AARP  became the latest organization to fire off a letter urging federal authorities to reject the vast Medicaid overhaul approved by the state’s Republican-ruled Legislature last spring.

House Democrats, the Florida Medical Association, and the National Community Pharmacists Association are among dozens of groups that already have written the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) demanding it reject the state’s proposal to shift almost 3 million low-income, elderly and disabled Floridians into managed care programs.

The waiver sought by the state builds on a five-county pilot program started by former Gov. Jeb Bush. The program, which includes Broward County, has drawn criticism from patients who complain about being switched from one plan to another, or trouble seeing needed specialty doctors. Analysts have also given the pilot mixed reviews for its cost-savings and quality.

AARP, in a letter dated Wednesday, cites that performance, saying the state’s bid for federal approval for a waiver from existing requirements, “neither addresses the shortcomings of the current pilot program, nor recognizes the need for both a strong state oversight and a robust network of providers throughout the state.”

Joyce Rogers, an AARP senior vice-president, concluded the expansion also, “would place the state’s frailest and most vulnerable residents into a longterm managed care program that the state is not ready to operate.”

House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders offered strategic advice Wednesday to ruling Republicans while making a few political predictions, as well.

The Key West lawmaker said he expected that GOP leaders will deliberately slow down budget talks next year – likely leaving the bulk of budget-making for a special session.

 When lawmakers convene in January, Saunders forecast that the Republican-controlled Legislature will move quickly to approve a redistricting plan, submitting it for court approval.

 If rejected by judges, that would give lawmakers time to craft another plan before the scheduled end of the two-month regular session.

The budget, though, will be kept back by leaders, Saunders said, to maintain control over rank-and-file lawmakers.

“It’d be nice to have that budget still sitting out there, to have some leverage over your members,” said Saunders, who a decade ago helped lead redistricting for the then-Democratic majority.

Saunders said that because of declining population in some Republican-heavy areas – including Pinellas County – as many as eight GOP House members may find themselves scrambling for political turf now held by a fellow House Republican.

Those wounded by final decisions are likely to have little loyalty to leaders, Saunders suggested.

“There’s going to be a lot more upset Republican members than Democratic members,” Saunders said.

Democrats? “They’ve pretty much bottomed us out. It’d be hard to draw maps worse than what we have now he said.

 

UPDATE: Florida Republicans call the Dems new website “desperate.” This from Republican Party of Florida spokesman Brian Hughes: “With the most recent state reports showing RPOF outraised Florida Democrats by 5-to-1, it’s no surprise they are desperate to raise money. But this lame website demonstrates a level of desperation that is even worse than we thought possible. Instead of touting their anointed leaders, Barack Obama or Debbie Wasserman Schultz, they recycle ridiculous, cheap attacks. This tactic is more evidence why Floridians reject Democrats on Election Day.”

The Florida Democratic Party launched a new website today blaming Gov. Rick Scott and his fellow Republican lawmakers for the state’s dire economic straits.

The website accuses “Rickpublicans” of ethical lapses and causing teacher layoffs, among other things, and blasts Scott for “backsliding” on his campaign pledge to create 700,000 jobs over seven years as governor.

And the Dems remind viewers that Republicans have had a stranglehold on the state legisalture and governor’s mansion for more than a decade.

The site gives this definition of a “Rickpublican:”
[rick-puhb-li-kuh´n]
noun
1. Proper name for Florida Republicans wrought with greed and corruption who are hell-bent on selling out to the corporations and special interests while leaving Florida’s middle class families out-to-dry.

The Dems also use “Six Degrees of Separation” to link half a dozen GOP politicians – including Palm Beach County’s Adam Hanser and U.S. Rep. Allen West – to Scott, whose popularity among voters remains dim.

A federal judge Monday temporarily halted drug-testing of Florida welfare recipients, siding with opponents of the new law championed by Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-led Legislature.

U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven said the testing requirement amounts to an unreasonable search and seizure, chiding state lawmakers for ignoring an “overwhelming body of case law,” when they approved the measure last spring.

The legal challenge was brought by the ACLU of Florida and the Florida Justice Institute, which hailed the judge’s decision.

Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa,  said Scott and state officials should just abandon efforts to defend the drug-testing policy for applicants for benefits under the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

“Not only is the new law a punishment for being poor, it’s a waste of tax dollars; the overwhelmingly majority of TANF applicants test negative,” Joyner said. “Now, taxpayers are on the hook for millions of dollars to reimburse these families for a test that exclusively benefits the drug testing industry.”

Since Florida’s new law testing welfare recipients took effect July 1, 7,030 passed, 32 failed and 1,597 did not provide results, according to Florida Department of Children and Families records.

The only other state to implement a similar drug-testing policy, Michigan, had its drug-testing law overturned in 2003 by a federal court.

A Cuban-born Democratic lawmaker Thursday demanded a public apology from Rep. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, who earlier this week questioned whether state redistricting efforts were considering whether Hispanic residents were U.S. citizens.

Rep. Luis Garcia, D-Miami Beach, sent a letter to House Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Melbourne, calling Hays’ remarks “offensive.”

“Every day I read about the importance of the growing Hispanic community,” Garcia said in his letter. “Yet all we see are disrespectful and hurtful remarks and legislation coming from the Florida Legislature.”

Hays, a social conservative, is no stranger to drawing heat for his comments. As a House member, Hays clashed with gay students who claimed he told them that a gay cousin who died of AIDS deserved his fate; he’s also compared abortion with the Holocaust.

In the latest episode, Hays entered a discussion about the Legislature’s likelihood of creating a new Central Florida legislative district with a predominantly Hispanic population. The federal Voting Rights Act requires that lawmakers create what is termed “minority opportunity districts.”

During a Senate Reapportionment Committee meeting Tuesday, Hays said he didn’t think federal law required forming districts “that encompass people who are not registered voters.” Senate staff assured him that only those with citizenship can vote.

Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, later called for Hays to resign his post on the Reapportionment Committee. She said his comments were especially outrageous since the Hispanic district discussion centered on Central Florida, where the Hispanic population is heavily Puerto Rican.

Hays didn’t immediately respond to the criticism.

Even as the Hays was under fire, Haridopolos announced the launch of a new Spanish-language translation feature for the Senate website.  This new feature will allow visitors to the website to read select pages of the site in Spanish by selecting the “Ver En Español” button.  

 “We are proud to introduce a Spanish-language translation feature on our website,” Haridopolos said. “Florida is a diverse state, and it’s important that we provide all of our state’s citizens with a voice in the legislative process.”

Maintaining the current number of districts electing black and Hispanic lawmakers to the House, Senate and Congress from Florida was named the top priority Tuesday of the Senate’s Reapportionment Committee, a potentially powerful political and legal stance which could blunt Democratic efforts to regain seats.

Backing a motion by Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, a former Florida Republican Party chairman, the GOP-dominated panel agreed to set priorities, or “tiers” as some lawmakers described, as they begin redrawing the state’s political boundaries.

The once-a-decade process has become complicated after voters last fall approved a pair of constitutional amendments which require that lawmakers not work to protect incumbents or party influence when drawing the lines.

Safeguarding seats that have elected black or Hispanic lawmakers, however, has become another story.

The federal Voting Rights Act requires that lawmakers not take steps that could prevent minorities from electing a candidate of their choice. The Reapportionment Committee interpreted that provision Tuesday as urging they start map-drawing by reinstating districts currently held by minority lawmakers.

“Racial protection is clearly paramount,” Thrasher told the committee.

On the tiers outlined by the panel, creation of districts that are compact or respect geographic boudaries — such as city or county lines — are lesser priorities, although they were central parts of the voter-approved amendments.

“Compactness will probably be decided by the courts, because we have no standard definition,” said Committee Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

Indeed, there are few definitions guiding redistricting — only past court opinions, beginning with those stemming from the U.S. Supreme Court. But Tuesday’s determination by the committee could prove an influential milepost as lawmakers engage in line-drawing, which is expected to dominate next spring’s legislative session.

The campaign resulting in voter approval of Amendments 5 and 6 last fall was financed by Democratic-leaning organizations, individuals and unions. The new standards are aimed at discouraging the formation of multi-county districts, including those with voting populations roughly 50 percent black, who usually vote Democratic.

Ruling Republicans have helped their own numbers with these minority-access districts, since concentrating Democratic voters often allows the GOP to  win neighboring districts. With the committee agreeing to use current minority districts as the starting-off point for map-building, Republican dominance could endure — even with Democrats holding a 600,000 statewide voter edge.

Democrats on the committee offered little resistence Tuesday. Only Rep. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, challenged the committee’s theme, pointing out that voters in Jacksonville recently elected a black mayor, Alvin Brown, who had support from all corners of the community.

Braynon said voting performance — not just the raw numbers of voting population — is what the committee should consider.

 

A day after unveiling his latest seven-step themed plan – this one toward creating jobs and spurring economic development — Gov. Rick Scott turned into saleman-in-chief Thursday, pitching his plan at appearances in Jacksonville, Panama City and on talk radio.

Scott gained some additional talking points with Congress ending a deadlock that spanned two presidencies and approving a series of free trade agreements, including those with Panama and Colombia.

In his jobs’ plan, Scott highlighted the prospect of enhanced trade with Central and South America as a motive behind his push for more public works projects at Florida’s 14 deepwater sea ports.

“Free trade with Panama and Colombia will benefit Florida’s economy and businesses for years to come,” Scott said after the bipartisan vote in Congress.  “By eliminating the need to pay tariffs in order to export Florida goods and products to those expanding economies, Florida companies will now be able to invest their money in creating jobs.”

Scott on Thursday is scheduled to tour an aviation center at Jacksonville’s Cecil Field and an industrial and retail complex near the year-old Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport outside Panama City.

The Florida Democratic Party’s money woes worsened over the past three months, according to quarterly finance reports released Tuesday.

In the previous quarter, almost half of the state party’s $1.1 million raised came from Republicans who formed a political committee to help elect Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown, a Democrat. Now, in the quarter ending Sept. 30, Democratic fund-raising bottomed out at $894,445, making it the party’s worst three-month total since right after the November 2006 elections.

For the year, Democrats have raised about $3 million — compared with $14 million for the Florida Republican Party.

The state GOP weighed-in with $5.5 million this quarter, according to reports posted Tuesday night by the state Secretary of State.

Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning today asked a court to do away with federal approval of changes to the state’s elections laws in five counties under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, alleging that the that part of the Act is unconstitutional.

Browning also asked a three-judge federal court panel in Washington to expedite its review of four election law changes approved by lawmakers this spring and signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott. Browning went to the court in July for approval after initially submitting the new laws to the U.S. Department of Justice for “preclearance,” required for under federal law for five counties – Hendry, Collier, Hardee, Hillsborough and Monroe – with a history of racial discrimination against voters.

The federal law covers the Florida counties as well as six other southern states – Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana,
Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia – Alaska, and counties in North Carolina, Arizona, Hawaii, and Idaho.

Under changes to the Voting Rights Act approved by Congress in 1972, the preclearance is required for jurisdictions in which at the time less than 50 percent of the voting-age citizens were registered to vote or voted in the presidential election, had a non-English-speaking population of more than five percent, and provided voting materials only in English.

“I am hopeful the federal court will come to a quick resolution and approve the remaining provisions of our preclearance submission as nondiscriminatory,” Browning said in a statement. “However, I am frustrated that the reason we are still waiting to implement Florida law in five counties is because of an arbitrary and irrational coverage formula based on data from 40 years ago that takes no account of current conditions.”

All changes to the state’s new elections laws must be approved by the Justice Department or by a federal court, a rare move according to elections experts.

Browning asked the court to rule on the new elections laws before the end of the year. If not, that could pose problems for Floridians voting in the GOP primary now slated for Jan. 31 because the five counties would not be operating under the same laws as the rest of the state. State law requires that voting laws be uniform statewide.

Instead of getting federal approval for the four most controversial portions of the state’s new elections laws, Browning went to court, making U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder a defendant in the case.

Florida is one of more than a dozen states that passed elections laws this spring that critics object are aimed at keeping low-income, minority and college-student voters – who typically vote for Democrats and helped President Obama win the 2008 presidential election – away from the polls.

The ACLU and others are challenging the new elections laws in federal court in Miami.

Less than two months after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Gov. Rick Scott could not require agencies to get his formal approval for rules they wanted to enact, a spokesperson said Wednesday the office is still reviewing the proposals — informally.

But a few House Democrats said such action may violate at least the spirit of justices’ 5-2 decision.

“Isn’t this like an end run around the court decision, that you”re subverting the court ruling?” Rep. Franklin Sands, D-Weston, asked Patricia Nelson, deputy director of Scott’s Office of Fiscal Accountability and Regulatory Reform.

Nelson said the governor still insisted on a “very close oversight of agency rulemaking.” But she denied that agencies had to go through the governor to get a go-ahead.

Indeed, Nelson said that if an agency has a standard that it must set quickly, or if there’s a backlog slowing review of a proposed rule, officials are told to enact it.

“We tell them you can move forward, because you don’t have to wait for my approval, based on the Supreme Court ruling,” Nelson said.

In a letter to agency heads sent shortly after the court ruling, Scott chief-of-staff Steve MacNamara said the governor “believes the majority opinion is illogical and grossly misreads the Florida Constitution.” MacNamara said Nelson’s three-person office will continue to “advise” agencies on what kind of rules they should enact.

Scott has vowed to cut government regulations and red tape. But Democrats on the House Rulemaking and Regulation Subcommittee saidWednesday  they were concerned that Scott’s review still amounted to undue influence, while acknowledging the agencies affected are under his control.

“It raises some great concern to me,” said Rep. Barbara Watson, D-Miami Gardens.

The dominos began falling Monday after Florida last week set a Jan. 31 presidential primary, with South Carolina announcing it had moved its contest to 10 days ahead of the Sunshine State’s.

“Today, South Carolina’s Republican primary restores order,” South Carolina GOP Chairman Chad Connelly said in announcing the date.

Still, there’s plenty in flux.

Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire — designated by the two national parties as early voting states — haven’t announced their dates yet, with all expected to jump ahead of Florida, which broke party rules by leapfrogging into January.

New Hampshire now is looking at Jan. 3 or 10 for its first-in-the-nation primary. State law in Iowa could push caucuses there  into 2011 if New Hampshire grabs Jan. 3, since the Hawkeye State must vote eight days before another state’s contest.

Amid some last-minute wrangling, a special commission Friday agreed to set Jan. 31 as the date for the state’s presidential primary — risking penalties from the national parties but giving what supporters said is Florida’s rightful, powerful place in selecting the nominees.

With President Obama assured of being renominated, the early date controversy largely focused on Republicans. The Jan. 31 date was set on a 7-2 vote by the commission, with the only opposition coming from a pair of Democrats on the panel.

“I don’t want to see the voices in Florida diminished and be penalized because we didn’t follow the rules,” said Rep. Cynthia Stafford, D-Miami, who joined with Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, in voting against the early date.

Stafford and Siplin had pushed for a March 6 primary date. Former Sen. Al Lawson, another Democrat on the panel, had proposed a Jan. 3 primary — before siding with the majority on the Jan. 31 date.

Both national parties last year approved a rule barring states from holding primaries before March 6, with the exception of the traditional early-voting states, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Those states are now expected to advance their primary and caucus votes ahead of Florida — resulting in a spate of January voting dates that the Republican National Committee had sought to avoid.

Florida’s move was sparked, at least in part, by Arizona, Michigan and Missouri, which recently also leapfrogged the early states to schedule delegate-selection contests in February. House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, said such shifting effectively forced Florida’s hand.

“I believe the voters in Florida need to be heard as loud and as impactful as possible,” he said. “I respect the Republican National Committee, I respect the institution of the party, but at the end of the day, I have a constitutional duty to the citizens of this state, who are paying for this election.”

Florida and other states jumping forward face the loss of half their delegates to the Republican Party’s nominating convention next summer in Tampa. Some critics say that could blunt Florida’s allure.

The RNC has scheduled a 3 p.m. conference call to respond to the moves by Florida and other states.

The state House plans to join a pair of Florida members of Congress in appealing a federal judge’s ruling that upheld a new, voter-approved standard for lawmakers when they draw congressional and legislative boundaries next year, House Speaker Dean Cannon said Thursday.

The move extends a battle between the Republican-ruled Legislature and the Democratic-allied Fair Districts campaign, which spearheaded the effort leading to voter approval of Florida constitutional amendments 5 and 6 last fall. Cannon, R-Winter Park,  and U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, argue that Amendment 6 violates the U.S. Constitution by attempting to make state law apply to a federal matter.

U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro rejected the lawsuit earlier this month. But Cannon said Thursday that Ungaro is wrong.

 He drew on a federal court’s two-decade old ruling that in Florida, voter-approved term limits could not apply to members of Congress, in making the case for appeal.

“The federal court said, ‘no it doesn’t apply to congressional seats because Article 1, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution says only Congress and the federal constitution can prescribe limits like that,” Cannon said. “And we think the exact same argument applies here.”

The Legislature must draw new districts in time for the 2012 elections to reflect 2010 census data. The process in Florida and other states has historically been dominated by partisanship and political considerations. But Amendments 5 and 6 state that districts cannot be drawn to favor incumbents or political parties and must be compact and adhere to existing city, county and geographical boundaries “where feasible.”

The amendment also states that districts must not deny minorities the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.

Fair Districts and its supporters have called on Cannon to end the legal attack on the amendment — approved by 63 percent of voters. But Cannon said the thousands of dollars in taxpayer money spent challenging the measure is needed.

“This lawsuit is not about any specific map, or even this specific year,” Cannon said. “It’s about defining the responsibility of our state Legislature under the federal constitution.”

But Dan Gelber, a former Democratic legislator who now represents Fair Districts, said “it is offensive to spend taxpayer money to fight your own constituents.” He noted that Florida taxpayers are paying for legal costs on both sides — for the Secretary of State to defend the new state standards, and for the House seeking to overturn it.

“It shows are desperate the Republican-ruled Legislature is to retain their ability to draw district lines the way they want,” Gelber said.

Cannon, though, assured that lawmakers will abide by the Amendment 5 and 6 standards when they begin line-drawing as early as next month. Cannon acknowledged that it could prove months before a ruling emerges from 11th U.S. District Court of Appeals.

With Republicans dominating the political landscape in Florida heading into the weekend, President Obama’s campaign held a conference call with reporters Friday, defending its position in the crucial battleground state.

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said the president’s re-election effort has enlisted 5,000 volunteers across the state, with offices opened in Tallahassee, Tampa, Miami, Orlando and Jacksonville. More are to open in coming weeks, Messina said.

“The base is mobilizing for the president, not only in Florida, but across the country,” Messina said.

Campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt also downplayed results of a new Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday, which showed Obama now faces the lowest popularity rating of his presidency in Florida.

 LaBolt said that as the Republican field narrows, voters will see that the GOP platform pivots on many of the same policy approaches that “created the same economic challenges that we face now.”

  He also said Thursday night’s Fox-News debate from Orlando effectively showed the Republican field focused primarily on “things they want to dismantle,” including the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Education.

   “A year before an election, you basically run against yourself,” Labolt said. “But a year from now, Americans will have a choice.”

 

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.

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.

Barry Richard, the lawyer who was instrumental in keeping Al Gore out of the White House a decade ago, is hosting a fundraiser for President Obama at his Tallahassee home on Wednesday.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Congresswoman from South Florida, will be the guest star at the fundraiser (suggested donations are $100) at the home of Richard and his wife Allison Tant. Wasserman Schultz served in both the state House and Senate before going to Washington.

Richard, a silver-haired Democrat, was a key figure in the historic recount legal battle known as “Bush vs. Gore,” arguing on behalf of George W. Bush all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Florida Democrats teed-off on Republican Gov. Rick Scott on Friday over July unemployment numbers, which showed the state losing 22,100 jobs that month.

The statewide  jobless rate held steady at 10.7 percent in July from a month earlier. In Palm Beach County, unemployment climbed to 11.2 percent that month, up from 11 percent in June.

Jobs, meanwhile, vanished.

Scott has been boasting of the state’s job creation levels, which had climbed by 85,500 positions since he took office in January. But with July’s drop, that level is down to 64,300 jobs, according to the state’s Agency for Workforce Innovation.

 Earlier this week, he told the Orlando Sentinel editorial board that he was well on his way to making good on his campaign promise of creating 700,000 jobs in seven years — even though he also made it clear to the paper that he was casting his pledge differently than last fall. 

Last fall, Scott promised to add the 700,000 positions on top of what economists forecast as a roughly 1 million additional jobs that will come with Florida’s population growth. Now, Scott said he’s counting every job toward his goal.

But Friday, he had to get out the eraser with July’s shrinkage.

Florida Democratic Party executive director Scott Arceneaux said the decline was “another indication that Rick Scott and the Republicans care more about promoting their Tea Party agenda then creating the jobs they promised and Floridians need.”

 

 

Vice President Joe Biden will keynote the Florida Democratic Party 2011 State Convention dinner on Oct. 28 in Lake Buena Vista, the party announced this morning.

“Vice President Biden’s attendance sends a clear message about the importance of our state in this year’s Presidential Election”, Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith said in a press release. “Our state’s 29 electoral votes are crucial to ensuring this nation continues to move forward over the next four years. We are honored that he will attend and help us kick-off the 2012 election.”

The Democratic event is Oct. 28-30 at Walt Disney World.

Former Boca Raton legislator and legal activist Barry Silver said Wednesday he is suing Gov. Rick Scott and the state Department of Education over legislation that revamps the way textbooks are chosen in Florida.

Silver, representing a nonprofit called Citizens for National Security, plans to file the suit Thursday in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. He contends legislation (SB 2120) that took effect July 1 changes the process the state uses to review school textbooks, narrowing a broad panel of experts who now can take a year to finalize selections to a handful of “state or national experts” expected to complete their task in a few months.

“At a time when religious fanatics pose a grave danger to our country, and when the separation of church and state is increasingly under assault, we should seek more oversight over textbooks, not less, in order to protect our children from religious indoctrination,” said Silver, an ordained rabbi, lawyer and ex-legislator. 

Silver is no stranger to the county courthouse or controversy.

He’s filed a lawsuit on behalf of a dog, organized a horn-honking parade to interupt a children’s deer hunt and, defending a hotdog vendor’s right to wear a thong, sent a bikini-clad woman deliver a subpoena to former Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty.

Last year, Silver also was ordered to pay $52,828 to lawyers who defended Jews for Jesus, an organization he sued for defamation.