The Dirty Dozen of 2010

by: Robert McKnight

Mon May 03, 2010 at 19:23:56 PM EDT

Election 2010...Possible Game Changers...

by: Robert McKnight

Fri Oct 23, 2009 at 16:27:12 PM EDT

It is almost exactly a year to go until the 2010 mid term elections.  Although there is still time for a surprise candidate to surface in the races for the U.S. Senate, Governor, the Cabinet or the Congressional and Legislative races, the field seems pretty well set.  So, it might be interesting to look today at what could be "Game Changers" in the election:

Endorsements:  Although their importance is sometimes exaggerated, look for individual endorsements that are party cross overs.  Case in point, then Democrat Jim Smith losing the primary to Steve Pajcic in 1986, and turning around and supporting Bob Martinez for Governor, who won.  Former opponent endorsements can be eye catching, so keep your eye on Eric Draper's support in the race for Agriculture Commissioner.  Lastly, watch for powerful organizational endorsements like AARP, the Unions, and local Chambers of Commerce.

Get Out the Vote Efforts:  Election regulators are all over these tactics now, especially in the minority communities, with the latest revelations on ACORN.  But there are still a ton of votes up in the condos in South Florida, and among the military serving overseas, so in a close race, the candidate who gets that vote probably is a winner.

Oops:  This is the embarrassment that an opponent digs up and holds for the last minute "bomb shell."  Best one I saw was when a candidate ran on a pro-war platform and his opponent discovered the pro-war candidate never bothered to vote on a public war resolution in an earlier election.  Ouch, that hurts.

Remember candidates, free and honest elections are difficult and hard work, but they are the best known to our great country.

PS:  Don't forget, enter the contest to win a free copy of The Golden Years...The Florida Legislature, '70s and '80s, for the holidays at:  bobmcknight.wordpress.com.

Beware the McCollum Makeover

by: dantilson

Wed May 20, 2009 at 20:27:13 PM EDT

In announcing his candidacy for Governor of Florida on Monday, Bill McCollum described how if elected his administration would demonstrate "a renewed commitment to our environment." It sure better be "renewed", given that in McCollum's last year in the U.S. House of Representatives, the estimable League of Conservation Voters gave him a dismal 26% lifetime environmental rating, gaining him infamous addition to their "Dirty Dozen" list of the most anti-environment members of Congress -- see http://tinyurl.com/q6aymn).

But that's not the only "Dirty Dozen" list that McCollum has been named to.  No, in fact the venerable Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence put the then-congressman in its own hall of shame, citing him as having one of the "worst records on the issue of guns" of anyone in Congress  -- see http://tinyurl.com/o5tybz.  Of course, McCollum describes that status as nothing more than support of the constitutional right to bear arms.

What chilling examples these are of the kind of Herculean makeover campaign the McCollum team has already begun to mount, in hopes of finally getting him the kind of high profile statewide gig he has so longed for. His 2006 election as Attorney General just doesn't seem to have done enough to heal the wounds of unsuccessful U.S. Senate runs in 2000 and 2004. He is an ever-ambitious lifer in the grimy game of electoral politics, which usually means prioritizing one's own advancement over and above the positive impact one can have at any particular level of achievement, or responsibility.

Untruth and Consequences

by: dantilson

Tue May 12, 2009 at 15:07:55 PM EDT

While political pundits turn their -- and the public's -- attention to Charlie Crist's U.S. Senate run and a series of chain reaction announcements to follow from Florida pols like Alex Sink and Bill McCollum, it's worth taking one more look at what the state's Republican leadership "accomplished" by the time they finally passed a budget and adjourned last Friday.

Forget the spin coming out of self-congratulatory press conferences like the one on Friday afternoon that featured Crist, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottcamp, Senate President Jeff Atwater and House Speaker Larry Cretul patting one another on the back for reaching compromise "agreements" and making "tough choices".  The Governor's office immediately issued a long list of accomplishments in the new budget.  Atwater and other Republican leaders went on their own media tour,  desperately trying to re-frame the legislative session as some kind of a mixed-bag success.  The economic crisis, of course, became the be-all, end-all explanation for their more glaring slaps across the faces of Florida's already reeling Middle Class and working families.

Slaps such as...

Read entire article at  http://www.examiner.com/x-9540...

Florida Republicans hold legislature hostage

by: dantilson

Sat May 02, 2009 at 21:44:23 PM EDT

May 1st marked the official end of the 60-day legislative session in Tallahassee. No balloons or ticker tape. No, you see, the one and only task that the legislature was actually required to accomplish by May Day was to pass the state budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1st. They couldn’t get it done. So now House and Senate “leaders”, Republicans like House Speaker Larry Cretul and Senate President Jeff Atwater, huddle over the weekend and try to come up with a final budget that the entire legislature can vote on next week. These are the same Republicans who had promised an open budget process last week -- just before making a mad dash for closed-door budget negotiations amongst themselves. Talk about an economic strategy echo chamber. After their secret meetings, they refused to reveal any details of what they’d discussed. But they did want to make an announcement: that the budget negotiation “will be an open process…a very, very open process.” Does that sound more than a little like the twisted double-talk that came out of the Bush administration for eight long years?

This, after weeks and weeks of the usual Florida legislative war dance -- the overwhelmingly Republican House vs. the less-overwhelmingly Republican Senate. How about a couple of examples? Well, Florida homeowners’ “insurer of last resort”, government-backed Citizens Insurance, wanted a rate hike. The state Senate approved a 5% hike. Then the House said no, that’s not enough. They wanted to give them increases of up to 20%. That's called chutzpah in Yiddish, cujones in Spanish, shameless in any language. Then there’s the Clean Energy bill, intended to force electric utilities to use more renewable energy sources, like wind and solar. Even our Republican Lite governor, Charlie Crist, is a big advocate of the legislation. But House Republicans blocked the bill throughout the session.

What are badly outnumbered Democrats to do? Some continue to fight for what's right. Others are just desperate for a win. In the case of the Clean Energy bill, at the last minute the Senate tacked on a ridiculous new feature that would allow nuclear power to also be classified as a renewable energy source. And that, folks, is the kind of wrong-headed cave-in that leaves so many principled citizens disgusted or disengaged with politics, and politicians.

However, it is important to note that there are in fact some hard-working, ethical, progressive Democrats in the state legislature, fighting the good fight against all odds -- people like Dan Gelber, Ted Deutch, Dave Aronberg, and others. But far too often, their hands are tied. There just aren’t enough of them. And that’s because of how successfully the Republicans have gerrymandered our legislative districts. The good news is, there's hope on the horizon. A vitally important new ballot referendum initiative called Fair District Florida may just be the beginning of a new day in state politics. Stay tuned for an upcoming article on this potentially game-changing new initiative.

Boulware Out of Bounds

by: quinnelk

Wed Sep 10, 2008 at 22:21:35 PM EDT

"Please take the necessary steps to retrieve any signs bearing our marks from circulation, and proceed as quickly as possible to delete our marks from your website and any other campaign materials."

Legislative Roundup

by: quinnelk

Sat May 03, 2008 at 09:15:34 AM EDT

Legislative Roundup

by: quinnelk

Thu May 01, 2008 at 00:52:59 AM EDT

Legislative Roundup

by: quinnelk

Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 15:29:36 PM EDT

Florida Progressive Radio Show w/ Gautier Kitchen Begins at 2 pm

by: quinnelk

Sun Sep 02, 2007 at 12:49:28 PM EDT

The show is now available in archives.

For those who are planning on participating in the radio show later, this is how it will work...

Gautier Kitchen, who is running for Florida house District 9, is our guest today.  Feel free to call in and ask Gautier questions.  Alison Berke Morano will be co-hosting with me and Sinfonian will also be joining us for his regular segment, Weekly Schadenfreude.

The show begins at exactly 2 p.m.  Go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fpc to listen to the show.  If you are interested, you can call in at (646) 716-7543.  This is not a toll free call, so make sure you check your calling plan so you have free weekends. If not, if you have a microphone on your computer, there should be a button on the web page that will let you do the equivalent of calling via your computer. I haven't tested this part, so I'm not 100% sure it works. The phone does work, I've tested that. After that it works just like a regular radio call-in show.  Today's topic is a bit up in the air.  We are expecting a high profile guest, but stuff like that doesn't always work out, so we aren't sure.  

Mac Users need additional software, which you can download here.  PC users simply need one of the later versions of Windows Media Player.

If you call in for any reason, make sure to turn down your radio so we don't get feedback or an echo effect.

If you miss the show today, it will be archived on the web site and you can listen to it later as streaming audio or download it as an mp3.  I hope you enjoy...

If you thought property tax reform was a mess, wait till you see version 2.0

by: doorguy

Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 23:06:03 PM EDT

But that was just a preview. The real battle is looming, and it's set to explode on Jan. 29.

Republican Tax Plan: No Deal.

by: Ray_Seaman

Sat Jun 09, 2007 at 07:34:48 AM EDT

Tax Plan: Big Savings, Major Cuts

Among all its problems, here's the real deal-breaker for me:

Total cost to local governments over five years: $31.6 billion -- a record tax cut.

But the big number includes $7.2 billion from schools

I would love to see a tax plan which cut the burden for the middle class and pushed it onto the well-cushioned rich. Bottom line: we shouldn't be trying to cut taxes on the backs of future generations - period.

Bad Legislature

by: quinnelk

Tue May 01, 2007 at 12:18:40 PM EDT

Leadership vs. 'bleatership': Democrats show how to do it with legislative tax reform

by: doorguy

Thu Mar 29, 2007 at 04:30:02 AM EDT

Fla. Sen. Steven A. Geller, far left, D-Hallandale (Dist. 31), and Fla. Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Delray Beach, have introduced a Florida tax reform plan that, while imperfect, is exponentially superior to what exists today. In fact, the minor flaws in the Geller-Deutch proposal are made near-invisible by the spectacular brilliance of their idea: a dusty old all-but-forgotten principle most Fla. Republicans, to their shame, probably consider "quaint"---that Florida government serves the people of Florida.

Faced with a fratboy-facetious approach to fiscal reform polished and pimped by smirking silk-suited Republicans in the Florida House, Geller and Deutch set out to structure a bill that focuses more on Florida's people than our self-annointed aristocracy.

Republican House Speaker Marco Rubio: Honest Gov't "unbalances our budget"

by: doorguy

Tue Mar 27, 2007 at 06:10:51 AM EDT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. --- Fla. Republican House Speaker Marco Rubio, author of the 2007 Republican tax scam that will make poor people pay more so luxury condo owners can have another tax break, announced that honest, transparent government in Florida "unbalances our budget, and it unbalances the governor's budget," even though Gov. Crist is on record disagreeing with him.

S.V. Dáte of the Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau  has the story in today's edition.

The setup: Back in 1992, visionary legislators established the Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund and allocated a two-tenths-of-a-penny doc stamp to pay for it.

Two years ago, Gov. Jeb Bush led lawmakers in a pillaging raid on Sadowski, ransacking the now almost $1 billion trust fund to pay for pet projects. They 'capped' Sadowski at $243 million, not nearly enough to offset Florida's critical workforce housing shortage. Now, their midnight raid is about to take effect.

So instead of the nation's most innovative and progressive solution to our dire workforce housing crisis, we get a warmed-over talk radio tax scam whose biggest beneficiaries are Rubio's wealthy condo-owner buddies.

This year housing advocates --- along with every major industry and economic development group in Florida, even the Chamber of Commerce --- want to "Scrap the Cap" on Sadowski before Florida faces financial ruin.

Rubio claims that will upset his tax scam, and his poor, neglected millionaire friends will be forced to pay property taxes on oceanfront condos they bought at laughably inflated prices at the height of Florida's real estate bubble.

"I think we all support removing the cap," said House Speaker Marco Rubio, referring to the $243 million limit the 2005 law imposes as of July 1. "The problem is that it unbalances our budget, and it unbalances the governor's budget in the long term as well. That's the consideration."

Only that's a lie.

Can Fla. legislators turn affordable housing crisis into economic recession?

by: doorguy

Tue Mar 20, 2007 at 02:05:47 AM EDT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla --- Can Florida legislators turn Florida's affordable housing crisis into an economic recession? Of course they can. The big question is, will they?

That's a possibility, and given the Republican-led legislature's paucity of visionary leaders, it's looking more like a probability.

Here's Aaron Deslatte from the Tallahassee Democrat's Fla. Capital Bureau last week:

Florida economists projected Monday that the state's economic slowdown would cost state government $956 million between now and the end of next year - money Gov. Charlie Crist and lawmakers had banked on to fund new teacher bonuses, stem-cell research, environmental restoration and other spending.

The dip stems mostly from plummeting sales tax collections and documentary taxes on real-estate sales - both tied to an ice-cold housing market in much of the state.

"This makes the case that people have been trying to make on both property taxes and property insurance," the governor said, meaning that both issues were worsening Florida's housing bust.

The Pensacola News Journal said the same thing differently, also last week:

Estimates that state government tax revenue will be down $1 billion over the next two years is also an alarm for local governments. If it isn't a cyclical dip, it could be the leading edge of the hurricane, insurance and housing crises merging.

...While state tax revenues have slowed before, officials say this is the first time since 1974-75 that the state has seen a decline in revenue. That decline came on the heels of a severe recession sparked by an oil crisis. It was reported to be the worst recession since World War II.

The Orlando Sentinel picked up Bill Kaczor's Associated Press story that starts to pinpoint the problem:

House Speaker Marco Rubio, R-West Miami [left,] said the Legislature held down spending over the past two years and put money in reserve because lawmakers had anticipated the decline.

"We know there are adequate funds to cover the most important state services," Rubio said. "We are committed to maintaining the same conservative, prudent approach to the state budget."

Rubio's "conservative, prudent approach" is a tax scam that promises huge benefits for million-dollar condo owners and higher costs for poor working families, while slashing local government's ability to serve its own people.

Here's what the St. Petersburg Times said about Rubio's tax scam last month:

The line between bold and reckless has been erased in the Florida House. A Republican plan to cap government revenues, abolish property taxes for homesteads and enact the nation's highest sales tax is so irresponsible and poorly designed it would be laughed off if it wasn't backed by House Speaker Marco Rubio and his leadership team. They have created a risky scheme that would make a broken tax system more unfair, undermine the state's tenuous financial stability and erode our quality of life.

What passes for "the leadership" in Tallahassee is deluding itself. Florida is on the verge of an economic disaster. The 'affordable housing crisis' is the canary in the coal mine. And rather than deal with the problem, legislators are trying to wish it away.

Last week, 2,000 people rallied for affordable housing in Pinellas County. Maybe 10,000 people in Tallahassee might convince legislators to do what needs to be done. Large-scale public demonstrations sometimes have a way of bringing out the best in legislators, especially if some of those demonstrators are carrying pitchforks and scythes.

Here's what the legislature ought to be focused on:

Scrap the cap on the Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

There's a billion dollars in the bank to pay for affordable housing programs.

Fla. Housing Finance Corp. is leveraging what portions of those funds they are allowed to spend at a 6:1 ratio. That means $6 billion in public-private investment for affordable housing if legislators 'Scrap the Cap.'

It's time "the peoples' Governor" started living up to his campaign slogan. And it's time the peoples' representatives in Tallahassee started fulfilling their moral obligation. Florida doesn't need tax relief for overpriced condos. Florida needs to focus on its elderly, its working families and its middle class.

Or 10,000 protestors in Tallahassee---with pitchforks and scythes---might be more than this writer's silly old fantasy.

Rant: Fla. should spent $500 million on CWHIP, not $50 million

by: doorguy

Wed Jan 31, 2007 at 08:02:26 AM EST

TAMPA, Fla. --- The Fla. Housing Finance Corp. board of directors last Fri. approved spending $49 million of the $50 million allocated to Fla.'s Community Workforce Housing Innovative Pilot Program - CWHIP - during the 2006 legislative session.

Fifty million dollars is a pathetic joke. CWHIP should be funded at $500 million.

CWHIP: The First Year

CWHIP funds are meant to encourage innovative, community-based solutions to Fla.'s workforce housing crisis.

Long before CWHIP spent its first hard dime, it played the pivotal role marshaling one of the most influential arrays of Fla. government, business, industry, finance, economic development, workforce and housing leadership ever - at the Fla. Chamber Foundation's Fla. Summit on Affordable Living in Tampa last Sept.

For seven lofty hours, potentate after plenipotentiary from all across the state plodded to the podium to pledge solemnly their sincere belief that Fla.'s painful housing crisis has transcended the social stain that marks the bounds our moral character to assume an economic portent that threatens our fiduciary soul.

As a lifelong Floridian whose political conscience was awakened half a century ago by 'colored' people at a luncheon counter in St. Augustine, I can't recall when so many diverse and well-suited executives agreed that a single problem was a problem, or proffered solutions.

As this site reports daily, every newspaper in Fla. has addressed this monstrous issue.

Across Fla., affordable workforce housing is a red-hot topic in every county and almost every city and town today: the same law that created CWHIP requires Fla. counties to inventory their property holdings by July 1, 2007, to determine which publicly-owned sites are suitable for development of workforce housing.

That law requires all 65 Fla. counties to enact ordinances to establish mechanisms for developing workforce housing.

Those ordinances might mean no workforce housing in some counties - that's local choice for you - but public ordinances they will be regardless. Cue the music.

(Fla. Housing Finance Corp. has a .pdf download of the CWHIP law here if you'd like to read it.)

Page Two: we predict the future and, yep, we name names...

Fla. legislators, housing advocates unveil workforce housing strategies for 2007 leg. session

by: doorguy

Fri Jan 19, 2007 at 19:04:30 PM EST

Rep. Mike Davis (R-101/Naples), right, who chairs the House Workgroup on Affordable Housing, is legislative point man for workforce housing strategies in the Fla. House in 2007. Davis is one of 10 Workgroup members whom we profiled here last week.

Jaimie Ross, left, president of the board's Executive Committee at the Fla. Housing Coalition and Affordable Housing director at 1000 Friends of Fla., will likely lead most housing advocacy and lobbying efforts, as she has for more than a decade.

Goal Number One is "Scrap the Cap" that the legislature imposed on the billion-dollar Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the largest in the nation, further exacerbating the workforce housing crisis in Florida.

As Ross told us in an exclusive interview that will headline a series of 'movers and shakers' profiles scheduled to start (at Florida Workforce Housing Network) next month:

...the number one issue for housing advocates to address during the 2007 Legislative session is repeal of the cap on the state and local housing trust funds that is due to go into effect in 2007. This cap, if not repealed, will cap the distribution of our dedicated revenue source into the trust funds at $243 million per year---this is approximately half of the money that was appropriated for housing over the last two years.

A billion-dollar trust fund is the sort of honeypot that makes legislators tremble with desire. And Fla. has many problems that demand immediate attention. Housing advocates have their work cut out for them. From Peltier:

The tax was created to provide affordable housing, but the Legislature hasn't fully appropriated the money - capping spending at $243 million yearly. The account is expected to be bulging with nearly $1 billion by the spring legislative session.

Earlier this year, there was $945 million in the trust fund but lawmakers left $505 million of that in the bank.

(doorguy's too-lengthy disclaimer: this diary is cross-posted from Florida Workforce Housing Network with permission of the author and the site (I'm a principal). Please forgive all the hoopla about GOP legislators, I long (and work) for the day we'll post news about Democratic-chaired legislative efforts. Our goal here is to educate Fla Politics members and readers in one very important state legislative area. We embrace all other areas Fla Poliics covers, but are more knowledgeable about this area).

Website for Campbell

by: boliz131

Sat Jan 13, 2007 at 11:29:40 AM EST

Link to Liz:

http://LizCampbell20...

Her Mailing Address is:

3305 West Lee Street
Pensacola, Florida 32505

Ph:  850-433-0592

Your help is not going to waste, I have been doing all that you suggest.... Thank you

Bo

Fla. Legislature's Workgroup on Affordable Housing: Which Ones Are Hero Material?

by: doorguy

Thu Jan 11, 2007 at 08:49:07 AM EST

Tallahassee, Fla. --- Florida workforce families may have some friends - and heroes - in the Florida House of Representatives' Workgroup on Affordable Housing.

The Workgroup - 10 legislative 'first responders' to Florida's dire workforce housing crisis - met for the second time in Tallahassee yesterday. (We're trying to track down a report).

Their job is to make recommendations to the Fla. House.

And the game plan this session will be to "Scrap the Cap" the legislature imposed last year, further exacerbating the workforce housing crisis in Florida.

Apparently, Scrap the Cap (hat tip to the Florida Times-Union editorial writers for the phrase) is part of the Workgroup strategy. So far.

Three Workgroup members are from Palm Beach Co., which currently has six Fla. CWHIP proposals sitting on the desk at Fla. Housing Finance Corp. A fourth is from Miami, which has two CWHIP proposals in the hopper.

CWHIP is a $50 million bone lawmakers threw to housing advocates last year after "capping" the largest affordable housing trust fund in the U.S. and pillaging it to pay for general revenue programs. CWHIP aims to fund 'innovative pilot' programs to create more affordable workforce housing.

Here's what the Workgroup says now:

* For 2006-07, Florida's Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund totals $940 million

* Only $433 million has been appropriated

* The remaining $507 million should be used for new multifamily housing or rehabilitation

* Programs for the elderly and essential safety personnel such as firefighters and nurses also need more funds

Recommended action: contact Workgroup legislators (links below).