TALLAHASSEE — Bob Graham, the former Florida governor and U.S. Senator and the state’s most famous itinerant laborer, made a rare opening day appearance in the Capitol today and sat in the front row of the House chamber for Gov. Rick Scott’s State of the State speech.

Graham, a Democrat, gave Republican Scott credit for giving “such emphasis to the connection between education and economic development. I strongly share that opinion and am pleased that it’s going to get, from the governor’s office, the emphasis and energy.”

Graham said he doesn’t have a favorite candidate for governor in 2014, but predicted that Democrats “will have a very strong candidate and the lines are going to be well-defined for the people of Florida to decide their future course.”

The leading Democratic contender may be former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who became an independent in 2010 and a Democrat in December.

“Listen, we had a long period where Democrats were becoming Republicans. I think it’s only fair that we have a little reverse tide,” Graham said.

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Charlie Reed, who was Florida’s higher education chancellor for 13 years until heading to California in 1998, announced Thursday that he was stepping down as top executive of the nation’s largest university system.

Reed said he’ll return to Florida when a successor is named.

“It has been an incredible honor to serve as chancellor of the California State University during such a dynamic period in the university’s history,” Reed said.  “Over the past decade and a half, the CSU has emerged as a national leader in providing access and support to students from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds.”   

But over the past four years, Reed also has had to grapple with California’s deep budget problems. State cuts to the state university system totaled more than $1 billion, a  35 percent reduction even as enrollment spiked.  Since Reed joined the CSU, the system has grown by 100,000 students to 427,000.

“Nobody has cared more about the mission of the university, worked harder despite overwhelming challenges or advocated more passionately on behalf of the CSU than Charlie Reed,” said CSU Trustee Bill Hauck.  “His leadership over more than 14 years has been invaluable, and he has managed the institution through some of the most difficult times in its history.  Charlie leaves a legacy that puts students first.”

Reed, 70, was a popular, hardnosed figure as Florida’s university system chancellor. A former chief-of-staff to Democratic Gov. Bob Graham, Reed remained outspoken about Florida’s system – even from his position on the left coast.

Earlier this year, he told the Palm Beach Post, “the bigger problem in Florida is, there’s no real vision, no plan or direction for what higher education means and what it should do for the state.”

 

John DeGrove, considered the father of growth management laws in Florida, has died at age 87.

DeGrove for many years directed the Joint Center for Environmental and Urban Problems at Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University. He also an eminent scholar chair named for him in growth management and development at FAU, where he also taught political science.

As Florida’s secretary of the Department of Community Affairs from 1983 to 1985, DeGrove spearheaded the development and legislative approval of the landmark 1985 Growth Management Act and the State Comprehensive Plan. A fifth-generation Floridian, DeGrove also was one of the founding members of the state’s 1,000 Friends of Florida advocacy organization.

In 2001, on the 15th anniversary of 1,000 Friends’ founding,  then-Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet issued a resolution honoring DeGrove for his “decades of outstanding work on behalf of the people and natural resources of Florida.”

Then-U.S. Sen. Bob Graham at the time said of DeGrove, “I cannot imagine what problems would be facing our state today without your many years of wise counsel to several generations of planners and public policy leaders. There are few people in this state who have impacted each and every Floridian on a daily basis with such positive force as you.” 

The growth management laws enacted during DeGrove’s time in Florida government shaped the state until last year.

 Gov. Rick Scott, who campaigned against many of the state’s planning restrictions, signed into law legislation which eliminated state oversight of local planning, except when proposals with statewide impact are involved.

Standards for citizens challenging development projects also were toughened, giving builders more leeway to go ahead with projects they can prove will have some positive economic impact.

The legislation capped preceding three years of lawmakers chipping away at growth management provisions. Critics said the laws were overly burdensome and blunt the state’s ability to bounce back from an economic slump caused — paradoxically — by what many agree was overbuilding.

The legislation last year also eliminated the Department of Community Affairs, the main regulatory agency over development.

Gov. Rick Scott plans to take part in his eighth work day as Florida’s chief executive Friday — at Tampa International Airport.

The governor will work behind the ticket counter, in the airport’s communications center, and as a skycap over the course of his workday. While Scott is there, early afternoon at TIA is likely to prove fairly busy — with President Obama landing in Air Force One for a stop at the Port of Tampa, en route to Colombia for the Summit of the Americas.

While in Tampa, Obama is expected to announce trade initiatives with Latin America, pegged to the upcoming summit. It’s unlikely the president and Florida governor will meet.

Obama’s Tampa stop is not open to the public, but marks the president’s second visit to the state this week. On Tuesday, Obama campaigned before students at Florida Atlantic University.

For Scott, a Republican, the work day is part of a series whose concept is borrowed from another millionaire Florida chief executive, former governor and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, a Democrat. In earlier work days, Scott played the role of a Panhandle restaurant waiter, Port of Miami worker, and doughnut shop employee, among other posts. 

 

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham cautioned lawmakers and environmentalists this morning that “privatizing” state waters would cause “considerable damage” to the Everglades and cause Floridians to lose control of thousands of acres of wetlands.

“There’s no project in Florida that would be more adversely affected,” said Graham, who was a member of the legislature more than four decades ago and then governor when some of the state’s water and conservation policies were first created.

Graham was in town as environmentalists, government officials – including U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Gov. Rick Scott – and others gathered nearby for a day-long Everglades Water Supply Summit.

Speaking to the Florida Legislative Everglades Caucus, Graham called on them to reject two water measures he called “not just the camel’s nose but the camel’s neck and shoulders under the tent of privatization of water.

The first (HB 639) would allow utilities to have permanent ownership of water they have used and treated. The other (HB 1103) would change the definition of the “high water line” that determines where private property ends and state-owned waters begin. Critics, including Graham, say the measure would cause the state to lose hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands after years of litigation determining what the water line means.

“When we privatize ownership of Florida’s water resources, it takes water away from the Everglades. It’s just pure and simple. You can spend a bunch of money trying to get water into the Everglades but if somebody owns it, you’ll never get it there,” said Audubon of Florida executive director Eric Draper.

Graham also urged lawmakers to undo a move that gave the legislature more control over the state’s five water management districts, to boost money to the state’s land conservation program Florida Forever.

But the biggest threat to the River of Grass would be an end to the cooperation between state and federal officials to restore the state’s ecological treasure, the former governor advised. The protracted Everglades restoration projects have caused fear that the effort is unraveling.

“The thing that would be the most fatal to Everglades restoration is if this marriage between the state of Florida and the federal government were to be broken. Neither partner alone either has the financial or legal capabilities of carrying this off,” Graham said.

A poll released this morning found that 64 percent of voters surveyed favored increased spending on Everglades restoration, up from 51 percent who supported increased funding in a February 2011 survey.

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham has sent out an end-of-year call from the newly created Florida Conservation Coalition, urging environmental activists to buttonhole their legislators before the Jan. 10 session begins.

The coalition was unveiled last month, with plans to lobby Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-led Legislature to revive state funding for water quality programs, the Florida Forever land-buying program and Everglades restoration, which supporters say have been staggered by budget cuts since 2007.

In his email blast to activists, Graham condemns last spring’s policy changes and spending reductions.

“In three short months of 2011, the Governor and Legislature set Florida’s once proud conservation laws and programs back four decades. In so doing they have handed us a very heavy lift. But what choices do we have? We surrender, or we fight back,”  Graham said.

He concluded, “Our immediate job is to convince the Legislature that they went too far and must correct and reverse its misguided actions of 2011.”

The coalition includes Audubon of Florida, 1000 Friends of Florida, the Nature Conservancy, Florida Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, Trust for Public Land and League of Women Voters.

 

Former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham led a gathering of activists Wednesday calling for Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders to preserve the state’s water resources, while renewing its longstanding commitment to the environment.

“We need strong gubernatorial leadership to reverse the damage that’s been done,” Graham told a rally at the state Capitol.

Graham debuted Wednesday as leader of the Florida Conservation Coalition, which includes Audubon of Florida, 1000 Friends of Florida, the Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Trust for Public Land and League of Women Voters. The coalition plans to lobby Scott and the Republican-led Legislature to restore funding to water quality programs, the Florida Forever land-buying program, and Everglades restoration, which supporters say have been staggered by budget cuts since 2007.

Graham was joined by state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, Nathaniel Reed of 1000 Friends of Florida and representatives of environmental groups, which generally praised Scott’s environmental stance, but blasting legislative moves which reduced oversight and dollars for green programs.

Advocates derided the Legislature for approving a $210 million cut in water management district property taxes, which has led to wholescale staff layoffs and program reductions, the most profound occuring at the South Florida Water Management District. Graham said taxes were “reduced by the amount of two pizzas a year,” but that the cuts did wide-ranging harm to existing programs and services.

Environmentalists, though, withheld direct criticism of Scott, who campaigned for the reduction and embraced the  cuts. Instead, Graham, apparently buoyed by recent Scott comments which underscored the need for effective environmental policy and Everglades restoration, urged conservationists to “join Scott’s army.”

Graham also warned the coalition planned to hold lawmakers accountable for actions which hurt Florida’s environment.

“We want to alert the voters in 2012 who was responsible for what happened in 2011,” Graham said.

After shunning the state’s editorial boards during his run for governor last fall, Rick Scott’s chill toward the media was palpable at his first news conference in January.

But Tuesday — a day after he invited reporters for coffee and donuts in his office — the suddenly snuggly chief executive said he was looking to go even further.  Scott said he’s looking to spend a “workday” as a reporter, apparently accepting an invite from Miami Herald Bureau Chief Mary Ellen Klas to shadow her on duty.

“I like newspapers,” said Scott, adding that he once thought about buying a newspaper company. “I like reading the paper newspaper.”

Scott’s metamorphosis is remarkable, but also perhaps explainable. New chief-of-staff Steve MacNamara has been suggesting a fresh direction for the governor, whose first seven months in office have seen his popularity ratings plummet among Floridians.

Scott’s first “workday,” is slated for tomorrow in Tampa, when he will work at a donut shop similar to one he and his mother opened years ago in Kansas City.

Borrowing the schtick from former Democratic governor and later U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, Scott announced the move Monday night, saying he would work cleaning phone booths, delivering newspapers, and selling groceries in coming months — jobs that he formerly held on his Horatio Alger climb uphill.

But Scott set a mean deadline for doing some newspaper reporting. He said Tuesday it could become his second workday.

It worked for a Democratic millionaire chief executive in Florida more than 40 years ago.

But Republican Gov. Rick Scott appears to be hoping that launching his own series of ‘workdays,’ patterned after former Florida governor and later U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, will help raise his poor approval ratings from voters.

Scott plans to perform at least one workday each month. The first workday is slated for Wednesday, with Scott heading to a Tampa donut shop. Scott and his mother ran a donut shop in Kansas City, starting him on a path toward his millions.

Scott prepped a bit for his donut duty Monday. In an equally uncharacteristic move, the governor seemed intent on improving his generally icy relations with capital reporters, inviting them to his office for coffee and donuts. He even explained some of the finer points of donut-making to a rapt audience brandishing digital recorders.

Graham, scion to a family fortune spawned in the dairy and development industry, also boosted his popularity with workdays, completing almost 400 of them over his decades in elected office, which ended after an unsuccessful 2004 presidential run.

“I commend Gov. Scott on his commitment to understanding the hopes and concerns of Floridians by working with them,” Graham said. “I found the workdays to give me an unusual insight not only into how people earn their living, but how they live their lives, pursue their dreams and confront their challenges.”

 

 

Former Democratic U.S. Sen. and former Florida Gov. Bob Graham said on Fox News’ Hannity tonight that crotch-tweeting U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., should resign.

“I think that he needs to recognize reality and move on,” Graham said.

Weiner’s prospects for political survival appear to be diminishing with the emergence of a new lewd photo today and at least half a dozen Democratic House members calling for his resignation.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman and Broward County U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who repeatedly called Weiner’s troubles a “personal matter” last week, has not commented since Weiner confessed Monday to sending a lewd picture to a 21-year-old college student. A spokesman said Wasserman Schultz supports an ethics investigation of Weiner.

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, remembered for once dubbing Republican Connie Mack an “idealogical wacko,” wouldn’t take the bait Wednesday from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, who asked if Republican Gov. Rick Scott was pursuing a radical right-wing agenda.

“I don’t know what that means,” Graham said on Hardball. But he added, “He’s out of the mainstream.”

Graham and fellow Democrat, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, teamed up to criticize the Republican leadership of their states, both of which are seen as pivotal to winning the White House in 2012.

Strickland said Republican Gov. John Kasich, who defeated him last fall,  was drawing low popularity ratings among Ohio voters because he’s pushing “an agenda they perceive as extreme.”

Graham said Scott, whose poll numbers also are scraping bottom, wasn’t focusing on what people want: jobs. Instead, Graham added, “These governors have gotten off to a really bizarre agenda.”

Former first lady Adele Graham, among the hundreds of appointees Gov. Rick Scott yanked from pending confirmation last night, won’t be leaving her post on the Governor’s Mansion Commission, if Scott has anything to say about it.

Scott, a Republican, announced this evening he’s reinstating the wife of former governor and former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, a Democrat, after some sniping about giving the former first lady short shrift.

“I’m pleased that Adele Graham and Jane Aurell have been reappointed to the Governor’s Mansion Commission,” first lady Ann Scott said in a press release. “The Governor’s Mansion has such beauty and history. As former residents of the Mansion themselves, I know they will help showcase the People’s House for everyone who visits.”

Jane Aurell, 72, is a Tallahassee community volunteer and is reappointed for a term beginning February 3, 2011, and ending September 30, 2013.

Adele Graham, 72, is a former First Lady of Florida and is reappointed for a term beginning February 3, 2011, and ending September 30, 2013.

The appointments are subject to confirmation by the Florida Senate.

Former Florida Gov. and Sen. Bob Graham, a co-chair of the presidential commission that began hearings on the Deepwater Horizon oil spill today in New Orleans, has a long record of opposing drilling off the coast of Florida.

But in 2004, Graham and Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry took pains to distinguish between politically unpopular drilling off Florida and presumably safer drilling farther away in “the deep water” in the Gulf of Mexico.

When the two appeared together in Tampa in April 2004, Kerry was asked about drilling.

The Massachusetts Senator gave a long answer typical of what his supporters celebrated as “nuance” and his critics blasted as all-things-to-all-people waffling.

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With former Florida Sen. and offshore drilling critic Bob Graham as one of its co-chairs, a commission appointed by President Obama to study the Deepwater Horizon oil spill began hearings this morning in New Orleans.

Here’s the official White House website describing the commission and its members.

Here’s an Associated Press article from last month noting the lack of technical expertise of the panelists.

And here’s frequently updated coverage from today’s meeting by the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

President Barack Obama halted all deep-water oil drilling operations in the Gulf for the next six months or until a presidential commission co-chaired by former Florida U.S. Sen. Bob Graham completes its work.

Obama ordered the 33 deep-water rigs to stop drilling this afternoon as federal officials estimate that between 12,000 and 15,000 barrels of oil per day – up to four times more than previously thought – is gushing from the Deepwater Horizon well into the Gulf of Mexico. The disaster has now surpassed the Exxon Valdez spill more than 20 years ago.

Obama refuted criticism that his administration has not responded quickly enough to the disaster but acknowledged more could have been done in at least two key areas, including the oil flow estimates.

“This is what I wake up to in the morning and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about. The spill,” Obama told reporters at a press conference this afternoon in Washington. “Those who think that we were either slow on our response or lacked urgency don’t know the facts. This has been our highest priority since this crisis occurred.”

But government officials should not have trusted BP’s estimates of how much oil was spewing from the well more than 5,000 feet below the sea level, Obama said.

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