Federal candidates filed reports Monday showing their campaign bank account balances as of Dec. 31.

After raising and spending more than $6.5 million on his 2010 race to unseat Democrat Ron Klein, new U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, begins the 2012 cycle with only $52,459 in cash on hand. Should Klein attempt a comeback, he’ll begin with a mere $41,390 in the bank.

After a fairly easy glide to reelection in 2010, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, begins the 2012 cycle as the Palm Beach County delegation’s money leader with $432,474 in cash on hand.

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, reported $128,766 in cash on hand.

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, reported $161,204 in cash on hand.

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley still has more than $1.2 million in his campaign account. And former Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler’s campaign still has $320,673.

U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, plan to sit with each other at Tuesday night’s State of the Union speech in Washington, their offices confirmed this afternoon.

In the aftermath of the Jan. 8 shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., several lawmakers have discussed making a bipartisan show of unity and civility by sitting alongside one another without the traditional partisan separation when President Obama delivers his speech to a joint session of Congress.

Florida’s two Senators — Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Marco Rubio — have already announced plans to sit next to each other.

The Deutch-Rooney pairing is contingent on their ability to find each other Tuesday night and then locate a pair of seats together. The House chamber can be “kind of a madhouse” before a presidential address, Rooney said.

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, called the civility effort “nice,” but said he’s “planning to sit wherever I can sit.”

U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, said he’ll honor tradition by sitting on the Republican side of the chamber.

Members of Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation are reacting to today’s shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.

Giffords was doing the kind of thing members of Congress in South Florida and across the country routinely do — conducting a “Congress On Your Corner” event with constituents at a shopping center in her district — when a gunman opened fire, critically wounding her and killing a federal judge and at least four other people.

Click here for a story on local reactions.

Read after the the jump for complete statements by local members of Congress and both Florida Senators….

(more…)

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, has joined some other House liberals in signing a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposing President Obama’s agreement to extend all the expiring Bush tax cuts for two years.

Hastings and most Dems — including Obama, until recently — favored making most of the current income tax rates permanent but raising rates on those making more than $250,000 a year.

The deal with GOP leaders calls for the two-year extension of all the expiring tax cuts (setting up another showdown during the 2012 presidential election) and a 13-month extension of expiring unemployment benefits. There’s also a one-year reduction of payroll taxes and the continuation of some other middle class tax breaks that were set to expire.

Hastings signed a letter decrying the “tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires” as “fiscally irresponsible” and “grossly unfair.” Noting Obama’s original opposition to keeping the upper-income tax breaks, the letter concludes: “He should not back down. Nor should we.”

Read the letter after the jump…

(more…)

Republicans blasted U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, for voting the Democratic line 98 percent of the time, including his support for the landmark health care and stimulus bills. A billboard depicted Klein as a marionette controlled by liberal Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Klein, who was defeated by Republican Allen West on Nov. 2, was one of 20 Democrats who bucked the party today and voted against a bill to extend the Bush tax cuts only for those making $250,000 a year or less.

The bill passed by a 234-to-188 margin. Click here to see the roll call.

Republicans favor a permanent extension of all the tax cuts. Klein during the campaign favored a one-year extension of all the tax cuts, and reiterated that position today.

“The middle class is the heart and soul of America, and I strongly support middle class tax cuts,” Klein said in a statement released by his office. “However, I couldn’t vote for today’s proposal because it just didn’t go far enough. I have said consistently over the last few months that I believe all tax cuts should be extended for one year while our economy recovers and we work out a stable, long-term tax structure that allows American families and business to reasonably plan ahead.”

(more…)

U.S. Rep.-elect Allen West, one of two black Republicans elected to the House Tuesday, plans to join the Congressional Black Caucus.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

Conservative West would bring some ideological diversity to the all-Democrat, liberal-leaning caucus. It’ll also be interesting to see how he fits in after U.S. Rep. and Black Caucus member Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, enlisted caucus members to campaign against West.

Meanwhile, South Carolina’s Tim Scott, the other black Republican elected last week, tells Politico.com he’s not sure whether he’ll join the caucus.

Independent U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist used his position as governor to get people close to former President Bill Clinton and White House officials to call him so he could encourage them to get his Democratic opponent Kendrick Meek to drop out of the race, U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings said today.

“He knew Bill Clinton and Kendrick Meek were friends,” Hastings said. And, he knew he could get a call back from the White House.

“He’s the governor. People return his calls,” said Hastings, D-Miramar. “He didn’t call me because I would have cursed his ass to hell.”

(more…)

U.S. Rep. and civil rights icon John Lewis, D-Ga., will join U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, in campaigning for U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, in West Palm Beach on Friday.

It’s part of an effort Hastings described last month to Politico.com to enlist the Congressional Black Caucus to help Klein against black Republican challenger Allen West in a disrict that’s less than 5 percent black.

The rally for Klein will be at Payne Chapel A.M.E. Church in West Palm Beach at 5:30 p.m., with doors opening an hour earlier.

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, declined an invitation last week from Tea Party Fort Lauderdale to debate longshot Republican challenger Bernard Sansaricq. His initial response to the group is described in this week’s Politics column (second item).

The tea party group then said it didn’t need to host the event and asked Hastings and Sansaricq to suggest other sponsors. Hastings replied Sunday that he doesn’t see any need to “subject myself to any Tea Party shenanigans.”

Read the back-and-forth e-mails after the jump….

(more…)

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, says he’s “a bit put out by the mixed signals that are coming out from the White House” in Florida’s Senate race. If President Obama doesn’t do more to help Kendrick Meek in the Democratic primary this month, Hastings says, Obama could face an enthusiasm gap when he seeks Florida votes in 2012.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

Democratic Senate hopeful Kendrick Meek won’t be shut out when President Obama visits Miami for an Aug. 18 fund-raiser, the White House says.

“Save-the-date” notices for the event list Obama and Democratic governor candidate Alex Sink as “special guests” but don’t mention Meek.

“Congressman Meek will be joining the President at the August event,” a White House spokeswoman told The Palm Beach Post late today. There was no immediate word on what the “joining” will entail, but details of presidential visits are usually kept under wraps until the last minute.

Obama has endorsed Meek, but U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings and other Meek backers have been pressing the president to publicly show support for Meek, the party establishment favorite who’s in danger of losing the Aug. 24 Dem primary to late-arriving, big-spending Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene.

Presidential appearances on behalf of a candidate in a contested primary are rare but not unprecedented. Obama appeared with Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter in May before the Keystone State’s Democratic primary, but it was no magic bullet for the party-switching incumbent. Specter lost to Joe Sestak.

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, voted against a spending bill Tuesday to continue financing the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill passed 308-114, with Hastings and 101 other House Democrats going against the wishes of President Obama.

Palm Beach County’s other House members — Democrats Ted Deutch and Ron Klein and Republican Tom Rooney — supported the bill.

Hastings Chief of Staff Lale Mamaux on Hastings’ vote:

Congressman Hastings joined a majority of his colleagues from the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) in voting against the supplemental appropriations bill. The Senate version of the bill that the House passed was stripped of critical domestic and CBC priorities (i.e. funding for teachers, police, and fire fighters, Pell Grants, youth summer jobs, TANF Emergency Contingency Fund, and settlement funds for the decades-old discrimination Pigford and Cobell lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Ag).

Furthermore, as it pertains to Afghanistan the Congressman believes that it is past time that we re-examine our strategy in Afghanistan. He is a co-sponsor of H.R. 5015, to require a plan for the safe, orderly, and expeditious redeployment of US Forces from Afghanistan. The legislation was introduced by Congressman Jim McGovern on April 14, 2010.

With Democrats increasingly divided on the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 308-to-114 late today for a supplemental spending bill that includes $37 billion for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

President Obama’s request got more support from Republicans (160 votes) than Democrats (148 votes). Local U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, and Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, voted yes. U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, joined 101 other Dems and 12 Republicans in voting no.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, D-Miami, did not vote. Meek, who’s running for U.S. Senate, was campaigning in South Florida earlier in the day.

Click here to see the complete roll call.

U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, is getting some fund-raising help from former U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, the Democrat who lost his seat in 2008 after admitting to “multiple” extramarital affairs.

Asked about it today, Hastings said, “I’m not involved in Tim Mahoney’s personal business any more than I’m involved in Tiger Woods’ personal business. But I’m going to watch Tiger Woods play golf….If Tim Mahoney and Tiger Woods want to help me, that’s fine.”

South Florida’s own U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, is taking heat in the conservative blogosphere today for remarks at a Rules Committee hearing in which he defended a controversial “deem and pass” strategy for approving health care overhaul that Democratic leaders ended up abandoning.

(Click here to see Hastings’ entire statement, which begins at 4:44 on the C-SPAN video.)

Hastings said Republicans often used the same tactic when they were in charge of the House from 1995 to 2007. Hastings said it was time to “stop all of the rhetoric and get to the business of what’s at hand. The fact of the matter is that a lot of our fellow Americans are hurting and they don’t have affordable health care and for the life of me I cannot understand why we all should not be willing to share in order to help the least of them.”

Hastings then added:

“I wish that I had been there when Thomas Edison made the remark that I think applies here: ‘There ain’t no rules around here — we’re trying to accomplish something.’ And therefore, when the deal goes down, all this talk about rules, we make ‘em up as we go along, and I’m here now 18 years, and a significant amount of that time here on this committee under the leadership of the Republicans…”

Edison is widely quoted as saying “Hell, there are no rules here—we’re trying to accomplish something.”

Full-body imaging might have detected that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had stuffed his underwear with explosives before he boarded a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas day.

But a considerable bipartisan majority of U.S. House members are on record opposing the widespread use of such scans in a vote that saw privacy concerns trump security measures. In June, the House voted 310-to-118 for an amendment by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, that would have prohibited whole-body imaging as a “primary screening” method at airports. The amendment died in the Senate.

Chaffetz’s amendment would have allowed such scans as a “secondary” screening method, but passengers would be given the option of a pat-down search in lieu of whole-body imaging and the Transportation Security Administration would have been banned from “storing, transferring, or copying any images” from the scans.

Local U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar; Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta; and Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, supported the ban on whole-body imaging. U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, voted against the Chaffetz amendment.

Gov. Charlie Crist moved the special election to replace U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler ahead a week after Jewish voters complained the original election would have taken place during Passover.

The Jewish holiday ends on April 6, the date Crist originally picked for the special election.

“Originally, the special general election was inadvertently scheduled during Passover, and out of respect to the Jewish community, the special general election has been rescheduled to Tuesday, April 13, 2010,” Crist’s office wrote in a memo announcing the new election date.

The special primary election in the heavily Jewish Congressional District 19 will still take place on Feb. 2.

State Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, is considered the favorite to replace Wexler, who resigned to head the nonprofit Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation.

Deutch secured not only Wexler’s support but practically the entire South Florida Democratic delegation. He’s been endorsed by U.S. Reps. Ron Klein, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Alcee Hastings.

With Broward County lawyer and political mega-moneyman Scott Rothstein facing accusations of misappropriating large sums of money from investor trust accounts, the beneficiaries of his past largesse are facing pressure to give the money back.

This afternoon’s key word: “monitoring.”

Chief Financial Officer and 2010 Democratic governor candidate Alex Sink’s campaign announced she’s returning at least $2,000 in Rothstein-related contributions. The campaign has pledged to return more money if other contributors are determined to be tainted.

The Florida Democratic Party, which got a $200,000 check from Rothstein’s law firm in September, says it is “monitoring” the accusations against Rothstein and will return the money if it turns out to be tainted. The Republican Party of Florida, which has received about $500,000 from Rothstein and his law firm since 2002, also says it is “monitoring” the case.

And Gov. Charlie Crist, whose 2010 U.S. Senate campaign got $4,800 apiece from Rothstein and his wife? You guessed it: “monitoring” the allegations.

Read detailed statements after the jump…..

(more…)

South Florida Democratic U.S. Reps. Robert Wexler, Ron Klein, Alcee Hastings and Debbie Wasserman Schultz today endorsed state Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, to succeed Wexler in a special congressional election.

In addition to the display of endorsement firepower, Deutch’s campaign said it has already raised more than $200,000 in its first 10 days. And Deutch has about a dozen fund-raisers scheduled for the next six weeks, including one in Washington hosted by his congressional endorsers and events in New York and Cleveland.

Wexler is resigning in January to head the nonprofit Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation. A special election is expected in early 2010.

(more…)

Although it’s a prostitution-themed video sting that has rocked ACORN, Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, hopes to use the scandal to revive Republican efforts to clamp down on elections activities by the left-leaning outfit and its allies.

Hasner and other Republicans have long accused the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now of perpetrating voter fraud.

But Republican Gov. Charlie Crist pooh-poohed those concerns in Florida last year when John McCain’s presidential campaign tried to make them an issue. And Crist voiced concerns this year when Hasner and other Republicans pushed for heightened restrictions and stiffer penalties for groups like ACORN that specialize in voter-registration and petition drives. The legislation died.

(more…)