Lois Frankel is prevented from seeking a third term as West Palm Beach Mayor, but some have speculated she’ll attempt to undo that law with a charter amendment.

But in a signal that Frankel might not be interested in another term, her ally and WPB Commissioner Jerri Muoio announced Tuesday that she would seek the mayor’s office in 2010.

Find the link to that story and more with political or state interest in the “Today in the Palm Beach Post” box on the right side of this page.

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, helped kickoff the gaming industry’s National Poker Week in Washington on Monday urging the state directors of the Poker Players Alliance to visit their local congressmen back home. From Poker News Daily:

Wexler called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) … an “absurd law” and labeled Congressmen Barney Frank an “important ally.” He then hit up the buffet to grab a snack before exiting with a staff member.

Wexler has long been a favorite among poker enthusiasts, partly due the Skill Game Protection Act, his proposal to legalize online poker.

The Boca Raton Democrat reportedly was welcomed with a “mountain of applause” when he appeared at the 2007 World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Wexler also issued the traditional “shuffle up & deal” command to kick-off the 2008 World Series of Poker at the Rio.

Wexler, who collected nearly $70,000 from casinos and the gambling industry in 2008-09 – among his top contributors that election cycle, calls poker “as American as apple pie” in this 2008 interview with PokerNews.com:
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This story was printed July 22 on page 2A of The Palm Beach Post.

Republican Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday that he would not support U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor because she “lacks respect” for the nation’s gun laws.

Crist, who is running for the U.S. Senate in 2010, said Sotomayor is “worthy of respect” and applauded her “remarkable story of success.”

“However, I have strong concerns that Judge Sotomayor would not strictly and objectively construe the Constitution and lacks the respect for the fundamental right to keep and bear arms,” the governor said in a statement.

Sotomayor is widely expected to become the first Hispanic female on the high court and has received support from U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla.

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In the 1976 film Network, Howard Beale memorably ranted “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!”

Some Palm Beach County residents feel the same way about the “culture of corruption” that has sent five local elected officials to jail in the last three years. In fact, the citizens are too angry for the breezy informality of contractions. As county commissioners begin a discussion this afternoon on a grand jury’s recommendations to curb public corruption, about 30 people are in the commission chambers wearing red T-shirts that say “We Are Mad As Hell And We Are Not Going To Take It Any Longer.”

Loxahatchee Groves Councilman Dennis Lipp said he paid $180 for the shirts to drive home the message that the grand jury’s recommendations — including creation of an independent inspector general and an ethics commission — should be followed by commissioners.

Commissioners are expected to give direction but not take final votes this afternoon.

PALM BEACH GARDENS — The three leading candidates for Florida attorney general — Republican Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and Democratic state Sens. Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber — are here to speak to a Florida Sheriff’s Association lunch.

Also at the conference at the PGA Resort and Spa is Bob Butterworth, the Democrat who served four terms as attorney general from 1987 to 2003 and was sheriff of Broward County in the 1970s. Butterworth was Republican Gov. Charlie Crist’s appointee to head the Department of Children and Families before stepping down last year and going into private law practice in Broward County.

Asked if he’ll take sides in the 2010 race for his old job, Butterworth said, “I’m not sure at this point in time. We have very good people running on both sides of the aisle.” He added that he’s not sure whether all the candidates for AG have entered the race — a reference, no doubt, to former Democratic state Sen. Rod Smith, who’s considering a run for the top legal post.

From the L.A. Times:

All 50 states moved quickly to qualify for their share of the money. But since then the pace has slowed considerably, particularly in California and Florida, where the effect of the economic crisis has been especially severe.

…

In Florida, not a single highway project had been given the go-ahead to start construction by July 10 — even though the state, with an unemployment rate of 10.6%, had 272 projects valued at more than $1 billion approved by the federal government.

Dave Lee, the administrator in the policy office of Florida’s Department of Transportation, said four projects were approved after July 10.

Florida was actually one of the earliest states to submit highway projects for funding under the Recovery Act. Asked what happened after that, Lee paused for a long while before saying, “We’re all trying to do the best we can.”

Fueled by a recent Orlando Sentinel column advising that the state GOP wise up or continue to lose its domination of Florida politics, the RPOF is striking back.

National committeeman Paul Senft penned a rebuttal to Jane Healy’s column asserting that the Republican Party of Florida is just fine, thanks very much.

Despite Barack Obama’s Florida win in last year’s presidential election, Republicans held on to down-ticket seats and picked up a Congressional seat, ousting former Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney from Palm Beach County, Senft pointed out.

And while it’s true that GOP voter registration is slipping, that’s nothing new in Florida, Senft wrote.

So what if the Dems have also reversed their years-long fundraising slump.

Not to worry, according to Senft.

“If Democrats couldn’t produce down-ticket results in a year with more money, resources and momentum than they have ever had, I don’t see how they’ll do it in 2010,” he wrote.

But Senft’s op-ed may do little to quell dissension in a party whose dirty laundry is increasingly being aired in public.

RPOF Chairman Jim Greer has earned the wrath of the right-wing “Liberty Caucus,” a conservative group of libertarians whose leaders are being targeted by Greer for ouster at the upcoming convention.

Like many other conservatives, Greer ticked off the caucus by his early endorsement of pal Gov. Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate race and his efforts to quash a GOP primary with former House Speaker Marco Rubio.

Meanwhile the St. Johns County GOP are trying to oust the Liberty Caucus’ state chairman, Will Pitts, from the party and remove other critics from their committee posts.

Greer’s strong-arm tactics and dismissal of right-wing darling Rubio coupled with growing dissatisfaction among die-hard Republicans with Crist’s moderate stance have left the party in disarray, critics within the party charge.

They say the party leadership is out of touch with the base and this could hurt them in next year’s elections.

The grievances against the rogue Republicans will be heard this weekend.

Republican Jeff Kottkamp will attempt to do what no other Florida lieutenant governor has done in modern history: win another elected office.

But to be successful, his campaign for Florida attorney general will have to overcome the relative obscurity of his current office along with a constant barrage of questions about his use of the state plane.

Perhaps no Florida politician was affected more than Kottkamp by Gov. Charlie Crist’s decision to not seek re-election in 2010 and instead run for the U.S. Senate.

Crist’s announcement left Kottkamp without a running mate. But it also set off a wave of politicians scampering for offices newly opened in Crist’s wake, including the attorney general’s job.

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The new voters who turned Florida’s electorate younger and more ethnically diverse in 2008 also turned out in droves for Barack Obama’s historic presidential election last year.

Census figures released Monday show that of the 579,000 new voters who participated in Florida last year, nearly all were either Hispanic or black. Turnout among young voters increased from 39 percent in 2004 to 49 percent last year.

Young Hispanics and blacks helped boost the state’s voter rolls by 10 percent and lowered the average age among voters by one full year, to 50, according to a Palm Beach Post analysis.

Meanwhile, turnout among white voters remained stagnant last year while some of the state’s oldest voters stayed home: Turnout among voters 75 and older dropped from 72 percent in 2004 to 69 percent in 2008.

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With a $536 million, 73,000-acre state purchase of land from U.S. Sugar in the balance, Gov. Charlie Crist on Monday filled three vacancies on the nine-member South Florida Water Management District board.

The board approved the purchase on a 4-3 vote last year, but the deal faces additional votes.

Our Tony Doris breaks it down here.

State Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, says he’s not worried that he raised only $3,147 from contributors in the first six weeks of his campaign for the state Senate District 25 seat while Republican primary rivals Nick Loeb ($225,105) and state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff ($122,575) have piled up far more.

“We raise money in a different cycle,” explained Domino, who has put $110,058 of his own money into the race. Domino, Bogdanoff and Loeb are vying for the Palm Beach-Broward seat of Senate President Jeff Atwater, who’s running for chief financial officer in 2010.

Bogdanoff’s and Loeb’s totals include money they raised for state House campaigns before Atwater announced he was leaving his Senate seat and they switched to that contest. Loeb has put $7,200 of his own money into the race on top of the $225,105 he’s received from others.

Domino says he’ll be financially competitive by the time the GOP primary rolls around more than 13 months from now. He says he doesn’t plan to crank up fund-raising until late September or October.

Wealthy investment manager Domino spent $210,000 of his own money on an unsuccessful 2000 state House bid and $270,000 of his own money on his winning 2002 state House campaign. Since entering the state House, Domino has relied primarily on other people’s money rather than his own checkbook. In 2008, he put $2,094 of his own money into his House reelection bid and raised $319,039 from donors.

Florida counties are suggesting something that sounds like a scarlet letter to warn innocents away from households with scary serpents.

It’s the latest twist in the tale of the python-induced paranoia that’s wound up with bounty hunters seeking the critters in throughout Palm Beach County on lands abutting the Everglades.

The July 1 death of a two-year-old girl who was strangled by a pet python in Central Florida set off demands for an open-season on the snakes, which have overrun the national park. Gov. Charlie Crist gladly complied and ordered the bounty hunt for the pests last week. (U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, has had the Burmese python infestation in his sights for some time).

Now, the Florida Association of Counties wants state wildlife officials to give them more control over dangerous animals. The association sent a letter to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission last week asking them to let counties notify neighbors where perilous pythons and other classified creatures reside.

Perhaps the counties have something like the sex offender registry on the Internet where neighbors can see where perpetrators live.

Will the pythons be forced to take up residence under bridges like sex offenders banned from living near schools, parks or other places where children congregate?

A Republican activist’s effort to get the Palm Beach County Republican Party to censure Gov. Charlie Crist for a variety of partisan sins is coming back up in August despite the county GOP chairman’s wish that the matter would go away.

County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein opposes Republican Executive Committee member Steven Ledewitz’s censure measure, but says “I don’t know if I can prevail on that” when 100 or so Republican Executive Committee members vote on it Aug. 12.

Ledewitz drew applause, but was ruled out of order by Dinerstein, when he raised the censure motion at a February GOP meeting. At the time, many Republicans were boiling at the Republican governor for appearing a few days earlier with Democratic President Obama at a Fort Myers pep rally for the $787 billion economic stimulus bill.

Ledewitz brought up the Crist censure again at the April GOP meeting, but the committee voted 66-24 to table the matter until August. Now the August meeting is approaching, and Ledewitz isn’t backing off. In fact, he says there’s a new reason the local GOP should condemn Crist: the governor’s appointment this month of Democrat Priscilla Taylor to fill a vacancy on the county commission.

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Sen. Jim King’s pancreatic cancer has spread and those close to the Jacksonville Republican fear his condition is grave.

Sarah Bascom and Gus Corbello, former King staffers who are speaking for the family, issued the following brief statement today that was distributed by Senate President Jeff Atwater’s office.

“Dear Friends:

While it seemed as though President King was cancer free, he has recently learned that the cancer that first began in his pancreas has now spread to other places in his body.

President King is continuing to fight with the passion and will that has made him our hero for so many years. We continue to ask for your encouragement and prayers, and on behalf of Jim, Linda and his family, we thank you for your love and support of our beloved Jim King.

Gus Corbella & Sarah Bascom”

King was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer shortly after the legislative session ended in May. He underwent surgery earlier this summer and a month ago King wrote on his web site that he was cancer-free.

King, a former Senate president, has served in the legislature for more than two decades.

Visit King’s website at www.caringbridge.org/visit/senatorjimking.

Democrats are giddy this morning over an interesting column from St. Petersburg Times political editor Adam Smith that pulls together some recent trends to conclude that “Today’s Florida Republican Party looks more and more like yesterday’s dysfunctional Florida Democratic Party.”

No question that Florida Democrats should be energized: the political pendulum has swung in their favor and there would be alarms sounding if they weren’t capitalizing on the trends to increase their registration numbers and bankroll.

But one quarter of out-raising the Republican Party of Florida, while noteworthy, is perhaps a little early to claim victory (especially during a quarter when the leader of RPOF pulled in $4.3 million for his own U.S. Senate campaign).

Meanwhile, does anyone else find it a little amusing that Democrats are passing around a story that uses their own very recent past to define dysfunctional?

Florida Atlantic University President Frank Brogan has been named the next chancellor of Florida’s state university system.

The decision, made in less than ten minutes this afternoon by the Board of Governors, was unanimous.

More from Kimberly Miller here. And follow the readers comments and weigh in on the announcement here.

Republican Gov. Charlie Crist is getting it from both ends of the political spectrum.

First, Crist’s GOP primary opponent Marco Rubio blasted Crist in a press release, challenging Crist to an online debate if the governor is too busy to find time to debate. Rubio has asked Crist to participate in 10 debates before their primary election next year. But Rubio’s campaign noted that while the governor has not responded, he does have time to attend a fundraiser this weekend at the home of Real Housewives of New York television star Jill Zarin.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has unveiled the above web ad. The group says its hoping to show that Crist “put his own political ambitions ahead of his constituents. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and New Hampshire Attorney General Jill Ayotte are also featured in the spot.

“Republicans seem to be making a habit out of abandoning their posts when the times get tough,” DSCC Communications Director Eric Schultz said in a statement. “Charlie Crist created an enormous economic mess in Florida, and is now fleeing at the first chance he gets.”

Republicans respond:

“First it was President Bush, now it’s Governor Palin – when will the Democrats stop trying to turn Republican candidates into other people and finally focus on the critical issues facing America, like bipartisan health care reform and skyrocketing unemployment?” said National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Amber Wilkerson.

“Obviously the Democrats are nervous about Governor Crist’s candidacy if they’re spending this much time lobbing these pathetic attacks instead of figuring out how to turn our nation’s economy around. Perhaps they should redirect their energies toward accomplishing something positive for the American people.”

If you can’t get enough of the Senate Judicial Committee’s hearings for a Supreme Court nominee, check out this old Saturday Night Live spoof. (via @thenote‘s Tweet)

The grass-roots effort that helped launch President Obama into the White House is now working to deliver one of his campaign promises: health care reform.

But first it might have to convince other Democrats.

The volunteers, now known as Organizing for America, are once again targeting Florida as a battleground. The group has held several meetings hoping to persuade neighbors to call their congressmen and urge their support for healthcare changes.

Among other events, the group is planning canvassing efforts starting this weekend in locations including Lake Worth, Lantana and Boca Raton.

But the reform plans that have emerged have divided Washington.

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After backpedaling on plans to deliver his campaign finance numbers in electronic form, Gov. Charlie Crist said today he was also not inclined to disclose his list of campaign bundlers. Last year, both Barack Obama and John McCain volunteered their list of bundlers, or the men and women who collect hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of checks on behalf of the candidate.

More on the bundling issue here. And background on previous questions about Crist’s bundling here.

Crist answered questions from the media today after visiting the state Department of Children and Families – the last in his tour of state offices around the Capital City.

Asked about news today of the deepening foreclosure problems in Florida, Crist said the best thing to do was hope the economy turns around.