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.
Former Republican U.S. Rep. Allen West has ruled out running for office in 2014. But through a PAC he formed to support other conservatives, West is raising and spending more money than a typical congressional candidate.
A Federal Election Commission report filed Monday night shows that his PAC, the Allen West Guardian Fund, raised $479,370 during the first quarter of 2013 — most of it in contributions smaller than $200.
West’s PAC also spent $267,887 during the quarter, primarily on direct mail. The PAC began April with $220,169 in cash on hand.
The man who unseated West in November, Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, raised $557,912 in the first quarter and spent $157,524. Including money carried over from 2012, Murphy’s 2014 campaign has $672,013 in cash on hand.
Rep. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, raised $302,061 and spent $97,433 during the quarter and has $332,119 cash on hand.
Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, raised $98,623 and spent $103,493 but still has a cash-on-hand balance of $466,395 from previous contributions.
Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, raised $37,307, spent $58,653 and has $234,760 in cash on hand.
This week’s Politics column explains why state Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, and other lawmakers circled March 4 on their calendars.
Nearly $1.1 million in campaign cash flowed to House and Senate incumbents on that date, with Sens. Maria Sachs, D-Boca Raton, and Joe Negron, R-Stuart, leading local recipients.
Also this week: U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, supports President Barack Obama 93 percent of the time, but he’s taking the lead in opposing one Obama proposal.
And find out what it cost the Palm Beach County GOP to raise $180,000 at a February Lincoln Day dinner at Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago.
Freshman U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, joined a unanimous House Democratic caucus today in voting against House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan‘s budget plan.
But Murphy split with most of his party — including fellow Palm Beach County Democratic Reps. Ted Deutch, Alcee Hastings and Lois Frankel — by also voting against a House Democratic budget plan and against the budget put forward by Senate Democrats.
Murphy was narrowly elected in November in a Palm Beach-Treasure Coast swing district where Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney got 51.5 percent. Murphy has called for more bipartisan cooperation and a “grand bargain” between Republicans and Democrats on the budget.
The Senate Democratic budget plan, which includes $1 trillion in new taxes over 10 years, failed on a 261-to-154 House vote on Wednesday. All 154 votes for it came from Democrats — including Deutch, Frankel and Hastings. Murphy was one of 35 Democrats who joined 226 Republicans in opposition.
Later on Wednesday, Murphy was one of only 28 House Democrats to vote against a budget plan by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. Van Hollen’s budget includes $1.2 trillion in new taxes and $200 billion in new stimulus spending. Murphy joined 225 Republicans in opposition.
Freshman U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, broke with most of the Democratic caucus today and voted for a largely symbolic Republican measure requiring President Barack Obama to either submit a budget that balances by 2023 or identify a year when a balanced budget will be achieved.
The measure, which the Democrat-controlled Senate is not expected to consider, passed on a 253-167 vote with Murphy and 25 other Democrats joining 227 Republicans in support. One Republican and 166 Democrats were opposed.
The three other members of Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation — Democratic Reps. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton, Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach and Alcee Hastings of Miramar — all voted no.
Many Democrats derided the measure, with Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., quoted in Roll Call as calling it “a gimmick wrapped in talking points inside a press release.”
Murphy represents a Palm Beach-Treasure Coast district where Republicans slightly outnumber Democrats and Mitt Romney got 51.5 percent of the vote in November. Murphy’s office sent out a press release headlined “Murphy votes with Republicans to demand balanced budget.”
Said Murphy: “Our country is at a tipping point and it is high time that we get serious about addressing our nation’s fiscal issues, which requires a bipartisan, balanced approach. I joined my Republican colleagues today in voting for this bill and demanding that we put a plan in place that leads to a balanced budget. Although I wish the bill had been amending to ensure a balanced approach is taken to reach a balanced budget, this is still an important step in getting our fiscal house in order.”
Before the final vote, Murphy joined Democrats in supporting a failed amendment specifying that efforts to balance the budget “take a balanced, bipartisan approach to deficit reduction that protects the middle class and seniors.”
Three members of Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation — Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and newly elected Reps. Lois Frankel, D-West Palm Beach, and Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter — will take ceremonial oaths of office on Monday in West Palm Beach.
Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente will administer the oaths.
The event is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the West Palm Beach City Commission chambers at City Center at 401 Clematis Street.
Members of Congress officially took office Jan. 3.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, told Hillary Clinton this afternoon that he hopes her final hearing as Secretary of State doesn’t mark the end of her career in public service.
Clinton appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee this afternoon after testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the morning about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others.
Clinton faced criticism from Republicans and friendly questioning from Democrats on both panels.
“I’d like to thank you for the truly remarkable job that you’ve done as Secretary of State,” Deutch told Clinton at the beginning of his questioning. “You have represented the interests of this nation magnificently and I for one hope that after a bit of rest you will consider a return to public service and should that return bring you to Florida I will look forward to welcoming you there.”
Deutch was a major supporter of Clinton during the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries.
Freshman U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, made his first speech on the floor of the House and offered an amendment that was voted down today during the debate over extending the federal government’s debt limit.
The Republican-led House voted 285-to-144 to extend the government’s borrowing authority until mid-May. Republicans retreated, at least temporarily, on demands that spending cuts be tied to any increase in borrowing authority. But the GOP succeeded in including language that says members of Congress won’t get paid if their chamber fails to pass a budget by April 15. The Democrat-controlled Senate hasn’t passed a budget for three years.
Before the final vote, the House rejected a Murphy amendment that would have shielded seniors, veterans and active members of the military from any spending cuts. The Murphy amendment failed 277-to-151 vote. All four members of Palm Beach County’s congressional delegation — Democratic Reps. Murphy, Ted Deutch of Boca Raton, Lois Frankel of West Palm Beach and Alcee Hastings of Miramar — voted for the failed amendment.
On the final vote to raise the debt ceiling, Murphy and Deutch joined 84 other Democrats and 199 Republicans in the majority. Frankel and Hastings were opposed. Hastings told Politico.com the measure is unconstitutional because Congress cannot change its pay until the start of a new session.
The two announced candidates for Florida Democratic Party chairman — Hillsborough County Committeeman Alan Clendenin and Leon County Committeewoman Allison Tant — are rolling out big-name endorsements as the Jan. 26 election approaches.
Clendenin and Tant both announced key labor endorsements Tuesday, with Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams announcing his support for Clendenin while the Service Employees International Union declared its backing of Tant.
Today, Tant announced the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and nine U.S. House Democrats, including Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and all four members of Palm Beach County’s House delegation — Reps. Ted Deutch, Alcee Hastings, Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy.
Clendenin this afternoon unveiled the endorsement of Alex Sink, the party’s 2010 nominee for governor and a potential 2014 candidate. He also has the support of U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa.
Tant and Clendenin are vying to replace Rod Smith, who isn’t seeking reelection as party chairman.
Florida’s Democratic U.S. House members, including Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, have asked the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to hold a hearing regarding Florida’s voting law that shrunk the number of early voting days, required more voters to cast provisional ballots and was intended to curb voter registration by outside groups.
“In light of these allegations, we are extremely concerned over the integrity of this law and the justification for its implementation,” U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings, Corrine Brown, Kathy Castor, Ted Deutch, Frederica Wilson and Wasserman Schultz wrote to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Chairman Martin Castro in a letter sent today. “As you know, trust in our democracy is what holds our country together. Voters must be able to trust that their elected officials are acting in their best interest.”
The commission held hearings in Florida in the aftermath of the protracted 2000 election and made numerous recommendations based on its findings, many of which were included in the Help America Vote Act passed by Congress in 2002.
DELRAY BEACH — Republican-turned-independent Charlie Crist continued his Obama Florida tour today, joining Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch for a meet-and-greet with early voters in Delray Beach.
The former governor and congressman had to stay in the “solicitation zone” in the parking lot, greeting voters as they arrived. Crist’s button spelling out Obama in Hebrew was a hit with Democratic voters, and Obama volunteers came with a bag full of extra buttons.
“Isn’t that cute?” said Crist when a voter asked him about the button. “I have another one.”
When asked about “Obama Oy Vey” and other anti-Obama Jewish billboards in Palm Beach County, Deutch said, “They’re wasting their money, that’s what I think.”
County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, who will be term limited next month, joined Crist and Deutch and proclaimed the county library on Hagen Ranch Road as the busiest early voting site in the state.
Cesar Henao, a registered Democrat running as a no-party candidate against U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, faulted Republicans and Democrats alike on immigration when he was interviewed this week by Neil Cavuto of Fox News about his campaign.
Henao, 34, was born in Colombia and has billed himself as “the first illegal immigrant ever to run for Congress,” saying he came to the U.S. at age 12 by crossing the border from Mexico while hiding beneath bales of hay in the back of a pickup truck. He later joined his mother in New York and eventually got a Green Card and became a citizen in 2002.
Asked about Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, Henao said “he’s the only Senator in the Republican Party that’s actually touched the immigration issue.” Henao said he’s “disappointed” in President Obama for not delivering on his promise to pass immigration reform in his first term.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, sent a letter to Gov. Rick Scott today demanding an immediate, bipartisan investigation of the “apparently growing voter fraud scandal engulfing the Republican Party of Florida.”
As first reported in The Palm Beach Post, a firm hired by the Republican Party of Florida submitted 106 “questionable” voter registration applications last month that Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher gave to the state attorney’s office for review.
The state GOP fired the firm, Strategic Allied Consulting, last Tuesday and the Republican National Committee severed its ties to the company on Thursday. The RNC had paid Strategic about $3 million for work in swing states Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia. In Florida, the GOP paid $1.3 million to sign up voters.
Two miles and a few economic strata from the site of Mitt Romney‘s “47 percent” remarks, Vice President Joe Biden told a retiree crowd today that Romney and running mate Paul Ryan don’t understand America and have “bet against the American people.”
Biden stumped for President Obama‘s reelection at the Century Village of Boca Raton retirement community. The legendary Democratic condo bastion is just down Lyons Road from Marc Leder‘s house in upscale Long Lake Estates, where Romney was secretly videotaped telling big-dollar donors in May that 47 percent of Americans are “dependent upon government” and won’t vote for him.
Biden said Romney’s remarks, and remarks by Ryan about a “culture of dependency” on government, show the Republican ticket is out of touch with ordinary Americans.
“I don’t recognize the country they’re talking about,” Biden told the crowd that filled the large lobby of a clubhouse building.
“I know where I come from, Americans got knocked down but they’re getting back up. I know where I come from, nobody feels dependent, all they want is an opportunity. I know where I come from, these people are fighting back with every single thing they have. I don’t sense any sense of dependency. They’re just looking for a little opportunity, a level playing field, a fair shot,” Biden said to loud applause
“Ladies and gentlemen, I got news for Gov. Romney and Congressman Ryan. America and Americans are neither dependent nor in decline. And I’ll say to them, gentlemen, it has never, never, never been a good bet to bet against the American people.”
Biden is scheduled to visit another heavily Democratic retiree crowd this afternoon at Kings Point in Tamarac. He’s also scheduled to campaign in Fort Myers on Saturday.
Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson and U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch and Debbie Wasserman Schultz also spoke to the crowd before Biden.
Biden made brief mention of Israel to heavily Jewish audience, while Deutch devoted a significant portion of his remarks to defending Obama’s support for the Jewish state. Republicans have tried to peel away traditionally strong Jewish support for Democrats by accusing Obama of being a weak ally of Israel.
Paul Ryan‘s recent Florida campaign appearance with his mother proves that the Republican plan to overhaul Medicare is a bad deal for future retirees, U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, told a seniors group this morning.
Deutch, who faces two no-party opponents in November, picked up the endorsement of the labor-backed Florida Alliance of Retired Americans and spoke to about 70 of the group’s members in West Delray.
Ryan made his first Florida campaign appearance as Mitt Romney‘s running mate on Saturday and brought along his 78-year-old mother, Broward County resident Betty Ryan Douglas, to assure a throng of seniors in The Villages that the GOP will protect Medicare.
Ryan’s plan, embraced by Romney, would leave Medicare as is for current recipients and those 55 and older. Those 54 and younger would have the option of traditional Medicare or a government subsidy to purchase private insurance.
“When Paul Ryan stands with his mother and says ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry, this plan is not going to affect you,’ I know what I heard when he said that was ‘I know, Mom, that you would never even vote for your son if we made the kind of cuts in my plan to you that we’re going to make to people under the age of 55,’ ” Deutch said.
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.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch used a Congressional hearing today as a platform for Attorney General Eric Holder to defend his intervention in a controversial non-citizen voter purge launched by Gov. Rick Scott last year.
Deutch, D-Boca Raton, asked Holder to respond to U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney‘s attack yesterday in which Rooney, R-Tequesta, accused Holder of playing partisan politics by trying to stop a controversial non-citizen voter purge in Florida.
A fired-up Deutch blasted Scott for the problematic purge that flagged more than 182,000 potentially ineligible voters by matching driver’s license and voter registration records. A preliminary list of 2,600 voters given by Secretary of State Ken Detzner to elections supervisors found that many of those targeted had were naturalized citizens and others who had been born in the U.S. About 40,000 legitimately-registered voters could lose their abilities to case ballots in November, Deutch said, if the purge were to continue.
Republicans’ assertions that the purge is needed to combat voter fraud “preposterous and offensive” because only 16 cases of voter fraud were found out of more than 8 million votes cast in the last presidential election in Florida, Deutch said.
“And it’s condescending because voter fraud would be a totally ineffective way to rig an election. It’s rare because it’s a felony that risks prison time and huge fines and it’s a totally illogical way to sway elections. You know what is an effective way to sway elections? Scrubbing thousands of legitimate voters off the rolls. Eradicating voter registration drives. Reducing early voting and disenfranchising millions of seniors and impoverished Americans who lack government ID’s. That’s the tactic that Gov. Scott and his ilk are using not just in Florida but around the country,” said Deutch, who weeks ago had asked Holder to look into the purge.
“But maybe I’m wrong. Is my Republican colleague right? Have I missed some grand conspiracy here?” he asked, setting the stage for Holder to respond to Rooney and Scott, who yesterday accused President Obama’s administration of breaking the law by denying access to a Homeland Security database with more complete citizenship records.
“That is not what motivated our action or will continue to motivate the action that we may have to take,” Holder said. “But I will assure you that we will make sure that the federal law is enforced. And that voter purges happen in a way that is consistent with the law.”
Last week, Holder’s voting rights division asked Scott to stop the purge because it appeared to be a violation of a federal law that bars state voter registration purges 90 days before an election. That window passed on May 16 in Florida for the Aug. 14 primary. Yesterday, Detzner said he “respectfully disagrees” with the Justice Department and that their interpretation of the law would give Floridians the right to sue the federal government to ensure their votes are not diluted.
Holder denied that he is engaged in a “political ploy” and told Deutch he is simply enforcing the law.
“I share your view that we do not want to have people inappropriately voting. We do not want to have voter rolls who contain people who should not have the right to vote. At the same time, we should be engaged in a process that does not put off the rolls people who have served their country, veterans, people who want to exercise their fundamental American rights. The notion that this is somehow a political ploy is inconsistent. One only has to look at the law which is clear. Ninety days. It is very, very clear. Ninety days,” Holder said.
Elections supervisors have abandoned the non-citizen scrub until Scott and the feds – or a court – sort things out.
A coalition of voting rights groups is asking Gov. Rick Scott to stop a statewide effort to purge thousands of potential non-citzens from the voting rolls, and U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, also plans to ask the governor to stop the scrub.
Lawyers for the groups said in a letter to Secretary of State Ken Detzner that the voting purge is in violation of the National Voting Rights Act which prohibits systematic purging of the voter rolls 90 days prior to a general election. The purge effort falls within that 90-day prohibition because of Florida’s Aug. 14 primary.
Last month, Detzner sent a list of more than 2,600 potentially ineligible voters to the state’s 67 elections supervisors flagged as potentially ineligible by matching driver’s license and voting records. But the list was riddled with errors and included some voters who were born in the U.S. and others who had become citizens since getting their driver’s licenses or state-issued ID cards. Detzner’s office then went to work on scrubbing a list of up to 180,000 flagged voters whose citizenship is in question.
Project Vote, Fair Elections Legal Network, Advancement Project, LatinoJustice PRLDEF, LULAC Florida, and the Hillsborough Hispanic Coalition asked Detzner to abandon the non-citizen initiative, prompted by Gov. Rick Scott after he took office in 2010.
Many of the voters on the list are Hispanics, which could also be a violation of the NVRA which requires state voter list maintenance programs to be uniform and non-discriminatory, lawyers for the groups said.
“The right to vote is the fundamental pillar of our democracy. Florida has a shameful history of purging minority voters based on false information and inaccurate lists right before the presidential elections,” Penda Hair, co-director of the Advancement Project, said in a press release. “This year’s deeply flawed process disproportionately targets Latino voters and is discriminatory, unfair and antithetical to the values of our nation.”
Detzner’s spokesman Chris Cate said the group is wrong.
“We just received the letter, but we’ve had it long enough to know we disagree with their interpretation of the law. Not only do we believe it’s crucial to have ineligible voters removed from the voter rolls, we’re obligated by law to do it,” Cate said in an e-mail. Detzner’s office will be sending a formal response to the coalition, Cate said, noting that the presidential primary was in January, not in August as the groups said in their letter.
Deutch also drafted a letter to Scott asking him to stop flushing the voter rolls.
“Given that this process fails to meet basic standards of accountability, and that the legal authority for automatic removal of registered voters is currently being challenged in both state and federal court, it is irresponsible to proceed so quickly and with so little room for oversight. If the goal is truly to remove ineligible individuals who were intentionally or somehow mistakenly registered to vote, then that process must move forward in a nonpartisan manner with transparency, uniformity, and great care,” Deutch’s draft letter reads. “Governor Scott, Florida has never encountered problems with mass voter fraud. Unfortunately however, our state does have a troubled history of wrongfully purging from our rolls the names of legitimate voters mistakenly deemed ineligible to vote. In both 2000 and 2004, the state pursued misguided efforts to purge the voter rolls that were shown to wrongfully include legal voters in these lists. Only when the lists and the process were made transparent could all Florida voters trust that no one would be wrongfully denied their right to vote.”
Mitt Romney will make some money stops in Florida on Wednesday and Thursday, including a $50,000-a-plate dinner at private equity mogul Marc Leder‘s Boca Raton home.
Romney visits the Tampa home of Dick and Cornelia Corbett on Wednesday afternoon, then heads to Coral Gables for a reception at the Biltmore and a dinner at the home of Phil and Pat Frost. There’s also a Romney reception and private lunch in Jacksonville on Thursday before the presumptive Republican nominee arrives in Boca for a Thursday evening reception at Woodfield Country Club and then dinner at Leder’s nearby home.
In each city, Romney’s schedule includes a general reception for $2,500 donors, a VIP event with a photo opportunity for $10,000 contributors and a private meal for those who pony up $50,000.
Leder is the co-founder of Sun Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Boca Raton.
Leder has given $125,000 to the pro-Romney superPAC Restore Our Future and showered contributions on a variety of Republican candidates, including Sen. Marco Rubio and Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown. In Florida’s 2012 Senate race, Leder gave $5,000 to Adam Hasner‘s GOP campaign before Hasner switched to a U.S. House race; Leder recently gave $2,500 to Rep. Connie Mack‘s Senate bid.
Leder also gave $4,800 to Charlie Crist‘s 2010 Senate bid before Crist bolted the GOP. And he has contributed to South Florida Democratic U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and former Democratic Rep. Ron Klein.
Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler has joined his successor, U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, in endorsing Democrat Kevin Rader over two other Dems for the new District 27 state Senate seat.
Rader, a former state House member from Delray Beach, is running against current Democratic state Reps. Mack Bernard and Jeff Clemens for the Riviera Beach-to-Boynton Beach Senate district.
About one-third of the district’s voters are black and many of them are represented in the House by Bernard, who is black. Many of the district’s coastal precincts are now represented in the House by Clemens.
The district also includes the Democrat-leaning condos of Century Village, Cypress Lakes and Golden Lakes, which have been represented in Congress by Wexler and now Deutch. The condos were part of an old Senate district where Rader won a 2010 primary but lost in the general election to Republican Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto.
Rader, who had been challenging Democratic state Sen. Maria Sachs in a Palm Beach-Broward district, jumped into the District 27 race this week.
Says Wexler in a statement released today: “I am proud to endorse Kevin Rader and look forward to actively helping him win this election. Kevin is the Democrat we need in the State Senate!”
