A poll released Wednesday by the usually right-leaning Sunshine State News shows Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s approval rating at a dismal 27 percent among Floridians, with 58 percent disapproving of the job done by the first-year governor.

Sunshine’s survey mirrors a Quinnipiac University poll in May that showed Scott’s approval at 29 percent, suggesting the governor’s attempt at overhauling his image with robo-calls and self-styled letters to newspaper editorial pages hasn’t paid off.

The numbers also stand in contrast to what appeared as a brief surge of popularity for the governor in June. A survey released then by Viewpoint Florida briefly countered the governor’s lagging poll numbers — giving Scott a 45 percent approval rating among Floridians.

Viewpoint Florida is run by Republican campaign operatives Randy Nielsen of West Palm Beach and Pat Bainter of Gainesville. They’re also big contractors for the Florida Republican Party.

Nielsen’s Public Concepts and Bainter’s Data Targeting show up in the latest finance reports unveiled by the Florida Republican Party, which also provides insight into the party’s effort to enhance Scott’s image.

Nielsen’s Public Concepts was paid $145,940 for direct mail work in May. Bainter’s Data Targeting collected $29,000 from the Florida GOP for consulting over the three months ending June 30, the party’s report shows.

Nielsen said the payments he received were for work on the Jacksonville’s mayor’s race. They had nothing to do with Scott, Nielsen said.

Meanwhile, Scott pollster Tony Fabrizio was paid $119,250 by the party the past quarter. Phone bank companies Advantage Inc., of Arlington, Va., and Election Connections.com of Tallahassee were paid $149,452 for three rounds of automated phone calls to voters, touting Scott’s budget-signing, demand for drug testing of welfare recipients and the state’s declining unemployment numbers.

Also part of the GOP’s effort to boost Scott: Harris Media, a Austin, Tx.-based public-relations firm which has opened a Tallahassee office and hired one of the governor’s daughters, drew $23,927.16 for web ads and $11,638 for website work from the state party.

West Palm Beach Democratic Rep. Mark Pafford, who once caused a stir in the House minority office with his former employer’s Caller ID, has got a new job.

Pafford, who until June 30 oversaw job development for the West Palm Beach homeless shelter, The Lord’s Place, is now a special projects manager for GRD Solutions, a company with offices in Palm Beach Gardens that provides emergency management services to private companies and governments.

But it was his job at The Lord’s Place which gives the two-term House member one of his better tales.

Checking in with fellow House Democrats a couple months back, Pafford called the office from work. The Caller ID read: ‘The Lord,’ Pafford recalls.

“They kind of freaked out,” Pafford said of staffers on the receiving end of the call. “They really didn’t know what that call was about.”

Under fire from a pack of Republican challengers, Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson raised more than $1.8 million over the past three months for his re-election, his campaign reported Tuesday.

Nelson’s campaign was quick to point out that the top Republican fund-raiser this quarter, George LeMieux, had collected half the Democrat’s total since April 1.

LeMieux collected $950,000 to Senate President Mike Haridopolos’ $900,000 over the past three months. Former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Delray Beach collected $560,000. A fourth likely well-heeled Republican, former Ruths’ Chris steakhouse CEO Craig Miller was flying around the state Tuesday, making his formal entry into the race.

“The support so far is adding to the momentum that’s building for Sen. Nelson’s re-election,” said Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith. “It’s a sign of strength and broad-based support.”

The Florida Republican Party pulled in $3.5 million in the three months ending June 30, more than three times that collected by state Democrats during the span, new finance records show.

Health care companies, a private prison firm, and utilities were among the GOP’s biggest givers — cash that tracked some of the biggest issues of the 2011 legislative session, ongoing for most of the reporting period.

Still, a relatively modest $5,000 contribution from Jacksonville Greyhound Racing is noteworthy because of its timing. The check was posted by the party on May 6 — the same day the Orange Park dog track played a central role in the chaotic closing hours of the Legislature.

A duel between the House and Senate over a tax break for the track — a political favorite of Senate Rules Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine — forced the session to spill into overtime.

 The House insisted on removing the tax break from what was considered must-pass legislation, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, later said he was “embarrassed” by the stand-off between the two chambers, which also drew veiled questions about the U.S. Senate contender’s leadership skills.

Other GOP contributions were more conventional — and cash-laden. U.S. Sugar Corp., donated $225,000, Nextera Energy, the parent company of Juno Beach-base Florida Power & Light, gave $250,000, and the Boca Raton-based Geo Group, which hopes to gain a big portion of the state’s plan to privatize prisons across 18 counties, including Palm Beach and the Treasure Coast, gave $100,000 to the Florida GOP.

Former Miami U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who lost a Senate bid last fall to Republican Marco Rubio, was nominated Monday by President Obama to serve as a representative to the U.N. General Assembly.

Meek was among three officials put forward by Obama. Since leaving Congress in January, Meek has been president of KBM Solutions, a consulting firm for disaster relief, and editorial chairman of Politic365, an online news site for policy and politics.

What’s in a name?

About $426,000 if you’re Conservatives for a Better Jacksonville, the political committee, which poured money into the Florida Democratic Party in the month leading up to Alvin  Brown’s mayoral election in May. “Conservatives,” who haven’t filed a campaign finance report yet, are headed by Mark Herron, the Tallahassee elections lawyer who usually works Democratic Party issues.

The election of a black Democrat as Jacksonville mayor has been a rallying point for Florida Democrats. And for the party, the money steered through it by “Conservatives,” amounts to more than one-third of the $1.1 million collected during the three months ending  June 30.

The Florida Republican Party’s finance total was not posted on the state Elections  Division website Monday night.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is planning a New Hampshire visit this week and a spokeswoman said Monday he will decide whether to run for president “very soon,” fanning a campaign flame he’s been kindling since at least spring, when he talked of running in a speech before the Palm Beach Republican Club.

Then, he hinted that he would run if the GOP would nominate a candidate hizzoner considered “too right-wing.” Now, he plans to meet with law enforcement officers, National Rifle Association members, and Dartmouth College faculty while he mulls another run.

Giuliani banked heavily on Florida when he ran for president in 2008. He finished third here, shouldered out when then-Gov. Charlie Crist endorsed eventual nominee John McCain. Giuliani ended his campaign a day later.

With the 2012 Republican presidential field still in flux, prospects of a Giuliani candidacy could be expected to draw buzz in South Florida, effectively New York’s sixth borough.

But Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein, a Giuliani fan, said it’s more likely the presidential profile of ‘America’s Mayor’ has waned.

“I just don’t think a lot of voters, especially newer voters, have stopped thinking of him,” Dinerstein said. “But this is a year when anything can happen. And when we have people still talking about jumping in, I think as a Republican, that says they think they can win.”

After drawing some questions following what some thought was a tepid first-quarter fund-raising, U.S. Rep. Allen West unveiled a $1.5 million take Monday for his second three months of the year.

West’s campaign said the cash came from 23,500 contributors — what it took as a sign of widespread support for the first-term, Plantation Republican in a Broward-Palm Beach county district that has been a battleground for the past decade.

West collected $433,000 through March, third in the nation among freshmen Republicans. But West also was burning through cash quickly — raising alarms.

The GOP incumbent’s $1.5 million also eclipses the $450,000 second quarter by challenger Patrick Murphy, a first-time candidate who is facing former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel for the Democratic nomination. Murphy’s total topped his $321,000 debut quarter.

Frankel hasn’t reported the latest quarter, after totaling $254,605 through March. But she hinted Monday that she expects to keep pace with Murphy.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson accused BP of trying to back away Monday from an earlier pledge to cover the cost of last summer’s Gulf oil spill.

Nelson wrote Ken Feinberg, who adminsters claims and the $20 billion BP fund created, saying the company should not be given early release from its obligation to pay damages stemming from the spill.

 BP last week filed a document with the Gulf Coast Claims Facility saying the company should not be required to pay claims for future compensation, because the region’s economy is recovering and fisheries have reopened.

Feinberg did not immediately respond to BP’s filing. But Nelson did.

“BP made a commitment.  People are still hurting.  And we don’t know what will happen in the future, plus there’s still claims in an appeals process and large claims that haven’t even been submitted yet,” Nelson said in his letter to the administrator.

 ”BP doesn’t need to be protected from the citizenry.  It’s the other way around,” he added.

Palm Beach Gardens Rep. Pat Rooney said Monday that an anti-gay, religious organization’s planned protest at a St. Lucie County soldier’s memorial service has not led him to reconsider legislation he has filed creating a buffer around military funerals.

Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, whose members have taken part in shouting, angry demonstrations at graveside services for dead solders, has said it will protest at the service for U.S. Army Spc. Jordan Christopher Schumann of Port St. Lucie.

Schumann, 24, was killed in Afghanistan last week when his Humvee ran over a mine. Westboro has said it will demonstrate at the service in retaliation for the legislation filed by Rooney, a Republican state representative.

Westboro believes that soldiers’ deaths are God’s way of punishing the U.S. for its tolerance of homosexuality.

“While I am disheartened that this is an issue that needs to be addressed, it truly saddens me that family’s like those of U.S. Army Spc. Jordan Christopher Schumann have to endure this unwarranted negative attention in this difficult time,”  stated Representative Rooney.  “It is my hope that in the future families like his will be able to honor their sons and daughters in the peace and dignity they have so valiantly earned from a grateful community, state, and nation.”

Rooney is sponsoring a measure (HB 31) that would make it a misdemeanor to protest, picket or hold other demonstrations within 500 feet of a cemetery, funeral home or residence from one hour before to an hour after a funeral for a veteran, emergency response worker, elected official or minor.

 According to Rooney’s office, Westboro protested at an earlier military service on the Treasure Coast within the past two years, and also elsewhere in Florida. Rooney filed the legislation in the wake of last spring’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling which found Westboro has a free-speech right to demonstrate at funerals.

The court, however, did say that states may regulate the protests. Rooney said that states are following the ruling with new laws, with New York being among the latest to approve legislation aimed to providing some kind of buffer.

Westboro Pastor Fred Phelps said in an e-mail last week to the Palm Beach Post that the church planned to dispatch protesters to Schumann’s services, which had still not been finalized. He also warned a lawsuit would be coming if Rooney’s legislation is approved next spring.

“We anticipate filing suit if such a law is passed, as we have successfully done in other parts of the country,” Phelps said in his email. “When a state, through its elected officials, lifts its middle finger against God’s pronouncements and judgments, WBC gives such a state special attention.”

Republican U.S. Senate candidate George LeMieux on Monday became the last of the big three GOP challengers to Democrat Bill Nelson to tout his latest finance total — but he is claiming victory in the dollar race.

LeMieux’s campaign said that in the quarter ending June 30, it took in more than $950,000 — edging Senate President Mike Haridopolos’ $900,000 collected, and the $560,000 former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Delray Beach is reporting raising.

“With contributors from all over Florida, George’s campaign continues to strengthen and his grassroots momentum is reflected in his fundraising success,” campaign manager Brian Seitchik wrote on LeMieux’s website.

Haridopolos, who has been in the race longest, remains the leading money-raiser to date, with $3.4 million collected so far. Fund-raising details aren’t expected to be provided at least until reports are due July 15. Nelson hasn’t revealed his cash totals yet.

The Republican contest also is poised to grow further, with former Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse CEO Craig Miller to announce his candidacy this week. Miller ran for Congress in Central Florida last fall, finishing third in the Republican primary field behind Sandy Adams, the Orlando Republican who went on to defeat Democratic  U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas.

For weeks, child welfare officials statewide have been celebrating the news that more than 9,000 children under the state’s care were reunited with their families in 2010. Noting that 9,134 children were reunited with their families from Jan. through Dec. 2010, Gov. Rick Scott signed a proclamation declaring the period between May 8-June 19 as Florida’s Family Reunification Celebration.

It turns out that only 5,877 children were reunited with their families in 2010 – 3,257 less than originally reported by the state Department of Children and Families, a DCF official said after The Palm Beach Post inquired about irregularities in state numbers.

Apparently the person in charge of crunching the numbers at DCF chose an incorrect data category to calculate the amount of child reunifications, the official said.

Patrick Murphy, an accountant and vice-president in his family’s Broward County-based construction business, continues to surprise in his first few months as a registered Democrat — and candidate for Congress.

Murphy’s campaign said Thursday he raised $450,000 in the quarter ending June 30 — a total that eclipsed the $321,000 he collected in his debut quarter, running for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation.

Eric Johnson, a Murphy adviser, said his candidate had the best opening quarter of any candidate challenging a congressional incumbent. The latest haul is likely to also top the nation, Johnson said.

“None of it is his money, either,” Johnson said of the latest total. In the first quarter, Murphy ponied up about $30,000 from his own wallet, on top of his $321,000.

Murphy is vying with former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel for the Democratic nomination to challenge West for the congressional seat that spans Broward and Palm Beach counties, and will be subject to redistricting before voters go to the polls next fall.

Frankel raised $254,605 in the first quarter — starting her campaign roughly the same time as Murphy. Frankel on Thursday said she’ll be releasing her latest contribution figures next week.

West, who raised $433,000 through March, is expected to unveil his latest total Monday, a spokeswoman said.

With a “Caylee’s law” already proposed by Boca Raton Rep. Bill Hager and other Republican House members, the Senate looks poised to explore steps it can take to toughen criminal sanctions aimed at protecting children.

Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman Greg Evers, R-Baker, wrote Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, seeking the go-ahead for his panel to work on legislation stemming from the Casey Anthony verdict and sentencing.

Evers said he’s been getting email from Floridians saying current laws don’t adequately protect children. The Caylee’s law already proposed is designed to make it a felony for a parent or guardian not to report a missing child.

An internet petition drive urging Congress to enact such a federal law has drawn more than 250,000 signatures in its first 36 hours since being launched.

“While I respect the judicial process and the burden of proof that exists in such cases, I join my fellow Floridians in voicing concner about any inconsistencies or inadeqacies in the law that could potentially lead to future issues such as this,” Evers wrote Haridopolos.

Evers wants to dedicate the committee’s first fall meeting, during the week of Sept. 19, to “discuss any potential changes that can and should be made to our criminal and civil laws that protect our most vulnerable citizens.”

When Gov. Rick Scott and the all-Republican Florida Cabinet meet, it’s mostly a millionaires club, according to new financial disclosure reports.

Only Attorney General Pam Bondi claims a net worth of less than $1 million.  Bondi, a former Hillsborough County prosecutor, quit her job last year to campaign fulltime, resulting in her reporting no income in 2010 and a net worth of $472,696.

Her assets are a house and a car.

Scott, considered Florida’s wealthiest governor in history, reported a $103 million net worth — down by more than half  from a year earlier. But still a bundle detailed in four pages of assets and income sources.

Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, scion of a Polk County citrus family, reported a $6.8 million net worth. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, a former Senate president from North Palm Beach, was worth $1.6 million at the end of last year, according to his report, filed this month.

Atwater said he earned roughly $114,000 last year, with income from the state of Florida, investments, and banking work with Bank of America. Putnam, who left Congress last year to run for Agriculture Commissioner, reported income topping $570,000, including his congressional salary, investments, income from Putnam Groves, Inc., and the sale of  his Washington, D.C., home.

Former state House majority leader Adam Hasner said Thursday that he has raised more than $560,000 for his U.S. Senate campaign since jumping into the race in April.

While that trails leading fundraiser, Senate President Mike Haridopolos, whose $900,000 last quarter brings his total to $3.4 million, Hasner said his first finance report will show he is not relying on the special interest contributors his leading rivals have turned to.

Haridopolos has powerful Tallahassee ties; George LeMieux, appointed by former Gov. Charlie Crist for a brief turn in the Senate and now seeking a term of his own, was the beneficiary last month of a Washington cash-call hosted by Senate Republicans.

Hasner, of Delray Beach, is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson next year.

“Obviously, we’re not going to out-raise our opponents right out of the gate,” said Hasner adviser Rick Wilson. “One of them is running the Charlie Crist-special interest, establishment campaign plan. And the other one wrote it. Our approach is fundamentally different.”

Hasner said his report, which is to be filed by July 15, will show he has raised money from more than 2,000 contributors, signs that he’s got an “energized grassroots base.” Hasner also says he’s got $460,000 cash-on-hand.

State Rep. Pat Rooney, R-Palm Beach Gardens, has proposed a bill that would create a 500-foot buffer around military funerals.

Florida already has a law on the books making it a misdemeanor to disturb military funerals, but the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that such laws are an unconstitutional infringement of free speech.

The court in March ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church of Topkea, Kan., was exercising its right to free speech when its members held anti-gay protests at military funerals.

Rooney sponsored a new measure (HB 31) that would make it a misdemeanor to protest, picket or hold other similar demonstrations within 500 feet of a cemetery, funeral home or residence from one hour before to an hour after a funeral for a veteran, emergency response worker, elected official or minor.

The majority decision in the Westboro case made clear that states may regulate funeral protests in certain situations. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that demonstrations may be regulated if the laws are not aimed at any particular views and narrowly crafted. Dozens of other states and federal lawmakers are now considering proposals similar to Rooney’s. The key difference with the new proposals, including Rooney’s, is the creation of buffer zones around military funerals. In his opinion, Roberts wrote that the Westboro protestors were not in violation of Maryland’s 100-foot military funeral buffer zone.

“A funeral is a time meant for family and friends to grieve and remember, it is not a time for a spectacle to be made,” Rooney said in a press release. “For those suffering the terrible loss of a loved one, unwarranted harassment some may attempt compounds the grief and already strained emotions. This just is not acceptable.”

Rooney’s staff said Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Wellington, would file a companion bill.

Rooney’s aide Andrew Watt said the representative decided to run the bill after learning that the Westboro group planned to protest the funeral of a nine-year-old girl murdered during the attack on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson. In addition, the Kansas-based Westboro group has protested at least one military funeral in Port St. Lucie within the past two years.

The Capitol’s summertime job shuffling continues — with Senate President Mike Haridopolos’ spokesman David Bishop legging it next week for a job with the state Lottery Department.

No successor has been named yet by the Senate boss — whose office last month lost its chief-of-staff, Steve MacNamara, to Gov. Rick Scott. New Haridopolos chief Craig Meyer is also tasked with filling a couple Senate committee staff directors’ posts.

Bishop, a veteran lobbyist, political adviser and former TV reporter, will be a deputy secretary at the Lottery, overseeing marketing, communications and advertising. His $114,000 salary tops his Senate spokesman pay by $2,000.

Bishop joined Haridopolos’ office last September. The Senate president is headed for his final spring as a state lawmaker and is among a four-pack of Republican contenders seeking the party’s nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson.

Balancing the role of lawmaker and statewide candidate is a tough juggling act. But Bishop said his departure was on his own terms for a job that is interesting, and provides some potential for longevity.

“We’ve done a great job of keeping the campaign and the official duties of Senate president separate,” Bishop said. “That’s not an issue at all. I’m leaving on my own timeline.”

With the state’s new elections law it opposed now challenged in federal court, the Florida League of Women Voters is rolling back the clock to honor former Gov. Charlie Crist next week.

The league, which said it would refrain from major voter registration efforts because of potential penalties imposed by the new measure, will honor Crist with a “Making Democracy Work,” award at an event it will host July 15 in St. Petersburg.

The league fought the sweeping elections measure (CS/HB 1355) during the last legislative session. It also urged Gov. Rick Scott to veto the changes, which impose stiff fines on such organizations as the league if they do not submit lists of prospective voters to elections supervisors within 48 hours of signing them up.

Democrats and allied groups also battled the legislation for imposing new voter standards and shortening the number of days for early voting, provisions they say that will make it harder for minorities, low-income voters and college students to cast ballots in next year’s elections.

Crist, however, is fondly remembered by the league.
The award will commend the former governor for signing into law standards that required a paper trail for touch-screen voting machines once in use, extending early voting hours during the 2008 election, and streamlining civil rights restoration for felons who had completed their sentences.

The state’s largest teachers’ union, which has already sued Gov. Rick Scott over the new law requiring payroll contributions to the Florida Retirement System, went a little more public Tuesday with its criticism of the Republican governor.

About 250 Florida Education Association members wore ‘Pink Slip Rick’ t-shirts on the convention floor at the National Education Association’s annual meeting  in Chicago.

“Rick Scott wants to protect Wall Street over Main Street with his plan to dole out tax breaks to CEOs while handing pink slips to middle class Floridians,” said FEA President Andy Ford.

The FEA last week absorbed a setback in the lawsuit it is leading on behalf of public employee unions, when a Leon County circuit judge refused to order the state to set aside potentially millions of dollars pending the outcome of the legal challenge. FEA had sought the temporary injunction while the lawsuit over the constitutionality of the pension law proceeds.