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Romney
The Florida gifts are part of a $93,000 new wave of contributions by the Romney PAC to House Republicans for their 2012 campaigns.
West “appreciates the support” of Romney, but hasn’t made any endorsements for the 2012 presidential race, West chief of staff Jonathan Blyth said.
Rubio
The group includes conservative Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and tea party freshmen Rand Paul, R-Ky. and Mike Lee, R-Utah.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the eight write: “While there are certainly many issues that warrant the Senate’s consideration, we feel that the Senate must not debate and consider bills at this time that do not affirmatively cut spending, directly address structural budget reforms, reduce government’s role in the economy so businesses can create jobs, or directly address this current financial crisis.”
Read the entire letter after the jump…
Romney
But the meeting between GOP governors past and present never took place because, Scott’s staff said, of the weather.
As anyone familiar with springtime in Florida’s hilly capital city, fog frequently makes flying in and out in the morning a crapshoot.
Scott’s a premium stop on the GOP presidential wannabes’ Sunshine State rounds.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty met with fellow tea party fave Scott last month.
The House approved overhauling the state’s unemployment compensation system, cutting benefits and reducing tax rates in a strict, party-line vote.
The 81-38 vote in the Republican-dominated House was designed as a first-week-of-the-session message that the GOP is looking to help businesses rebound — possibly at the expense of Florida’s jobless.
The move came even as the state’s Agency for Workforce Innovation reported Thursday that the state’s unemployment rate hit 11.9 percent in January, down slightly from December’s 12 percent level. The state lost 13,000 jobs in January, AWI said.
But Rep. Doug Holder, R-Sarasota, said the House bill (HB 7005) will help turnaround what he called a “capsized economy.”
“It sends a resounding message to the business community: Florida is the place to be,” Holder said.
But Democrats, who unanimously opposed the measure, said the measure would hurt out-of-work Floridians.
“I’m pro-business. But I’m also pro-people,” said Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee. (more…)
The House Health and Human Services Committee passed a measure that would scrap the state’s yet-to-be-implemented prescription drug database.
The committee approved the bill (PCB HHSC 11-04) with a 12-5 vote after hearing testimony from supporters of the database law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, believe is necessary to crack down on prescription drug abuse.
Port St. Lucie vice mayor Linda Bartz urged the committee to vote against the measure, tearfully sharing the story of her daughter’s struggle with narcotics. Bartz said she had her daughter arrested to save her life.
“I believed when I had her arrested as I believe today that she was facing imminent death from a drug overdose,” she said. She said her daughter was able to get the drugs by “doctor shopping,” which the database is designed to reduce.
“I’m one of the lucky ones. My daughter is not one of the seven yet,” Bartz said.
But committee chairman Robert Schenck, R-Spring Hill, said the database, not yet in operation, is not working and, like Gov. Rick Scott, believes it is an invasion of privacy.
“The database simply tracks the problem of most law abiding citizens and at the expense of sacrificing our privacy,” he said.
The database has House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, at odds. Cannon wants to scrap it while Haridopolos wants it up and running and is willing to pay to keep it going. Current law forbids any state money from being spent on creation or maintenance of the drug-tracking system.
The Florida Senate approved legislation Thursday that would end tenure and tie teacher pay to student performance — the latest round in a long clash between Republican lawmakers and the state teachers union.
The 26-12 vote split on party lines, with Democrats opposed.
Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, was the lone Democrat to crossover and support the measure; Republican Sens. Dennis Jones of Seminole and Paula Dockery of Lakeland joined Democratic opponents.
The measure (CS/SB 736) is similar to legislation that convulsed Florida last spring, before then-Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed it following demonstrations and letter-writing campaigns by the Florida Education Association.
Crist broke with the Republican Party following his veto; and the FEA endorsed Democrat Alex Sink over the GOP’s Rick Scott in last fall’s governor’s race.
Scott campaigned in favor of the legislation.
“This bill ought to be a teacher’s dream – to be paid for a student’s success,” said Sen. Steve Wise, R-Jacksonville, sponsor of the bill.
The House Health and Human Services Committee gave a preliminary nod to a measure backed by House Speaker Dean Cannon that would limit physicians’ ability to dispense drugs and scrap current laws regulating pain management clinics.
The measure (PCB HHSC 11-03) would also allow felons to own and operate “pill mills,” a prohibition lawmakers passed two years ago after it was reported that some of the clinics were owned by convicted drug dealers.
The committee is getting ready to pass a second measure (PCB HHSC 11-04) that would repeal the state’s yet-to-be implemented prescription drug database.
Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, has insisted he wants to get the database up and running and is willing to spend the $500,000 a year to operate it although lawmakers barred any state money to fund the program.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is accusing U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, of endorsing a government shutdown after a Wednesday night Fox News appearance in which he criticized continued two-week stopgap measures to keep the federal government running.
Fox News personality and former judge Andrew Napolitano asked West (around the 4:30 mark on the above clip): “Is it time for the government to be shut down if the White House and Congress can’t agree in order to force the president’s hand and compel him to do what we hired him to do, which is run the government within the confines of the constitution and only with the money he collects from taxes and other fees?”
Read West’s answer, and the DCCC’s response, and West’s counter-response, after the jump…
The Florida Senate began debate Thursday on a controversial plan to end teacher tenure and introduce merit pay based heavily on student performance.
Former Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed a similar measure last year following a major campaign against SB 6 by the state’s teachers’ union. But fast-forward a few months and the new, slightly modified bill (CS/SB 736) — dubbed ‘son of 6′ — is on a fast-track.
Critics still abound. But they’re clearly outnumbered.
“I’m an old math teacher. I can count,” said Democratic Sen. Bill Montford of Tallahassee, a longtime educator who has a middle-school named after him in Leon County. “I know this is going to pass.”
Masilotti in 2007
Newell
McCarty
Another former county commissioner and convicted honest services fraudster, Warren Newell, is also appealing his honest services fraud conviction. A third commissioner-turned-convict, Mary McCarty, has indicated she won’t challenge her honest services fraud conviction.
CORRECTION: The House Majority Office data about the number of dispensing practitioners in Florida is incorrect. The actual number is 156, not 56, according to House Speaker Dean Cannon’s spokeswoman Katherine Betta. She also point out that although Florida’s dispensing practitioners comprise only 11% of those who hand out oxycodone nationally, but they dispense 85% of the oxycodone sold by practitioners in the U.S.
With House Speaker Dean Cannon‘s blessing, a House committee is preparing to abolish all oversight of the state’s pain management clinics and repeal a controversial prescription drug database law enforcement officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, believe is crucial in combating illicit narcotic trafficking.
The House Health and Human Services Committee Chairman is slated to vote on two bills (PCB HHSC 11-03, PCB HHSC 11-04) at an 8 a.m. meeting this morning that would repeal current laws regulating pain management clinics in an effort to crack down on pill mills and impose restrictions on the types of drugs doctors would be allowed to dispense.
One of the bills would bar Florida doctors registered as “dispensing practitioners” from handing out Schedule II, III, IV or V drugs, including highly addictive oxycodone and methodone.
But critics of the measure, pushed by committee chairman Robert Schenck, R-Spring Hill, say it will do little to keep the narcotics out of the hands of drug dealers because most of the prescription drugs are dispensed by pharmacies.
More than 100 Palm Beach County officials, business leaders and staff fanned out Wednesday across the Capitol in another recession-era version of the Legislature’s annual Palm Beach County Day.
Gone are the beads – the colorful and increasingly elaborate symbols of the county’s visits, usually timed near Mardi Gras. Instead, those attending the schmooze-fest said the event was mostly business.
“I’ve had my day planned out to the minute,” said County Commissioner Steve Abrams. “It’s very strategic, who we’re meeting with and when.”
Still, the 2011 model retained the high-end sponsors — Florida Crystals Corp., Realtors Association, and Schoolhouse Consulting Group were among those underwriting the festivities, which included steamtables of pasta and steamships of beef at an evening reception in the Senate portico.
Linda Spurling Gruneisen, who polled 14.6 percent in Tuesday’s Boca Raton mayoral race, says her candidacy succeeded in creating discussion in the city and shining a spotlight on the need to switch low-turnout city elections to November.
Gruneisen, seeing that no one had filed to challenge Mayor Susan Whelchel, decided to do so a few hours before the city’s filing deadline. Her decision led the city to spend around $100,000 to put on a one-race election.
Turnout was 7.8 percent in Boca Raton and 12.3 percent countywide for Tuesday’s 19 municipal elections.
Gruneisen said she’s “proud to be a person who made freedom count, as every voter has the right to, no matter the cost.”
Read her complete statement after the jump…
Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson said Wednesday he thinks state lawmakers should embrace the county’s call for banning gun clips containing more than 15 rounds — especially following Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ shooting earlier this year.
But the legislation, proposed by Rep. Lori Berman and Sen. Maria Sachs, both Delray Beach Democrats, likely faces tall odds in a Republican Legislature filled with lawmakers elected with the backing of the National Rifle Association.
“You know, a TV commentator has said, ‘the first 10 rounds, blame the person, the next 21 rounds, you should blame the law,’” said Aronson, who joined Berman and Sachs at a Capitol news conference to promote the legislation, which has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.
House Bill 1335, which Representative Berman filed on Monday, limits the sale or transfer of high-volume ammunition devices with a capacity greater than 15 bullets.
Giffords was critically wounded when accused assailant Jared Loughner, who is charged in January’s shooting near Tucson, used a high-capacity magazine to fire 31 shots in 15 seconds from a pistol he purchased legally. Six people were killed and 14 wounded. (more…)
Convicted felons who have served their sentences and paid restitution must now wait a minimum of five years before applying to have their rights restored, under changes approved by Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet acting as the board of executive clemency today.
The new rules impose a five-year wait period for those convicted of non-violent crimes. Those convicted of violent crimes, including murder or DUI manslaughter, must wait seven years and require a hearing to request to have their civil rights, including the right to vote, restored.
Florida will now join two other states with such severe restrictions limiting former felons from voting.
The board did not release the proposed rule changes to the public until moments before the meeting began and limited public testimony to two-minutes per person for a total of 30 minutes before unanimously approving the changes.
“Felons seeking restoration of civil rights demonstrate they desire and deserve clemency only after they show they’re willing to abide by the law,” Scott said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, a former prosecutor, first suggested the rule change two weeks ago. But it was Scott’s staff who explained the rules when questioned by Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam Wednesday morning.
“I think they’re fair. I believe that there should be a waiting period and I believe that someone should have to ask to have their rights restored. I believe, as a 20-year prosecutor, any felony is a serious crime,” Bondi said.
Civil rights advocates, including five black lawmakers, objected to the rule changes, saying there is no evidence the current process – approved by Gov. Charlie Crist and the former Cabinet in 2007 – is not working.
The Republican-dominated House beat back Democratic attempts at weakening a tough new rewrite of Florida’s unemployment compensation laws.
The legislation (CS/HB 7005) cuts eligibility for Florida’s jobless and makes it tougher to claim benefits.
“It’s designed to balance the needs of the employer and the unemployed,” said Rep. Doug Holder, R-Sarasota, whose Economic Development and Tourism subcommittee crafted the bill.
But Democrats said the measure effectively is a handout to businesses that could hurt the economy by barring out-of-work Floridians from drawing needed cash, and might even spike the state’s already sky-high foreclosure rate.
“I’d suggest we strike the balance in favor of Floridians and not in favor of out-of-state corporations,” said Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando.
Turnout for Tuesday’s elections in 19 of Palm Beach County’s cities and towns was a combined 12.3 percent — slightly lower than last year’s 12.6 percent and the 12.5 percent figure for 2009.
Unofficial results show 30,262 of the 246,284 voters who were eligible cast ballots in races from Boca Raton to Juno Beach to Belle Glade.
West Palm Beach, with its high-profile mayoral race, had 15.9 percent turnout.
Turnout was around 25 percent in Riviera Beach, which had a four-way mayoral race and three city council contests, plus a referendum on marina development.
Tiny Gulfstream appears to have topped 50 percent turnout for an annexation referendum, with 329 of the town’s 649 voters casting ballots.
Boca Raton’s mayoral race, a blowout victory for incumbent Susan Whelchel, had less than 8 percent turnout.
Florida Democrats are relishing the comments of horror novelist Stephen King, who was among several thousand Floridians who joined Awake the State rallies Tuesday against Gov. Rick Scott’s proposed budget cuts.
King, who lives in the Sarasota area, criticized Scott for killing the high-speed rail project planned between Tampa and Orlando. He also suggested Scott may have a role in a future page-turner.
“Maybe my next horror novel will star Rick Scott,” King told the cheering crowd, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
On the second day of the legislative session, the Florida Senate approved a proposed constitutional amendment allowing Florida to opt out of the federal health care law, the chamber’s President Mike Haridopolos’ top priority.
The Senate approved the measure, (SJR 2) by a 29-10 vote, with just one Democrat – Bill Montford of Tallahassee – voting in favor.
The amendment, which would go before the voters next year, bans the federal government from forcing Floridians from having to purchase health care coverage, the “individual mandate” that is the subject of several federal court cases, including one in Florida. A Pensacola federal judge struck down the law as unconstitutional. President Obama’s administration appealed that ruling yesterday, and the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately decide on the case.
Lawmakers attempted to put a similar measure on the ballot last year, but the Florida Supreme Court struck it down saying it was confusing to voters. Haridopolos tweaked the language to try to meet the court’s muster this time around.
Haridopolos, a Merritt Island Republican, is running for U.S. Senate, and could possibly on the same November 2012 ballot as the amendment.
“This is about freedom. This is about federalism. This is not a unitary government where everything just comes on down high from government,” Haridopolos said before the vote. “This is about choice. This is about freedom and respecting the U.S. Constitution and…mostly, respecting individual rights.”
Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich of Weston argued that the federal law already allows states to opt out if they come up with another way to make sure its citizens are insured.
“The fact remains that this is the law of the land and it is our duty to take the appropriate steps to implement this law,” Rich said. “Whether you like it or not, we have a federal system of government…Federal law remains the supreme law of the land.”
The proposed amendment would require 60 percent approval from the voters to pass. The House has not yet voted on the measure.
Arguing against the bill, Sen. Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville, took umbrage at Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, calling the law “Obamacare.”
“Sen. Gaetz mentioned Obamacare,” Hill said. “At least somebody care.”
Jeri Muoio won the mayor’s race in West Palm Beach tonight with 51.5 percent of the vote to top a four-candidate field.
Paula Ryan was a distant second with 23.4 percent and Molly Douglas third with 20.9 percent. Charles Bantel was last with 4.2 percent.
Muoio, a city commissioner, succeeds Lois Frankel, who couldn’t seek a third term because of term limits.
West Palm Beach’s other race will require a runoff election in two weeks between city commission hopefuls Keith James and Diane Cantone.
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