Democrat Alex Sink put little confidence to a poll this morning showing her leading Republican Bill McCollum in the 2010 race for governor.
“Nothing,” Sink said when asked what the poll means. “Absolutely nothing. … It’s just early and polls are not very meaningful right now.”
Republicans, meanwhile, are a little more aggressive this morning discrediting the poll. They point to numbers in the poll showing McCollum beating Sink in job approval, favorability rating, party crossover and independent.
“When we campaign, its an important edge to have in whatever we do,” McCollum said about the numbers showing he was well known and generally well liked. “As far as the head-to-head is concerned, the campaign hasn’t been run yet. It’s 17 months away, so we have a long way to go.
“Don’t let Commissioner Aaronson get away with being dismissive,” organizers of the South Florida Tea Party group are urging members after Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson last month wondered why Tea Party supporters didn’t show up for a weekday commission meeting. The group is urging members to turn out for the June 16 commission meeting to send a message to Aaronson.
Aaronson
A huge crowd of Tea Party demonstrators descended on the county government headquarters on April 15 to protest massive federal spending and deficits. But Aaronson was unimpressed on May 19 when a lone member of the group spoke at a commission meeting on an issue.
“You said that many people have the same feeling as you do and they participated in the tea party, but they couldn’t get here today,” Aaronson told Suzanne Squire in a video clip the Tea Party group is circulating. “Well, they seem to have found a way to get to the tea party. Why couldn’t they get here today?”
With 17 months to go, a new Quinnipiac University poll shows Democrat Alex Sink with a 38-to-34 percent lead over Republican Bill McCollum in the 2010 governor’s race.
The poll also shows big support (61 percent to 33 percent) for the idea of reducing property taxes for first-time homebuyers, but considerably less support (39 percent to 19 percent) for a 2010 statewide ballot question aimed at that goal.
Roll Call is reporting that U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, has spent more than $6,700 in campaign contributions this year on attorneys to help answer questions about his residency.
The story says Wexler paid nearly $3,700 to the Florida-based law firm Berger Singerman; $2,200 to the Washington, D.C., office of McDermott Will & Emery; and $900 to the Miami office of law firm Hunton & Williams.
Wexler’s chief of staff, Eric Johnson, told the newspaper that the firms were hired to address questions about Wexler’s residency as well as a series of unrelated amendments to the congressman’s FEC filings.
Wexler got into hot water last year for claiming his in-laws retirement village home as his Florida residency. Wexler and his family live mostly in Washington D.C.
Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, blocked consideration late in this year’s legislative session of a House measure to allow drilling from 3 miles to 10.5 miles off Florida’s coast. But in response to an audience question at today’s Forum Club of the Palm Beaches lunch, Atwater said the issue won’t go away and legislators will have to engage in a “big conversation” about it.
A group called FloridaOil.org wants to put a drilling question on the 2010 ballot. And Atwater said that regardless of what Florida does, other nations might act.
“Someone is going to tap our offshore oil. It’s either going to be the Chinese or someone else,” Atwater told the Forum Club.
“We need to have a much deeper, more thorough conversation on how far out and how thoughtful, careful and safe can we begin the research as to what’s there and when and if we should go after it,” Atwater said.
Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, today defended the federal stimulus bill and the way state lawmakers used it and tax and fee hikes to close a $6 billion budget gap this year.
Atwater
Atwater, so far the only announced candidate for the state’s chief financial officer job, offered a recap of the recent legislative session for a crowd of about 420 at a Forum Club of the Palm Beaches lunch.
With the recession sending the state’s revenues into a free-fall, legislators managed to balance a $66.5 billion 2009-10 budget last month by using about $5 billion in federal stimulus money and about $2 billion from raising cigarette taxes and various traffic fines and fees.
It could have been the turkey or ham that caused an E. coli outbreak at a Florida prison last month.
Forty-two inmates at Mayo Correctional Institution reported gastric problems traced to a May 17 meal consisting of turkey, ham, mac and cheese, cole slaw, corn bread, navy beans and cake, Department of Corrections officials confirmed today.
Eleven stool samples were tested and of those two confirmed cases of E. coli food poisoning, department spokeswoman Jo Ellyn Rackleff said.
Department of Health officials believe an ill food services worker may be the source of the contamination, she said. DOH is conducting an investigation, spokeswoman Susan Smith said.
Corrections officials canceled contracts with private vendors to provide food services for the state’s prisons last year and are now preparing and serving meals in-house. The vendor that now supplies the prisons is Lakeland-based U.S. Foodservice.
E. coli is a bacteria that causes severe abdominal cramping followed by diarrhea and bloody stools. The highly contagious germ can be passed from person to person, especially if someone infected with the infection touches food. The best way to prevent the spread of the germ is by hand washing after going to the bathroom.
Attorney General Bill McCollum sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist today urging him to approve a bill that would track prescription drugs sold in Florida.
The bill (SB 462) has been somewhat controversial, despite itsunanimous approval in the Senate and an overwhelming 103-10 vote of support in the House.
With state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, leaving his Senate seat next year to run for attorney general, a Lee County candidate could pick up the seat.
Aronberg
About 54 percent of the district is in Palm Beach County and 45 percent is in Lee County. Given the partisan make-up of the counties and the decision by state Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, to stay in the House, the balance of power could shift west.
Some Democrats hoped state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, would challenge freshman U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, next year. With Aronberg running for attorney general, many Democrats are waiting to see whether St. Lucie County Commissioner Chris Craft will run for Congress.
Craft
Craft has talked to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and said today he hopes to decide on a congressional race by sometime this summer.
With Aronberg out of the congressional picture, Craft said, “now we really step up the efforts to see what’s out there as far as the support network, not only financially but also what kind of ground troops.”
A new statewide poll shows Attorney General Bill McCollum and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink in a virtual tie for governor nearly a year and a half before the 2010 November election.
The poll, conducted by Atlanta-based Strategic Vision LLC, found 41 percent of potential voters supported GOP hopeful McCollum while 39 percent opted for Democrat Sink. The poll, with a margin of error of +/- 3 percent, showed 20 percent were undecided in that race.
McCollum edged out state Sen. Paula Dockery by just 44 percent to 28 percent although this is his fourth statewide bid for office in 10 years. And Dockery, R-Lakeland, hasn’t even announced that she is indeed running for the post. Twenty-eight percent of respondents were undecided in that race.
Gov. Charlie Crist maintains a comfortable lead in a potential U.S. Senate GOP primary against former House Speaker Marco Rubio, with 59 percent supporting Crist, 22 for Rubio and 19 percent undecided.
Crist fared about the same against presumptive Democratic candidate U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek. In that potential race, 59 percent of potential voters chose Crist, 29 percent went for Meek and 12 percent were undecided.
CFO Alex Sink’s capitalizing on the hot summer weather to drum up money for her campaign bid for governor.
For just $20.10 to the Democrat’s campaign fund, supporters will get a beach ball.
And since today, June 5, is her birthday, if contributors donate $65, Sink will autograph the inflatable ball – for free!
Sink, who grew up on a farm in Mt. Airy, N.C., said in an e-mail sent to supporters that her family didn’t take many vacations.
“But every summer, my mom and dad took us to the beach. It was the highlight of our year – something to look forward to all year long.
In anticipation of our summer beach trip, every year my parents would give me a brand new beach ball on my birthday. It was a simple tradition, but one that still makes me smile,” the message reads.
With state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, running for attorney general, the scramble is on to fill his trans-Florida District 27 Senate seat, which runs from Palm Beach County to Lee County on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
The district is about 40 percent Democratic and 36 percent Republican. About 54 percent of voters live in Palm Beach County and about 45 percent live in Lee County, with a handful of voters in Charlotte, Glades and Hendry counties.
When handicapping primaries, keep in mind that most of the district’s Republicans live in Lee County and most of the Democrats live in Palm Beach.
So far, Wellington Councilwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto (R) says she’s running, former state Rep. Sharon Merchant (R) and Fort Myers lawyer Peter Burkert (D) say they’ll probably run and Cape Coral Mayor Jim Burch (D) has been mentioned but couldn’t be reached today for comment.
Gelber recently dropped his U.S. Senate bid in the name of party unity and said he hoped that he, Aronberg and Rod Smith could avoid a messy Democratic primary for attorney general.
“My hope was that there would be time for all of us to be thoughtful and to unify, but given Senator Aronberg’s decision, I will my announce my plans soon,” Gelber said.
and a protege of popular former Democratic attorney general Bob Butterworth, state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, announced today he’ll run for attorney general in 2010.
Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican, is running for governor in 2010. Several Democrats and Republicans have been eyeing his job.
Former state representative Joe Negron will face off against Democratic challenger Bill Ramos and a virtually unknown write-in candidate in a special election Aug. 4 to replace retiring Sen. Ken Pruitt.
Negron avoided a potentially nasty GOP contest when his political nemesis Art Argenio suddenly dropped out of the race last week under pressure from Republican leaders to avoid a divisive primary. Argenio had sunk $40,000 of his own money into his ill-fated campaign.
Pruitt, who served as senate president two years ago, stepped down from his senate seat a year before he would have been forced to retire due to term limits. He announced his decision on the last day of the legislative session and has already been hired by a Boca Raton law firm specializing in land use and zoning issues.
Pruitt and former Gov. Jeb Bush have both endorsed Negron, adding to Argenio’s decision not to seek the post.
It would have been the second special election show-down for Negron and Argenio, who both served in the state House.
Deception by state social service workers put Debbie and Jorge through a long nightmare — leaving them the adoptive parents of three sexually traumatized boys who went on to molest other children and kill the family’s pets.
Gov. Charlie Crist quietly signed a law Wednesday providing $9.5 million in compensation and relief to the couple, formerly of Boynton Beach, and their sons. The money will help pay for the boys’ education, along with treatment they have been receiving in nationally recognized programs.
Crist signed the claims bill (SB 58) as Debbie and Jorge and other relatives looked on, along with George Sheldon, secretary of the state Department of Children and Families.
“It’s inexcusable that the state fought this thing for so long when so much could have been done to prevent deterioration,” Sheldon said Wednesday.
“Nothing,” Sink said when asked what the poll means. “Absolutely nothing. … It’s just early and polls are not very meaningful right now.”
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