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.

TALLAHASSEE — On an overwhelming voice vote, the Florida House just dismissed a challenge to state Rep. Mack Bernard’s residency and allowed him to be seated. Bernard, a Democrat, is a former Delray Beach city commissioner who is registered to vote in West Palm Beach. Bernard, who won a special election in 2009, was reelected this month with 78 percent this month over Republican Albert Key.

State Rep. Mack Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, who won a low-turnout special election to represent District 84 last year, isn’t very well-known among his constituents, his Republican challenger told a GOP club today.

And Republican Albert Key said he’s got a size and decibel advantage over the incumbent as well.

Low-budget candidate Key will need every edge he can get in a district that’s 65 percent Democratic and 15 percent Republican.

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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.)

From the Florida House Democratic office this afternoon:

State Representatives Ronald Brisé (D-North Miami) and Mack Bernard (D-West Palm Beach) are pleased to announce that they will join Haiti’s President René Préval during his visit to The White House on Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Both legislators are Haitian-Americans who have traveled to Haiti since the earthquake. They have worked extensively with colleagues to facilitate Florida’s relief efforts in earthquake-torn Haiti.

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Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties are putting together a legislative task force to help streamline relief to earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

The tri-county area is home to the greatest number of Haitian immigrants and has been ground-zero for state and federal Haitian aid efforts.

Newly elected state Rep. Mack Bernard, a West Palm Beach Democrat who was born in Port-au-Prince where the epicenter of the deadly earthquake struck last month, is heading up Palm Beach County’s delegation in the task force, which will include Reps. Juan Zapata, R-Miami, and Ari Porth, D-Coral Springs, and up to 9 other South Florida lawmakers.

Bernard wants better communication from Gov. Charlie Crist, who he said telephoned him the night of the earthquake on Jan. 12 but hasn’t spoken with him since.

Bernard visited Haiti last week. His sister and her three children are now homeless as a result of the disaster, Bernard said.

Crist should appoint a “Haiti czar” to streamline efforts that could be an economic boon to financially-strapped Florida, Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, suggested.

Read the story here.

“It’s that lack of communication, especially from the governor’s office” that is creating frustration for representatives from the tri-county area, which has the state’s largest Haitian immigrant population and is now on the front line providing aid and resources to the ravaged nation, Bernard said.

UPDATE: From Rep. Adam Hasner’s House Majority Office via Twitter: Unbelievable. Incomprehensible tragedy and FL Dem Ron Saunders plays politics with Haiti earthquake. Zero class.

If Republicans support a corporate income tax cut, they should be able to find some cash to help disaster victims in Haiti, said Florida Rep. Ron Saunders, D-Key West.

“They know where all the secret stashes are,” Saunders said. “I used to know where they were when I was budget chairman.”

Saunders, who hopes he can lead House Democrats to overcome a 76-44 disadvantage to Republicans this year, said he wasn’t playing politics with the tragedy unfolding in Haiti. “If I wanted to play politics, I’d say we should use the $6 million Republicans misspent on an airplane hanger,” Saunders said. “But I’m not going to bring that up.”

House budget chairman David Rivera, R-Miami, responded: “The speaker is looking at options to assist the victims of the disaster in Haiti.”

The earthquake in Haiti has hit home for a number of South Florida state lawmakers, including Rep. Mack Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, who was born in Port-au-Prince and lived there until he was 10 and moved to Delray Beach.

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In an odd twist, Rep. Mack Bernard, D-West Palm Beach, actually cast his first vote today before taking his oath in front of the House.

But Bernard’s swearing-in this morning was only ceremonial — he officially took office shortly after winning a special election to replace Priscilla Taylor, who resigned after Gov. Charlie Crist appointed her to the Palm Beach County Commission.

Bernard addressed his new colleagues after taking the oath. Listen here.

Former Delray Beach City Commissioner Mack Bernard, who won an Aug. 25 special election to fill the state House District 84 seat, is officially a member of the state House of Representatives after the state’s Elections Canvassing Commission certified the results this morning.

Democrat Bernard, who couldn’t vote for himself in the special election because he lived outside the District in Delray Beach, switched his voter registration to a house in West Palm Beach in District 84 on Friday. Bernard said he’s closing on the house next month and has signed a lease to live there in the meantime.

Bernard’s term runs through November 2010. He replaces Priscilla Taylor, who left the House in July when she was appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist to fill a Palm Beach County commission vacancy.

Call it the Klein-Craft Axiom: In Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, Democratic enthusiasm for a government-run public health insurance plan to compete with private insurers is inversely proportional to the percentage of Republicans in one’s congressional district.

Liberal U.S. Reps. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, and Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, are vocal cheerleaders for the “public option” that is a centerpiece of the health care overhaul pushed by House Democratic leaders.

Wexler and Hastings represent slam-dunk Democratic districts.

But in nearby Palm Beach-Broward District 22, which has slightly more Republican voters than Dems, U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, approached the topic cautiously in a “telephone town hall” with constituents last week.

During the teleconference, Klein sounded as if he’s leaning toward the public option and rejected the argument that putting the federal government in the market would drive out private insurers.

But he stopped short of embracing it.

“I’m still looking at it. I haven’t committed to it yet,” Klein said of the public option. And as for the entire 10-year, $1 trillion House plan, Klein said he has problems with the price tag and described himself as “not quite there yet on saying I’m supporting the bill.”

Striking a similarly cautious tone is Democrat Chris Craft, the St. Lucie County commissioner drafted by national Dems to try to unseat freshman U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, in Republican-leaning congressional District 16.

The public option, says Craft, “is an option that’s on the table. I’m not 100 percent sold on it.”

* * *

Marcia Andrews, a former teacher and principal and school district administrator, is considering a run for the school board seat of veteran incumbent Sandra Richmond.

School board seats are nonpartisan. But here’s what makes Andrews’ potential bid interesting: she’s a member of the Palm Beach County Democratic Party’s executive board. And Richmond, elected six times since 1988, is one of the county’s longest-serving Democratic elected officials.

Party leaders traditionally discourage challenges of incumbents from within the party. County Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel says he’s not backing Andrews, but hasn’t discouraged her, either, because “I don’t know if Sandi’s running again.”

Richmond says she’ll “probably” seek reelection next year.

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Cedrick Thomas, who lost to Mack Bernard in last week’s special state House election, has to give up his Riviera Beach council seat Sept. 22 because he ran for the House.

But he doesn’t rule out seeking reappointment by the council.

Thomas is also weighing a 2010 challenge of Bernard or taking on County Commissioner Priscilla Taylor, who was a key Bernard backer.

Coming off a decisive win in a special state House election Tuesday, Mack Bernard said he wants to work on education issues and on improving the job skills of residents in his district.

Final results from Tuesday’s District 84 election showed Democrat Bernard getting 60.5 percent against Riviera Beach Councilman and fellow Democrat Cedrick Thomas.

Turnout was 4.7 percent. In a special Senate election three weeks earlier, turnout in Palm Beach County was 4.9 percent.

Bernard, who takes office Sept. 22, will replace Priscilla Taylor, who stepped down in July when Gov. Charlie Crist appointed her to a Palm Beach County commission seat.

“The top, top priority is the workforce,” Bernard said today. He said he wants to work with groups such as the nonprofit Workforce Alliance to help District 84 residents become more competitive in the job market.

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Mack Bernard, a business lawyer and Delray Beach city commissioner, won Tuesday’s special election for the District 84 state House seat with 60.5 percent, according to results that include all but provisional ballots.

Bernard, a 33-year-old Democrat, defeated Riviera Beach Councilman and fellow Democrat Cedrick Thomas in the race to fill the seat of Priscilla Taylor, who left the state House in June when Gov. Charlie Crist appointed her to the Palm Beach County commission.

Turnout was about 4.7 percent — even lower than the 4.9 percent turnout of eligible Palm Beach County voters for a special Senate election three weeks earlier.

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With only a few precincts outstanding, Delray Beach City Commissioner Mack Bernard holds a big lead and appears headed to victory over Riviera Beach Councilman Cedrick Thomas in the special state House District 84 election.

Near-complete results show Bernard with 59.9 percent of the vote.

“I’m excited. This is a great opportunity….I’m happy to represent the people of District 84,” Bernard said tonight from a party at Pistache restaurant in West Palm Beach.

He called Thomas “a great city councilman in Riviera Beach.”

Bernard, a 33-year-old business lawyer and president of a title company, will replace Priscilla Taylor, who stepped down in July when Gov. Charlie Crist appointed her to a Palm Beach County commission vacancy.

District 84 is about 54 percent black. Bernard will be the only black member of Palm Beach County’s state House delegation.

He lives outside District 84 and couldn’t vote in today’s election, but said he plans to move into the district before he takes office Sept. 22.

Bernard raised nearly $70,000 — including $15,000 of his own money — for the race while Thomas raised $27,106.

With absentee and early votes in, Delray Beach City Commissioner Mack Bernard holds a 702-to-478 lead in the special election to fill the state House District 84 seat.

That’s a 59.5-to-40.5 percent advantage for those who prefer percentages. Results from today’s voting at pollinjg places haven’t come in yet.

Click here for results from the Palm Beach County elections office.

Polls closed at 7 p.m. and results are beginning to trickle in from today’s special state House 84 election.

Delray Beach City Commissioner Mack Bernard topped Riviera Beach Councilman Cedrick Thomas, 43 votes to 32 votes, in early voting, which ran from Aug. 17 through Sunday.

There’s not a digit missing in those results. Only 75 people voted early, suggesting turnout for the entire race could fall below the 4.9 percent of eligible Palm Beach County voters who cast ballots in last month’s state Senate special election.

Results from absentee ballots and from today’s voting at the polls are still to come. Watch this space.

Early and absentee voting figures suggest another low-turnout special election Tuesday when Riviera Beach Councilman Cedrick Thomas and Delray Beach City Commissioner Mack Bernard vie for the state House District 84 seat.

In fact, not even all the candidates will be voting. Bernard lives outside the district and has not changed his residence. If he wins, he said he will establish residency in District 84 before Sept. 22, when the winner of Tuesday’s election will take office.

Only 75 people cast early ballots for the election to replace Priscilla Taylor, who left the District 84 seat in July when Gov. Charlie Crist appointed her to a Palm Beach County commission vacancy.

“It’s very sad,” said Palm Beach County Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher.

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Delray Beach City Commissioner Mack Bernard has raised $22,500 and put in $15,000 of his own money for his Aug. 25 special state House race against Riviera Beach Councilman Cedrick Thomas. Thomas has raised $12,651, according to reports of activity through last Thursday.

Bernard has spent $13,198 — with $10,215 of that going to the Patriot Games consulting firm. Thomas has spent $1,460.

Bernard and Thomas, both Democrats, are running to replace Priscilla Taylor, who stepped down last month when Gov. Charlie Crist appointed her to a Palm Beach County commission vacancy.

Delray Beach City Commissioner Mack Bernard announced today he’s been endorsed by Priscilla Taylor and Addie Greene.

Bernard is hoping to outlast Riviera Beach Councilman Cedrick Thomas in the Aug. 25 election to replace Taylor, D-West Palm Beach, in the state House. Taylor was recently appointed to replace Greene on the Palm Beach County Commission.

From Bernard:

“I am honored to have the trust and support of two distinguished veteran lawmakers, both of whom previously represented District 84 in the Florida Legislature. Former State Representative Priscilla Taylor was known as someone who fought hard for the residents of the district. I realize I have some very big shoes to fill.”

Former Democratic state Rep. James Henry “Hank” Harper Jr., who this week failed to qualify for an Aug. 25 special state House election because of a paperwork mixup, will announce this afternoon that he’s endorsing Riviera Beach Councilman Cedrick Thomas in the race over Delray Beach City Commissioner Mack Bernard.

Harper noted that Thomas lives in District 84 while Bernard currently does not. The seat was represented by Priscilla Taylor until she was appointed this month to the Palm Beach County Commission.

“I know that Cedrick has been very involved in the district. It is necessary for me to support someone who has at least worked diligently in the district,” Harper said. He and Thomas are slated to appear together at a 3 p.m. news conference at Riviera Beach City Hall.

Opening a campaign and actually qualifying for a spot on the ballot are two different things in Florida. The distinction can confuse ordinary citizens or first-time candidates. It also tripped up former Democratic state Rep. James Henry “Hank” Harper Jr. on Tuesday, even though he’s been through the qualifying process three times before.

Click here to read how Harper failed to qualify for the special election to fill the state House District 84 seat.