Responding to the unfolding revelations that the Internal Revenue Service singled out conservative groups for extra scrutiny, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Okeechobee, says it’s time to “tear it down and start over.”

Rooney is co-sponsoring bills that take aim at the IRS and its key role in implementing Obamacare.

“With the power to tax comes the power to destroy, and when the agency with that power becomes corrupt, we have a responsibility to tear it down and start over,” a Rooney statement says. “The IRS has proved that it is both biased and corrupt, and I have completely lost faith in its ability to enforce the tax code honestly, fairly and effectively, and so have my constituents.”

Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, quickly called for an investigation of the IRS while Reps. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, used the IRS scandal to take aim at the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, says he’s willing to consider raising revenue by eliminating some tax deductions and loopholes if Democrats agree to savings from entitlement spending.

That’s a pretty big “if” for Rooney. So far, he says he hasn’t seen evidence that Democrats are willing to commit to serious spending cuts.

Rooney’s position is in line with House Speaker John Boehner, who has suggested raising tax revenue via the loophole route while opposing an increase in income tax rates as favored by President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats.

Rooney is one of 238 House members and 41 Senators (all but three of them Republicans) who signed Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist‘s pledge not to raise taxes. Signers promised not only to oppose tax rate increases but to “oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.”

Asked if he considers raising revenue through tightening loopholes a violation of the Norquist pledge, Rooney said, “I don’t think that it is….Quite frankly, I don’t care. The bottom line is that our country is in trouble.”

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UPDATED with Rooney response after the jump…

U.S. Sen. John McCain took to the floor of the Senate today to blast suggestions by U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, and four other House Republicans that a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Without mentioning Rooney or his colleagues by name, McCain slammed the “specious and degrading attacks” against Huma Abedin, who is Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and is also the wife of former New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner.

Rooney last month joined an effort led by Minnesota Rep. and former GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann to seek investigations into “serious questions” about the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in five federal entities that deal with national security.

Letters to the agencies were signed by Bachmann, Rooney and Republican Reps. Trent Franks of Arizona, Louie Gohmert of Texas and Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia.

“The Muslim Brotherhood openly calls for violence against the United States, but we’re learning that this organization may be infiltrating our ranks, even within our military,” Rooney said in a June 13 press release when the letters were sent.

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U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, crossed the $10 million mark in fundraising during the last quarter while his likely Democratic challenger, Patrick Murphy, topped $2 million.

The latest batch of Federal Election Commission reports filed Sunday show West snagged $2.2 million during the quarter that ended June 30, including more than $1 million from people who gave less than $200. West has $3.7 million in cash on hand for what is expected to be a close race for Palm Beach-Treasure Coast District 18. Murphy, one of the nation’s top Democratic money-raisers, has nearly $1.3 million in cash on hand. Both West and Murphy face Aug. 14 primary challenges from meagerly financed rivals.

In the open race for West’s old Palm Beach-Broward District 22 seat, Republican Adam Hasner raised $558,936 between April 1 and June 30 — slightly more than the combined contribution total of Democratic candidates Lois Frankel and Kristin Jacobs during the quarter.

Former West Palm Beach mayor Frankel raised $359,887 in contributions for the quarter and supplemented her total with a $50,000 loan. Broward County Commissioner Jacobs raised $152,820. She and Frankel square off in an Aug. 14 primary.

Hasner, who does not face a primary opponent, has more than $1 million in cash on hand for November. Frankel has more than $1.3 million in her account while Jacobs has only $75,590 in the bank.

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U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney told Attorney General Eric Holder to stop meddling in Gov. Rick Scott’s effort to clean up the voter rolls in Florida, accusing Holder of “blatant politicization” of the non-citizen voter purge.

The Justice Department last week told Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner the voter purge may violate two federal laws and gave Detzner until today to respond to its request to drop the scrub.

Scott has given no indication he’s going to back down, and Detzner insists that the law requires him to ensure the voter rolls are accurate.

Rooney, a Tequesta Republican, is the latest official to wade into the political fray over the purge, which has sparked a national partisan dust-up. Democrats blame the Scott administration of trying to keep minorities and Hispanics – who dominate the list of 2,600 flagged voters given to elections officials in April – from going to the polls in November. Republicans accuse critics of the purge, including Holder, of wanting to break the law by allowing ineligible voters to cast their ballots.

Rooney’s letter mirrors a legal analysis by a former Justice Department lawyer who says Holder is wrong.

“Your actions further demonstrate that the Department of Justice, under your leadership, is more concerned with protecting the reelection prospects of the President than with upholding justice and enforcing the rule of law,” Rooney wrote in a letter sent today.

The News Service of Florida reported that Scott earlier today defended the purge, which he initiated last year, and said he hopes to have a response to the Justice Department today and defended the purge.

“Not a single eligible voter as far, as I know, has been removed from the voter rolls,” Scott said in an interview with WNDB radio in Daytona Beach, where Scott was Wednesday. “Not one. And we’re working to keep it that way.”

Scott insisted the purge is necessary to maintain voters’ confidence in the elections process.

“Their vote should not be diluted by people who don’t have the right to vote,” Scott said. “We need to be reviewing our voter rolls and making sure only those individuals who have the right to vote … are voting.”

Meanwhile, the state’s elections supervisors have dropped the voter purge because the data they received was too flawed and they want to wait until the issue is sorted out by Scott and the feds or the courts. The 67 supervisors are the only ones who can actually remove voters from the rolls.

He’s a national tea party favorite whose outspoken conservatism inspires considerable sound and fury from the left and right. But U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, is less conservative on fiscal and economic issues than the average House Republican, according to vote ratings released this week by the supply-side advocates at the Club For Growth.

According to new ratings released today by the American Conservative Union, West gets an overall conservative score of 88 percent, compared to 81.5 percent for the average House Republican. West’s 88 percent ACU score is identical to that of less-polarizing U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, for votes cast in 2011.

The Club For Growth gave West a 64 percent score and Rooney a 59 percent score for 2011. The average House Republican agreed with the group 70 percent of the time on the votes it evaluated last year.

Freshman Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio lives up to his conservative billing, according to the new ratings. Rubio gets a 100 percent ACU score and a 97 percent score from Club For Growth.

Florida Democrats, not surprisingly, got low marks from the conservative groups. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson got a 14 percent Club For Growth rating and 15 percent ACU score for 2011.

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch got a 0 rating from the ACU and 1 percent from Club For Growth. U.S Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, got a 5 percent ACU score and 13 percent Club For Growth rating.

U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Cape Coral, who’s running for Senate, got a 92 percent ACU score and 98 percent Club for Growth rating for 2011 votes.

Longtime Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder says he has decided to challenge U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, in a Republican primary for a new Palm Beach County-Treasure Coast congressional seat.

Crowder said voters in the new District 18, which includes all of Martin and St. Lucie Counties and a chunk of northern Palm Beach County, should have the option of choosing a homegrown candidate rather than one from Broward County. West announced Jan. 31 that he would leave his Palm Beach-Broward seat to run in the new district, which has been approved by the Florida legislature but is still subject to legal challenge.

Crowder said he’s running “to provide some local representation for a new district — rather than having someone who’s not really familiar with the district coming in and purporting to represent the people here. I just think the people need to have that option. If they choose to elect an outsider, that’s their choice.”

Crowder, 66, is completing his fifth term as sheriff and had already announced he wouldn’t seek reelection. He began entertaining thoughts of running for Congress after redistricting led U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, who lives in District 18, to announce he was running in a new district to the west. Less than an hour after Rooney’s announcement, West announced plans to run in District 18 rather than his own district, which has been redrawn with a pronounced Democratic tilt.

West is a national tea party celebrity who has raised more than $5.9 million and began 2012 with more than $2.7 million in his campaign account. Crowder said he’s never raised more than $100,000 for any of his campaigns.

Crowder wouldn’t estimate how much it might cost to challenge West, but said he’ll have other advantages after living in the area more than 50 years.

“I think because of my history here there’s a lot of grass-roots things I can do that might not work for an outsider,” Crowder said.

Miffed at the lack of hometown candidates for the newly drawn Palm Beach-Treasure Coast congressional District 18, retiring Martin County Sheriff Robert Crowder says he’s considering a GOP primary challenge to U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation.

“It looks like at the present time all the interest in running for that seat is coming out of Broward County with people relocating. First, I found that strange because I think we’ve got some good people up here who would be capable of representing their neighbors,” Crowder said this morning.

Crowder, 66, has been elected sheriff five times in Martin County and has a history of ruffling feathers in his own party, including his 2010 endorsement of and TV ad for Democrat Alex Sink in the governor’s race against GOP nominee Rick Scott.

His interest in the congressional seat was first reported by Treasure Coast political columnist Eve Samples on Saturday.

West announced Jan. 31 that he would leave his Palm Beach-Broward district to run in the newly drawn district. Democrat Patrick Murphy of Fort Lauderdale has also announced he’s following West to run for the seat. U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, lives in the district, but is running for a newly drawn seat to the west that includes many of his current constituents.

The Florida legislature approved the new districts last week. The map is already the subject of legal challenges.

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Gov. Rick Scott acknowledged Tuesday that he’s been lobbied by Florida members of Congress on the redistricting plan expected to be sent his way soon.

But the Republican governor didn’t want to mention any names.

“Oh, I don’t think anybody wants me to talk about any of those conversations,” Scott said, when asked if U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, was among those contacting him.

West last week announced that he would leave his battleground congressional district, straddling Palm Beach and Broward counties, to run this year in a proposed new district, which includes Martin and St. Lucie counties, and part of Palm Beach.

West’s decision emerged as part of a GOP three-step dance – touched off by U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, who said he’d run in a newly drawn, mostly rural and interior Florida district.

Former House majority leader Adam Hasner of Boca Raton completed the moves by announcing he was abandoning his U.S. Senate run to run in the district that West was exiting.

House and Senate redistricting leaders say they have kept their distance from members of Congress, mostly in an effort to comply with constitutional amendments approved by voters in 2010, which ban new electoral boundaries from favoring incumbents or parties.

Scott, though, said at least some in Florida’s delegation have reached out directly to the executive office. While Scott isn’ authorized to act on legislative maps, he can veto the congressional plan.

“I’ll review it when I get it,” Scott said of the congressional proposal. “I’ve had a few phone calls from some people that have had questions about it. My response is, ‘send me what your proposal is, and I’ll review it at the time.’

Senate Reapportionment Chairman Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, said Scott’s contacts with unnamed members of Congress doesn’t strike him as out of line — or unconstitutional.

“Any citizen is entitled to petition their government for the redress of grievances,” Gaetz said.

Facing a tough reelection fight in a district that was redrawn with a Democratic tilt, U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, announced today that he will instead run in a more Republican-leaning district to the north that’s home to U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta.

Rooney will run in a newly created rural district that extends from western Martin and St. Lucie counties to Charlotte County on Florida’s west coast and north into parts of Hillsborough and Polk counties. Rooney represents much of that area now.

With no Republican incumbent in West’s current Palm Beach-Broward congressional District 22, sources close to former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Boca Raton said Hasner is considering dropping his U.S. Senate bid and running for West’s congressional seat.

West’s current District 22 is nearly evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. But a plan approved by the Florida Senate and up for a vote in the state House this week creates a district where Democrats have a 9-point registration advantage and Barack Obama got 56.6 percent of the vote in 2008.

If approved by the House, the new congressional map could still face legal challenges under a new anti-gerrymandering law approved by voters in 2010.

Two Democrats — former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel and Fort Lauderdale accountant Patrick Murphy — have been running in West’s District 22 and have raised about $1.4 million apiece.

“We chased Allen West out of the district,” crowed Frankel campaign adviser Bret Wask, who said Frankel would continue to run in District 22.

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House redistricting maps slated for a vote this week put a number of incumbent Republicans in tough spots, including U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation.

But the chairman of the House Redistricting Committee, Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, fired off a statement Monday refuting lingering speculation that West was being singled out.

In both the House and Senate congressional plans, West loses a Republican-leaning section of his district in northern Palm Beach County to the seat now held by fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta.

Rooney’s brother, Patrick, is a Republican state representative from West Palm Beach. The Rooney family’s ownership of  Palm Beach Kennel Club also has positioned them as political players in Tallahassee for decades.

“There are rumors that the Florida Legislature has targeted Congressman Allen West,” Weatherford said Monday. “This is patently false. I personally have supported and endorsed Allen West. I will continue to support this extraordinary member of Congress who has brought a much needed conservative voice to Washington, D.C.

“However, my personal support cannot and will not trump the Constitution,” Weatherford said, pointing out that the redistricting effort is guided by a range of state and federal standards.

West apparently doesn’t feel he’s getting the short end of the stick from state lawmakers. West’s chief of staff, Jonathan Blyth, told the Post last month his boss is taking a long view of the redistricting proposals, which may undergo further changes following eventual court reviews.

“This is the second minute of the first round of a boxing match,” Blyth said, when the House congressional maps surfaced and bore a strong resemblance to those out of the Senate.

While West loses a key piece of Palm Beach County, the redistricting plans push him deeper into Democratic-leaning Broward County.

Rooney’s district is reduced from a rambling eight counties to a more manageable four, under both the House and Senate proposals. But while still Republican-leaning, Rooney’s district doesn’t clearly favor the GOP, since it also acquires large portions of St. Lucie County that backed Barack Obama in 2008.

House panels Monday narrowed the roster of proposed redistricting plans for Congress and the state House, – settling on new maps that proponents say help keep more cities and counties together within individual district boundaries.

In the House Congressional Redistricting Subcommittee, three proposed maps were approved  on 10-4 votes, with Democrats locked in opposition. The House earlier unveiled seven proposed congressional plans and five ways to redraw state House districts.

A separate panel Monday also reduced to three the number of House plans slated for later review by the full House Redistricting Committee.

Rep. Dwayne Taylor, D-Daytona Beach, who led opponents to the congressional proposals, said lawmakers should take the proposed plans on the road for another round of public hearings — similar to those conducted through the summer when no maps were available for review.

Another critic of the plans, Jim Roach, a Cape Coral businessman and Democratic candidate for Congress, also argued that the plans should be rejected because they tend to pack Democratic registered voters into districts.

Roach’s analysis of the proposals for 27 congressional districts — up from the state’s current 25 districts, because of population gains in the 2010 Census — showed that as many as 14 proposed districts are Republican leaning, in terms of registered voters. The plans create a maximum of 11 districts that are Democratic leaning, Roach said.

Democrats currently command a more than 500,000-voter advantage over Republicans in Florida.

But 19 of the state’s 25 members of Congress are Republicans — a disparity Democrats attribute to gerrymandering in the last redistricting go-around in 2002.

Roach said that in the proposed 11 districts where Democratic voters dominate, they outnumber Republicans by more than 20 percent — an overwhelming advantage that reduces the party’s overall strength and ability to compete in neighboring districts.

“That’s packing,” Roach said.

Rep. John Legg, R-Port Richey, co-chairman of the subcommittee, countered saying the proposed maps were drawn without consideration of voter registraion totals. Legg said voter-approved Amendments 5 and 6 to the state constitution require that lawmakers draw boundaries without consideration of political party or incumbents.

Legg said lawmakers and staff members steered clear of such data when crafting the maps.

Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, also said Taylor’s call for more public hearings would likely only prompt accusations that ruling Republicans were seeking to delay redistricting.  Another road show also could threaten the likelihood of getting new boundaries approved in time for candidate qualifying in June, Plakon said.

“It’s probably impractical to do,” Plakon said.

The three proposals approved Monday were scheduled to go before the full House Redistricting Committee later this month.

In Palm Beach County, the plans are identical. The most dramatic changes being made reduce the eight-county district now served U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, to four counties, including northern Palm Beach County. The Broward-Palm Beach county district held by U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, loses a key, Republican-dominated portion of the county’s north coastline to Rooney.

West’s district becomes more Broward-oriented and gains more registered Democrats, likely making his 2012 re-election bid tougher.

The three state House proposals all create a new, Hispanic-oriented district in Palm Beach County, centered in the Lake Worth-Palm Springs area.

To create the district, many of the voters are moved from the district currently served by Rep. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth. Clemens last month announced that he  expected to run for a still-to-be-determined Senate seat in Palm Beach County, saying he was frustrated by how voters in his District 89 were being scattered into other districts under House plans.

Thursday’s cave-in by Speaker John Boehner and House GOP leaders on a two-month extension of a payroll tax holiday drew noticeably different reactions from the two Republicans in Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation.

With the 2 percent cut in Social Security taxes set to expire Dec. 31, the House had approved a one-year extension, but the Senate voted 89-10 for a two-month deal before leaving Washington. Given the choice between a two-month extension and nothing, the House initially voted to reject the Senate version and demand a conference with Senators to iron out differences. The Senate didn’t budge, and the House GOP drew criticism for potentially allowing higher payroll taxes on Jan. 1.

The decision to accept the Senate’s two-month extension got a cautious endorsement from U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, and a denunciation from U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation.

Said Rooney: “I’m frustrated that the Senate left town and refused to negotiate a long-term agreement, but I am glad we will be able to prevent a tax hike from hitting middle class families, while correcting some of the errors in the Senate bill that made it unworkable for small businesses.”

Said West: “The politics of demagoguery have won over pragmatic principle and policy with the concession to enact tax policy on a two-month basis. This is a sad day for America and further evidences our continuing demise. Men and women of principle are becoming a dying breed in this Republic.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, and his brother, state Rep. Pat Rooney Jr., R-West Palm Beach, would both have tougher reelection battles under early redistricting plans put forward by the Florida legislature.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column, where you’ll also read about potential redistricting implications for U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, and his declared Democratic challengers Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy.

Democratic challenger Lois Frankel wasted little time Thursday challenging speculation that U.S. Rep. Allen West could head north — out of a redrawn, Democratic-leaning district and into a primary fight with fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney.

West’s chief of staff, Jonathan Blyth, downplayed talk Wednesday among Republican consultants that his boss was looking for friendlier turf, with the Plantation congressman eyeing the political backyard of Rooney, who lives in Tequesta.

Frankel, though, seized on the chatter, serving up some political trash talk.

“It looks like Mr. West is afraid of a real fight, which is what he will get when he faces me in a general election,” said Frankel, who faces a Democratic primary contest with Broward County accountant Patrick Murphy. “Mr. West: don’t cut and run…stay and fight. I am not retreating to anywhere. I am staying right here.”

 Blyth later fired back at Frankel.

“Congressman West is a 22- year veteran of the U.S. Army who served in real combat against enemies of our nation,” Blyth said. “Lt. Colonel West has never cut and run protecting and defending citizens of our nation.”

 

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, says he doesn’t disagree with the House GOP leadership’s piecemeal approach to the economy.

But Rooney has introduced his own comprehensive “Restore America Act” that addresses taxes, regulations and domestic energy production in a single piece of legislation.

“I’m sick of people asking ‘Where’s your jobs plan?’ So here it is,” Rooney says in this week’s Politics column, where you’ll also read about CFO Jeff Atwater‘s take on the U.S. Senate race and business reaction to a new countywide commission chairman idea.

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who has focused primarily on Iowa and other early states rather than Florida, will visit a Palm Beach County Republican Party picnic on Saturday at John Prince Park in Lake Worth, party officials said today.

Representatives of Santorum’s campaign could not be reached this morning.

U.S. Reps. Allen West, R-Plantation, and Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, are also expected at the event, which runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the park’s Center Drive Pavilion. Admission is $20 for adults, $10 for children and $50 for a family of four. Griffin Perry, the son of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, is also expected to attend.

U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, who worked as a Capitol Hill staffer for former Sen. Connie Mack III in the 1990s, says he’s leaning toward supporting late-entering U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV, R-Cape Coral, in the 2012 GOP Senate primary.

“Having worked for Connie’s dad, having worked with Connie closely, I’d probably be leaning heavily toward Connie at this point. But let him get in the race and let him get his feet wet first,” Rooney said today.

Rooney, who once considered entering the 2006 GOP Senate primary against a weak Katherine Harris, said he was also asked about entering the 2012 contest because of underwhelming polling numbers by GOP candidates George LeMieux, Adam Hasner, Mike McCalister and Craig Miller. Rooney, who has three young children, said he wasn’t willing to take on the statewide fundraising and campaigning demands associated with a Senate run.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney rolled out a list of endorsements from two state Senators and 22 state House members today.

If you’re keeping score, that brings Romney’s Florida legislative endorsement total to 36, including 8 Senators and 28 House members.

The only local on Romney’s new endorsement list is state Rep. Pat Rooney Jr., R-Palm Beach Gardens. Rooney’s brother, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, endorsed Romney earlier this year and on Monday joined U.S. Reps. Connie Mack and Ander Crenshaw as honorary co-chairs for the Romney campaign in Florida.

Romney has also snagged recent Florida endorsements from Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach.

A list of Romney’s legislative endorsements is after the jump…

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U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, says he wants more information about potential cuts to defense and security spending before he decides whether to support a bipartisan debt-ceiling compromise.

Rooney said he hopes to talk Monday with House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Calif., and Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., about the impact of potential cuts.

“If they can both live with it, then it would be much easier for me to support it,” said Rooney, who is a member of both committees.

“The very fact that we’re getting cuts in exchange for raising the debt ceiling is a positive,” Rooney said.