Aggressive drivers could get hit with a $120 fine under a proposal the Florida Department Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles will take to the state legislature in the spring. No telling yet what the proposal would mean for state coffers, but Miami was pegged as the "least courteous city" in a national 2008 road rage survey.

The department will present their legislative priorities on Tuesday to the Florida Cabinet. Left off the list: a ban on texting and driving. But department officials say that’s only because the issue has already captured lawmakers’ attention. “I think there are 12 pieces of legislation at last count,” department spokesman David Westberry said.

The department is also hoping lawmakers clarify that two DUI offenses in the same day count as multiple offenses. Right now, if a driver is pulled over twice in a day for drunk driving, it’s treated as one conviction.

For aggressive driving, the department wants a new category of traffic offense for “aggressive careless” driving to let law enforcement issue a single citation for multiple violations. The proposal mirrors recommendations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

More:

*Crist gives green list to ban on texting while driving

*Greenacres endorses effort to prohibit texting while driving

Most Democrats who represent congressional districts that went for Republican John McCain in 2008 voted no on the recent health care bill. Democrat Chris Craft hopes to win election in such a district in 2010, but he’s for the health care legislation.

Read about Craft’s position in this week’s Politics column, along with the latest on Irv Slosberg’s plans and the warning from not one but two local Dems about Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

One of the biggest laugh lines at Saturday night’s annual fund-raising dinner for the Palm Beach Democratic Party turned out to be this:

“It is a true honor to be one of your keynote speakers tonight.”

State Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, delivered the line, then paused knowingly, drawing laughter from the audience of about 350 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

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WEST PALM BEACH — After weeks of considering a run in a special congressional election, Mayor Lois Frankel made a big announcement at tonight’s Palm Beach County Democratic Party dinner.

“Where’s Ted Deutch?” Frankel asked the crowd of about 350, calling out the frontrunner in the special race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton.

“I want you to know I’m running,” Frankel said, pausing for dramatic effect, “in the….Palm Beach Marathon in two weeks.”

Actually, Frankel said in an interview a few minutes later, she has decided not to run in the congressional race.

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Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty sat down Thursday with The Palm Beach Post editorial board:

McCarty predicted State Farm will stay in Florida but will have a smaller presence. That could be good news for homeowners, who have seen premiums soar since Hurricane Andrew roiled the state’s insurance market in 1992.

“A leaner, smaller State Farm in Florida is better than no State Farm in Florida,” McCarty said.

Skip Martin, the House budget director, will take the reins of the same committee in the Senate, sources confirmed this morning.

Martin replaces Cynthia Kelly, who recently resigned to spend more time with her family. Nothing official from the House on Martin’s replacement, but watch for JoAnne Leznoff to take over his side of the budget. She and Martin have essentially worked as co-directors of the House committee.

Break out your copy of the U.S. Constitution for an old-fashioned Article I, Section IX brouhaha.

When U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler and some other Democrats voted against cutting off federal money to scandal-plagued liberal group ACORN, they argued that de-funding the group was an unconstitutional “bill of attainder.”

The measure passed on a 345-75 vote with local U.S. Reps. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, and Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, in favor, Wexler opposed and U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, answering “present.”

Now ACORN has filed a federal suit challenging the congressional action on bill-of-attainder grounds.

When President Obama visits China this week, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson wants him to press the Chinese government to compensate Florida homeowners for defective drywall.

“I have asked (Obama) and his staff to take up this issue when he meets with the president of China because the ultimate party that’s responsible is going to have to come up with the financing to help our people,” Nelson said before a meeting with local elected officials.

Many homeowners blame the imported building material for causing respiratory problems and foul odors in their houses.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to find a responsible party that will make these homeowners whole. And that’s the government of China. Because it is the Chinese government that allowed defective Chinese toys years ago to come in and they’re allowing this defective Chinese drywall,” Nelson said.

“I see it as a matter of negotiation that will be taken up by the presidential party in this high-level meeting.”

Former Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney was in Boca Raton this past weekend for a home-cooked Italian dinner and a little fund-raising at the $2 million-home of real estate investor Mark Guzzetta. Romney collected $25,000 for his political action committee, Free & Strong America.

Check out Page2Live for a photo gallery from the event.

JUPITER — Gov. Charlie Crist today defended the “concept” of the $787 billion federal economic stimulus bill, saying it has saved about 20,000 teaching jobs in the state, but said he would have supported a “different form” of the legislation if he had been in the U.S. Senate.

Crist’s stimulus stance has been a hot issue in his Republican Senate primary against former House Speaker Marco Rubio.

Crist enraged conservatives in February when he stood with President Obama at a pro-stimulus rally in Fort Myers. But Crist recently told CNN “I didn’t endorse it. I didn’t even have a vote on the darned thing. But I understood that it was going to pass and I wanted to be able to utilize it for the benefit of my fellow Floridians.”

Today, after an appearance at a joint meeting of the state Board of Education and the Board of Governors for the state’s higher education system, Crist was asked about his position on the stimulus.

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Sen. Mike Haridopolos will be named the 2011-2012 Senate President on Dec. 8 at 5 p.m.

The Melbourne Republican will assume the post after the two-year tenure of current Senate President Jeff Atwater ends next fall.

Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, is leaving the Senate to run for Chief Financial Officer.

Haridopolos’ ascension is a trifecta for the Palm Beach and Treasure Coast region and continue its domination of the top of the Senate for a total of six years.

Atwater’s district includes part of Broward and Palm Beach counties. He was preceded by former Senate President Ken Pruitt, a Port St. Lucie Republican whose district included Martin, St. Lucie and Palm Beach counties.

The southeastern portion of Haridopolos’ Senate District 26 dips into St. Lucie County.

The three political leaders each previously served in the Florida House before joining the Senate.

WEST PALM BEACH — U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, meeting this morning with local elected officials, said the state legislature must act quickly to pledge money for Tri-Rail and other high-speed rail projects or lose out on as much as $2.5 billion in federal stimulus money.

He urged state lawmakers to approve money for the rail projects in a special session in December because federal grants will be announced in January.

“If they (state legislators) put it to next spring, that’s too late,” said Nelson, who offered to make phone calls to lawmakers to push for quick action.

“You’re going to have to show that you support Tri-Rail and commuter rail,” Nelson told the group, which includes some state legislators, Palm Beach County commissioners and city officials at West Palm Beach City Hall.

Gov. Charlie Crist and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson will both be in Palm Beach County today.

Republican Crist will speak to the state Board of Education and Board of Governors joint meeting at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter at 12:30 p.m. He’s also scheduled to address the Florida Council of 100 at The Breakers in Palm Beach tonight.

Democrat Nelson will meet with local elected officials at 10 a.m. at West Palm Beach City Hall, then travel to Fort Pierce, where he’ll join U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, for a 2 p.m. tour of the new Indian River State College public safety complex.

Could Gov. Charlie Crist’s Public Service Commission appointee be trying to distance himself from the perception he’s actively involved in managing a bar where they offer “Free Beer Til Someone Pees” at “Bladder Bust” night every Tuesday? Where a flier reads, “Don’t Die Sober on Friday 13th”?

Caught at his home in Pensacola today, Benjamin “Steve” Stevens corrected a Post on Politics reporter’s question about Rick’s Cabana Nightclub to say he wasn’t a manager, he was a co-owner.

A little later, when Post on Politics asked a bartender at Rick’s for the manager, she asked, “Oh, Steve?” and dialed Stevens up.

Stevens continued to insist he was not the manager, saying that there was a day manager and a night manager and the day manager was out of town.

His main interest in the liquor store and lounge operations is the building itself, he implied.

“It’s a commercial real estate investment,” he said. “It’s being treated like that right now. Otherwise I’d be there 24/7.”

Stevens, 44, was Escambia County Sheriff’s Office chief financial officer until January, when newly-elected Sheriff David Morgan took office and brought a new management team in. According to his application papers for the PSC position, he hasn’t worked for anyone else since then.

His real estate/accounting office is across the street from the club and package store where a bar employee says he is a regular presence.

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Democratic congressional hopeful Chris Craft says he would have voted for the health care overhaul legislation that squeaked through the House on Saturday. And Craft says he would have opposed the amendment to the bill banning federal payments or subsidies for abortions.

Both stances put Craft in opposition to freshman U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, whom Craft hopes to unseat in 2010. They also put Craft, who’s running as a moderate in Republican-leaning District 16, at odds with many centrist Democrats in the House.

The health care bill passed on a 220-to-215 vote, with 39 Democrats breaking with House leadership and President Obama to oppose the bill.

The abortion amendment, offered by U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., passed on a 240-to-194 vote, with 64 Democrats joining the entire Republican caucus in support.

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Erin Isaac, Gov. Charlie Crist’s communications director for most of his term, has resigned the position, according to Crist’s office.

Isaac, who did not immediately return a phone call, has not set a date for departure, but Chief of Staff Shane Strum said he expects her to be involved in finding a replacement. “She’s always been very hardworking. She’s very bright and she’s been very loyal to the team,” he said.

Eyebrows were raised earlier this week when she did not receive the top communications position on Crist’s U.S. Senate campaign. Instead, Crist looked to the Beltway and hired Andrea Saul, who mostly recently worked for U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. A call to Crist’s campaign manager was not immediately returned.

By all appearances, Crist and Isaac were tight for the past few years. But Crist has had a streak of bad press lately to coincide with downward trending poll numbers. The St. Petersburg Times noted that Crist lately has acted as his own press agent, calling the paper’s political editor himself to set up an interview.

Strum, however, said Isaac was simply ready to explore new opportunities and that it was not unusual for Crist to interact with the press.

“People are always shocked that the governor of the fourth largest state would hand out his phone number,” Strum said.

From Post columnist Frank Cerabino:

Crist just needs to say that he was going rogue that day, conducting his own “Operation Undercover Patriot.”

It wasn’t a hug. It was merely a clever way to get close enough to the president to pick his pocket, in hopes that Obama carried his “real” birth certificate — the one from Kenya.

“I was after a package that day, but it had nothing to do with the stimulus,” Crist could say. “I have that kind of suspicion of Obama in my soul.”

Florida lawmakers should nullify a $20 million deal if they return to the Capitol next month for an expected special session, state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, said today in a letter to House Speaker Larry Cretul.

Meanwhile, Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, has requested Attorney General Bill McCollum investigate what he said was a “misrepresentation of the facts” from the company in line to receive the money. Bennett also asked the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee to “review the financial soundness” of the transaction.”

Story here.

Former state Rep. Irving Slosberg of Boca Raton, who lost a bitter and costly 2006 Democratic state Senate primary to Ted Deutch, told the Kings Point Democratic Club today that he’s endorsing Deutch in the special election to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton.

That ends speculation that Slosberg might run for the congressional seat himself.

The Democratic primary is Feb. 2 and the general election is April 6.

“Ted and I have become pretty good friends,” Slosberg said afterward. “He represents the things I represent. So send him to Congress. He’s going to do a great job.”

While out of the special congressional race, Slosberg remains a potential candidate for his old state House seat or the state Senate next year.

Palm Beach County’s Democratic Party remains without a keynote speaker for Saturday’s annual fund-raising dinner after one headliner was dropped and another withdrew last week.

“We’re still hoping to get an out-of-town keynoter,” county Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel said this morning. But, he said, “you can have a dinner without a speaker.”

The Dems’ $150-and-up dinner at the Palm Beach County Convention Center is on the same night as a “Going Green” lecture at Mizner Park in Boca Raton by former Vice President Al Gore, with tickets ranging from $44.10 to $339.

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