State Sens. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, and Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, called today for a panel of economic and energy experts to travel the state next year and craft a recommendation about changing the state’s strict offshore drilling policies. The bill is drafted anticipating a special session in November.

“We have a duty to make sure we don’t let quick decisions in the pursuit of potentially easy budget fixes get in the way of a balanced economy that includes considerable revenue from coastal tourism,” Deutch said.

The bill would call for a nine-member panel of experts, known as the Florida Energy independence and Coastal Protection Task Force. It would include appointees from the governor, the House speaker, Senate president and, uniquely, one each from the minority party leaders in each chamber. (Read the press release here.)

Deutch and Aronberg both characterized their bill as a way to slow down the issue. House Republicans, led by Dean Cannon of Orlando, introduced a bill late in the session this year to let the governor and Cabinet open Florida’s coastline to offshore drilling. The surge in gas prices last summer — combined with an historic drop in state tax collections — also led formerly staunch opponents of drilling, including Gov. Charlie Crist, to reconsider the issue.

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Hendry County Sheriff Steve Whidden has annoucned he’ll back state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, for Florida attorney general. Aronberg is running against fellow Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach for the Democratic nomination.

“There is a reason so many sheriffs throughout the state are coming out in support of Dave Aronberg,” Sheriff Whidden said. “He not only has experience as an assistant attorney general but also has a proven record of sponsoring and securing the passage of laws that make all Floridians safer. He is custom made for this job.”

Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno endorsed state Sen. Dan Gelber for Florida attorney general today.

“Dan has the gumption and spirit to make the Attorney General’s office a vital force in the lives of Floridians,” Reno said in a press release issued today, saying Gelber would make a “splendid” AG.

Gelber, a former federal prosecutor from Miami Beach, is running in a primary against fellow Democratic state senator Dave Aronberg of Greenacres to replace Attorney General Bill McCollum, who is leaving office after one term to run for governor.

Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp is the leading GOP candidate in the race so far.

Reno, a Miami native, served under President Bill Clinton as the first female U.S. Attorney General.

Asked this morning about a state task force that state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, and Rep. Joe Abruzzo, D-Wellington requested to study the potential cancer cluster in Palm Beach County, Florida Surgeon General Ana Viamonte Ros said Wednesday that the county health department was engaged in the issue.

“We’ve already had a number of townhall meetings,” she said.

Listen here to her full response.

Florida Democratic Chairwoman Karen Thurman pitched the party faithful this morning on the Dems state conference by highlighting the scheduled debate between state Sens. Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber, both candidates for state attorney general.

” want to make sure you’ll be at our State Conference, where we’ll get the chance to see our next Attorney General in action. Florida Democrats will have the opportunity to see State Senators Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber – one of which I am sure will be our next Attorney General – debate their vision for Florida’s future,” Thurman wrote.

The conference is scheduled for Oct. 9-11 at Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club in Orlando.

State Attorney General candidate Dave Aronberg today announced a “Hillsborough County Steering Committee.” The announcement marks the first significant movement into the critical Central Florida area for the Greenacres Democrat.

Aronberg and his primary opponent, fellow state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, both have strong constituencies in South Florida, which makes securing the Interstate 4 Democrats from Orlando to Tampa pretty important to both campaigns.

So far, Gelber has held an edge in this area of the state if you put anything in endorsements: he was backed by a group of Democrats he once served with in the state House as well as Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa – the only Dem in the state Senate to publicly weigh in on the race.

The list of Aronberg’s Hillsborough group is after the jump.

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Two weeks ago we reported that Florida Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, was calling shenanigans on two contracts within the state Department of Transportation that included raises for private contractors. State employees have not had raises for three consecutive years.

Today, FDOT Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos wrote to Aronberg saying no more contracts would be written or amended to include the so-called “escalation” clauses for private workers. From her letter:

“I have instituted a statewide policy eliminating any salary modification terms from new contracts and new amendments to existing contracts. The Department has also implemented a statewide contract review and renegotiation process to reduce the extent and impact of salary modification terms that may be included in existing consultant contracts.”

Aronberg is now calling for Gov. Charlie Crist to order other state agencies take similar steps.

“Private contractors ought to be responsible for their own employees’ raises. Not the taxpayers of Florida,” Aronberg said in a statement.

Sen. Paula Dockery’s taking her commuter rail clout on board Tri-Rail next week to learn more about the beleaguered South Florida commuter train.

Dockery, a Lakeland Republican, carved out a niche in train transportation by single-handedly derailing the controversial Central Florida commuter system during the legislative session that ended in May.

Dockery objected to the state paying more than $400 million to transportation behemoth CSX Inc. for track and rail yard improvements. Lawmakers failed to approve the deal despite the support of Gov. Charlie Crist, House Speaker-to-be Dean Cannon and other GOP leaders.

More than 1,000 Tri-Rail riders have e-mailed Dockery in the past three months objecting to reductions in service caused by the legislature’s failure to come up with the cash to keep the system on course, she said in a press release.

On top of that, the state may have to give more than $250 million back to the feds if Tri-Rail officials cut back on service as planned.

Dockery, who is mulling a run for governor, will ride the rails from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale on Monday.

Democratic Sens. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres and Nan Rich of Weston will join Dockery for part of the ride.

While 128,000 state employees survive a third consecutive year without pay raises, Florida may be giving automatic increases to private companies that contract with the state.

In May, Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson asked Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, to call for an auditor general investigation to find out how many state contracts have so-called “escalation clauses” for salaries and how much those contracts have cost the state. Democrats say Atwater did not respond to the letter.

On Monday, Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, sent this letter to Florida Transportation Department Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos saying he was aware of at least two contracts that included escalation clauses.

One contract between FDOT and Post, Buckley, Schuh & Jernigan, an engineering consulting firm, was amended to increase salaries just days before lawmakers opened a special session for budget cuts in January.

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State Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, told supporters today that he collected $173,000 for his primary battle with fellow state Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach. Gelber announced earlier this week that he collected $150,000.

The two Democrats are squaring off in the most closely watched Democratic statewide primary so far in the 2010 election cycle. Their second quarter campaign reports — which are due today — give a indicate that this race is still pretty close. In other words, neither candidate buried the other in money, so both have pretty legitimate claims for staying in the race.

And why that’s good news for the two attorneys, it’s a concern for party leaders, who don’t want to risk a bloody primary – especially when no Democratic candidate has stepped forward in the state CFO race…

State Sen. Dave Aronberg’s campaign for Florida’s top law-enforcement job is getting fund-raising help from an ex-convict whose latest arrest came as recently as last year.

Jeffrey R. Gibson, a Jupiter boxing instructor and partner in a hormone therapy product Web site, recently recruited contributors to a Palm Beach Gardens dinner to pump up the senator’s run for attorney general. “We need somebody we know and trust in this office,” Gibson wrote in an e-mail to invitees.

But court records from Arkansas, California and South Florida show the champion kickboxer-turned-businessman has an arrest record that doesn’t match the squeaky-clean image a law enforcement candidate might want from someone publicly supporting his campaign and soliciting contributions.

Read the rest of Post reporter Tony Doris’ story here.

Mason/Dixon: Attorney General Bill McCollum 41%, state CFO Alex Sink 35%, undecided 24 %

The poll also shows McCollum with a large lead over potential GOP primary challenger Sen. Paula Dockery, 53% to 4%.

In the Democratic Primary for Attorney General, Florida state senators Dan Gelber and Dave Aronberg remain essentially tied, with 11% and 10% respectively.

In the GOP CFO race, Florida Senate President Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach leads Florida Rep. Pat Patterson of DeLand, 17% to 10%.

State Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, picked up an endorsement this morning from Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler. Gelber and fellow Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, are competing in a primary for their party’s attorney general nomination.

Seiler and Gelber were close friends during their time together in the Florida House. Seiler said he prefers to stay out of primaries, but felt compelled to make this endorsement. “We need to make sure that Alex Sink has the right person sitting next to her on the Florida Cabinet,” Seiler wrote in his endorsement, which you can read here.

Gelber’s backers have also been excited about the endorsement last week from state Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa. They point out that Joyner is from the politically crucial I-4 corridor, she’s a long-time civil rights activist and is also the first state senator to pick sides in the battle between the two members of that chamber.

Read Joyner’s endorsement here.

With state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, running for attorney general and no other Palm Beach County Democrat declaring interest in running for Aronberg’s Senate seat, state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, says he isn’t ruling out the possibility of running.

Freshman state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, isn’t ruling out a 2010 run for the West Palm Beach-to-Fort Myers state Senate seat that Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, is giving up to run for attorney general.

“I’ll have to look at the numbers and see if, A, it’s a winnable seat and, B, if I have the time to do it,” Rader said today of the roughly 130-mile-long district. “Campaigning for that seat is very difficult.”

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State Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, announced his candidacy today for state attorney general. Watch his announcement above.

The announcement sets up a primary with Palm Beach County’s Dave Aronberg, who filed his paperwork last week.

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State Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, sidestepped a U.S. Senate primary over the weekend but may be headed into a three-Democrat battle for the party’s attorney general nomination.

Gelber, state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, and former Democratic state Sen. Rod Smith of Alachua are all continuing to explore runs for the state’s top legal post in 2010. Incumbent AG Bill McCollum is running for governor.

The three potential Democratic candidates have talked extensively to each other over the last few weeks about avoiding a primary, but so far none has ruled out running.

“When we get into these primaries, it tends to become a circular firing squad,” Gelber said today.

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West Palm Beach City Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, a Republican, says she’s supporting Democrat Alex Sink for governor in 2010 rather than presumed GOP frontrunner Bill McCollum.

Mitchell, whose city commission seat is nonpartisan, also says she’ll cross party lines to support Democratic state Sen. Dave Aronberg if Aronberg runs for attorney general in 2010.

On the other hand, Mitchell favors conservative Republican Marco Rubio in the GOP’s U.S. Senate primary against more moderate frontrunning Gov. Charlie Crist. Mitchell is also crossing county lines to back state Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, in a GOP state Senate primary rather than Palm Beach County candidates Carl Domino or Nick Loeb.

Mitchell’s city commission seat is up for reelection in 2010 and she’s often mentioned as a potential mayoral candidate in 2011.

Power lawyer George LeMieux, former chief of staff to Gov. Charlie Crist and former deputy attorney general when Crist was AG, notes in his latest online political newsletter that he’s a potential candidate for AG now that incumbent Bill McCollum is poised to run for governor.

He also notes that Dems Dave Aronberg, Dan Gelber and Rod Smith are potential AG candidates (Read more about the looming Democratic battle here).

LeMieux lists Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and state Rep. Tom Grady as potential Republican candidates, then notes: “Yours truly has also been mentioned as a contender, having served three years as Deputy Attorney General – the number two legal officer in the state.”

LeMieux’s prediction: “The AG’s race will be wide open.”

State Sen. and potential attorney general candidate Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, said he fears that too many Democrats running for the state’s top legal post will create a “brutal, competitive primary” that helps the GOP win.

Aronberg says he’s ready to submit paperwork to launch a 2010 attorney general campaign if incumbent Bill McCollum fulfills expectations and announces he’s running for governor.

Aronberg’s friend and fellow Democrat Rod Smith, the former state Senator and unsuccessful 2006 governor candidate from central Florida, is also eyeing the race. And there’s widespread speculation among Dems that state Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, will drop his U.S. Senate bid to enter the AG contest.

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Here’s your latest sign of the impending apocalypse: State Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, received some face time Monday on Fox News for his bill (SB 614) to better track purchases of prescription drugs and other controlled substances in Florida while House Republican Leader Adam Hasner of Boca Raton was praised by liberals for his bill (HB 879) to create a sales tax exemption for electric cars.

Aronberg says that Broward County has more pain clinics than McDonalds. In this interview with Fox News, he says it’s “an embarrassment” that the state doesn’t have a prescription drug database.

“What’s happened is Florida has become a pill-mill for the rest of the country,” Aronberg says.

Meanwhile, Hasner received this shout-out Tuesday from the Mother Nature Network for a “thoughtful” column on electric vehicles that appeared in American Thinker. From the MNN:

Hasner pointed out that 80 percent of Americans drive less than 40 miles a day, so their range limitations are not necessarily a deal breaker. Hasner campaigned in a 2002 RAV4-EV battery car…and won! It’s 120-mile range was more than enough for daily swings through his coastal district, and it got him to events in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, too.