Robert Waechter accepted legal responsibility yesterday for conducting a sophomoric scheme that demonstrated contempt for fair, open and honest local elections.

Yet Waechter will retain his right to vote under the terms of an agreement negotiated by Waechter's attorney and the state attorney's office.

Waechter, a former chairman of Sarasota County's Republican Party and officeholder, was charged last year with violating Florida election law and identity fraud.

As Assistant State Attorney Brian Iten said in court yesterday, Waechter used a pre-paid debit card to make donations to three Democratic candidates in 2012 -- in the name of Lourdes Ramirez, a Siesta Key Republican who is running for the Sarasota County Commission next year.

The Sarasota Sheriff's Office, to its credit, thoroughly investigated the allegations against Waechter, who has been a fund-raiser in innumerable local campaigns and, until his arrest, was a member of the Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority, Sarasota County's Tourism Development Council and the Board of Zoning Appeals.

Detectives traced the illegal transactions to Waecther's computer and discovered a surveillance video that showed him purchasing the debit card.

This not-so-well-disguised ruse was intended to embarrass Ramirez; the Herald-Tribune has reported that Waechter tried to recruit candidates to run against her. Apparently, Waechter thought the fake donations would make Ramirez fail a political purity test in the Republican primary.

Pension games

"The legislation (SB 246), which won unanimous approval from the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee, comes as cities say their pensions are dangerously underfunded and after the Department of Management Services has issued letters to several cities reinterpreting a key section of the law." "Senate tries again on local pensions".

Bilirakis grills Sebelius

"At a meeting of the U.S. Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., turned up the heat on U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius over President Barack Obama’s federal health-care law."

Bilirakis grilled Sebelius on the law and the risk corridors program to support carriers after the Obama administration allowed individuals and small businesses to continue health coverage not in line with the new law through the next year. Asking Sebelius how much taxpayers would have to pay for the risk corridors, Bilirakis could not get her to provide an answer. Sebelius insisted the costs would only be known once there were more Americans enrolled in the law.

Meanwhile, "Sebelius is set to visit Miami Friday for the third time since September to tout the federal insurance exchange." "Sebelius to visit Miami Friday to promote ACA".

Good work, if you're a friend of Rick's

"The Citizens Property Insurance board will consider paying an attorney more than $1 million for each of the next three years to coordinate its claims litigation." "Citizens Property Insurance to consider $1 million legal coordinator".

Car fee games

"Gov. Rick Scott announced in Tampa on Thursday he will call on lawmakers to pass more than $400 million in cuts to vehicle registration fees next year. If implemented, vehicle registration and license fees would fall by an average of $25. 'I think citizens need to have their taxes reduced,' Scott told reporters in Tallahassee before leaving for Tampa."

"The issue is already becoming political fodder for Gov. Rick Scott, who is likely to face former Gov. Charlie Crist in the gubernatorial race next year. Crist signed vehicle fee increases passed by a GOP Legislature into law as a Republican in 2009. If passed, the fee cut could crowd out other tax cut ideas despite a projected $1 billion budget surplus." "Scott to push for $400 million cut in vehicle fees". See also "Car registration fees could drop by $25 next year" and "Gov. Rick Scott to ask lawmakers to cut auto registration fee enacted under Crist".

Gaetz to pass the buck

"Senate President Don Gaetz said Thursday voters should probably weigh in on whether the state opens the door to Las Vegas-style casinos, posing another hurdle for out-of-state operators eager to start doing business in South Florida." "Don Gaetz Backs Statewide Vote on Casinos".

"Self-serving, tone-deaf, money-wasting, power-hungry, hyper-partisan dolts"

Scott Maxwell hopes, Andy Gardiner, the officially designated next president of the Florida senate, doesn't "quickly morph into self-serving, tone-deaf, money-wasting, power-hungry, hyper-partisan dolt."

Here's Maxwell's advice:

Don't try to cash in on your public service by opening up a lobbying shop. (Dean Cannon.)

Don't try to score a $152,000 book deal at a publicly funded college while you're helping fund public colleges. (Mike Haridopolos)

Don't try to overturn votes taken by millions of Florida voters. (Dean Cannon)

Don't get indicted. (Ray Sansom)

Don't try to blow up the Florida Supreme Court. (Dean Cannon)

And don't use special-interest money to help pay off credit-card bills for things like travel and dinners. (Marco Rubio, Ray Sansom … and Dean Cannon.)

Medical marijuana flopping?

"While Florida Supreme Court justices ponder medical marijuana's legal language, supporters of the petition campaign to legalize the herb's medicinal use plan a nine-city 'day of action' this weekend to meet a looming deadline for getting on the 2014 Florida ballot." "Crunch time for medical marijuana campaign".

"Short-Memory Ricky"

Nancy Smith: "Interesting to see Charlie Crist pin one of his own moves -- a vehicle-registration fee increase -- on Rick Scott."

Interesting to see Charlie Crist pin one of his own moves -- a vehicle-registration fee increase -- on Rick Scott.

"When these fees were passed by Rick Scott's colleagues and signed into law, they were never meant to be permanent," the former Republican governor running for Democratic governor said in a statement Thursday.

Let's see. What was Scott doing in 2009? Busy trying to establish Solantic as a national brand of medical clinics, as far as I can tell [or was he also pleading the fifth 75 times in a single deposition . . . oops that was in 2000]. I don't think he had a single "colleague" in the Florida Legislature in 2009 -- let alone any interest in a bill jacking up Florida's vehicle-registration fees.

Charlie, on the other hand ... I do believe he was the guy in the governor's office in 2009. The guy whose "colleagues" presented him with the fee-hike bill he readily signed?

Nancy might reconsider picking on "Short-Memory Charlie" and his less than stellar memory when there are videos like this of Scott (under oath no less) floating around.

"Republicans are having a conniption"

Rhonda Swan: "Some Republicans are having a conniption over President Barack Obama shaking the hand of Cuban leader Raul Castro at Nelson Mandela’s funeral on Tuesday. . . . There is no point. It was a two-second handshake at the funeral of a world leader that critics are turning into a political statement. The White House defended the gesture, noting the handshake wasn’t pre-planned. Why is such a statement even necessary? - See more at: http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/opinionzone/2013/12/11/obama-castro-handshake-much-ado-about-nothing/#sthash.zLEyPqNV.dpuf" "Obama-Castro handshake: Much ado about nothing".

Meanwhile, "White House Defends Obama Decision to Shake Raul Castro's Hand".

Aside from the governor’s race -- in which Gov. Rick Scott is already raising and spending millions from his political committee Let’s Get to Work to hammer former Gov. Charlie Crist -- most incumbents in the Cabinet and state Legislature have sizable cash leads over their opponents.

At least the candidates who have opponents 11 months away from the midterm elections, that is.

Of the 20 senators vying for re-election next year, only five have official opposition: Sens. Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando; Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater; Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg; Tom Lee, R-Tampa; and Joe Negron, R-Stuart. Not a single challenger has more than $11,500 cash on hand, while Thompson, the incumbent with the lowest cash haul of the group, has a campaign fund of $58,700.

Cabinet members also have healthy cash leads in their re-election efforts.

Attorney General Pam Bondi raised $104,875 in November and has more than $506,600 cash on hand. Her two opponents vying for the Democratic nomination, George Sheldon and Rep. Perry Thurston of Plantation, have $51,300 and $21,200 in their campaign accounts, respectively.

Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Adam Putnam have cash on hand of $765,600 and $909,900, respectively, while their challengers have minimal campaign finance activity.

Rep. Karen Castor Dentel, D-Maitland, raised $9,125 last month and has amassed nearly $71,000. Her top Republican challengers for the House District 30 seat in central Florida, Robert Cortez and Scott Sturgill, have cash on hand of $68,587 and $19,638, respectively.

Another Orlando-area swing seat, House District 29, features incumbent Rep. Mike Clelland, D-Lake Mary, against former Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood. Plakon raised more money in November ($4,070) than Clelland ($2,850), but trails in the overall money race with $73,250 cash on hand to Clelland’s war chest of $93,000.

Plakon is part of a troupe of former House members looking to return to the Legislature. Some, like Plakon, lost their re-election bids but others were crowded out of their seats during the redistricting process last year.

Teabaggers say: "Jump!"

"Florida Gov. Rick Scott appears to be abandoning his attempt to expand the Florida Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act. Asked by reporters in Tampa on Wednesday whether he still thinks the state should accept the federal funding available under to expand the program, Scott didn't answer and criticized the law instead." "Scott apparently backs off Medicaid growth".

Statewide foreclosure rate remains high

"Foreclosures dropping, but statewide rate remains high".

High poverty, low insurance states like Florida . . .

"The slow rollout of a new federal health insurance marketplace may be deepening differences in health coverage among Americans, with residents in some states gaining insurance at a far greater rate than others."

The demarcation may be as simple as Democrat and Republican.

Newly released federal figures show more people are picking private insurance plans or being routed to Medicaid programs in states with Democratic leaders who have fully embraced the federal health care law than in states where Republican elected officials have derisively rejected what they call "Obamacare."

On one side of the political divide are a dozen mostly Democratic leaning states, including California, Minnesota and New York. They have both expanded Medicaid for lower-income adults and started their own health insurance exchanges for people to shop for federally subsidized private insurance.

The new federal figures, providing a state-by-state breakdown of enrollment in the new health care program through November, showed that the political differences among leaders over the initiative are turning into differences in participation among the uninsured.

Even though many conservative states have higher levels of poverty and more people without health coverage, fewer of them may receive new insurance, said Dylan Roby, an assistant public health professor at the Center for Health Policy Research at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Among the handful of conservative states that rejected Medicaid expansion and refused any role in running an online insurance exchange, thereby leaving the work entirely to the federal government, "Floridians lead enrollment in federal marketplace".

Morganization of the Florida Democratic Party

John Morgan is toying "with the possibility of his other son, Mike [a 2008 law graduate], running for Florida attorney general next year. Just this week, he was asking his followers what they thought of Mike Morgan making a run for Pam Bondi’s job. Matt Morgan did the same on his own Twitter account." "John Morgan's Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous".

More: "John Morgan's Son Mike No Match for Bondi, Sheldon or Thurston" and "John Morgan's Son 'Thinking' About Running for Attorney General".

Related: "John Morgan's medical marijuana investment nears $1 million".

"Billion-dollar conservation constitutional amendment"

"Florida's environmental lobby has amassed another $700,000 last month to help land a billion-dollar conservation constitutional amendment on next year's general election ballot."

Environmentalists from Audubon of Florida, the Trust for Public Land, Sierra Club, Wildlife Federation and other groups have also mustered 446,912 valid signatures -- nearing closer to the 683,149 required to place a question on the November 2014 ballot -- for an amendment that would steer billions of tax dollars to conservation programs, including springs protection and the Everglades.

The groups raised just over $401,000 in November and got another $300,000 in loans. Its biggest contributors for the month were: the Florida and National Audubon chapters ($205,000); Trust for Public Land ($100,000); and the Florida Wildlife Federation ($67,000).

Following five years of budget cuts, the groups have raised $2.1 million over the last year, and enlisted more than 340 organizations to help push the constitutional amendment.

The organization overseeing the drive, Florida's Water and Land Legacy Inc., set a goal of collecting all its signatures by the end of November. The 446,912 figure is just the official number already verified by counties and the state.

Ros-Lehtinen can't get off her one trick pony

"Displaying a photo of Obama shaking Castro’s hand, Ros-Lehtinen demanded answers from Kerry and the administration." "John Kerry and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Duel After Obama Shakes Raul Castro's Hand".

Florida's teachers take a bow

all those years of teachers' low wages and coming out of pocket to buy school supplies are paying off for Florida's students: "Florida's high-school-graduation rate rises again".

Firefighter and cop pensions in the cross hairs

Bill Cotterell: "A key Senate committee voted unanimously Wednesday to defuse 'a ticking time bomb' in local government pension plans with a complex formula for redistributing insurance premium tax revenue now reserved for improving retirement benefits for police officers and firefighters." "Senate panel OKs local pension overhaul". See also "Senate tries again on local pensions".

"Intriguing primary contest"

"Democrats might not have much of a chance of picking up the Florida House in 2014 but the stakes are high in Hillsborough County where an intriguing primary contest is shaping up for the seat held currently by the term-limited Betty Reed."

Attorney Sean Shaw, best known for his time as Florida’s insurance consumer advocate and for being the son of former Chief Justice Leander Shaw, has emerged as a serious candidate to replace Reed. But he has a major primary opponent in businessman and community activist Edwin Narain.

Rubio grubbing for wingnuts

"Marco Rubio Showcases Opposition to Patty Murray's and Paul Ryan's Budget Deal".

Fladems ramp up attacks

"Florida Democrats ramped up their attacks against Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday while Republicans fired back at former Gov. Charlie Crist who, despite spending most of his political career with the GOP, is the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination next year."

The Florida Democratic Party unveiled a website and Web video attacking Scott on Wednesday, hitting him on a host of issues. Bashing Scott for backing the GOP in Congress on fiscal issues and pointing toward scandals wich have hurt the adminstration this year on the site, the Florida Democrats are advertising it through social media and search engines.

Fred Grimm: "Gov. Rick Scott’s ‘jobs, jobs jobs’ is just talk, talk, talk".

"Scott’s top aide lied about college degree"

"A top aide to Florida Gov. Rick Scott is admitting that he once misled people about having a college degree."

Adam Hollingsworth, Scott’s chief of staff, issued a statement to The Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times where he acknowledged that he did not receive a degree from the University of Alabama until 2009. He acknowledged that for years he had said he was a graduate.

Hollingsworth said he apologized for the “misrepresentation.” . . .

Scott in a statement said that he had confidence in Hollingsworth as his chief of staff and called him a “man of tremendous integrity.”

"Gov. Rick Scott’s chief of staff, Adam Hollingsworth, received his communications degree in 2009 — not 1990 as he suggested on his May 27, 2011 application for an appointment to the board of Enterprise Florida Inc., the state's public-private economic development agency." "New documents show another degree controversy dogs Scott's chief of staff". More: "Marc Caputo: Hollingsworth’s lie about PR degree bad spin for Gov. Rick Scott" ("Adam Hollingsworth sometimes gave an aw-shucks self-deprecating line when he gave advice: 'I’m just a guy with a P.R. degree from Alabama.'")

The best they could do

"Orlando Republican Andy Gardiner was formally elected as his party's designate for Senate president in a ceremony on the Senate floor Tuesday." "Orlando's Gardiner tapped as next Senate president".

Charter madness

"A new study shows charter school enrollment surging, raising concerns for urban public schools." "With charter enrollment surging, Miami-Dade public schools look to tighten the rules".

Not just a lobbyist

"The Republicans on the Jan. 14 Congressional District 13 special election primary ballot are fighting for name recognition in the abnormally short run-up to the election. So far, little is widely known about each beyond a job title or two. Candidate David Jolly, says one of his labels — that of registered federal lobbyist — doesn’t tell the whole story." "Jolly hopes to shake lobbyist label in District 13 race".

Florida's worst election offenders

"A Washington-based advocacy group released a report Monday highly critical of the Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections Office during the 2012 November election, citing long waits in line and issues over provisional ballots. The report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund named the state’s best and worst election offices and included Hillsborough County’s office as one of six that performed poorly on Election Day." "Hillsborough rejects allegation it botched 2012 election". Here's the report: "New Report Ranks Florida’s Worst Election Offenders".

Scott doubling Crist in fundraising

"Charlie Crist grosses $2.9 million in first month to Rick Scott's $5.9 mil". See also "Crist backers praise $3 million raised in first month".

The ease of voting in a Republican county

"In the 2012 elections, Seminole County had the highest voter turnout of any of Florida’s large (200,000+) counties, while also holding the fiscal line with the lowest cost-per-voter. The county had a higher voter turnout than 49 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The county also had one of the best records in Florida for keeping voter lines short." "Seminole elections supervisor gets international award".

Economic incentives at work

"After receiving more than $700,000 in economic incentives from the state, a Bradenton ambulance production outfit shed 129 employees." "When state dollars don’t pay dividends".