UPDATE: Florida Secretary of Commerce Gray Swoope issued a strongly-worded rebuttal to Integrity Florida’s report, condemning the group’s findings and accusing Integrity Florida executive director Dan Krassner of “misleading Florida’s citizens by disseminating misinformation and misrepresentations of our organization, our mission and our work each day.”

Swoope said he met with Krassner before the report was released but Krassner’s analysis failed to reflect Swoope’s clarifications. Instead, Swoope accused Krassner of “releasing half-truths to inflame emotions. Read Swoope’s full statement after the jump.

Do Enterprise Florida’s corporate board members have a conflict of interest in awarding themselves tax breaks or other economic development aid? And should one of the recipients of Enterprise Florida grants be trusted with figuring out whether the agency is getting a good return on its investments?

Those are some of the questions Integrity Florida, a new government watchdog organization, raised in a report released Wednesday that found, among other things, that millions of dollars in grants went to corporations who paid to be on the public-private partnership’s board of directors.

Board members Publix, Embraer Aircraft and Lockheed Martin board all received tax breaks or incentive awards ranging from $150,000 to $570,000 over the past two years, the report found.

Ernst & Young found that the public-private partnership’s investments were good for Florida’s economy, generating $2.66 for every economic development dollar. But the accounting firm also received a $96,000 incentives grant last year, according to the report.

“Should a recipient of Enterprise Florida incentives also be responsible for calculating return on investment
benefits of incentives?” the report, written by Integrity Florida executive director Dan Krassner and research director Ben Wilcox, the former head of Common Cause of Florida.

The report also found Enterprise Florida did not give publicly notice all of its meetings and did not make the meeting materials easily available to the public.

Last year, one of Gov. Rick Scott’s former agency heads – Doug Darling – revealed that Florida had id tens of millions of dollars to lure companies to the state for jobs that were never created. Darling, the former head of the Department of Economic Opportunity, quickly backed away from his critique of the jobs return on the tax breaks, saying the situation wasn’t as bad as it first appeared.

But Integrity Florida also questioned whether the state is doing a good enough job keeping track of the number, duration and types of jobs the tax breaks create or whether it should change its analysis “to help ensure high wage criteria is being reached in an appropriate manner rather than by a few larger salaries skewing averages.”

Florida Department of Commerce Secretary Gray Swoope issued a lengthy rebuttal to Integrity Florida’s report, including a point-by-point clarification of the highlighted issues. Read it after the jump.
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A former top aide to ex-Gov. Charlie Crist has been named the Everglades Foundation’s new chief executive officer.

Eric Eikenberg, who was chief-of-staff for Crist and, earlier, for former U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, will lead the environmental advocacy organization beginning July 1. He succeeds Kirk Fordham, who announced last month he was leaving the Miami-based nonprofit to take a job as executive director of the Gill Action Fund, a leading gay rights advocacy organization.

“Eric impressed us from the first moment we met. He has a deep understanding of what it takes to achieve success both in Washington and Tallahassee and he has the leadership skills that will help the Foundation continue to be at the forefront of Everglades restoration,” said Paul Tudor Jones, II, Everglades Foundation chairman. 

Since leaving Crist’s office, Eikenberg has been a senior policy advisor for the law firm, Holland & Knight. During his time in the governor’s office, Eikenberg was a central negotiator in forging a deal to buy 187,000 acres of land owned by U.S. Sugar, part of a plan to sharply reduce sugar production in the region and use the property for Everglades restoration.

Crist’s successor, Gov. Rick Scott, opposed the sale, and the South Florida Water Management District went forward with a scaled-back plan by acquiring 27,000 of sugar land. Scott last fall unveiled his own plan for moving forward with Everglades work. Environmentalists expect Scott to offer more refinements to his proposal in coming weeks.

“I am honored to join the Everglades Foundation as its next chief executive officer,” Eikenberg said. “The mission is simple:  Save the Everglades. It is the source of water for more than 7 million Floridians and a driver of our economy. What we do now, will determine whether our generation leaves future generations with a vibrant, healthy, River of Grass.”

Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland would emerge as the state’s 12th public university, under legislation signed into law Friday night by Gov. Rick Scott.

The bill (SP 1994) was shepherded through the Legislature by powerful Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales. The term-limited Alexander said accelerating the independence of the University of South Florida’s Polytechnic campus would prove a key job creator in the state.

Scott, who has anchored his administration on rebuilding Florida’s economy, apparently agreed. Plans for creating the new schools developed even as lawmakers cut $300 million from the budgets of Florida’s 11 other universities.

The $24.7 million reduction facing Florida Atlantic University forced that school’s board of trustees this week to proposed closing its Fort Lauderdale and Treasure Coast campuses.

“This move is nothing more than an appalling and wasteful power play by the Republicans in Tallahassee,” said Florida Democratic Party spokeswoman Brannon Jordan. “The people of Florida didn’t ask for this university, they don’t need it and can’t afford it.”

Former Gov. Jeb Bush, in a sitdown with conservative West Palm Beach-based Newsmax, says he’d “consider” accepting an invitation to be Mitt Romney‘s running mate, “but I doubt I’ll get a call.”

Bush said Sen. Marco Rubio is “probably the best” VP choice for Romney. He also spoke approvingly of several others.

Bush advised Romney to prepare for a negative campaign from President Obama, but said Romney should “stay above the fray a bit and offer a hopeful message that can lift people’s spirits.” He also said it would be “counterproductive” for Republicans to “demonize the president.”

Asked about current Gov. Rick Scott, who has had consistently low approval ratings, Bush said: “I think he’s doing fine. I don’t think he’s like the best PR person for his own governorship. But that’s fine. I mean, we all have skills. His skill is a business-like approach to government, a consistency that I think’s important, a compass that points north.

“He’s not surprising people with what he’s doing. He said exactly what he was going to do and I find it refreshing that he’s committed to doing what he said he was going to do. So I like the guy and I think as he gets more comfortable with the public side of the job he’ll get better and better politically. But I don’t even know if he cares about that, which I admire as well.”

Keep Florida in the toss-up column, according to a Fox News poll of Sunshine State voters that shows President Obama holdsing a within-the-margin-of-error lead over Mitt Romney.

Obama holds a 45-to-43 percent lead in the poll of 757 registered voters, which was conducted Sunday through Tuesday and has a 4 percent margin of error.

The poll finds Obama’s approval/disapproval percentages at 43/48, compared to 34/47 scores for Gov. Rick Scott. Likely Republican nominee Romney also has an underwater popularity score, with 41 percent viewing him favorably and 45 percent unfavorably.

The poll suggests that adding Sen. Marco Rubio to the GOP ticket wouldn’t have much impact. A Romney/Rubio ticket gets 44 percent of the Florida vote to 45 percent for Obama and Joe Biden.

The sponsor of Florida’s first-in-the-nation “Stand Your Ground” law, state Rep. Dennis Baxley, is among the 17 members of Gov. Rick Scott’s “Citizen Safety and Protection” task force that will begin meeting May 1, Scott announced Thursday.

Palm Beach County Judge Krista Marx will also sit on the panel, scheduled to hold meetings around the state and which also includes four state lawmakers from the Sanford area, a retired Florida Supreme Court judge, attorneys and a neighborhood watch volunteer.

Scott announced the formation of the task force in the aftermath of the Feb. 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager, by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford. Sanford claimed he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense. The killing sparked a national outcry over Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law that allows people to use deadly force when they feel threatened and provides immunity from prosecution.

“We are a nation and we are a state of laws. And I’m committing to letting our legal system work to ensure the people in our state are safe and protected,” Scott told reporters at a press conference this morning. “I’m a firm supporter of the Second Amendment. I also want to make sure that we do not rush to conclusions about the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law or any other laws in our state.”

Scott waited to get the task force up-and-running until special prosecutor Angela Corey, tapped by Scott to take over the investigation into Martin’s killing, arrested Zimmerman on second-degree murder charges earlier this month.

Task force chairwoman, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, a black former state House member who voted in favor of the 2005 law, and vice-chairman Rev. R. B. Holmes Jr., pastor of the Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Tallahassee joined Scott at a press conference this morning announcing the launch of the task force, which will hold its first meeting in Tallahassee. The panel is made up of “racially, regionally and professionally” diverse members from Pensacola to Miami, Carroll said.

“The brilliance of this is you have the governor’s office saying let’s look at this, versus hot air maybe elsewhere. This committee has the opportunity to listen to the public at large, take their testimony and say these are our suggestions,” Holmes said.

All of Florida’s “justifiable use of force” statute, which includes the controversial “Stand Your Ground” law, will be included within the task force’s scope of work, Carroll said. No one representing the National Rifle Association, which pushed Florida’s law and helped spread it to more than two dozen other states, will be on the panel because no one from the organization applied, Carroll said.

The task force will take public testimony, gather data with the help of the University of Florida law school and make recommendations to the governor and legislative leaders before the legislature meets again in March, Carroll said.

Scott’s office has also set up a website for the panel – www.flgov.com/citizensafety – an e-mail account – citizensafety@eog.myflorida.com – and a Twitter handle – @FLCitizenSafety – where the public can review the task force’s work and provide input.

Although the task force’s main focus will be on the justifiable use of force section of Florida law, Chapter 776, the group may also look into some of the state’s many other gun laws, Scott said.

“This task force is going to take input from people about public safety. ‘Stand your ground’ is part of it. But thank goodness we live in a state where the crime rate is at a 40-year low. I want to keep it that way. We all want to keep it that way. If there’s laws that are impacting that, where people don’t feel comfortable, I want to know about it. We all want to know about it,” Scott said.

See the full list of Scott’s task force after the jump.
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Gov. Rick Scott signed into law Tuesday a $70 billion state budget, while vetoing $142.7 million in spending and warning universities against seeking 15 percent tuition hikes next fall.

The budget for the year beginning July 1 includes a $1 billion increase for Florida classrooms. Scott signed the budget at the ‘A’ -rated Cunningham Creek Elementary School in the St. Augustine-area to underscore his newfound commitment to public schools.

A year ago, Scott signed a budget which cut $1.3 billion from schools. But on Tuesday, Scott called education, “the lifeblood of our state.”

But Scott’s urging universities to rein-in spending may set him at odds with Florida’s 11 public universities, which face a $300 million reduction in state funding this year. Scott let stand a budget item that allows Florida’s 28 colleges to raise tuition by 5 percent this year, but suggested Tuesday that universities should go no higher.

The State University System’s Board of Governors will decide tuition rates in June.

The $142.7 million in vetoes is a sharp dropoff from last year, when Scott vetoed a record $615 million. A year ago, Scott clashed with lawmakers through most of the session. But this year, legislators aimed early on at the $1 billion boost for schools that he called for in releasing his budget recommendation in January.

“Over the last year I have traveled the state to hear from Floridians what issues they care about most,” Scott said Tuesday. “That’s why this budget should be known as an education budget. The two issues that Floridians care most about are jobs and education, and the two go hand-in-hand since a good education is critical to getting a good job.”

School officials say they welcome the $1  billion increase. But they acknowledge it doesn’t bring per-pupil funding back to levels of even two years ago. The state’s largest teachers’ union, which had supported Scott opponent, Democrat Alex Sink, in the 2010 governor’s race, was especially critical.

Florida Education Association President Andy Ford said Scott and the Republican-led Legislature are still shorting schools, even with the new money.

“At the same time the governor and lawmakers doled out more tax giveaways for corporations, more money for unaccountable voucher schools and more support and autonomy to for-profit charter schools, our public schools are given a budget nowhere close to adequate and light years away from a true investment in our children,” Ford said.

Palm Beach County didn’t have too many favored projects in the budget. But Scott vetoed most Tuesday, including $250,000 to reimburse local law enforcement agencies and others for security costs related to a presidential debate this fall at Boca Raton’s Lynn University; $50,000 toward developing a master plan for the Glades’ Torry Island; and $1 million for water treatment work in the Glades area.

But Scott allowed $500,000 in state funds to go toward roadwork on Riviera Beach’s 13th Street, which local officials said was needed to help link the Port of Palm Beach with nearby industrial sites.

PPP also tested four potential Florida running mates for Romney — Sen. Marco Rubio, former Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. Rick Scott and U.S. Rep. Allen West — and found that only Bush would have a positive effect on the GOP ticket in Florida.

A Romney/Bush ticket would narrow Obama’s advantage to 49-46, within the poll’s 3.7 percent margin of error. The survey of 700 Florida voters was taken Thursday through Sunday.

The Obama/Joe Biden ticket holds a 50-43 lead over Romney/Rubio, a 51-40 advantage over Romney/Scott and a 50-40 lead over Romney/West.

PPP’s last Florida polls testing Obama vs. Romney showed the president with a 1-point lead in December and September.

Gov. Rick Scott began touting the state budget’s $1 billion boost for Florida classrooms early Tuesday — as he made his way toward his scheduled noon budget-signing at a St. Johns County elementary school.

“I don’t know of another state that’s ever increased K-12 funding that much in the history of this country,” Scott said during a drive-time interview with WOKV-Radio in Jacksonville, a Palm Beach Post news partner.

Scott may need a history lesson, though, when he arrives at Cunningham Creek Elementary School. Florida’s own K-12 budget was boosted $1.2 billion as recently as 2007-08, and billion-dollar bumps were relatively common in the state as per-pupil funding climbed to a $7,143 record high in 2008, before the recession tightened.

The $6,375 average, per-pupil spending in the 2012-13 budget before Scott represents the state’s second lowest level since 2005-06.

Scott blamed a decline in federal stimulus money for leading to the $1.3 billion cut last year — which the latest boost fails to cover completely.

Still, Scott said touring schools is “one of the nice things about this job.”

“These kids are excited,” said Scott, who visited three schools last week with a similar $1 billion message.

Gov. Rick Scott plans to sign the 2012-13 state budget at noon, Tuesday at a public school near St. Augustine.

The $70 billion spending plan approved last month by lawmakers includes a $1 billion boost for Florida’s classroom, coming after a year in which schools absorbed a $1.3 billion reduction and per-pupil spending fell to its lowest level in six years.

Scott also will unveil budget vetoes, which he has said are likely to prove well below the record, $615 million total he eliminated from last year’s spending plan.

The budget-signing is scheduled for Cunningham Creek Elementary School, an ‘A” rated school in St. Johns County.

The school ceremony follows a pattern. Scott last week visited three schools touting the $1 billion increase, which bumps per-pupil spending up an average $150 statewide, or 2.4 percent.

But the average $6,375-per-student spending in the budget slated to take effect July 1 will be the second lowest level since 2005-06. It’s still well off the average $7,143-per-student Florida was spending in 2008 — when the recession tightened its grip on the state.

While school officials generally welcome the cash, the state’s largest teachers’ union ridiculed the approach by Scott and the Republican-ruled Legislature.

“Rick Scott and legislative leaders will bombard you with happy talk about their commitment to public education,” the Florida Education Association said in a statement. “But they haven’t even begun to clean up the mess they made last year.”

John DeGrove, considered the father of growth management laws in Florida, has died at age 87.

DeGrove for many years directed the Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University. He also an eminent scholar chair named for him in growth management and development at FAU, where he also taught political science.

As Florida’s secretary of the Department of Community Affairs from 1983 to 1985, DeGrove spearheaded the development and legislative approval of the landmark 1985 Growth Management Act and the State Comprehensive Plan. A fifth-generation Floridian, DeGrove also was one of the founding members of the state’s 1,000 Friends of Florida advocacy organization.

In 2001, on the 15th anniversary of 1,000 Friends’ founding,  then-Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet issued a resolution honoring DeGrove for his “decades of outstanding work on behalf of the people and natural resources of Florida.”

Then-U.S. Sen. Bob Graham at the time said of DeGrove, “I cannot imagine what problems would be facing our state today without your many years of wise counsel to several generations of planners and public policy leaders. There are few people in this state who have impacted each and every Floridian on a daily basis with such positive force as you.” 

The growth management laws enacted during DeGrove’s time in Florida government shaped the state until last year.

 Gov. Rick Scott, who campaigned against many of the state’s planning restrictions, signed into law legislation which eliminated state oversight of local planning, except when proposals with statewide impact are involved.

Standards for citizens challenging development projects also were toughened, giving builders more leeway to go ahead with projects they can prove will have some positive economic impact.

The legislation capped preceding three years of lawmakers chipping away at growth management provisions. Critics said the laws were overly burdensome and blunt the state’s ability to bounce back from an economic slump caused — paradoxically — by what many agree was overbuilding.

The legislation last year also eliminated the Department of Community Affairs, the main regulatory agency over development.

The Florida Council of 100, whose leaders include many of the state’s top corporate executives, urged Gov. Rick Scott to veto legislation that would create a 12th public university by separating the University of South Florida from its Polytechnic campus in Lakeland.

But the council said Scott should sign into law a separate measure (SB 7129) that would let Florida State University and the University of Florida raise tuition to whatever level the market will bear.

“Florida’s public postsecondary system has a historic opportunity to take a quantum leap that will ultimately mean more jobs and economic prosperity for Floridians,” wrote Steven Halverson, council chairman and president of the Haskell Company, a Jacksonville structural design company.

Halverson said the tuition bill follows the principles outlined in the counci’s 2010 report, Closing the Talent Gap, which called for bringing the state’s educational programs in line with future economic needs.

But the legislation accelerating the independence of USF’s Polytechnic campus isn’t a wise investment, Halverson wrote in a separate letter to Scott. He said the Polytechnic proposal hasn’t been adequately studied.

“The Council of 100 wholeheartedly supports making our state university system the best in the country,” Halverson concluded. “The future of Florida depends on it. Deciding where and how to invest scarce resources to achieve that objective should be the product of a fact-based, thorough analysis of the return on investment. That analysis hasn’t been done…”

Gov. Rick Scott was urged Friday to veto $149.6 million in hometown projects and other suspect spending in the state’s proposed $70 billion budget, including millions tucked in by legislative leaders.

Florida TaxWatch released its annual “turkey watch” as a prelude to Scott’s planned budget signing next week. Last year, Scott vetoed a record $615 million in spending but recently told the Post he didn’t expect to get anywhere near that level in the latest round.

Still, TaxWatch President Dominic Calabro said Scott should rely on a simple guide when reviewing legislative spending proposals.

“When in doubt, take it out,” Calabro said.

In addition to the amount TaxWatch targeted for veto, the business-backed research organization recommended Scott take a closer look at $21.3 million in economic development projects. TaxWatch said it’s likely some can spur the economy, but added that the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity should give this 16-project list more scrutiny.

A handful of Palm Beach County budget items were marked as turkeys Friday. Among them, $1 million for water treatment work in the Glades area, $250,000 for security at this fall’s presidential debate at Boca Raton’s Lynn University, $50,000 to help prepare a master plan for Torry Island development, and $500,000 for widening Riviera Beach’s 13th Street.

Tony Brown, executive director of the Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Authority, earlier told the Post the 13th Street money would help the city complete a project it sees as vital to connecting a nearby industrial park to the Port of Palm Beach. He called the state’s expected contribution a “good public partnership” for a city strapped by several years of budget deficits.

Legislative leaders saw several of their hometown projects questioned.  Two of the biggest spending items TaxWatch opposed were in the backyard of Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, with $14 million for a Brevard College public safety institute and $10 million for economic development condemned as turkeys.

House budget chair Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, also would lose $520,203 for an international baccalaureate program at Sebring High School and incoming Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, would have $389,825 axed from a science and technology program at a local middle school, if Scott follows TaxWatch’s recommendation.

But one of the most controversial spending provisions of the spring session was given the go-ahead Friday. TaxWatch said Sen. J.D. Alexander’s push for accelerating the creation of a 12th public university by giving independence to the University of South Florida’s Polytechnic campus in Lakeland — in Alexander’s home county — was included in legislation that was debated by lawmakers.

As a result, it doesn’t fit the organization’s definition of a turkey. But it still may not be the best use of taxpayer money. Polytechnic would receive $27 million in state start-up funds, while USF would get $16 million to cover costs stemming from the separation.

“Do we need a 12th university? I think the preponderance of our thinking is no,” Calabro said.  

Gov. Rick Scott plans to take part in his eighth work day as Florida’s chief executive Friday — at Tampa International Airport.

The governor will work behind the ticket counter, in the airport’s communications center, and as a skycap over the course of his workday. While Scott is there, early afternoon at TIA is likely to prove fairly busy — with President Obama landing in Air Force One for a stop at the Port of Tampa, en route to Colombia for the Summit of the Americas.

While in Tampa, Obama is expected to announce trade initiatives with Latin America, pegged to the upcoming summit. It’s unlikely the president and Florida governor will meet.

Obama’s Tampa stop is not open to the public, but marks the president’s second visit to the state this week. On Tuesday, Obama campaigned before students at Florida Atlantic University.

For Scott, a Republican, the work day is part of a series whose concept is borrowed from another millionaire Florida chief executive, former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, a Democrat. In earlier work days, Scott played the role of a Panhandle restaurant waiter, Port of Miami worker, and doughnut shop employee, among other posts. 

Gov. Rick Scott is asking Floridians to “allow our justice system” to work in a statement that appears to be urging calm in the wake of an anticipated announcement of charges in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

Special prosecutor Angela Corey is expected to announce this evening she is filing charges against George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who claimed he shot the unarmed 17-year-old on Feb. 26 in self defense.

More than an hour before Corey’s announcement, expected at 6 p.m., Scott’s office issued the following statement, attributed to the governor:

“We are fortunate in our state that most Floridians and local civic leaders are law-abiding, responsible citizens who all want justice to prevail. No matter what State Attorney Corey determines following her investigation of the Trayvon Martin tragedy, I trust in the goodness of all Florida citizens to allow our justice system to reach an appropriate conclusion in this case.”

Scott spokeswoman Amy Graham would not elaborate on the statement or why it was issued before Corey, appointed by Scott to investigate the high-profile case, made her announcement.

“The statement is self explanatory,” Graham said.

Civil rights activists from around the nation have held marches and rallies in Sanford and throughout the country in the aftermath of the Feb. 26 shooting in a gated community near Orlando.

The shooting has shined a spotlight “Stand Your Ground” laws like Florida’s – the country’s first – allowing individuals to use deadly force when they feel threatened. And it has rippled throughout the nation with civil rights leaders and others demanding a closer look at racial profiling and possible differences in how prosecutors and law enforcement officials pursue charges against whites and blacks.

Scott has announced he will create a task force to look into Florida’s 2005 “Stand Your Ground” law after Corey’s investigation is complete.

Just last summer, Gov. Rick Scott was bubbling with good news, hailing the state’s suddenly improved credit rating  when Standard & Poor’s boosted Florida’s outlook from negative to positive.

The agency touted the spending cuts he’d imposed.

But legislation Scott signed into law last month has had the opposite effect on Florida counties — which learned this week that Moody’s Investor Services has said HB 5301 will have “negative credit implications” for them.

Palm Beach County already expects to lose almost $8 million in state health care dollars under the bill, which the Florida Association of Counties condemns as a strong-arm tactic by the state.

Under the bill, state lawmakers agreed to reduce revenue sharing with counties by $70.5 million, part of a move to recover $325.5 million in Medicaid debt over five years.

Counties dispute the amount owed.  They accuse the state of double-billing or demanding payments from them for treating Medicaid patients who turn out not to be county residents. When Scott signed the legislation, Martin County Commissioner Doug Smith, president of the Florida Association of Counties, called it “the worst kind of body blow to taxpayers.”

In its report to investors, Moody’s piles on. It said, “The lost revenues add another financial strain on counties already challenged by waning property tax and other operating revenue.”

While Moody’s stops short of downgrading Florida counties, the ratings agency does acknowledge the legislation puts a crimp on county finances.  Moody’s concludes, “the increased withholdings of counties’ sales tax revenues will invariably reduce debt service coverage and bonding capacity.” 

Gov. Rick Scott has steered clear of the Republican presidential primary.

But with Rick Santorum suspending his campaign Tuesday, Scott issued a not-quite-endorsement of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — whose stance was as the GOP’s presumptive nominee was strengthened.

“There is no question that Rick Santorum ran a hard fought campaign,” Scott said. “I commend his passion and his willingness to put the best interest of our party and nation first.”

“Mitt Romney will be our party’s nominee and it is critical that all Republicans coalesce behind Gov. Romney and focus on electing him as President so he can put the policies in place to create jobs, turn our economy around and get federal spending under control.”
   

Conservative activists called Tuesday for Gov. Rick Scott to veto an energy bill pushed by fellow Republican Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, with critics saying it picks winners and losers by providing tax incentives to wind-, solar- and biofuel companies.

Americans for Prosperity and the Heartland Institute have been spearheading an effort that’s flooded Scott with emails and phone calls opposing HB 7117, which would provide $16 million in renewable energy tax credits next year.

The organizations’ condemn the approach as “crony energy” that builds on millions of dollars in incentives already provided for alternate energy production by the Obama administration, which they also oppose.

“There’s no reason to set us down this path,” said Slade O’Brien, state director for Americans for Prosperity. “I don’t think there are going to be economic benefits. You’re basically going to cost the Florida taxpayer more money for energy….if you’re passing this bill, increasing the energy costs of being in Florida as opposed to being in Georgia, as opposed to being in Alabama…that’s not good business. That’s not smart.”

Americans for Prosperity, a grassroots activist organization, was founded by David and Charles Koch, whose Koch Industries includes oil refineries, energy development and commodities trading. AFP also is a mainstay of the tea party movement, which was a big Scott supporter in his 2010 election.

AFP and the Heartland Institute’s opposition creates some tricky crosswinds for Scott.

Putnam, a former congressman, is seen as a future Republican candidate for governor — maybe even a 2014 primary opponent for Scott.  Putnam has been a strong proponent of energy diversity, which draws support from the state’s agricultural industry, already invested in biofuel production.

In another twist, the energy bill’s House sponsor, Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, had been AFP’s ‘legislator of the year’ last year.

O’Brien offered no apologies.

“We’re equal opportunity complainers when things aren’t right,” O’Brien said.

As a prelude to signing the state budget, possibly later this week, Gov. Rick Scott spent Monday barnstorming the state — visiting three schools to tout a proposed $1 billion boost in classroom spending.

“I look forward to signing the final budget that will invest $1 billion in new state funding for our K-12 students and classrooms,” Scott said, during his first stop at a Jacksonville magnet school.

“I listened to teachers, parents and students to find out what issues were most important to Floridians,” he added.  “By far, education and jobs are the two issues Floridians care about most.”

Scott also scheduled visits to an Orlando high school and Palm Harbor middle school. The $1 billion increase was a central part of the governor’s pitch to fellow Republican leaders in the Legislature, with Scott earlier vowing to not sign a budget that failed to include a significant boost in school dollars.

While welcomed, the increase was looked at cautiously by Palm Beach County School District Chief Financial Officer Mike Burke.

“People think we might be getting some type of windfall,” Burke said. “But that’s not really the case.”

The $1 billion bump in this year’s proposed spending plan follows a current-year budget signed by Scott that cut $1.3 billion from Florida classrooms. That sent per-student funding tumbling to its lowest level in six years.

 The $1 billion will revive per-student money an average $150 statewide, a 2.4 percent increase.

But the average $6,375-per-student spending in the budget slated to take effect July 1 will be the second lowest level since 2005-06. It’s well off the average $7,143-per-student Florida was spending in 2008 — when the recession tightened its grip on the state.

The new $1 billion also could disappear fast, educators said.

Florida schools expect a 31,000-student enrollment increase next fall, which carries a $200 million price tag. School districts also will lose $554 million because of expiring, short-term federal aid — a hole dollars from the proposed increase will help fill.

Burke said Palm Beach County schools are among those forecasting a sizable enrollment increase, with 2,300 more students expected in the fall. The district also is still adjusting to the elimination of 700 jobs last year –mostly vacant slots — but a cost-cutting move that shrunk the district’s workforce to 20,040 people.

“A $1 billion statewide sounds good,” Burke said. “And sure, it could’ve been worse. But even with an increase, we’re still in the reduction mode.”

 Florida Democrats have been blistering the Legislature’s $70 billion budget proposal as harmful to working Floridians.

“These shortsighted priorities make education increasingly unaffordable for working families and leaves schools crumbling around our children,” said Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith in a letter last month to Scott. “That is no way to lead.”

A week after the Florida House approved the Legislature’s latest attempt to redraw Senate districts, the plan Tuesday still had not been forwarded by Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi to the state Supreme Court.

Bondi’s delay is raising concerns among Democrats — who say it’s part of a larger GOP strategy to heighten pressure on the court and U.S. Justice Department, which also must approve the state plan. Candidate qualifying is set to begin June 4, and the timetable for the reviews already comes close to hitting that deadline.

 ”Florida Republicans efforts to delay the court’s review of the maps is nothing more than a Hail Mary pass,” said Florida Democratic Party spokeswoman Brannon Jordan. ”After the Florida Supreme Court’s historic rejection of the first state Senate map, Republicans are not confident their second gerrymandered map can withstand court muster so they are stalling.”

The week that has passed since the special session ended with a redrawn Senate plan represents a marked contrast to Bondi’s speed in sending both a House and Senate redistricting proposal to the court in February.  Under state law, Bondi has 15 days to act after legislative approval.

But when the first plans were approved, Bondi sent the maps to justices about 24 hours after the final vote in the Senate. At that time, Republican legislative leaders had talked of fixing any failings the court might find in the maps while the Legislature was still in session.

Instead, justices unanimously approved the House plan. But they rejected the Senate’s proposal in a 5-2 decision also made public March 9, the last day of the regular session. The special session which ended last Tuesday was called by Gov. Rick Scott for lawmakers to redraw the Senate map.

House Redistricting Committee Chairman Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said he has “no idea” why Bondi has held the revamped plan a week.  Bondi’s office said the attorney general has until April 11 to file a petition with justices.

“We will file the petition by the deadline,” said Bondi spokeswoman, Jennifer Meale.

Weatherford said he is confident, “it will not have an effect on the (qualifying) deadline.”

But Democrats say the clock-eating approach fits a pattern.

Attorneys for the Republican-led Legislature have already sought — unsuccessfully — to have a trial delayed until after the November elections on the lawsuit filed by Democrats and allied organizations challenging proposed congressional district boundaries.

Last week, Bondi joined with House and Senate attorneys in asking federal officials to begin their review of the new Senate plan — even before it goes to the state Supreme Court.

 But Democrats think that request, likely a longshot, may be mostly public relations. They say it’s intended to blunt accusations that Republicans are stalling  in hopes courts will adopt the current map to avoid adding chaos to the candidate filing period.

“I don’t know if the Justice Department will look at the Senate map,” Weatherford said. “But now there’s nothing stopping them.

“The Supreme Court could look at it, too, even before it’s sent by the attorney general. It’s all online,” Weatherford said.