Investment bankers, private investors and health care companies are betting heavy on Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott.

Scott collected $98,300 from 12 contributions on June 28, records show. The money went to his political committee, known as Let’s Get to Work. The so-called 527 committees help Florida political candidates avoid state campaign contribution laws.

Scott’s primary opponent, Attorney General Bill McCollum, is affiliated with a pair of similar committees. Those groups have received $1 million that track back to a pair of South Florida doctors, Gerald Glass and Paul Zimmerman.*

Scott, who has already spent more than $20 million of his own money, received a chunk of his latest contributions from Palm Beach sources:

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Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican running for governor, said today that someone with no political experience might be better suited for city council than the governor’s office.

Wonder what Jeb Bush might have to say about that…

Anyway, the line was a shot at McCollum’s GOP primary rival, Rick Scott. Scott is running for his first political office and, predictably, spins the experience question a bit different. A former CEO of Columbia/HCA, who resigned amid a Medicare fraud investigation that cost his company $1.7 billion in fines, says the state needs a fresh face to pull it out of an economic funk.

“Of all the ridiculous things Bill McCollum has said about Rick Scott the last few weeks, this attack we welcome,” Scott spokesman Joe Kildea said. “Career politicians are not the solution to our problems as great Governors such as Ronald Reagan have shown us. Looks like it’s Bill McCollum making the rookie mistakes.”

Video of McCollum at Tallahassee’s Capital City Republican Club above.

Limp and blue, Sidney Miller miraculously gasped for air and spontaneously cried when she was born four months early in 1990.

The baby, however, wasn’t expected to survive much longer. Told of a lifetime of pain, blindness and mental retardation that awaited their severely premature daughter, Mark and Karla Miller asked doctors to take no heroic measures to save her life.

But as quickly as the parents were given that choice, the Houston hospital took it away.

Today Sidney is approaching her 20th birthday and her story has made its way from Texas to Florida, where gubernat­orial candidate Rick Scott is citing it as one of his right-to-life credentials in a tough Republican primary.

Only immigration rivals abortion and right-to-life issues as the most inflammatory debate topic of the race, in which Scott, a Naples businessman, and his principal rival, Attorney General Bill McCollum, have been on television, often with provocative accusations about the other’s anti-abortion positions.

McCollum says Scott “profited from abortions” as the former chief executive officer of Columbia/HCA. Scott snaps back that McCollum worked for a lobbying firm that earned more than $100,000 from abortion providers.

Abortion issues have a long history in Florida GOP primaries. But some believe the Republican candidates are capitalizing on a renewed interest in the issue, indicated by more than 36,000 phone calls, e-mails and letters that poured into Gov. Charlie Crist’s office urging him to support a controversial bill written by anti-abortion politicians.

“It’s very exciting to watch,” said Florida Right to Life President Carrie Eisnaugle, whose group is supporting both Republicans. “It shows both candidates are concerned about life issues and that Gov. Crist’s veto has really reenergized the grass-roots right-to-life movement.”

Story here.

A state select committee on the economy will look into the financial fall-out from the Deepwater Horizon on the Panhandle.

The Senate Select Committee on the Economy will hold its first meeting in Pensacola on July 12.

The committee, headed by Sen. Don Gaetz, wants to hear from local property owners and business owners, among others, to see what if anything state lawmakers can do to help ease the financial strain on the tourism-dependent region.

Gov. Charlie Crist has been pushing lawmakers to hold a special session on oil to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot letting voters decide whether to ban drilling off Florida’s coast. Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said last week he would support a special session on oil sooner rather than later, but GOP House leaders indicated they would rather postpone a special session until after the November general election.

Among the items Gaetz siad his committee will consider: possible tax relief for property owners whose businesses have been struck by revenue shortfalls, the drawn-out claims process, and possible relaxation of environmental regulations to speed up economic recovery.

“This catastrophe is metastasizing daily,” Gaetz, R-Niceville, said in a press release. “Floridians are losing their jobs, business income is slumping and local governments are rapidly burning through their scant reserves. Every barrel of oil that pumps into the Gulf of Mexico poisons the economy of Florida.”

The committee will also review “barriers to an aggressive response” by government officials and BP regarding the economic impact of the oil disaster, the press release said.

Florida Right to Life’s political action committee gave Rick Scott and Bill McCollum, the two Republicans battling for their party’s gubernatorial nomination, an “A” rating.

The Orlando-based group did take sides in some primaries, choosing to back Republican Jeff Kottkamp over Pam Bondi and Holly Benson in the crowded GOP attorney general race and Ellyn Bogdanoff her race against fellow Republican Carl Domino for the Palm Beach County-based state Senate seat currently held by Jeff Atwater.

The group did not endorse a candidate in the county’s other closely watched Senate race, which includes Republicans Sharon Merchant and Lizbeth Benaquisto, or any of the county’s competitive state House races.

See all of the Florida Right to Life endorsements here.

That’s the conclusion from our friends at PolitiFact Florida:

Klein’s fundraising e-mail said: “West has raised $2 million from those that would leave our beaches in ruins, end Social Security and Medicare and give corporations free reign.” The donors the Klein campaign cited added up to about $25,000 — only a sliver of his $2 million campaign. The West campaign could cherrypick too and likely find negative headlines about some of Klein’s donors — including BP in previous election cycles. But we don’t think that we can draw conclusions about all of Klein’s donors based on his BP donations. Similarily, there is no way Klein would know the viewpoints of all of West’s donors unless he researched all of their views on these topics — an impossible endeavor. We rate this claim False.

Attorney and state senator Joe Negron, R-Stuart, has jumped to the Gunster law firm from the Akerman Senterfitt law firm, where he has worked for more than five years.

In doing so, Negron leaves a firm that represents BP North America in civil claims arising from the Gulf oil spill. He is the second state politician to quit Akerman in recent weeks. Earlier this week, Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach state senator and Democratic attorney general candidate, announced he quit the firm after it agreed to represent BP.

Story here.

McCollum — who spoke swiftly, rarely pausing between thoughts — said the state should give a 10-year tax exemption to high-tech, bio-tech or aerospace companies that want to relocate to Florida.

He also called on Gov. Charlie Crist to give back Republican donations for his Senate race that he received before deciding to run as an independent.

“He’s not a Republican anymore,” McCollum said. “If someone wants their money back, and they ask for it, he should return it.”

Story here.

Two Florida Public Service commissioners were bounced from their posts Wednesday, and they blamed their refusal to grant rate increases to Florida Power & Light and another utility for their ouster.

Chairwoman Nancy Argenziano and Commissioner Nathan Skop blasted the influence of utilities and business interests on the Florida Legislature and the nominating panel that rejected their applications for reappointment.

“They want commissioners who do their bidding rather than follow the law. They do not want the uncorruptible. They want the corruptible,” Argenziano said Wednesday.

Story here.