Scott signed the measure (HB 7007) on Friday and touted it during a stop at a Tampa manufacturing firm.

Under the new law, manufacturers won’t have to pay sales tax on equipment purchases for three years, beginning in April 2014. Scott had wanted to make the tax break permanent, but lawmakers gave him a three-year window instead.

The new law also creates a new nonprofit corporation to oversee money awarded to the state from lawsuits connected to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The manufacturing tax break was caught up in some late-night maneuvers during the final week of session. Two days before the session ended, Scott had to act on a campaign finance bill and an ethics measure that were priorities of House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville.

Scott announced he signed the bills about half an hour after the House gave final passage to his manufacturing tax break.

But House Democrats believe the tax break, tucked into a 96-page economic incentive package, is not official because the bill did not receive a two-third majority vote.

The state constitution requires a two-thirds approval for tax-related items that cause counties or cities to lose revenue or reduce a tax in which the local governments share.

Weatherford insists that the tax break did not require the supermajority vote.

_ The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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The real Allen West, left, with a lifesize likeness of himself promoting his online TV show at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference.

The conservative firebrand often appeared on Fox programs during his single term in the House and chose Fox as the venue when he conceded his narrow loss to Democrat Patrick Murphy in November.

“Representative West’s congressional and military experience along with his fearless approach to voicing key issues will provide a valuable point of view to the Fox News lineup,” said a statement from Bill Shine, the executive vice president of programming for Fox News.

In addition to his Fox duties, West will continue to be director of Next Generation TV programming for conservative PJ Media, where he hosts a subscription-only online TV show.

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The self-proclaimed government watchdog’s method of targeting the turkeys – which include $14 million for a Gulf Coast State College Panama City campus – that haven’t been approved by state agencies “is built on the unconstitutional perversion” that Gaetz, R-Niceville, said in a statement.

“This is an arrogance of the elite who spend too much time in Tallahassee and Washington listening to the echoes of their own invented wisdom and thinking they’re hearing the voice of God,” Gaetz went on.

Read Gaetz’s rant after the jump.

Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, issued this statement in reaction to Florida TaxWatch’s annual budget “turkey” list.

“The TaxWatch list is built on the unconstitutional perversion that if an appropriation isn’t recommended by unelected agency officials it shouldn’t be considered in conference by elected legislators. This is an arrogance of the elite who spend too much time in Tallahassee and Washington listening to the echoes of their own invented wisdom and thinking they’re hearing the voice of God.

“No agency put in its budget a $3,500 raise for Florida’s most effective teachers, yet that was funded. No agency testified before the Legislature asking for a raise for state employees who had been without one for six years, yet we passed it. No bureaucrat in the Department of Education asked for a career-technical pathway to a high school diploma or an online pathway to a university degree, but we funded them. Not a whisper of criticism from TaxWatch on any of these and a hundred other similar items. So, apparently, their indignation is not only ill-informed but selective.

“TaxWatch has dismissed as ‘turkeys’ mobile medical and dental units to bring health care to poor people in rural areas, documentation and education about the Holocaust, housing for disabled veterans, rehabilitation for severely wounded soldiers who want to return to duty, and replacement of 50 year old educational facilities that produce workforce for companies bringing jobs to Florida. In most cases, those who put together this list couldn’t find these projects on a map and haven’t put five minutes into finding out anything about them.

“If our founders had shared the slavish devotion of Taxwatch to unchallenged decisions and dictates of faraway bureaucrats, we’d all be drinking English tea and singing God Save the Queen. A good song. But not an American song. The Constitution obligates and empowers elected legislators, who come from communities and go home to communities, to write the state’s budget. If TaxWatch staffers want to test their budget theories in the public square, let them stand up in front of conference committees and testify in public. More than thirty public, open conference committee meetings were held during the recent legislative session. Every item in the state budget was proposed and adopted during those public meetings. Testimony was requested and welcomed at every meeting. Not once did any person from TaxWatch ask one question, offer one idea or say one word.

“It is little wonder that TaxWatch is irrelevant 364 days a year.”

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The 107 projects add up to just one-half of one percent of the total budget, and about $60 million less than the group identified last year.

TaxWatch’s pinpointed $9,330,422 in Palm Beach County projects, including:
_ $450,000 of the $1 million lawmakers steered to Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s violence intervention program;
_ $6.5 million for Palm Beach State College’s proposed Loxahatchee Groves campus;
_ $1,280,422 for Place of Hope at the Haven campus;
_ $100,000 for a nicotine addiction drug treatment program at Scripps Research Institute;
_ $1 million for Glades Area Street resurfacing in Belle Glade.

Two Treasure Coast projects also made TaxWatch’s hit list: $2 million for renovations at Indian River State College at the St. Lucie west campus and $200,000 for interior renovations of the Golden Gate building in Martin County.

The group also tagged a $14 million Gulf Coast State College project for a Panama City campus, something Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, wants built.

And Senate budget chief Joe Negron’s

TaxWatch identifies “turkeys” as items that were put into the budget at the last minute or without public vetting, which “circumvent lawfully established procedures,” or which steer money to special interests or local areas without going through the bidding process.

Scott has until May 24 to act on the budget. The Republican, who is running for reelection, slashed a whopping $181 million from the spending plan his first year on the job, and cut $63 million last year.

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Walker-Turner, who has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor Sunshine Law charge and is slated to go to trial June 5, narrowly defeated former city clerk Virginia Walker in the Seat 5 commission race. Walker-Turner got 160 votes or 51.3 percent; Walker got 152 votes or 48.7 percent.

Gov. Rick Scott, who suspended Walker-Turner and two others in December, said Tuesday that he would not try to block her or John Wilson, who was also on Tuesday’s ballot, from taking office if they won their special elections. Wilson ended up losing in a three-way contest for Seat 4.

“The citizens in this area have the right to choose. They’ll have the right to choose whether they want to keep them or not,” Scott said Tuesday before the polls closed. If Walker-Turner or Wilson won, Scott said, “they’ll be re-elected and they’ll be in office. I would not suspend them.”

In Seat 4, Shanique Scott got 38.7 percent to win the three-way race over Wilson and Olivia Anthony-Kerr, who each got 30.7 percent. Unlike some other cities, South Bay does not require a runoff in races where no candidate gets a majority, Clerk Jessica Figueroa said.

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When a Tampa radio interviewer brought up former Rep. Allen West‘s name last week, Scott called West “a great American and a great patriot… he’d be a great lieutenant governor.”

That led Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Scott Arceneaux to send out a fundraising appeal today in hopes of capitalizing on lingering Democratic distaste for the conservative firebrand who lost his congressional seat last year.

“I need your help keep Rick Scott from hiring Allen West. It’s time to send both of them packing for good,” Areceneaux’s e-mail says.

Scott, asked today about filling the lieutenant governor’s job, said “we’ll start looking” now that the legislative session is over. Asked if he is considering West, Scott said, “I have not talked about who I’m considering. I’ve been asked about Congressman West and (said) he’s a great individual and he was very successful in Washington.”

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Brandon Cannon, who closed his senior arcade in Port St. Lucie last month after the state outlawed select electronic games, has opened a campaign account to challenge a potential future Senate president. Cannon, 26, said Tuesday he is undeterred that Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, could be in line to become Senate president for the 2017 and 2018 sessions or that Negron has already amassed more than $104,000 for the 2014 election.

“We cried out to our local legislators in St. Lucie County, Okeechobee County, and further south, and we had a little support but nothing from our local representatives and Sen. Negron,” said Cannon, a Greenville, S.C., native who has lived in Port St. Lucie for most of the past decade. Cannon, a Republican who said he voted in 2012 for Negron’s re-election, was part of a group from Port St. Lucie that traveled to Tallahassee to make pleas before the Senate Rules Committee against the proposed gaming crackdown (HB 155). He said the seniors who accompanied him on the trip to Tallahassee were unable to hold one-on-one meetings with Negron.

The new law requires machines to be coin-operated and prohibits gift cards to be handed out as prizes. The law was shepherded quickly through the Legislature after a multi-state and federal investigation led to raids in March at Internet cafes across Florida and the arrests of 57 people. The investigation resulted in an abrupt resignation on March 12 of former Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, who in the past did consulting work for Allied Veterans of the World, a charity at the center of the investigation. Two Broward County arcades — Boardwalk Brothers Inc. and Play It Again Florida — have filed a lawsuit challenging the law, calling the gaming ban discriminatory. Cannon said he is not involved in the lawsuit.

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Scott is heading to Chile next week for a trade mission. While Scott has until May 24 to issue vetoes and sign the spending plan into law, speculation is centered on Scott likely acting this week.

In Palm Beach County and across Florida, advocates are making a final defense of hometown items included in the budget. The budget, approved by lawmakers earlier this month, is for the year beginning July 1.

“We’ve got a lot of people working on it,” Todd Bonlarron, the county’s lobbyist, said Tuesday. “In some cases, we’re asking the governor’s office to look at some of these issues with a fresh set of eyes.”

A similar tactic is being used by Palm Beach State College, which is eager to have Scott endorse $6.5 million in state funding for the school’s Loxahatchee Groves campus.

PBSC officials have been in this spot before. Money for the new, western campus has been twice vetoed — once by former Gov. Charlie Crist and also two years ago by Scott.

But PBSC last fall spent $4.5 million finalizing the purchase of land for the new site. Supporters think that could make a difference when it comes to dodging the governor’s veto pen.

“Some of our board members have been trying to talk it up to the governor and his staff,” said Grace Truman, a PBSC spokeswoman. “Hopefully, this is the year.”

Bonlarron said the county has similar hopes for its projects. Scott last year vetoed $50,000 state lawmakers included for the county to develop a master plan for the Torry Island marina on Lake Okeechobee. It’s back this year, at $75,000.

Another $1 million in the budget is set to help the county make pipeline repairs for the Glades Utility Authority. While three projects in the financially-strapped Belle Glade-area have been vetoed by Scott in the past two years, Bonlarron said, “the county is still committed to seeking help.”

Also likely to draw a close look from the governor is $1 million budgeted for Sheriff Ric Bradshaw’s “violence prevention” unit.

Bradshaw said the program can help law enforcement intercede before a mentally unstable or violence-prone individual causes mayhem.

But Scott’s office in recent weeks has received more than 200 emails from citizens urging he veto the money. Many critics liken the program’s anonymous tip hotline for reporting suspicious neighbors to something derived from Nazi Germany or George Orwell.

For his part, Scott and his advisors have been keeping a poker face.

At visits to Miami and Jupiter today, the governor said only that he is still reviewing the budget and wouldn’t be pinned down to acting before flying to Chile.

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Gov. Rick Scott at Parametric Solutions in Jupiter.

Scott’s visit to Parametric Solutions, which he also visited in January, was his fifth stop on a two-day, six-city “Building Up Florida Manufacturing Victory Tour.”

Making manufacturing equipment purchases exempt from the state’s 6 percent sales tax was one of Scott’s two top priorities in the legislative session that ended May 3. Scott wanted a permanent repeal, but legislators agreed to do away with the tax for only three years.

“I’m comfortable that we’re going to create a lot of jobs with this and it eventually will become a permanent tax elimination,” Scott told reporters.

Scott’s other top priority — a $2,500 pay raise for public school teachers — also won approval from the legislature and was the subject of a victory tour last week that brought Scott to West Palm Beach.

State Rep. MaryLynn Magar, R-Tequesta, sponsored the tax break legislation in the House and was on hand for Scott’s visit. She said she’s confident eliminating the tax will produce good results and lawmakers won’t have a problem renewing it in three years.

Magar and Scott said Florida manufacturers have been at a disadvantage compared to other states.

“This will absolutely help level the playing field, grow jobs in the state, and I’m really excited to be part of that team,” Magar said.

“What we see here is a tangible sign that Florida is committed to manufacturing, growing jobs, investing in businesses and drawing more business to Florida,” said Pat Stallings of the South Florida Manufacturers Association.

Scott visited a business in Miami earlier in the day and was headed to one in Orlando in the afternoon. On Monday, the governor stopped at manufacturers in Jacksonville, Oldsmar and Naples to promote the tax break.

The visits feature a campaign-type banner with the word “Jobs” in prominent red letters. Job creation is a central theme of Scott’s 2014 re-election campaign.

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DCF Secretary David Wilkins said the $5 million program could save as much as $90 million a year in lost benefits.

“This is how big corporations manage their data,” Wilkins said.

DCF has been using an electonic benefits transfer (EBT) debit cards for about a decade. About 90 percent of applicants for food stamps, medicine- and cash-assistance programs apply online, a percentage that has steadily increased over the years.

But so, too, has fraud, Wilkins said.

“Florida has the highest per capita rate of identify theft in the country,” he said, with DCF benefits a top item in the target-rich environment.

Florida has been slow to enact verification efforts commonly used by banks, online retailers and other providers because federal officials have been reluctant to green-light anything that could interfere with a client receiving benefits, officials said. But the new system, whose vendors are LexisNexis Group and Acuity, has proved successful in a pilot test conducted by DCF the past few months in the Orlando area.

But the pilot also resulted in some shocking revelations, officials acknowledged.

“We found three times more fraud than we anticipated in our business plan,” Wilkens said.

The Legislature last month approved a measure also aimed at cracking down on electronic benefits, imposing new restrictions on where those receiving temporary assistance to needy families (TANF) can use their cards.

The measure prohibits EBT cards from being used at liquor stores, gambling locales or places that specialize in adult entertainment, including porn shops.

Florida officials earlier confirmed a 2011 TV news investigation that found that of 1.3 million EBT transactions totaling nearly $202 million over a two-year period in Florida, about $93,000 was drawn at places with liquor licenses, strip clubs or gambling sites.

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Murpny

“The news regarding the IRS is completely unacceptable. Congress should swiftly and thoroughly investigate this matter, and the administration should provide its complete cooperation to ensure that this never happens again,” Murphy said in a statement released by his office.

Holder

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Holder: Heavy-handed?

“It’s appalling, it’s the most disgusting use of authority we’ve seen in a while,” Radel told Buzzfeed.com. “For me, it’s just scary.”

Radel said the DOJ records seizure, the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups and the scrubbing of terrorist references from initial talking points on the September Benghazi attack are all part of a “culture of protecting this administration politically at any and all cost,” Radel told Buzzfeed.

The White House was not aware of the IRS targeting or the DOJ phone records seizure, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

According to a press pool report this evening, Carney said: ““Other than press reports, we have no knowledge of any attempt by the Justice Department to seek phone records of the AP. We are not involved in decisions made in connection with criminal investigations, as those matters are handled independently by the Justice Department. Any questions about an ongoing criminal investigation should be directed to the Department of Justice.”

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Sen. Marco Rubio‘s Reclaim America PAC is buying TV time in New Hampshire to defend Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who has drawn some criticism for voting against a gun background checks measure in the Senate.

Ayotte isn’t up for re-election until 2016. Rubio is a potential 2016 GOP presidential candidate. New Hampshire is a key early primary state. Rubio does not appear in the 30-second ad and isn’t mentioned in it.

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Gov. Rick Scott at Parametric Solutions in January. He'll be back Tuesday. (Richard Graulich/The Palm Beach Post).

Scott visited the same business, which makes turbines for aircraft engines, back in January.

Scott, who barnstormed last week to promote pay raises for public school teachers, embarked today on a “Building Up Florida Manufacturing Victory Tour” to celebrate the legislature’s temporary elimination of sales taxes on purchases of manufacturing equipment.

Scott wanted the tax break to be permanent, but the legislature agreed to only a three-year elimination.

Scott’s latest tour includes stops today in Jacksonville, Oldsmar (near Tampa) and Naples. On Tuesday, he’ll visit a Miami business in the morning, then stop in at Parametric Solutions just before noon and continue on to Orlando.

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Scott, a Republican, issued similar appeals to businesses in California, Illinois and Connecticut, all states like Maryland headed by a Democratic governor.

The Scott, who’s running for reelection to a second term, invitation reads a lot like a campaign flier, boasting of how dismal Florida’s economy was when he took office in 2011 and taking credit for a 3 percent drop in unemployment and, according to his calculus, 300,000 new private sector jobs.

Most notably, though, is Scott’s characterization of how bleak things are in the states he’s targeted, using his press office’s frequent hashtag “ISN’T WORKING” to point out Maryland tax increases and lost jobs.

“We hope you’ll book a trip to Florida, and we hope you’ll make it a ‘one-way’ trip because we have the perfect climate for your business,” Scott’s letter reads.

After stumping around the state last week touting pay raises for teachers, Scott’s touring Florida to advertise his success getting lawmakers to sign off on a manufacturing equipment tax break. He’ll be in Jacksonville, Oldsmar and his hometown of Naples.

Scott’s still struggling to top his competitor-in-chief, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, for the No. 1 spot as the best place to do business in the country, something he acknowledges in his letter.

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At five schools in as many Florida counties, Gov. Rick Scott stumped the state last week praising teachers and the $2,500 raises he pushed lawmakers to include for them in the $74.5 billion budget.

But strategists say it’s far less certain whether the Republican governor will be able to cash in politically on the raises in his re-election bid next year.

Despite making teacher pay his top priority of the legislative session, Scott, like every Republican governor before him, appears unlikely to break the Democratic Party’s powerful bond with the Florida Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union.

“Nobody knows what he’s thinking with this strategy,” said FEA President Andy Ford. “It’s clearly all about 2014 and the governor’s race. Teachers welcome the raises. But that doesn’t buy forgiveness.”

Scott may be seeking to make some strides with women, middle-aged voters and independents. But his strategy isn’t moving the needle with teachers — even some self-identified Republicans.

The full story:  http://bit.ly/10Ipg0l

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Rubio’s letter to Lew and the press release put out by Rubio’s office don’t name the IRS commissioner. The agency is now headed Steven Miller, who has served as acting commissioner since November. For the previous six years — which included the time groups with “tea party” and “patriot” in their names were targeted — the IRS was headed by George W. Bush appointee Douglas Shulman.

“The American people deserve answers about how such seemingly unconstitutional and potentially criminal behavior could occur, and who else was aware of it throughout the Administration,” Rubio’s letter to Lew says. “If investigations reveal that bureaucrats or political appointees engaged in unconstitutional or criminal targeting of conservative taxpayers, they must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Read the full text of Rubio’s letter after the jump…

Letter from Sen. Marco Rubio to Treasury Sec. Jack Lew regarding the IRS:

May 13, 2013

Marco Rubio

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The plea might actually enhance Wilson’s chances of returning to the commission dais.

Gov. Rick Scott suspended Wilson and two others in December after they were charged with the Sunshine Law violation. Scott’s office said earlier this week that, regardless of Tuesday’s election results, Wilson would remain suspended until he was “reinstated, or removed from office as a result of a conviction.”

With Wilson’s conviction on the Sunshine Law charge, it would appear that his suspension is no longer in effect.

Scott spokesman John Tupps said the governor’s office has not received official notification of Wilson’s plea. Tupps declined to speculate on what would happen if Wilson wins on Tuesday. Wilson is running against Olivia Anthony-Kerr and Shanique Scott for commission Seat 4

Wilson’s attorney, Reginald Sessions, said his client is also undecided on his political future.

“We haven’t decided yet at this point whether or not it would be in his best interests to withdraw (from Tuesday’s election) or remain on the ballot and see what the outcome of the election is,” said Sessions.

Scott suspended three South Bay elected officials — Wilson, vice mayor Linda Johnson and mayor Shirley Walker-Turner — in December after they were charged with violating the Sunshine Law by agreeing in private to approve $25,139 in vacation pay for former city manager Corey Alston.

Johnson was found guilty in April.

Walker-Turner is scheduled to go to trial June 5. She is on Tuesday’s ballot against former city clerk Virginia Walker for Seat 5.

The Sunshine Law requires public officials to conduct public business in the open. Wilson, Walker-Turner and Johnson did not meet together, but agreed to approve the $25,139 payment in a series of conversations each had with Alston.

“My client, to be honest with you, really didn’t realize because of his actions that he was actually violating the law,” Sessions said. “He didn’t even benefit from this. He didn’t obtain anything from this. There was no self-interest on his part and he was totally up front during the investigation.”

Sessions said the only sanction against Wilson is about $250 in court costs.

“It was just a matter of us dealing with this and being honest about it,” Sessions said of Wilson’s decision to plead guilty. “Now we have to deal with the consequences of it.”

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Election drama in St. Lucie County included the discovery 10 days after the election that the 306 ballots in these cardboard boxes had not been counted.

The group True The Vote says it will send at least 10 people to Fort Pierce to look at the ballots and records under an agreement reached this week with St. Lucie County Elections Supervisor Gertrude Walker.

True The Vote and Pamela Wohlschlegel, the former head of the Palm Beach County Tea Party, filed a federal suit against Walker in February, claiming her office was denying access to public records. Walker denied blocking access. A settlement dated Wednesday states True The Vote will have access to the records it wants and will pay the elections office for copies and staff time associated with the request.

“This lawsuit has never been about the victor. It’s been about vulnerabilities, vulnerabilities in the system,” True The Vote attorney J. Christian Adams said. He said at least 10 and as many as 50 people will participate in examining the ballots and records. Adams said his group expects to pay more than $20,000 for the exercise.

Among the questions True The Vote hopes to answer, Adams said, is “Were people voting in the congressional election that weren’t allowed to vote?”

The records True The Vote plans to review include registration forms for people who became voters after Jan. 1, 2012, notices sent to inactive voters, lists of voters purged from the county rolls after Jan. 1, 2009, notices sent to potential felons and lists of voters who were identified by the Florida secretary of state’s office as potential non-citizens.

Murphy officially defeated West by 1,904 votes or less than 0.6 percent in the expensive, nationally watched congressional District 18 race. About 36 percent of the ballots were cast in St. Lucie County, with the remainder in Martin and Palm Beach counties.

Walker admitted her office double-counted some ballots from early voting and failed to count others on election night. That led to a partial recount of 16,275 early-voting ballots in which West made a net gain of 535 votes. Based on those results and the subsequent revelation that another 306 early votes had gone uncounted, the county’s canvassing board ordered a recount of all 37,379 ballots from St. Lucie County’s early voting.

The larger recount showed Murphy making a net gain of 242 votes — but the revised figure was not included in the county’s official total because the canvassing board missed a noon deadline to submit its final results to the state Division of Elections.

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More than 200 people have e-mailed Gov. Rick Scott asking him to use his line-item veto on $1 million in start-up money for Bradshaw that the Legislature included in the state’s $74 billion budget.

“The Nazis would be proud of this program and it really scares me. There are to many problems that could arise. Bigger government and more programs is not going to result in less crime,” Delray Beach resident Jim Tingler wrote to Scott on May 3. “I, for one, am not willing to sacrifice my liberty for the promise of security.”

Read the full story here.

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Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, reacting on Fox News this morning to Wednesday’s House hearing on September’s Benghazi terrorist attack, faulted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for not speaking out against the Obama administration’s initial suggestion that the deadly attack was prompted by demonstrations over a crudely produced anti-Islamic YouTube video.

Rubio said the administration pushed the YouTube story because President Barack Obama “was in the middle of his re-election and one of his talking points was that terrorism has been defeated and he had defeated it, and this ran counter of that narrative.”

Initial Benghazi scapegoat Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

Rubio and Clinton both figure prominently in the 2016 presidential chatter of their respective parties. They faced off over Benghazi during a January Senate hearing, but their exchange didn’t produce fireworks.

The January hearing is best remembered for Clinton’s “What difference at this point does it make?” response after Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., repeatedly asked her why the administration didn’t abandon the YouTube story earlier.

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But a lawyer for the state House and Senate said the challenge by voters groups including the Florida League of Women Voters, Common Cause and National Council of  La Raza, should be dismissed.

Former Justice Raoul Cantero, representing the Legislature, said the state constitution allows only the Supreme Court to rule on the state’s redistricting plan — and validated the once-a-decade rewrite last year.

Cantero said that allowing the voters’ group challenge to proceed “opens up the possibility for serial redistricting litigation.”

Justice Charles Canady agreed.

“There can be a succession of claims and this can go on and on and on,” Canady warned. “We can be litigation the redistricting plan for the next decade.”

But Justice Barbara Pariente said that the voter-approved Fair District amendments to the constitution, which prohibit districts from being drawn to help or hurt incumbents, have complicated the existing constitutional standards for redistricting.

The “intent” of legislators is a factor courts must consider. That’s not likely possible to determine in the narrow time-frame given the Supreme Court for review of redistricting plans, she said.

“It may be a little messy until we get the law straightened out,” Pariente said.

The voters’ groups want a lower court to determine whether the Senate and congressional maps are invalid, because Republican leaders violated the Fair Districts standards. Court documents in that case filed in Leon County Circuit Court show that emails were exchanged between aides to Senate President Don Gaetz, House Speaker Will Weatherford and consultants who analyzed proposed maps.

The emails also show that in 2010, Rich Heffley, a Florida Republican Party consultant advising Gaetz, then the Senate’s redistricting chairman, organized a “brainstorming” meeting at the state party headquarters in Tallahassee. Other documents in the case show that Sen. Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, and Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, who are both angling for Senate presidency in coming years, emailed district information to consultants for review.

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Supporters of immigration reform display signs down the street from Sen. Marco Rubio's Palm Beach Gardens office. (Richard Graulich/The Palm Beach Post)

Opponents of the immigration reform bill were outnumbered, but got closer to Rubio's office and won style points with this skeleton prop. (Richard Graulich/The Palm Beach Post)

Supporters and opponents of the bipartisan immigration reform bill championed by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio took to the streets near Rubio’s Palm Beach Gardens office today.

At about 12:30 p.m., PostOnPolitics counted 23 supporters of the bill near the corner of PGA Boulevard and Military Trail and 13 opponents less than half a mile away in front of Rubio’s office. The outnumbered opponents scored higher in drive-by eye appeal, however, by bringing an “Amnesty Is Death To America” skeleton prop.

Tea party activists organized the protest outside Rubio’s office and delivered a Rubio aide a letter expressing concern about the legislation’s long-term costs. A study released by the conservative Heritage Foundation this week contends that, over 50 years, the bill would be a net drain of $6.3 trillion on federal coffers. Rubio has disputed the study, saying it fails to account for the dynamic economic effect the new citizens would have over the coming decades.

“Secure the borders first. If you secure the borders, then we could understand a little bit more and go forward from there,” said Mel Grossman of the Palm Beach County Tea Party. Grossman said the current bill leaves too much discretion to the Department of Homeland Security, which he said has failed to take illegal border crossings seriously.

Supporters of the bill — including the Service Employees International Union, the President Barack Obama-affiliated Organizing For Action, the Florida Immigrant Coalition and Florida New Majority — organized their counter-demonstration after hearing about the tea party plans.

“They’re trying to scare all these bipartisan Republicans who are taking a moderate approach….We are showing that there are two groups. There is a minority group who is against immigration reform, but a majority of Americans are for immigration reform,” said Florida SEIU’s Afifa Khaliq.

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The candidates for the vacant seats include Wilson and Walker-Turner, who have denied wrongdoing.

There’s nothing in state law to prevent the suspended commissioners from running, says Scott’s office, which points to an attorney general’s opinion from 1969 that addressed a similar question.

According to that opinion, Wilson and Walker-Turner wouldn’t immediately be allowed to take office if they win.

“In summary, a suspended indicted municipal official may run for reelection during the pendency of his indictment and suspension until he has been finally convicted of the charges made against him. If reelected, he may not assume the duties of his office unless and until he is acquitted of the charges,” the 1969 opinion says.

Wilson and Walker-Turner are scheduled to go on trial June 5, according to the state attorney’s office.

Wilson is running Tuesday against Olivia Anthony-Kerr and Shanique Scott for commission Seat 4. Walker-Turner is running against former city clerk Virginia Walker for Seat 5.

Scott suspended then-mayor Walker-Turner, vice mayor Linda Johnson and Wilson in December after they were charged with violating the Sunshine Law for allegedly meeting in private to approve $25,139 in vacation pay for former city manager Corey Alston, who has been charged with grand theft for accepting the cash.

Johnson was found guilty of the misdemeanor violation in April.

According to prosecutors, Alston called each of the three elected officials and persuaded them to support his request for payment. They agreed, and a check was cut to Alston totaling $25,139. The city’s finance director admitted to prosecutors he had deliberately kept information about the check from the commission. And the full city commission didn’t vote on approving the payment until three months after the check had been cut.

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Harrell

With national Republicans eager for candidates to start raising money to combat Murphy’s $672,013-and-growing re-election warchest, Harrell said earlier this year that she’d wait until the end of the state legislative session to make a decision. The session ended Friday. Now Harrell says she probably won’t make an announcement before July 1.

“I would not anticipate any formal announcements until the new fundraising quarter,” Harrell said today. “If I do it I would want to have a strong (first) fundraising quarter.”

The current quarter began April 1 and runs through June 30. Candidates often wait until the beginning of a new quarter to open a campaign so they can collect three months’ worth of contributions and post an impressive number when they file their first Federal Election Commission report.

Harrell is in Washington this week on business, but said she’ll also be talking to the National Republican Congressional Committee and other political operatives about the race. Former state Rep. Carl Domino is also expected in D.C. this week as he considers a congressional run.

Juno Beach Councilwoman Ellen Andel and former Derby, Conn., mayor Alan Schlesinger have already announced campaigns for the District 18 seat. Other Republicans looking at the race include St. Lucie County Commissioner Tod Mowery, former Tequesta councilman Calvin Turnquest and businessman Gary Uber.

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In what could be a crowded GOP primary, Andel staked out conservative positions in an outdoor speech by the town hall.

“Washington could gain some valuable insights about the way we do things here in Juno Beach,” Andel said, noting the town is debt-free while the federal debt is nearing $17 trillion.

“This race is about restoring conservative principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual sovereignty, free-market ideas and strong national security. It’s about promoting policies that lessen crippling regulation, reduce the tax burden and simplify the tax code. This is the only way that we will create economic growth and opportunity,” Andel said.

Andel, 46, was accompanied by her husband and two daughters. Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Ira Sabin and St. Lucie County GOP Chairman Bill Paterson — both neutral in the primary — were on hand.

Andel will likely face several Republican rivals for a seat that is a national priority for the GOP. Other Republicans who have shown interest in the race include state Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, former state Rep. Carl Domino, St. Lucie County Commissioner Tod Mowery, former Tequesta councilman Calvin Turnquest, businessman Gary Uber and former Derby, Conn., mayor Alan Schlesinger.

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‘Why Did Pafford vote against Governor’s budget that’s a win for public schools,’ was one of the headlines in a Florida GOP release that interlaced newspaper stories on the teacher pay raise with stinging words for Pafford.

Pafford was accused of being part of a ‘(Dis) appreciation week for teachers.’

“They apparently didn’t listen to my debate,” Pafford said Monday of the GOP criticism.

Pafford said he voted ‘no’ on the budget because it failed to adequately serve poor Floridians, the elderly and disabled. Mostly, he centered his opposition on the Legislature’s failure to expand health insurance to low-income residents, a battle that consumed much of the session and ended in a stalemate between the House and Senate.

“The budget is not plugged into the reality that exists outside this chamber,” Pafford said Friday on the House floor.

The GOP blast on Pafford came shortly after Scott toured Wynnebrook Elementary School in West Palm Beach, among a handful of school stops the governor plans to make this week. The budget includes $480 million that could give teachers a $2,500 pay raises by next June.

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Scott earlier endorsed a Medicaid expansion allowed under the Affordable Care Act that could bring Florida $51 billion in federal money over the next decade to cover 1.1 million uninsured Floridians.

But the House and Senate deadlocked on the issue — with House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, unwilling to accept any expansion that relied on federal dollars.

Scott did little to break the standoff during the two-month regular session which ended Friday. But Democrats said the governor now has an opportunity to underscore his support for expansion.

“Governor, you are on the record in support of fully implementing the Medicaid expansion so that uninsured Floridians have access to medical care,” the 14 Senate Democrats wrote. “We urge you to put action behind those words and wield your power to protect those people and the many Florida businesses whose fate now rests in your hands.”

Scott spent Monday touring Florida schools, touting a teacher pay raise he had listed as his top priority and was eventually granted by the Legislature, albeit with some modifications.

Scott wanted an across-the-board hike that was turned into a merit-based increase, that may not be distributed in many counties until next year.

The governor so far has said nothing about a special session on health care. In fact, his final comments when the Legislature adjourned Friday night didn’t sound like someone ready to renew the fight.

“The Legislature said, ‘no,’ I said ‘yes,’” Scott told reporters.

He also hinted that any sales pitch on his part would have proved fruitless. “The House and Senate know exactly where I am” on the issue, Scott said.

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Andel

Andel plans an official announcement Tuesday morning at the Juno Beach Town Center.

The district has a slight Republican registration edge and voted 51.5 percent for Mitt Romney, so several Republicans have been eyeing the seat. Alan Schlesinger, a former mayor of Derby, Conn., who was the GOP’s 2006 Senate nominee in Connecticut, has declared he’s running and lined up Tallahassee-based consultant Rockie Pennington for his campaign.

Other Republicans looking at the District 18 race include state Rep. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, St. Lucie County Commissioner Tod Mowery, former state Rep. Carl Domino, former Tequesta councilman Calvin Turnquest and businessman Gary Uber. Former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner has not ruled out running.

Here’s a copy of the release Andel’s consultant sent out today:

“Juno Beach- On Tuesday morning, Ellen Andel will make her campaign to be the next Congresswoman from Florida’s 18th Congressional District official.

“The 18th Congressional District is likely to be a major battleground again in 2014. The district voted for Mitt Romney in 2012 and its current PVI is R+3, meaning it out performs the generic Republican number by 3 points.”

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Judge John G. Van Landingham’s 85-page ruling is the latest twist in a drawn-out legal battle over whether barrel racing, until two years ago typically a rodeo event, is a legitimate gambling activity in Florida.

Van Landingham’s final order is a victory for the Florida Quarter Horse Racing Association and the Florida Quarter Horse Breeders and Owners Association, which challenged the Department of Business and Professional Regulation that oversees gambling in the state over issuing the license for barrel racing under a quarter horse permit to Gretna Racing in 2011.

Barrel racing was never contemplated by the Legislature or by voters when they approved other horse racing in a constitutional amendment in 1968, Van Landingham ruled. Instead, DBPR issued the license without adopting a rule authorizing barrel racing, he found.

“Florida administrative law does not allow an agency to establish such a policy stealthily by the issuance of expedient licenses; this is equally true whether the policy is highly controversial or widely praised,” Van Landingham wrote.

DBPR spokeswoman Sandi Poreda said the agency is reviewing the ruling.

Florida is the only place in the country where gamblers can legally bet on barrel racing, where horses race against the clock instead of each other at the same time. DBPR also issued a barrel racing license to Hamilton Downs Horsetrack near Jacksonville.

“A race ‘between’ horses, therefore, is a contest pitting horse against horse that takes place during the same span of time, beginning for all with a single starting signal and ending when the last horse crosses the finish line. The horses must perform simultaneously, not sequentially, which means that they are connected, not only by the fact of being opponents, and not only by the fact of competing on the same race course, but also temporally,” Van Landingham wrote.

The ruling raises questions about not only the barrel races at the Gretna track, about 25 miles from Tallahassee, but about the more lucrative cardroom at the track. And it also casts doubt on whether the facility will be able to offer slot machine gambling despite voters’ approval of a local referendum allowing the slots.

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