Rubio is slated to speak at 10 a.m. Thursday at the annual Who’s Who national gathering of conservatives. He’s also expected to attend a few fund-raising events while he’s in town, including one with GOP stars Mary Matalin and Liz Cheney and former U.S. Reps. J.C. Watts and Vin Weber.
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 by Michael C. Bender
Martin Edward Grossman on Tuesday was the fifth execution since Republican Gov. Charlie Crist reinstated the death penalty in July 2008.
Grossman
But on the final day of his life, nearly 50,000 calls and e-mails flooded Crist’s office pleading for him to halt the execution, a spokesman said. Many of the calls came from New York, where Jewish leaders organized a petition campaign to save Grossman’s life.
Attorney General Bill McCollum continues to defer to GOP party leaders instead of ordering an investigation into possible criminal conduct regarding credit card abuses at the Republican Party of Florida.
McCollum today said he may ask the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to look into the matter but that he would wait until the new chairman of the RPOF - expected to be Sen. John Thrasher - is elected this weekend.
Also today, Florida Democrats shut down McCollum’s anti-corruption hotline, filling up the 800 number’s voice mail in an effort to draw attention to McCollum’s refusal to investigate the credit card charges even after other top Republicans want the books opened.
McCollum said he won’t ask for inquiry until an audit of the RPOF is complete and he gets direction from the new party chairman to move although Gov. Charlie Crist last week said that party officials should open the books now.
“I’m waiting about what the new chairman might discover. I don’t see any evidence at this point of criminal behavior,” McCollum said today after a speech to the National Federation of Independent Business.
Conservatives in the GOP were outraged, and the stimulus embrace became fuel for former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio’s Republican primary bid for U.S. Senate against Crist. Rubio is marking the anniversary with a rally in Fort Myers tonight, an online fund-raising blitz , and the Web video above.
Less noticed that day in Fort Myers was a woman named Mary Rakovich who organized a small stimulus protest. The term “tea party” wouldn’t be attached to such demonstrations until MSNBC’s Rick Santelli’s famed rant nine days later. But Rakovich, trained by the Washington-based conservative group FreedomWorks, is credited with perhaps the first tea party protest.
Should a new RPOF chairman release the party's credit card statements?
Yes (83.0%, 79 Votes)
No (17.0%, 16 Votes)
Total Voters: 95
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Paula Dockery is beating the drum for the incoming Republican Party of Florida chairman to release all its credit card statements and put an end to the “drip, drip, drip” of embarrassing news stories that has hampered fund-raising in recent months. From her letter today to Sharon Day and John Thrasher, RPOF chairmen candidates:
You are campaigning to lead our party back to its conservative ways. One of you will be tasked with ending this public-relations nightmare, a distraction that is getting in the way of electing Republicans statewide.
And so, on behalf of common-sense conservatives, let me ask this: can we count on you to follow best practices and come clean about the extent of the spending problem?
It’s not exactly clear how many credit cards soon-to-be-former Chairman Jim Greer passed out. We know former House Speaker Ray Sansom had one (it’s part of the lawsuit in which he’s accused of falsfying the state budget). And we know that former RPOF Director Delmar Johnson had one (it was leaked to the press last week).
We also know that Senate President Jeff Atwater and House Speaker Marco Rubio each had one while directing the campaigns within their respective chamber. Both say they’ll release their statements if everyone else does, too.
Today, Atwater said he would support a new chairman disclosing the statements.
Gov. Charlie Crist’s inspector general found Transportation Department Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos did no wrong by using breakfast words as subject lines in e-mails dealing with the controversial SunRail project.
And IG Melinda Miguel also cleared the department of any wrongdoing by not providing e-mails on the SunRail deal to Sen. Paula Dockery until after Crist’s open government office was brought in.
“No evidence was found to suggest that any Department official intentionally withheld documents in violation of the law,” Miguel wrote in her 45-page report. “To the contrary, evidence shows that an unintentional, human error occurred during the initial public records request.”
Kopelousos and her aides insisted that they used the words “Pancakes” and “waffles” in subject lines to draw attention to the messages about the rail deal out of the thousands that the secretary receives daily.
Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties are putting together a legislative task force to help streamline relief to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
The tri-county area is home to the greatest number of Haitian immigrants and has been ground-zero for state and federal Haitian aid efforts.
Newly elected state Rep. Mack Bernard, a West Palm Beach Democrat who was born in Port-au-Prince where the epicenter of the deadly earthquake struck last month, is heading up Palm Beach County’s delegation in the task force, which will include Reps. Juan Zapata, R-Miami, and Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs, and up to 9 other South Florida lawmakers.
Bernard wants better communication from Gov. Charlie Crist, who he said telephoned him the night of the earthquake on Jan. 12 but hasn’t spoken with him since.
Bernard visited Haiti last week. His sister and her three children are now homeless as a result of the disaster, Bernard said.
Crist should appoint a “Haiti czar” to streamline efforts that could be an economic boon to financially-strapped Florida, Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, suggested.
“It’s that lack of communication, especially from the governor’s office” that is creating frustration for representatives from the tri-county area, which has the state’s largest Haitian immigrant population and is now on the front line providing aid and resources to the ravaged nation, Bernard said.
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 by Michael C. Bender
Gov. Charlie Crist told lawmakers, who spent much of Wednesday belittling Crist’s budget recommendation, that they have until May to come up with their own spending plan.
“We make a recommendation. This is a process. The legislature appropriates. And they’re beginning that process,” Crist said.
“I know that they will do it in a respectful way and the people of Florida will appreciate that. We have until the beginning of May.”
A bipartisan House panel rejected Gov. Charlie Crist’s budget proposals, telling his budget chief the governor’s plan was as sketchy as building a household budget on winning the Lottery.
“There’s nothing here that I can use,” House health care budget chief Denise Grimsley, R-Lake Placid, told Jerry McDaniel, Crist’s budget guru.
Democrats and Republicans alike peppered McDaniel about the assumptions built into Crist’s $69.2 billion budget, including $1.1 billion in Medicaid funding that Congress has not yet approved, $443 million for education spending in a gambling compact that the legislature last year rejected, $300 million in local property taxes that 24 counties have not yet levied, and the absence of $350 million to comply with constitutional class size requirements based on a measure that has not even gone on the ballot yet.
“The validity of any decision-making process is always based on the assumptions you make,” said Rep. Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, chairman of the House transportation committee.
Crist’s assumptions are too iffy, Glorioso said.
“I can’t live with that. If I was doing this budget for myself with these assumptions I would be making a vast mistake. We need a better product soon. What if these things don’t come in? You always plan on a worst scenario…It’s always easier to add back into a budget than it is to come back six months out and do another cut. I’d like to see another proposal without all these basic assumptions in here,” he said.
McDaniel said the governor might offer a revised budget a week or two before the end of session if there was no chance a compact was going to pass. But that didn’t placate House budget chief David Rivera.
“I will tell you that as far as this committee is concerned, we need a budget. We have to work on a budget. I’m disappointed that we can’t start on that budget process together because our assumptions are so far apart,” Rivera, R-Miami, told McDaniel. “I hope that we will have other recommendations before the end of session thinking that it’s always better late than never. But this committee in the House of Representatives doesn’t have the luxury of waiting.”
Legislative leaders-in-waiting Sen. Don Gaetz and Rep. Will Weatherford are heading up a GOP initiative to water down constitutional class size limits approved by voters.
Gaetz, R-Destin, and Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, sponsored a constitutional amendment lawmakers are expected to put on the ballot this year that would undo some of the class size restrictions voters approved in 2002.
Floridians have already spent $16 billion to shrink class sizes but plummeting property tax collections - which pay for public schools - have sent lawmakers scrambling to foot the $22 billion-a-year tab for education.
Gaetz and Weatherford, who are expected to lead their chambers in 2012, will reveal details of their proposal at a press conference tomorrow morning.
Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running for U.S. Senate, recently said that he supports undoing the class size restrictions, which have been been introduced gradually and which school officials say costs too much and doesn’t benefit student achievement.
U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Democrat is also running for the U.S. Senate seat Crist seeks, was the force behind the class size amendment in 2002 while he was in the state Senate.
He isn’t backing down from the limits, which are set to go into full effect by the end of this year.
“Eight years later, Tallahassee officials have not relented in trying to water down hard-fought class size limits while refusing to tackle the special interest bidding that is alive and well in the state capital, ” said Kendrick Meek, who served as Chairman of Florida’s Coalition to Reduce Class Size in 2002.
“Florida families cannot be shortchanged. They simply ask that their children not be packed into overcrowded classrooms. Instead of focusing on misguided priorities, Florida needs a long-term perspective to secure a better future for our children. Implementing the class size limits without delay is critical so our teachers can teach in classrooms where our students can learn. Moreover, it is important to note that our state needs to invest now in its human capital in order to reverse the tide of joblessness for tomorrow’s workers,” Meek said in press release.
Gov. Charlie Crist’s proposed $500 million boost to education spending based on an unlikely gambling agreement is unrealistic, Senate President Jeff Atwater said this morning.
“The numbers that I would see at this moment that were included in that release did seem to be a bit optimistic,” Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, said at a meeting of reporters and editors.
Crist’s $22.7 billion public education budget, released Monday, relies on about $433 million from the Seminole Tribe of Florida now sitting in the bank as part of a deal with the state allowing certain types of gambling at the tribe’s casinos.
But the legislature has refused to sign off on a deal inked by Crist and the tribe and early indications show that an agreement this year remains in doubt.
“We worked hard on a gaming compact and we’re not done but to just plug in the numbers that I saw was rather optimistic,” Atwater, who is running for chief financial officer said.
Gov. Charlie Crist, apparently recovered from the man-hug he shared with President Barack Obama last year, is trying to meet with the president tomorrow in Tampa.
Obama will be in Florida to announce the winners of about $8 billion in federal grants for high speed rail projects, and it is almost certain that at least part of the state’s $2.5 billion ask will be granted.
Crist, who is scheduled to be in Tampa tomorrow, said his staff is working on a get-together with the president.
“I would like to see him, yes. It looks like it’s possible, yes,” Crist said after a speech to editors and reporters at the Capitol this morning.
Crist said he has three things to discuss with Obama, including some advice on reaching out across the aisle, a practice that has landed Crist in hot water with his fellow Republicans.
“I hope that what he announceas in Tampa brings a lot of jobs to Florida in the form of high speed rail. Number two, I’d like to talk to him about a more bipartisan approach which means, you know, it’s a two-way street, you know, reaching out more to Republicans and have them involved in the important issues of the day.
And then finally, encourage him on Race to the Top and lobby him a little,” Crist said. Race to the Top is a federal education grant program that could bring about $1 billion to Florida.
GOP critics lambasted Crist, a Republican running for U.S. Senate, for cheerleading for Obama’s $800 billion stimulus package last year. Crist appeared with Obama in Florida last year and a photo of the two embracing was used by critics to embarrass Crist in his GOP primary campaign against former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
Crist later denied he supported the stimulus, saying he did not have the opportunity to vote for it in Congress.
Crist repeated his “let’s-all-get-along” emphasis when asked what he expected from the president’s state of the union address tonight.
“A common sense approach, more bipartisanship, and I hope he delivers,” he said.
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 by Michael C. Bender
Gov. Charlie Crist said he would help create jobs this year by pushing a corporate income tax cut, bringing back a sales tax holiday for back-to-school shoppers and cutting “red tape” for business permits and regulation.
“Most of what we will focus on this session will be related to the economy, to jobs,” Crist said.
Crist wants to reduce the corporate income tax by 1 percent on the first $1 million in a company’s profits. He said his proposal would affect 35,000 businesses in the state.
Noting 1 million Floridians were out of work, Crist said, “We have to do everything we possibly can to make sure more of them gain employment. I think this will help.”
Crist ran through a list of accomplishments, including the state’s Everglades land purchase and retaining Piper Aircraft in Vero Beach, and said he would “probably” veto another bill that deregulates property insurance companies in Florida.
Crist briefly touched on his U.S. Senate Republican primary during a Q-and-A session.
Asked whether he could win as an independent candidate, Crist said, “We’ll never know.” Asked if he would seek an endorsement from former Gov. Jeb Bush, he said: “I’ll ask the people for their endorsement.”
Gov. Charlie Crist’s Senate campaign announced today it began 2010 with more than $7.5 million in cash on hand while the campaign of his GOP primary rival, former Florida House speaker Marco Rubio, says it has about $2 million in the bank.
But not all that money can be spent before the primary. Contributors can give up to $2,400 for a primary and $2,400 for a general election. So some of the money a candidate collects from big givers can’t be used until after the primary.
Neither campaign offered precise figures today. A Crist spokeswoman says “the majority” of Crist’s $7.5 million is available for the primary. A Rubio spokesman says “practically all” of Rubio’s money is for the primary.
UPDATE:Crist shrugged off the poll results this morning, telling reporters that his main responsibility was to govern and “fight for the people.” Rubio’s campaign sent out a press release announcing the results, but did not offer a reaction.
Marco Rubio, who once trailed Gov. Charlie Crist by 31 points in polling on the 2010 Republican Senate primary, now has a narrow lead in the race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.
The poll shows former Florida House speaker Rubio with 47 percent to Crist’s 44 percent among Republicans, a lead within the poll’s margin of error.
The poll also finds Florida voters disapprove of President Obama’s job performance by a 49-to-45 percent margin.
In hypothetical general election matchups, Rubio tops Democratic Senate front-runner Kendrick Meek by a 44-35 margin while Crist tops Meek 48-36.
The White House announced Thursday that President Obama will travel to the Tampa-St. Petersburg area on Thursday, the day after his first State of the Union speech.
One person who probably won’t be in the audience: Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who has been under fire for supporting Obama’s stimulus package.
“Right now there is not any plan for him to be with the president,” Crist spokesman Sterling Ivey said.
(Meanwhile, the Crist campaign sent out this press release today saying that Obama has done nothing to help the state’s 11.8 percent unemployment rate.)
Crist is planning a road show over the next two weeks to roll out his state budget proposal. The tentative plan includes an education budget press conference in his hometown St. Petersburg on Monday and a full budget roll out in Tallahassee on Friday.
The following week, he’ll be on the road Tuesday and Thursday to highlight budget proposals, including his ideas for economic development. On Wednesday, Crist is in Tallahassee for an annual Associated Press editors meeting.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that corporations and unions can spend as much as they want on “electioneering communications,” the negative ads targeting candidates.
The ruling could have a sweeping effect on Florida campaigns, especially in battleground races like the U.S. Senate GOP primary between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
The suit was filed by a group behind Hillary Clinton-bashing ads in her U.S. Senate campaign.
The court decided in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission that banning corporations and unions from paying for the ads equates to a chilling effect on free speech.
“There is no basis for the proposition that, in the political speech context, the government may impose restrictions on certain disfavored speakers. Both history and logic lead to this conclusion,” the ruling reads. “Political speech is so ingrained in this country’s culture that speakers find ways around campaign finance laws. Rapid changes in technology—and the creative dynamic inherent in the concept of free expression—counsel against upholding a law that restricts political speech in certain media or by certain speakers.”
Common Cause said the ruling “creates political crisis” by paving the way for corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of cash on elections.
“The Roberts court today made a bad situation worse,” Common Cause President Bob Edgar said in a press release. “This decision allows Wall Street to tap its vast corporate profits to drown out the voice of the public in our democracy. “The path from here is clear: Congress must free itself from Wall Street’s grip so Main Street can finally get a fair shake.We need to change the way America pays for elections. Passing the Fair Elections Now Act would give us the best Congress money can’t buy.”
Former Gov. Jeb Bush is supporting Senate President Jeff Atwater in his statewide run for chief financial officer, even though Atwater has a Republican opponent in the primary.
Atwater’s campaign released the announcement Wednesday, along with a link to a YouTube video in which Bush, still influential in GOP politics in Florida, says of Atwater, “It’s his life experience of being a committed family person, of being a successful businessman and also having served in positions of increasing responsibility in the Florida Legislature that have made Jeff uniquely qualified to handle this job.”
A group of Haitian orphans, whose orphanage was destroyed by last week's massive earthquake, stand bundled together Tuesdayas they wait to be loaded onto to a bus after arriving in Pittsburgh. The orphans initially landed in Sanford, Fla. on Monday. (AP)
Since the earthquake seven days ago, Florida has been the destination for more than 4,500 Haitians in the process of repatriation, state emergency operation officials said today.
State officials said about 45,000 American citizens are still in Haiti. But officials could not say how many were from Florida or how many intended to return to the United States.
“The state is focused on returning U.S. citizens to their families and supporting our federal partners,” Gov. Charlie Crist said.
After arriving in Florida, many Haitians will continue on to other parts of the country. For example, 53 orphans landed in Sanford on Monday, but have since been relocated to Pennsylvania.
Gov. Charlie Crist took credit for the Public Service Commission’s unanimous decision yesterday to grant FPL a $75 million-a-year rate hike, just a fraction of $1.2 billion the Juno Beach-based utility had sought.
Crist revamped the panel with two new appointments, Commissioners David Klement and Benjamin “Steve” Stevens,” late last year and appointed Chairwoman Nancy Argenziano and Nathan Skop in 2007. Crist’s appointments were intended to create a more consumer-friendly commission that in previous years when PSC votes were considered to lean more toward the utilities it regulates.
Asked if he had an impact on yesterday’s vote, Crist said: “It’s fairly obvious, isn’t it?”
The FPL decision came on the heels of a vote Monday in which the PSC denied Progress Energy Florida’s $500 million rate hike request and ordered them to repay $23 million in depreciation costs to consumers.
Crist last year effectively fired two commissioners by not reappointing them and the PSC delayed votes on the issues until the new commissioners took office this month.
Crist dismissed Florida Power & Light Co. President Armando Olivera’s assertion that the PSC vote will cost the state 20,000 new jobs from projects it is now putting on hold.
“Well we certainly don’t hope for that. I don’t think that’s going to be the case. I think that what happened is the Public Service Commission is an independent body that has a duty to perform their job. I think they did exactly that,” Crist said.
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The White House announced Thursday that 
Where's the money? Use The Post's interactive database of who wants and who's getting federal dollars.
Use these interactive graphics to find and contact Palm Beach County and Treasure Coast legislators.
Sentenced to die for crimes judged heinous and cruel, inmates await execution in a 9 feet by 6 feet cell.
