Former state senator Rod Smith is considering joining the Democratic field of contenders for retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’ seat, sources close to Smith said.
Smith, a former state attorney from Gainesville, is no stranger to statewide politics. He lost a 2006 gubernatorial primary race against Jim Davis but is considered by Democratic operatives to be a strong candidate for another statewide run, possibly as attorney general.
U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek and state Sen. Dan Gelber, both of Miami-Dade County, have already announced their intentions to run.

Sen. Dave Aronberg is pushing a bill that would create a statewide database to crack down on doctor-shopping and over-prescribing of certain very addictive drugs.
Aronberg, a Greenacres Democrat and a former assistant attorney general, said the prescription drug validation program would also help save lives by alerting doctors of potentially fatal drug interactions.
Thirty-eight other states already have similar drug databases aimed at combating black market sales of prescription drugs.
Deaths from the use of legal drugs are now three times higher than illegal drug-related fatalities.
Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, is the House sponsor.

Sen. Paula Dockery is (again) calling on Gov. Charlie Crist to put the brakes on a Central Florida commuter rail deal the day before he is scheduled to hold a press conference touting the project, recently dubbed “Sunrail.”
Dockery, a Lakeland Republican, sent Crist a letter this evening critiquing the deal in which the state would pay transportation giant CSX Transportation $640 million for 61.5 miles of track while continuing to allow the railroad giant to operate freight trains on the line. The agreement also gives CSX $400 million for improvements on its other rail lines.
Dockery opposes the deal, in part, because the agreement hatched between CSX and state transportation officials could more than triple the number of freight trains that run each day through downtown Lakeland from 16 to 54.
“Did you know that at $10.5 million per mile, Florida would pay the highest rail-sale price in U.S. history? And that taxpayers would pay for CSX’s mistakes on our tracks, even if the freight railroad is grossly negligent? And that the CSX route would only take 3,600 cars off Interstate 4?” Dockery wrote, likening the deal to “the giveaways and corporate welfare that government readily hands out.”
Lawmakers failed to approve a bill including the commuter rail project last session but supporters – including House Speaker Designate Dean Cannon of Orlando – are hoping to pass it before this legislative session ends in May.
Crist will be joined by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a former state senator, a major proponent of the commuter rail project.

Gov. Charlie Crist confirmed this morning that he is considering a run for retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’s seat but did little to end months of speculation by putting off a decision about the race until May.
“When the session is over I’ve have a long discussion with my wife Carole and make a decision,” he said after meeting with sports industry officials at the mansion this morning.
“I’m focused on the Florida budget and those kinds of issues. I think it’s important to stay focused on the issues of the day. I’m focused on working with the members of the House and Senate to make sure that this budget stays in balance and we provide the needs of the people of Florida. I’m not really thinking about politics. When the session is over, I’ll have a long discussion with my wife Carole and make a decision,” he told reporters.

Ray Sansom, seated in the back of the House chamber, and his fellow House Republicans voted at 9:17 p.m. tonight to elect Ocala real estate broker Larry Cretul as the leader of their caucus. The move effectively removes Sansom from power and designates Cretul as House speaker for the next two years.
“I think it’s probably fair to say that all of us would probably rather be somewhere else tonight,” Cretul, above, said after the vote. “But the circumstances require us to come together. … Thank you for your support.”
The 16-minute emergency meeting — proof House leaders can keep a meeting short and to the point when they want — was just the latest chapter in a tumultuous two months for Sansom, who, as recently as Friday, had hoped to only briefly step aside while he faces a grand jury inquiry.
“You’re being asked to make a choice between confusion, disorder and uncertainty or clarity, order and stability,” Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Boca Raton said to open the meeting. “Let’s move forward.”

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Speaker Pro-Tempore Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, named a new chief of staff this afternoon, but he’s not ready to dispatch the old one.
Mike Hansen, who followed former Speaker Ray Sansom from the budget committee, has moved into another office on the speaker’s fourth-floor suite. For now, he’ll keep his $144,000 salary while serving as a budget advisor to Cretul and new chief of staff, former Rep. Dudley Goodlette, R-Naples.
Goodlette, meanwhile, is in line to earn $150,000 for his new job.

House Speaker Pro-Tempore Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, above left, is expected to be voted in as Republican leader of the Florida House tonight, a position that will effectively make him the next speaker, replacing Ray Sansom, who stepped aside Friday in the face of a grand jury inquiry and an ethics complaint.
In his first press conference, Cretul stumbled a few times while trying to figure out when to use possessive or plural pronouns, handed a some questions off to House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, above right, and relied on some self-deprecating humor to get him through his 24-minute press confercence.
Cretul named a new chief of staff – former Rep. Dudley Goodlette of Naples who will earn $150,000 for the job – but generally said he isn’t planning making to many changes – not surprising since Cretul, along with Hasner, were two lawmakers in Sansom’s inner circle at the Capitol.
“I did not campaign for this position. I have no promises to fulfill,” Cretul said. “I have no ambition other than spending time with my grandsons. And they are the only ones I hope to impress.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, said this afternoon is isn’t abandoning his attempt to become speaker but acknowledged that it would almost take another meltdown in the chamber over the next few hours for him to be successful.
“If I were a betting man, I’d say Larry Cretul will be speaker by the end of the evening. Maybe even with a unanimous vote,” Domino said.

Gov. Charlie Crist has signed another death warrant – a fifth – for convicted child murderer Wayne Tompkins.
Crist had ordered that Tompkins, convicted of killing his girlfriend’s 15-year-old daughter and burying her under the home where he lived with her mother, be executed in October. But the Florida Supreme Court stayed that execution.
Crist has set a new execution by lethal injection date of Feb. 11, according to the governor’s office. Tompkins was convicted of killing Lisa DeCarr in Tampa in 1983.

Amid reports that Gov. Charlie Crist is being wooed to run for retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’ seat _ and that Martinez may drop out early _ Florida’s top GOP politico has remained coy about his intentions.
But today he put to rest questions about whether he is definitely NOT going to enter the field.
Crist spent Friday and Saturday nights in D.C. meeting with GOP leaders and Martinez and lobbying “everybody I talk to” about the state’s share of the federal stimulus package working its way through Congress.
When asked if he is considering a run, Crist gave his pat response: “I’m focused on Florida and our budget issues and making sure we’re ready to spend these stimulus dollars.”
But when asked if that was a “no,” Crist responded: “I didn’t hear that.”
Then, asked if that was a “maybe,” Crist retreated to his customary reply: “I’m focused on Florida and Florida’s budget.”

From Roll Call:

In what could be a Sunshine State one-two punch, multiple Republican sources are confirming that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) is giving serious consideration to running for Senate — and that Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) is contemplating resigning from his seat before his term is up next year.

Rest of the article after the jump.

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In typical fashion, Gov. Charlie Crist had little to say about the musical gavels going on in the Florida House moments before House Speaker Pro-Tem Larry Cretul held a press conference to give an update on “who’s in charge” _ at least for now.
“Well, I just wish them the best. Obviously, it’s a bit of a challenging time. But it is a House issue. The lieutenant governor and I respect that. We have been following it closely and I think they’ll have a good meeting tonight,” Crist said this afternoon, referring to a House caucus meeting this evening to vote on House Speaker Ray Sansom’s successor.
When asked if Cretul would be a good replacement, Crist again deferred to the chamber’s wisdom: “That’s up to the House. I’m sure he’d do a fine job.”
And the governor didn’t bite when queried about whether Sansom’s portrait should hang in the chamber gallery beside other speakers.
“That’s for the members to decide,” he said.

Pete Brandenburg, husband of state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-West Palm Beach, has opened a 2010 campaign for his wife’s state House District 89 seat. Mary Brandenburg is being forced out by term limits next year. She’s serving as her husband’s campaign treasurer.
Lake Worth Mayor Jeff Clemens, a Democrat who was once an aide to Mary Brandenburg, is another potential 2010 candidate for her heavily Democratic state House seat.

All those federal corruption takedowns have heightened Palm Beach County commissioners’ awareness of the state’s gift-disclosure law. But commissioners still lag far behind the dining, dancing and disclosing pace set by former Boca Raton mayor and current commission applicant Steven Abrams.
The seven commissioners combined to report 22 instances in which they received gifts worth more than $100 during the first nine months of 2008, up from a mere 12 such declarations in all of 2007. As the Boca mayor from 2001 to 2008, Abrams reported 114 such gifts – mostly free tickets to charity balls, nonprofit fund-raising dinners and Republican political events.

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House Rules Chairman Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, issued his opinion this afternoon on whether Speaker Ray Sansom can temporarily step down from his position.
Bottom line is that Galvano wants another election held as soon as possible. He also writes that he will refused to be nominated, clearing a path for Speaker Pro-Tempore Larry Cretul to be installed as “Republican leader.” Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, is also interested in the top spot.
Technically, the House cannot elect a new speaker until they formally meet in session. The annual spring session is scheduled to start March 3.
Read Galvano’s letter here.
Meanwhile, Cretul is expected to name former state Rep. Dudley Goodlette as his chief of staff, replacing Mike Hansen, a state budget expert who served in the position for Sansom.