Democrats rally college students". Meanwhile, the Sunshine State News thinks the solution is to ask daddy for a loan: "Public College Students Demand More Taxpayer Handouts at Florida Democrat Press Conference".

Nelson haters hold a press conference

"Florida Chamber Calls out Bill Nelson to Push Feds for More Customs Officers at MIA".

"Obama Needed Some Red Bull"

"Post-Debate Florida Voices: Romney Substantive, Obama Needed Some Red Bull".

"Only Senate race between two incumbents"

"Bogdanoff, Sachs face off in state’s only Senate race between two incumbents".

Scott ineffective in water wars

"Alabama, Florida and Georgia have been battling over water from the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river system for more than 20 years. While visiting Franklin County, Scott said he has asked the Corps of Engineers to allow more water to flow to Florida but has been told they are doing their job." "While visiting struggling seafood workers, Scott says water focus should be on federal reservoir operations".

"I have grave concerns not just about the Republican National Committee's decision to retain this company, but also about what the company has allegedly done," said U.S. Rep. Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland in a statement to the Times/Herald. "Contrary to a 'zero-tolerance' policy, it appears that the RNC knew exactly what it was doing when it hired this company as the only one it uses to conduct this kind of work across the country."

Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is asking that Sproul make himself available for an Oct. 12 interview and provide copies of correspondence with state and national Republicans. Sproul's firm was the only vendor hired by the RNC to register voters in seven battleground states and was paid $3 million.

Fred Petti, an attorney for Strategic Allied Consulting, failed to mention the Lee County problem to the Times/Herald last week as the news broke.

During a phone interview Friday, as he explained that one employee was responsible for the flawed registration forms in Palm Beach, he said he didn't know about reports of other flagged forms in other counties.

"This is the only person we've fired for this," Petti said, referring to the Palm Beach employee. "The only thing we've seen are the forms in Palm Beach."

When asked about Lee County on Tuesday, however, Petti apologized. "I'm sorry," Petti said. "I was running around like crazy that day. If I said something that was inaccurate, I didn't do it intentionally. I was so focused on Palm Beach County. I wasn't purposely trying to mislead you."

David Leibowitz, spokesman for Strategic Allied Consulting, said many thousands more filed by the firm are legitimate. The FDLE is reviewing the forms for possible criminal misconduct.

But it poses a crisis for Sproul, a Tempe, Ariz., native who also owns Lincoln Strategy Group, which received about $70,000 from Romney for President Inc.

After graduating in 1994 from the Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Minnesota, Sproul went to Washington as an intern for then-U.S. Rep. Jon Kyl of Arizona. Later he became director of the Christian Coalition Arizona branch, then executive director of the Arizona Republican Party. In 2002, he started his own consulting firm, Sproul & Associates.

"Sparks are flying"

"Regulators announced approval of a 10.8 percent rate increase for homeowners with Florida’s last-resort insurer Citizens Tuesday, but sparks are flying over a plan that would write $350 million in checks from the ratepayers’ surplus to lure private insurers to take over customers." "Consumer advocates blast Citizens’ rate increase, question plan to move customers".

"It's not clear where the money will come from"

"The state Board of Education is set to take up a budget proposal that would make a massive investment in computers and broadband connectivity, but it's not clear where the money will come from." "State education officials propose $440 million for classroom technology".

Will he sing about bombing Iran?

"McCain campaigns for Romney in Tallahassee today".

Voter suppression laws "getting walloped" in courts

The Nation's Ari Berman: "Pennsylvania is one of eleven voter suppression laws passed by Republicans since the 2010 election that have been invalidated by state or federal courts in the past year, including in crucial swing states like Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin." "Courts Block GOP Voter Suppression Laws". See also "GOP voter laws getting walloped by the courts".

Restoration campaign

"Six million Americans, including 1.5 million Floridians can't vote because of felony convictions. While more than 154,000 people had their voting rights restored during the Crist administration, 78 ex-felons regained that right in 2011. Florida releases from custody about 50,000 ex-felons annually." "NAACP brings campaign for voting rights restoration to Capitol".

Let them go to Gulliver Prep*

"In May 2011, in front of hundreds of cheering supporters in The Villages, under a banner proclaiming "Promises Made, Promises Kept," Republican Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a state budget that cut nearly $1.4 billion from Florida's public schools. Sixteen months later, the GOP legislators who passed that budget at Scott's urging are under siege across Florida from Democrats who accuse them of slashing pre-K-12 funding and sacrificing traditional public schools in favor of alternatives such as charter and private schools."

In Central Florida, Democrat Karen Castor Dentel has sent mailers blistering her opponent, Republican state Rep. Scott Plakon of Longwood, as "wrong, wrong, wrong on schools." In television ads, the Maitland public-school teacher tells voters, "I've seen firsthand how Tallahassee is hurting our schools."

Democrat Frank Bruno, campaigning for a Senate seat that covers parts of Volusia, Lake and Marion counties, has attacked his opponent, Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, for supporting a Legislature that "guts the public schools that middle-class families rely on."

Similar strategies are playing out in other parts of the state. In a South Florida Senate race between two incumbents, Democratic Sen. Maria Sachs of Delray Beach has a new television ad blistering Republican Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale for voting in favor of nearly $2 billion worth of public-school spending cuts plus "a voucher scheme that drains millions more." Television ads for Democratic House candidates from Jacksonville to St. Petersburg to Miami all promise to invest more money in public education.

Expanding on the theme, the Florida Democratic Party this week began distributing fliers on college campuses across the state reminding students that the Legislature also cut $300 million from state universities this year.

- - - - - - - - - -

*The private school where "Jeb!" saw fit to send George Prescott Bush to school.

Number of registered voters has risen since 2008

"Statewide, the number of registered voters has risen since the 2008 presidential race, in large part reflecting an increase in voters not affiliated with either of the major parties."

According to the Florida Division of Elections, as of August, there were 2,454,020 voters listed as having no party affiliation, an increase of more than 320,000 since Oct. 2008, just before the presidential election.

Overall 11,700,603 Floridians were registered as of September 29, about 117,000 more than in August and up from 11,386,103 four years ago. The 2012 number almost certainly has risen as the election nears and registration work intensifies, as well as with a recent court ruling easing restrictions on third-party registration organizations like the League of Women Voters.

Within the last month, voter registration numbers have risen for both political parties.

As of Sept. 29, the most recent data available, 4,199,692 Florida voters were registered as Republicans, up from 4,173,177 through August. Democrat registrations rose to 4,676,595 as of Sept. 29, up from 4,627,929 a month earlier.

And so it begins

"Thousands of South Florida voters can now begin casting ballots for president – even before Barack Obama and Mitt Romney meet Wednesday night for the first of three debates. But not yet in Broward County. Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher began mailing absentee ballots for the Nov. 6 election on Tuesday. The 110,000 Broward voters who've already requested absentee ballots have to wait another week. Broward's go in the mail starting Oct. 9." "Florida presidential voting about to begin".

Text messages trouble

"Mayor Teresa Jacobs on Tuesday criticized the Orlando Sentinel for a story about text messages that she said distorted how she and those around her dealt with the fierce debate over a proposed Orange County sick-time ballot measure. . . . Jacobs, who declined to comment for the original Sentinel article, said at the County Commission meeting on Tuesday that the wrongly attributed texts left a false impression that she had been lobbied on the issue." "Jacobs blasts sick-time story".

60 percent to 70 percent of voting done before Election Day

Jeremy Wallace: "Statewide, Florida elections officials have seen absentee voting jump from 18 percent of general election ballots in 2004 to 22 percent in 2008. Some experts predict as many as one of every three votes cast this year will be absentee. Combined with early voting, the state now projects 60 percent to 70 percent of all voting will be done before Election Day." "Absentee voting surges".

The hypocrite in an empty suit

The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "The slew of negative ads that Gov. Rick Scott ran two years ago about his opponent's role with the state public pension fund helped him win the election. Scott claimed that once he was on the job, all would be well for the Florida Retirement System's nearly 900,000 current and retired members."

Yet, 21 months into the job, he has done little differently, and now outside advisers for a second year have warned the state it is investing too little to secure the pension fund long-term. It's time for the governor's actions to match his rhetoric.

Florida's pension fund remains relatively healthy compared to most states, but it still has not rebounded from billions lost in the 2008 financial crisis. Its nearly $130 billion in assets is enough to cover roughly 87 percent of its long-term liabilities. And changes in benefit accrual approved by the Legislature for state and some local government employees hired after July 1, 2011, will reduce the state's liability decades from now.

That hasn't stopped Scott from repeatedly pointing to the state's unfunded liability with dire warnings that employees' pensions could be in jeopardy. His hypocrisy: As one of the three trustees who oversee the pension fund's investments, he has yet to deliver a proposal to improve it.

Did you know Floridians are "being put at risk by public-safety unions"?

The we-don't-want-our-employees-to-get-any-big-ideas crowd on the Palm Beach Post editorial board gives us this gem of an editorial today: "Ease threat to Florida cities from police, fire pensions".

The editorial, written by putative librul Randy Schultz, in an apparent fit of ignorance (we'll be polite and assume he's not stupid), writes that municipal pension changes will "keep cities from being put at risk by public-safety unions." With the little respect Mr. Schultz is apparently due, we urge him to delve into Florida's public sector labor laws; if he can piece his way through the big words, he'll learn that (1) pensions are mandatory subjects of bargaining; and (2) in bargaining, Florida's public employers have the right to unilaterally determine the contents of mandatory subjects of bargaining. So, there's no need for the Legislature to pass any more laws, Mr. Schultz, because Florida's city councils and commissions have all the authority they need to gut municipal police and fire pensions. And the cities are doing just that, Mr. Schultz, largely unhampered, all across the state.

"West, Murphy exchange fire"

"West, Murphy exchange fire in congressional campaign attack ads".

Where's Marco?

"In a unique case followed closely by immigration experts, the Florida Supreme Court will consider whether an undocumented immigrant can practice law in Florida. Jose Godinez-Samperio, 26, of Tampa, is the undocumented child of immigrants and a 'dreamer,' in the jargon of the DREAM Act." "Florida Supreme Court considers: Can immigrant illegally in U.S. practice law?" See also "Florida high court weighs noncitizen’s right to practice law in U.S.".

"Political grandstanding"

The Miami Herald editorial board: "With 11 amendments on the ballot, voters in the Sunshine State will face a lengthy series of proposed changes to the state Constitution, some of them downright confusing and nearly unintelligible. All of the proposals were cooked up in Tallahassee by lawmakers, who often seemed intent on political grandstanding rather than legislating to achieve narrow, often partisan objectives at the cost of fiddling around with the state’s basic document." "No to these amendments". The Tampa Tribune editorial board: "Flunking Amendment 12". See also "Environmental opposition announced to Amendments 3, 4". Related: "Court ruling takes teeth out of proposed health care amendment".

"Much stranger, bizarre and improbable than anything a good novelist could make up"

Michael Putney writes that, as "Dave Barry and Carl Hiaasen like to say, you can’t make this stuff up. The reality of South Florida politics is so much stranger, bizarre and improbable than anything a good novelist could make up. Consider: A political consultant sitting around naked with a gun telling her former husband that his weapon is nothing compared to hers? And then she squeezes off a round or two as he tries to leave. Yikes!" "David Rivera’s political scandal makes a splash".

"Easier time gaining access to Thomas Pynchon than to Florida Senate President Don Gaetz"

Daniel Ruth: "There's an old line that says if you are going to plot to kill the king, you darn sure better pull it off. Otherwise, unpleasantries ensue."

And that probably explains why longtime Tallahassee lobbyists Jack Cory and his wife, Kenya, are about to discover they'll have an easier time gaining access to Thomas Pynchon than to Florida Senate President Don Gaetz.

The Corys attempted to undermine Gaetz by supporting Senate candidates he opposed. They failed. Think of them as the collective Fredo Corleone of Tallahassee.

Gaetz was about as subtle as a dropped anvil when he called out the couple during a recent gathering of Associated Industries of Florida, where he was receiving an award — presumably for being such a sweetheart pal of the powerful lobbying group.

Let's leave aside for the moment the dubious honor of being recognized by the state's most prominent checkbook of influence-peddlers for being one of their favorite politicians. Gaetz took the plaque and then proceeded to slap AIF and the Corys around with it. Let's put it this way. Gaetz is a sore winner.

Gaetz was miffed that during the recent state Senate primary, the Corys had thrown in their lot with state Rep. Rachel Burgin rather than the Niceville Republican's preferred candidate, former Senate President Tom Lee.

Not only did the Corys support Burgin, they launched a smear campaign against Lee, taking note of his 2001 divorce and hinting the candidate had been a less than faithful husband. The image was in sharp contrast to their efforts to cast Burgin as a sort of Mother Teresa, only with better makeup. . . .

Burgin's loss to Lee and the sight of the Corys being served up as if it was Mel Gibson's unsightly demise in Braveheart ought to put an end to such misadventures. And in the spirit of comity, Gaetz insisted his impaling of the Corys was merely meant as an extension of an olive branch in effort to "repair relations" with the AIF.

Whew, that was close. Imagine how things might have unfolded if Gaetz had been really peeved.

The right-wing's endless whine

"While prominent lawyers and interest groups around Florida are vociferously condemning organized opposition to the November retention of three of the Sunshine State’s Supreme Court justices, they are curiously silent on one party’s entrance into the public debate: the public-sector unions."

The Florida State Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and Florida Professional Firefighters (FPF) held a press conference Monday denouncing the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) for its week-old press release announcing the state GOP’s opposition to the merit-retention campaign of Justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis, and Peggy Quince.

The justices are accused of being left-wing judicial activists by the RPOF and by Restore Justice 2012, the not-for-profit that is spearheading efforts to remove them from the ballot in November. The two organizations have been criticized by prominent lawyers from the state of injecting politics and partisanship into the merit-retention race.

Critics include former Republican state Sen. Alex Villalobos, former Democratic state representative and American Bar Association president Sandy D'Alemberte, six former Supreme Court justices, several newspaper editorial boards and the pro-retention organizations Democracy at Stake and Defend Justice from Politics.

But for all their willingness to publicly criticize opponents of the justices for politicizing the retention race, none of these persons or organizations has offered a word of public criticism of the police or fire unions.

Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher said she is getting no direction from state officials as to how to proceed in checking the other forms filed by Strategic Allied Consulting, which was fired last week.

In the past 45 days, Palm Beach County has logged 15,000 new voters. Since Aug. 1, more than 60,000 registration forms were filed, many for changes of address or updating signatures. Bucher said she doesn’t know how many of those forms, now stored in a warehouse, were filled out by Strategic Allied Consulting.

“We’re not sure if we need to go back and check,” Bucher said Monday. “Obviously, it causes us great concern.”

Bucher was hoping to find out Monday if the state was going to instruct the counties with questionable forms to adopt a uniform method to review all forms filed by the firm.

“The Republican Party of Florida did the right thing by quickly firing the company connected to faulty voter registration forms in Florida and other states across the country,” said the email from Jackie Schutz. “That company has also been referred to FDLE for a criminal investigation. We have zero tolerance for any illegal voting activity in Florida.”

When asked if Scott actually said this, Schutz emailed back: “Please attribute to the governor.”

"A perversion of a retention system"

Fred Grimm explains why Florida has merit retention, and bemoans that the "campaign to oust Justices R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince has been bankrolled by right-wing activists offended by a court decision to throw out a piece of anti-Obamacare legislation. It’s all about politics. And a perversion of a retention system designed to get rid of the corrupt and inept. Not to punish judges who fail to reckon with the political winds." "Keep politics out of justices’ retention". Meanwhile, even the traditionally conservative "Police and fire unions blast GOP attack on Supreme Court". See also "Unions Attack RPOF Opposition to Retention".

Whatever

"Political ads will ramp up during your favorite TV shows".

GOPer GOTV

Joe Henderson: "Think about the amendments: health care, lower taxes, religious freedom. They all are sponsored by the Republican-led Legislature and could drive voter turnout in what should be a tight election for Florida's electoral votes for president." "GOP-themed ballot issues may boost voting".

"Further proof that the state’s economy has finally recouped"

"Led by a resurgent building industry, Florida businesses’ sales jumped 9 percent in July. . . . Overall, Florida’s $70.4 billion in total sales surpassed an old record of $68.6 billion set in July 2008, providing further proof that the state’s economy has finally recouped what it lost during the downturn." "Florida business sales have record July".

The Week Ahead

"The Week Ahead for Oct. 1 to Oct. 5".

CD 22

"If Adam Hasner is to defeat Lois Frankel and head to Washington, he’ll have to do what Allen West wouldn’t attempt — win as a Republican in a congressional district with a significant Democratic advantage." "Frankel, Hasner run for Congress on experience, philosophical divide".

Purge litigation

"U.S. District Judge William J. Zloch said he will likely rule later this week on whether the state can purge suspected noncitizens from the voter rolls 90 days before Election Day." "Fort Lauderdale judge hears arguments in voter-purge case".

Amendment 5

"The Florida Supreme Court is looming high over the state’s upcoming November election. Not only are three of the high court's justices up for merit retention, but voters are being asked to weigh in on a measure that would radically change how their successors are appointed."

If passed by 60 percent of those headed to the polls, the Florida Supreme Court Amendment – or Amendment 5 – would alter Article V of the Florida Constitution in at least three key respects.

First, it would require the governor’s appointees to the Supreme Court be confirmed by state Senate, just as at the federal level all of the president’s judicial appointees are confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Currently in Florida, the Constitution provides that the governor appoints all judges to the state Supreme Court and district courts of appeal, from lists of nominees submitted to him by the Judicial Nominating Commission. Under Amendment 5, Supreme Court appointees would face the additional crucible of Senate confirmation: the Senate may vote to confirm or reject the appointment; the appointment will also be deemed confirmed if the Senate neglects to vote on it within 90 days.

Second, Amendment 5 provides for greater legislative input in formulating rules of civil and criminal procedure -- i.e., the procedural regulations courts follow when they adjudicate disputes. Under current Florida law, the Supreme Court establishes these rules, and they may only be overturned by the Legislature by a two-thirds vote of the membership of the House and the Senate; the Supreme Court is free to re-adopt the rule if it wishes. Amendment 5 would allow the Legislature to repeal a rule by a simple majority vote of both houses of the Legislature; if the Legislature finds that a rule has been re-adopted, it may (again, by a majority vote in both houses) repeal the re-adopted rule and prevent the Supreme Court from re-adopting it a second time.

Finally, and least controversially, Amendment 5 provides that the state House of Representatives shall have access to all documents of the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC), at the request of the speaker of the House. (The JQC investigates judges accused of misconduct and can recommend they be disciplined.)

Never mind

"The payoff for one of Gov. Rick Scott’s top legislative priorities in 2012 was supposed to be lower auto insurance rates after sharp reductions in Personal Injury Protection benefits, but early returns show PIP rates increasing in at least half the cases." "PIP rates go up for some insurers despite promised savings under state law". See also "Early returns show mixed results for PIP law as chiropractors sue".

Pension haters cross their fingers

"State pension's assumptions may change".

Brilliant mistake

"On Monday, U.S. congressional candidate Keith Fitzgerald, D-Sarasota, announced the firing of new communications director Ana Maria Rosato barely 90 minutes after Sunshine State News brought to light a string of recent pornographic and anti-Catholic tirades on her blog." "Democratic Candidate Keith Fitzgerald Fires Spokeswoman After X-Rated, Anti-Catholic Rants Exposed". See also "Sexually explicit rants cost Fitzgerald spokeswoman her job".

"Back in the day?"

Myriam Marquez: "Corruption now in Miami-Dade? How about back in the day?".

Prostitution client list supposedly included "unidentified 'Congressman' from the 'West coast'"

"About 50 pages of evidence released on Monday provide new details about a complex prostitution bust that led to the arrest of an alleged brothel owner who listed State Rep. Mike Horner of Kissimmee as a client. . . . The list also references another unidentified "Congressman" from the "West coast of Florida," with no contact information. That client, the document states, canceled his appointment." "New evidence released in busted brothel that listed Horner as client".

The best they could do?

"The idea to limit state revenue is facing opposition from church groups. About 50 protestors, including clergy, marched on the Old Capitol in Tallahassee to say it's a bad idea." "Preachers say no on Amendment 3".

"Out-of-state donors"

"Out-of-state donors pour cash into Mack Senate race".

"It's safe to just vote no"

The Tampa Tribune editorial board: "Near the end of a long, complex November ballot, Florida voters will come to one more little puzzle called Amendment 12. If you have to that point managed to make sense of the impenetrable verbiage in some of the other amendments, you might want to take on the challenge of trying to figure out how you feel about this minor one. Otherwise, it's safe to just vote no. " "Flunking Amendment 12".

Amendment 6 battle

"A battle among religious groups, abortion providers and conservative politicians over taxpayer support of abortions is drawing big checks this election season — despite the fact that Florida doesn't spend tax dollars on abortion services now."

Amendment 6 would restrict public dollars from funding abortions or health insurance that covers abortions, except in areas covered by federal law. Perhaps more important, it also overrides Florida court decisions that have upheld broader privacy rights than the U.S. Constitution affords.

Devoted to bashing Obama, the RNC gave the president’s reelection campaign a political contribution of sorts by insisting that state parties, such as Florida’s, hire a vendor that’s now under investigation for voter-registration fraud by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in as many as 10 counties involving at least 220 suspect forms.

Remember all that talk from Republicans about voter fraud?

Well, it ain’t just for ACORN anymore.

Republicans this year in Florida have added about 46,000 new voters to the rolls. Democrats have added 220,000 — and a good deal of that work was done by the Obama campaign and unpaid volunteers, Democrats say.

Democrats now lead Republicans by 443,166 active registered Florida voters. Expect that lead to grow.

The numbers are instructive. They indicate that Republicans felt the need to do something to boost their ranks and make it look like there was enthusiasm for their party as well.

The chances that Republicans wanted to create phony voters to fraudulently cast ballots are unlikely. It’s almost impossible to do, and it could result in a felony charge.

The fraud, to the degree there was any, was probably committed by part-time workers who wanted to collect a paycheck and do little work or by zealots who wanted to show Republicans gaining strength on the ground.

Florida Republican fund-raiser with golf cart full of "presumed prostitutes"

"Delmar Johnson, the state's star witness in the fraud and theft trial of former Florida Republican Chairman Jim Greer, told attorneys in a sworn statement that he saw a golf cart full of women — he presumed they were prostitutes — at a party fund-raiser in the Bahamas in 2008."

Johnson, 33, of Winter Garden, gave a video-recorded deposition June 15 in the criminal case against Greer, the ousted party chairman now awaiting trial on theft and fraud charges. The Orlando Sentinel obtained a copy Friday.

Johnson's most dramatic revelation was about a party fund-raiser in the Bahamas in 2008. In attendance were major party donors and prominent Florida Republicans, he said.

"I specifically saw a golf cart with young ladies drive by, the extent of why they were there I did not specifically know," Johnson said. "But I could presume they were prostitutes."

In his deposition, Johnson identified a handful of prominent Republicans whom he said were at the fund-raiser, including Greer and Tallahassee lobbyist Brian Ballard.

Ballard said Friday night that he was there, along with about 100 other people, and said he knew nothing about any guests spending time with prostitutes.

200 residents, farm workers and clergy protest Publix

"Nearly 200 residents, farm workers and members of the clergy protested outside the Broadway Promenade Publix on Sunday on behalf of tomato harvesters they say are underpaid. Prohibited from leaving the sidewalk along the Tamiami Trail, they reiterated their objections to the store's recent trespass warning against a local minister and the grocery store chain's refusal to strike an agreement to get higher wages for tomato farm laborers." "Protesters ask Publix to support tomato harvesters".

"Capital Briefs"

"State Capital Briefs".

The best she can do?

Nancy Smith does her best to explain why, "In November when [she will] vote not to retain the three justices on the ballot, it will have nothing to do with a handful of Florida rulings that run contrary to my politics. It will have everything in the world to do with competence."

Justices Barbara J. Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Peggy A. Quince, up for retention this cycle, didn't invent the existing judicial system. But they are part of it. And they did fail to learn from the past, fail to mind the store, fail to stop disasters that happened on their watch.

Allow me to present my case for the general incompetence of the judiciary and the Bar -- the legal system at the highest level in Florida.

Like any other arm of government, the judicial branch needs that eye in the sky, that secret camera. It needs self-policing and constant correction. That's how the merit retention of judges and justices came to be.

"Amendment 8 has created a firestorm of controversy"

"The ballot title says it's an issue about religious freedom."

Supporters, including Catholics statewide, say it's all about making sure that soup kitchens, elder care and other services provided by faith-based organizations aren't left out in the cold.

Opponents say it's a smokescreen designed to pave the way for a school voucher program at church-run schools, and that it will erode the separation between church and state. A school board member in Alachua County even called it "the very death of public schools."

Either way, the 72-word Amendment 8, titled "Religious Freedom" and sponsored by the Florida Legislature, has created a firestorm of controversy as the Nov. 6 election nears.

"One-fourth of the nation's new jobs last month were created in Florida"

"About one-fourth of the nation's new jobs last month were created in Florida, a hopeful sign that the stricken state will slowly resume its customary role as an engine for economic growth over the next four years. Economists say it might happen, and Florida voters certainly hope so." "Signs of recovery may influence voters' presidential choices".

Hialeah ballot-broker coordinated and attended campaign events during county work hours

"Like many Hialeah ballot-brokers, 25-year-old Anamary Pedrosa began collecting absentee ballots this summer from those close to her, including her mother and a cousin’s boyfriend."

At the same time, the former aide to Miami-Dade County Commissioner Esteban Bovo was establishing herself as a sophisticated campaign worker in a world that is dominated by her elders.

During county work hours, Pedrosa coordinated and attended campaign events for at least one candidate for the state Legislature and four judicial candidates. She told candidates she would introduce them to elderly Hispanic voters, and took them to meet her grandmother’s neighbors in a low-income apartment building in Hialeah Gardens.

Pedrosa, who received immunity from prosecution after giving a sworn statement to authorities, is a key figure in a growing criminal investigation that began in late July after she dropped off a bundle of 164 absentee ballots at a post office. Those who know the young Cuban immigrant do not understand why she was gathering the ballots in Bovo’s office or getting involved with political campaigns.

"Draconian cutbacks to education, roads and schools"

"Depending on who’s doing the analysis, a proposed amendment that would change the formula for limiting the amount of revenue Florida can collect each year from taxes and fees would either rein in willy-nilly government spending or cause Draconian cutbacks to education, roads and schools."

Florida’s constitution already includes a revenue cap aimed at curtailing state spending. But that limit, which hasn’t been reached since voters put it in the constitution in 1994, doesn’t go far enough, according to the Republican lawmakers who put Amendment 3, a measure they call the “Smart Cap,” on this year’s Nov. 6 ballot.

The existing cap limits the increase in state revenue in any year to the average annual rate of growth in Florida personal income over the previous five years. Amendment 3 would replace the 1994 formula with one that would limit each year’s increase in revenue to the average annual change over the previous five years in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index times the state’s rate of change in population.

If state revenue were to exceed the limit in any given year, the amendment would require the excess to first go into a stabilization fund, then be used to reduce the amount school districts are required to pay the state to pay for education and, if any more remained, finally be returned to taxpayers.

According to the legislature’s staff analysis of the proposed amendment, Amendment 3 would cap the state’s revenue in 2014 at $32.3 billion, compared to the nearly $50 billion cap under the current formula. State economists estimate that Florida’s actual revenue in 2014 will be about $31.6 billion, or about $657 million below the proposed cap compared to the $18.4 billion buffer remaining under current law.

Minutes away from winning

"Palm Beach County Commissioner Shelley Vana was minutes away from winning a second and final term without opposition, when Republican Cliff Montross filed papers to challenge her for the District 3 seat." "Perennial candidate Montross challenges incumbent Vana for Palm Beach County commission seat".

Amendment 4

"Voters will revisit one of the Florida Legislature's pet pocketbook issues in November, with nearly half of the proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot addressing property tax breaks." "Amendment 4 foes: Tax breaks mean unintended consequences".

Last week they uncorked the first of a series of commercials from their political action committee, Americans for Prosperity. The targets are Justices R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince.

They were three of the five-vote majority that in 2010 knocked down a half-baked amendment slapped together by state lawmakers seeking to nullify the federal Affordable Health Care Act.

The Florida Supreme Court upheld lower court decisions in finding that the proposed amendment contained “misleading and ambiguous language,” the hallmark of practically everything produced by this Legislature. Stoned chimpanzees have a keener grasp of constitutional law.

This is worth repeating: If the Kochs have their way, Rick Scott — yes, that Rick Scott — gets to pack the Supreme Court with his own hand-picked crew.

Yikes is right.

The head of the Florida chapter of Americans for Prosperity is a person called Slade O’ Brien, whose job is to keep a straight face while saying things like: “We’re not advocating for the election or defeat of any of the justices. What we’re attempting to do is call more attention to them advocating from the bench.”

Meanwhile the state GOP’s executive board is less coy. It voted to oppose the retention of Quince, Lewis and Pariente, branding them “too extreme.”

Justice Pariente, 63, has been on the court for 15 years. She was graduated from George Washington University Law School and clerked in Fort Lauderdale under U.S. District Judge Norm Roettger, who was no softie.

Justice Lewis, 64, who was graduated cum laude from the University of Miami Law School, has been on the court almost 14 years. Both he and Pariente were appointed by Gov. Lawton Chiles, not exactly a wild-eyed liberal.

Justice Quince, also 64, is the first African-American woman on the Supreme Court. A graduate of the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University, she worked for years prosecuting death-penalty cases in the state Attorney General’s office.

In 1999, she was jointly selected for the high court by Chiles and that wacky left-winger, Jeb Bush.

Twice before Floridians have voted to keep these justices, but now the Kochs from Wichita say they know better. You won’t see David or Charlie in any of the campaign commercials because they don’t like people to know they’re prying.

Turns out, our Republican gunslingers didn’t have far to look. The wily varmints corrupting Florida’s electoral process have been working right under their noses. Republican party operatives were running what appear to be a fraudulent voter registration activities in at least nine Florida counties (including Miami-Dade) and probably more. And they were doing it with party money. Strategic Allied Consulting, the party’s highest paid vendor, reportedly collected $667,598 in July, and another $667,598 in August to register new voters. But all that money came with a wink. . . .

“One of my workers noticed that a lot of the applications had very similar handwriting and signatures and other discrepancies,” Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher told [Grimm] Friday. The worker summoned Bucher. She noticed that dates were wrong. Ages were wrong. Some of the home addresses actually corresponded to commercial locations, including a gas station and a car dealership. The supervisor counted 106 new registration forms she considered blatant works of fraud. She called the Palm Beach County State Attorney.

Bucher also put in a call to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner, who oversees the state’s elections. Detzner, a former lobbyist for the beer industry, has been the governor’s big gun in the campaign against election fraud. But apparently not this particular sort of election fraud. Bucher said Friday that she still hasn’t heard back from Detzner or one of his deputies. After the story hit the newspapers last week, “I got a call from the kid who answers the phones in his office. That’s all.”

But it’s not like the Republicans didn’t know who they were hiring. Strategic Allied Consulting is run by a well-connected Arizona political consultant named Nathan Sproul with a national reputation for sleazy tactics.

In 2004, Salon reported: “During the past week and a half, several former employees, elections officials and others across the country who’ve had dealings with [Sproul Associates] have revealed to various local media outlets Sproul’s methods for boosting GOP registration in key swing states. The accounts allege that Sproul’s workers were encouraged to lie, cheat and, according to Eric Russell, a former Sproul employee in Las Vegas who first told his story to a local television station last week, even destroy the registration forms of Democrats who’d registered to vote with Sproul canvassers.” . . .

And now . . . oh my . . .state party leaders have doused themselves in irony. For months, Scott and the Republican Party had been raging over the imagined hordes of illegal voters who would corrupt Florida’s elections. They’ve cajoled and threatened county election supervisors to purge registration rolls using the state-provided check-list of 2,631 supposedly illicit voters, most of them of the immigrant kind. And you know which way those damned illegal immigrants lean. Except the county supervisors noticed that many names on that list turned out to be upright citizens.

And the legislature passed a constitutionally suspect law designed to discourage non-partisan groups, like that notorious gang known as the League of Women Voters, by requiring that they turn in new registrations within 48 hours or face draconian penalties. The law served to tamp down new registrations in the state by requiring what a federal judge described as “burdensome record-keeping and reporting requirements that serve little if any purpose.”

The same judge tossed the 48-hour provision, saying, “If the goal is to discourage voter registration drives and thus also to make it harder for new voters to register, this may work. Otherwise there is little reason for such a requirement.”

I suppose the law did demonstrate the zeal of our political leadership to root out voter registration fraud. Yet these same pols hired a notorious rogue to run their own registration operation. But only on the condition that he changed the name of his company.

Oh yeah . . . about that list of 2,631 illegal voters, the great perceived threat to Florida’s election integrity. The actual number of suspicious names that needed to be culled from the state’s voter registration rolls came to 198. That’s 198 suspect voters out of 11,446,540 registered statewide. That’s all the bad guys the state bagged in this great, two-year crusade against election fraud. Strategic Allied Consultants managed more lousy registrations than that in just two months.

“This is so disheartening. These people coming into our state to do this, said Bucher. “It’s disconcerting to think that this has been going on all across the country.

Bucher has not yet received that call back from the secretary of state’s office to get the details on her county’s 106 fraudulent registrations.

Detzner’s office did, however, send her the names of all those suspected illegal immigrants on the Palm Beach County registration roles. “We had 14,” she said.

The majority of Republican Party executive committee members from Osceola and Polk counties agreed on La Rosa after interviewing finalists for the position at the Omni Hotel in Champions Gate. . . .

La Rosa’s name will not appear on the ballot as he replaces Rep. Mike Horner, R-Kissimmee, who withdrew from the contest on Sept. 24 after his name surfaced on a brothel client list.

La Rosa is a Miami native who attended the University of Central Florida, remaining in the area with his brother Michael La Rosa to sell real estate as La Rosa Realty LLC.
The brothers later partnered with their father, Andrew La Rosa, to create La Rosa Development, with projects including Paradise Palms Resort in West Osceola County and the Celebration Office Condos.

It started in 1987 when, during the Reagan Administration (but of course!), the FCC abandoned the long-standing Fairness Doctrine that had required broadcasters to air segments on controversial topics of public interest and provide time for contrasting views to be heard. Without that offset, the floodgates opened to rantings and ravings like Rush Limbaugh's.

The right wing gained additional momentum with the mockery that's been made of the equal-time rule, which was supposed to require media to give comparable exposure to political candidates, but which has so many loopholes and exceptions it is now farcical. How else could openly partisan FOX get away with being the voice of the right wing?

Add to all of this the liberalizing of media ownership rules so companies can expand their reach, Citizens United, and corporate conglomerates turning news into entertainment, and the net result is a mainstream media environment that is at best a joke, at worst complicitous in destroying any meaningful forum for public debate — an environment that Rove and others like him have mastered for so long. Little did they know the drubbing they were in for.

Behold! Davids appear to slay Goliaths —turning the Koch brothers blue and Sheldon Adelson's hair white, and throwing Rove & Co.'s takeover of America into a tailspin. How positively delicious!

It wasn't all that long ago when having Internet access was rare, almost exotic. At least publicly, no one talked about where cyberspace was going — along with people in it.
Gradually, the Internet became a fact of life, email the way to communicate, a website the sine qua non of every business and individual.

And then suddenly, it happened: Out of the gregarious urge imprinted on our DNA, people discovered the Internet's capacity to link people everywhere — and not just link but create ties that bind. To be sure, it's been infected with its share of pond scum and bottom feeders. But certain platforms have emerged as powerhouses of people-power — spreading truths, fact-checking lies.

Social media have filled the void left by the defanging of the mainstream media. In addition, savvy operatives figured out that what works in cyberspace is telling the truth. It is no accident that on Twitter, @BarackObama has 20 million followers; @MittRomney has 1.1 million--and Mitt's lies aren't sticking.

Beware! Goliaths will take revenge with a vengeance with every last buck the Kochs will give them. The Rove-types are taking more incoming attacks than they're delivering. After they've spent gazillions to destroy Obama, he's going up in the polls; Romney/Ryan is sinking.

One of the most bearish about the president’s prospects is Alfred G. Cuzan, the department chairman at the University of West Florida. He notes that since 1880, a sitting president has lost his reelection bid only six times, and only twice when the incumbent had succeeded a president of a different party.

But Cuzan, whose model is called the “Fiscal Model,” looks at changes in government spending relative to the size of the economy as his guide. He argues that the expansionary spending policies of the president dim his chances of winning.

“Even if he does squeeze by the Republican candidate,” Cuzan wrote, “it is highly likely that President Obama would do so with a smaller share of the vote than in 2008, the first president in well over a century to be reelected to a second term by a thinner margin of victory than he received the first time around.”

Some new laws requiring voters to show identification at the polls are still being challenged in court, adding to the uncertainty as the Nov. 6 election nears.
"It's a possibility of a complete meltdown for the election," said Daniel Smith, a political scientist at the University of Florida.

Voters cast provisional ballots for a variety of reasons: [1] They don't bring proper ID to the polls; [2] they fail to update their voter registration after moving; [3] they try to vote at the wrong precinct; [4] or their right to vote is challenged by someone.

These voters may have their votes counted, but only if election officials can verify that they were eligible to vote, a process that can take days or weeks. Adding to the potential for chaos: Many states won't even know how many provisional ballots have been cast until sometime after Election Day.

Voters cast nearly 2.1 million provisional ballots in the 2008 presidential election. About 69 percent were eventually counted, according to results compiled by the Associated Press. . . .

"In a close election, all eyes are going to be on those provisional ballots, and those same canvassing boards that were looking at pregnant chads and hanging chads back in 2000," Smith said. "It's a potential mess."

But last week I learned that 90 percent of the $2.5 million in political contributions Disney has spent this election cycle in Florida is going to Republicans and Republican causes, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
I had no idea your theme parks were so aligned with Republican philosophies. I think it would be great if you made that more clear to your visitors.
So here are 10 suggested changes to your theme parks that would align them morey with your political views.

"Governor Romney and I are about the same age. Like millions of others in our generation, we came to adulthood facing the harsh realities of the Vietnam War. 2.7 million in our age group went to Vietnam, a war which eventually took the lives of 58,000 young Americans and cost another 300,000 wounded. The Marine Corps lost 100,000 killed or wounded in that war. During the year I was in Vietnam, 1969, our country lost twice as many dead as we have lost in Iraq and Afghanistan combined over the past 10 years of war. 1968 was worse. 1967 was about the same. Not a day goes by when I do not think about the young Marines I was privileged to lead."

"This was a time of conscription, where every American male was eligible to be drafted. People made choices about how to deal with the draft, and about military service. I have never envied or resented any of the choices that were made as long as they were done within the law. But those among us who stepped forward to face the harsh unknowns and the lifelong changes that can come from combat did so with the belief that their service would be honored, and that our leaders would, in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, care for those who had borne the battle, and for their widows and their children."

"Those young Marines that I led have grown older now. They’ve lived lives of courage, both in combat and after their return, where many of them were derided by their own peers for having served. That was a long time ago. They are not bitter. They know what they did. But in receiving veterans’ benefits, they are not takers. They were givers, in the ultimate sense of that word. There is a saying among war veterans: “All gave some, some gave all.” This is not a culture of dependency. It is a part of a long tradition that gave this country its freedom and independence. They paid, some with their lives, some through wounds and disabilities, some through their emotional scars, some through the lost opportunities and delayed entry into civilian careers which had already begun for many of their peers who did not serve."

"And not only did they pay. They will not say this, so I will say it for them. They are owed, if nothing else, at least a mention, some word of thanks and respect, when a presidential candidate who is their generational peer makes a speech accepting his party’s nomination to be commander-in-chief. And they are owed much more than that — a guarantee that we will never betray the commitment that we made to them and to their loved ones."

A strong military vote could be a factor in Romney’s favor in a close election in Florida. In 2008, Obama lost the military vote nationally by 10 percentage points — 54-44 percent — to U.S. Sen. John McCain, a decorated Vietnam War hero. But the Obama campaign is working to cut the traditional edge that Republicans have had among the military members.

Long-term demographic trends may help Democrats gain more support among this key voting bloc in the long run. Florida has the third-largest veterans’ population in the nation with 1.6 million members.

But its makeup is changing with the 449,000 Vietnam-era veterans representing the largest group. Florida remains the state with the largest group of World War II veterans, at more than 164,000.

The veterans’ vote will be diminishing in Florida and the nation simply because fewer Americans are joining the military under the voluntary system that replaced the draft in the 1970s.

In fact, this year marks the first time since World War II when neither major party’s nominee is a military veteran. It reflects a demographic trend in which a majority of American men older than 70 served in the military — while among men under 50, it is only one in five.

Expectations of a Republican takeover, which were widespread over the summer, are fading. Now the Democrats could retain their majority. Either way, it’s close, and no one can safely say which party will have a Senate majority after the Nov. 6 elections.