Supporters of two voter-approved constitutional amendments changing the way Florida lawmakers draw Congressional and legislative districts filed a lawsuit today demanding that Gov. Rick Scott move forward with the federal approval needed to implement the changes.
Scott reappointed Kurt Browning as Florida’s secretary of state. Browning, originally appointed by Crist, left his post last year to lead the fight against the “Fair Districts” amendments approved by voters in November that now bar lawmakers from drawing districts that favor political parties or incumbents.
Sarah Palin-backed Attorney General candidate Pam Bondi is receiving help from another national Republican in a tight race against Dan Gelber.
Beginning today, Florida voters will receive a recorded message from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, encouraging them to vote for Bondi, a Tampa area prosecutor.
Dan Gelber’s campaign continues to denounce mailers being sent out to the South Florida Jewish community, saying that Gelber is “toxic to Jewish education.”
Gelber’s campaign director, Christian Ulvert, called the attacks from the Committee for Florida’s Education, Inc. “disgusting.” Gelber, the Democratic candidate for Attorney General, is a Jewish state senator from Miami Beach.
“There is no doubt in anybody’s minds these are mailers closely aligned with Pam Bondi and her campaign,” Ulvert said.
A spokeswoman for Bondi, the Tampa-area Republican prosecutor running against Gelber for attorney general, said her campaign had nothing to do with the mailers.
With barely more than a week until Election Day, GOP attorney general candidate Pam Bondi took time out from campaigning in the Sunshine State for quick trip to Washington DC to rake in some dough for ad time.
Bondi flew into DC briefly for a fundraiser hosted by former Virginia attorney general Jerry Kilgore, Bondi spokeswoman Sandi Copes said in an e-mail.
Bondi surely hopes she fares better than Kilgore did in his last election.
The Republican resigned as Virginia’s attorney general in 2005 to run for governor of the then-red state.
But Kilgore lost to Democrat Tim Kaine, now the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
The Gelber camp blasted Bondi, who’s never run for office before, for the fundraising trip, setting off a typical finger-pointing volley in the contentious race to succeed Attorney General Bill McCollum. (more…)
GOP attorney general candidate Pam Bondi’s campaign consultant called out her Democrat opponent Dan Gelber for “a distortion of the truth” in his new television ad.
In the ad, Gelber accuses Bondi of promising to “side with corporate interests” if she is elected.
“Dan Gelber’s first television ad is a disappointing distortion of the truth and in keeping with a career politician’s ‘win at all costs’ attitude. He talks about corruption but has no problem corrupting the truth. He made an allegation that wasn’t true and offered no evidence, because there is none,” Bondi campaign consultant Brett Doster said in a statement.
The ad refers to remarks Bondi’s made on the campaign trail pledging to side with the Florida Chamber of Commerce in fighting the union-backed card check issue and statements she’s made saying that “the last thing we need is an Eliott Spitzer-type” AG.
Gelber interpreted that to mean she won’t go after white-collar criminals as Spitzer, known as the “Sheriff of Wall Street,” did before he went down in flames after being caught with prostitutes.
Dan Gelber slammed his GOP attorney general opponent Pam Bondi in his first campaign ad, accusing the former Tampa prosecutor of being too close to her business backers to go after corruption.
Bondi, who has never run for office before, won the endorsement of the state’s two biggest (and influential) business groups – the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida – in the three-way GOP primary and in the general race.
Gelber, a state senator and former federal prosecutor, has made going after public corruption one of his top priorities in the campaign.
GOP attorney general candidate Pam Bondi and her Democrat opponent Dan Gelber both spent years as prosecutors, but they’re as different as night and day, the name of her new television ad.
Bondi, a political newcomer who spent two decades as a Tampa prosecutor, contrasts her positions on taxes and federal health care reforms in the new ad, running in select markets.
Bondi’s ad was created by GOP consultant Adam Goodman’s company, The Victory Group, and debuted in the West Palm Beach media market.
Add state Sen. Dan Gelber, the Democrat candidate for attorney general, to the list of pols criticizing BP claims czar Ken Feinberg for his handling of payments to Floridians harmed by the Deepwater Horizon oil disaster.
Gelber, a former federal prosecutor from Miami Beach, sent a letter to Feinberg asking him to include the costs of preparing claims to payments to individuals and businesses. Feinberg said he won’t pay for legal or accounting fees associated with the filings.
“Citizens of our state are rightfully frustrated. They see promises from BP actors in commercials suggesting the company is prepared to do the right thing. Yet on the ground, they see obfuscation, and a process that is filled with more chutes than ladders,” Gelber wrote.
Gelber also joined Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the Democrat candidate for governor; Gov. Charlie Crist, the independent candidate for U.S. Senate; and Attorney General Bill McCollum, the Republican who lost the primary bid for governor, in demanding that Feinberg pay damages to those located where oil never reached the shore. Feinberg’s consideration of proximity to the oil spill in paying claims has been a major issue of contention since he took over BP’s botched claims process on Aug. 23.
With two of the three GOP Florida Cabinet candidates refusing to participate in a debate next month, organizers had no choice but to cancel the event.
Attorney general candidate Pam Bondi and Senate President Jeff Atwater, the Republican nominee for chief financial officer, would not agree to debate their Democratic opponents, Florida Press Association president Dean Ridings said today. The press association and Leadership Florida had planned to host the Oct. 5 event at the University of Florida.
GOP agriculture commissioner candidate Adam Putnam was the only Republican who signed up for the debate, Ridings said.
“Pam Bondi and Jeff Atwater would not confirm. We are pretty much at the deadline. And every indication was that they would not participate,” Ridings said. “It didn’t make sense just to do the one” debate, Ridings said.
Organizers canceled an Oct. 5 debate at the University of Florida between attorney general candidates Dan Gelber and Pam Bondi because Bondi won’t appear.
GOP hopeful Bondi, a former prosecutor from Tampa who’s never run for office before, has a “scheduling conflict” preventing her from participating in the debate hosted by Leadership Florida and the Florida Press Association, her campaign spokeswoman Sandi Copes said. Copes could not immediately say what Bondi had to do that trumped the debate.
State senator Gelber, a former federal prosecutor who also served as House Democratic Leader, earned a reputation as one of the legislature’s top arguers during feisty floor debates.
Dave Aronberg said he was proud today to endorse his Democratic primary opponent, Dan Gelber, in the attorney general race against Republican Pam Bondi. “Dan will bring needed reform to this office and restore its original mission of protecting Floridians,” Aronberg said in a statement.
Gelber said in a statement that he was “proud to have the support of my friend.”
In an e-mail addressed to friends Thursday night, Aronberg said he “will be taking a break from elected office…but this is not farewell. I will be back at the right time and the right opportunity to make a real difference on issues of public safety and consumer protection.”
The Democratic candidates for attorney general spent the day in opposite parts of the state waving signs and knocking on doors in a last-ditch effort to win votes in Tuesday’s primary election.
State Sen. Dave Aronberg is spending the day in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. His opponent, Dan Gelber, is stumping in North Florida with stops in Tallahassee and Pensacola.
Gelber topped all of the attorney general candidates – including the three Republicans in a tight primary – in campaign contributions. He edged out opponent Aronberg, who led the raise in fundraising until this month, by just $11,000.
Like the Republican primary, the Aronberg and Gelber race is too close to call.
“With 43 percent undecided this is anyone’s game right now,” Aronberg said while going door-to-door in South Florida.
Democratic state senator and attorney general hopeful Dan Gelber is kicking off a down-to-the wire bus tour beginning tomorrow in Miami.
Gelber, in a primary against Sen. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres that’s too close to call, will make stops in Delray Beach and Boca Raton tomorrow afternoon with PBC tax collector Anne Gannon, who formerly served alongside Gelber in the state House.
Meanwhile, AG wannabe Pam Bondi launched the Republican version of the attorney general primary bus tour today. She’s visiting GOP strongholds like The Villages after a last-minute fundraiser tonight in Jacksonville hosted by Steve Halverson, chair of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, and Ericka Alba, chairwoman of Associated Industries of Florida.
The fundraising deadline for the Tuesday’s primary election is midnight tonight, causing candidates like Bondi and Gelber to frantically dial for dollars and send e-mails seeking contributions.
Gelber didn’t have to launch a bus tour to get on Bondi’s radar screen, however.
At several speeches today, Bondi repeatedly referred to Gelber as the Democratic nominee who she’ll be facing off against in November.
“Looks like it’s going to be Dan Gelber in the general,” Bondi told supporters at the Florida Chamber of Commerce this morning. “The more we hear about Dan Gelber, the more we learn, the last thing we need is an Eliot Spitzer attorney general.”
Gelber’s sweep across the state includes stops in Tallahassee, Pensacola, the Tampa Bay area, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
Gelber’s opponent, Sen. Dave Aronberg, is conducting his own RV tour this weekend in South Florida. He’ll make stops in Delray Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and Coconut Grove on Saturday.
Democratic Attorney General candidate Dan Gelber last month opened his own fundraising group, known as Common Sense, that — like several other statewide candidates — will help him avoid the contribution limits and spending caps of his own campaign.
Gelber’s raised about $45,000 for the group and those contributions are listed on his website, as required by state law.
But official documents filed with the Division of Elections didn’t include the URL of that website until today when supporters of Gelber’s primary opponent, fellow state Sen. Dave Aronberg, called foul.
“That’s an infraction of Florida election law,” said Rep. Joe Abruzzo, D-Wellington. “It’s illegal.”
A spokeswoman for the Division of Elections said there was no penalty for that omission, although someone could file an elections complaint over it. We were also referred to Chapter 7 of the state Campaign Treasurer Handbook. The handbook shows that the document a candidate is required to file when he is associated with a 527 group, a document known as a “statement of solicitation,” must include some basic information. The URL of the website is not part of that basic info, but must be reported to the elections division within five days.
The website must also be updated within five days of any contribution or expenditure.
The first donation reported by the group was on July 26. Network Solutions, a company that tracks domain names, shows the Common Sense website was created on July 28.
Gelber’s campaign manager dismissed the complaint from Abruzzo. “It would be nice if Rep. Abruzzo explained why funds he promised would be spent to help elect Democrats were funneled to a GOP front group,” Christian Ulvert said in an e-mail.
After agreeing to not air television ads in the Democratic attorney general primary because of its potentially misleading name, a fund-raising committee known as Florida Mainstream Democrats has shifted much of its money to a predominately Republican group, which has paid for a TV spot scheduled to air Wednesday in West Palm Beach.
The ad supports state Sen. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres in his Democratic primary race against fellow Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach.
Aronberg has helped Mainstream raise more than $242,000 in the past eight weeks, according to state election records and the group’s website. On Monday, the group transferred $180,000 to another political committee, known as Voters Response, which will pay for the ad.
State Sen. Dan Gelber gets defensive in his first television ad in the race against fellow senator Dave Aronberg in the Democratic attorney general primary.
With absentee voting already underway, Gelber, a Miami Beach lawyer and former federal prosecutor, highlights his years in the courtroom and accuses Aronberg of “political games” and “dishonest attacks” in a series of mailers in which Aronberg accuses Gelber of a potential conflict of interest. Aronberg’s made a big issue out of Gelber’s former law firm going to work for BP to defend the oil giant in any Florida lawsuits.
State Sen. Dave Aronberg agreed to his colleague Sen. Dan Gelber’s request for debates before the primary election…sort of.
Aronberg and Gelber are in a heated Democratic primary for attorney general, and Aronberg’s taken off the gloves and attacked his opponent for Gelber’s former law firm’s representation of BP.
Gelber says he resigned from Akerman Senterfitt, the state’s largest law firm that recently was retained by BP, days before Aronberg demanded it.
Gelber then sent Aronberg a letter asking for 11 debates before the Aug. 24 primary.
Aronberg responded today calling a request for that many debates – nearly three a week – a “political stunt” and dragging BP into the debate arena.
“The next Attorney General will probably spend the better part of this decade involved in litigation of the state versus BP, Halliburton and other parties who might share liability for this disaster. Therefore, as we work together to agree on our debate schedule, I want to insist that at least one of the debates be held there so the citizens of that region can hear our plans for fighting for them as their Attorney General,” Aronberg wrote in a letter to Gelber.
Aronberg also agreed to a debate outside of South Florida, home to both Democrats, in Tampa Bay or Orlando.
Gov. Charlie Crist could grant long-term out-of-work Floridians relief with the stroke of his pen, according Sen. Dan Gelber, a Miami Beach Democrat running for attorney general.
But Crist could do by executive order what GOP lawmakers refused to do earlier this year, Gelber said.
“On behalf of the voiceless, the hard working people of this state who are about to be cut off from benefits which they have rightfully earned and to which they are rightfully entitled, I urge the Governor to act in all due haste,” Gelber wrote in a letter to Crist.
Two Palm Beach County lawmakers are pushing a measure to implement an expansion of unemployment compensation benefits Congress is expected to pass as early as today. The bill could bring about $270 million in unemployment benefits for about 200,000 long-term unemployed Floridians whose extended benefits dried up on June 5.
But there’s little chance GOP leaders will expand the special session on oil drilling that kicked off at noon and is already coming to a close in the House.
Gov. Charlie Crist called lawmakers into town to pass a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow voters to decide if offshore oil drilling in Florida should be banned.
The Senate wants to pass the measure but the House is expected to convene briefly and adjourn without even voting on it.
Congress appears to have settled its own impasse over unemployment benefits and is expected today to approve another expansion for the long-term unemployed.
But Floridians won’t be able to get the additional funds unless state lawmakers sign off.
Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Boynton Beach, filed a bill that would extend the state’s June 5 expiration date for the long-term unemployed benefits and wrote a letter yesterday asking Crist to expand the session.
More than 35,000 Floridians a week are losing out on the extended benefits, Rader said.
“These are families who need this money because of the economic crisis in our state,” said Rader, who failed to convince lawmakers to pass a similar measure during the regular session to avoid having to come back during a special session to extend the deadline for the benefits.
Jobless workers spend $1.70 for each $1 in unemployment fund they receive, according to some estimates.
“It’s outrageous we would not act so that Floridians get the funds that they are entitled to,” said Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, one of the bill’s co-sponsors. Gelber’s Democratic attorney general opponent, Sen. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres, is also backing the measure. “It’s money for people who need it the most and who will spend it immediately.”
Rader acknowledged it is highly unlikely the session will be expanded but that “I am always hopeful that common sense and reason will prevail.”
Rep. Joe Abruzzo tell us he’s signing up to raise money for the 527 political advocacy group known as Florida Mainstream Democrats and knows at least one Democrat who his money won’t be helping: state Rep. Rick Kriseman.
“Rick Kriseman is about as mainstream as Dennis Rodman,” Abruzzo said.
The group hasn’t spent anything this year beyond consulting and web site management, but clearly it’s created quite a stir.
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