A measure banning Internet cafes in Florida cleared its first hurdle in the Florida House over the objections of two Palm Beach County Democrats and setting up a stand-off with the Senate that wants to regulate the “casinos on the corner.”

Lawmakers need to shutter the cafes because they prey on the poor and elderly and are highly addictive, said bill sponsor Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood.

Plakon also cited reports showing that welfare recipients are using state-issued debit cards to at ATMs at the facilities to underwrite their gambling habit.

Lawmakers can pass his bill (HB 3), do nothing or regulate the facilities, which could cost the state $200 million a year by invalidating a deal Florida has with the Seminole Indians, Plakon said.

“The regulation bill would be the effect of us authorizing 1,000 gambling locations in this state,” Plakon said.

To help persuade the Business and Consumer Affairs Committee to support his bill, Plakon pointed to a San Francisco newspaper that pilloried Florida lawmakers for failing to shut down the cafes.

“This is San Francisco laughing at us,” Plakon said. “San Francisco, mind you members, is laughing at us.”

Cafe customers purchase Internet time, which they can use to browse the Web or play free “sweepstakes” games, in which computer credit or time is won. Those credits can be redeemed for cash.

Palm Beach County commissioners recently issued a moratorium blocking any new cafes from opening in unincorporated areas.
Industry backers say shutting the cafes down would put thousands of workers in the unemployment line.

“What strikes me is the jobs. It seems like some funny, fuzzy math but there are thousands, possibly tens of thousands of jobs at risk,” said Rep. Joe Abruzzo, D-Wellington, on the losing side of a 10-5 vote.

Rep. Mack Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, voted against the measure but said he was troubled by the bill needed more information about the ability the use of welfare money at the cafes.

“This is one of the sickest votes I’ve taken since I’ve been here,” Bernard said.

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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Here’s what some legislators who’ve served in the military had to say about President Barack Obama’s firing of General Stanley McChrystal, the loose-lipped former commander of the war in Afghanistan who got the boot yesterday over his tell-all interview with The Rolling Stone.

Sen. Mike Bennett, who served four tours of duty in Vietnam in the U.S. Navy, harshly criticized Obama in part because McChrystal had such a good relationship with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and was making progress in the war although some critics question how successful the campaign has been thus far.

“I think both of them expressed very bad judgment. Two wrongs actually don’t make a right. I don’t think that telling the truth is something you should get fired over. He exercised extremely bad judgment. I think the president firing him was just as bad a judgment. He should have figured out another way to reprimand him,” Bennett, R-Bradenton said.

But Rep. Rich Glorioso, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who spent 27 years in the military, disagreed.

“If I was the president I would have fired him also. Even if what he’s saying is absolutely correct, there’s a way for him to do that. But putting it out in a magazine like that..You can’t have a general do those kinds of things. It doesn’t lead to good order and discipline,” Glorioso, R-Plant City, said. “If it was one of my squadron commanders, I’d have fired him. You may not like the person but you have to respect the position. There’s a proper place for you to exercise your beliefs within the chain of command and that’s where it belonged.”

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State Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, says he’ll support Charlie Crist’s independent bid for U.S. Senate if Kendrick Meek wins the Democratic nomination.

“My vote will not be going for Kendrick Meek at any point in time in this election,” Abruzzo said. “If the Democrats do not have a viable candidate and it’s between Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist, I will be supporting Charlie Crist.”

Abruzzo said Meek’s campaign has not reached out to him. But there seemed to be a personal reason behind the hostility, which was just the latest sign of trouble for Meek’s campaign among south county Democrats.

Consider:

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A tax cut on sales of boats worth more than $300,000 was approved by the Florida House tonight on a 79-36 vote that divided the Palm Beach County Democrats.

Supporters argued that the break, which caps sales tax bills on boat purchases at $18,000, is supposed to help boat builders, who Republicans said are increasingly leaving the state. (The bill is entitled the “Florida Maritime Full Employment Act” and a similar Senate bill includes an identical cap on plane purchases.)

Rep. Tom Grady, R-Naples, even disputed that his bill could accurately be called a tax break. “This bill focuses on a tax that’s not being collected because … you can buy boats in other states and not pay a tax.”

But opponents said the bill would do little to help the 1.1 million Floridians suffering from unemployment and thousands more whose home values have collapsed.

“I’d like to re-title the bill the Florida Working Person’s Protection Act and create a sales tax exemption on underwear,” said Rep. Adam Fetterman, D-Port St. Lucie. “At least then we’ll be doing something that will help every Floridian.”

Three of the six Democrats who helped the Republican majority approve the bill were from Palm Beach County: Joe Abruzzo, Mack Bernard and Kelly Skidmore. The Palm Beach Democrats who opposed the bill were Mary Brandenburg, Mark Pafford, Kevin J.G. Rader and Maria Sachs.

(Just by way of reminder – another Palm Beach County Democrat, U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, pushed to include breaks for the yacht industry in the federal stimulus package.)

Movies and TV shows with gay characters could be ineligible for a “family-friendly” tax credit in Florida under a little-noticed provision tucked into a $75 million incentive package that Republican House leaders hope will attract film and entertainment jobs to the state.

The bill would prohibit productions with “nontraditional family values” from receiving a so-called family-friendly tax credit. But it doesn’t define what “nontraditional family values” are, something the bill’s sponsor had a hard time doing, too.

“Think of it as like Mayberry,” state Rep. Stephen Precourt, R-Orlando, said, referring to The Andy Griffith Show. “That’s when I grew up — the ’60s. That’s what life was like. I want Florida to be known for making those kinds of movies: Disney movies for kids and all that stuff. Like it used to be, you know?”

Story here.

A syndicated program on a University of Florida radio station that features segments like “Running of the Bums” and “Mental Challenge, ” which asks callers to pick the real “mentally challenged” person, has been targeted by a pair of Florida House lawmakers who are asking college President Bernie Machen to step in and address the “unacceptable” material for a station at taxpayer-funded university.

“It is not our intention to censor positions or views. However, subject matter which is dehumanizing and/or degrading to the physically disabled or offensive to a specific gender or race in unacceptable,” state Reps. Joe Abruzzo, D-Wellington, and Erik Fresen, R-Miami, wrote to Machen. (Read the full letter here.)

The program, Lex & Terry, was originally launched in Jacksonville in 1993 but it now aired out of Dallas, according to the Jacksonville Times-Union. The program recently signed with Clear Channel after splitting with Cox Radio, which owns four radio stations in Florida and whose parent company, Cox Enterprises, also owns The Palm Beach Post.

The program was already canceled once by Machen, who trumpeted the achievement last year in news stories as a sign he was ridding the university of its party school image.

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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.