State Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, says he’s not worried that he raised only $3,147 from contributors in the first six weeks of his campaign for the state Senate District 25 seat while Republican primary rivals Nick Loeb ($225,105) and state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff ($122,575) have piled up far more.

“We raise money in a different cycle,” explained Domino, who has put $110,058 of his own money into the race. Domino, Bogdanoff and Loeb are vying for the Palm Beach-Broward seat of Senate President Jeff Atwater, who’s running for chief financial officer in 2010.

Bogdanoff’s and Loeb’s totals include money they raised for state House campaigns before Atwater announced he was leaving his Senate seat and they switched to that contest. Loeb has put $7,200 of his own money into the race on top of the $225,105 he’s received from others.

Domino says he’ll be financially competitive by the time the GOP primary rolls around more than 13 months from now. He says he doesn’t plan to crank up fund-raising until late September or October.

Wealthy investment manager Domino spent $210,000 of his own money on an unsuccessful 2000 state House bid and $270,000 of his own money on his winning 2002 state House campaign. Since entering the state House, Domino has relied primarily on other people’s money rather than his own checkbook. In 2008, he put $2,094 of his own money into his House reelection bid and raised $319,039 from donors.

On his way to winning the state House District 78 seat last year, state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, often reminded voters that he actually lived in the district while Democratic primary rival Steve Nichol did not and candidate Steven Perman had merely rented an apartment there while owning a house in Broward County.

Now Rader is entertaining thoughts of running next year in a state Senate district where he doesn’t live.

He has plenty of company.

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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.

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The Republican scramble for the Palm Beach-Broward seat of Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, puts GOP heavyweights and business partners Scott Rothstein and Roger Stone in rival camps.

Attorney Rothstein – who’s raised money for the likes of Charlie Crist, John McCain and George W. Bush – is backing state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, in the Senate District 25 race.
Legendarily dapper bad boy and unabashed Nixon admirer Stone, a partner with Rothstein in a Fort Lauderdale-based consulting biz, is behind Delray Beach businessman Nick Loeb.

Stone said he’s friends with Bogdanoff but has an “antecedent” relationship with Loeb’s family, going back to the days when he and Loeb’s father were early Ronald Reagan supporters. Though he’s known as a creative hitman, Stone says that, in this race, “I’m not here to engage in negative politics.”

Bogdanoff, Loeb and state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, are in the GOP primary to replace Atwater, who’s running for chief financial officer

State Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton, will enter the 2010 race for the state Senate seat of Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, who is running for chief financial officer.

Skidmore, serving her second House term, does not live in Atwater’s Senate District 25 but said she would have “no problem moving back into the district where I have lived most of my life.”

Palm Beach-Broward District 25 has a Republican registration edge of roughly 38 percent to 36 percent. But Democrat Barack Obama carried the district in November’s presidential election.

Three Republicans have already announced they are running to succeed Atwater: state Reps. Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale and Carl Domino of Jupiter and businessman Nick Loeb of Delray Beach.

Former Democratic state Sen. Skip Campbell has said he’s interested in running for the District 25 Senate seat.

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Republican state Reps. Carl Domino of Jupiter and Ellyn Bogdanoff of Fort Lauderdale became Senate rivals Wednesday as both announced plans to run in 2010 for the legislative seat of Senate President Jeff Atwater, who is leaving to pursue a statewide campaign for chief financial officer.

Both join a third Republican, businessman Nick Loeb of Delray Beach, in the race for the Palm Beach-Broward District 25 Senate seat.

Atwater launched his CFO campaign Tuesday.

Former Democratic state Sen. Skip Campbell has also expressed interest in Atwater’s seat, and other Democrats could enter as well in a district where Republicans hold a slight registration edge.

Bogdanoff already had opened a reelection campaign for her state House seat and raised $33,750 through March 31. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was recently in Palm Beach County to raise money for Loeb’s campaign for the state House seat of term-limited Majority Leader Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton.

Under state law, Bogdanoff and Loeb must offer to return unspent campaign money to the contributors to their House races. A contributor to the House campaign also has the option of letting the money be used for the Senate campaign. One Domino supporter who gave to Loeb’s House campaign is already demanding a refund.

About 64 percent of Senate District 25 voters live in Palm Beach County and 36 percent live in Broward County.

Announcements could come as soon as today from state Reps. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, and Ellyn Bogdanoff,

R-Fort Lauderdale, that they’re running for the state Senate seat of Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, now that Atwater is running for state chief financial officer. Both Bogdanoff and Domino have indicated in the past that they’re likely to run for the Palm Beach-Broward Senate seat.

Businessman Nick Loeb, a Delray Beach Republican who was running for state House, announced Tuesday that he’ll jump into the Senate race.

Loeb’s announcement “dismayed” political consultant and Domino supporter Eric Zichella, who sent an e-mail to Loeb asking the candidate to return a $500 contribution Zichella made out to Loeb’s House campaign.

“I took you at your word that you were running for the state House, and now I feel a bit betrayed,” wrote Zichella, who said he also wants refunds for three other contributions that Zichella rounded up for Loeb from other donors.

Former Democratic state Sen. Skip Campbell this afternoon said he’s considering a run for state Senate now that Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, has opened a campaign for state chief financial officer. Campbell filed for Senate against Atwater in 2008 but bowed out because of a reaction to hip surgery that he said is “all gone” now.

Three Republicans are likely to run for Atwater’s Palm Beach-Broward Senate seat. Delray Beach businessman Nick Loeb confirmed today that he’ll jump from a state House race into the Senate contest.

Look for state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, to launch a Senate campaign by Wednesday. State Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, has said she probably would run for the Senate seat if Atwater left.

Some Dems have mentioned term-limited Palm Beach County Commissioner Jeff Koons as a potential Senate candidate, but Koons so far has said he’s not interested.

Republicans held a 39-to-36 percent registration edge in Senate District 25 last fall. About 64 percent of voters live in Palm Beach County and 36 percent in Broward County.

With Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink announcing today that she’ll run for governor, term-limited state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, said today he’s leaning toward running for CFO next year if state Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, doesn’t run for Sink’s job.

If Atwater runs for CFO, Domino says he might run for Atwater’s Senate seat.

“I’m going to see where Jeff is on things, talk to him,” Domino said.

Atwater’s been mentioned as a CFO candidate or a possible gubernatorial candidate (he’s a great-grandson of early 20th century Gov. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward). Atwater this week said he’s focused on his Senate job, but, in response to queries from others, will do some “soul-searching” in the next few weeks about other offices.

Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, wrote tonight to House Speaker Larry Cretul and Senate President Jeff Atwater asking them to re-open debate on a bill when the chambers return for budget business on Thursday and Friday. Domino wants lawmakers to reconsider their decision to create a prescription drug database after similar software was hacked in Virgina.

If (when?) the request is denied, watch for Domino and other Republicans — possibly Cretul included — to write to Crist asking him to veto the bill.

Continue reading for Domino’s letter.

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Business owners and part-time residents would have their annual property assessments capped at 5 percent under a constitutional amendment unanimously approved this morning by the Florida House. If the Senate agrees, the measure would be placed on the 2010 ballot.

The measure (HJR 7057) would reduce the current assessment cap of 10-percent for non-homestead properties. Assessments for homesteads, which are primary dwellings for full-time Florida residents, are capped at 3 percent annually.

Debate on the bill led to an interesting moment on the floor, which showed how self-conscious lawmakers are about property tax votes.

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Pat Rooney Jr. — president of the Palm Beach Kennel Club and brother of U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta — is considering a run for the state House seat of term-limited state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter.

It could be a crowded 2010 GOP primary with Realtor Nancy Cardone already in the race and Palm Beach Shores Mayor John Workman and former Palm Beach Gardens councilman Hal Valeche also eyeing Domino’s north-Palm Beach County seat. Plus, Valeche and the Rooney family have clashed in the past on proposals by the dog track to expand gambling.

Read about it here.

Floridians could have to give up a piece of their biological identity to get many prescription drugs filled under a bill one prominent GOP lawmaker is pushing.
And the bill appears to be tailored for a single company that advertises it could make up to $30 million the first year the proposed prescription drug verification program begins.
Republican lawmaker Carl Domino of Jupiter is sponsoring a bill to require all Florida pharmacies to buy biometric identification equipment for people filling prescriptions. Only one company, the one that took the legislation to Domino, could carry out the mandate.
Read the full story here.

Sen. Dave Aronberg is pushing a bill that would create a statewide database to crack down on doctor-shopping and over-prescribing of certain very addictive drugs.
Aronberg, a Greenacres Democrat and a former assistant attorney general, said the prescription drug validation program would also help save lives by alerting doctors of potentially fatal drug interactions.
Thirty-eight other states already have similar drug databases aimed at combating black market sales of prescription drugs.
Deaths from the use of legal drugs are now three times higher than illegal drug-related fatalities.
Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, is the House sponsor.