TAMPA — Before eight Republican presidential hopefuls take the stage here tonight for a CNN/Tea Party Express debate, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was here to offer a “prebuttal” to the event.

“Tonight the Republicans will worship at the altar of the tea party. They will continue to try to out-extreme and out-right wing each other. They will continue to ask nothing of the wealthiest and most fortunate Americans,” said Wasserman Schultz, a congresswoman from Broward County.

Asked about Republican frontrunner Rick Perry and his contention that Social Security is a “Ponzi scheme” for younger workers, Wasserman Schultz said, “I just don’t see how someone with his radical point of view is going to get a lot of mainstream support here in Florida. This is a right-down-the-middle state.”

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The Florida Supreme Court is never short on opinions — having ruled in the past on everything from the size of paper used in the court system to cases carrying much greater weight.

But Monday, justices said they want to remind lawyers to play fair — right from the beginning of their careers in Florida. The court is changing the oath of admission to the Florida Bar, urging lawyers to remember that they should be civil.

Pointing out that concerns have grown about “acts of incivility among members of the legal profession,” the court unanimously agreed to add a new pledge to the now-eight paragraph oath lawyers are to take when beginning to practice in the state.

The added promise: “To opposing parties and their counsel, I pledge fairness, integrity, and civility, not only in court, but also in all written and oral communications.”

Justices said the move stems from advice from the American Board of Trial Advocates and the state of South Carolina, where lawyers since 2003 have been asked to take a similar vow.

The Republican presidential field takes part in another debate tonight — this time from Tampa — but Florida Gov. Rick Scott is mostly sticking with the same advice he’s offered for those heading into earlier exchanges.

“I think the biggest question for everybody in the country — if the Democrats were having a debate, it’d be the same same issue — it’d be about jobs. Who’s got the best blueprint for job creation?”  Scott said Monday.

Scott, a big supporter of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, also may have attempted to come to the defense of his favorite Republican, who tonight could have to clarify his recent debate comment that Social Security was effectively a “Ponzi scheme,” certain to run out of money. Calls for overhauling Social Security are eyed warily in Florida and other states with heavy senior populations.

“Without jobs, we don’t have any money for any the safety nets we have,” Scott explained. “We can’t afford any of the government programs we have. So it’s about jobs.”

Tonight’s CNN/Tea Party Express debate begins at 8 p.m. on CNN. It will take place at the State Fairgrounds in Tampa. Scott said he plans to watch the talk-a-thon, but won’t attend. He’s traveling Monday in advance of Republican Governors’ Association meetings.

 

Mitt Romney got a boost heading into tonight’s Republican presidential debate in Tampa when former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty — who once derided Romney’s Massachusetts health care plan as “Obamneycare” — announced this morning he’s endorsing Romney.

“Alone among the contenders, he possesses the unique qualifications to confront and master our severe economic predicament,” Pawlenty says in an endorsement statement in the conservative National Review.

Pawlenty had a strong Florida organization for his own presidential bid, but dropped out of the race last month after a weak showing in Iowa’s Ames Straw Poll.

Pawlenty will serve as a national co-chairman for Romney’s campaign.

After last week’s Rick Perry-Mitt Romney Social Security dustup, Republican presidential candidates are set to debate again in Tampa tonight. The Democratic National Committee is welcoming them to senior-heavy Florida with a video blasting Perry and Romney and the rest of the GOP field on Social Security and Medicare.

“Now they’re coming to Florida – where millions of seniors rely on Social Security and Medicare to survive,” the narrator says. “The Republican field: a gamble seniors can’t afford.”

Here’s another Social Security and Medicare scare piece that takes longer than 30 seconds to digest: the annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report saying long-term costs for both programs are “not sustainable under currently scheduled financing.”

The report projects Medicare will only be able to provide 90 percent of promised benefits beginning in 2024 and Social Security will only be able to deliver 75 percent of promised benefits beginning in 2036 unless fixes are made for both programs.

By Andrew Abramson
Jon Huntsman appeared at a small gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition at West Palm Beach’s Marriott Hotel Friday afternoon, just a day after he reshuffled his campaign and pulled some staffers out of the state.

Shortly before Huntsman’s speech, campaign manager Matt David announced that Huntsman was reassigning staff from the Florida campaign headquarters to New Hampshire, “a move reflective of the diminished importance of Florida’s ‘P5′ and the campaign’s focus on success in New Hampshire,” David said.

Huntsman’s headquarters are in Florida, but as his poll numbers continue to hover in the low single digits, he needs a strong showing in New Hampshire to survive.

In West Palm on Friday, Huntsman once again tried to break from rank and appeal to the center of the party and independents.

“It ain’t rocket science what needs to happen,” Huntsman said. “We need someone who can win, someone who can speak to independent minds.”

A night after President Obama, in his speech to Congress, praised Abraham Lincoln, Huntsman also looked to Lincoln for inspiration – as he did to Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, the Bushes and even Richard Nixon.

“Nixon fell from grace but he did some things early in administration like create greater peace and … the National Cancer Institute,” Huntsman said. “Through Reagan, the Bushes, we are a party drawing from inspiration way back and we need to remember that we are, at heart, a big tent body. We are a party of inclusiveness. We open doors, we don’t close doors.”

Huntsman criticized the jobs plan Obama unveiled on Thursday, saying “I don’t know how much more I can listen to half steps — $400 billion here, some projects here and there.”
Huntsman said he is proposing “bold reform” to eliminate loopholes, special interest carve-outs and subsidies, and lowering rates across the board to “make our tax code flatter, fairer, simpler and more conducive to growth.”

Huntsman also took a jab at fellow Republican candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
“He might have been at 4.9 percent,” Huntsman said of job growth in Texas, “but we were at 5.9 percent job growth (in Utah).”

With a group of Jewish Republicans watching, Huntsman defended Israel.

“We’ve forgotten what it means to be friend and an ally in the United States, and that has saddened me tremendously,” Huntsman said. “I’m saddened that we’re not standing shoulder to shoulder (with Israel) in a time of need and a time of great uncertainty, turmoil and flux in the Middle East.”

The Florida Commission on Ethics accepted an agreement Friday with Republican U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner, who acknowledged that he failed to submit his 2010 state financial disclosure form on time.

Hasner, a former House majority leader from Delray Beach, left the Legislature last November, but still was required by law to submit his disclosure statement for that year. Hasner said the form had been sent to him by certified mail from the Legislature, but was returned as “unclaimed” in error by the Post Office.

Hasner turned in his 2010 form within a month of being notified that it was missing.  But a Palm Beach County Democratic activist, Diana Demarest, filed an ethics complaint against Hasner and Friday said “he still thinks he’s above the law.”

As part of the legal stipulation with Hasner, Friday’s public report is likely to prove the only punishment leveled against the candidate. The commission can only recommend fines or other penalties. But final action against a former representative would come from the House, which has shown no interest in pursuing the matter.

Hasner is among four top Republicans seeking the party’s nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Neither Hasner nor his attorney attended Friday’s hearing. A spokesman for the campaign also denied comment on the outcome.

Demarest, a political consultant who openly supports Nelson, said she was unhappy with the commission’s action. “These guys leave office and just blow off doing what they’re supposed to do,” Demarest said.

Hasner is the latest in a recent string of legislators running afoul of financial disclosure laws.  Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, who dropped out of the U.S. Senate race earlier this summer, was admonished last spring by the Senate for failing to fully disclose details about his finances from 2004 through 2008.

 

A federal appeals court tossed two Virginia lawsuits Thursday challenging the constitutionality of the federal health care law’s insurance requirement, also known as the individual mandate.

The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed both lawsuits, ruling that neither the state’s attorney general Ken Cuccinelli or Liberty University had standing to challenge the law. The three-judge panel’s decision overturned a lower-court ruling invalidating the insurance requirement.

Thursday’s ruling now leaves an even score on other appellate rulings on the health care law. First, a three-judge panel in Cincinnati ruled in favor of the law. A more recent decision last month from an Atlanta three-judge panel ruling in a multi-state lawsuit headed by Florida that the individual mandate portion of the law was unconstitutional but left the remainder of the law intact.

And it heightens the importance of the Florida lawsuit, which observers say will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gov. Rick Scott, who made his fortune in the health care industry, launched his foray into politics more than two years ago with an effort to keep the proposed health care reforms from going into law. Scott is an outspoken critic of the law and once said fighting against it was one of the reasons he ran for governor.

Yesterday, lawmakers approved a request from Scott’s administration for a $3.4 billion grant drawn from the federal Affordable Care Act. The Legislative Budget Commission signed off on taking the cash to provide home visitation services to at-risk families.

Dave Bitner, who just last week said he was stepping down as Florida Republican Party chairman, has died.

Florida GOP Vice-Chairman Lenny Curry, who was slated to step up into the chairman’s role later this month, announced Bitner’s death Thursday.

Bitner, 62, had been battling Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was diagnosed with the illness in April and went into hospice last week.

 ”It has been the honor of a lifetime to work by Chairman Bitner’s side,” Curry said. ”Not only was Dave a born leader, he was an exemplary man in every sense. In honor of his example, I am committed to ensure that the Republican Party of Florida continues its tradition of service to our beloved state.”

Sen. Joe Negron, the Stuart Republican whose district includes parts of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, was named “legislator of  the year,” by the Florida branch of Americans for Prosperty, the conservative advocacy organization.

Negron shared the title with Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, both of whom were feted for their efforts to tilt the state Legislature further to the right. AFP, which has emerged as a guide and financial backer of the tea party movement, was founded by conservative billionaire energy titans, David and Charles Koch.

Seventy-nine legislators — all Republicans – received A+ scores from the group. Every Democrat drew a failing grade — except Rep. Leonard Bembry, D-Greenville, who was given a D by AFP.

Slade O’Brien, AFP’s Palm Beach County-based state director, said Negron was pivotal in the Legislature’s efforts to revamp Medicaid, while also steering the state toward reducing the size of government and cutting taxes.

Democrats drawing lousy marks, “show hostility towards the free market and protecting the individual liberties on which our country was founded,” O’Brien said.

Thom Rumberger, a Tallahassee lawyer whose environmental activism and skills as a political strategist cast him in a central role in many of Florida’s milestone events of the past half-century, died Wednesday night. He was 79.

Rumberger was an advisor to former Republican Gov. Claude Kirk and was the GOP candidate for Attorney General in 1970, a time when the party which now controls Florida government was a minority, vastly overwhelmed by ruling Democrats.

Rumberger, though, proved pivotal to the party’s emergence.

As a lawyer representing the Republican Party during 1992 redistricting, Rumberger helped GOP legislators forge a deal with another political minority — black Democrats –resulting in the drawing of legislative and congressional boundaries that gave both interests the opportunity to win seats.

Four years later, Rumberger looked on as then-Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Winter Garden, was sworn-in as Florida’s first Republican House speaker in 122 years.

Rumberger’s legal career began with the firm of Maguire, Voorhis and Wells in Orlando.  He later served as an acting sheriff, judge and county attorney for Seminole County before becoming a founding member of the law firm, Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell.

Among his passions was the Everglades. He  was general counsel for Save Our Everglades, a movement that placed a ballot initiative on the 1996 ballot that would have imposed a penny-per-pound tax on sugar to help restore the ecosystem polluted by farm runoff.

The tax was rejected by voters. But Floridians did endorse other amendments requiring that polluters pay for Everglades cleanup and that a trust fund  be created to finance restoration. The ballot action set the stage for more ambitious state and federal Everglades initiatives in later years.

Rumberger was lead counsel for the Everglades Foundation since 1989.

Mary Barley, president of the Everglades Trust, called Rumberger “one of a kind.”

“Thom Rumberger has been a courageous, vigilant guardian of the bountiful treasures and gragile nature of Florida’s — and America’s — most unique Everglades ecosystem,” Barley said. “His legal brilliance, political wisdom, and unflinching commitment to preserve and protect our precious Everglades place him among the greatest Floridians.”

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman — who delighted Democrats during Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate by saying the GOP “can’t run from science” — will be in West Palm Beach on Friday afternoon for a meet-and-greet sponsored by the Palm Beach County Republican Party.

An RSVP is required for the event at the Marriott at 1001 Okeechobee Boulevard. Registration is at 1:30 p.m. and the program begins at 2 p.m. To reserve a space, contact Arielle Richardson at (561) 702-7844 or by e-mail: Arielle@ellynbogdanoff.com.

During Wednesday night’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Library, Huntsman declined to name Republicans he considered “anti-science.” But his contention that man-made global warming is a settled scientific issue was clearly aimed at Republican frontrunner Rick Perry.

Perry responded: “The idea that we would put Americans’ economy at jeopardy based on scientific theory that’s not settled yet, to me, is just — is nonsense….Just because you have a group of scientists that have stood up and said here is the fact, Galileo got outvoted for a spell.”

A legislative panel gave Gov. Rick Scott’s administration approval Wednesday for a $3.4 million grant drawn from the federal Affordable Care Act, the measure backed by President Obama which Florida’s Republican chief executive ridicules regularly.

The Legislative Budget Commission agreed to take the cash to provide home visiting services to at-risk families. But Sens. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, urged lawmakers to reject the funding, warning that the program’s services were murky and that if federal dollars dry up, the state could be left covering the cost.

“It’s overly intrusive,” Negron said, adding he was wary of what he called the government’s “amorphous assistance.”

Scott and the state’s Republican-led Legislature has drawn national attention for rejecting federal grants aimed at moving nursing home patients back into their homes and providing in-home counseling to families where child abuse was a looming threat. Funding for these services and others were turned down because they stem from the Affordable Care Act — which many in the GOP deride as ObamaCare.

The Legislative Budget Commission, though, went along with the Scott administration’s request to accept this latest round of grant money Wednesday. A Republican majority on the panel endorsed the move, chiefly because rejecting it would have made Florida ineligible for as much as $100 million in future learning and development grants under the federal Race to the top legislation.

House budget chair Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, said she was offended by the linkage. But she made it clear she didn’t like the program and felt such steps created a dependency for at-risk families.

“We have generations of individuals depending on government,” Grimsley said, adding, “it’s a no-win situation.”

 

Leadership Florida and the Florida Press Association, which have hosted televised statewide debates going back to 2004, announced Wednesday another round during next year’s election season.

A debate among the Republican U.S. Senate candidates is planned in advance of the Aug. 14 primary. And when the field is set, the Republican nominee is scheduled to square-off against Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in October 2012 — before voters go to the polls Nov. 6.

More details are here: http://www.beforeyouvote.org/.   

 

Florida TaxWatch, the business-backed research group, issued a stinging report Wednesday on Palm Beach County’s higher-than-average financial reserves, saying county property taxes could likely be cut if officials drew down these dollars.

“There is no excuse for a county government to hoard excessive levels of reserves over time,” said Dominic M. Calabro, President and CEO of Florida TaxWatch. “This continued trend has resulted in an unreasonable shift of taxpayer dollars to government coffers with no apparent benefit to the public at a time when counties need to find ways to maximize all opportunities to fund core services without raising taxes on its residents.”

TaxWatch found that the county has kept uncommitted reserves at 50 percent or more of its total spending from 2005 through 2010. By comparision, Hillsborough County has kept reserves at between 13 percent and 24 percent during the same period. The disparity hasn’t made much difference, TaxWatch concluded, since both counties have earned Triple A bond ratings from Wall Street.

Here’s the report: http://bit.ly/osfGh0

 

 

The ACLU of Florida said Wednesday it has sued the Gov. Rick Scott administration in federal court to overturn the state’s new law requiring mandatory drug testing of welfare recipients.

The lawsuit was filed in Orlando on behalf of Luis Lebron, a 35-year-old Orlando man, Navy veteran and University of Central Florida student. Lebron and his four-year-old son were declared eligible for benefits through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, but Lebron refused to take the required drug test and has not received aid.

“It is a public policy that really rests on ugly stereotypes,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida ACLU.

Florida’s new law took effect July 1. Since then, the state’s Department of Children & Families reports that about 2.5 percent of applicants have tested positive for drugs and were denied personal benefits, although their family members still qualify.

But in its lawsuit, the ACLU maintains the requirement violates constitutional safeguards against unreasonable search and seizure by the government. The only other state to implement a similar policy, Michigan, had its drug-testing law overturned a decade ago, according to ACLU attorneys.

DCF Secretary David Wilkins, a Scott appointee, is named as defendant in the lawsuit.

The ACLU earlier sued Scott over his executive order requiring drug-testing of all new state hires and random screening of current state employees. Scott suspended the order in May for agencies other than the Department of Corrections, although he insisted the freeze would only be in place until the lawsuit was decided.

Gov. Rick Scott provided a glimpse Tuesday at his second-year agenda as Florida’s chief executive, promising to continue pushing toward job-creation by cutting regulations and declaring war on the state’s 1,500 special districts.

Expanded oil-drilling in the Everglades, which Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann pointed to as a possibility during a recent visit to the state, looks like a longshot to Scott.

But he didn’t rule it out.

“I think we have to be very cautious with any oil-drilling, whether it’s in the Everglades or whether it’s near our beaches,” Scott told the Economic Club of Florida, meeting in Tallahassee.

Drilling has gone on in a remote stretch of Collier County since the 1940s. But currently only a relatively modest 2,800 barrels of oil are pulled daily from the site, according to Collier Resources, the company which does the drilling.

Scott, though, seems more focused on lifting state regulations — and reining in the tax-and-spending authority of Florida’s wide-ranging special districts. Palm Beach County, alone, has more than 9o such authorities, covering water management, health care, fire districts and more.

Scott told Tuesday’s gathering that these districts control $15 billion in taxes.

“That’s a lot of money,” Scott said. “And there’s not a single voter who gets to vote on what these tax rolls should be.”

Scott took aim at the state’s five water management districts earlier this year. The Legislature’s approval of $700 million in property-tax cuts — the biggest share imposed on the South Florida Water Management District — is expected to be cemented Wednesday when the Legislative Budget Commission signs off on new budgets for water managers. 

In the 2012 legislative session, which begins in January, Scott also plans to push for cutting 1,100 state rules and regulations he said are unnecessary, duplicate federal standards, or stand in the way of sparking the economy.

“We’ve got to do anything we can to make sure we keep this from being an expensive place to live,” Scott said. “If we do that, there will be plenty of jobs.”

Gov. Rick Scott named Sally Bradshaw, a former chief-of-staff and campaign manager ex-Gov. Jeb Bush, to the state’s Board of Education on Tuesday.

Kathleen Shanahan, currently chair of the seven-member board which oversees public schools and colleges, also is a former chief-of-staff for Bush.

Bradshaw, 46. who lives outside Tallahassee in smalltown Havana, is a political consultant, who earlier this year signed on with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour’s shortlived presidential campaign. Four years ago, she advised Mitt Romney’s presidential run, which then ended following his defeat in the Florida primary.

It’s Bradshaw’s second go-around on the state education board, having previously served from 2003 to 2004.  She previously chaired the school board of trustees at Tallahassee’s Holy Comforter Episcopal School and was a board member of the city’s Faith Presbyterian preschool.

Bradshaw also served on Scott’s transition team, before the new governor took office in January.

 

Texas Gov. and Republican presidential frontrunner Rick Perry has a series of Florida money events lined up to coincide with a pair of Republican presidential debates in the state, according to a “Sunshine State Kickoff” invitation making the rounds.

He’ll be in Tampa on Monday with other GOP White House hopefuls for a CNN/Tea Party Express debate.

Then come a series of five $1,000-a-head fundraisers with $2,500 VIP receptions that include photo ops with Perry. The still-forming host committee for the events includes House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and former Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp. Palm Beach Countians on Perry’s finance team include Palm Beach Town Councilman Bill Diamond (formerly a Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani supporter).

On Tuesday, Sept. 13, Perry will attend a fundraising breakfast in Tampa and lunch in Miami.

The following week, Perry will attend a $1,000-a-plate lunch on Sept. 21 in Fort Lauderdale followed by an evening money event at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach that PostOnPolitics.com first reported Saturday.

On Sept. 22, Perry and other Republican candidates participate in another nationally televised debate, this one from Orlando as party of the Republican Party of Florida Presidency 5 event.

Perry also has an evening fundraiser scheduled for Sept. 23 in Orlando.

As Palm Beach County’s Democratic Party considers a measure to protect incumbents from “unnecessary” primary challenges, it’s worth noting that some of the biggest local Democratic names of the last two decades were once outsiders who challenged incumbents in Democratic primaries.

Former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler first gained office by ousting Democratic incumbent Don Childers in a 1990 state Senate primary. Former U.S. Rep. Ron Klein‘s electoral debut was unseating Steve Press in a 1992 Democratic state House primary. County Commissioner Burt Aaronson won his seat by toppling Carole Phillips in a 1992 Democratic primary.

After giving up her state House seat in 1992 to pursue a failed congressional bid, Lois Frankel made a comeback in 1994 by challenging the one-term incumbent who had replaced her, former Frankel aide Mimi McAndrews, and defeating her in a memorably bitter Democratic primary.

Facing state House term limits in 2000, Addie Greene set her sights on the county commission and pushed aside veteran incumbent Maude Ford Lee in a Democratic primary.

State Rep. Irving Slosberg first gained office in 2000 by beating incumbent Curt Levine in a Democratic state House primary.

Tax Collector Anne Gannon made a failed try to defeat incumbent Suzanne Jacobs in a 1994 Democratic state House primary. Before winning his seat in 2010, state Rep. Steve Perman tried and failed to oust Richard Machek in a 2006 Democratic state House primary.

Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher won her nonpartisan office in 2008 by defeating incumbent and fellow Democrat Arthur Anderson.