Campaign manager Esteban “Steve” Suarez, 34, who is also the candidate’s cousin, and campaign aide Juan Pablo Baggini, 37, were charged with attempting to request absentee ballots for 20 voters in May.

The campaign did so — but failed to heed a recommendation that the requests be submitted differently to avoid potential problems, sources close to the investigation said.

Neither Steve Suarez nor Baggini were arrested. Instead, as part of a deal negotiated with prosecutors, each was charged with a misdemeanor, will plead no contest and will receive probation. Their attorneys will appear in court Friday.

St. Petersburg College is acting like a fast food restaurant

The Tampa Bay Times editors: "St. Petersburg College is among the colleges acting like fast food restaurants and cutting workers' hours to avoid providing them health coverage required by the Affordable Care Act. SPC president Bill Law says he can't find the money in a $147 million budget to offer health insurance for 250 adjunct professors. The college prepares students for good jobs after graduation — meaning jobs that include health benefits. Its faculty deserves the same consideration." "St. Petersburg College shouldn't skirt health care law".

Scott laff riot

"Gov. Rick Scott contends Obama following his lead".

"A turbulent summer"

"Following a turbulent summer that saw the state education commissioner resign and angry parents call for a moratorium on school grades, Gov. Rick Scott will convene a group of educators, business leaders and lawmakers in Clearwater next week to hash out Florida’s education woes." "Amid controversy, state education leaders to huddle". See also "Education Summit next week in Clearwater".

Disney proposes 16-month contract extension to its biggest union

"Disney has proposed a 16-month extension to the Service Trades Council, a coalition of six unions that together represent more than 30,000 workers across the giant resort, from housekeepers and bus drivers to quick-service cooks and costumed-character actors. . . . The deal would guarantee raises of at least 3.5 percent or 35 cents an hour for most workers, though it would also permit Disney to raise health-insurance premiums by anywhere from $3 a week to $11 a week, depending on the plan." "Disney World offers unions an early contract extension".

Meanwhile, Florida's other theme park employees are negotiating . . . never mind, most of Florida's other theme park employees are not unionized (e.g., Universal and Sea World) and will take what they are given, without the benefit of collective bargaining.

"Sounds like somebody needs a diaper change."

Scott Maxwell: "Rick Scott is facing mounting pressure to appoint a new lieutenant governor." But, to Maxwell,

Scott's inaction is my favorite thing he's ever (not) done.

Truly, I can't think of anything he's ever done before that I like better than what he's not doing now.

The lieutenant governor's staff is all gone. The office is shuttered. The travel budget is frozen. We're finally spending precisely what this office is worth: nothing!

Who'd want to change that?

Florida Democrats, that's who. They declared Scott's delayed decision "a disservice to the people of the state of Florida" and then griped about Scott instead flying around in his "private jet."

Sounds like somebody needs a diaper change.

Seriously, I know it's the job of political operatives to portray every little thing as a Category 5 disaster. (In fact, the only folks more shrill and whiny than the Florida Democrats are the Florida Republicans.) But this is a dog of an issue for Democrats to jump on.

Ted Cruz, a cubano arrepentido

Fabiola Santiago writes: "when I clicked on a picture of Cruz’s birth certificate, I burst out laughing so hard I spilled my cafecito."

Turns out that Rafael Edward Cruz (the senator’s real name) is the son of Rafael Bienvenido Cruz, a Cuban exile from none other than Matanzas — my proud birth place, home to poets, creators of guaguancó music and natives so clever they tricked the first Spaniards to arrive into hopping in canoes and drowned them all in a river. Hence, legend goes, the city’s name, which means “slaughter.”

So regardless of what Sen. Cruz wants to be, in Miami, he’s considered a matancero.

His birth certificate says so.

The last time I laughed this hard was when Mitt Romney coined “self-deport” during a Florida campaign stop, and the first thing that came to my mind was, can I apply for government-funded self-deportation to Paris?

We know how that story ended. He self-deported from the campaign trail back to Massachusetts.

So here’s my advice for Sen. Cruz: Sip a sturdy café at Versailles; wear a crisp linen guayabera and take out of the closet the father from Matanzas.

Here — whether we’re members of the Italian American Civic League in Wilton Manors or the Alliance Française in Miami or have no affiliation but deep roots that shape our hearts — we honor who we are. It’s our strength, and if there’s one thing we loathe, it’s a cubano arrepentido, one who denies his heritage.

Plans

"Gubernatorial-debate plans being made".

What to know Friday

"Miami’s Top 5: What to know Friday".

Giving Allison Tant time to read resumes

Daniel Ruth: "This probably falls rather neatly under the category of: "What were you thinking?" Obviously not very much."

Did it not occur to Democrat Allie Braswell that if he threw his hat into the ring to challenge Republican incumbent Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater next year that having declared bankruptcy three times might just disqualify him in the eyes of voters from overseeing a $70 billion state budget?

There are perfectly plausible reasons to run against an entrenched incumbent even if you have less chance of winning than the Academy of the Holy Names does against the New England Patriots. Veteran state legislator Charlie Crist ran an ill-fated 1998 race against Sen. Bob Graham, knowing he was going to his voting-booth doom.

But the campaign afforded Crist, then a Republican, the opportunity to boost his profile statewide, which enabled him to get elected education commissioner in 2000, attorney general in 2002 and governor in 2006. As for the future, we'll see.

But that wasn't the case here. This looks more like a telling commentary on a Democratic Party with the bench strength of the Afghanistan air force.

At the moment, [FlaDem Chief Allison] Tant and the rest of the Democratic brain trust are left with the prospect of recruiting Occupant, To Whom It May Concern and Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe to replace the fleeting Camelot that was the Braswell campaign.

Elsewhere on the Democrat roster of titans, Thaddeus Hamilton has filed to run against Republican Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. As an independent four years ago, Hamilton rallied to capture 2 percent of the vote against Putnam. That wasn't a campaign. It was vespers.

Attorney General Pam Bondi might face a challenge from George Sheldon, an assistant secretary at the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and a former assistant Florida attorney general under Bob Butterworth. Although an extremely able public servant, Sheldon has run twice unsuccessfully for statewide office. Good man. Good luck trying to supplant someone who has spent more time schmoozing on Fox News than burning the midnight oil over legal briefs.

That's not to say there aren't any number of credible Democratic candidates across the Florida hustings. It's simply that there seem to be precious few who are willing to spend the next year and a half running around the state on what is likely to be a fool's errand to succeed well-funded and well-known GOP incumbents.

They have likely figured it's better to wait until 2018, when there will be all manner of open seats. It also gives Allison Tant time to actually read some resumes.

Easing minimum mandatory sentences

Tee Miami Herald editors argue that "State lawmakers should revisit easing minimum-mandatory sentencing." "Get smart on crime, not just ‘tough’".

Charter school follies

"A Broward civic activist has urged the School Board to determine whether the publicly funded Ben Gamla charter schools violate the Constitutional separation of church and state." "Review Jewish-oriented charter school in Hollywood, board urged".

"GOP consultants want to keep their strategies secret"

"GOP consultants want to keep their strategies secret. The legal challenge brought by the League of Women Voters of Florida and other plaintiffs suspects they will show the GOP conspired to rig the realigned districts to favor their incumbents." "Judge hears redistricting dispute".

Now they're talking

"Two Republican congressmen from Florida are up in arms about recent revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) continues to monitor tens of thousands of Americans who are not linked to terrorism." "Vern Buchanan and Dennis Ross Tee Off on NSA".

"What is the Republican Party of Florida’s problem with female politicians?"

"The 2014 general elections are more than 14 months away but the fur is already flying in the Sunshine State as the two major parties are ripping into each other."

Under fire for her role in backing Allie Braswell for state CFO, Allison Tant, the chairwoman of the Florida Democrats, is up in arms about the attacks coming from the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF). After jumping in at the end of last week, Braswell left the race on Monday after reports emerged that he had filed for bankruptcy three times. The short-lived candidacy raised questions and concerns about Tant and the Florida Democrats especially as Braswell appears not to have been vetted yet received the party’s support.

Looking to change the conversation, in a statement released on Wednesday, Tant complained about the “Debbie Dunce” attacks from the RPOF against U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the “Tant Rant” jabs thrown her way.

“What exactly is the Republican Party of Florida’s problem with female politicians? From ‘Debbie Dunce’ to ‘Tant Rant,’ Lenny Curry and the RPOF have repeatedly attacked women in language that they would never use for a man,” said Tant. “This is mudslinging of the lowest order. Attempting to discredit female leaders by referring to them as ‘ranting’ or attacking their intelligence is offensive at best and sexist at worst. When the Florida GOP keeps resorting to juvenile and sexist name-calling, it’s hard to take their outreach to women seriously.”

"Three things every politician should not have to be reminded of"

Jeremy Wallace: "Every election cycle is filled with embarrassing gaffes by politicians and would-be candidates. But in just the last 48 hours, we have been reminded time and again that there are some basic rules that anyone running for office should commit to memory. Here’s my impromptu list of three things every politician should not have to be reminded of, but alas, we have learned otherwise." "3 ways to start a political campaign with a thud".

Indian River Lagoon "is in deep trouble"

The Miami Herald editorial board believes that the Indian River Lagoon "is in deep trouble this year. The phosphorous-laden runoff being directed out of the lake to prevent flooding is being sent into the St. Lucie and the Caloosahatchee River on the West Coast because it is too polluted to be sent into the Everglades, which needs the water." "A symbol of Florida’s environmental degradation". See also "Scientists point to water quality problems, septic tanks as woes for Indian River Lagoon".

Nancy Smith: "Toxic Martin County Waters Spark Senators' Anger, Resolve".

So far, former Florida Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich is the only major gubernatorial candidate in the race. Rich has done little in terms of making much of an impression despite being in the race since last spring and she has not done well in terms of fundraising.

The RPOF continues to bash Crist and talk up Scott while, besides Rich, other potential Democratic candidates appear unlikely to run. Former CFO Alex Sink, who lost to Scott in 2010, talked to the Tampa Bay Times this week and left the door open to running but noted her family was not exactly supportive of a second gubernatorial bid. Sink also said she assumes Crist is going to run. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., continues to say he has no plans to run for governor, repeating this week that he had no intention of jumping in the contest. Crist has a memoir coming out in early February in which he explains why he left the GOP. The book should give Crist some media exposure and possibly a tour of the state. Scott has certainly indicated that he intends to get a quick start on the election. Last month, Scott told National Review that he would spend $25 million in early 2014 to define his opponent.

"The climate is changing, the seas are rising and we're at fault"

The Tampa Bay Times editors: "The climate is changing, the seas are rising and we're at fault." "We have been warned".

Scott, Bondi can't get over it

Having had their clocks cleaned in the courts, "Gov. Rick Scott and the Cabinet are taking issue with President Barack Obama's 'navigators' program intended to guide people through the requirements of the new Affordable Care Act, saying it lacks privacy protections." "Scott, Bondi, take shots at health-care law's 'navigators' on privacy grounds".

Another genius

"Andy Gardiner will take over as the president of the Florida Senate in 2014 but his duties shouldn’t be too new or overwhelming since he has served in the leadership off and on during his years in Tallahassee." "Andy Gardiner Brings Leadership Experience and Political Skills to Senate Presidency".

Carroll avoids testimony about alleged "compromising positions"

"The tangled criminal case that included allegations of widespread illegal taping and improper relationships in the office of former Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll is coming to an end."

Prosecutors this week reached a deal with Carroll’s former aide Carletha Cole that will result in the charges being officially dropped in 12 months if Cole stays out of legal trouble."

Cole’s attorneys asserted that their client was being set up because she witnessed unprofessional behavior by Carroll and other employees, including walking in on Carroll and a female aide in a “compromising position.” Carroll denied the allegations. Cole’s attorneys also contended that there was widespread taping in the office. . . .

The trial could have been potentially embarrassing for the administration of Gov. Rick Scott since several former and current employees were ordered to testify.

Another fine Jebacy

"Florida's Students Fall Behind in College Preparedness".

"Virtual mooning"

Nancy Smith wonders, "How is it Bill Nelson comes to Martin County with empty pockets and empty promises and gets a hero's welcome, but Gov. Rick Scott flies in with $40 million to help solve the polluted St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon (added to the $20 million from last year) and he virtually gets mooned by the local press?" "Next Martin County Visit, Rick Scott Should Use the Bill Nelson Approach".

What's wrong with Hillsborough?

"Town hall meeting to defund Obamacare draws large crowd in Tampa".

To replace Fasano

"For weeks, Democratic leaders stayed tight-lipped when it came to backing a candidate to replace Mike Fasano in the state House, even though three Republicans had already entered the race. On Wednesday, with less than a week before the filing deadline for the special election for House District 36, a Democrat emerged to challenge them: Amanda Murphy, a Raymond James investment advisor." "Democrat Murphy to run for House 36 seat to replace Fasano".

Texting (with lobbyists) while voting

"Orange-Osceola State Attorney Jeff Ashton plans to release a pair of legal reports on Orange County's "textgate" affair next Wednesday, with a news conference later that day to discuss the findings."

An email was sent Wednesday to the attorneys of county officials involved in the controversy, notifying them of the pending release of both a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation and another report with Ashton's own findings.

Several top Orange County leaders face potential violations of open-government law because of actions surrounding a vote commissioners took on a paid sick-time referendum in September.

Commissioners blocked the ballot measure, but subsequent news media requests showed that text messages with lobbyists who had opposed the initiative had been lost or deleted.

"The state attorney has been involved with this investigation personally," said Richard Wallsh, Ashton's chief assistant. "He wants to spend some time reviewing it over the weekend."

The group behind the paid sick-time effort, Citizens for a Greater Orange County, also has a pending civil lawsuit filed against those same county officials.

Much of the attention has swirled around lost or deleted phone texts. If those messages involved public business, they are regarded as public records that must be open to inspection.

It's not clear who would be the target of the probe, although an untold number of texts have never been recovered from commissioners Jennifer Thompson and Fred Brummer; Graciela Noriega Jacoby, the chief of staff for Mayor Teresa Jacobs; and former Commissioner John Martinez.

"Surplus" state land for sale

"The Florida Department of Environmental Protection is looking for up to $50 million worth of conservation land that it can sell to buy new land. Some sites on initial list of 5,331 acres of possible surplus lands were questioned by environmental group representatives during a workshop." "DEP hears concerns about state lands surplus list including waterfront tracts". Related: "DEP issues list of land-sale prospects as Cabinet OKs 20,800-acre purchase".

"3-way brawl"

"Global Tel Link, Securus Technologies and CenturyLink are taking their fight for a multimillion contract to provide telephone services at state prisons to administrative court. Meanwhile, the current contract expires Sept. 24." "3-way brawl: Telecom companies fight for multimillion dollar prison telephone service contract".

Your tax dollars at work

"Florida taxpayers spent more than $2.6 million in the past year to provide security for Gov. Rick Scott, First Lady Ann Scott and dozens of visiting out-of-state dignitaries who came to make speeches, play politics, fish and soak up the sun." "Security for Scott, others is costly".

Scott nowhere in sight

"FPL, sister firm to cut 1,000 jobs".

"It's just rhetoric"

The Tampa Bay Times editorial board: "Scott and state lawmakers need to accept that nothing they may try to do in Tallahassee — be it coming up with gimmicky $10,000 bachelor degrees at colleges or new accountability matrixes — will make up for the fact that Florida universities have far fewer dollars to spend per student than those in other states. The governor, House Speaker Will Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz talk about wanting to improve the state universities. But until they back it up with investment, it's just rhetoric." "Florida higher ed losing ground".

"Florida Republican leaders don't know what they are talking about"

"As the open enrollment period for the Affordable Care Act draws near the debate over the plan intensifies. This week, Cabinet members opened a new front of criticism by questioning the federal government's handling of personal information. And a Democratic congresswoman suggested that either Florida Republican leaders don't know what they are talking about or they are trying to sabotage the ACA." "ACA supporters respond to GOP attacks".

I'm guessing not

"Will BlueWare scandal prompt tighter review of incentive projects?".

"Detectives go to the FBI to complain about absentee ballot fraud investigation"

"Frustrated by allegations of obstruction of an investigation of election fraud that tainted his campaign last year, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has asked police administrators to request all communications between the detectives assigned to the case and prosecutors. . . . His decision Wednesday comes a day after the Police Benevolent Association president said former public corruption detectives have gone to the FBI to complain about the absentee ballot fraud investigation."

The case was transferred to Broward prosecutors last year after Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle recused herself to avoid a possible conflict of interest. Cabrera had been a regular visitor to the Hialeah campaign office of Gimenez, who shared a political consultant with Fernández Rundle.

Luis Rodriguez, a former detective in the Corruption Unit, said he is willing to tell the FBI about what he considers serious failures in the investigation.

Rodriguez was not assigned to the case.

He questioned why a warrant was never sought to search Gimenez’s campaign office and why Cabrera’s notebooks were shelved instead of analyzed.

The three notebooks contained handwritten notes on hundreds of voters and what appear to be payments from judges and judicial candidates.

Ed Griffith, spokesman for the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office, said that there wasn’t sufficient probable cause to seek a search warrant.

Rodriguez resigned on Friday after being transferred to general investigations as part of a restructuring of the Public Corruption Unit.

He described his transfer as an act of reprisal from his superiors because he worked last year on the campaign of Gimenez’s opponent, former County Commissioner Joe Martinez.

Greer is now serving an 18-month sentence in state prison after pleading guilty to money laundering and theft in connection with a scheme in which he created a company and then steered party business to it.

Four years later, gambling operators are still jockeying over lucrative pari-mutuel permits even as the Legislature explores how much -- and what types of -- gambling the state should allow.

SYG repealer filed, "support looks thin"

"Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, said he looks forward to 'a meaningful dialog on this next month' as he filed HB 4003. NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer says the law needs no change." "'Stand your ground' repealer is filed". See also "Williams files repeal of Stand Your Ground". More: ""Stand Your Ground" Repeal Bill Filed in Tallahassee, But Support Looks Thin".

Not so "unanimous"

The Tampa Trib editors: "Turns out the 'unanimous' support among sheriffs for the state’s 'stand your ground' law isn’t quite as clear-cut as Polk Sheriff Grady Judd would have you believe. . . . several sheriffs have bravely stepped forward to say they support the concept of the law, but think some of its provisions need to be reconsidered. They said the vote taken at the association’s meeting earlier this month was confusing and didn’t reflect those concerns." "Polk Sheriff Grady Judd muddies the debate on “stand your ground”".

Sequester

"Head Start programs in Florida will deny services to an estimated 1,205 children in Florida during the coming school year – far less than expected -- because of federal budget cuts known as a sequester." "Sequester cuts deny Head Start slots to 1,205 Florida kids".

'Glades

The Miami Herald editors: " Some thorny issues and financial hurdles remain to be worked out, but, in a heartening move, a plan to clean up and redirect Lake Okeechobee spillover southward into the Everglades got a real boost this month from the South Florida Water Management District."

The $1.8 billion Central Everglades proposal has the water management district and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers splitting the costs. Expensive? Yes. But also necessary if two vital estuaries — the St. Lucie River on the East Coast and the Caloosahatchee River on the West Coast — are to be saved, and parched portions of the Everglades are ever to be slaked.

Teabaggers fight health care law, offer no alternatives

"Florida can expect a familiar political battle in 2014 as the Tea Party and Democrats are gearing up to clash again over President Barack Obama’s health care law. On Monday, conservative Americans for Prosperity’s (AFP) Florida chapter announced they would be leading protests outside of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson’s, D-Fla., offices in Fort Myers, Orlando and Tampa on Tuesday to protest his support of Obama’s law." "Health Care Battle Continues to Shape Florida Politics".

Water war

"Long battle likely if Florida takes water fight to U.S. Supreme Court, experts say".

That was quick

"Just days after jumping into the race to become the state's chief financial officer, Central Florida Urban League President Allie Braswell Jr. abruptly quit his campaign Monday." "Democrat drops CFO bid after bankruptcies revealed". See also "Democrats’ CFO candidate out after bankruptcies emerge" and "Democratic CFO candidate drops out after bankruptcies revealed".

Jeff Henderson argues that "Allison Tant and Florida Dems Dropped the Ball on Allie Braswell".

The week ahead

"The Week Ahead for Aug. 19 to Aug. 23, 2013".

And it leads from mega-companies like Walt Disney and U.S. Sugar through a cadre of lobbyists that help design, delay and deter legislation and regulation in Tallahassee.

All told, companies, local governments, trade associations and other advocacy groups have spent $120.4 million to lobby the Legislature and state agencies so far this year – making it one of the Sunshine State's enduring growth industries, according to a Sentinel analysis of lobbying data.

"The Apprentice" flop thinks Florida deserves him

"Jose Felix Diaz doesn’t rank as one of the senior Republicans in the Florida House but he is one of the more visible ones as speculation continues that he will run for Congress. The son of Cuban exiles, Diaz was born in South Florida and he returned there after studying law at Columbia University in New York. He earned a little national spotlight early on when he appeared as a contestant in Donald Trump’s 'The Apprentice' reality show." "Rising Star Jose Felix Diaz Has Choices to Make for 2014".

Rubio dissembles on Obamacare

"Rubio said that for people who currently have health insurance, "They have a doctor they've been seeing for the last 15 or 20 years, they won't be able to keep going to that doctor," due to Obamacare."

Rubio ignores the fact that without Obamacare, patients can lose access to their doctor when their employer switches plans or they switch (or lose) jobs. [Ed. Note: Or the employer just cancels health insurance, which they are free to do if there is no union]

Some patients who buy health insurance through the exchange could lose access to their current doctor, but it's difficult to predict how many.

We rate this claim Mostly False.

Pasco's finest empty suits

"The race to replace former Rep. Mike Fasano in the Florida House is starting to take shape, with two candidates filing last week to enter the race to represent parts of Pasco County while a third won the backing of the House Republican leadership. Fasano was appointed Pasco County tax collector by Gov. Rick Scott earlier this month." "The son of Cuban exiles, Diaz was born in South Florida and he returned there after studying law at Columbia University in New York. He earned a little national spotlight early on when he appeared as a contestant in Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” reality show.".

Ricky can't find a running mate

"Scott in no rush to pick new lieutenant governor".

"Handily riding the coattails of rising politico"

"Except for a stint as manager of tiny North Bay Village, lobbyist and consultant Jorge Forte stayed pretty much under the public radar."

But that didn’t stop him from handily riding the coattails of rising politico and Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño, Forte’s longtime friend and business partner. Forte leveraged the relationship to push through city legislation, get government contracts — and haul in tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from undercover FBI agents, prosecutors alleged last week.

Insurance cost games

"When Florida officials declared that premiums for individual health plans could spike 40 percent due to the federal health reform law, David Payne was startled. Not by the projected increase but by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation statement showing insurers expect to charge an average of $278 to $412 a month. Payne wishes he paid those rates."

Some states that started their own exchanges have announced what plans will cost. But it's still unclear what exactly the plans — and premiums — in the Florida marketplace, which will be run by the federal government since the state refused the job, will look like. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who was in Tampa last week, said the federal government is still signing contracts with insurers. Rates should be available just before the marketplace goes live on Oct. 1 to sell policies that take effect Jan. 1.

The report on the projected premium increases that Florida insurance regulators produced this month didn't fully account for the fact people will be buying policies very different from what they could get in 2012.

In one comparison, regulators took the single statewide average insurance premium for 2012 — $243 — and compared it with what various insurers said their average premium will be next year under the new rules.

For instance, Cigna's $377 average premium for next year is reported as a 55 percent increase — because it's compared with the statewide average, not with what Cigna customers actually were paying in 2012, noted the Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation declined to comment further on her agency's report.

was promoting a new book on immigration [he] created enormous confusion about whether he does or doesn’t support a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who came here illegally. (He later clarified that he does, with caveats, and even later praised immigrants for being “more fertile.”) That awkwardness gave some of his supporters pause, as they wondered whether he’d been too long out of the fray and was too clumsy for the split-second hyperscrutiny of the Twitter era. He hasn’t run for anything since 2002, when he was re-elected as the governor of Florida, an office he left in early 2007. A whole lot has changed since.

So what is he for? He talks extensively about educational opportunity, grounded in school choice. He has called for a “patriotic energy security strategy” that diminishes our reliance on foreign oil by more thoroughly tapping domestic sources of oil and natural gas. He’ll need a broader agenda than that, a longer list of affirmatives in order to turn Republicans into the Party of Yes. But he’s seemingly aware of the challenge and hasn’t sprinted away from the autopsy that the party performed on itself after Mitt Romney’s defeat in the 2012 presidential election.

Bush may lack Christie’s verve, but he’s shown some of Christie’s nerve. Last year he said that both his father and Ronald Reagan would have a difficult time fitting into the intensely partisan Republican Party of today and “an orthodoxy that doesn’t allow for disagreement.”

told by people in the know that while Bush is definitely mulling a candidacy, there’s only a 20 to 30 percent chance that he’ll press the button. Many factors play into that decision: his family’s privacy; the reality that he and Rubio, his onetime political mentee, can’t both run; the nascent political career of his son George P. Bush, who might be better served by a longer Bush lull.

For some reason, Bruni overlooks that Floridians remember Jeb Bush's performance*, and polling predictably shows they want no more of this putative favored son: "Fla. poll: Hillary Clinton beats Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio" (June 2013 Q poll).

- - - - - -

*See, e.g., "Bush's back-to-back terms were marred by frequent ethics scandals, official bungling and the inability of the government he downsized to meet growing demands for state services, including education and aid for the infirm and the elderly."

Conflicts, reversals and tricks of the trade

Tampa Bay Times columnist John Romano on how Florida Politics has been reduced to "more of the same": conflicts, reversals and tricks of the trade. First, Romano writes about what "you might call a conflict of interest."

You remember [Jebbite] education commissioner Tony Bennett, right? You remember he resigned a few weeks ago after emails surfaced that indicated he ordered changes to school grading guidelines in Indiana that just happened to benefit a prominent political donor?

The issue is that Charter Schools USA is the same outfit recommended by Bennett to take over three public schools in Indianapolis when he was Indiana's school superintendent. So that means a for-profit charter school company based in Florida got a lucrative taxpayer-funded contract in Indiana while Bennett was in charge and then, coincidentally, hired his wife.

In 2011, Gov. Rick Scott whacked $5 million from the state budget that was earmarked for improvements at a rowing facility in Sarasota. . . .

Scott changed his mind and approved the $5 million. He doubled down this year with another $5 million.

As the Times reported on Friday, Scott's change of heart coincided with about $200,000 in political donations the past two years from developers with financial stakes in the rowing center.

Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford has multiple sources of income, but everyone seems a little fuzzy when it comes to explaining what he does for his paychecks.

One company name listed on past financial disclosure forms has not existed in Florida for a half-dozen years. Weatherford has since added the company's Texas name, but it actually does business in Florida under a third name.

And then there's the Texas company where Weatherford was a founding member and former director. That outfit has gotten more than $800,000 as a contractor for Florida's state-run insurance company in recent years. Weatherford says he has never received income from the company, and his wife replaced him on the board.

If Weatherford is tired of the scrutiny of the speaker job and the difficulty in juggling outside income sources, he should take heart in the fortunes of the man he replaced.

Dean Cannon's brand-spanking-new lobbying firm reported more than $1.5 million in business in the first six months of the year.

"A surplus of prison beds in Florida"

"When U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced last week that he was ordering prosecutors to stop charging lower-level drug offenders with “draconian minimum mandatory sentences,” he echoed the refrain from a bi-partisan coalition of activists who have tried and failed to get legislators to change the laws in Florida."

But resistance is strong. In addition to the reluctance of legislators who worry they will be perceived as being soft on crime, the pushback includes prosecutors, the Florida Sheriff’s Association and both public prison officials and private prison lobbyists. The prison advocates have quietly opposed the legislation at a time when there is a surplus of prison beds in Florida.

In 2012, Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a bill that would have allowed nonviolent offenders to receive drug counseling. His argument: prosecutors feared it would mean that some prisoners would leave prison early, and fail to serve the mandatory minimum 85 percent of their sentences.

Walmart World

"The bitterness between Miami Planning Director Francisco Garcia and a slew of residents upset over his decision last week to essentially grant Walmart the right to build at Midtown Miami got personal. Garcia received an email from Brandon Berretta, who wanted to know why Garcia approved the plan given that, in Berretta’s view, it violates the zoning code. Then Berretta asked: 'Are they bribing you to do this?'" "Zoning tiff over Walmart in Midtown Miami gets personal, emails show".

Walmart + bribes, is always a legitimate question. As Bloomberg reported, "Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s (WMT) Mexican unit used a current state governor there to facilitate $156,000 in bribes meant to help open stores, an ex-lawyer for the retailer told company officials . . . ." "Wal-Mart Accused of Using Mexican Governor to Push Bribes".

"Pimping out public resources for political support"

Aaron Deslatte: "Politicians hatch deals, trade favors and occasionally get caught enriching themselves or pimping out public resources for political support. Former Brevard County clerk Mitch Needelman's arrest this week on bribery and bid-tampering charges would be encouraging if alleged favoritism-for-political-support exchange wasn't so common." "Florida's political system is neck-deep in cronyism".

"Scott has questions"

"Scott has questions about health care 'navigators'". See also "Scott wants "navigator" briefing".

"Environmental protection was put on the chopping block"

The Tampa Trib editors write that, when "the Great Recession hit, younger lawmakers who didn’t properly value Florida’s environment took office after others were term-limited, and Gov. Rick Scott, a relative newcomer to the state, was elected. Environmental protection was put on the chopping block. Growth management laws were gutted. Funding for the state’s model land preservation program — Florida Forever, previously known as Preservation 2000 — was cut more than 95 percent."

This is why voters need to enthusiastically back Florida’s Water and Land Legacy Campaign — a drive to place a proposed amendment to Florida’s constitution on the November 2014 ballot. If adopted, the amendment would, for the first time, guarantee a state source of funding for land preservation and other environmental programs in Florida.

"Week in Review"

"Week in Review for August 16, 2013".

YRs to get "uncomfortable"

"Go to places you find uncomfortable and brag about being a Republican, Gov. Rick Scott told a gathering of young Republicans . . . ." "Scott fires up young Republicans in Orlando speech".

The residency thing

"Where do elected officials live?".

"There was no study, and Maroño knew that"

"Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maroño picked up the phone on May 10, 2012. It was a federal auditor asking about a $200,000 grant that was supposed to pay for an economic development study in his small West Miami-Dade city. There was no study, and Maroño knew that. But he lied to the auditor, planning to share $40,000 of the money in a sweetheart deal for him and his closest lobbyist pal, according to federal prosecutors"

Maroño’s downfall came at the peak of a political career that has spanned nearly two decades. He controlled a fiercely loyal city. He basked in statewide exposure as president of the Florida League of Cities. He had the ear of Gov. Rick Scott.

"A political football causing a rift among Republicans"

"The new Common Core State Standards are more than just a roadmap for teachers and students."

They’re a political football causing a rift among Republicans.

In Florida, conservative moms and tea party groups have mounted fierce opposition to the national standards, saying decisions about teaching and learning should be made by state governments and local school boards — not the federal government. Their efforts attracted significant attention this summer, thanks to well-attended rallies, social media blitzes and the support of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.