"Scott has been beyond awkward when discussing race. He once told the black legislative caucus he understood their issues because he had grown up in "public housing."

Just months ago, Crist accused his former party of being racists for opposing President Barack Obama's policies. The new ads have the air of payback.

He supported legislation requiring convicts to serve 85 percent of their sentences. As governor, he signed bills toughening penalties for marijuana grow houses, and allowing guns in the workplace. Blaming Crist for decades of urban policy failures and a "lost generation" of blacks is rhetorical overkill. But the attack was a political inevitability.

Crist's campaign has lashed out at the ad's sponsors, calling it a "disgusting" attempt by Scott allies to ostracize Crist from black Democrats. "Rick Scott and his groups are running the most disgusting, repulsive campaign in modern history," Crist spokesman Kevin Cate said in an email.

"Bits and Pieces"

Kevin Derby: "Political Bits and Pieces." See also "Weekly Roundup: All In The Family."

Scott calls his administration's $250,000 settlement a Crist "campaign stunt"

William March: "Gov. Rick Scott said Friday that a successful whistleblower lawsuit against his administration concerning thousands of unemployed people improperly referred to collections agencies is 'nothing but Charlie Crist trying to come up with a way to complain.'"

Scott was dismissive of the lawsuit, in which the state paid a former state employee $250,000, as “all basically Charlie Crist. It’s run by his campaign to bring up lawsuits because he doesn’t have a record.”

Scott’s comments, during an interview with the Tampa Tribune editorial board, were the first time he has publicly addressed the matter.

After the whistleblower outlined her charges against the state earlier this week, administration officials referred reporters’ questions to Scott’s re-election campaign, calling the charges a campaign stunt.

"Philanthropic laggards"

"Tax records suggest that Rick Scott and Charlie Crist are philanthropic laggards in comparison with their well-heeled peers." "Tax records suggest Charlie Crist and Rick Scott lag in charitable giving."

"Primary’s been a yawner"

Jeff Henderson would have you believe that "despite how close it could be, the attorney general primary’s been a yawner so far. That reflects how much of an uphill climb it will be for either Sheldon or Thurston to beat Bondi in the fall." "Despite Competitive Primary, George Sheldon and Perry Thurston Aren't Catching Fire."

Upon reflection . . .

"Although he opposed same-sex marriage as a Republican governor and attorney general, Charlie Crist on Friday filed a 'friend of the court' brief backing a legal challenge to Florida's gay-marriage ban headed to court next week." "Crist files brief in support of legal challenge to Florida's same-sex marriage ban." See also "Crist files brief seeking to overturn Florida’s ban on gay marriage."

That's the tricky question raised by the back-and-forth between Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist as the two jostle over tax returns and who should release what. Scott's campaign has hit Crist, his most likely Democratic opponent, for not disclosing the tax returns of Crist's wealthy wife, Carole.

"I can't imagine what Mr. and Mrs. Crist are afraid of if the people of Florida learn the details of their assets and liabilities, as other Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates have freely disclosed over multiple elections," Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said Thursday in a statement released by the Scott campaign. . . .

In return, Crist has tried to shift the focus, blasting Scott for bringing Crist's spouse into the campaign while pledging to release more facts about his own finances than Scott has.

"It's a shameful new low in the history of Florida politics for a candidate to run TV ads attacking the wife of a candidate. ... Spouses and children are off limits," Crist said shortly after the commercial was released.

Empty suits

"Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal took a giant leap away from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush last week when he signed an executive order pulling the Southern state out of the national Common Core State Standards." "Bobby Jindal Nixes Common Core, Distances Himself from Jeb Bush."

DWS Picks Fight With John Boehner

Kevin Derby: "U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said this week that he was planning to bring out a bill in July allowing Congress to sue President Barack Obama over his executive actions, and a congresswoman from Florida is in the lead pushing back." "Debbie Wasserman Schultz Picks Fight With John Boehner for Suing Obama."

Movin' on up

"After U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., lost a primary earlier this month, U.S. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., quickly moved to replace him. U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., looked to move up to McCarthy’s spot, successfully winning the post last week."

U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Fla., was a chief supporter of Scalise’s bid to become the GOP whip, the third highest official in the U.S. House. Ross was very active on Scalise’s account, meeting with various congressmen and getting their pledges in the leadership contest.

On Thursday, Scalise rewarded Ross by naming the Florida congressman one of his senior deputy whips.

Deep thinker

"Steve Southerland Wants Obama's Oceanic Plans Capsized."

Trib on verge of calling for Obama's impeachment

The wingers on the Tampa Tribune editorial board argue that Obama is engaged in "a serious abuse of the nation’s system of laws." "Reining in presidential abuse."

"New laws take effect Tuesday"

"On Tuesday, the state's largest-ever, $77 billion budget goes into effect, along with 157 other bills approved by the Legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott." "State budget, slew of new laws take effect Tuesday."

They may have made inroads with Hispanics, but as far as the gay and lesbian population — which constitutes a big segment of the voting public in South Florida — Republicans continue to take huge steps backward.

The latest embarrassment came this week, when tea party activists sent out fliers and emails strongly criticizing Broward County Commissioner Chip LaMarca and School Board member Heather Brinkworth, both Republicans, for participating in a gay pride parade.

Among other things, the fliers — which nobody in particular will take credit for — asked if it is "worth selling your soul to the devil" to get votes from gays.

Danita Kilcullen, a Republican committeewoman and co-founder of Tea Party Fort Lauderdale, made things infinitely worse by sending out an email version, which began with the statement "whores chasing whores, if you will."

Crist not releasing his wife's tax returns

"As Rick Scott launched a new statewide TV ad criticizing Charlie Crist for not releasing tax returns, Crist released his past three returns, but not his wife Carole’s, and said he won’t." "As Scott ad blasts Crist for ‘hiding’ tax returns, Crist releases them."

The Orlando Sentinel editors contend that "Crist should release wife's tax returns, arguing that "Crist, by ruling out releasing his wife's tax returns, is breaking from a precedent set by the last Democratic nominee for governor, Alex Sink. When she ran in 2010, she released not only her own tax returns for 2005 through 2009, but also those that her husband — a successful lawyer and former candidate for governor himself — had filed separately over the same period."

However, the Sentinel editors observe that "It's ironic that Scott's re-election campaign hammered Crist for being slow to release his tax returns and refusing to release his wife's, because Scott has hardly been a model of transparency himself as governor."

"Scott vetoed precisely one bill"

"Gov. Scott signed the last bill left over from the spring legislative session on Wednesday, leaving unscathed an almost historically high amount of the legislation approved this year."

In addition to the line-item vetoes he issued to strike items from the nearly $77 billion budget, Scott vetoed precisely one bill of the 255 approved by the Legislature, or 0.4 percent of the measures that passed. That is the lowest since at least 1986, according to state records.

Gay marriage fight spilling out onto the campaign trail

"Florida's ban on same-sex marriage is under attack in multiple courtrooms, a fight that's spilling out onto the 2014 campaign trail." "Same-sex marriage is issue in Florida courts and on campaign trail." See also "Same-sex marriage cases."

Florida "the modern equivalent of Hollywood’s fictional Wild West"

Joy-Ann Reid: "The mass shooting at the Liberty Square housing projects Tuesday morning is tragedy enough. A 29-year-old man was killed on the spot. Another victim died at the hospital. In all, nine people were shot, in what must have felt like a scene out of a bad gangland movie."

More than 50 bullet casings littered the ground when it was all over. And as of this writing, no one has been arrested. Liberty Square and the blocks surrounding it near 12th Avenue in Liberty City are festooned with surveillance cameras. More than a quarter of them weren’t working. . . .

Now, Florida has added insult to the serial injury in a state that is quickly becoming the modern equivalent of Hollywood’s fictional Wild West, since in the real “wild west” you had to check your guns at the sheriff’s office before entering Dodge City. In Arizona, Sheriff Wyatt Earp enforced a broad ordinance declaring it “unlawful to carry in the hand or upon the person or otherwise any deadly weapon within the limits of said city of Tombstone, without first obtaining a permit in writing.”

In modern-day Florida, by contrast, if and when the shooter or shooters are tried for this latest shooting, they will be treated to Florida’s expanding form of frontier justice, in which gangsterism and violence are routinely rewarded by the state’s Stand Your Ground law.

Walks in the park

"Jeff Atwater and Adam Putnam Sitting Pretty in 2014."

Rubio claims he met some "real people"

"If Sen. Marco Rubio runs for president in 2016, one can look back to a packed room a few blocks from the Capitol on Wednesday as the birthplace of his platform."

For half an hour, wrapping policy details around anecdotes from regular people, the Florida Republican outlined proposals aimed at the middle class, a large swath of the electorate the GOP has had trouble connecting with.

Gambling

"Poll: Voters want say in whether to expand casinos."

"Florida Republicans are demanding that television stations refuse to run an ad by the Democratic Party that focuses on Gov. Rick Scott pleading the 5th Amendment in a 2000 deposition to avoid incriminating himself in a massive Medicare fraud investigation."

The ad says “when Scott was deposed in lawsuits about his company, he took the 5th 75 times ... refused to answer questions because if he had, he might admit to committing a crime.”

In a letter to television stations, the state GOP asks that they refuse to run the ad. The party calls the claim false because Scott’s deposition wasn’t about the Medicare fraud investigation but part of a civil lawsuit in which a health care billing company accused Columbia/HCA of breach of contract. Scott took the 5th Amendment in response to every question in the deposition except when he was asked his name, refusing even to say whether he ever worked for Columbia/HCA.

At the beginning of the deposition, Scott lawyer Steven Steinbach says, “because of the pendency of a number of criminal investigations relating to Columbia around the country, he’s going to follow my advice, out of prudence, (and) assert his constitutional privilege against giving testimony about himself.”

At one point during the deposition, the opposing lawyer asks Scott whether Columbia/HCA breached its contract with Nevada Communications Corp. “to cover up or obfuscate Columbia’s improper billing practices.”

Improper billing practices were the subject of the fraud investigation.

As with all the other questions, Scott cited the 5th Amendment and refused to answer.

Bondi defending gay marriage ban

"Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will defend the state’s gay marriage ban in separate Miami-Dade County and Monroe County cases. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/#storylink=cpy" "Attorney General Pam Bondi to defend Florida’s gay marriage ban in Miami-Dade, the Keys".

Crist's "Cuba fumble"

"Charlie Crist has scrapped plans to go to Cuba this summer, citing time demands in his campaign for governor and delays in getting federal permission to visit the island nation."

Crist’s about-face was immediately called a “flip-flop” by Gov. Rick Scott’s campaign, and it follows a recent poll that showed his July plans were not popular with Cuban-American voters in Miami-Dade, the state’s most populous county. Crist said his decision not to visit Cuba had nothing to do with public opinion in Miami-Dade, where sentiment about Cuba is more intense than anywhere else in America.

Crist caused a major stir last month when he called for lifting the 1962 U.S. embargo against Cuba, a stance that is gaining popularity with Florida voters. But he went a bold step further and said he wanted to see conditions there first-hand.

Crist said he still supports an end to the embargo and said he’ll plan a visit to Cuba next spring if he wins the election. . . .

The poll of 305 Miami-Dade Cuban-American voters by Bendixen & Amandi International, taken June 3-5, showed that nearly one in four, or 24 percent, would be less likely to vote for Crist if he visited Cuba and 5 percent would be more likely to vote for him. For 67 percent of voters, it made no difference.

However, among Cubans, 42 percent said they would be less likely to vote for Crist if he visited Cuba. The sample’s margin of error was 4.6 percentage points.

“In my opinion, there was virtually no political upside for him to travel to Cuba,” said Fernand Amandi, managing partner of Bendixen & Amandi, which has been polling Cuban-American voters for more than 35 years. “Charlie Crist could very well have been alienating Cuban voters who were otherwise predisposed to vote for him.”

The Bendixen & Amandi poll showed Crist is favored by 47 percent of county voters and Scott by 35 percent, with 18 percent undecided.

Will Rubio run?

"A look at preparations by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., for a potential 2016 presidential campaign:" "Marco Rubio: Checklist for potential 2016 presidential campaign."

GOPers run gubmint like a bidness

"A state employee said Monday she settled for nearly $250,000 in a whistleblower lawsuit after she was fired for reporting that her department improperly refers unemployment recipients — some of whom are dead or bankrupt — to debt collectors." "Whistleblower: Jobs agency went after money from dead, bankrupt." See also "Whistleblower: State steered jobless to debt collectors" and "State whistle-blower says Scott’s office didn’t help."

More of those best practices from the private sector: "Grand jury rips DCF for undercounting child deaths." But the Trib editors thinks Scott (who knows a thing ot two about fraud) is up to the task: "Help for an agency with an impossible job."

Rich runs determined grassroots campaign

"Underdog Nan Rich runs determined grassroots gubernatorial campaign".

New Friends

"Allison Tant Needs New Friends -- and New Candidates."

Primary games

Kevin Derby: "Steve Crisafulli Starts Shaping GOP Primaries as he Builds His Florida House."

"Historical revisionism by omission"

Marc Caputo writes that, it is "Too bad Florida International University’s latest poll, which showed Miami-Dade Cubans increasingly oppose the embargo of the island nation, didn’t ask respondents just two more questions:"

1. Do you favor lifting the embargo only if Cuba holds open and fair elections, releases political prisoners and allows for a free press and labor unions? . . .

Now that the erstwhile secretary of state, U.S. senator and first lady is plugging her new book and publicly reversing her long-held positions on Cuba, her memory about the embargo, its effect and its history seem a little foggy.

“I recommended to President Obama that he take another look at our embargo,” Clinton writes in her book, Hard Choices. “It wasn’t achieving its goals, and it was holding back our broader agenda across Latin America.”

Putting aside the debate about the embargo’s effectiveness or fecklessness, just what did Clinton want Obama to “look at” and how? If she advocated that Obama try to lift the entire embargo, as reported elsewhere, it doesn’t make much sense.

Obama, or any president, can’t do it alone.

And Clinton can greatly credit one person for that: Bill Clinton, her husband.

As president, Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act in 1996 just after the Castro regime shot down the spotter planes of Brothers to the Rescue, a Cuban-rafter aid group. Helms-Burton essentially “codified” the longstanding embargo by taking a series of executive orders, dating back to 1960, and making it federal law. . . .

Under Helms-Burton, the embargo would be lifted if Cuba held free and fair elections, frees political prisoners and allows for a free press and labor unions.

That’s why FIU, in its poll released last week, probably should have asked about this as well. Such a question would gauge the depth of support or opposition to the embargo once people were informed or reminded about its intent.

Good work if you can get it

"Broward’s Value Adjustment Board will consider a resolution Monday to give a lucrative no-bid contract to the father of County Commissioner Martin David Kiar."

Incumbent VAB legal counsel Monroe Kiar, who makes $225,000 a year, has asked the board to extend his contract for as long as five more years without having to endure any competition for the job.

He won't get it in a brown paper bag

"The search for Florida State University's next president won't be sidetracked again for a powerful state politician -- or any other individual -- who wants the job, the new consultant said Tuesday." "John Thrasher, Others Won't Get 'Special Process' Under New FSU Consultant."

. . . Which might explain why so few candidates walk their districts

"A new study says Orlando is the least walkable of major metro areas in the United States." "Orlando ranked least walkable city."

"She remains in the shadows"

"Nan Rich has been running for governor for more than two years. But she remains in the shadows of her primary opponent: former Gov. Charlie Crist." "Underdog Nan Rich runs determined grassroots gubernatorial campaign."

Joe Henderson: "Nan Rich figures if Cantor lost, Crist can too."

The best they can do?

"Voters in a heavily Republican southwest Florida district are selecting a replacement for U.S. Rep. Trey Radel, who resigned in January after pleading guilty to cocaine possession. Republican Curt Clawson, a former CEO of an aluminum wheel company [a former Purdue basketball player and was the senior captain of the 1984 team, which won the Big Ten Conference championship], is a heavy favorite to defeat Democrat April Freeman and Libertarian Ray Netherwood in Tuesday's vote. Republicans make up about 45 percent of the registered voters in the district, with Democrats accounting for 27 percent." "3 fight to fill open congressional seat in Florida."

"A blisteringly effective strategy"

Aaron Deslatte: "It's a blisteringly effective strategy for both Rick Scott and Charlie Crist: burn down the opponent's education credentials."

And as the summer and the ad wars heat up, both gubernatorial candidates have facts on their side.

Try the facts next time

Tampa Trib columnist Tom Jackson believes the media is being unfair to Wisconsin hater Scott Walker. But Mr. Jackson might want to source his columns with something less hysterical than the crazies at Power Line, say Politifact-Wisconsin (June 20, 2014): "Scott Walker says probe into his campaign finances is 'resolved'" . . . 'We [Politifact] rate Walker’s statement False.'."

Jeb, "Republicans’ pathetic last resort"

Fox News - via Lanny Davis - digs up "Two reasons why Democrats should fear a Jeb Bush 2016 presidential run." Davis' silly piece reflects how little the beltway pols, Republicans and Democrats alike, really know about Jeb Bush.

More on point is Joan Walsh's "Republicans’ pathetic last resort: When Jeb and Mitt are your 2016 saviors", although she seems unaware that Jeb - with a few exceptions (e.g., immigration, common core and possibly fluoridated water) - is a full on Teabagger.

Here's a common false assumption:

“Jeb Bush would deliver Florida for Republicans . . .” [Alfonso Aguilar of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles] said. “If the choice is made by the top of the ticket and he is a conservative candidate, I think the conservative base would go along with it.”

More bad news for Jebbie from a new NBC/Wall Street Journal/Annenberg poll

Asked about Jeb Bush, the brother of former president George W. Bush and the son of George H.W. Bush, 48 percent of respondents said his potential presidency would be a throwback, versus 30 percent who said he would “provide the new ideas and vision the country will need.”

Hillary Clinton, the former first lady and secretary of state, fared just slightly better. Forty-nine percent said a Clinton presidency would represent a return to the past, but 42 percent suggested she has the right “new ideas.”

Killing them timely

The Tampa Trib editors wonder what the fuss is about, because the "Timely Justice Act simply instructs the Supreme Court clerk to notify the governor when appeals are exhausted and orders the governor to sign a death warrant within 30 days of that notification, provided the clemency process is completed. Additionally, the law requires the Supreme Court to produce an annual report to the Legislature on cases pending more than three years, and establishes an office in North Florida to represent death row inmates." "Death penalty law legal but falls short".

"Like living in Tombstone, Arizona, circa 1881"

Fred Grimm: "Florida has remained one of six states that prohibits knuckleheads from traipsing around with their pistols on display like they were living in Tombstone, Arizona, circa 1881."

That, of course, has driven gun rights absolutists crazy. (Perhaps the proper description is “crazier.”) Every year, they spit and sputter and lobby the state legislature to pass an “open carry” bill. And while Florida legislators regularly capitulate to the whims and wishes of the NRA, an law permitting the open display of firearms has remained elusive.

Opponents, led by the Florida Sheriffs Association, have managed to beat down the notion, though, in my wistful moments, I like to think that common sense also played a part in keeping our state legislators from tossing the state's concealed firearm law. Because, they surely understand that most of their constituents are profoundly disturbed by the sight of some non-law enforcement yokel flaunting his shooter in a public place. . . .

Florida law also forbids going about in public places wielding long guns. The advantages of that statute have been become evident over the last few months with the news out of Texas, where long gun displays aren’t prohibited, and where Texas Open Carry members have been showing up at fast food restaurants and department stores with military assault weapons strapped to their backs. The tactic seems designed to intimidate anyone who’d like to regulate the kind of firearms employed in massacres like Sandy Hook and Aurora. Or anyone who just doesn’t want to be sitting down with their kids at a burger joint, like at that Jack In The Box in Fort Worth last month, when five guys walk in with assault rifles slung on their backs.

The gunmen claimed they were just exercising their overblown notion of Second Amendment rights. Fort Worth police reported that their demonstration prompted Jack In The Box employees to lock themselves in the restaurant’s walk-in freezer.

Apparently some folks, even in Texas, are not thrilled to see gunslingers in their midst.

"Rubio warns of attack on Christian values"

"Leading Republicans on Thursday insisted that America's leaders must do more to defend Christian values at home and abroad, blaming President Barack Obama for attacks on religious freedom as they courted social conservatives expected to play a critical role in the next presidential contest."

"Those of us inspired by Judeo-Christian values...have an obligation to our country and to our fellow man to use our positions of influence to highlight those values," Florida's Sen. Marco Rubio said at a conference hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a group led by long-time Christian political activist Ralph Reed.

Rubio, the first of several prospective Republican presidential candidates scheduled to speak, charged that Obama's policies "completely ignore the importance of families and values on our society, thinking that instead those things can be replaced by laws and government programs."