Democrats are using the failure of Riverside National Bank to slam Florida Senate President and chief financial officer candidate Jeff Atwater, who oversaw business development at Riverside’s handful of Palm Beach County branches from 2002 to 2009.

The Florida Democratic Party said Riverside’s failure undermines Atwater’s “claim to be someone who will stand up to fraud, waste and abuse.”

But Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said he was never on Riverside’s board or one of its operating officers and “had no opportunity to influence the overall policies of the bank.”

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A gambling deal that promises to bring at least $1 billion to the state over the next five years is on its way to Gov. Charlie Crist, who has promised to sign it into law.

The Florida House approved the measure (SB 622) by a 74-39 vote this afternoon.

It’s the third time Crist and the Seminole Tribe of Florida have signed off on a compact allowing the tribe to operate banked card games, including blackjack, and slot machines at its casinos.

The latest deal would allow the Seminoles to continue banked card games – blackjack, baccarat and chemin de fer – at five of their seven casinos. Cards would not be allowed at the Brighton and Big Cypress facilities.

The agreement could rake in an extra $435 million for this year’s budget and help lawmakers struggling to fill a $3.2 billion spending gap for the year that begins July 1.

In return, the tribe will pay $150 million a year to the state for two years and a minimum of $223 million for three years that.

The agreement with the tribe also lets them keep running Las Vegas-style slot machines at each of their facilities for the next 20 years.

Rep. Bill Galvano, the House’s chief gambling negotiator who helped craft the pact, said the bill won’t expand gambling in Florida because the tribe has already launched the games.

Proponents of the agreement say the deal with the Seminoles could transform Florida into the Las Vegas of the Southeast and pave the way for other, non-tribal gambling operations in the future.

But opponents of the measure argued that more gambling will bring a host of problems to the state.

“If you want gambling like that you should go to Las Vegas. And what happens in Las Vegas should stay in Las Vegas,” said Rep. Ronald “Doc” Renuart, R-Ponte Vedra Beach.
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An effort to do away with the statute of limitations on child sex molestation cases for crimes against children between the ages of 12 and 16 is headed to the Senate floor after some tense negotiations this morning.

The Catholic Church and criminal defense lawyers oppose the measure and tried at the last minute to extend the time limits, now three years after the child reaches age 21.

Michael Dolce, a Royal Palm Beach lawyer who was sexually abused by a neighbor in his home state of Maryland when he was seven years old, has tried for six years to get the measure passed.

This year Dolce has powerful lobbyist Ron Book on his side. Book’s daughter Lauren was sexually molested by her nanny. Lauren Book-Lim is walking across the state to raise awareness and support for the issue and is expected to reach the Capitol tomorrow.

Sen. Alex Villalobos, a former prosecutor and Catholic, asked a series of questions showing his opposition to the measure because of the difficulty those accused of the crimes would have defending themselves after decades pass.

Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Committee Chairman Victor Crist recessed the committee to allow both sides to negotiate on setting a number of years instead of doing away with the time limits completely, sensing bill (SB 870) sponsor Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, may not have had the votes to pass it.

A heated discussion took place in the anteroom outside the committee.

“I don’t want a number. We’re past the time for numbers,” an irate Book told the bill’s opponents, saying he reached out to them two weeks ago but has had no response. “Two weeks have now passed. Nobody’s called me. No smoke signals. No carrier pigeons. No e-mails. Nothing.”

Dolce gave a hurried testimony as the clock ticked down on the meeting’s end.

“I simply ask for your support today. No child should have to walk in these shoes,” he concluded.

With less than two minutes left before the meeting’s end, the committee passed the bill 3-1, with Villalobos, R-Miami, voting against it.

The House version is also ready to be voted on by the full chamber.

Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum holds a 40-to-36 percent lead over Democratic Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink in the Florida governor’s race, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll.

Floridians disapprove of the new federal health care law by a 48-to-44 percent margin. But they say by a 54-to-40 margin that federal lawsuit by McCollum and other state attorneys general challenging the new law is a “bad idea.”

Florida voters give President Obama a 50-to-45 percent favorable rating — up from January, when the president was viewed favorably by 45 percent and unfavorably by 49 percent. Obama’s seeming openness to more drilling off the Florida coast gets high marks — 64 percent in favor, 28 percent opposed.

The April 8-13 poll of 1,250 voters has a 2.8 percent margin of error.

Republican congressional candidate Allen West’s money-raising numbers — $838,450 last quarter, more than $2 million overall — are among the most impressive in the nation.

But his burn rate has raised a few eyebrows.

West has already spent $977,853, including more than $500,000 on a direct mail effort that so far has yielded about $400,000 in contributions. But West and his team are confident the strategy will pay off in the long run.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

Mitt Romney will stump with Marco Rubio in Tampa on Monday, Rubio’s U.S. Senate campaign announced today.

Former Florida House Speaker Rubio is likely trying to capitalize on GOP outrage over his primary opponent Gov. Charlie Crist’s veto of SB 6, the contentious teacher merit pay bill.

A recent poll showed Romney an early GOP presidential favorite in Florida in the 2012 election.

Rubio’s garnered the endorsements of both Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whom Rubio threw his support behind in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Romney’s Free and Strong America PAC is also giving the maximum $5,000 contribution to Rubio, according to his campaign.

The House and Senate canceled budget negotiations scheduled to begin this weekend.

Shortly before the slated 10 a.m. organizational conference meeting, both chambers sent out terse announcements that the powwows weren’t going to happen.

“Despite our earlier optimism, it has become apparent that budget conferences will be unable to meet this weekend. We will continue working with our House partners and will notify you when we have further information.

“I hope you have a pleasant weekend with your families and look forward to seeing you next week,” Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, told his members in an e-mail.

“The 10:00 am Budget Conference organizational meeting has been postponed. We do not anticipate any conference meetings being scheduled today. Please continue to monitor your emails throughout the weekend so we can keep you up to date. Thank you for your patience and hard work,” House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, said in his message.

The news likely didn’t set well with many lawmakers who canceled their trips home late yesterday afternoon when the leaders originally announced the conferences would kick off this weekend.

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Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, addressed a crowd of about 600 at a “We the People” rally Thursday afternoon on the steps of the Old Capitol in Tallahassee. The rally was one of thousands that took place across the country on tax day.

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Part 2

The Florida House Republican office put its “crystal ball” into graphic form this afternoon releasing this fever chart of Gov. Charlie Crist’s support/opposition to the controversial teacher tenure bill he vetoed yesterday. (Here’s the chart and its citations.)

No doubt it paints an interesting picture and gives a glimpse of the Republican majority’s frustration.

But the chart we’d really like to see would show why GOP leaders allowed no amendments in the House. Would that one — a pie chart, perhaps? — show Republican support dwindling in the Senate, where the bill passed on a close 21-17 vote?

The House and Senate will begin negotiating the budget this weekend, Senate President Jeff Atwater just announced.

The weekend conferences will begin at 10 a.m.

Lawmakers will iron out differences in their budgets that started out more than $1 billion apart so they can pass the state’s spending plan – roughly $68 billion – before the session is scheduled to end on April 30.

Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander said he’ll announce by 2:30 this afternoon whether negotiations over the state’s spending will begin today.

If they don’t, Alexander said, there’s little chance that the session will end as scheduled on April 30.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate were about $1 billion apart on their spending plans but have narrowed that gap, Alexander said.

But other complications keep negotiations at bay.

The House and Senate aren’t in agreement about how much to spend on health and human services or about sweeping money from a trust fund for transportation projects.

Adding to the problems, the Senate banked on a federal boost for Medicaid spending, about $800 million the House hasn’t included in its budget. But Gov. Charlie Crist got a letter from the feds this week making the extra money doubtful.

Stay tuned.

While Republican Gov. Charlie Crist’s veto on Thursday was a clear end for this year’s teacher bill, it made his own political future increasingly cloudy.

Many Republicans said the veto wiped out not just the bill, but any chance Crist had at catching his U.S. Senate rival, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, in the Republican primary. This theory gave new life to rumors Crist would drop his primary bid and run as an independent.

Others said it could provide Crist the spark he’s needed since Rubio overtook him in the polls in December.

Story here.

Republican congressional candidate, YouTube celebrity and fund-raising phenom Allen West has raked in more than $2 million in contributions for his challenge of U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton. But he’s already spent $977,853 — primarily on a direct-mail campaign with a group of Washington firms.

Reports filed Thursday show West raised $838,445 in the first quarter of 2010 to Klein’s $456,263. It was the second quarter in a row that West out-raised Klein in their nationally watched race. Overall, West has $1.1 million cash on hand while Klein has nearly $2.7 million in the bank.

Democrat Chris Craft’s report shows why he dropped his challenge of U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta. Craft raised only $29,909 in the first quarter before announcing his departure March 26.

Rooney raised $200,974 in the quarter and has $579,527 cash on hand. He was outdone during the quarter by his younger brother, Michigan U.S. House hopeful Brian Rooney, who raised $325,041 and has $443,005 on hand for his race up north.

One year after its launch on tax day 2009, the South Florida Tea Party proved Thursday it can still assemble a crowd of activists to register displeasure with big government.

That’s not enough, speakers told a crowd that approached 1,000 at a tax day rally in West Palm Beach.

Read about it here.

More videos here.

Calling it a “truly humbling day and the honor of a lifetime,” U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, was sworn in this afternoon on the floor of the House by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Deutch easily won Tuesday’s special election in congressional District 19 to replace Robert Wexler, who stepped down in January to head a Middle East think tank. He’ll serve the remainder of Wexler’s term and stand for reelection to a full two-year term in the fall.

Read Deutch’s first floor statement after the jump….

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The Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee on Wednesday overwhelmingly rejected a membership bid by Derek Black, an advocate for “the rights and heritage of European Americans” and the son of a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard.

Black, now 21, won a 2008 primary election for one of 111 executive committee seats. But the party voided his election because he had missed a deadline for signing a party loyalty oath. Black, who says the party didn’t give adequate notice that the deadline had changed, filed a lawsuit in February seeking to have his 2008 election recognized.

At Wednesday night’s Republican Executive Committee meeting, Black applied for a vacant seat on the REC, which requires approval from a majority of REC members. He was denied on an 87-19 vote, according to minutes published by the Republican Club of the Palm Beaches. An official tally from the party itself was not immediately available.

Black wasn’t immediately reachable today.

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Veto.

That’s the decision today from Charlie Crist on what he called the most controversial issue in his two decades in public office.

“We must start over,” Crist said. “This bill has deeply and negatively affected the morale of our teachers, our parents and our students. They are not confident in our system because they do not believe that their voices were heard.

Crist said he found little in the bill – or how Republican leaders “rushed” it through the process – to support.

He compared it to the federal health care changes, which he and other Republican leaders had criticized as a hasty attempt from Democrats to flex their political muscle in Washington.

“About a month later after that happens, the very same thing happens here in education. It’s the wrong process,” Crist said.

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A decision on the education bill is expected.

In a sign of a possible veto, Crist’s handlers just came into his press conference room and rolled away the table he usually uses to sign bills.

Watch live here.

The Florida Senate approved a $1 billion gambling deal that could transform the state into the Las Vegas of the Southeast, leaving just one more step until the state’s compact with the Seminole tribe is finalized.

The Senate debated briefly before a 29-9 vote on a compact that the tribe has sought for more than two decades and which lawmakers twice rejected in the past two years.

The agreement struck by GOP lawmakers, Gov. Charlie Crist and the Seminoles would allow the tribe to have Las Vegas-style slot machines at each of its seven locations and run blackjack, baccarat and chemin de fer at five of their operations.

The lynchpin of the deal is the five-year agreement with the Seminoles giving them the exclusive rights to run banked card games, including blackjack, at five of their seven facilities, including their lucrative Tampa Hard Rock casino that brings in at least half of all the tribe’s Florida gambling revenue, according to Galvano.

Most important for the tribe is the prohibition against any of the state’s pari-mutuels outside of Broward and Miami-Dade counties to run the card games.

Sen. Ronda Storms spoke passionately against the measure and criticized the lack of money going to gambling addiction programs.

“This is a sad day in the state of Florida where we…won’t even fund treatment. You can call the hotline and they’ll say, ‘Well, we’re sorry about that. Bummer for you,’” Storms, R-Valrico, said. “I say the Florida Legislature is making a mistake and the governor of the state of Florida is making a mistake by going down this road and expanding gambling.”

The bill’s sponsor Dennis Jones defended the measure (SB 622), saying it “doesn’t even expand gaming” because the Seminoles are already running the banked card games at their Tampa and Hollywood Hard Rock casinos.

“What this does..it stops an illegal activity that’s already taking place,” said Jones, R-Seminole. “Let us basically put this issue to rest and move forward.”