Democrats have long touted House Majority Leader Adam Hasner’s Palm Beach-Broward seat as a pickup opportunity when Hasner leaves this year because of term limits. Republicans have roughly a 39-to-35 percent registration edge in District 87 and have been losing ground over the past eight years.

But Democratic hopes suffered a blow in January when candidate Lori Berman, who had raised more money than Republican Bill Hager, quit the race to run in more heavily Democratic District 86.

Now Dems have recruited retired construction manager Laura Rawlins-Blum of Boca Raton to run in District 87. Rawlins-Blum, active in the Palm Beach County Democratic Executive Committee, was encouraged to run by Dems including former League of Women Voters President Pamela Goodman. Goodman, who had been urged by some Democrats to run for the seat, will host a kickoff fund-raiser for Rawlins-Blum.

“Ideology” was a bad word in Gov. Charlie Crist’s State of the State address, which called on lawmakers — and, indirectly, Republican voters in this year’s U.S. Senate primary — to elevate “problem-solving” over rigid adherence to ideological positions.

“During these very difficult economic times, we do a disservice to the people who elected us – the people who are counting on us – to elevate ideology over problem-solving,” Crist said.

Hasner: defends the I-word

House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, took issue with Crist’s stigmatizing of the I-word.

“I’m as much of a problem solver as anybody else in the legislature or anybody else who serves. But I come to solve problems based on my principles, based on the beliefs that I hold and that the people elected me to come and carry out,” Hasner said afterward.

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Tea party activists march in West Palm Beach's July 4th parade. Allen Eyestone/The Palm Beach Post

Florida Republican leaders bristled at the suggestion Wednesday from Palm Beach County schools Superintendent Art Johnson that the conservative, anti-spending tea party movement could force the district to cut 1,600 jobs in 2011-12.

“If the common-sense approach of reducing government spending and cutting taxes makes me part of the tea party movement, then pass me some sugar,” House Republican Leader Adam Hasner of Boca Raton said.

Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander said his spending decisions will be driven by the state’s 11.8 percent unemployment rate, not by a particular political message.

But in a page from the “All Politics is Local” chapter of Florida government, the Republican leader has a tea party activist living next door to his Lake Wales home. Alexander said he’s attended two of his neighbor’s meetings.

“He walks my dog from time to time and I have to go over and say hello to everybody,” Alexander said. “They’re very reasonable people. They are concerned about the course of the country. I welcome everybody’s involvement in the discussion of how we move the state forward.”

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Berman

Berman raised $21,643 between July 1 and Sept. 30 for a total of $52,818. Hager raised $12,575 during the quarter for a total of $38,575 in contributions. He’s also kicked in $14,500 of his own money.

Hager has already spent $35,306 on the race, according to his report, while Berman has spent $4,501.

Hager

Video link from politico.com

Freshman U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, came under fire from Republicans this week after summarizing the Republican health care plan as “Don’t get sick” and, if you do, “Die quickly.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele called Grayson’s remarks “a calculated scare tactic and smear” and said Democrats serious about “civil debate on the floor of the House” should demand an apology.

Grayson took to the House floor Wednesday to offer an “apology” that drew more GOP outrage: “I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven’t voted sooner to end this holocaust in America.”

Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, who is a devout Jew, responded: “Comparing the American health care system to the systematic murdering of over six million Jews is totally outrageous and unfit for someone holding public office. Congressman Grayson should apologize to the Jewish community and the families of those whose loved ones were brutally executed.” (more…)

Hasner: videos bolster case for elections changes

Hasner and other Republicans have long accused the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now of perpetrating voter fraud.

Crist: no fraud problem in Florida

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Diamond

Florida Attorney General and 2010 governor candidate Bill McCollum will be the latest GOP office-seeker to belly up to Diamond’s political ATM when he attends a fund-raising lunch there Wednesday.

McCollum

He was a regional administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration under Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush, then was former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani’s commissioner of administrative services from 1994 to 2001.

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The House Majority Office sent out a tongue-in-cheek e-mail today trying to steer fans to its new Facebook page.

Earlier this week, House Majority Leader Adam Hasner invited fans to do a Facebook search for “Florida House Majority Office” to check out his new site and join up.

But a search turned up a variety of Facebook groups - including “Stop Horse Slaughter and Murder in Mexico!” - none of which was the Majority Office’s.

“Thanks in part to Dara Kam of the Palm Beach Post, many of you know that a glitch in the Facebook search box leads folks to pages other than our own. For the record, the House Majority Office is fully supportive of stopping horse slaughter and murder in Mexico, and is proud that we have done our part to raise awareness of the issue. But our intention was to send you to our new Facebook page, not one on Mexican equines,” House Majority Office Staff Director Todd Reid wrote in an e-mail.

Reid said his staff have tried to get Facebook to fix the glitch, but in the meantime wanted to advertise a direct link to the site: www.facebook.com/FLGOPMajority.

Fans of the Florida House Republicans can follow the Majority Office on Facebook but it takes a little doing to find them.

Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, today sent out an e-mail inviting folks to become a fan of his office’s Facebook group. To join, simply enter “Florida House Majority Office” in the Facebook search bar.

“To get the Right point of view of what’s happening in Tally, follow the activities of the Republicans in the Florida House,” Hasner’s message read.

But an attempt to do that resulted in seven groups (none of them Hasner’s), including “Stop Horse Slaughter and Murder in Mexico!”

The search result also included the “Win with Alma” group, supporters of Democrat Alma Gonzalez, a union lawyer who ran for the Leon County commission. She lost.

The Majority Office also launched a Twitter site: FLGOPMajority.

Sen. Ted Deutch is glad his GOP counterparts in the House agree with a proposal the Boca Raton Democrat came up with two years ago that went nowhere.

Deutch tried but failed to pass a bill that would update state election laws to exempt Internet ads linking to campaign web sites from requiring disclaimers about who is paying for the ad and the candidate’s approval.

House Majority Leader Adam Hasner’s office sent out a press release today touting similar legislation filed by state Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, calling it a “commonsense solution.”

“In the new media economy, technology advances faster than our laws can adapt. We need to ensure that Florida’s laws keep pace with the technological changes that modern campaigns are now embracing to reach voters,” Hasner, R-Boca Raton wrote.

Deutch later issued a press release saying he would file similar legislation again and reminding the public, and especially the GOP, that the bright idea was his back in 2008.

“Unfortunately, the bill, which had no House sponsor, was never heard in the Senate,” the release reads.

Hasner at one point was considered a likely GOP candidate for the Palm Beach-Broward seat, but opted not to run for any office in 2010 when he faces term limits.

About 64 percent of Senate District 25 voters live in Palm Beach County and about 36 percent in Broward County. Hasner’s endorsement of Broward County resident Bogdanoff comes at the expense of two Palm Beach County Republicans — state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, and Delray Beach businessman Nick Loeb.

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With state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, term-limited in 2010, Democrats are making a serious play for his District 87 seat. The district, which includes parts of southern Palm Beach County and a few Broward County precincts, has a slight Republican registration edge and was effectively out of reach for Dems when prolific fund-raiser Hasner was running.

In a sign that Democrats are more optimistic about their post-Hasner prospects, several A-list Dems are on the host committee for a fund-raiser next week for Democratic candidate Lori Berman, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton.

The money-raising committee includes Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, state Sen. Ted Deutch and state Reps. Kelly Skidmore, Maria Sachs and Kevin Rader. Wexler’s top local aide, Wendi Lipsich, is also listed as one of the hosts.

Former Boca Raton councilman Bill Hager is the only Republican in the District 87 race.

With his wife managing a California gubernatorial campaign, House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, decides to sit out the 2010 election season.

Hasner

Read about it here.

The Florida House just approved a bill that would cap annual property insurance increases at 10 percent for Citizens policy holders. But the 80-35 vote didn’t come easy.

Rep. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, tried to blow up the bill (HB 1495) with a series of amendments he said would force the state to be more honest about the risks associated with the state-run insurer.

“I don’t know why I waste my breath, but I’m not going to be hushed,” Hays said, saying his fellow Republicans should be “embarrassed” by the bill.

At one point during debate, Hays called “bull-crap” three times on House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton. Hays’ microphone was not on and Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, pulled Hasner away from the confrontation.

After the vote, Hays then confronted Reps. Dean Cannon and Will Weatherford, who are expected to eventually succeed Larry Cretul as the top Republican in the House. Hays pointed at the pair several times, while staffers stood in front of the group, trying to block the view from the press gallery.

Eventually, the conversation moved to the side of the chamber, where Hays received a talking-to from Cretul and House Sergeant Ernie Sumner.

A constitutional amendment to guarantee secret-ballot elections when workers vote to unionize was approved this afternoon in a partisan vote by the Florida House. If the Senate approves the measure, the question would be place on the 2010 ballot.

In the House, the 74-44 vote narrowly exceeded the 72-vote threshold needed for a constitutional amendment to pass the chamber. Republicans argued the proposal would prevent worker intimidation and business lobbyists say its largely to block a pro-union change in federal labor law.

After the vote, Democrats requested that the debate be printed in the House journal, the official record of the chamber. Republicans voted the measure down.

Rep. Adam Hasner, a Boca Raton Republican sponsoring the measure (HJR 1013), said it was “no secret that our state and our nation face unprecedented economic challenges.”

“Protecting workers’ rights is essential if we want to create and protect jobs and get Florida’s economy moving again,” Hasner said in a press release.

As usual, the Florida House opened session today with a prayer. But for the first time this year (and possibly the first time ever), that prayer was led by an imam, Qasim Ahmed, from the Islamic Learning Institute in Tampa.

The prayer was videotaped by Ahmed Bedier, United Voices of America director, who remarked on the absence of House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton. Bedier said he was videotaping the “historic” moment.

“We did notice Hasner’s empty chair. That’s definitely noticed,” Bedier said.

Hasner led a press conference on Muslim Day at the Capitol last month to protest Bedier’s organization. This weekend, Hasner hosted a “Free Speech Summit” with controversial writer Geert Wilders, leading the Council On American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to demand Hasner be removed from his leadership position.

Hasner said he wasn’t on the floor this morning for personal reasons and noted the iman was in the House at the invitation of Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek.

“It’s Jim Waldman’s right as a member to invite whomever he wants,” Hasner said.

Loeb and former Boca Raton Councilman Bill Hager are seeking the Republican nomination to replace term-limited state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, in District 87, which includes parts of southern Palm Beach County and a few Broward County precincts.

House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, said today that he won’t challenge U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, for Congress in 2010:

“This is the right decision for me and my wife at this time,” Hasner said. “Representing the people of Florida and serving as House majority leader remains the greatest honor, and I will continue to be an advocate for the policies and principles that will get our state and our country moving again.”

Rep. Steve Precourt, R-Orlando, logs on to www.PostOnPolitics.com during House session Friday to read the grand jury indictment of former House Speaker Ray Sansom, R-Destin. (AP Photo/Phil Coale)

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The Florida House this morning restored about $63,000 in funding for the state Holocaust Museum, pictured left. And here’s the partisan press release from the House Republican Office that accuses a handful of Democrats of, well, partisanship.

“It is outrageous that 13 Democrats would put partisan politics ahead of increasing funding for education about the Holocaust by voting against this measure,” House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, said in the release.

What happened this morning was that Rep. Marty Kiar, D-Davie, offered this amendment to move about $35,000 away from the school recognition program to the holocaust museum, which is located in St. Petersburg.

Hasner then upped the ante by offering a substitute amendment that took even more money from the Excellent Teaching Program.

But several Democrats — 13 to be exact — voted against Hasner’s amendment, including several who said they didn’t want to take any money out of the state education budget.