Former House Speaker John Thrasher has at least a dozen fundraisers scheduled before the Sept. 15 special election GOP primary to replace the late Sen. Jim King.
The Florida Dental Association, the Florida Medical Association are among those hosting the Florida fundraisers for the Senate District 8 candidate.
Thrasher, a prominent lobbyist, is under attack by “Stop Tax Waste,” a political group that launched an Internet site lambasting Thrasher for his spending while Speaker, including a lavish revamp of the his office and the House chambers.
“Stop Tax Waste” also launched a television ad this week blasting the Jacksonville Republican for being a Tallahassee insider and again accusing him of wasting taxpayer money.
Thrasher accused trial lawyers of being behind the attack ads, but the “Stop Tax Waste” folks deny the association.
The attack ads coincide with former state Rep. Stan Jordan’s entree into the race. Jordan now serves on the Duval County School Board.
Assuming Gov. Charlie Crist picks a Republican to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, he or she would be the first member of the GOP appointed to the U.S. Senate in Florida history.
Of the 184 Americans appointed to the U.S. Senate since 1913 — when the 17th Amendment was ratified to allow governors fill vacancies — just three, all Democrats, have been from Florida:
The Charlie Crist for Senate campaign announced endorsements this afternoon from Republican state Reps. Dean Cannon, of Winter Park, Will Weatherford of Wesley Chapel and Chris Dorworth of Lake Mary. The three men are expected to follow one another as House speakers – the position Crist’s GOP primary opponent Marco Rubio once held — through 2016.
“Throughout his long career in public service, Governor Crist has proven with his common-sense conservatism that he understands the challenges facing Florida’s families and small businesses,” Cannon said in a statement. As our next United States Senator, I am confident that Charlie Crist will continue to work tirelessly for the people of Florida.”
Dorworth also said Crist had conservative bonafides:
“Governor Crist has been a true advocate for all Floridians and a steward of conservative values and principles. Charlie Crist is the voice Floridians need in our nation’s capital,” Dorworth said.
The first television ad in a competitive state Senate special election race in Duval County attempts to capitalize on the energy surrounding the health care debate in Florida and across the country.
In the 30-second spot above, conservative activist Dan Quiggle pulls a clip from his April speech at a local tea party. “We are up against stimulus packages, socialized health care, bailouts. My friends, freedom and liberty are under attack and our politicians are out of control.”
The election, called after the passing of Republican Sen. Jim King, will be worth watching if only for the fact that it is unfolding during such a highly-charged moment in state and national politics. Plus, the GOP primary for this seat in 2010 was already competitive: King’s would-be successors had combined to raise more than $750,000 for the race by June 30.
Now that a special election is needed, the Republican race — featuring Quiggle, former House Speaker John Thrasher, Jacksonville Commissioner Art Graham and former state Rep. Stan Jordan — will be take days, not months, to unfold: The primary is Sept. 15.
Thrasher’s campaign says it will join Quiggle on North Florida airwaves “very shortly.” today.
Meanwhile, Jordan, who only entered the race on Tuesday, said he wasn’t too concerned about the financial gap he faces: His three opponents already have six-figure campaign accounts.
“I’ve done this many times,” he said. “I’m probably the most economical candidate in the state.”
And if you thought the health care battle hasn’t reached North Florida, think again. On Wednesday, 400 people packed into a Live Oak room designed for 136 people. And while there was no violence, it wasn’t pretty: video from ActionNewsJax.com here.
WEST PALM BEACH — A motion to censure Gov. Charlie Crist for bucking the GOP on a variety of issues failed tonight on a 65-to-65 vote at a Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee meeting, our Jennifer Sorentrue reports.
Committee member Steven Ledewitz proposed the partisan reprimand because Crist embraced the $787 billion Democratic stimulus package, failed to campaign for some local Republican candidates in 2008 and has appointed liberals and Democrats to various posts.
Volusia County’s Republican Executive Committee passed a resolution censuring Crist earlier this month.
The 65-to-65 censure vote came after a motion to table the resolution failed on a 64-to-64 vote with four absentions. There were no abstentions in the 65-to-65 vote, Sorentrue reports, but apparently two committee members were out of the room.
WEST PALM BEACH — Big drama tonight as Palm Beach County’s Republican Executive Commitee considers a motion to censure Gov. Charlie Crist for bucking his party on a variety of issues.
A motion to table the censure resolution just failed on a 64-64 vote with four abstentions, our Jennifer Sorentrue reports.
That should pave the way for a vote on the censure resolution itself.
Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 by Palm Beach Post Staff
By MICHAEL C. BENDER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
TALLAHASSEE — A controversial college construction project in the Panhandle followed a similar initiative at Indian River State College, according to e-mails assembled in the criminal case against former state House Speaker Ray Sansom.
But the building in Fort Pierce has one important difference, former Senate President Ken Pruitt recently said in sworn pre-trial testimony:
“There is no airport hangar there,” Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, told state investigators.
Sen. Ted Deutch is glad his GOP counterparts in the House agree with a proposal the Boca Raton Democrat came up with two years ago that went nowhere.
Deutch tried but failed to pass a bill that would update state election laws to exempt Internet ads linking to campaign web sites from requiring disclaimers about who is paying for the ad and the candidate’s approval.
House Majority Leader Adam Hasner’s office sent out a press release today touting similar legislation filed by state Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, calling it a “commonsense solution.”
“In the new media economy, technology advances faster than our laws can adapt. We need to ensure that Florida’s laws keep pace with the technological changes that modern campaigns are now embracing to reach voters,” Hasner, R-Boca Raton wrote.
Deutch later issued a press release saying he would file similar legislation again and reminding the public, and especially the GOP, that the bright idea was his back in 2008.
“Unfortunately, the bill, which had no House sponsor, was never heard in the Senate,” the release reads.
U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, will host a health care forum in Stuart on Tuesday with a lineup of physicians, hospital administrators and local business leaders.
Rooney opposes the option of a government-run insurance plan and other key aspects of Democratic health care plans.
The forum will be from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Wolf High Technology Center at the Stuart campus of Indian River State College at 2400 SE Salerno Road.
Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno endorsed state Sen. Dan Gelber for Florida attorney general today.
“Dan has the gumption and spirit to make the Attorney General’s office a vital force in the lives of Floridians,” Reno said in a press release issued today, saying Gelber would make a “splendid” AG.
Gelber, a former federal prosecutor from Miami Beach, is running in a primary against fellow Democratic state senator Dave Aronberg of Greenacres to replace Attorney General Bill McCollum, who is leaving office after one term to run for governor.
Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp is the leading GOP candidate in the race so far.
Reno, a Miami native, served under President Bill Clinton as the first female U.S. Attorney General.
K Street powerhouse Juan Carlos Benitez is hosting a fundraiser for state Rep. David Rivera’s state senate campaign at the D.C. lobbyist’s home Friday evening.
Benitez was one of President George W. Bush’s “pioneers,” fundraisers who raked in at least $100,000 for Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign.
Rivera, a Miami Republican who’s facing off in a GOP primary against fellow Miami Rep. Anitere Flores, has raised nearly $400,000 in campaign cash already, not including soft money or money in other campaign-related accounts.
Flores has less than half that amount, with about $170,000 so far.
The two are vying to replace Sen. Alex Villalobos, term-limited out of his Senate District 38 seat next year.
The Floridian who cleared a path for Republicans to retake the governor’s mansion wants to find a way back into politics.
Former Gov. Claude Kirk, who in 1966 became the first Republican elected governor in Florida since Reconstruction, wants to be considered in the list Gov. Charlie Crist will choose from to appoint the state’s next U.S. senator.
Crist has said he will choose a replacement for Sen. Mel Martinez, who announced his resignation Friday, before the end of the month.
Kirk, an 83-year-old West Palm Beach resident, also said he would like to be the running mate for Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum.
“I would be a voice that people listen to a little bit more because I bring a little more of a humorous approach,” Kirk said Wednesday.
(Read a great profile of Kirk we published in 2002 here.)
Asked about his health, the colorful Kirk said he was feeling “great” and planned to live until he was 112.
Kirk, who as governor once floated the idea of housing prisoners in decommissioned Navy ships, said he would be a strong voice of opposition to President Obama, a Democrat. Kirk said no Republican in Congress has properly filled the rival role.
“We’ve got a lot of people who don’t draw a crowd,” Kirk said.
Crist has refused to acknowledge the names of anyone he might appoint.
“I doubt that it would be somebody that I don’t know,” Crist said.
RPOF Chairman Jim Greer stood by his assertion that President Barack Obama’s health care reforms could lead to “forced, taxpayer-funded abortions.”
Greer held a roundtable with reporters at GOP headquarters this morning, covering a range of issues including the hijinks at town hall meetings throughout the country, including one in Tampa that erupted in physical violence.
Opponents of Obama’s health care package claim that the changes would create “death panels” that would pull the plug on Grandma to save government spending.
“I don’t like the term death panels,” Greer said.
But, he added, “I do believe that trying to pass legislation such as this will provide opportunity for certain types of medical procedures that in some cases Americans would not be aware of or in most cases Americans would not want taxpayer funds to help facilitate.”
The chairman was apparently referring to abortions. Greer yesterday circulated a memo questioning the health care bill and whether it would “work to systematically ‘increase birth intervals between pregnancies,’ opening the very real probability of forced, tax-payer funded abortions.”
He stood by his characterization of the bill this morning.
“If the procedure is financed by taxpayer funds, then in fact the word forced or mandated would be appropriate,” Greer said.
The portion of the bill Greer refers to deals with home visitation services.
The full text follows:
“The term ‘nurse home visitation services’ means home visits by trained nurses to families with a first-time pregnant woman, or a child (under 2 years of age), who is eligible for medical assistance under this title, but only, to the extent determined by the Secretary based upon evidence, that such services are effective in one or more of the following:
(1) Improving maternal or child health and pregnancy outcomes or increasing birth intervals between pregnancies.”
Greer decried the outbursts at town hall meetings but blamed Democrats for spinning the events and not being able to answer questions about the health care bill.
Asked this morning about a state task force that state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, and Rep. Joe Abruzzo, D-Wellington requested to study the potential cancer cluster in Palm Beach County, Florida Surgeon General Ana Viamonte Ros said Wednesday that the county health department was engaged in the issue.
“We’ve already had a number of townhall meetings,” she said.
Gov. Charlie Crist and state Surgeon General Ana Viamonte Ros will embark on a two-day tour of the state on Thursday to remind parents to be mindful of the H1N1 virus as their children return to school. Details of where the duo were heading was not immediately available.
“We just want to remind our fellow floridians and parents to be mindful, to utilize common sense and follow the recommendation of our surgeon general,” Crist said.
There have been 6,506 hospitalized cases of the swine flu in the United State and 436 deaths. A state Health Department spokeswoman said up-to-date state information will be available this afternoon.
Gov. Charlie Crist and top GOP officials didn’t know of U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’s decision to resign early until the senator issued a press release on Friday, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer told reporters this morning.
“There is no one who actually knew the event was actually going to take place until immediately prior to or immediately surrounding that statement,” Greer said.
Although rumors that Martinez would step down early circulated for more than six months prior to his resignation, Greer said Martinez repeatedly assured him he was not quitting. Sort of.
“He would say, ‘No I’m not resigning. Tomorrow,” Greer said.
And despite speculation that Martinez quit early to make it easier for Crist to succeed him, Greer said the senator quit to spend more time with his family and not to help the governor.
Bring “hard questions” — and some non-perishable food.
That’s the advice from one group encouraging opponents of Democratic health care overhaul efforts to show up at a Coalition of Boynton West Residential Associations meeting next week where U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, is scheduled to speak.
But those hoping to grill Klein may be disappointed. COBWRA President Ken Lassiter says visitors and their non-perishable food donations are indeed welcome at his group’s meeting, but questions from non-COBWRA members won’t be allowed.
In the heated debate over health care reform, groups on the left and right are alerting their members to public appearances by members of Congress during the August recess. Some of the events are town hall gatherings focused on health care. Others, including Klein’s COBWRA appearance, turn out to be something else.
Florida Democratic Chairwoman Karen Thurman pitched the party faithful this morning on the Dems state conference by highlighting the scheduled debate between state Sens. Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber, both candidates for state attorney general.
” want to make sure you’ll be at our State Conference, where we’ll get the chance to see our next Attorney General in action. Florida Democrats will have the opportunity to see State Senators Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber – one of which I am sure will be our next Attorney General – debate their vision for Florida’s future,” Thurman wrote.
The conference is scheduled for Oct. 9-11 at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club in Orlando.
“Throughout his long career in public service, Governor Crist has proven with his common-sense conservatism that he understands the challenges facing Florida’s families and small businesses,” Cannon said in a statement. As our next United States Senator, I am confident that Charlie Crist will continue to work tirelessly for the people of Florida.”
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