One-time U.S. Senate candidate and Senate President Mike Haridopolos is backing long-time friend U.S. Rep. Connie Mack IV in the GOP primary, Haridopolos told editors and reporters this morning.
Haridopolos said he’s supporting Mack because he’s disappointed in the negative campaigning that’s dominated the GOP race thus far.
“I was not exactly pleased in the direction in which the senate primary was moving,” Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, told a gathering of reporters and editors at the Associated Press Florida Legislative Planning Session shortly before noon. “I think he’d make an outstanding senator, not just candidate…I want to see us elevate the political discussion. What has disappointed me…is there’s a lot of finger-pointing. Let’s elevate the debate…as opposed to the negative campaigning that’s been done to this point.”
After initially saying he would not get into the race, Mack has now thrown his hat into a crowded GOP field. Former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, former state representative Adam Hasner of Delray Beach, businessman Craig Miller and Mike McAllister are all vying to unseat incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat. The four declared GOP candidates have been plagued by underwhelming poll numbers and fundraising.
Early this spring, Mack, a Cape Coral Republican who served in the Florida House alongside Haridopolos, endorsed Haridopolos, who dropped out of the race this summer.
UPDATE: Florida Republicans call the Dems new website “desperate.” This from Republican Party of Florida spokesman Brian Hughes: “With the most recent state reports showing RPOF outraised Florida Democrats by 5-to-1, it’s no surprise they are desperate to raise money. But this lame website demonstrates a level of desperation that is even worse than we thought possible. Instead of touting their anointed leaders, Barack Obama or Debbie Wasserman Schultz, they recycle ridiculous, cheap attacks. This tactic is more evidence why Floridians reject Democrats on Election Day.”
The Florida Democratic Party launched a new website today blaming Gov. Rick Scott and his fellow Republican lawmakers for the state’s dire economic straits.
The website accuses “Rickpublicans” of ethical lapses and causing teacher layoffs, among other things, and blasts Scott for “backsliding” on his campaign pledge to create 700,000 jobs over seven years as governor.
And the Dems remind viewers that Republicans have had a stranglehold on the state legisalture and governor’s mansion for more than a decade.
The site gives this definition of a “Rickpublican:” [rick-puhb-li-kuh´n]
noun
1. Proper name for Florida Republicans wrought with greed and corruption who are hell-bent on selling out to the corporations and special interests while leaving Florida’s middle class families out-to-dry.
The Dems also use “Six Degrees of Separation” to link half a dozen GOP politicians – including Palm Beach County’s Adam Hanser and U.S. Rep. Allen West – to Scott, whose popularity among voters remains dim.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is backing George LeMieux in a heated GOP primary for U.S. Senate.
Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee who briefly considered running in the 2012 presidential race, called LeMieux a “solid conservative” in a statement released this morning by LeMieux’s campaign.
“I am honored to earn the support of a principled conservative like Haley Barbour. When Governor Barbour was RNC Chairman, he helped orchestrate the Republican Revolution in 1994 that built the type of conservative majorities we need to turn our country around,” LeMieux said in the release. “More importantly, from his leadership during hurricane Katrina to his work passing key pro-life legislation, Governor Barbour is a case study in effective conservative governance.”
LeMieux is struggling to shake off his ties to Gov. Charlie Crist, who appointed LeMieux to replace former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez when he resigned mid-term. LeMieux, a one-time close ally to Crist whom the former governor called “The Maestro,” did not seek reelection to the seat, which now-U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio won after Crist quit the GOP and ran against him as an independent.
LeMieux will face off in the primary against Delray Beach’s Adam Hasner, a former state House member who also served as the chamber’s majority leader.
Wealthy Delray Beacher Nick Loeb is toying with entrée into the race but is waiting until gal pal Sofia Vergara, star of Modern Family, gets past the Emmy Awards next month. Chris Ruddy, another Palm Beacher and CEO of the influential West Palm Beach-based conservative publication NewsMax, has ruled out getting into the candidate fray.
A Quinnipiac University poll last week showed that 53 percent of Republican voters remain undecided in the Senate primary but found Plant City tree farmer and retired Army Reserve Col. Mike McCalister leading the current four-candidate field with a meager 15 percent.
Behind McCalister in the poll were both LeMieux, with 12 percent, and Hasner, with 6 percent. Former Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse CEO Craig Miller weighed in with 8 percent support.
The GOP U.S. Senate primary campaign is heating up as former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Boca Raton came out swinging today against former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux.
“Conservatives across Florida and the country shouldn’t just be outraged, we should be insulted. This is the same George LeMieux that once proudly said, ‘I describe myself as a Charlie Crist Republican’ and said he was Crist’s ‘junior partner,’” Hasner said in the fundraising memo entitled “Unbelievable.”
Crist appointed LeMieux to the U.S. Senate to fill in a vacancy created by Mel Martinez, who retired before his term was up. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio now holds the post.
Team Hasner has also launched a “Charlie Crist Republican” website featuring an image of Crist and LeMieux that’s reminiscent of the Crist-President Obama man-hug picture that Marco Rubio used against Crist in the 2010 Senate primary.
Former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Boca Raton, who’s been flirting with a potential 2012 U.S. Senate run, grabs some important electrons this morning on The National Journal‘s Hotline On Call website.
Hasner faces a “distinctly uphill path” to the GOP nomination, says Hotline, noting his relatively low statewide name ID. On the plus side, Hotline says, his conservative voting record and long history of opposing Gov. Charlie Crist should wear well with Republican primary voters, and Hasner “would be able to tap into a national Jewish Republican fundraising pool.”
U.S. Sen. George LeMieux’s appearance at a Forum Club of the Palm Beaches lunch today in West Palm Beach puts the spotlight on Florida’s 2012 U.S. Senate race.
Republican LeMieux is winding down a 16-month gig after being appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist in 2009. At the time, Crist was the 2010 Republican Senate frontrunner and LeMieux, his former campaign manager and chief of staff, was seen as a seatwarmer for his ex-boss. LeMieux ended up campaigning for Marco Rubio when Crist bolted the GOP for an independent bid.
Now LeMieux is seen as one of several potential Republican candidates for 2012, when Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is up for reelection. Some other Republicans to watch: former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Boca Raton, new state Senate President Mike Haridopolos and U.S. Reps. Connie Mack and Vern Buchanan from Florida’s west coast.
Republican Meg Whitman’s win in Tuesday’s California GOP governor’s primary was managed by Jillian Hasner, the GOP operative who’s also the wife of state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton. Jillian Hasner’s California gig was a factor in her hubby’s decision not to run for office this year despite facing House term limits.
Whitman’s win is also being used by Florida Democrat Kendrick Meek’s U.S. Senate campaign to question the partisan loyalty of his Democratic primary rival, Palm Beach billionaire Jeff Greene. Greene contributed $5,000 to Whitman’s campaign last year.
“Congratulations billionaire Jeff Greene — your endorsed candidate for California governor Republican Meg Whitman won her primary last night. One year ago, you sent a $5,000 dollar check to Whitman, a conservative Republican who favors increasing restrictions on a woman’s right to choose and supports repealing environmental and climate reforms,” said Meek spokesman Adam Sharon in a release this morning.
In a tongue-in-cheek hint of what will likely take place during a budget debate on the floor tomorrow, House Democratic Leader-to-be Ron Saunders filed an amendment on a transportation bill that sweeps nearly $150 million from road projects to fill a $3.2 billion spending gap.
The veteran Key West lawmaker’s amendment renames the transportation bill the “Job Killer Act of 2010.”
Look for Democrats to try to amend the budget mainly in the House but without much success.
As evidence, House Majority Leader Adam Hasner offered his own amendment to counter Saunders’.
Hasner, R-Delray Beach, wants to name the bill (HB 5503) the “Protecting Healthcare and Education Funding Act of 2010.”
The Senate is expected to debate and amend its budget and pass it out so they can cancel session on Thursday and get in a longer Easter weekend.
Hundreds of thousands of Florida workers – including teachers and cops – say they are under assault by lawmakers using the state’s flopping finances as a way to bust up the unions.
Measures that would cut salaries, do away with teacher tenure and impose pension reductions are speeding through the legislature this session.
“The legislature’s taking advantage of the bad economy to force their opinions of anti-unionism down the throats of the rest of the people. If they had their way, we’d be working weekends, and there would be 13-year-olds on the production lines,” said Paul Brewer, a Department of Transportation printer who is head of his local union comprised mainly of blue-collar workers in Tallahassee.
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
Embracing a $787 billion Democratic stimulus plan, which has damaged Crist in his GOP primary race against former House Speaker Marco Rubio, was cited by Crist as an example of choosing a path “more helpful to Floridians than engaging in hollow ideological posturing that achieves nothing.”
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.
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.”
In a state House race that has attracted attention from legislative leaders of both parties, Democrat Lori Berman holds an early money-raising lead over Republican Bill Hager in state House District 87, where House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, is leaving because of term limits.
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
The Palm Beach-Broward seat was considered safe GOP turf with Hasner running. But Republicans only held a 38.9-to-35.4 percent voter registration edge in 2008, giving Dems optimism for next year when Hasner won’t be on the ballot. House Democratic Leader Franklin Sands of Weston and 2010-12 Dem leader designate Ron Saunders of Key West have helped Berman raise money while Republican 2010-12 Speaker designate Dean Cannon of Orlando has helped Hager raise campaign cash.
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…)
Although it’s a prostitution-themed video sting that has rocked ACORN, Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, hopes to use the scandal to revive Republican efforts to clamp down on elections activities by the left-leaning outfit and its allies.
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
But Republican Gov. Charlie Crist pooh-poohed those concerns in Florida last year when John McCain’s presidential campaign tried to make them an issue. And Crist voiced concerns this year when Hasner and other Republicans pushed for heightened restrictions and stiffer penalties for groups like ACORN that specialize in voter-registration and petition drives. The legislation died.
Whether they’re running for president or a state House seat, Republicans in need of campaign cash often find their way to Bill Diamond’s Palm Beach home.
A veteran of New York City Republican politics, the 73-year-old Diamond co-owns a real estate business and was elected to the Palm Beach town council this year.
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.
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.
“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.
Passing over two Republicans from his own county, House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton, is endorsing state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, in the three-Republican primary for the seat of Senate President Jeff Atwater, who’s running for chief financial officer.
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.
Where's the money? Use The Post's interactive database of who wants and who's getting federal dollars.
Use these interactive graphics to find and contact Palm Beach County and Treasure Coast legislators.
