In Florida, that means free publicity for Suzanne Kosmas of New Smyrna Beach and Allen Boyd of Monticello, both
facing tough re-election campaigns this year. The two changed positions after citing a government report showing the plan would cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
Former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned in a 2006 Internet sex scandal that helped bring down the GOP majority in Congress, is on the host committee for a Palm Beach fund-raiser next week for Republican state Senate hopeful Sharon Merchant.
Merchant
Foley has been raising his public profile — a weekly local radio show, a recent Forum Club lunch appearance, last week’s Radio and TV Correspondents dinner in Washington — but this is the first time a political candidate has publicized Foley’s support to try to raise campaign cash. Merchant is running in a GOP primary against former Wellington councilwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto.
Democrats nationally could take a pounding for their sweeping health care overhaul bill, but U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, said today he’s confident his ‘yes’ vote is right for his senior-heavy district.
“I really have a good sense of the district and a sense of benefits that this bill will provide to the district,” Klein said in an afternoon conference call with reporters.
“Ultimately I think it’s the right thing to do and people will judge you based on using your best judgment and I’m very comfortable that I’m using my best judgment in making this decision.”
The legislation purports to reduce Medicare payments by $500 billion over the next decade without reducing benefits. Klein’s district has about 125,000 Medicare recipients.
Some speculation spread late Saturday that U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, might vote against health care overhaul legislation after supporting it in November.
But Klein’s office this morning points to a one-minute floor speech Klein delivered Saturday touting the controversial legislation as a plus for seniors and urging passage.
Count him as a ‘yes.’ Read the text of Klein’s remarks after the jump….
A stimulus plan that Florida lawmakers are considering for state ports would be paid for with a tax break for insurance companies, but insurers would not have to pass the savings to policyholders under a provision in the bill.
Rep. Lake Ray, R-Jacksonville, who is sponsoring the bill, initially described the provision as a protection for insurance companies. He said letting insurers pocket the tax break, a conflict with a long-standing state law, was an incentive for companies to participate.
But after questions about the provision from The Palm Beach Post, Ray said Friday it will be removed.
U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca, voted for the House health care bill and against the anti-abortion Stupak amendment in November. He’s been considered a likely vote for final passage of health care overhaul.
South Florida’s own U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, is taking heat in the conservative blogosphere today for remarks at a Rules Committee hearing in which he defended a controversial “deem and pass” strategy for approving health care overhaul that Democratic leaders ended up abandoning.
Hastings said Republicans often used the same tactic when they were in charge of the House from 1995 to 2007. Hastings said it was time to “stop all of the rhetoric and get to the business of what’s at hand. The fact of the matter is that a lot of our fellow Americans are hurting and they don’t have affordable health care and for the life of me I cannot understand why we all should not be willing to share in order to help the least of them.”
Hastings then added:
“I wish that I had been there when Thomas Edison made the remark that I think applies here: ‘There ain’t no rules around here — we’re trying to accomplish something.’ And therefore, when the deal goes down, all this talk about rules, we make ‘em up as we go along, and I’m here now 18 years, and a significant amount of that time here on this committee under the leadership of the Republicans…”
Edison is widely quoted as saying “Hell, there are no rules here—we’re trying to accomplish something.”
Michael E. Jackson, the runner-up to eventual Palm Beach County Commissioner Jess Santamaria in a 2006 Democratic primary, said today he’s planning to run for Santamaria’s District 6 seat this year whether or not the incumbent decides to seek reelection.
Jackson, 44, is a former South Bay commissioner and city manager and former regional service director for the South Florida Water Management District. Now a consultant, he was tapped by Santamaria as a “liaison” between the county government and Glades and received $184,485 from the county over three years for his services.
Santamaria has described himself as torn over whether to seek a second term. He says he loves half his job, but “the other 50 percent is a total waste of time on a lot of nonsense, minutia, insignificant issues, having to listen to people who love to (hear) themselves talk during meetings, too many social events, ribbon cuttings, etc., etc., etc.”
Indian Trail Improvement District President Michelle Damone, also a Democrat, appears to be leaning toward a run as well. Democrat Elissa Pearl opened a campaign for the seat last year but hasn’t been visible on the campaign trail and has said she won’t run if Santamaria does.
Santamaria won a four-candidate Democratic primary in 2006 with 42.1 percent. Jackson got 24.9 percent to finish second. Santamaria then won the general election with 58.5 percent over Republican John Carroll and no-party candidate Penny “The Acreage’ Riccio.
Jackson said he picked up candidate papers today and plans to file them Monday.
House Rules Committee Chairman Bill Galvano dismissed a Tea Partier’s complaint against Democrat Ron Saunders on Wednesday.
James K. Barnes of Coral Springs alleged that Saunders, a veteran lawmaker from Key West, charged the state for travel money for trips to Tallahassee from his home in the Florida Keys while also filing for reimbursement for official and campaign work while in his Keys district.
Galvano ruled that the complaint had “numerous deficiencies” and found no evidence that Saunders broke a variety of House rules as Barnes alleged.
Saunders did not break House rules two years ago by soliciting campaign contributions during the legislative session, Galvano, R-Bradenton, decided. Saunders deposited several campaign checks on the first day of the 2008 session but that is permitted, Galvano wrote in a letter to Barnes.
Barnes also filed similar complaints with the state elections commission and ethics commission.
Although the Tea Partier filed the complaints against Saunders, Republicans have targeted Saunders, slated to become House Democratic Leader later this year, in his reelection bid in November.
Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter signed legislation requiring his state to sue the federal government if Congress approves health care overhaul with a mandate for individuals to purchase health insurance.
McCollum
Pledging to sue the feds over an insurance mandate has been a consistent applause line for Florida Attorney General and GOP governor candidate Bill McCollum.
McCollum has been pressing his Democratic rival, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, to take a stand on the health care legislation that appears headed for an historic cliffhanger vote in Washington this weekend.
Sink
Sink responded Thursday with a statement saying she’s “encouraged” by elements of the legislation.
She also accused McCollum of “trying to score cheap political points” on the issue.
“You know, when he was running for reelection for president, nobody thought he’d win. He was down in the polls. That happens from time to time.”
Crist paused and got a few laughs, then continued: “But he pulled it out, because the people trusted him and they understood. And he said something at Gettysburg that we all should never forget…”
Crist was introduced by America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh, who is looking beyond Crist’s 2010 U.S. Senate race.
“We need Charlie Crist in the U.S. Senate. I have a game plan for him. I want him to go right on the Senate Judiciary (Committee), with Patrick Leahy and Orrin Hatch, etc, etc. I want him to kick some ass up there on the Judiciary. He has 22 years of experience. He’s run everything you can on a state level and then I figure he’d be a very good candidate for United States president.”
“This is a bill for job development. It’s not a bill for film evaluation,” said Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.
Gaetz amended his bill today to remove a provision that would have barred movies with “nontraditional family values” from a bonus tax credit worth 5 percent of production costs. Gay rights advocates called the provision, which still remains in the House bill, “1950s-style movie censorship.”
U.S. Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, chief deputy whip for House Democrats and responsible for rounding up votes for health care reform, had good news to spread Thursday on Capitol Hill.
The eagerly awaited report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, detailing how much the final version of the bill would cost and its long term economic impacts, had arrived late the day before.
That’s the word from Post columnist Frank Cerabino who opines that it would be “the quickest way they can rise above second-class citizenship in Florida.”
Nothing activates state lawmakers more than pleasing the National Rifle Association. If our state lawmakers were made to wear NASCAR-style jumpsuits to display their sponsors, the NRA’s logo would be plastered all over them.
VERO BEACH — America’s Most Wanted host John Walsh is backing Gov. Charlie Crist’s Republican U.S. Senate bid and is scheduled to appear with him here at tonight’s Indian River GOP Lincoln Day dinner.
Crist is wrapping up a day of governing and campaigning here at The Club at Pointe West, where he’ll deliver the keynote speech at the Republican repast.
Crist toured the St. Lucie River and Estuary this morning (“magnificent,” he called it) with former state Senate President Ken Pruitt and Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Sole, then visited Indian River State College in Fort Pierce for an economic development roundtable. He then attended a $500-a-head fund-raiser with Walsh before coming to the Lincoln Day dinner.
Republican congressional candidate Allen West was hit with a $5,541 default judgment in 2006 and a $2,832 judgment last year for outstanding credit card bills, Broward County court records show.
West said he paid off American Express more than a year ago after it won the 2006 judgment. West said he is “more than half way” done paying off Midland Funding LLC, which won the 2009 judgment.
“I’m like any other American out there who’s doing the best for his family. You get behind on some things but you’re responsible for rectifying the situation, which is what I’ve done,” West said this morning.
West is challenging U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, in a race the national GOP touts as one of its top takeover priorities this year.
After a U.S. Senate fundraiser last night in Palm Beach Gardens, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist is in the Treasure Coast today for a mix of official events and campaigning. (Crist flew commercial on Wednesday and did not travel on a state plane for this trip, a state official said.) His schedule today:
The Senate voted 38-2 on the bill (HB 315) this morning, with Democratic Sens. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton and Frederica Wilson of Miami the only hold-outs. The House earlier unanimously passed the measure.
Democratic state Sen. Ted Deutch said this morning he won’t participate in a congressional debate this afternoon with Republican Ed Lynch and no-party candidate Jim McCormick because he needs to attend a Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing in Tallahassee.
The three are running in an April 13 special election to replace retired U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler.
WFTL 850-AM said it had lined up the three candidates for a 4 p.m. debate on The Jeff Katz Show.
But Deutch released a statement this morning saying his participation was never a sure thing because of his schedule in Tallahassee. Deutch says he hopes to schedule a debate at another date.
Lynch accused Deutch of short-changing constituents in Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 19.
The three candidates in the April 13 special congressional election to replace Robert Wexler are scheduled to appear together at 4 p.m. today on WFTL 850-AM for a debate.
Post On Politics will be part of the panel questioning the candidates. Submit a suggested question in the comments section below and maybe it’ll get asked. If it’s really good, Post On Politics might ask it and claim credit for thinking it up.
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