Gov. Rick Scott and 28 other Republican governors added their names Monday to a letter urging congressional leaders to give states more authority to craft their own health insurance program for low-income, disabled and elderly residents.

The governors said the first step toward revamping Medicaid is to repeal the health care overhaul approved by Congress at the urging of President Obama. The same states are among those suing in federal court to overturn the 2010 measure, which the governors say will only add to rising costs.

 ”States should not have to seek waivers to manage their unique programs,” the governors wrote. “We must reassess and focus our efforts on reshaping how health care is delivered through innovation, creativity and responsibility –all demonstrated capabilities of states.

“ We must bring the antiquated Medicaid program into the 21st century and secure the program’s long-term integrity,” they added.

Although by adding his name to the list of GOP governors, Scott is deriding the need to gain federal approval, Florida plans to submit an application by Aug. 1 for just such permission. The Legislature this spring passed a Medicaid overhaul that will steer almost 3 million Floridians into managed care programs, beginning in 2013.

A public hearing on the Medicaid rewrite is scheduled from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday in West Palm Beach at the Hilton Palm Beach Airport hotel, 150 Australian Ave.

Gov. Rick Scott erased some of the last vestiges of his predecessor on the board of  Enterprise Florida, removing a pair of former Gov. Charlie Crist’s big fund-raisers and replacing them with two advisers of his own.

Gone are Marty Fiorentino, a Jacksonville fund-raiser, and Scott Peelen, a financial manager from Winter Park, who was among the few Republican rainmakers who stuck by Crist during his failed, independent run for U.S. Senate.

Fiorentino and Peelen were both appointed from the Crist bunker to Enterprise Florida, being named to three-year terms only eight days before Scott was sworn in.

Replacing them are Chris Kise, a lawyer who worked for Crist, but who lately helped direct Scott’s transition team. Joining Kise on those directing the public-private agency charged with selling Florida to national and world business leaders is Adam Hollingsworth, chief-of-staff to outgoing Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton.

Kise and Hollingsworth were named to the unpaid posts for terms that expire July 1, 2014.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam today endorsed state Senate President Mike Haridopolos in the GOP Senate primary, calling him “the conservative who can win this race” against Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in November 2012.

Putnam, a former member of Congress and a potential candidate for governor in the future, is the second cabinet member to back Haridopolos. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach is also backing the Senate president over former state Houses Majority Leader Adam Hasner and former appointed Sen. George LeMieux.

Read Putnam’s statement after the jump….

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Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam did the eenie-meenie-miney thing Monday with the three Republican contenders for U.S. Senate — choosing Senate President Mike Haridopolos as his favorite for taking on Democrat Bill Nelson next year.

“As a former congressman and state legislator, I know that Mike Haridopolos has what it takes to tackle the debt and spending problems in Washington because he has a record of accomplishment in Florida when it comes to balancing budgets and restraining government spending,” Putnam said.

Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, is battling former short-term U.S. Sen. George LeMieux of Fort Lauderdale and former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Delray Beach for the GOP nomination, in a contest that so far is marked mostly by fund-raising and endorsement announcements.

Putnam, elected agriculture commissioner last fall, is from a prominent Polk County ranching family, and could bring help Haridopolos open some contributors’ doors in the agri-business community.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who visits Florida Tuesday and Wednesday for a series of fund-raisers, released a video today taking a shot at President Obama‘s recent remark that “there are always bumps on the road to recovery.”

Obama made the statement the same day new unemployment statistics showed the nation’s jobless rate had ticked upward from 9 percent in April to 9.1 percent in May.

Obama is in North Carolina today to talk about jobs and the economy before heading to Miami for three fund-raisers this evening.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney defended the “bumps” remark while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One today.

Read the transcript after the jump…

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Term-limited state Sen. Mike Bennett abruptly ended his bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor on Monday, blaming a “fire in the belly” problem and frustration with spending most of his time fund-raising.

Bennett, 66, a Bradenton Republican who doesn’t live in Castor’s Tampa-area district, announced his candidacy late last month.

 At the time, Bennett said he was prepared to move to challenge the Democratic incumbent if redistricting next year didn’t tuck him into the boundaries served by Castor.

On Monday, Bennett called it quits. 

“In all honesty, I quickly realized that the ‘fire’ I was feeling was heartburn over constant fundraising, travel and the other demands of running for federal office. Traveling the world and fishing are candidly things I’m looking forward to catching up on when my term in the Florida Senate comes to an end,” Bennett said.

Gov. Rick Scott touts how Florida’s unemployment rate has dropped since he took office in January, to where April’s latest reading puts it at 10.8 percent — the state’s lowest jobless level in two years.

But a report issued Monday by the Washington, D.C., research organization, Employment Policies Institute, paints a dark picture for teen-age employment in Florida, putting the Sunshine State in the top 10 for out-of-work youth.

 About 29 percent of Florida teens can’t find jobs — 5 percent higher than the national average, EPI said.

“Teens are missing out on summer jobs where they can learn valuable skills not taught in the classroom,” said Michael Saltsman, an EPI research fellow. “If policymakers at the state and federal level want to avoid a perpetual summer employment crisis for young adults, they should consider policies that create jobs—not destroy them.”

EPI blames the teen-age jobless levels on the rising minimum wage. In Florida, that went up 6 cents on June 1 to $7.31/hour.

For his part, Scott is no fan of the minimum wage. Legislation (HB 1425) pushed by Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne, would have changed the way the state calculates the standard, but the measure failed to win approval.

The June 1 increase came only after it was ordered by a Leon County judge. Workers and groups representing low-wage employees claimed Florida’s Agency for Workforce Innovation violated the state constitution by keeping minimum wage at the $7.25 federal rate, where it was last year, instead of raising it to account for inflation.

 Voters passed an amendment in 2004 that increases the state minimum wage with inflation.

With the city of Boca Raton saying the South Florida Tea Party owes more than $6,000 for police and barricades used at an April Donald Trump rally, South Florida Tea Party Chairman Everett Wilkinson says his group is seeking clarification for some of the charges and will come up with whatever it owes.

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

Read about it in this week’s Politics column (second item).

“The Legislature finds it is in the best interest of the state to document, to the greatest extent practicable, greenhouse gas emissions and to pursue a market-based emissions abatement program, such as cap and trade, to address greenhouse gas emissions reductions.”

That language was part of a 2008 energy bill co-sponsored by former House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, and signed by former Gov. and former Republican Charlie Crist. Hasner’s office touted the legislation at the time as “responsibly addressing global climate change and anticipated national cap and trade legislation.”

Cap-and-trade is now disparaged as “cap-and-tax” by conservatives, so in his Republican U.S. Senate primary against Mike Haridopolos and George LeMieux, Hasner’s camp says the 2008 legislation actually gutted Crist’s cap-and-trade ambitions.

Find the reason for the explanation in this week’s Politics column.

HOLLYWOOD — Seeking to rebound from November’s historic drubbing, Florida Democratic Chairman Rod Smith laid out a “transformation plan” this weekend as more than 1,000 Democrats gathered for the party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson fund-raising dinner.

The plan calls for boosting money-raising, improving candidate recruitment and strengthening local Democratic organizations.

And while the 2012 elections will probably depend on what voters think of President Obama, there’s much talk among Democratic activists at the Westin Diplomat Hotel about capitalizing on the dismal approval ratings of Republican Gov. Rick Scott.

Read about it here.

HOLLYWOOD — Ending a week of silence on the matter, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston today called on crotch-photographing U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., to resign.

Here’s her statement, just released by the DNC:

“It is with great disappointment that I call on Representative Anthony Weiner to resign. The behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Representative Weiner’s continued service in Congress is untenable. This sordid affair has become an unacceptable distraction for Representative Weiner, his family, his constituents and the House – and for the good of all, he should step aside and address those things that should be most important – his and his family’s well-being.”

Wasserman Schultz called the controversy over Weiner’s use of his Twitter account a “personal matter” before Weiner admitted sending a lewd photo to a 21-year-old college student. After Weiner’s admission, Wasserman Schultz was silent on the matter aside from a spokesman’s statement that she agreed with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s call for an ethics investigation.

Pelosi today also called on Weiner to resign.

Wasserman Schultz is expected to speak here later today at the Florida Democratic Party’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner.

The state’s plan to steer almost 3 million low-income, elderly and disabled Floridians into managed care health coverage drew wide-ranging criticism Friday in the first of a series of public hearings on the proposed overhaul.

About 250 people jammed a hearing room at the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration, warning the new law could force independent pharmacies to close, undermine care for some of the frailest Floridians, and lead some families to avoid treatment rather than pay required $10-a-month co-payments.

The legislation (CS/HB 7107, 7109) was signed into law last week by Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican who earned millions of dollars as a health care executive before his election.

The new standard builds on the HMO-styled plans introduced for Medicaid patients in Broward, Baker, Clay, Nassau and Duval counties, beginning in 2006, but which have drawn poor to mixed reviews from policy analysts.

“We think it’s extraordinarily premature to expand this program,” Anne Swerlick, a deputy director for Florida Legal Services, told AHCA officials Friday.

Republican Presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney, who will visit Florida next week for a series of private fund-raising events, will not participate in the state GOP’s “Presidency 5″ straw poll in September but is expected to appear in the event’s nationally televised debate from Orlando.

Republican Party of Florida Executive Director Andy Palmer called Romney’s decision “unfortunate.”

Romney will also skip the much-watched Ames straw poll in Iowa this summer.

“Our campaign has made the decision to not participate in any straw polls, whether it’s in Florida, Iowa, Michigan or someplace else,” Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades said. “We respect the straw poll process. In the last presidential campaign we were both strengthened as an organization and learned some important lessons by participating in them. This time we will focus our energies and resources on winning primaries and caucuses. We look forward to bringing Mitt Romney’s strong pro-jobs message to every part of the country.”

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BOCA RATON — U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, has added a new slide to his town hall presentation highlighting “Inaction From The White House” and showing pictures of President Obama relaxing with his feet on a desk and golfing on the White House lawn with Vice President Joe Biden.

The freshman conservative firebrand has been mentioned by some tea party faithful and by Glenn Beck as a potential 2012 presidential candidate. But when the question was posed by an audience member at Lynn University Thursday night, West said — again — that he’s not running and is focused on his own tough House reelection bid.

“Don’t rush me into something before I am really ready,” West said. “I don’t want to be a cult of personality. I don’t want to be an American-Idol type candidate.” He declined to name a favorite GOP presidential candidate, but said the party “cannot continue to believe in leadership by entitlement” in selecting a nominee.

In his first nationally televised interview since stepping down from Congress in disgrace five years ago, Mark Foley advised Democratic New York Rep. Anthony Weiner he should consider doing the same.

“In my heart, you cannot fix this from inside that building,” Foley, a Palm Beach County Republican, told FoxNews television host Sean Hannity Thursday night.

Foley spoke candidly with Hannity in a 20-minute interview scheduled prior to the “Weinergate” scandal in which Weiner first claimed his Twitter account had been hacked but later tearfully admitted he had sent inappropriate photos and messages himself.

“You cannot fix your problem. Whatever it is that’s troubling him. Beautiful wife, wonderful family, a great constituency. Obviously wasn’t enough for either one of us. He’s not going to get better going back into the building and hope people give him a pass,” Foley said.

Weiner refuses to step down despite growing demands for his resignation, including from fellow Democrats, since the brash New York Democrat’s public confession Monday that he had sent lewd messages and photographs to six women over the past three years. Weiner last fall was the keynote speaker for Palm Beach County Democrats’ annual fund-raising dinner.

“I know what he’s going through from the feeling of remorse because there’s no question you feel terrible,” said Foley, who was forced to resign in 2006 over sexually charged text messages he sent to teenage males who had worked in the congressional page program.

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BOCA RATON — U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, preparing for a town hall meeting tonight at Lynn University, says crotch-tweeting U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., should step down.

“His behavior is definitely unacceptable for me and I think that for the integrity and character of the United States House of Representatives he should probably not be there Monday when we return back, but that’s his decision,” West said.