| Our digest of, and commentary on today's Florida political news and punditry follows.
RPOFers take a shot at DWS
"The GOP candidate to replace U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz [one Robert Lowry] fired at a full-body silhouette with 'DWS' written next to its head." "Fla. GOP members shoot Muslim targets at gun range".
"'That's our right,' said Napolitano, president of the Southeast Broward Republican Club. 'If we want to shoot at targets that look like that, we're going to go ahead and do that.'" "GOP member shoots target with Fla. rep's initials".
What's wrong with this picture?
"Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) reached across the aisle to praise President Obama on education reform [yesterday] morning." President Obama has angered teachers' unions by supporting merit pay, a policy that would pay teachers based on their students' test scores.
Obama has also called for a longer school year, while teachers' unions have proposed shorter school weeks to prevent layoffs.
"I am very, very encouraged, and excited that the president has taken on a core constituency of his party, which is the teachers union," Bush said on MSNBC's Morning Joe. "Jeb Bush praises Obama on education". See also "Jeb Bush hits the road talking education and pitching Florida's 'cocktail of reforms'". "Florida Hometown Democracy"
"Managing growth a hot button topic". "Florida's renewable energy association caves to oily deal"
Daytona Beach News Journal editorial board: "In the world of diametrically opposed elements, there are -- among other distinct examples -- fire and water, Glenn Beck and Keith Olberman, and oil drilling and solar power. So, it wouldn't have been surprising if sunspots did a double-take last week when the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association declared that it was all for oil and gas drilling within swimming distance of Florida's tourist-swarming shoreline." The solar industry's Mephistophelean deal with the oil and gas industry goes beyond opportunism. It also undermines the solar-energy sector. Lower oil prices, should they be sustainable, aren't alternative energy's friend. They deflate incentives for alternative energy development while increasing dependence on fossil fuels. It isn't a coincidence that solar energy's growth in the United States coincided with high oil prices. ...
Oil drillers may win. Consumers won't, because what trickle-down benefits the solar industry imagines it will tap into, oily as they are, will be slim, tainted and temporary. "Drilling solar's plexus". "Sometimes it's hard to pinpoint which is which"
The Miami Herald editorial board: "There is criminal misconduct, and there's unethical behavior. In Tallahassee, sometimes it's hard to pinpoint which is which." In dismissing an official misconduct charge against Mr. Sansom, the judge noted: "A fair reading of the Grand Jury's Presentment should give pause to members of the Legislature, and anyone else who cares about public trust and confidence in our government institutions.'' ...
[I]f the law is "overly broad,'' as the judge maintains, and unconstitutional in this case, then the state's highest court should say so. State Attorney Willie Meggs is right to want the Attorney General's Office to appeal.
Despite the judge's ruling, the former House speaker is not out of the woods. A legislative committee investigating Mr. Sansom's conduct has hired a former statewide prosecutor to look into whether the Destin Republican violated House rules when he was a budget chairman and inserted the $6 million into the budget.
This investigation shouldn't be dragged out. The facts are in. If Mr. Sansom's actions are deemed ethical by House rules, then the rules don't merit the public's trust. "Tallahassee's culture of anything goes". Sharp disagreement
"Florida Democratic leaders disagreed sharply Thursday over rules changes that would relax control of party finances." Party Treasurer Alma Gonzalez said she could not support Chairman Karen Thurman's proposal to raise from $5,000 to $25,000 the amount of checks requiring the treasurer's signature. Thurman said the $5,000 limit is more than 10 years old and that a bigger, busier party needs the flexibility to make bigger purchases without the treasurer personally approving every check.
Democratic National Committeeman Jon Ausman backed Gonzalez in memos to members of the Democratic Executive Committee who will meet in Orlando during the weekend to consider rules changes. Ausman recalled that the state party's finances were investigated three times by the Florida Elections Commission between 1992-95, once by the Federal Elections Commission in 2002 and that in 2005 the Internal Revenue Service froze the party's checking account and levied a $200,000 lein for unpaid taxes. "Florida's Democrats differ on party finance rules". Thousands of qualified ex-offenders "still waiting for relief"
The Saint Petersburg Times editorial board: "Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink is using the issue of civil rights restoration for ex-felons to position herself as a law-and-order candidate for governor in 2010." A letter Sink sent late last month to the governor and fellow Cabinet members who make up the state's Clemency Board raises concerns over 13 ex-offenders who were identified by an auditor general's report as having been given their civil rights back when they didn't qualify. She wants those mistakes corrected, but her letter is more about politics than good policy. The Democratic candidate for governor should focus on the thousands of qualified ex-offenders who are still waiting for relief.
While mistakes on civil rights restoration should be corrected, there are far more consequential problems with the process. In large measure, the failing of the system is that too many eligible nonviolent offenders aren't gaining their rights back in a timely manner. Sink's concern and the Clemency Board's time and attention should be focused on eliminating barriers to full citizenship for ex-offenders who have served their time.
Gov. Charlie Crist made important strides when he pushed to expand the number of nonviolent ex-felons eligible to have their civil rights restored without a hearing. Before the Clemency Board changed the rules in April 2007, only 26 percent of ex-offenders qualified for "automatic" civil rights restoration. After the rule change, 80 percent became eligible.
But since then Crist has not been a leader ... . "Politics trumps policy". Parade
"Gay-rights pioneer's nephew to lead Orlando pride parade". "Condo Vultures don't throw up on themselves"
Marie Cocco on Michael Moore's exposure of "companies like Condo Vultures." Moore chronicles the endeavors of this Florida enterprise as it gobbles up foreclosed apartments for a fraction of the price their former owners paid. The difference between the real-estate flippers and the vultures of the animal world, an earnest company representative tells Moore, is that the Condo Vultures don't throw up on themselves. "Jobless in a scandalous meltdown after the meltdown". Luv 4 sale
"Crist's fundraising for his U.S. Senate campaign has slowed to a breakneck pace." Meanwhile, The Democratic Party has yet to field a major candidate for chief financial officer, and its candidates for other statewide posts face well-financed Republican rivals: Senate President Jeff Atwater said he has more than $1 million for his chief financial officer bid, while U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow is approaching the same milestone for agriculture commissioner.
On Friday, the Republican Party of Florida plans to announce its "Victory 2010'' campaign account, which will be led by finance chairman Allan Bense, the former House speaker. Some Republican donors have expressed concern about spending by the state chairman, Jim Greer, but a party spokeswoman said the victory account was an election-year tradition. "Charlie Crist rakes in millions for Senate race". See also "Crist still the king of cash but Rubio is gaining". Gotta be sumthin' wrong somewhere
"Federal Election Commission audits Florida Democratic Party". Free riders
"Rail plan: Taxpayers wouldn't pay for the Tampa-Orlando line". His "objectivity has never been in question"?
"The powerful Miami lawmaker now in charge of the Senate committee on energy policy is married to a lobbyist hired to help secure the repeal of Florida's ban on offshore oil and gas exploration." Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, earlier this month was named chairman of the Senate's energy, environment and land use committee. He insists that any vote on oil drilling or other energy policies that come before him will not be influenced by his wife, Claudia, one of more than two dozen lobbyists registered to represent Florida Energy Associates, the umbrella group of oil and gas industry representatives seeking access to drill off Florida's coastline.
"My objectivity has never been in question,'' said Sen. Diaz de la Portilla, 45. "Politics, careers often at odds in Florida Legislature". Oops
"Florida Power & Light agreed to pay a $25 million penalty to settle a case involving a power outage created by a careless engineer." "FPL to pay $25M for blackout blunder". Yaaawwwnnn ...
Scott Maxwell: "Where's the beef in our pols' tweets?". "Inland water issues"
"Describing springs protection as 'one of the more complex environmental challenges facing the state,' Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater this week created a special committee to focus on inland water issues." "Senate creates panel to protect springs". |
