For Florida voters, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson holds a place similar to the one that bassist Derek Smalls occupies in Spinal Tap.

Smalls, played by Harry Shearer in the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, described himself as “kind of like lukewarm water.”

A new poll by Democratic outfit Public Policy Polling says two-term incumbent Nelson has a 38 percent approval rating and a 31 percent disapproval score. Surprisingly for a figure who’s held one public office or another in Florida for most of the last 39 years, some 31 percent of Florida voters say they don’t have an opinion of him.

The poll shows Nelson with double-digit leads over any of the three leading Republicans vying to challenge him in 2012: Adam Hasner (Nelson leads 47-35), Mike Haridopolos (Nelson up 47-35) or George LeMieux (Nelson ahead 46-35). Each of the Republicans is unknown by at least 66 percent of voters.

Says PPP’s Tom Jensen: “That approval number in the 30s is enticing for Republicans but it’s largely because Democrats who will vote for him anyway aren’t in love with him- and when you combine that with pretty solid numbers with independents and GOP voters, it’s a formula for reelection

U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, and Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, today urged U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to intervene in a long-running dispute between the Kravis Center and a stagehands union.

The union and the West Palm Beach performing arts venue have been at odds since 2000, when center officials broke off contract talks and stopped using union stagehands. A federal appeals court in 2008 upheld two lower court rulings that the center had engaged in unfair labor practices and ordered it to return to the bargaining table. Talks broke down in January.

“As this conflict dates back over a decade, we therefore request that you please take a stand to compel the Kravis Center to change their course of conduct once and for all,” Hastings and Deutch say in a letter to Solis.

Kravis Center officials didn’t immediately respond.

Union members have not gone on strike, but have conducted “informational pickets” outside the Kravis Center from time to time. During last year’s U.S. Senate campaign, former Gov. Charlie Crist and Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek refused to cross the picket line.

Former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, who’s now a Democratic congressional candidate, and liberal comedian Bill Maher are among those who have crossed the informational pickets.

Conservative Crossroads GPS began airing ads this week in Florida and other key states blasting President Obama on unemployment, the national debt and gas prices while liberal Priorities USA Action responded with ads slamming Republicans on Medicare, spending cuts and “huge tax breaks for big oil and the wealthy.”

Gov. Rick Scott has a 59 percent disapproval rating and would lose a do-over election to Democrat Alex Sink by a 57-to-35 percent margin, Democratic firm Public Policy Polling says in a new survey.

If the 2014 gubernatorial election were held today, and if Republican-turned-independent former Gov. Charlie Crist were running as a Democrat, Crist would thump Scott by a 56-to-34 percent margin, the poll finds.

Asked if the Republican governor’s actions have made them more or less likely to vote Republican in the 2012 presidential race, 40 percent of all voters — and 45 percent of independents — said they were less likely to vote Republican next year because of Scott.

The June 16-19 poll of 848 Florida voters has a 3.4 percent margin of error.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott attended a secret, invitation-only meeting outside Vail, Colo., hosted by conservative billionaire GOP donors David and Charles Koch, the governor’s staff confirmed today.

The meeting wasn’t on Scott’s official schedule and his spokesman Lane Wright initially refused to confirm or deny whether the first-term governor would make an appearance, saying he would not “speculate as to what he has done, or will do on his personal time.”

But, after The St. Petersburg Times reported Tuesday Scott did attend the meeting, Wright confirmed that the governor was there but would not say whether Scott was in Colorado on Sunday or Monday.

“I told anybody who asked me,” Scott, in Washington, D.C., told the Times, without revealing too much about what took place.

“It was very interesting,” he told the Times. “They wanted to know basically… what am I doing in Florida.”

Scott, the self-proclaimed “jobs governor,” joined at least three other conservative Republican heads-of-state at the semi-annual meeting.

Govs. John Kasich of Ohio and Bob McDonnell of Virginia all dropped into the conference, entitled “Understanding and Addressing Threats to American Enterprise and Prosperity.” And Scott’s competitor-in-chief, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, addressed the group on Sunday, the first of the four-day meeting that wraps up Wednesday.

“The purpose of this conference is to develop support for the kind of free-market policies and initiatives that can get our country back on the path to economic prosperity and sustained job creation,” a spokeswoman for Koch Industries told The Denver Post last week.

Kansas-based Koch Industries, the second largest privately owned company in the United States, earned $100 billion in revenues in 2009, is controlled by Charles and David Koch, political activists who have donated more than $100 million to conservative GOP causes over the past three decades, according to a New Yorker profile. The pair have recently donated to tea party groups and organizations opposed to President Obama.

Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff blasted Scott for secretly leaving the state during a state of emergency he declared because of wildfires.

“For Rick Scott to secretly leave the state during a state of emergency is completely irresponsible and shows why he continues to be the least popular governor in America,” Jotkoff said.

A voter-approved “Fair Districts” amendment pushed by Democrats and approved by voters last year is supposed to take the partisan politics out of redistricting.

But U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, is apparently skeptical that the new law will end gerrymandering when new congressional boundaries are drawn next year by the GOP-controlled legislature.

As Thursday’s second-quarter fund-raising deadline approaches, Deutch is telling potential campaign contributors that “is essential that I demonstrate strong financial support as we enter the critical redistricting period where the district I am proud to represent will be re-drawn. Governor Rick Scott and his allies control the entire process for drawing new congressional districts, and Democrats without strong support will quickly find themselves targets. We cannot let this happen.”

Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann, the House Tea Party Caucus leader who kicked off her presidential campaign today in Iowa, made a well-received stop in Jupiter at a tea party gathering back in March but doesn’t appear to have much of a Florida campaign organization.

Palm Beach Town Councilman and major GOP moneyman Bill Diamond — a key Florida financier for Rudy Giuliani‘s 2008 presidential bid and recently part of the Draft Donald Trump movement — says he’s a Bachmann backer and hopes to raise money for the Minnesotan, but isn’t too clear on her campaign structure in Florida.

Bachmann’s spokeswoman is Alice Stewart, a veteran of Mike Huckabee‘s Arkansas administration and presidential campaign who worked on Rick Scott‘s primary campaign in Florida last year. Stewart said Bachmann, who’s been spending lots of time in Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina, doesn’t have any Florida trips on her schedule now.

Bachmann’s consultants include Washington-based Ed Brookover, who’s also a consultant for U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation.

In response to an information request from the liberal group Progress Florida, Brevard Community College reported last week that it had made $487.90 in royalties so far from a book it paid state Senate President and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Haridopolos $152,000 to write.

The book, Florida Legislative History and Processes, is available electronically at $9.99 a pop. Brevard Community College’s Pinar Eskicirak said last week the book had sold 70 copies, with the school getting 70 percent of proceeds.

The Florida Democratic Party piled on this morning by renewing its call for Haridopolos “to return the $152,000 he bilked from Florida’s taxpayers through his sweetheart book deal.”

Haridopolos campaign spokesman Tim Baker responded by dismissing the matter as an “old story.”

Palm Beach County Republican Chairman Sid Dinerstein weighs in on The Palm Beach Post’s opinion page today with a column that highlights the the GOP’s internal division on illegal immigration.

Dinerstein laments the GOP-controlled Florida legislature’s failure to pass an “E-Verify” bill requiring businesses to use a federal database to check on in the immigration status of workers. While Dinerstein is part of a large contingent of Republicans who favor E-Verify as a way to crack down on illegal immigrants, others in the party view the system as a government intrusion that raises costs and enlists businesses as immigration police.

The latter sentiment had enough supporters among Republican legislators to thwart the bill Dinerstein and other Republicans favored. Says Dinerstein: “From my vantage point as a Republican Party official I can truly say that our recent performance in Tallahassee on this issue did not make me proud.”

Click here to read Dinerstein’s column.

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack — who earlier this month chided state Senate President Mike Haridopolos for not supporting the Paul Ryan budget plan — is endorsing Haridopolos in the 2012 GOP primary for U.S. Senate.

Mack was considered a leading contender for the nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, but announced in March he would not seek the seat. Haridopolos is running against former appointed Sen. George LeMieux, former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Boca Raton and retired Col. Mike McCalister in the Republican primary.

Read Mack’s endorsement statement after the jump….

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Gov. Rick Scott‘s veto of legislation easing background screening for volunteers working with seniors drew heat Friday from the state’s leading advocacy organization for seniors — AARP.

“No one wants older Floridians exposed to abuse.  However, we believe the vetoed legislation struck a balance between protecting the clients of community service agencies and the capability of those agencies to provide needed services,” said Jeff Johnson, AARP’s interim director for Florida.

Scott killed SB 1992 Thursday, warning that relaxing the background screening could pose a risk to seniors.

But community organizations and senior advocates had sought the change, saying that a 2010 law revamping background checks left Meals on Wheels and other groups struggling to pay the costs of additional screening or having to ask volunteers to pay close to $45 each out of their own pocket for the check.

Johnson also ridiculed Scott for endorsing the Legislature’s decision to reduce the level of mandatory staffing at nursing homes, even as the governor contended he was watching out for seniors.

“It is odd that Gov. Scott vetoed this bill, but signed legislation that puts frail seniors more at risk — the law allowing nursing homes to reduce nursing care for the frailest of all Floridians,” Johnson said. “There is an abundance of evidence that cutting nursing-home staffing standards leads directly to serious, even tragic, health problems for nursing-home residents.”

Scott in his veto indicated he was planning to sign an executive order intended at reviewing the state’s policy for background screening. He suggested this might lead to some help for caregiving organizations facing shortfalls in both money and volunteers.

But Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, also said Scott was off-base with his veto. Pafford, who develops business partnerships for The Lord’s Place shelter in West Palm Beach, said the veto, “makes it very clear that he does not have either the information or the knowledge to make consistent decisions when it comes to executing bills passed by the Florida Legislature.”

A legislative panel rejected a federal grant that could have brought Florida $35.7 million over the next five years to help patients move from nursing homes to community care, warning it could lead to state costs lawmakers don’t want to shoulder.

The Legislative Budget Commission, a 14-member panel authorized to make mid-year budget adjustments, voted 8-6 against giving state health care officials authority to accept $2 million in federal funds to plan for the program. A majority from both the House and Senate members was needed for approval, and House members dug-in against the spending.

Some leading Republican lawmakers said the program duplicated state efforts underway and could force the Legislature to pick up the tab for costs once the grant expired.

“I realize these are federal dollars, but they’re still taxpayer dollars,” said House budget chair Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring.

House and Senate Democrats on the panel voted in favor of the grant. And even a pair of prominent Republicans, Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, and Senate Health and Human Services budget chairman Joe Negron, R-Stuart, were on the losing side, hinting they thought accepting the grant was worthwhile.

House HHS budget chief  Rob Schenck, R-Spring Hill, said Florida was already doing a good job getting nursing home patients out of costly facilities and back home or with relatives, when appropriate. Since 2009, House officials said the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration with other agencies has moved 1,900 patients to community services — and no patients who wanted to move were denied.

“It’s unnecessary, duplicative, and when you couple that with an estimated $6 million in administrative costs for the program…I would argue that it’s always dangerous to accept federal money,” Schenck said.

Florida is one of 13 states awarded what the federal government called a demonstration grant for the program. The money comes from Congress’ federal health care overhaul, which the state is suing to have overturned. The House earlier this year blocked Senate efforts to include funding to launch the program in the state budget.

A shuffle at the highest reaches of state government began Friday, with Gov. Rick Scott naming a veteran legislative insider as his chief-of-staff and Senate President Mike Haridopolos also choosing a well-known Capitol name to manage his office.

As expected, Scott chose Steve MacNamara to succeed retired Army Col. Mike Prendergast as his chief-of-staff, plucking MacNamara from Haridopolos’ office, where he served in a similar capacity. Prendergast, who had been working for the first time in state government, earlier this week was named executive director of Florida’s Veterans’ Affairs Department.

MacNamara, though, brings to the governor’s office a wealth of Capitol experience. With polls showing the governor’s popularity at a stunningly low levels and the state’s economy still sluggish, MacNamara will likely be tasked with initiating policies that help Scott elevate his political game — and support from Floridians.

“My goal is to make Florida the number one state in the country for job creation and I believe Steve MacNamara is the best choice to direct my team in that endeavor,” Scott said.  “His experience and political skill will be an asset to all Floridians as we continue to position Florida as an economic leader.”

MacNamara is a former chief-of-staff to then-House Speaker John Thrasher, and served as an agency head under former Republican Gov. Bob Martinez. He also earlier served as a Senate staffer on redistricting — the once-a-deacade process lawmakers began again this month — and is a tenured professor at Florida State University.

Succeeding MacNamara in Haridopolos’ office is Craig Meyer, another longtime Capitol staffer who, most recently, was director of the Senate’s budget committee as it worked to offset a nearly $3.8 billion budget shortfall.

Scott’s office lost two key players this week, with adviser Mary Anne Carter also announcing she was leaving the administration by the end of June.  It’s uncertain whether Carter’s position will be filled, but other changes could be coming within the executive office and Senate president’s shop.

 

Gov. Rick Scott cleared another milestone as chief executive Thursday – vetoing his first bill passed by the Legislature since whacking a record $615 million from the state budget last month.

Scott has been remarkably supportive of the Legislature’s actions, signing about 150 bills without a single veto. But Thursday he rejected a measure (SB 1992) that would have eased criminal background-screening requirements for volunteers working with seniors.

Scott said eliminating such oversight posed a threat to vulnerable older Floridians.

“That is a risk not worth taking,” Scott said in his veto letter.

The legislation had been pushed by Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Brandon, and a pair of Senate committees as a cost-saving move. Supporters said a 2010 law revamping background checks requires even volunteers to undergo screening and fingerprinting – which can cost close to $45 per-person.

Republican Sen. Thad Altman, who unsuccessfully sued Gov. Rick Scott for killing the state’s high-speed rail project, swiped at his fellow Republican again Thursday — this time over legislation making 655,000 government employees contribute 3 percent of their pay to the Florida Retirement System.

Altman, R-Viera, represents Brevard County and other parts of Florida’s Space Coast, hard-hit by job losses stemming from the federal government’s closure of the Space Shuttle program. The Florida Education Association and other big labor unions sued Scott in Leon County Circuit Court this week to overturn the FRS overhaul (SB 2100).

Scott praised the legislation in a Thursday ceremonial signing in Orlando, saying it is helping modernize Florida’s pension system.

Altman, though sided with public employees in ridiculing the measure as a tax.

“It is important for government to operate efficiently and effectively,” Altman said.  “These individuals protect our quality of life, personal freedoms and insure a bright future for our children; they deserve more.

“This legislation not only hurts public employees, but is detrimental to all the citizens of Florida,” Altman said.

With approval ratings scraping bottom and his name a virtual laugh line for Democrats, Gov. Rick Scott is retooling his leadership team, with a pair of top aides departing and a veteran government insider expected to join the administration.

Scott Chief-of-Staff Mike Prendergast, a retired Army colonel, was officially moved Wednesday to executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs, taking with him his $150,000 salary and becoming one of the governor’s best-paid agency heads.

The move came a day after Mary Anne Carter, a top Scott adviser, announced she will leave at the end of the month. Carter guided Scott’s campaign last summer, helping the former health care executive win his first run for elected office — powered by spending $73 million of his own cash.

Meanwhile, Senate President Mike Haridopolos’ chief-of-staff, Steve MacNamara, is considered a likely successor to Prendergast. MacNamara served in a similar role in the House, led a state agency and is a tenured professor at Florida State University.

“Steve is a master of the business of politics and policy,” said Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, in line to become Senate president next year. “He would be a real asset to this governor.”

While high-profile staff changes are not unusual, Scott’s recent predecessors, former Govs. Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush, managed to get through at least the first year without an overhaul.

Scott, who will reach his six-month mark in office July 4, may feel some urgency to re-pivot because of recent polls.

Full story, here:   http://bit.ly/mCfRoz

South Florida Tea Party Chairman Everett Wilkinson is relaying word that Donald Trump will pay more than $6,000 that Boca Raton says it is owed for police officers and barriers that were deployed for an April South Florida Tea Party rally that Trump keynoted.

Wilkinson questioned the charges said his group didn’t have the money in its coffers to cover them.

“We’re working on paying it,” Wilkinson said earlier this month. “We don’t have the money right now, but we’re good at paying our bills.”

Here’s a statement from Trump adviser Michael Cohen as reported in Politico:

“An unexpectedly large number of citizens peaceably assembled at the Boca Tea party event, hosted by Everett Wilkinson, that drew a crowd in excess of 5000 people. Mr. Trump is honored that so many people came to hear him speak on important political and social issues. Mr. Trump does not want any citizen group to be disparaged or burdened for exercising their first amendment right and has agreed to personally cover the full obligation to the City of Boca Raton.”

The state Commission on Ethics found probable cause that Republican Adam Hasner, a candidate for U.S. Senate, violated state ethics laws by failing to file his 2010 financial disclosure form in a timely fashion.

The ruling came Friday in the closed-door section of the Ethics Commision’s hearing. It was made public Wednesday by the panel.

Hasner, a former House majority leader from Delray Beach, joins fellow Senate contender Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, in running afoul of the commission. Haridopolos was admonished earlier this year by the Florida Senate he leads for failing to properly disclose all his assets over a five-year period.

Rick Wilson, a Hasner spokesman, acknowledged the lawmaker’s 2010 disclosure didn’t make it to the commission within 60 days of leaving office, as required by law. Wilson said Hasner’s finances didn’t change between 2009 and 2010, but that the campaign is now working with the panel in resolving the issue.

“We expected the commission’s finding, since Adam never disputed that he was a few weeks late on filing a form he didn’t know he needed to file and for which he did not receive a mailed notice,” Wilson said.

 

Gov. Rick Scott’s chief-of-staff, Mike Prendergast, was slid Wednesday into the post of executive director of the state’s Veterans Affairs Department, bringing with him his $150,000 salary.

Scott and the Cabinet approved the move during a teleconference that had Prendergast’s reassignment as the lone agenda item.

“I absolutely think it was a ‘mission accomplished’ opportunity,” Prendergast said. “The governor needed a chief-of-staff to come in and help him out as he transitioned, went from the inauguration, got through a great first session as a freshman governor. We learned a heckuva lot. We put a lot of systems in place. Now we’re ready to take our game up to the next level…”

Any missteps?

“I really don’t think so. I think we learned a lot, as you would expect to learn whenever you bring a great team of world class assets in, like the governor did, without a lot of insider status. We brought in some of the tactics, techniques and procedures that we learned in the private sector,” Prendergast said.

Prendergast’s successor hasn’t been named. But all indications are it will be Steve MacNamara, Senate President Mike Haridopolos’ chief-of-staff, and a veteran of state government.

A congressional ethics office is looking into the sexual harassment allegations that were leveled against U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, in a March lawsuit, The Wall Street Journal is reporting.

Hastings has vehemently denied the claims by Winsome Packer, a staffer on the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Hastings is a member of the commission and a former chairman. Packer is being represented by attorneys from the conservative group Judicial Watch.

The Wall Street Journal report says the independent Office of Congressional Ethics has launched a “preliminary” investigation of the allegations. The office has 90 days to recommend whether the House Ethics Committee should look into the matter.