Alan Mendelsohn has contributed thousands of dollars to Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and appeared on his campaign literature in 2006, the Miami Herald reported. Crist appointed him to a health policy panel and wrote a recommendation for Mendelson’s son for the University of Florida medical school.

TalkingPointsMemo reminds readers that Crist’s U.S. Senate primary opponent, Marco Rubio, isn’t free and clear either. Mendelson hosted the “Marco Rubio U.S. Senate Kickoff” earlier this year. And we’ll add that Mendelsohn was responsible for nearly half of the money raised by a legislative committee Rubio controlled in 2003.

Mendelsohn, a Hollywood ophthalmologist, is accused of raising about $2 million for a series of political entities and tehn spending about $350,000 on personal items like a home, a car, credit card bill and college tuition. Mendelsohn says he’s not guilty.

PALM BEACH — Carole Crist, who has kept a low public profile since marrying Gov. Charlie Crist in December, was here this afternoon for a lunch to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

About a dozen people attended the event at the Brazilian Court hotel, including Palm Beach Mayor Jack McDonald and Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer. It was part of a national awareness effort by the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund using governors, first ladies, lieutenant governors and state health secretaries across the U.S.

Carole Crist noted in brief remarks to the audience that ovarian cancer lacks a method of early detection akin to a mammogram for breast cancer.

“We need to change this. This is a major women’s health issue,” she said.

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Florida candidates and political parties are making a mad scramble to collect small donations before a midnight deadline for third quarter campaign finance reports.

The Florida Democratic Party says if you donate $20 or more before tomorrow, you’ll have a chance to win a free night at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club during the party’s state conference next month.

That got us wondering – what are other pols promising for your money?

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Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon will no longer hire job applicants who admit to using tobacco products on a regular basis during the past year.

Beginning tomorrow, job applicants will have to submit a “non-smoking affidavit” to be considered for employment.

Says Gannon: “There’s not much to be said for smoking – it’s a major cause of respiratory and circulatory disease, it contributes to increased insurance costs for us and the Palm Beach County tax payers, it’s unhealthy to be around, and expensive these days.”

Read her office’s press release after the jump…..

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Backers of President Barack Obama’s health care reforms unleashed a television ad in Orlando, Louisville and Washington pillorying Humana’s scare tactics targeting seniors and the plan’s impact on Medicare.

Americans United for Change, Obama’s campaign organization-turned unofficial presidential PR machine, is running the ad and also staging a protest at Humana headquarters in West Palm Beach today at noon.

Last week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched an investigation into Humana Inc.’s possible misuse of beneficiary information to send anti-health care mailers to its Medicare gap coverage enrollees. The Louisville-based insurer is one of the largest Medicare supplemental insurance providers.

Humana sent mailers to seniors in several states, including Florida, containing what could be misleading information about Obama’s plan, warning of cuts to benefits and increases in costs to the popular government-backed insurance plan for seniors.

According to the AARP’s web site, “None of the health care reform proposals being considered by Congress would cut Medicare benefits or increase your out-of-pocket costs for Medicare services.”

Confirming his reputation as a swing vote on health care reform, Florida’s Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Tuesday was one of five Dems to join all 10 Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee to vote against a proposal to create a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers.

Nelson later voted for a more modest public-option proposal in the committee. That measure failed 13-10, with three of Nelson’s Democratic colleagues joining Republicans in voting no.

Click here for an account of Tuesday’s drama.

A majority of Palm Beach County school board members likes the idea of bringing the $2.7 billion school district under the eye of a proposed county ethics watchdog — but not if county commissioners have the final say on filling the position.

After watching five local elected officials go to prison on federal corruption charges since 2006, county commissioners this summer endorsed the concept of an independent inspector general’s office with subpoena power to monitor public officials and government contracts.

But who would hire and fire and approve the budget of the inspector general remains an open question.

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Carole Crist, Gov. Charlie Crist’s new bride, has made her first foray into Florida politics. The New York socialite is featured in a campaign mailer asking for donations for the governor’s U.S. Senate campaign, the Associated Press reports. Candidates are facing a fundraising deadline today and along with his wife, Crist’s parents and former U.S. Sen. Connie Mack have asked for money this week on Crist’s behalf.

Also, if you’re interested in the role that Mrs. Crist is playing – or not playing – as Florida’s First Lady, check out this recent story from the Times/Herald.

Meanwhile, the candidate himself spent about an hour this morning making the rounds on the three major cable news networks (see the clips after the jump).

Crist was asked about the same things in each interview: his prediction that President Obama could serve only one term and that a struggling health care program in Florida should serve as a national model.

He held firm on his prediction that Obama could be the new Jimmy Carter, wondering if voters were having “buyer’s remorse.” He also continued to promote his health care plan, Cover Florida, which offers bare bone coverage and this year signed up just over 4,000 of the roughly 4 million Floridians without insurance.

Crist’s appearances provoked reactions from the two men hoping to knock him out of the U.S. Senate race: Republican Marco Rubio and Democrat Kendrick Meek.

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The Capitol is capitalizing on cleanliness in an effort to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus.

“Hand sanitizing stations” have been placed throughout the Capitol building and folks apparently are using them if the smell of antiseptic permeating the halls is any indicator.

“Please help yourself” a sign on the dispensers invites.

Also posted in the Capitol elevators are posters telling workers and visitors to wash their hands, cover their mouths when they cough and stay home if they’re sick.

Nothing there, however, about chicken soup.

Gov. Charlie Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum put off a request from Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink to expand the board they make up that oversees the agency in charge of $185 billion in state investments.

Sink, the sole member of the panel with any professional financial experience, is proposing an expansion of the State Board of Administration to include at one least investment expert and also wants the panel to get some training in financial matters.

But McCollum, a Republican running against Democrat Sink to replace Crist as governor next year, balked at his political opponent’s suggestion. Crist, also a Republican, backed him up.

Sink wants to add at least two members to the Board of Trustees that supervises the SBA, which manages the state’s $110 billion retirement fund. She suggested expanding the three-member panel to include an investment expert and someone who is invested in the state’s pension fund, the fourth largest in the nation, like other states with similar boards.

But McCollum and Crist put the brakes on making any decision about the board.

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Fresh figures from the Palm Beach and Broward county elections offices show Democrats have inched ahead of Republicans in voter registrations in congressional District 22, a seat the GOP held from 1981 to 2007 and that many Republicans still regard as winnable.

District 22 voters have sent a Democrat — U.S. Rep. Ron Klein of Boca Raton — to Congress in the last two elections and Democrat Barack Obama carried the district by 4 points in the November 2008 presidential election.

But until this month, the district had a plurality of Republican voters.

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Gov. Charlie Crist must appoint – or reappoint – two utility regulators to the Public Service Commission before the panel votes on a pending $1.3 billion Florida Power & Light Co. rate hike.

Crist said this morning he has been paying close attention to the scandal-plagued panel and will move forward with his picks, due to the Senate by the end of the week.

PSC Chairman Matthew Carter pushed back the FPL vote to Jan. 11 – ten days after his term and the term of Commissioner Katrina McMurrian ends.

“Intriguing, wasn’t it?” Crist said when asked about Carter’s decision, adding that it won’t impact the appointment process. “We still have the opportunity to make these selections. I still get to make the choice on behalf of the people of Florida.”
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The Florida Cabinet just appointed Julie Jones to head the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

Until now, Jones served as the head of law enforcement for the state Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and was instrumental in search and rescue operations following the devastating hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004 and 2005. She also oversaw rescue operations in Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Jones pledged to continue an emphasis on customer service.

“This is a huge opportunity and the trust that you place in me,” she said. “This is a huge agency that I think touches every single citizen in the state of Florida. It’s a huge responsibility.”

Jones replaces Elektra Bustle.
I intend to take your…

good customer service…
and continue the good things this agency’s done thus far.

The Florida chapter of the nation’s largest civil rights organization is calling for a statewide panel to create a code of conduct for state officials, prompted by allegations of ethical improprieties at the Public Service Commission.

Florida NAACP president Adora Obi Nweze late yesterday evening asked state lawmakers, Attorney General Bill McCollum and Gov. Charlie Crist to convene an “Ethics and Transparency Task Force” to restore the public’s trust in government officials. Read Obi Nweze’s letter here.

The request comes after accusations of wrongdoing at the maligned PSC even as it is in the midst of considering nearly $2 billion in utility rate increases, including a proposed $1.3 billion Florida Power & Light Co. rate hike.

FPL officials last week told PSC Chairman Matthew Carter they would begin charging the first $900 million of the rate hike on Jan. 4 without the panel’s approval, as allowed by state law. They also promised to refund any difference in the rates after the panel’s vote on Jan. 11, also required by state law.
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Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink weighed in on Florida Power & Light Co.’s plan to implement a $900 million base rate hike before state regulators vote on the proposed increase.

“I’m opposed to the FPL rate increase. And FPL’s attempt to implement the rate increase before the Public Service Commission makes a decision is simply unnecessary and outrageous,” Sink, a Democrat who is leaving office after one term to run for governor next year, told The Palm Beach Post today.

A lawyer for the state’s largest utility told PSC Chairman Matthew Carter last week that FPL would impose the rate hike on Jan. 4, as permitted by state law. The Juno Beach-based company would have to refund any difference in the rates after the PSC makes its final vote on the issue, scheduled for Jan. 11.

The decision comes after the terms of two commissioners – Carter and Katrina McMurrian – end. Gov. Charlie Crist threatened not to reappoint them if they vote in favor of the rate hike, raising fears in the investment community about a shift in Florida’s previously utility-friendly regulatory environment.

FPL’s rate hearing has dragged on far beyond its originally slated two weeks. The hearing, its first base rate request in more than two decades, has been bogged down in staff firings and suspensions, revelations about coziness between the regulators and the utilities they oversee and secret messages exchanged between PSC staff and FPL lawyer Natalie Smith.

Critics have also attacked FPL for proposing to use some of the $1.3 billion-a-year rate increase to purchase new planes for its air fleet now comprised of three fixed-wing aircraft and two helicopters.

And FPL is now fighting in court an order from the panel to make the salaries of its highest-paid executives and engineers public. FPL officials agreed to give the data to the panel but wanted it kept secret from the public.

FPL maintains that customers’ bills will go down $9 per month even with the rate hike because fuel charges will go down.

Company officials had this response to Sink’s comments:

“Floridians should not allow political grandstanding to create further uncertainty for customers and for FPL projects that will bring a lot of value to Floridians, now and in the future. Because of the delay that politics have caused, there are two paths forward here: a knee-jerk, short-sighted political response, which puts at risk thousands of construction jobs, hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue for Florida communities and billions of dollars in capital investment at a time when all of this desperately needed; or a prudent, responsible and timely deliberation based on the facts and the merits of the case and its long-term impact,” FPL said in a statement.
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Former Republican U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw of Fort Lauderdale is listed on the host committee for an Oct. 13 fund-raiser in West Palm Beach and an Oct. 15 event in Deerfield Beach for the state Senate campaign of state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter.

Shaw was also on the host committee for an Aug. 28 fund-raiser in Boca Raton for one of Domino’s GOP primary rivals, state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale.

The invitation to Domino’s Oct. 15 fund-raiser also lists Broward County GOP Chairman Chip LaMarca as a host committee member. But LaMarca has endorsed Bogdanoff in the Republican Senate primary.

What gives?

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Senators better hone up on their computer skills and bring their laptops with them when they meet in committees in October.

Bringing the state Senate into the high-tech era, Senate President Jeff Atwater is tossing paper documents for two committees meeting next month – Judiciary and Community Affairs.

The documents will be available online and the public can still pick up hard copies at the Senate documents center – for now.

Going paperless is limited to two meeting rooms – 412 Knott and 110 Senate Office Building – that will have wireless internet connectivity, Atwater spokeswoman Jaryn Emhof said.

Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, instituted the first paperless committee during the regular legislative session as a cost-cutting measure as lawmakers were slashing the budget by more than $1 billion.

With the state’s finances even worse, Atwater, who is running for chief financial officer next year, wants to “reduce our operational footprint and save taxpayer dollars,” he said in a press release.

Atwater’s goal is to completely do away with paper by December long before the regular session convenes in March.

Atwater, a North Palm Beach banker, would make a bigger dent on the paper waste if he completely did away with paper, including copies given to members of the public who frequently wait in line while the documents are printing. Or perhaps he could consider charging for the paperwork – many state agencies charge about 20 cents a page for copies of public records.

Florida CFO Alex Sink sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist today urging him to let the Cabinet rescind the rights six of the 13 ex-offenders who mistakenly had their civil rights restored by the state.

Sink wants this to happen at the Cabinet meeting on Oct. 13. She agrees with Crist and the rest of the Cabinet last week to wait until the Clemency Board’s next meeting in December.

“I feel it is important for the safety of our citizens and in the best interest of our state to reverse the error of giving rights to these thirteen ex-offenders who did not qualify, while at the same time recognizing the differing circumstances of these cases,” Sink wrote.

Letter here.

Former state House Speaker Marco Rubio appeared to pick up a little momentum last week, but the question plaguing his campaign so far is whether he can put up results. At this point in the game (and just days away from another campaign finance deadline) results = money.

Many believe Rubio needs between $3 million and $4 million to give his underdog campaign a shot in a Republican primary against fellow U.S. Senate candidate Gov. Charlie Crist. Right now, Rubio is on pace to collect about $2 million by the Aug. 24 election.

Meanwhile, Crist hauled in $4 million in less than two months during an aggressive summer fund raising schedule that he’ll carry into the fall: On Friday, Crist will be at the Manalapan home of Dr. Krishna & Nirmala Tripuraneni, asking for at least $500 a head.

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How independent should Palm Beach County’s independent ethics watchdog be?

That question is complicating efforts to win 2010 voter approval for an inspector general’s office to monitor local government after a three-year shame spiral in which County Commissioners Tony Masilotti, Warren Newell and Mary McCarty and West Palm Beach Commishes Ray Liberti and Jim Exline went to prison for corruption.

There’s broad support for an inspector general’s office with subpoena powers to keep an eye on local public officials, lobbyists and contractors.

But then the consensus breaks down.

A consortium of business and civic leaders says the inspector should be hired and fired and have its budget set by an independent ethics commission.

County officials propose the inspector be chosen by an outside panel but approved by a commission vote, financed through the county budget process and fired if five of seven commissioners agree.

Commissioners haven’t endorsed anything yet. They can wait until June to agree on a plan and put it on the November 2010 ballot.

The ethics consortium has less time. If it can’t persuade commissioners to endorse its view of the inspector general, the group has vowed to gather 58,200 signatures to put its version on the 2010 ballot. To succeed, such a petition drive should launch in November, said Marty Rogol of Leadership Palm Beach County and Mike Jones of the Economic Council.

Keeping the inspector general independent of the county commission is a key to ethics reform, Rogol and Jones argue.

Commission Chairman Jeff Koons disagrees. He says commissioners are more visible and accountable than an appointed ethics panel.

“We’re public elected officials…Everything we do is in the public,” Koons said. “We’re held responsible and we meet every couple weeks and people can come yell at us.”

If the sides can’t agree, it’s possible voters could see rival inspector-general ballot questions.

“Do we want dueling proposals before voters? Absolutely not,” said Jones. “It’s too early to say there’s no room for compromise.”

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Palm Beach Kennel Club Prez Pat Rooney Jr. says he needs more time to decide whether to launch a GOP campaign for the open state House District 83 seat. Rooney’s brother is U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta.

A third Rooney brother could also run in 2010: attorney and Iraq war vet Brian Rooney, who lives in Michigan and is eyeing a challenge of Democratic Rep. Mark Schauer.

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Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Boca Raton resident Dion DiMucci performed three numbers to big applause Wednesday at a powwow of about 300 Republicans featuring congressional hopeful Allen West.

When Dion covered Eddie Cochran’s Summertime Blues, however, the lyric expressing multilateralist sentiment (“Gonna take my problem to the United Nations”) drew audible boos and groans.