Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said on Tuesday that he planned to join several other state attorneys general objecting to the so-called “Cornhusker Kickback.”

The letter was sent today to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate President Harry Reid:

We believe this provision is constitutionally flawed. As chief legal officers of our states we are contemplating a legal challenge to this provision and we ask you to take action to render this challenge unnecessary by striking that provision.

Read the full letter here.

A dozen of Florida’s top Republican fund-raisers called for the resignation of their state party chairman in a letter late Tuesday, saying without his removal Republicans had a “diminished” chance for success in a crucial election next year.

“There must be a change in leadership to successfully execute the strategic plan for victory in 2010 election cycle for Republicans,” according to the letter.

Jim Greer has resisted several resignation calls this year from party activists. “He intends to serve the remainder of his term,” Greer’s spokeswoman said Wednesday.

But the letter from the fund-raisers, who have combined to personally donate more than $2.1 million to the state party in the past decade, is the biggest hurdle yet for Greer, Palm Beach County Republican Chairman Sid Dinerstein said. The letter includes names of Republicans with national fund-raising reputations, including Ned Siegel of Boca Raton and Al Hoffman of Fort Myers.

Story here. Read the letter here.

State Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, announced today that he has filed a bill (HB 533) for the spring legislative session that would require individuals who provide public comment at Public Service Commission hearings to disclose any financial relationship with a utility company.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, will co-sponsor the bill, Pafford said.

“I heard employees of utility companies discuss the names of those who would be testifying and what that person would be addressing before they even made it to the microphone,” said Pafford, a member of the PSC nominating council. “This is not in the best interest of our consumers or good government, and legislation is needed to address this situation.”

Press release here.

Three candidates so far have produced 30-second ads in the special congressional election to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler.

Check ‘em out after the jump…..

(more…)

The state Agriculture & Consumer Services Department, the clearinghouse for consumer complaints in Florida, received 38,000 written complaints in 2009, about 1,800 more than last year, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson announced today. The department used the complaints to obtain nearly $5.9 million in goods, services or cash refunds for consumers in 2009.

Here’s the list of the most frequent complaints:

(more…)

A dozen Florida Republican Party donors, including Boca Raton residents Mark Guzzetta and Ned Siegel, sent a letter to state party committee members calling for the resignation of party Chairman Jim Greer or his removal “as quickly as possible.”

Based on the current state of affairs of the Republican Party of Florida today—first, the continued inability to raise the necessary resources to fund its budget; second, its inability to adjust its budget to eliminate unnecessary expenses; and third, its inability to motivate and unite all Republicans in a common effort for our collective benefit–it is evident that one of the elements of that essential triad relationship has fallen short.

This has resulted in a crisis of confidence in our Party with widespread uneasiness, lack of trust, lack of motivation, and raises questions about the leadership of Jim Greer, Chairman of the Party, among the grass roots active members of the Party, elected Leadership and those of us who have historically rallied financial support around the state of Florida.

For the complete letter, continue reading.

(more…)

Florida Senate President and Republican state CFO candidate Jeff Atwater today from his Twitter page:

Isn’t this what we’ve been saying all along…this health care plan is huge tax increase for all middle class Americans http://bit.ly/4nuvKS

Read the story that appeared on page 2A of the Dec. 30 edition of The Palm Beach Post.

UPDATE: Quick response on Twitter from state Sen. Dan Gelber, a Democratic candidate for attorney general: “I wish McCollum was as concerned about solving Florida’s health care crisis as he was about stopping the solving of the health care crisis.”

From Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum says he will review the federal health care bill because he has “grave concerns” about whether it violates the federal and state constitution.

“The mandate is especially troubling to Floridians who are guaranteed through the Florida Constitution to have ‘the right to be let alone and free from governmental intrusion into [their] private life,” McCollum wrote in a statement today.

McCollum specifically refers to a provision that would require Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a fine.

“Such a ‘living tax’ is worrisome because it would be levied on a person who does nothing, a person who simply wishes not to be forced to buy health insurance coverage. Upon initial review, this appears to be contrary to the freedoms we, as Americans, have enjoyed for the past 233 years,” McCollum said.

McCollum, the leading Republican candidate for governor next year, has also written a letter to other state attorneys general asking them to review the bill in regards to the Commerce Clause and taxing power in the U.S. Constitution.

McCollum is also joining several attorneys general who are evaluating the constitutionality of a U.S. Senate bill provision that provides 100 percent federal Medicaid funding to only one state, Nebraska.

Full-body imaging might have detected that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had stuffed his underwear with explosives before he boarded a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas day.

But a considerable bipartisan majority of U.S. House members are on record opposing the widespread use of such scans in a vote that saw privacy concerns trump security measures. In June, the House voted 310-to-118 for an amendment by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, that would have prohibited whole-body imaging as a “primary screening” method at airports. The amendment died in the Senate.

Chaffetz’s amendment would have allowed such scans as a “secondary” screening method, but passengers would be given the option of a pat-down search in lieu of whole-body imaging and the Transportation Security Administration would have been banned from “storing, transferring, or copying any images” from the scans.

Local U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar; Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta; and Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, supported the ban on whole-body imaging. U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, voted against the Chaffetz amendment.

A complaint that Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, violated House rules by allegedly soliciting contributions during a legislative session was dismissed today by House Rules Chairman Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton.

Galvano ruled that the complaint was not valid because it was based on a report from The Palm Beach Post, and not on “personal knowledge.” Rivera has denied any wrong doing, despite the host of the event telling the Post that fund-raising envelopes were passed out at the event and supporters were asked to post-date the checks to after the end of session.

The host, Ana Margarita Martinez, now says no donations were solicited.

Read Galvano’s ruling here.

There’s a spirited debate on the Internet over whether Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., was drunk when he turned in this rambling performance during the recent health care reform debate. Baucus was also in the news recently after it was revealed he had nominated his live-in girlfriend and former staffer for a U.S. attorney’s position in Montana.

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned in a 2006 scandal over sexually charged Internet messages to former congressional pages, links to the Baucus video on his Facebook page and says: “This is the senator that hired his staffer and then took her on trips…and divorced his wife….and they had me run out of town.”

From the News Service of Florida:

1 – The Economy and dismal budget it wrought

2 – Gov. Charlie Crist’s decision to run for Senate instead of a second term, leading to a host of other career move ideas for the state’s politicians.

3 – The ongoing saga of former Speaker Ray Sansom, indicted then largely cleared of criminal charges, but still under scrutiny for his role in steering budget money to a college that then gave him a job, and potentially to a contributor for what some said was a dubious project.

(more…)

Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater’s son, John, is a member of the fraternity that could be permanently barred from Florida Atlantic University because of a hazing incident in the fall.

John Atwater — a 21-year-old senior, homecoming prince and president of the university rugby team — is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, the fraternity known as Sig Ep that has been suspended from campus activities pending the outcome of an investigation into an Oct. 17 hazing incident.

The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office is conducting a review of the hazing ritual in which a 19-year-old frat brother wound up in the emergency room after being bound with duct tape and forced to binge drink, according to FAU police.

Sen. Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said he was unaware of the incident or of the fraternity’s suspension.

“I know he’s a member of the fraternity but I’m not aware of any incident or that they’ve been suspended,” Atwater said in a telephone call on Christmas Eve. “This is the first I’m hearing about it. If you weren’t telling me this I wouldn’t be up to speed on this at all.”

Nicholas Letteri, a Sigma Phi Epsilon member from the Tampa area, told police he was the victim of a “kidnapping” prank at an off-campus home of a fraternity brother.

Letteri said he was bound and forced to drink a liquor and beer concoction from a cereal bowl while Sig Ep members drew on his back with markers and others used squirt guns to drench his crotch, face and chest.

He was forced to chug beers and repeatedly threw up, he said. Letteri said he was still sick the next day and a friend took him to the Boca Raton Community Hospital emergency room.

Campus police have closed their investigation and forwarded the case to the State Attorney’s Office for review, Police Chief Charles
Lowe said.

Lawmakers have beefed up anti-hazing laws to discourage hazing, which frequently involves fraternity brothers forcing initiates to drink alcohol. Hazing – rituals that involve a risk of bodily harm or death – can be a first-degree misdemeanor or a third-degree felony.

A law passed in 2005, based on a bill filed by House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Delray Beach, expanded misdemeanor hazing crimes to include high school students and increased to a third degree felony hazing rituals that result in serious injury or death.

The university temporarily suspended the Sig Ep chapter and is conducting its own review. A decision on chapter’s fate is expected in January. Discipline can range from suspension to banishment from campus.

The college does not tolerate hazing and the chapter of the national fraternity, known as Sig Ep, could face severe consequences, said Charles Brown, FAU’s vice president for student affairs.

“I don’t tolerate it. I will close the chapter down,” Brown said, if its members are found to be at fault.

Republican Party of Florida Jim Greer, under fire from GOP discontents trying to oust him from his post, removed the party’s grievance chairman Tony DiMatteo from the committee set to deal with a complaint about the party infighting.

Greer accused dissidents of “treason,” “slander” and “libel” in a letter to party leaders.

In the letter, Greer, handpicked by Gov. Charlie Crist, warns he won’t back down from his leadership spot despite efforts by what he calls Marco Rubio backers to get rid of him. (more…)

A fugitive who escaped from a Florida work release program more than 30 years ago and was captured this weekend in Missouri is out on bond.

Oscar Richardson, who officials say had been living under the assumed name ‘Eugene Ward’ in Missouri for years, was one of a dozen fugitives featured in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s “12 Days of Fugitives” holiday-themed campaign to close cold cases. (more…)

Chris Hart, a former state representative and head of Workforce Florida, will take over as the head of Gov. Charlie Crist’s Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development, Crist’s office said in a press release.

Hart will replace Dale Brill, appointed by Crist two years ago, who is leaving on Jan. 1 to head the Florida Chamber Foundation, the release said.

Hart will remain as president of Workforce Florida, a public-private agency created by former Gov. Jeb Bush involved in establishing state employment policy and economic development.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s holiday-themed fugitive project nabbed its first missing suspect this weekend, officials said.

But FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey’s cheer over the capture didn’t last long. The armed robber who escaped from a Florida work release program more than three decades ago was set free on bond.

Oscar Richardson, who officials say had been living under the assumed name ‘Eugene Ward’ in Missouri for years, was one of a dozen fugitives featured in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s “12 Days of Fugitives” holiday-themed campaign to close cold cases.

Richardson was arrested this weekend after a tip received through fugitive hotline, according to FDLE officials. He was convicted of armed robbery for holding up two stores in Tampa in 1977.

Bailey held a press conference in Tallahassee early Monday afternoon praising the success of the “12 Days of Fugitives” campaign blitz.

A few hours later, Bailey blasted Taney County Circuit Court Judge Tony Williams’ decision to let Richardson back on the loose.

“I am shocked and extremely disappointed by the irresponsible decision of Judge Tony Williams to allow Oscar Richardson to post bond. Richardson is a violent felony offender who was serving time in Florida for an armed robbery conviction when he fled after serving only a fraction of his sentence. Allowing this fugitive to walk out of a courtroom after hiding from authorities for 30 years diminishes the seriousness of his crimes and shows a lack of sensitivity for those he victimized and a disregard for the safety of the citizens of Taney County. We are working closely with Missouri authorities to aggressively pursue Richardson’s extradition to Florida. His debt to our state remains unpaid,” Bailey said in a statement.

Richardson, who’s been on the lam for more than three decades, was arrested in Missouri where he had been living under an assumed name, FDLE officials said today.

Richardson’s was the oldest of the dozen cold cases FDLE officials are hoping to close.

Richardson, now 61, escaped from a Kissimmee work release center in 1979 after serving less than two years of a 10-year sentence for armed robbery.

In 1977, Richardson held up a drug store and convenience store in Tampa.

Richardson was living under the name of “Eugene Ward” in Missouri when he was arrested on Saturday and is believed to have lived there for many years.

Richardson was arrested by a U.S. Marshals Task Force and was booked into the Taney County Jail on his outstanding warrant for escape, FDLE officials said.

Florida’s unemployment rate jumped again last month, climbing to 11.5 percent with more than 1 million workers out of a job.

The state’s unemployment rate climbed .2 percent from October’s jobless rate and is 4.8 percentage points higher than it was in November last year.

Florida’s unemployment rate is 1.5 percent higher than the nation’s jobless rate and is the highest in 34 years. (more…)

State Sen. Dan Gelber and attorney general candidate nailed down another big-name Democratic endorsement, this time from Buddy McKay, who served as lieutenant governor under the late Gov. Lawton Chiles and briefly served as governor after Chiles’ death.

Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat and former House member, is trying to trade up for the Cabinet post just a year after he won election to the Senate.

He and colleague Dave Aronberg, a Democratic senator from Greenacres, are in a battle-of-the-endorsements.

Post On Politics had erroneously reported that the sheriffs were split on the candidates.

They are not.

Aronberg has the support of 10 Democratic sheriffs, including Palm Beach County’s own law enforcement rock star Ric Bradshaw.

Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, former state education commissioner Betty Castor and former U.S. Rep. Jim Davis have all thrown their support behind Gelber.

Republicans have lined up Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and Holly Benson, a former House member who also served as secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration, in a GOP primary race that’s been virtually silent compared to the Aronberg/Gelber contest.

They’re all vying to replace Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican who is running for governor in a primary against another senator – Paula Dockery.

Gelber’s latest political aspiration has opened up the door for yet another former senator, Gwen Margolis, to return to the chamber.

Margolis, a former Senate President, left office before being termed out to make room for Gelber. If she wins, it would be the Miami Beach-area Democrat’s second return trip to the Senate. After serving in the state House, she switched to the Senate from 1981-1992 before making a losing bid for Congress. Margolis was reelected to the Senate in 2002.

Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio are in a dead heat in the GOP race for the U.S. Senate, according to a poll released this morning.

The Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found Crist and Rubio in a 43-43 percent tie among likely Republican primary voters.

Crist’s lead over Rubio dropped 10 percent in the same poll since August. And the governor’s popularity is at an all-time low, with just 19 percent of respondents having a “very favorable” opinion of him.

Earlier this year, Rubio, the first Cuban-American House Speaker, was considered a long-shot in the race.

But conservative support – including the endorsement of The Club for Growth and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina – has rallied Rubio’s campaign and drawn national attention to the Florida primary, viewed as a test of the rising “Tea Party” movement and characterizing the fight for the control of the party between moderates and conservatives.

Crist and other GOP leaders have angered Republican conservative base voters who typically show up at the polls to vote in primaries.

This summer, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer – hand-picked by Crist – snubbed Rubio by endorsing Crist and discouraging primaries that he said weaken the party’s ability to win in the general election.

Crist alienated conservatives by applauding President Barack Obama’s stimulus package symbolized by the now-infamous “man-hug” with the Democratic president.

And he raised eyebrows in August when he appointed his longtime advisor and right-hand-man George LeMieux to replace U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, who retired before his term ended.

The winner of next year’s primary is likely to face off against Democratic U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who is gathering petition signatures to get onto the ballot.