Voting rights groups and two Democratic state lawmakers asked a federal court to stop a sweeping new elections law from being implemented until it gets clearance from the Obama administration.
The ACLU and Washington-based Project Vote filed the lawsuit on behalf of state Sen. Arthenia Joyner and Rep. Janet Cruz, both Tampa Democrats, and other voters seeking an injunction of HB 1355, signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott on May 18. The law became effective immediately, and Secretary of State Kurt Browning, a Scott appointee, the following day issued a directive to the state’s 67 elections supervisors telling them to begin implementing the changes.
Opponents of the controversial new law claim it is aimed at suppressing Democratic voter turnout in the 2012 presidential election. Both parties consider Florida, a swing state that elected President Obama in 2008, crucial for victory next November.
The suit filed today asks a federal judge to block the law from going into effect for all 67 counties while the U.S. Department of Justice reviews the changes in five counties – Hillsborough, Collier, Monroe, Hardee and Hendry- subject to federal preclearance.
Lawyers for the groups say the Florida cannot go into effect anywhere in the state until the preclearance is approved because election laws are required to be uniform throughout the state.
“We believe the laws, rules and related cases are clear – Florida cannot implement the new law anywhere in the state until the Justice Department conducts a review or until the DC federal court approves the changes,” said Laughlin McDonald, Voting Rights Project Director of the ACLU. “That review is needed and until it happens, we’re asking the court to stop this law from moving forward.”
Gov. Rick Scott has signed into law pill mill bill banning doctors from dispensing most narcotics, tracking wholesale distribution of most highly addictive pain medications and keeping intact the state’s prescription drug database.
Scott says the new law will be a model for the nation.
“I am proud to sign this bill which cracks down on the criminal abuse of prescription drugs,” Scott, on a three-city ceremonial bill signing tour today, said in a statement. “This legislation will save lives in our state and it marks the beginning of the end of Florida’s infamous role as the nation’s Pill Mill Capital.”
Lawmakers approved HB 7095 after a contentious struggle over the future of the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program, a yet-to-be-implemented database aimed at cracking down on “doctor-shopping” and illicit prescription drug sales.
Attorney General Pam Bondi was instrumental in bringing House and Senate GOP leaders together on the final deal, passed in the final days of the legislative session that ended last month.
Broward County U.S. Rep. and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz says the crotch-shot controversy surrounding lawyered-up Democratic New York Rep. and Twitter enthusiast Anthony Weiner is a “personal matter.”
In fact, Wasserman Schultz used the phrase five times in just under a minute in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
Read the Blitzer/Wasserman Schultz transcript after the jump…
Gov. Rick Scott signed into law 48 bills Thursday, including measures that would add new muscle to Palm Beach County’s obscure Lake Worth Drainage District, overhaul Florida’s $22 billion Medicaid program, and sharply reduce state growth management laws.
The Lake Worth law (HB 741) was sponsored by first-year Rep. Lori Berman, D-Delray Beach, and gives the drainage district authority to issue taxpayer-backed bonds to pay for canal improvements and construction of a 25-billion-gallon reservoir in western Palm Beach County to hold stormwater.
The water would then be treated and moved through existing canals to South Florida’s thirsty shoreline communities from Wellington to Fort Lauderdale.
Supporters have touted the project as a common sense solution to the region’s environmental and growth management problems. But Scott’s office earlier raised questions about taxpayer liability stemming from the plan, called the C-51 Reservoir Project.
The Lake Worth Drainage District was created 96 years ago to provide water control and supply from Okeechobee Boulevard south to Broward. The district has historically been limited to weed control, maintaining canal banks, monitoring water levels and issuing permits.
But as owner and operator of a reservoir that helps quench South Florida cities and shapes development, while negotiating contracts with other utilities, the district would emerge as a major player in the region’s water management. (more…)
Only a day after suing Gov. Rick Scott over his executive order requiring drug testing of state employees, the ACLU looked poised Thursday to fire another legal challenge his way — this time over the state’s new elections law.
A pair of Tampa Democrats, Sen. Arthenia Joyner and Rep. Janet Cruz are expected to join ACLU executive director Howard Simon and others Friday in announcing the latest effort, aimed at slowing down the implementation of HB 1355.
The legislation has been criticized by Democrats in Florida and across the nation for imposing tough standards on voter registration organizations, while making it more difficult for voters to cast ballots after they move from one county to another.
Scott, meanwhile, said he is confident the ACLU’s challenge to his ordering random drug testing of state workers.
“It’s common sense,” Scott said. “The private sector does it. They do it to make sure they have a productive workforce. So we should be doing it at the state. It makes all the sense in the world. It’s constitutional.”
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Cape Coral, told MSNBC today he doesn’t think much of state Senate President Mike Haridopolos‘ opposition to Paul Ryan‘s budget plan and its controversial Medicare component.
“I think it’s important that Republicans join together and support Ryan’s plan,” said Mack, who passed up a 2012 U.S. Senate bid and hasn’t endorsed a candidate in the GOP primary between Haridopolos, Adam Hasner and George LeMieux. “I’ll tell you why: if we fail to act, then the program goes bankrupt. So those who are choosing not to support either this plan or another plan are choosing to let Medicare go bankrupt.”
Asked by MSNBC’s Chuck Todd if he thinks it was a “mistake” for Haridopolos to oppose the plan in a GOP primary, Mack said “I do.”
Haridopolos avoided taking a position on the Ryan budget and got smacked down for it by a conservative talk radio host, then released a statement late Wednesday applauding Ryan but saying his plan “must be amended to provided greater protections for seniors.”
Haridopolos spokesman Tim Baker later clarified that Haridopolos would have voted against the unamended Ryan budget if he had been in the U.S. Senate. Said Baker: “If it’s yes or no to the current language, it’s a No.”
Rick Scott’sbudget-signing last week continues to draw controversy amid reports that governor’s aides got Sumter County Sheriff’s deputies to chase off two dozen Democratic protestors.
Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, wrote Scott on Thursday seeking answers to what took place at the signing. He asked Scott to explain whether the governor considered the signing a public event, which state employees attended and if their travel was paid for by taxpayers, along with whether protestors were removed at the governor’s request.
Pafford said in his letter that a public records search might reveal the sources. But, he told Scott, for now he’s just asking — and holding back on a Chapter 119.07 request.
UPDATE: Scott said he wasn’t aware of the actions by the Sumter County deputies, saying the exchange occured “before I got there.
“Yeah, I’ll clearly look into it,” Scott said.
When pressed about why he had not yet taken steps, Scott said his recent schedule has been consuming.
“I’m not exactly sure exactly what happened,” Scott said. “I know people said certain things happened before I got there. But I haven’t had time, I’ve been traveling. And I’ve got the trade mission to Canada next week. Clearly, we’ll look into it. I’d have to understand all the facts to give you an answer.”
Although Palm Beach County often seems to end up as ground zero for weird, puzzling and too-close-to-call episodes in Florida election history, state lawmakers aren’t giving the county much love in a 26-city redistricting tour.
Legislative redistricting committees are holding only one public hearing in Palm Beach County this summer. The 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. event will be held Aug. 16 at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
The night before, Aug. 15, members of the public can vent about House, Senate and congressional district boundaries at a 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., hearing at Stuart’s Blake Library. On the same day as the FAU hearing, the redistricting committees will hold an evening public hearing from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., in Davie at the Broward College gym.
Palm Beach County districts are likely to undergo some big changes with the once-a-decade redistricting, which lawmakers will begin in January.
Among the boundaries expected to change significantly are the five-county Senate District 27, now held by Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Wellington, and another sure-to-be battleground — the Broward-Palm Beach county congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fort Lauderdale.
Lawyers representing members of the Florida chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians and the American College of Physicians asked Scott to veto the measure (HB 155) because they say it restricts their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.
“Healthcare professionals throughout the state of Florida routinely speak with patients about effective methods to minimize a variety of risks to their health and safety,” attorneys Bruce Manheim Jr. and Douglas Hallward-Driemeier of the Washington-based law firm Ropes & Gray wrote to Scott last week. Scott has until June 9 to act on the law.
Doctors advise patients about safety issues associated with swimming pools, dangerous chemicals, bike helmets and car seats, they wrote, and “provide anticipatory guidance regarding the significant health risks posed by firearms in the household.”
The bill would prohibit those talks and impose severe sanctions including fines and permanent revocation of licenses.
“In sum, if CS/CS/HB 155 becomes law, it will deprive healthcare professionals throughout the state of Florida of their rights under the First Amendment to freedom of speech. In violation of the U.S. Constitution, the law would also deprive patients of potentially life-saving information regarding safety measures they can take to protect their children, families and others from injury or death resulting from unsafe storage or handling of firearms,” the lawyers wrote. “For these reasons, we intend to file a lawsuit against you and other state officials in the event this legislation becomes law.”
The NRA sent out an action alert last week asking members to pressure Scott to sign the measure.
“Doctors need to treat illness, not guns. Pediatricians and other physicians, in growing numbers, are prying into our personal lives, invading our privacy and straying from issues relating to disease and medicine by questioning children or their parents about gun ownership,” the NRA’s Florida lobbyist Marion Hammer, a former NRA president, urged in an e-mail on May 26.
New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner — the keynote speaker at last fall’s Palm Beach County Democratic Party fund-raising dinner — abandoned Tuesday’s disastrous media strategy and conducted a round of interviews Wednesday to discuss the infamous underwear shot that showed up briefly on his Twitter account over the weekend.
Weiner told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he didn’t send the photo, which was addressed to a 21-year-old woman the married congressman was following on Twitter. But Weiner said he “can’t say with certitude” whether the image was of his own crotch.
His answer “ranks somewhere below ‘no controlling legal authority’ and above ‘wide stance,’ ” Democratic crisis-management specialist Chris LeHanetold The Washington Post.
Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith suspended Leon County State Committeeman Jon Ausman through next year’s presidential contest, but stopped short Wednesday of following a party panel’s recommendation that he be tossed off the executive committee.
Ausman has been under fire for taking sides in party primary contests in Leon County and also for backing Jeff Greene, who paid for his campaign work, over Kendrick Meek in last summer’s Democratic U.S. Senate contest.
A party disciplinary committee voted 5-1 May 2 to recommend Ausman’s removal for “conduct of such an outrageous nature as to violate the understood professional standards of our party.”
But Smith, in his ruling, seemed to look for a middle ground.
Instead, Smith ordered that Ausman be suspended from party activities until Dec. 1, 2012, although he would “entertain a petition for reinstatement,” after June 1.
“In support of my decision to mitigate, I have considered the best interests of the FDP and I find that a permanent removal should be avoided if a lesser penalty will send a sufficient message to the offender and deter such conduct in the future,” Smith wrote.
Ausman has been a Democratic activist for more than 30 years, holding a number of leadership posts within the party.
He also has an encyclopedic understanding of party rules — a skill he has used frequently in past party battles, including the 2008 delegate fight stemming from Florida’s presidential primary that violated national party rules.
Asked whether he would accept the suspension — and a Smith olive branch, Ausman said, “I’m thinking about it. I will probably do a press conference soon.”
Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, remembered for once dubbing Republican Connie Mack an “idealogical wacko,” wouldn’t take the bait Wednesday from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, who asked if Republican Gov. Rick Scott was pursuing a radical right-wing agenda.
“I don’t know what that means,” Graham said on Hardball. But he added, “He’s out of the mainstream.”
Graham and fellow Democrat, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, teamed up to criticize the Republican leadership of their states, both of which are seen as pivotal to winning the White House in 2012.
Strickland said Republican Gov. John Kasich, who defeated him last fall, was drawing low popularity ratings among Ohio voters because he’s pushing “an agenda they perceive as extreme.”
Graham said Scott, whose poll numbers also are scraping bottom, wasn’t focusing on what people want: jobs. Instead, Graham added, “These governors have gotten off to a really bizarre agenda.”
Gov. Rick Scott is willing to take the fight over drug testing state workers all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, his spokeswoman said today in response to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU.
The civil rights organization filed the lawsuit challenging Scott’s executive order mandating drug testing of all state workers, arguing it is a violation of the constitution’s protection from unreasonable searches by government.
“The Governor is confident the courts will see that this policy makes sense and is legally sound, and he’ll take the law suit to the Supreme Court if that’s what it takes to implement a common sense policy that is appropriate and fair to tax payers. If it makes good business sense for private sector companies to drug test their employees, why wouldn’t it make good business sense for the state?” Scott spokeswoman Amy Graham said in an e-mail.
Senate President Mike Haridopolos took a stand on U.S. House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget but stopped short of an outright endorsement after being kicked off a conservative talk show yesterday.
Haridopolos, running in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, got hammered by opponents in the blogosphere and on Twitter for refusing to give a straight-up “yes” or “no” on the Ryan budget.
Hounded by a conservative talk radio host to take a stand, Haridopolos this afternoon released a statement that applauded Ryan’s spending plan but said it “must be amended to provided (sic) greater protections for Seniors.”
The Ryan plan’s most controversial feature is a proposal to change Medicare for those now 54 and younger from a defined-benefit program to one that provides subsidies for future retirees to purchase private insurance.
Here’s Haridopolos statement:
I absolutely support the goals of the Ryan Plan to cut federal government deficit spending and applaud Rep. Ryan’s bold leadership in putting forth an intelligent and serious plan to tackle the largest issue confronting our nation. Rep. Ryan’s leadership in actually putting forth a plan to tackle the deficit is in stark contrast to the irresponsibility demonstrated by President Obama and the Democratic Senate who have failed to pass a budget for over 750 days, adding trillions to the debt during that time. While I support almost every provision of the Ryan Plan, I believe that it must be amended to provided greater protections for Seniors.
Fighting for Seniors is not new to me. One of the main reasons I fought ObamaCare, including passing Florida’s Health Care Freedom Act, is because of the devastating cuts it dealt to Seniors, cutting $500 billion from Medicare to fund ObamaCare-Welfare programs.
Again, I absolutely support the goals of the Ryan Plan and believe in almost all of the provisions to cut federal government deficit spending and address entitlements. As a candidate for the US Senate, I am the only person in this race with a proven record of reforming entitlements [Medicaid, Government Pensions, and Welfare] and a demonstrated commitment to making cuts to balance the budget in the state of Florida without increasing taxes or fees.
The ACLU is challenging in federal court Gov. Rick Scott’s executive order forcing all state workers to undergo drug testing.
The civil rights organization filed the lawsuit in federal court in Miami yesterday accusing Scott of violating the constitution’s guarantee to be free from unreasonable searches by the government. The lawsuit also asks federal judge Ursula Ungaro to issue an injunction immediately stopping all drug-testing of the state’s 250,000 state workers.
ACLU of Florida executive director Howard Simon called Scott’s order “profoundly un-American” because it is conflicts with the Fourth Amendment put into the Bill of Rights in response to warrantless searches by King George’s troops during the American Revolution.
“It could not be more invasive of privacy,” Simon told reporters during a conference call this afternoon.
In 2004, the courts struck down a Florida Department of Juvenile Justice random drug testing policy. The court found that drug testing of state workers without reasonable suspicion was unconstitutional and awarded the plaintiff in that case $150,000.
Yesterday, Scott signed into law a measure requiring welfare recipients to undergo drug screening. That new law is unrelated to the executive order and to the case filed yesterday.
The lawsuit is the first in what is expected to be a slew of challenges to state laws passed by the legislature during the session that ended last month regarding abortion, elections and freedom of speech.
“It’s a tsunami of anti-civil liberties legislation,” Simon said.
Former Attorney General Bill McCollum is joining a Washington,D.C., law firm as partner — specializing in representing clients in legal matters before state attorneys general.
McCollum spent 20 years in Congress before unsuccessfully running for U.S. Senate in 2000. His four year term as Florida attorney general, 2007-2011, was sandwiched between another failed bid for Senate (2004) and losing to Rick Scott in last summer’s Republican primary for governor.
SNR Denton is an international law firm building a specialty pivoted around cases involving state attorneys general. While McCollum will work out of Washington, also joining the firm is former Indiana Attorney General Jeff Modisett, who will work out SNR Denton’s Los Angeles office.
“With the recent, dramatic growth in state Attorneys General consumer protection investigations involving key industry sectors such as financial institutions, energy, health care, telecommunications and the internet, it made sense for me to join a firm that is known for its deep bench strength in the public sector,” McCollum said, in announcing the move.
Senate President Mike Haridopolos is the big cheese in his chamber but apparently not so much on conservative talk show host Ray Junior‘s turf.
Junior cut short a telephone interview with Haridopolos, who is running for U.S. Senate in what could be a brutal GOP primary, because the Merritt Island Republican refused to answer whether he would vote for U.S. House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget if elected.
As he did with The Palm Beach Post’s reporter George Bennett earlier this week, Haridopolos sidestepped questions about how he would vote on Ryan’s controversial spending plan.
Among the non-answers Haridopolos gave: “I’m not in the U.S. Senate but I am in the Florida Senate.”
After repeatedly asking Haridopolos to answer the question, an exasperated Junior wound up the interview.
“Get him off my phone. I don’t want anything to do with this guy. Get rid of him,” he told an aide.
Democratic New York Rep. Anthony Weiner — the keynote speaker for the Palm Beach County Democratic Party’s annual fund-raising dinner last fall — has been embroiled in controversy over a lewd photo that surfaced briefly on his Twitter account Friday night and appeared to be intended for a 21-year-old woman he was following on the micromessaging site.
Weiner said over the weekend that his account was hacked.
Since then, the potential 2013 New York mayoral candidate has hired an attorney, but he apparently has not asked law enforcement to investigate. And Weiner, calling the uproar a distraction from issues like raising the debt ceiling or ripping Clarence Thomas, has refused to answer simple questions about the matter, as the above video illustrates.
Palm Beach County, of course, is acquainted with controversy involving a member of Congress and sexually charged Internet communication. Former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned in a 2006 cybersex scandal, declined to comment on the Weiner controversy.
“I think this story has enough people commenting,” Foley said over the weekend.
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