The Florida AFL-CIO just announced the list of speakers for its convention this weekend in Jacksonville, where the state’s biggest labor movement will decide which candidates to endorse (and support financially) in the 2010 elections.
Usually there’s not too much surprise in the endorsements. But we’re heard whispers about a joint endorsement in the U.S. Senate race for Democrat Kendrick Meek and independent Charlie Crist, who made huge inroads with the unions after his veto of Senate Bill 6, a Republican proposal to make it easier to fire teachers.
You’ve got to think that anything less than full support for Meek is more trouble for him.
The convention wraps up Sunday with a closed-door session where 300 delegates decide the endorsements.
Here’s the schedule of speakers:
Ted Deutch, Friday, 2 p.m.
Charlie Crist, Friday, 2:30 p.m.
Scott Maddox, Saturday, 9 a.m.
Kendrick Meek, Saturday, 9:30 a.m.
At least four local candidates have secured spots on the 2010 ballot by collecting signatures rather than paying a filing fee.
Democratic Palm Beach County Commissioners Jess Santamaria and Priscilla Taylor and state House candidates Tami Donnally (R) and Lori Berman (D) turned in valid signatures from at least 1 percent of voters in their districts to qualify for the ballot.
Berman
The deadline to turn in signatures was noon Monday. Elections staffers are still checking on petitions submitted by five other candidates: Democratic county commission hopeful Michael E. Jackson, state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, and state House candidates Mark Marciano, Francisco Rodriguez and Bill Hager.
The period for state and county candidates to submit final paperwork and filing fees to qualify for the 2010 ballot is June 14-18.
Cold War Pop Culture Reference Alert!! Democratic Senate hopeful Kendrick Meek’s campaign is portraying billionaire primary foe Jeff Greene as Eddie Haskell, the sycophantic Leave It To Beaver character who regularly poured on the charm for Ward and June Cleaver before perpetrating some devious scheme or act of cruelty against his pal Wally’s younger brother, Theodore “Beaver” Cleaver.
If our memory of a couple hundred reruns of the show is correct, Meek is essentially asking Florida Democratic primary voters to be like Ward and June, who were generally wary of Eddie’s blandishments.
While perhaps the most memorable supporting character on Leave It To Beaver, Eddie Haskell (played by urban legend-spawning actor Ken Osmond) never got a spin-off show of his own. Meek’s campaign, however, has devoted an entire website to Greene.
Rassmussen Reports today labels Rick Scott’s gubernatorial campaign as an “out-of-nowhere bid.”
The company’s poll today shows the GOP multi-millionaire health care executive is catching up to Republican Bill McCollum and Democrat Alex Sink, the front-runners in their respective parties, after pending about $1 million per week on television is competitive in matchups against both the GOP and Democratic front-runners.
Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene’s campaign today begins airing two ads to introduce the credit-default swapper and Democratic Senate candidate as a job-creating “outsider” appealing to voters fed up with “career politicians.”
No details yet from Greene’s campaign on the size and reach of the ad buy. Greene has pledged to spend “whatever it takes” to be competitive, starting with his primary against party establishment favorite Kendrick Meek.
Democratic state Sen. and attorney general candidate Dave Aronberg called Florida’s statutory ban on adoptions by gays and lesbians “immoral” and said he would not defend the law if he were Florida’s AG.
Aronberg also told The Palm Beach Post editorial board he’d discontinue Attorney General Bill McCollum’s “frivolous” lawsuit challenging the federal health care overhaul.
Gelber
A Miami-Dade circuit judge in 2008 declared the state’s ban on gay adoptions unconstitutional and the state is now pursuing an appeal with the 3rd District Court of Appeal. The next step for whichever side loses is the Florida Supreme Court.
“If the 3rd DCA rules against the state, then the state would have to decide to appeal. And I would not appeal,” Aronberg said.
Aronberg’s rival in the Democratic attorney general primary, state Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, is also a vocal critic of the gay adoption ban and the health care lawsuit. Gelber said he, too, would not pursue an appeal of the adoption ban and would drop the health care challenge.
That’s the news from BP CEO Tony Hayward, who just emerged from a closed-door meeting with Gov. Charlie Crist. It’s the second $25 million grant the company has given the state since their Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and started spewing 210,000 gallons of oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico.
State officials have been calling for an advertising campaign as Panhandle beach resorts and restaurants head into their 90-day tourist season. Despite the oil plume still 70 miles from Florida’s closest beaches in Pensacola, business owners there say they’ve already lost millions as tourists cancel reservations or wait to schedule their trip.
BP is also giving $15 million to Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
Click here for continuing coverage of the oil spill.
State Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, says he’ll support Charlie Crist’s independent bid for U.S. Senate if Kendrick Meek wins the Democratic nomination.
Abruzzo
“My vote will not be going for Kendrick Meek at any point in time in this election,” Abruzzo said. “If the Democrats do not have a viable candidate and it’s between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist, I will be supporting Charlie Crist.”
Abruzzo said Meek’s campaign has not reached out to him. But there seemed to be a personal reason behind the hostility, which was just the latest sign of trouble for Meek’s campaign among south county Democrats.
Two weeks ago, just after Crist announced that he was running as an independent, he held a 38% to 34% advantage over Rubio.
The latest numbers parallel the findings in April two weeks before Crist announced he was quitting the Republican Primary race.
Crist, whose numbers had been in freefall in his primary match-up with Rubio, has been actively courting Democrats. But Meek now edges Crist among Democratic voters after trailing him two weeks ago.
In this week’s Politics column, find out where GOP state Senate primary rivals Lizbeth Benacquisto and Sharon Merchant stand on the abortion ultrasound bill. Find out what motivated disgraced former Palm Beach County commissioner Warren Newell to break out the typewriter. Also, Mary Brandenburg on the West Palm Beach mayor’s poll and Michelle Damone on why she hasn’t filed against Commissioner Jess Santamaria.
An onslaught of oil threatens their beaches and fleeing tourists are already costing their seaside businesses millions, but few lawmakers from the state’s Gulf Coast want to return to Tallahassee to put a constitutional ban on the statewide ballot.
“We haven’t even stopped the oil yet,” said Rep. Leonard Bembry, a North Florida Democrat. “We don’t have all the facts yet.”
Bembry, the grandson of a longtime mullet fisherman and an ardent opponent of offshore drilling, epitomizes the difficult position many lawmakers find themselves in as Gov. Charlie Crist decides whether to force a special session on them.
Interviews with 14 of the 18 House lawmakers who represent districts along the state’s 770 miles of Gulf Coast show that many would ultimately support a constitutional ban, but few favor holding a special session in the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene’s two-week-old Democratic Senate campaign pounced on a Miami Herald story about Democratic Senate frontrunner and U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek’s ties to a developer accused of stealing nearly $1 million from a failed project in Miami’s Liberty City.
Greene
The developer, Dennis Stackhouse, paid $90,000 in consulting fees to Meek’s mother and provided $13,000 to help Meek’s top Miami aide get a mortgage, the paper reported. Meek, who twice sought federal earmarks for the Poinciana Park project, told The Herald he didn’t know about the developer’s payments to his former aide or his mother and that he and his mother, former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, never discussed the project.
Democratic Senate candidate Kendrick Meek opposes raising the age for eligibility for Social Security benefits, an idea that Republican candidate Marco Rubio has said he’s willing to consider to preserve the long-term solvency of the retirement program.
When The Palm Beach Post editorial board challenged Meek Friday to offer an alternative idea, Meek ended up saying — after more than five minutes — that he’ll work “to make sure that we get the experts around the table to make it happen…to keep Social Security afloat. Every approach towards solvency of Social Security has been a working-group effort in getting the experts around the table.”
A WPTV Channel 5 reporter’s advice to Republican congressional candidate Allen West on his TV appearances has been deemed “inconsistent” with station policy and drawn fire from the campaign of U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton.
Klein supporters were alarmed recently when they saw a YouTube video of an event in which West introduced WPTV reporter Angela Sachitano and said she “does our media relations.”
Sachitano has no formal role with the West campaign, but she and her husband are friends with the candidate, West campaign manager Josh Grodin said. West said in an e-mail that Sachitano “provides me insights into how to improve my media appearance/presence and conduct of interviews.”
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is in the midst of a press conference right now announcing that the National Federation of Independent Businesses has joined his lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Obama’s federal health care overhaul.
McCollum amended the lawsuit today (see a copy here) to include all complainants: 20 states, the NFIB and two business owners, Mary Brown and Kaj Ahlburg.
“The outpouring of opposition to this new law was overwhelming and our members urged us to do everything in our power to stop this unconstitutional law,” said Dan Danner, NFIB president and CEO.
The suit challenges the so-called “individual mandate” in the law that requires Americans to buy health care coverage or face a fine.
McCollum said he expects a hearing in September on a yet-to-be-filed motion to dismiss from the U.S. Justice Department. McCollum said the suit would probably end up in the U.S. Supreme Court by in 2012. McCollum is running for governor this year and will not be the state’s attorney general after this year.
Brandenburg: 'I'm running for the county commission'
A telephone poll conducted by the Police Benevolent Association this week asks respondents about declared 2011 West Palm Beach mayoral candidates Jeri Muoio and Molly Douglas and undeclared-but-considering-it candidate Kimberly Mitchell.
There’s also a favorable/unfavorable question about former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who’s name has been floated as a potential mayoral candidate.
But the survey questions that have tongues wagging concern term-limited state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, a former city commissioner who’s running for Palm Beach County commission this year and says she’s not interested in a mayoral campaign.
President Obama said today BP, Transocean and Halliburton executives put on a “ridiculous spectacle” during their congressional testimony over the ongoing oil spill, which Florida officials say is still about 80 miles from the closest Panhandle beaches.
Obama also acknowledged the federal government still doesn’t know how much oil is flooding the Gulf. From his remarks today:
Now, the most important order of business is to stop the leak. I know there have been varying reports over the last few days about how large the leak is, but since no one can get down there in person, we know there is a level of uncertainty. But as Admiral Thad Allen said today, our mobilization and response efforts have always been geared toward the possibility of a catastrophic event. And what really matters is this: There’s oil leaking and we need to stop it –- and we need to stop it as soon as possible. With that source being 5,000 feet under the ocean’s surface, this has been extremely difficult. But scientists and engineers are currently using the best, most advanced technology that exists to try to stop the flow of oil as quickly as possible.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek will be at the South County Civic Center in West Delray this evening for an event aimed at introducing him to grassroots Democrats — many of whom have complained they haven’t seen Meek in the vote-rich condo belt.
It’s a fund-raiser with a $20.10-a-head minimum intended to draw a big crowd.
County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, who’s traditionally been regarded as an important Democratic gatekeeper, said Meek contacted him for the first time this week. Aaronson this week said he’s undecided in the Democratic primary between party establishment favorite Meek and former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre (who has spoken with Aaronson twice) and Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene (who entered the race April 30 and has already reached out to Aaronson).
BOCA RATON — Attorney Gen. Bill McCollum drew about 130 people to a breakfast fund-raiser this morning for his GOP campaign for governor and said he’s taking multimillionaire primary challenger Rick Scott seriously.
“He’s spending a lot of money. I take anyone seriously who has the resources,” McCollum told a reporter when asked about Scott. The Naples businessman launched his TV-fueled campaign in April and shocked many political observers last week by posting a 24 percent showing to McCollum’s 38 percent in a Mason-Dixon poll of GOP primary voters.
Scott
McCollum didn’t mention Scott or likely Democratic nominee Alex Sink during his remarks to the breakfast gathering at the Griddle restaurant, but told the crowd: “We have a lot of work to do. We don’t take anything for granted.”
This morning’s event was one of several “Breakfast with Bill” fund-raisers McCollum has held around the state. His campaign said it was the best attendance he’s had for one of the breakfasts.
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