It depends on what the meaning of “I personally don’t believe we ought to be raising taxes” is.

In an interview with West Palm Beach-based NewsMax last month, former President Bill Clinton said he didn’t think it was a good idea to raise taxes or cut government spending “until we get this economy off the ground.”

(Watch Clinton’s interview with NewsMax CEO Chris Ruddy by clicking here. The discussion of tax hikes begins around the 9:30 mark.)

With President Obama visiting Florida today, the conservative group American Crossroads is running an ad featuring the tax portion of Clinton’s comment while editing out the part about spending cuts. The ad throws in a later clip of Clinton telling NewsMax that higher taxes on incomes above $1 million “won’t solve the problem.”

Clinton is taking issue with the ad. Read his statement after the jump….

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In one of America’s costliest congressional races, Democrat Patrick Murphy‘s campaign says it has topped $1.1 million in contributions as he seeks the Palm Beach-Broward seat of U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation.

Murphy raised $313,000 between July 1 and Sept. 30, his campaign said, after raising $352,449 in the first quarter and $456,223 in the second quarter.

Murphy and his Democratic rival, former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel, are among the top non-incumbent Democratic money-raisers in the nation. Through June 30, Frankel had raised $698,546.

The Dems will need big bucks to compete with West, who raised more than $6.4 million for his 2010 campaign and had collected more than $2.2 million through June 30 for his 2012 reelection effort.

Frankel and West have not yet announced third quarter finance figures. Reports are due Saturday.

American Crossroads, the PAC that Karl Rove helped found last year, is blasting President Obama‘s call for $1.5 trillion in tax hikes on the wealthy in ads timed to coincide with Obama’s visits to Pennsylvania and Florida today.

The ad includes a clip of former President Bill Clinton, in an interview with West Palm Beach-based NewsMax last month, disagreeing with the idea of raising taxes during an economic slump.

The ad features clips of Clinton saying “I personally don’t believe we ought to be raising taxes” and “it won’t solve the problem.”

Clinton’s full quote (beginning around 9:30 on this video) did indeed take issue with Obama’s tax-hike approach — but also with Republican calls for spending cuts:

“I personally don’t believe we ought to be raising taxes or cutting spending — either one — until we get this economy off the ground. This has been a dead-flat economy. And you don’t want, in something this flat, if we cut government spending, which I normally would be very inclined to do when the deficit’s this big, with interest rates already near zero you can’t get the benefits out of it.”

Later, around the 13:00 mark on the NewsMax video, Clinton adds that a millionaire’s tax “won’t solve the problem.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi joined 24 other states in a lawsuit against President Obama’s administration over clean air standards even though the feds, under pressure from Republicans and states, last week weakened the rule.

Bondi and the other states are asking the Environmental Protection Agency to put off implementation of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule utilities complain is too costly. The new consumer protection standards reduce power plant emissions that cross state lines and are set to go into effect on Jan. 1.

The lawsuit alleges the costs to utilities to implement the standards and the threat to the nation’s power supply outweigh the benefits to consumers. The Obama administration estimates the cleaner air standards could save up to $280 billion in health benefits by preventing premature deaths, heart attacks and lost work days within two years of going into effect.

“We cannot allow Floridians, many of whom are already suffering financial hardships, to bear the brunt of costly federal regulations,” Bondi said in a press release attached to an amicus brief filed yesterday. “The brief asks the Environmental Protection Agency slow down the implementation of their burdensome regulations in order to correct technical issues and consider the consequences.”

Bondi is leading the charge against Obama’s administration in a multi-state lawsuit over the federal health care law now before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Gov. Rick Scott is beginning his latest push for jump-starting Florida’s economy, offering a preview at a lunchtime speech Tuesday in Tallahassee and a new video his office prepared.

Scott plans to unveil much of his legislative and budget package for 2012 in the days leading up to his taking part in an Enterprise Florida trade mission to Brazil, Oct. 23-27.

In the video, the first-year governor touts tax cuts, shrinking the size of government, and fanning the flickering flames of the economy to where Florida added more than 87,000 jobs since January. No mention of the still-brutal unemployment rate: 10.7 percent in August.

 ”The proposals you will see reflect my three most important jobs as Governor— getting our residents back to work by growing quality jobs in the private sector; keeping the cost of living low for all Floridians; and building a world-class education system through continued improvements in our K-12 and higher education institutions,” Scott said. “These ideas are based on the countless stories I have received from Floridians who have contacted my office… and from the personal conversations I’ve had while traveling the state over the past year.”

See Scott’s video here:  http://bit.ly/nEL0LK

The amount of cash Florida lawmakers will have on hand to build next year’s state budget looks likely to drop from earlier predictions by between $1.4 billion and $1.7 billion, according to estimates unveiled Tuesday by state economists.

The state’s Revenue Estimating Conference, a gathering of analysts representing the Legislature, state Department of Revenue and Gov. Rick Scott’s office, are meeting most of the day to update their latest forecast of tax collections.

 The amounts settled on Tuesday will guide the budget proposal Scott will present later this year to the Legislature — and go a long way toward shaping the spending plan lawmakers put together when they begin the 2012 session in January.

The House budget committee last week said that because of declining tax receipts and rising costs — particularly in public schools and Medicaid spending – that a shortfall of $1.1 billion to $2.2 billion was expected, likely resulting in another round of program cuts and employee layoffs next year.

Tuesday’s revenue forecast looks likely to bolster those storm cloud predictions. Sales tax collections — which provides about three-quarters of the state’s general revenue — is the root of the state’s problem.

In a faltering economy,  sales tax receipts are expected to be down as much as $881.4 million next year from the estimating conference’s forecast earlier this year. Sales tax dollars also are off earlier estimates by as much as $257.5 million in the current budget.

President Obama — who currently has a higher disapproval rating in Florida than popularity-challenged Gov. Rick Scott — will stop in Orlando Tuesday for a pair of fundraising events.

He’ll also reportedly meet with unemployed construction workers to discuss the American Jobs Act.

Obama will attend one money event at a downtown Orlando hotel, then head to a second fundraiser at the home of attorney John Morgan — whose firm recently hired former Gov. Charlie Crist.

The host committee for Morgan’s event includes NBA veteran Grant Hill, basketball Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing, Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers and former baseball great Ken Griffey Jr.

Gov. Rick Scott signed a death warrant- his second since taking office in January – for Oba Chandler, convicted of murdering a mother and her two daughters more than two decades ago.

Scott ordered Chandler to be put to death on Nov. 15. The death warrant comes less than two weeks after convicted cop killer Manuel Valles was executed by lethal injection using Florida’s contested new drug protocol.

Chandler, 65, has been on Death Row for nearly 17 years after being convicted of killing 36-year-old Joan Rogers and her daughters Michelle, 17, and Christe, 11, Ohio tourists on vacation in Tampa.

The bodies of the three women were found tied and weighted in Tampa Bay. All three were naked from the waist down, tied up and weighted down from the neck by a cinder block. Medical examiners determined all three women died from asphyxiation from being strangled by the ropes or by drowning. The autopsies revealed the women were alive when Chandler threw them overboard from a boat.

Chandler is one of more than two dozen of the 395 inmates on Death Row inmates considered “death warrant-ready,” meaning their federal and state appeals have run out.

With Gov. Rick Scott planning to begin rolling out his latest push to jump-start the state’s stalled economy, his administration also is spanning the globe seeking companies looking for a foothold in Florida.

Scott plans to go on an Enterprise Florida trade mission to Brazil later this month. But Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll is already overseas — spending this week in England and Spain on a Space Florida junket, meeting with aerospace companies that could begin operations at Kennedy Space Center.

The Space Florida mission includes time with Cella Energy, a British company building hydrogen storage facilities at KSC, where it also is expected to move some employees and maybe even hire a few locals.  Florida’s Space Coast has been staggered by some of the state’s highest unemployment with the closing of the Space Shuttle program.

“International trade and cooperation is key to growing Florida’s economy and creating jobs,” Carroll said in a release issued by Space Florida. “Space, aerospace, science and technology are growing sectors in the world marketplace and these sectors are part of Florida’s economic culture and industrial strengths and an area where Gov. Scott and I will continue to work to create good, high-wage jobs.”

Former Florida Sen. Mel Martinez is endorsing Mitt Romney in the crowded GOP presidential race.

As a sitting U.S. Senator four years ago, Martinez’ endorsement of John McCain a few days before the 2008 Florida primary helped McCain edge Romney and effectively clinch the Republican nomination. Martinez and McCain were cosponsors of immigration reform legislation that many in the GOP criticized as “amnesty.” Romney has emphasized a tough-on-illegals immigration stance in his 2012 campaign and blasted rival Rick Perry for supporting in-state tuition benefits in Texas for the children of illegal immigrants.

Says Martinez in a statement released by the Romney campaign this morning: “I have great confidence that Mitt Romney is the candidate to get our country back on track. Unemployment remains a pressing issue both in Florida and across the nation. Now more than ever, we need a leader who will get our country’s fiscal house in order. From his experience in the private sector, Mitt Romney understands how the real economy works and how jobs are created. As Governor of Massachusetts, he balanced the budget without raising taxes. I am proud to support him.”

Under former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel‘s administration, the city spent about $5 million on a police radio system that current Mayor Jeri Muoio wants to scrap, citing problems with the radios’ ability to penetrate some of the city’s high-rises and other buildings.

The controversy over the OpenSky system led to Delsa Bush‘s blazing exit as police chief last week.

Will it also cause trouble for Frankel’s Democratic congressional bid for the seat of Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West?

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

CNN and the Florida Republican Party announced Saturday they will host a GOP presidential candidates’ debate Jan. 26 from Jacksonville — five days before the state’s primary.

It will mark the third debate originating from Florida, the nation’s biggest toss-up state in the presidential contest. Nationally televised debates featuring the Republican presidential field were held last month in Tampa and Orlando.

“CNN and RPOF are going to make this debate the best opportunity for our presidential candidates to continue their dialogue with Floridians,” said RPOF Chairman Lenny Curry. “With a date exactly halfway between the South Carolina and Florida primary dates, this debate will be the must-attend event for this great field of Republicans.”

Florida set Jan. 31 for its primary, drawing penalties from the Republican National Committee for placing its contest ahead of March 6. The party had been trying to reserve the earlier dates for states which traditionally held the nation’s first contests — Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

But efforts to avoid a frontloaded primary season now look like a lost cause.

As expected, after Florida’s leapfrog last week, South Carolina set Jan. 21 for its primary. Nevada has since tapped Jan. 14, while Republican Party officials in Iowa are eyeing Jan. 3 or 5 for its caucuses. New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner says he is still considering scheduling that state’s first-in-the-nation primary for December, because of the early moves by other states.

 

The 0-4 Miami Dolphins rank 26th among 32 NFL teams in scoring this year. But they lead the league in political contributions to Democrats, according to a new study.

The analysis by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics offers a new perspective on scoring in the Red Zone. Of the $1.4 million in federal contributions by NFL executives and players since January 2009, two-thirds has gone to Republicans.

Leading the way are the Houston Texans with $293,100 in contributions, with 98 percent of that money going to Republicans.

The Dolphins, with $100,350 in political contributions, are one of five teams to give $100,000 or more since 2009. Owner Stephen Ross gave $74,600 of that total.

Dolphins-related donors gave $52,450 to Democrats, $45,500 to Republicans and $2,400 to former Gov. Charlie Crist‘s failed 2010 independent Senate campaign.

The next-highest Democratic total was $36,400 from the Cincinnati Bengals.

Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a request for proposals from private lawyers for help in legal action related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

In a press release issued late this afternoon, Bondi said the one-page RFP doesn’t mean the state is going to be suing BP or any of the other parties involved in the massive oil blow-out that stained Panhandle beaches and strained the entire state’s tourism industry last year.

“The proposal is part of an exploratory process that is non-binding and does not signify imminent litigation,” the release said.

Interested lawyers should show their experience in other similar cases, familiarity with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, and how well-suited their firms are to handle complex, expensive litigation. Lawyers also have to say if they want to be paid hourly, by a contingency fee or a combination. Florida law has a sliding scale capping how much the attorney general can pay outside firms ranging from 25 percent for recoveries up to $10 million to 5 percent for settlements over $25 million.

Yesterday, Bondi gave the U.S. Justice Department guidelines on what she wants from an audit of BP claims czar Ken Feinberg, prompted by complaints about his handling of the $20 billion fund for victims of the oil spill.

Bondi asked that the audit look at:
- Discrepancies in payments to similarly situated claimants;
- Documentation required by Feinberg’s Gulf Coast Claims Facility;
- Whether Feinberg’s delays in processing interim payments forced claimants to accept “quick pay,” or final settlements, which require them to sign away their right to sue in the future;
- How different industries are being treated;
- The extent to Feinberg relied on how close a claimant was to the oil spill to decide whether or how much a claimant deserved.

Two Delray Beach residents have been charged with bilking the GCCF of more than $340,000 and using the money to rent luxury homes and buy expensive cars and boats. The duo made their first appearance before a U.S. magistrate in Miami today in what the U.S. Attorney’s office is calling “the largest financial loss case brought to date arising from claims filed in connection with the Deepwater Horizon explosion and pollution incident.”

Senate President Mike Haridopolos defended lawmakers’ use of the budget to privatize an 18-county region from Polk County to the Florida Keys, said there would be a floor vote on an expansion of gambling and bragged about the state’s job growth in a Q-and-A with reporters this afternoon.

The Merritt Island Republican provided a detailed document to reporters as proof that talks about the nation’s largest prison privatization effort – now on hold after a Tallahassee circuit judge’s ruling that the way the legislature went about it was unconstitutional – had taken place in committees since January and not snuck into the budget at the last minute, as he said unnamed critics have implied. Although privatization was discussed at the meetings, lawmakers did not vote on or release details of any prison privatization plan until it was included in the state budget.

“I wanted to be very clear for those people who had concerns that this was something we stuck in late. This was addressed early and often and people all saw it coming both in the House and the Senate,” Haridopolos said.

The Florida Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents correctional workers, sued Gov. Rick Scott’s administration over the privatization, put by lawmakers into the budget in proviso language and signed into law by Scott this summer. Tallahassee Circuit Judge Jackie Fulford agreed with the union that the use of the proviso language to establish state policy was unconstitutional.

Scott has not yet decided whether to appeal but has said the privatization will happen eventually. And Haridopolos on Thursday said that the privatization will go forward, even if lawmakers have to pass a stand-alone bill when they reconvene in January. The proposal requires that the privatization of 29 prisons in the region cost at least 7 percent less than what the state currently spends – an estimated $22 million annual savings.

“I think the policy’s a good policy. We’re going to face another massive budget shortfall this year. And we’re going to spend more money on prisons and if we do we’ll spend less on education and health care,” Haridopolos said. “I guess other people have other priorities. My priority is to spend less on prisons.”

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Senate President Mike Haridopolos has agreed to call in State Board of Administration executive director Ash Williams to answer questions about a $125 million investment after Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Haridopolos’ predecessor, asked for the public meeting.

Atwater, a North Palm Beach banker, asked Haridopolos on Thursday to bring Williams in to satisfy Sen. Mike Fasano’s demands for information about an investment earlier this year in hedge fund Starboard Value and Opportunity. Williams gave Fasano, R-New Port Richey, a bill for more than $10,000 in response to a public records request for documents regarding the investment, which was in the works for more than two years before the investment was made in April.

“It is my deep belief that you and the other members of the legislature, elected to represent the interests of Floridians, should have full and open access to information wherever it might reside throughout government, including the SBA,” Atwater wrote in a letter to the senate president.

Atwater also said Fasano should not be charged to review the documents and that he trusts Fasano to keep any confidential information in the records private. On Monday, Fasano asked Haridopolos to subpoena Williams and the documents or to order him to appear before a Senate committee to explain the investment and the public records charges.

“Being that the CFO is a champion of transparency and given his expertise in this realm, I plan to take his recommendation and hold a meeting that will be open to the public and ask the Director of the SBA, Ash Williams, and his staff to be available to answer any questions that the public or my fellow legislators may have about the investment, as well as the public records request,” Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, said in a statement late Thursday. “Like CFO Atwater, it is my hope that this meeting will alleviate any questions that lawmakers or the public may have regarding this investment and the SBA, and the IAC may continue to conduct business.”

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Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson is “inclined to support” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid‘s proposal for a 5.6 percent surtax on income above $1 million, a Nelson spokesman told PostOnPolitics.com.

The surtax is given little chance of passing Congress, where Republicans control the House and have enough Senate votes to filibuster the legislation. But it is seen as a way for Democrats to draw a contrast with the GOP heading into the 2012 elections. Nelson is up for reelection next year.

Reid first proposed a 5 percent surtax beginning in 2012, then changed it to a 5.6 percent tax beginning in 2013.

Said Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin in an e-mail: “If Sen. Nelson had his druthers, he wouldn’t have done it this way. He favors allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for everyone making more than $1 million year. But it all comes out about the same under Sen. Reid’s plan. So, he’s inclined to support it.”

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio opposes the surtax, his office said.

Rising government costs and crumbling tax collections are leaving lawmakers facing a $2 billion budget shortfall next year, Senate President Mike Haridopolos said Thursday, a prospect few saw coming only months ago.

“Everything is on the table,” said Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, although he acknowled that tax increases are not. “But in June, I thought we’d be in a continuation budget. All the signs had us pointing in the right direction….But now we’re very concerned with revenue shortfalls.”

The House budget committee earlier Thursday estimated that lawmakers could come up between $1.1 billion and $2.2 billion short next year. The current year’s $69 billion budget was balanced by cutting spending, pulling cash from trust funds, and making government employees pay 3 percent of their pay to help cover pension costs.

A similar balancing act looks likely to commence in January, when lawmakers convene the 2012 session.

Florida economists are scheduled to meet Tuesday. They are expected to revise the state’s revenue forecast downward, with tax collections declining in the increasingly fragile economy.

Glimmers of trouble were evident this week, when funding for courts, road projects and school construction all reported shortfalls linked to the economy. But the news is a sharp departure from early last month, when economists forecast three years of clear budget sailing.

At that time, though, another leading senator, Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, conceded lawmakers would be wise not to celebrate over what appeared to be sufficient revenues to cover state spending through 2015.

Gaetz, in line to lead the Senate following next year’s elections, said last month that Florida’s economy is “on a knife’s edge.”

“We can’t move much, one way or the other, without some real damage,” Gaetz said.

House Budget Chair Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, said next year was beginning to look all to familiar.

 “2012 is going to be another challenging year as we face a potential $2 billion shortfall; however, I am confident we will once again solve our budget challenges while keeping taxes low and encouraging private sector economic activity,” Grimsley said. 

 

The exodus following the ouster of former Department of Corrections Secretary Ed Buss continued this week: Buss’s chief of staff Dan Ronay quit his $120,000-a-year job yesterday.

The department’s spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said new DOC chief Ken Tucker accepted Ronay’s resignation yesterday, but did not say whether he was asked to step down.

Ronay was one of more than a dozen staffers Buss brought with him from Indiana, where Buss served as corrections chief. Gov. Rick Scott forced Buss to resign in August in the midst of a prison privatization effort ordered by the legislature that a Tallahassee judge recently ruled was unconstitutional because it was included in the budget instead of in a stand-alone bill.

Buss was fired late in August but will remain on the state payroll earning $145,000 until October to help with the transition, according to Scott’s office.

Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Perry made new Florida endorsement and organizational announcements this morning as they continued to distance themselves from the rest of the GOP field in ground-game measures in the Sunshine State.

(A cautionary historical note: Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson had the most conspicuous Florida organizations at this stage of the 2008 campaign before John McCain‘s seat-of-the-pants Florida operation won the primary.)

Romney, who announced key Florida staffers last week, today announced endorsements from two former co-chairs of Tim Pawlenty‘s campaign: political webmaster and former Jeb Bush speechwriter Justin Sayfie and GOP operative and former Bush aide Slater Bayliss.

Perry this morning announced seven Florida field staffers. Read about them after the jump….

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