Democratic activist Rick Neuhoff, on the possibility that he’ll be running against five-term Palm Beach County commissioner Burt Aaronson in 2012, says: “I think any time that any elected official has been in office for so long that they proclaim themselves royalty, that’s a problem.”

Read about it in this week’s Politics column, where you’ll also find:

* How long it took Aaronson, a critic of long wait times at Tax Collector offices, to get his driver license renewed last week.

* Which two local Dems were singled out for criticism amid all the Rick Scott and GOP bashing at last week’s “Awake the State” rally.

* What might lead former Lake Worth city commissioner Cara Jennings to run for mayor in next month’s special election.

The Florida Commission on Ethics unanimously approved Gov. Rick Scott’s plan Friday to put his wide-ranging financial assets into a blind trust, steered by money managers independent of the governor.

The Republican governor, who reported a net worth of $218 million when he filed as a candidate last year, has been forced to tamp down questions about the intersection of his private wealth and public office – even before his election in November.

But the endorsement by the ethics panel isn’t likely to end questions about Scott’s finances.

After all, the governor appears unwilling to produce any documents showing that the blind trust has been created, nor include apparently sizeable assets controlled by his wife, Ann, in the account steered by money managers.

Scott spokesman Brian Burgess also Friday shrugged off questions about how much money the governor is setting aside to finance his substantial daily spending. Scott is using his own seven-passenger jet for travel on executive business and is paying for fuel and maintenance out of his own pocket.

Meanwhile, his most controversial holding, Solantic Corp., has not yet changed hands. The governor pledged to sell the urgent care company on April 29.

But Scott and Burgess revealed for the first time Friday that the sale has been slowed by difficulty transfering state licenses to the minority owners acquiring the governor’s ownership share.

Despite the seemingly endless delays — Scott has been talking about the blind trust since before his election — Burgess insists Scott is trying to do the right thing, and embraced the ethics commission’s support.

“It’s something he takes seriously,” Burgess said. “It’s been a very long and complex process because of the unique questions that are presented. He’s pleased we can put his assets in a place that meets federal guidelines, at least, and satisfies the Florida Ethics Commission.”

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach is endorsing state Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, in the 2012 Republican U.S. Senate primary.

Atwater was Senate President before Haridopolos. In November, Atwater became the first Palm Beach Countian to win statewide elected office in 40 years. He chose Haridopolos over Boca Raton resident and former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner and over former appointed U.S. Sen. George LeMieux. The Republicans are vying to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

Said Atwater: “Mike Haridopolos is the proven fiscal conservative in this race with a strong record of restraining and reforming government that is badly needed in Washington. While others may talk the talk, Mike has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to tackle the tough issues and walk the walk. Mike Haridopolos has passed fiscally conservative policies that reduce spending, lower taxes, and provide the necessary certainty and stability to private sector employers so they can start hiring again. I am confident that he is the candidate that will defeat Bill Nelson.”

Without comment, the Florida Commission on Ethics approved Friday Gov. Rick Scott’s intention to put his wide-ranging financial assets into a blind trust steered by money managers independent of the governor.

The commission accepted a recommendation from its executive director that Scott would be shielded from potential violations of state conflict-of-interest laws by taking creating the trust. Scott’s holdings are mostly in large publicly traded companies but attorneys for the governor also provided specific details of five other investments with clear Florida ties.

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Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson says he’ll seek a sixth term in 2012 if courts strike down the county’s voter-approved term limits law.

“Definitely I’ll run again…if it’s allowed,” Aaronson said this morning.

Aaronson, who turns 83 next week, has said in the past that he’d consider running for reelection if county term limits are abolished. He’s also flirted with a Democratic primary challenge of Tax Collector Anne Gannon.

More than 70 percent of Palm Beach County voters in 2002 approved a law limiting commissioners to two four-year terms. For Aaronson, who was first elected in 1992, the term limits clock started ticking in 2004, meaning he’s ineligible to run again in 2012. But a Broward County ruling that struck down term limits there could end up invalidating Palm Beach County’s law if an appeals court upholds the Broward decision. A final ruling could come later this year.

Democratic activist Rick Neuhoff is the only candidate who has opened a 2012 for Aaronson’s seat.

Rick Scott’s vast financial holdings have continued to draw heat but today, Florida’ s chief executive is likely to draw support from the state’s Commission on Ethics for steps he’s taken to create some separation from his multi-million dollars investments.

Commissioners will review a draft opinion from the panel’s attorneys that endorse Scott’s efforts to transfer his investments to a blind trust steered by money managers independent of the governor.

 When he filed papers as a candidate last year, Scott put his net worth at $218 million and subsequently spent more than $73 million out of his own pocket in winning the governor’s race.

“Under the circumstances presented, we conclude that the governor’s passive investments in these large national corporations and investment funds do not create a continuing or frequently recurring conflict of interest with his public duties,”  the commission’s executive director, Phil Claypool, wrote last month in a recommended order to be reviewed today by the panel.

Scott was slated to sell what has emerged as his most controversial holding, Solantic, the urgent care company, that attracted criticism for potentially standing to profit from health initiatives he had advanced as governor.

Scott acknowledged last month he was selling his family’s 70 percent ownership of the urgent care chain he co-founded in 2001 for less than the firm’s reported $62 million net worth. The deal was expected to close by April 29, and Scott has said nothing publicly about the transaction.

Most of Scott’s other holdings are in large, publicly traded companies. According to documents submitted to the ethics panel, Scott’s invested in four holding companies that have Florida operations.

 Three are in the propane and natural gas transportation business and the fourth is Republic Services, the nation’s second largest waste-hauling company. Scott also is a limited partner in a New York headquartered investment fund that has a controlling interest in 21st Century Oncology, cancer radiation centers which operate in Florida.

Richard Coates, Scott’s Tallahassee lawyer, acknowledged to the commission in a letter that state law recognizes that investments are considered to be a contractual relationship. And state ethics laws bar public officials from having contract dealings with a business regulated by their agency.

“On the other hand, we are aware of no precedent where the commission has found a conflict of interest based on such an attenuated and speculative relationship between the official’s public office and the investments in question,” Coates wrote.

Former Democratic U.S. Rep. and unsuccessful 2010 Senate candidate Kendrick Meek has been named chairman of the editorial board for politic365.com , a news and commentary site that focuses on “penetrating communities of color.”

Says Meek: “Politic365.com is bringing the power of the Web and modern technology to serve an age-old concern — the need to connect. As chair of the Editorial Board, I want to build on this success. I want to make Politic365 an essential part of the daily lives of Americans. I want to build on Politic365’s strengths — its news, its analysis, its informed and civil conversations — on the challenges facing our nation.

“As Chairman of the Editorial Board, it is my goal to make sure that Politic365 is one of the favorites on computer screens throughout the U.S. for news and information.”

The business coalition backing Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-ruled Legislature’s drive against public pensions Thursday turned its eye toward next year — saying municipal retirement plans are the next target and that these funds must be shifted into 401 (k)-styled investments.

Lawmakers agreed to take 3 percent out of the paychecks of  655,000 government employees enrolled in the Florida Retirement System, and used the $1.1 billion it generated as a plug for the state’s almost $3.8 billion budget shortfall.

The last time Floridians for Sustainable Pensions surfaced, it was joined by Gov. Rick Scott, was last month prodded legislators to pull money from employees because the retirement system was on troubled ground financially.

Analysts said the FRS could meet about 87 percent of its benefits payout — if all pensioners demanded the money at once. Although financial analysts said this level of funding is not alarming, Scott did all he could to fan fears of a financial meltdown.

But on Thursday, Florida State University economist Randall Holcombe said the FRS is strong.  And putting the $1.1 billion extracted from employees into their retirement plans “is irrelevant to the solvency of the pension scheme.”

Instead, Holcombe and others who spoke on behalf of the business coalition, said lawmakers next year should convert the FRS and the dozens of municipal pension plans around the state into investment funds.

Just as Scott used questions of FRS solvency to push for reform, analysts are again raising doubts about whether city plans will have enough cash for beneficiaries.

“I think the Legislature needs to do that and bring (them) under control,” Holcombe said.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, viewed the Osama bin Laden death photos early this afternoon and said there should be “no doubt” that the U.S. killed the Islamic terrorist mastermind in Pakistan this month.

Nelson supports President Obama‘s decision not to make the photos public, but says they should be released “as early as it can be determined that doing so won’t expose Americans to harm.”

A parade of Senators and House members on committees that oversee intelligence and the military have been making the trek to CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., this week to view the photos. U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, inspected them and offered his thoughts earlier today.

Read Nelson’s complete statement after the jump…

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Former Arkansas Gov. and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has endorsed state Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, in Florida’s 2012 GOP Senate primary.

Haridopolos was an early Huckabee supporter during the 2008 campaign.

The backing of the former Baptist minister should help Haridopolos with the important social conservative segment of the Republican primary electorate.

Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner are also vying for the right to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

Read the statement from the Haridopolos campaign after the jump….

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U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, spent about 20 minutes this morning viewing photos of Osama bin Laden’s dead body.

“They’re pretty graphic. He’s definitely dead,” said Rooney, who also called the images “extremely gory.”

President Obama has decided not to release the death photos to the general public. But Rooney and other members of the House and Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees were invited to view the images at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.

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U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, are scheduled to visit CIA headquarters today to view photos of Osama bin Laden‘s body taken after the May 1 Navy SEAL raid of the Islamist terrorist’s in-plain-sight Pakistani hideout.

Sen. Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, turned down invitations to view the bin Laden death photos.

Select members of Congress have been invited to view the photos, which President Obama has decided to keep from general public release.

Nelson, Rubio and Rooney are members of the Intelligence Committees in their respective chambers. West is on the House Armed Services Committee.

Add elections advocates Wednesday to a growing roster of organizations urging Republican Gov. Rick Scott to wield his veto pen.

Environmentalists have already weighed-in, asking the first-year governor to turn back four bills affecting water management districts, conservation rules, wetland regulation and growth management.

Now, several voter groups are demanding that Scott veto the legislation (CS/HB 1355) pushed by ruling Republicans over Democratic objections. Republican lawmakers said the tougher standards the measure would set on those seeking to cast ballots in precincts where they are not registered,  and organizations that register voters, is designed to stamp out fraud.

Democrats and their allies said the measure is aimed at diminishing Democratic turnout.

Those calling for a Scott veto include groups not normally among the first the governor turns to for counsel: the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSMCE), the American Civil Liberties Union, Progress Florida, and the Florida AFL-CIO.

“These provisions needlessly infringe the voting rights of Floridians, particularly those among historically disenfranchised communities, including elderly, low-income voters, students and voters of color,” the group’s letter said.   “Instead of fixing real problems—such as expanding access to early voting —they would disenfranchise eligible Floridians, for no legitimate reason.”

Republican Senate rivals George LeMieux and Adam Hasner have both released new web videos this week that have a general-election, pre-Abbottabad feel to them.

Neither video alludes to other GOP primary candidates (state Senate Prez Mike Haridopolos is also seeking the Republican nomination).

Both the LeMieux and Hasner videos take aim at Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and feature pictures of Nelson appearing chummy with President Obama. That might not be such a bad thing for Nelson if the general election were today. Obama’s approval ratings have climbed since the SEAL Team 6 rubout of Osama bin Laden, but the president remains a popular foil for Republican primary candidates.

A LeMieux video released today blasts “career politician” Nelson on health care, immigration and earmarks. It features a still shot of Obama and a smiling Nelson in a semi-hug reminiscent of the Obama-Charlie Crist stimulus embrace that helped Marco Rubio drive Crist out of the GOP.

Hasner released a video attacking the national debt with unflattering images of Senate Democrats Harry Reid, Charles Schumer and Dick Durbin, a shot of Chairman Mao (because China holds much of the U.S. debt) and a photo of Obama and Nelson yukking it up together.

A committee that boosted former Democratic state Rep. Kevin Rader‘s unsuccessful 2010 bid for state Senate is facing a $15,250 fine for failing to file a campaign finance report just before last year’s Aug. 24 primary.

The Florida Elections Commission approved the fine Tuesday against the Committee to Improve Florida’s Economy. The committee plans to appeal the fine, attorney Mark Herron said this morning.

The committee is chaired by veteran Democratic operative Eric Johnson. Johnson was also Rader’s consultant last year.

While the committee was two months late filing a report that was due Aug. 20, Herron argued that a “significant portion” of the information required on the report had been mistakenly included in a previous report that was available for public inspection on the Division of Elections website.

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An interesting moment at today’s “Awake the State” bashing of Gov. Rick Scott and the GOP in West Delray came when two members of the socialist Workers International Industrial Union positioned themselves behind state Rep. Irving Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, with a “no solution under capitalism” banner.

Slosberg, a retired businessman who listed a $7.7 million net worth last year, appeared unaware of the sign. The WIIU members moved to a less conspicuous spot after one of the event’s organizers spoke to them.

Tom Conboy, a Democratic activist emceeing the event at the South County Civic Center, announced to the crowd that the socialist slogan was “not our message.”

Read an article about the event by clicking here.

See some other scenes from today’s rally after the jump…

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Calling the recently ended Legislature the “most anti-middle class” in state history, ‘Awake the State’ organizers have lined up rallies in two-dozen cities later this afternoon.

Similar demonstrations were held when the Legislature opened in March.

 But now that lawmakers have OK’d 3 percent pay cuts for teachers, law enforcement and other government workers in the Florida Retirement System, eliminated teacher tenure, and toughened abortion and elections laws, some organizers said the crowd opposing Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-ruled Legislature is getting more diverse.

“I’ve done a lot of organizing, but I’ve never had police officers on my side until now,” said Stephanie Porta, from Orlando, an activist with Organize Now, a social justice group. “Rick Scott has been our Number 1 recruiter.”

The Palm Beach County rally is scheduled from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the South County Civic Center on Jog Road, west of Delray Beach.

Rookie Gov. Rick Scott got only a fraction of the tax cuts he proposed and didn’t win passage of an Arizona-style immigration law that was a signature issue in his 2010 GOP primary campaign.

But he’s declaring victory.

“We changed the direction of the state,” he told The Palm Beach Post Monday in one of several interviews he’s conducted since Florida’s 60-day legislative session ended early Saturday.

Read it here.

Union activists are trying to persuade liberal comedian Bill Maher to cancel or move a May 28 gig at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach because of an ongoing labor dispute there.

The stagehands union isn’t on strike, but has set up “informational pickets” at selected events. (They succeeded last fall in getting Senate candidates Charlie Crist and Kendrick Meek to skip a Forum Club of the Palm Beaches debate at the Kravis Center.)

Former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, now a Democratic candidate for the seat of Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West, crossed an informational picket line on April 20.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

Just two days before the legislative session was supposed to end, the two professions at the center of a deregulation bill started girding up for what ultimately proved to be a sine die train wreck.

The National Kitchen and Bath Association, already represented by Nick Iarossi – a rising star on the Tallahassee lobbying scene – and his associate Chris Schoonover, added seven more prominent lobbyists to its team: Sarah Bascom (already doing PR for the group), Louis Betz, Michael Corcoran, Chris Floyd, Yolanda Jackson, Ron LaFace Jr. and Gerald Wester.

On the opposite side: interior designers, the profession the Florida House wanted to deregulate to the chagrin of thousands of interior designers and universities with specialty graduate programs. Tallahassee powerhouse Ron Book and his entourage began representing the Interior Designs Association Foundation back in February. But on May 5, the foundation also enlisted the aid of some of the Capitol’s most influential lobbyists: former RPOF lobbyist Rich Heffley, Brecht Heuchan, Guy Spearman, Sean Pittman and Missy Timmins.

In the end, those latest to the game won out.

In a stunning rebuke to GOP leadership, the Senate killed the dereg bill – keeping regulation of interior designers – late Friday afternoon on what was supposed to be the session’s last day, setting off the vendetta-laden denouement to what might have otherwise been a collegial hanky drop but devolved into public remonstrations from House Speaker Dean Cannon and a bleary-eyed Senate President Mike Haridopolos in the wee hours of the morning Saturday.