http://www.postonpolitics.com News about politics and government in Florida Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:46:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="attachment_15592" align="alignright" width="100" caption="Meek"][/caption]Democratic U.S. Rep. and Senate candidate Kendrick Meek criticized the Obama administration's response to Israel's decision to build 1,600 homes in a disputed area of East Jerusalem. Vice President Joe Biden, who was visiting Israel at the time of the announcement, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/democrat-meek-criticizes-obama-administrations-undiplomatic-language-to-israel/ [caption id="attachment_15588" align="aligncenter" width="325" caption="Sink talks with Business Development Board members. Photo by Damon Higgins."][/caption]WEST PALM BEACH -- Democratic governor candidate Alex Sink today proposed a variety of tax breaks and other incentives aimed at boosting Florida's economy and highlighted her private-sector background in a meeting with local business leaders. Sink, ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/business-minded-dem-sink-unveils-jobs-economy-proposals-in-west-palm-beach/ A Florida Senate panel on Tuesday approved a second year of cutbacks for the popular Bright Futures scholarships, citing declining tax collections. But just down the hall in the Capitol, another Senate committee approved cutting tax collections further to help pay for a massive expansion of a different kind of "scholarship" ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/tax-dilemma-bright-futures-could-be-cut-to-save-state-tax-money-while-popular-voucher-expansion-would-cost-millions/ From the New York Times editorial board this morning: Some environmentalists complained that Mr. Crist paid too much and that the cost of the deal would crowd out other restoration projects. But some of those projects — a string of underground storage wells, for instance — made little sense to begin with ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/nytimes-a-good-deal-for-the-everglades/ As local supporters and opponents of health care overhaul took to the streets Tuesday to make their case, it was clear that many supporters of the Democratic legislation don't see it as the culmination of decades of struggle but as a starting point for future changes. "The day after it's passed ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/local-moveon-demonstrator-pass-health-care-mess-now-fix-it-later/ Senate President Jeff Atwater allowed Democrats to talk about repealing the state's gay adoption ban during the afternoon session today. Sen. Nan Rich has tried and failed for the past four years to have her bills that would do away with Florida's 33-year-old prohibition against gay couples or individuals adopting. But ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/senate-finally-allows-debate-on-gay-adoption/ [caption id="attachment_15567" align="aligncenter" width="325" caption="Mark Foley at the Forum Club last week. Photo by Damon Higgins."][/caption]Former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley continues to elevate his public profile. Last week, he made his first appearance at a Forum Club of the Palm Beaches luncheon since his 2006 resignation in a national firestorm ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/mark-foley-to-make-first-post-scandal-appearance-in-washington-dc/ Republican lawmakers in the Florida Senate took turns firing shots at the state’s largest teachers union today during a committee hearing over whether the GOP-majority wants to approve a massive expansion of the school voucher program. (They do.) Finance & Tax Chairman Thad Altman said expanding vouchers would help reduce class ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/barbarians-at-the-gate-push-forward-state-school-voucher-program/ House members are going after bands of rogue pizza pitchmen that they say are targeting tourists in Central Florida by posing as pizza purveyors to gain entree into hotels. The criminals hand out flyers with phony phone numbers and rape or steal from the unsuspecting tourists once they arrive at their ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/pizza-pitches-cause-heartburn-in-house/ House Speaker Larry Cretul reversed his position on a measure that would make 911 calls exempt from public records. Cretul, R-Ocala, had pushed the bill at the behest of Florida Farm Bureau President John Hoblick, whose organization contributed $30,000 to the Republican Party of Florida over the past two years. Hoblick ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/speaker-flip-flops-on-911-call-exemptions/ Free speech advocates are up in arms about a House bill that would harshly penalize individuals handing out flyers on property owned by hoteliers. The bill (PCB PSDS 10-03) would allow the seizure of cars, computers or items in cars if a person has been caught more than three times handing ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/handing-out-flyers-could-get-you-handcuffed/ [caption id="attachment_15523" align="aligncenter" width="325" caption="Some of the West Palm Beach coffee party group, from Flickr.com"][/caption]"Diversity" was advertised as a prominent feature of the "coffee party" movement that held hundreds of gatherings Saturday to counter the conservative tea party movement. But the meeting of about 40 people in West Palm Beach was ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/local-coffee-party-attendee-a-little-surprised-by-lack-of-diversity-in-tea-party-alternative-group/ [caption id="attachment_15535" align="alignright" width="78" caption="Frankel"][/caption]West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel says she's made no decision on what she plans to do when her second term expires next March. Frankel can't seek a third term unless the city charter is changed, a process that would probably require a petition drive and referendum ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/term-limits-battle-in-west-palm-beach-frankel-undecided-on-2011-plans/ [caption id="attachment_15516" align="aligncenter" width="325" caption="A picture from the West Palm Beach event from the Coffee Party U.S.A. page on Flickr.com"][/caption]WEST PALM BEACH -- About 40 people showed up for Saturday's first meeting of the local "coffee party" chapter, part of a national movement triggered by by pro-Obama filmmaker Annabel Park's ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/at-wpb-coffee-party-to-me-government-is-the-answer/ A Times/Herald analysis of IRS records shows Rubio's spending "belies his image as an outsider riding a wave of anti-establishment fervor and gunning to knock off Gov. Charlie Crist for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination." From the story: • Rubio failed to disclose $34,000 in expenses — including $7,000 he paid ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/marco-rubios-high-roller-political-spending/ Full Palm Beach Post coverage of the Acreage cancer cluster [caption id="attachment_15502" align="aligncenter" width="325" caption="Sen. Bill Nelson listens to Greg Dunsford during a meeting with Acreage residents to discuss upcoming testimony before a congressional hearing aimed at finding ways to bolster the federal government\'s hand in investigating cancer clusters. Allen Eyestone/Staff ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/live-updates-sen-bill-nelson-meets-with-acreage-residents/ From WUSF: The New York Times story hinted the change was meant to benefit U.S. Sugar and its law firm, where Crist's ally, U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, was a partner. Alan Farago of the group Friends of the Everglades says Crist abandoned the Bush plan because of science. "Gov. Bush is quite critical ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/enviros-defends-crists-everglades-deal-criticize-ny-times/ Gov. Charlie Crist on Fox News this morning said he's being thumped in the polls right now by fellow Republican Marco Rubio because "nobody has talked about his record." What part of his record is no one talking about? "The fact that he voted for increases in property taxes while he was ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/crist-opens-west-miami-book-on-rubio/ [caption id="attachment_15456" align="aligncenter" width="325" caption="Rudy Giuliani and Bill McCollum work the room at Howley\'s this morning. Photo by Lannis Waters."][/caption] WEST PALM BEACH -- Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani told a packed crowd at Howley's restaurant this morning that Republican Bill McCollum is Florida's best defense against a California-style fiscal ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/rudy-giuliani-touts-mccollum-as-fiscal-hawk-in-west-palm-beach/ It would be more difficult to sell carburetor pipes, chillums and chillers in Florida under a bill approved today by a panel of state lawmakers. Don't know what those items are? Most members of the House Finance and Tax Council didn't either. Not that that stopped them from approving the bill ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/video-florida-lawmakers-target-head-shops/ Federal prosecutors in Florida are trying to keep a serial child molester behind bars in California for crimes George Joseph England allegedly committed in Palm Beach County. England, now 65, is accused of buying then-five-year-old Jackie Zudis from her mother in Vietnam in the early 1970s. He claimed her as his ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/statute-of-limitation-on-child-sex-crimes-and-man-accused-of-keeping-woman-sex-slave-for-years-in-florida/ Although Democrat Eric Massa has resigned from Congress amid sexual misconduct allegations, Republicans want a continued ethics inquiry into the Empire State tickler and how much Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders knew about his conduct. Sound familiar? As this Washington Post article notes, "GOP leaders cited as precedent the committee's ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/gop-embraces-mark-foley-as-precedent-in-massa-scandal/ The board of the South Florida Water Management District voted unanimously to extend the closing deadline on the $536 million, 73,000-acre land deal until Sept. 30, so that a legal challenge now before the Florida Supreme Court can play out. Story here. http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/breaking-everglades-deal-gets-unanimous-vote-on-crucial-time-extension/ A 2009 rant by MSNBC's Rick Santelli helped launch the conservative tea party movement. Now an Obama supporter's Facebook rantings have launched an alternative "coffee party" that will try to gain traction Saturday with gatherings across the U.S., including one in West Palm Beach. A local organizer said the group doesn't have ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/tea-party-alternative-obama-backer-launches-coffee-party-movement-including-west-palm-beach-event/ [gallery]Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who keynoted Monday's Forum Club of the Palm Beaches lunch, is the early 2012 presidential frontrunner among Florida Republicans, a Democratic polling firm says. In the poll of 492 Florida Republican voters by North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling, Romney gets 52 percent to 21 percent for ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/the-early-early-line-on-2012-romney-is-gop-presidential-fave-in-florida-dem-pollster-says/ Marco Rubio is attempting to do just that with this web video released today, just hours before the South Florida Water Management District takes another critical vote on the Charlie Crist-backed plan to buy up U.S. Sugar land in the name of Everglades restoration. Crist has called the deal one ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/can-rubio-turn-a-crist-crown-jewel-into-clunker/ [gallery]WEST PALM BEACH -- Attorney General and GOP governor candidate Bill McCollum dropped by tonight's Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee powwow and sounded at first like a federal candidate before throwing his likely Democratic opponent, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, into the mix. "In Washington, President Obama and his administration ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/mccollum-slams-obama-pelosi-reid-sink-health-care-overhaul/ Denise Amber Lee's six-minute 911 call that helped convict her killer is among the most notorious examples of 911 calls gone wrong, the calls that are now in House Speaker Larry Cretul's crosshairs as he tries to create a public records exemptions for them. Her husband Nathan Lee sent an e-mail ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/speaker-cretul-ignores-e-mail-from-husband-of-botched-911-call-murder-victim/ A bill that's one of House Speaker Larry Cretul's priorities that would make 911 call tapes secret is on the fast-track in his chamber but lacks a Senate sponsor. Cretul is pushing the measure on behalf of Florida Farm Bureau President John Hoblick, whose 16-year-old son died from a lethal combination ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/speakers-priority-911-call-exemption-bill-lacks-senate-sponsor/ Marco Rubio beats Gov. Charlie Crist by a 60-to-28 percent margin in a Republican Senate primary matchup, a Democratic polling firm says, but Rubio only has a 5-point lead over Democratic frontrunner Kendrick Meek in a hypothetical general election matchup. The latest survey of 849 Florida voters by North Carolina-based Public ... http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/03/dem-polling-firm-fla-senate-race-close-if-rubio-is-gop-nominee/