FLORIDA POLITICS
Since 2002, daily Florida political news and commentary

 

UPDATE: Every morning we review and individually digest Florida political news articles, editorials and punditry. Our sister site, FLA Politics was selected by Campaigns & Elections as one of only ten state blogs in the nation
"every political insider should be reading right now."

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Welcome To Florida Politics

Thanks for visiting. On a semi-daily basis we scan Florida's major daily newspapers for significant Florida political news and punditry. We also review the editorial pages and political columnists/pundits for Florida political commentary. The papers we review include: the Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Naples News, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St Pete Times, Tampa Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Tallahassee Democrat, and, occasionally, the Florida Times Union; we also review the political news blogs associated with these newspapers.

For each story, column, article or editorial we deem significant, we post at least the headline and link to the piece; the linked headline always appears in quotes. We quote the headline for two reasons: first, to allow researchers looking for the cited piece to find it (if the link has expired) by searching for the original title/headline via a commercial research service. Second, quotation of the original headline permits readers to appreciate the spin from the original piece, as opposed to our spin.

Not that we don't provide spin; we do, and plenty of it. Our perspective appears in post headlines, the subtitles within the post (in bold), and the excerpts from the linked stories we select to quote; we also occasionally provide other links and commentary about certain stories. While our bias should be immediately apparent to any reader, we nevertheless attempt to link to every article, column or editorial about Florida politics in every major online Florida newspaper.

 

Older posts [back to 2002]

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The Blog for Monday, February 01, 2016

"Transforming school districts into parochial, back-biting, money-wasting fiefdoms"

    The Tampa Trib editorial board: "Florida lawmakers, who never seem to tire of blindfolding the public school system and giving it a spin, now want to divide countywide school districts into separate districts for cities and counties. To make this bad idea even worse, they also want to politicize school systems, allowing partisan elections." "Plan to give cities governance over separate school districts a bad idea."


    "What's hot, crazy or shady about politics in the Sunshine State"

    Marc Caputo: "Rubio crushes ‘Poor Jeb’ in fundraising – tough talk in CD-18 – DeSantis crows about fundraising prowess – snakes pile up in python hung, but is it enough?" "Florida Playbook."


    Scott's surgeon general under fire

    "The number of patients served at county health departments has plummeted in the five years since Gov. Rick Scott took office, the state's top health official revealed in a letter to a top senator last week, in a bid to keep his job as Florida’s surgeon general amid rising legislative opposition."

    Surgeon General John Armstrong included the data in his reply to a recent letter in which Sen. Don Gaetz, a Destin Republican, had pressed for details on the agency's budget request to eliminate 718 positions, asking if any of the positions were clinical and inquiring about rising HIV rates. . . .

    Armstrong came under fire in the Senate last year for refusing to answering Gaetz’s questions about Medicaid expansion and whether expanding the health care program under the federal health care law would improve Floridians' health outcomes.

    Eventually, the committee moved to defer a vote on his confirmation. Armstrong, like most of many of Scott’s agency heads, never got confirmed. If the Senate doesn't confirm him this year, he will have to leave his job, where he earns $141,000 annually.

    "Care cut back at county health departments under Armstrong."


    To Paraphrase "Poor Jeb," "Throw His Ass Out"

    "Bush’s supporters feel protective of him and grieved for his sake. They seem acutely aware that he was never supposed to be in this position—mired in the back of the crowded pack of candidates, struggling to be heard, on the edge of being counted out. A campaign that began with a frontrunner’s fanfare now averages less than 5 percent in national polls.

    It’s a situation that might be humbling or humiliating for your average governor or senator making a run at the title, but it takes on special resonance for a member of one of America’s royal families." "The Last Days of the Bush Dynasty?"


    "Crist is in one mother of a primary fight"

    Nancy Smith writes that, "Charlie Crist may still be the favorite. But mark my words, he knows he's in one mother of a primary fight." "Uh-Oh, Is Charlie Crist About to Make It 3 in a Row?."


    Anti-choice bill "is about as bad as it gets"

    The Miami Herald editors: "Many Floridians were undoubtedly flabbergasted to learn this week that the Legislature, in its wisdom, is considering a bill that virtually bans the practice of abortion in this state. Every legislative session sees its share of frivolous, time-wasting proposals, but this particular one is about as bad as it gets." "Sink this misguided anti-abortion measure."


    "Let the budget horse-trading begin. "

    "House, Senate unveil $80 billion state budgets."


    Wage theft ordinances

    "The city’s wage dispute office has been up and running for four months and is working as its supporters predicted it would."

    Wage theft typically involves people who are forced to work “off the clock,” are not paid for overtime hours, or are not paid at all. Often they are day laborers or work in hotels, restaurants, health care facilities, or construction and lawn service businesses.

    In St. Petersburg, complaints filed thus far have ranged from workers not being paid to how tips are divided for servers at restaurants. Once notified, Epstein said, employers have agreed to pay workers. One case went to mediation and was resolved. Another involved a restaurant that unfairly was dipping into the tips of a server. That case went the next step, to an administrative hearing, where the employer agreed to pay.

    "St. Pete wage dispute office gets employers to pay."



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