Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, filed a bill that would continue the crackdown on “pill mills,” pain management clinics dealing prescription drugs that law enforcement officials say are worse than crack cocaine.

Fasano’s bill would enhance penalties for pill mill operators that don’t comply with state laws and require the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) to conform with national standards.

The drug database has been on hold because of a lack of funding and a bid dispute.

Attorney General Pam Bondi is launching a new assault on the pill mills with a team led by state drug czar Dave Aronberg. Bondi called Florida “the epicenter of the country” for prescription drug abuse because busloads of drugsters travel to the state from Kentucky, Ohio and other places to get prescriptions from the rogue clinics.

Seven Floridians each day die from overdoses of prescription drugs.

Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady ordered that all future district court building construction must be scrutinized by the state courts administrator in response to a lavish Tallahassee appeals court dubbed the “Taj Mahal.”

Canady issued the order this morning after state Sen. Mike Fasano pilloried First District Court of Appeals judges Paul Hawkes and Brad Thomas for pushing a new courthouse, accusing them of “the epitome of arrogance.

Thomas and Hawkes apologized to Fasano, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Appropriations Committee, for their roles in the construction of the $48.8 million courthouse in Tallahassee that is estimated to ultimately cost taxpayers $70 million because of bond payments. Florida has been in a budget crisis for the past three years and lawmakers are now grappling with an anticipated $3.62 billion spending gap.

In November, Hawkes was forced to resign as chief judge but he remains on the court.

The courthouse features such opulent amenities as private soundproof bathrooms and kitchens for each of the 15 judges, miles of African mahogany trim, granite counter and desk tops, etched glass windows, a glass dome and massive columns inside and out.

“To the extent that any expenditures were made on this building and any construction done that exceeds the legislative intent and has offended you and this committee then I sincerely apologize,” Thomas told Fasano at a committee hearing last week.

“Don’t apologize just to us, judge,” Fasano, R-New Port Richey, snapped. “Apologize to every taxpayer in the state.”

Canady today ordered that the state courts administrator must approve any appellate court projects in the future.

“Courthouses should be dignified, durable and functional,” Canady wrote in a statement. “They should not be grandiose, monumental and luxurious.”

The Florida Senate unanimously approved a measure aimed at getting rid of the pill mill plague spreading from South Florida to the West Coast.

Under the bill (SB 2272), doctors in good standing and others except felons could own the pain clinics, they would not be allowed to advertise and would have to register with the Department of Health and submit to inspections.

More than seven Floridians die every day from overdoses of prescription drugs, bill sponsor Sen. Mike Fasano said.

“This year we want to make sure those pain management clinics are registered and inspected so they stop the killing,” Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said.

The proposal is one of Palm Beach County’s priorities. The House has yet to vote on its version.

GOP Senate leaders refused to sign off on two of Gov. Charlie Crist’s appointees to the Public Service Commission and the likelihood of the pair getting confirmation from the Senate required for them to stay on the job is dim.

Committee chairman J.D. Alexander, who is also the Senate’s powerful budget chief and has long been at odds with Crist, abruptly called an end to the meeting this morning with three minutes left on the clock as the panel was in the midst of interrogating Commissioner David Klement.

That drew the wrath of Sen. Mike Fasano, a Crist supporter who has been a vocal critic of the PSC but praised Crist’s latest appointees. An irate Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said Alexander was “rude” and “inappropriate” to cut off the meeting before voting on the appointees.

Alexander denied that the failure to confirm Crist’s appointees was political retribution against Crist, who alienated GOP leaders with his veto of SB 6 and increasing speculation that he is going to break away from the Republican Party and run as independent in the U.S. Senate race against primary opponent Marco Rubio.

Alexander’s committee isn’t scheduled to meet again before the session ends on April 30, and the budget chief doesn’t appear interested in keeping Crist’s picks on the panel.

He said that Klement, a former editorial writer, and Benjamin “Steve” Stevens, a Panhandle bar owner and accountant, are unqualified to regulate billions of dollars in utility rate because they lack financial expertise.

The committee unanimously approved nearly four dozen other gubernatorial appointees before taking up the PSC appointments but left Klement and Stevens for last.

“I think we need more time to consider whether these folks are qualified. I don’t think these folks are qualified,” Alexander, R-Lake Wales, said.

The Senate quietly approved a measure designed to clean up the Public Service Commission with a 39-1 vote this afternoon.

The bill (SB 1034) would make public all communications between the utilities the panel regulates and the commissioners or their advisory staff.

It would also bar commissioners or high-level staff from going to work or lobbying for the utilities for four years after they leave the PSC, double the current two-year limitation, aimed at stopping the “revolving door” between the commission and the utilities they make billion-dollar decisions about.

The bill will make certain that former commissioners and staff “will not be able to continue what they’ve done in the past and for a change our consumers will be represented,” the bill’s sponsor Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, argued.

The changes come from a 1992 grand jury report that lawmakers largely ignored designed to keep regulators and utility representatives at arm’s length.

This year’s proposal came about in the wake of reports that PSC staff and a Florida Power & Light Co. lawyer were swapping secret BlackBerry messages. Other details about questionable relationships between FPL and the commission were revealed during Juno Beach-based FPL’s proposed $1.2 billion rate hike hearing.

On the opening day of FPL’s rate increase hearing last year, Commissioner Nathan Skop revealed that the PSC’s lobbyist, Ryder Rudd, had attended a Kentucky Derby party at the Palm Beach Gardens home of FPL Vice President Ed Tancer. Rudd later quit.

Since then, the agency has struggled through investigations into BlackBerry messages exchanged between the PSC and an FPL attorney, a myriad of ethics complaints and allegations of interference from political leaders, including Gov. Charlie Crist, who threatened to not reappoint any commissioners who voted in favor of the rate hike.

The bill would also require that the commissioners behave more like judges by applying the canons of judicial conduct, including refraining from inappropriate political activity and avoiding the appearance of impropriety.

Public Service Chairwoman Nancy Argenziano is backing the proposed changes.

State Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach, announced today that he has filed a bill (HB 533) for the spring legislative session that would require individuals who provide public comment at Public Service Commission hearings to disclose any financial relationship with a utility company.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, will co-sponsor the bill, Pafford said.

“I heard employees of utility companies discuss the names of those who would be testifying and what that person would be addressing before they even made it to the microphone,” said Pafford, a member of the PSC nominating council. “This is not in the best interest of our consumers or good government, and legislation is needed to address this situation.”

Press release here.

A sweeping rail bill narrowly passed its first committee in the Senate by a 5-4 vote after being approved by the House earlier today.

The Senate Transportation Committee approved the measure after two hours of testimony and questions and a lot of distancing by Senate sponsor Jeremy Ring on what the bill is not about.

It’s not about SunRail, he repeatedly asserted. SunRail is the controversial Central Florida commuter rail project that the Senate failed to approve twice before, most recently in May.

It is unclear yet whether Ring has the votes in the Senate to pass the bill (HB 1). Republicans in the Senate are split over the bill in part because of the SunRail deal in which state transportation officials have already agreed to pay CSX Inc. $641 million for 61 miles of track around Orlando. In exchange, the transportation giant can continue to run its freight cars on the line for $1 a year.

A last-minute addition to the committee made Friday secured its passage.

Senate President Jeff Atwater placed Sen. Mike Fasano, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee and a SunRail supporter, on the committee late Friday to replace Sen. Larcenia Bullard, who was hospitalized.

Without Fasano’s “yes” vote today, the bill would have died.

Two more Senate committees will vote on the bill tomorrow before it goes to the floor for debate tomorrow afternoon.

Here’s the latest installment in the seemingly perpetual Public Service Commission drama.

Sen. Mike Fasano today shot back at Associated Industries of Florida president Barney Bishop who yesterday publicly accused Fasano of interfering in the utility regulators’ business as the PSC considers three cases that could collectively cost Floridians up to $3 billion a year in extra energy costs.

Fasano yesterday asked Commissioner Lisa Edgar to resign because of an ethics complaint about her communicating with an FPL executive during a hearing. The ethics commission found no probable cause that Edgar, reappointed by Gov. Charlie Crist to the PSC last year, did anything wrong.

AIF supports Florida Power & Light Co.’s proposed $1.3 billion rate hike, and yesterday evening Bishop called out Fasano by name for trying to influence the outcome of that case and a proposed $500 million Progress Energy Florida rate increase.

“Any attempt by anyone to influence “due process”, whether they are an elected official or not, is inappropriate,” Bishop said in a statement.

That got to Fasano, who issued a statement demanding his own due process.

“Barney Bishop is a highly paid representative for utility companies throughout Florida. Mr. Bishop states that I am interfering in the due process that Progress Energy and Florida Power & Light are entitled to as the Florida Public Service Commission considers billion dollar rate increase requests. As anyone versed in the most elemental aspects of law should know, due process entitles one to face his or her accuser. Since Mr. Bishop, and Associated Industries of Florida, has stated that my involvement in this case is inappropriate, I challenge Mr. Bishop to publicly debate me on this issue,” Fasano, R-New Port Richey, wrote.
(more…)

Public Service Commission lawyers are checking into whether Gov. Charlie Crist has any standing in asking for a temporary halt to two utility rate cases until his two new regulatory commissioners take over on Jan. 1.

Crist this morning asked Chairman Matthew Carter, one of the two current commissioners whom Crist passed over for reappointment, to delay the Florida Power & Light Co. $1.3 billion rate hike hearing and the Progress Energy Florida $500 million request until David Klement and Benjamin “Steve” Stevens take over.

Carter ordered his legal staff to figure out how to handle the governor’s request because he is not one of the intervenors in the case and may have no legal standing to ask for a delay.

(more…)

Florida Power & Light’s proposed $1.3 billion rate hike hearing will resume Wednesday as planned despite a powerful GOP senator’s request that that case and another be put on hold.

But Sen. Mike Fasano’s letter asking for the delay went into the case files, Public Service Commission general counsel Booter Imhof responded in a letter sent to Fasano today.

“It’s laughable. It’s laughable. You would think it would be a joke or a hoax if this wasn’t so serious,” Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said of Imhof’s response.

Fasano’s district is almost exclusively served by Progress Energy Florida, which is seeking a $500 million base rate increase.

“I think that’s a sad response when you hear about the coziness they have with the utility companies but they can’t respond in a better way to a sitting senator who has concerns about his citizens and the rate increase,” Fasano said.

Imhof is the latest PSC employee to jump ship. He resigned on Friday and is going to work for the Florida House. The PSC’s lobbyist Ryder Rudd resigned last week after an internal investigation could not prove he violated state laws or rules by attending a Kentucky Derby party at the Palm Beach Gardens home of FPL executive Ed Tancer.

Since then, the commission has fended off conflict-of-interest concerns concerning communications, conferences and dinners.

(more…)

Not even the governor should tell utility regulators whether to give the thumbs up to a proposed $1.3 billion Florida Power & Light Co. rate hike, Public Service Commission Chairman Matthew Carter said today.

“I don’t think anybody should tell us how to vote on a rate case. We have to make our decision based on the facts presented. Each case has to stand on its own merit. To do otherwise would be violating the statute,” said Carter, appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2006 and up for reappointment by Gov. Charlie Crist next month. “I’m not going to do that for anyone.”

Earlier today, Crist said that the commissioners’ vote would impact whether he picks them for the panel. Two commissioners – Carter and Katrina McMurrian – are among the six finalists given to Crist by a nominating council.

“Let’s see what the commissioners want to do. Then I can have a better handle on who I want to appoint or reappoint,” Crist said.

The FPL rate hearing is scheduled to resume on Wednesday.

On Friday, Sen. Mike Fasano asked that it be indefinitely delayed until investigations into possibly too-cozy relationships between the regulators and the utilities they oversee are complete.

Carter hasn’t made up his mind yet on whether to halt the hearing and said Crist’s comments won’t sway him.

“I make my own independent decision. And I’m not intimidated nor am I persuaded by anyone else. I have to stay focused on the law,” he said. “I’m not going to g o into a war of words with the governor.”

The future of two utility regulators depends upon their vote in a proposed $1.3 billion Florida Power & Light Co. rate hike, Gov. Charlie Crist said this morning.

Crist has until Oct. 1 to reappoint two commissioners – Chairman Matthew Carter and Katrina McMurrian – whose terms expire Jan. 1.

Crist said he wants them to just say no to the Juno Beach-based utility.

“Let’s see what the commissioners want to do. Then I can have a better handle on who to appoint or reappoint,” Crist told reporters this morning.

A reporter asked Crist if he heard the governor correctly – that the commissioners’ vote would affect their appointments.

“You did,” Crist answered. “I think it would be nice to reject the increase. I’m trying to appoint members that would be sympathetic to the people and the economic challenge that they’re facing. So that’s a factor.”

Sen. Mike Fasano on Friday asked Carter, appointed to the panel by Gov. Jeb Bush, to indefinitely delay the FPL hearing and a $500 million Progress Energy Florida rate case until a storm of controversies surrounding the regulatory panel clears.

Crist disagreed.

“I don’t know why we should postpone it,” he said.

Carter said this morning that he hadn’t seen Fasano’s letter because he was on bed rest Friday recuperating from two back surgeries earlier this year.

(more…)

Public Service Commissioner Nancy Argenziano snapped back at state Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera for criticizing her critique of his questions of Public Service Commission Chairman Matthew Carter.

Argenziano, a former lawmaker who served in both the House and the Senate, sent a heated letter to Lopez-Cantera late this evening in which she expounds on her repeated complaints that lawmakers with too close of ties to utilities have too much influence over the regulatory panel on which she sits.

Lopez-Cantera sits on the council that selects nominees for the governor to appoint to the regulatory agency. He wasn’t happy with the answers Carter gave at the Sept. 1 nominating council meeting although Carter did make the list of six finalists for Gov. Charlie Crist to consider.

Her letter is a response to one Lopez-Cantera sent to her yesterday criticizing her reaction to his dissatisfaction with the PSC’s unanimous decision to force Florida Power & Light officials to release the salaries of all its employees that earn more than $165,000 per year. He advised Argenziano she could have found the information in the Juno Beach-based corporation’s federal filings as he and his office staff did in less than an hour.

“This same information would have saved the PSC time and taxpayer money,” Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, wrote in a letter sent yesterday.

The federal information does not include bonuses and other perks that boost some of the salaries by up to 500 percent, Argenziano responded tonight.

“Your apparently gullible acceptance, Representative Cantera, as the FERC document reflects, that the salary of FPL’s Executive Vice President is $23,000, is flabbergasting. The ‘less than an hour’ which you and your office spent producing this useless information is perhaps the true waste of time and taxpayer money,” Argenziano wrote.

(more…)

Public Service Commissioner Katrina McMurrian offered what appears to be a simple solution to the troubled regulators and staff caught in a web of secret messages with utility company execs and lawyers.

Put it in writing.

McMurrian issued a proposal late Friday evening suggesting that the quasi-judicial panel should act more like…judges to restore the public’s trust.

In 1992, a statewide grand jury found that “the manner in which utilities communicate with the PSC is in need of reform.” That was long before Blackberries and text messages revolutionized communications, but, to McMurrian at least, the shoe still fits.

McMurrian proposed that no commissioner or staff “shall engage in communications with parties, interested persons, or stakeholders except in writing.” That would include “all procedural matters, docketed matters, rulemaking proceedings, declaratory statements, workshops, non-docketed matters and matters for deliberation at Internal Affairs,” she wrote.

And, she suggested, all the communications should be posted on the PSC’s website for the public to read.

Today Sen. Mike Fasano asked that a Florida Power & Light $1.3 billion rate increase hearing scheduled to resume Wednesday and a Progress Energy Florida $500 million rate increase case set for the following Monday be delayed indefinitely.

McMurrian and Chairman Matthew Carter are both included in a list of six nominees give to Gov. Charlie Crist earlier this month. He has until Oct. 1 to pick one and the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee, on which Fasano sits, must confirm his choice.
“Respectfully, I ask my fellow commissioners for their support of this proposal. I would also like to let the public know that we hear you and want to earn back your trust,” McMurrian’s proposal concluded.

Public Service Commission spokeswoman Cynthia Muir gave this response to Sen. Mike Fasano’s request today that Chairman Matthew Carter indefinitely delay rate hearings now underway for FPL and Progress Energy Florida.

“The Chairman is on bed rest today due to his recent back surgery and the strain caused from the long hours of sitting during the hearings. I can tell you that there are statutory time lines that must be followed for each rate case filing. If a Commission decision is not made within the required time frame, the rates requested by the company in its filing can be implemented, at the discretion of the company.

Florida Statue 366.06 provides detail on this.

Thanks,
Cindy”

Progress is requesting a $500 million rate hike. That hearing is scheduled to resume Sept. 21, and the FPL – which is seeking a $1.3 billion rate increase – case is slated to resume on Wednesday.

When asked specifically whether Chairman Carter would postpone the hearings and what the pertinent dates were in both cases, Muir gave the following reply:

“Florida Statute 366.06 spells out the time frame. The Chairman has not responded to the Senator’s letter yet, so there’s no way of knowing what he intends,” she wrote.

Under Florida law, the PSC must give a final order in the FPL case by Nov. 20 or the new rates can go into effect Jan. 1. The utility would have to pay customers back if the panel then rejected the rate hike.

Florida Power & Light Co. officials had this to say about a top GOP senator’s request to halt utility rate hearings until investigations into what could be too cozy connections between regulators and utilities.

“We believe it is in our customers’ best interest for the PSC to proceed with its evaluation of our request – on its merits and the facts – so that it can make a timely decision that will allow us to move forward with investments in the electrical infrastructure that benefit our customers and the communities we serve,” FPL spokesman Mark Bubriski said in an e-mail.

Sen. Mike Fasano asked Public Service Commission Chairman Matthew Carter to postpone rate hearings currently underway – including a $1.3 billion rate hike sought by FPL scheduled to resume Wednesday – indefinitely.

Fasano wants several current investigations wrapped up before the hearings continue. He also wants them suspended until the Senate confirms Gov. Charlie Crist’s two nominations for the panel. Crist received a list of six finalists – including two current commissioners – earlier this month and has until Oct. 2 to make his picks.

(more…)

Sen. Mike Fasano wants a halt to all utility rate hearings – including a proposed $1.3 billion Florida Power & Light Co. hike – until investigations into alleged coziness between the Public Service Commission and the utilities they regulate.

“The integrity of the Commission has been brought into question due to the recent resignation of the PSC’s lobbyist, the firing of a commission aide and the placement of two others on leave due to the question of ex parte communications, as well as sharing of Blackberry PINs, with utility executives of the two companies seeking the rate increases. With the possibility of the Florida Senate Ethics & Elections Committee holding a hearing to look into the serious allegations regarding the operation of the PSC, any decision made while under the cloud of controversy would forever plague all parties in the case,” Fasano, R-New Port Richey, wrote in a letter to PSC Chairman Matthew Carter today.

Fasano is asking for the Senate investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is also looking into possible wrongdoing at the commission.

Read Fasano’s letter after the jump.
(more…)

The panel that regulates utilities seems like “it’s about to implode,” Sen. Mike Fasano said today.

Fasano, who chairs the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee, asked Senate President Jeff Atwater to order an ethics investigation into whether the Public Service Commission and its staff are too cozy with the industry it regulates.

“You have a regulatory body that can’t even regulate themselves let alone regulate a multi-billion dollar utility company that’s asking for a 30 percent rate increase,” Fasano, R-New Port Richey said.

Attorney General Bill McCollum earlier today said his office is “looking into” problems at the regulatory agency and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is currently conducting an informal investigation.

The PSC is considering rate hikes for both Florida Power & Light Co. and Progress Energy and a proposed FPL natural gas pipeline that would altogether raise customers’ rates by more than $3 billion.

PSC staffer Ryder Rudd was pulled off all FPL cases after it was learned that he attended a Kentucky Derby party at the Palm Beach Gardens home of FPL VP Ed Tancer. An internal investigation found that he may have broken the agency’s ethics rules but could not prove it.

This weekend, The Miami Herald reported that other PSC aides had given secret Blackberry PIN numbers to an FPL attorney, prompting Commissioner Nancy Argenziano to fire her aide and Commissioner Lisa Edgar to put hers on leave.

‘From the Commission’s chief lobbyist attending a party with executives from Florida Power & Light, to the sharing of Blackberry PINs between commissioners, staff and utility executives, the appearance of impropriety has become impropriety itself.

‘If you throw into the mix the fact that two of the five sitting commissioners are up for possible reappointment in the midst of the rate case it becomes evident that disaster is in the making. I have publically asked the governor to not reappoint the two sitting commissioners until the rate cases have been disposed of,” Fasano wrote to Atwater asking for the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee investigation. The committee has to confirm Gov. Charlie Crist’s nominations for the commission.

PSC Chairman Matthew Carter last week denied the regulators were too close to the utilities.

Read Fasano’s entire letter to Atwater after the jump.

(more…)

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, was showered by a round of boos in his committee meeting this morning after postponing a vote on a controversial proposal for commuter rail in Central Florida.

Read more about the meeting here.

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Dec. 31

“Donors have made it clear to me that they weren’t going to contribute because they weren’t happy with the leadership.”

–Florida Republican Party fundraiser Mark Guzzetta of Boca Raton explaining why he joined other top donors to call for the resignation of state party Chairman Jim Greer.
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Dec. 30

“Don’t hold your breath.”

–Paula Dockery responding to a suggestion from Bill McCollum’s campaign that her gubernatorial campaign is drawing to an close. Dockery and McCollum are facing each other in a Republican primary.
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Dec. 29

“This process moves the courts from calling balls and strikes, from creating a level playing field, into the realm of a social service agency, picking sides.”

–Palm Beach County Comptroller & Circuit Court Clerk Sharon Bock on a state supreme court order issued Monday that requires mediation on all homestead properties prior to a foreclosure hearing.

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Dec. 28

“I thought we’d get a lot of junkers, but the cars that came in are really nice.”

–Gerry Vertucci, whose Riviera Beach junk yard has a surplus of auto parts after the federal government’s Cash for Clunkers program.

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Dec. 8
“They were equally painful.”

–U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, comparing the state approval of the SunRail bill to his successful passing of a kidney stone.

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Dec. 7

“Ever since the day that I was able to read the Constitution, I’ve been pro-Second Amendment. And I’m usually the only person in the room that can protect you.”

–Republican Congressional candidate Ed Lynch during a debate last week.
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Nov. 17

“He’s come back with every strange fish there is.”

–Darrin Duchene of Palm Springs, whose son has caught a number of exotic fish, including a jaguar guapote, in a nearby pond. On Tuesday, the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission poisoned the pond in hopes of killing piranhas.
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Nov. 12

“I love psychology majors and all these other folks, but when you talk about the science, technology, engineering and math industry, we have to be focused on the type of economy we have. People ask me, ‘What are you doing to produce more math majors in the state of Florida.’”

–Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith during a rare meeting of the state groups responsible for public education. Of 49,775 bachelor’s degrees Florida awarded in 2008, just 267 were math majors.

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Nov. 3

“The only reason that I am not crying is I took a Xanax.”

–Boca Raton attorney Stuart Rosenfeldt after his law partner, Scott Rothstein, was accused of orchestrating an investment scheme that handed major financial losses to investors.

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Oct. 29

“You’re still getting killed.”

–Vice President Biden on Florida’s economy.

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Oct. 28

“They were leaving because we had not been able to give them a raise in four years.”

–Child Care Association of Brevard County Director Barbara Moore explaining why a progress report for the federal stimulus plan showed she used money to save 129 jobs at her center. The money was used to give all 129 employees a raise.

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Oct. 27

“I didn’t know his itinerary. That’s all.”

–Gov. Charlie Crist answering questions about why he did not attend any events with President Obama in Florida on Monday.
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Oct. 21

“Mr. Masilotti’s discussions with the United States produced no new leads, uncovered no previously unknown schemes, led to zero indictments, zero arrests and not a single new investigation. Instead, his information was filled with half-truths and material omissions.”

–U.S. Attorney Stephen Carlton weighing in on a request for a reduced prison sentence from former Palm Beach County Commissioner Tony Masilotti.

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Oct. 17

“It’s like putting a Band-Aid on an amputated leg.”

–UCF economist Sean Snaith reacting to news from Gov. Crist’s office that stimulus money has saved 22,000 jobs in a state with 11% unemployment for the first time since 1975.

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Oct. 16

“My concern is either they don’t think we have the expertise or they don’t think we have the integrity.”

–Port of Palm Beach Chairman Ed Oppel responding to a request from the state to halt efforts to develop an inland port.

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Oct. 15

“This enables him to take credit for what many might see as an empty gesture but one that might advance his ambitions.”

–Tony Alfieri, director of the Center for Ethics & Public Service at the University of Miami law school, about Gov. Crist’s call for a state corruption grand jury.

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Oct. 14

“Let me say this once: I am not under any investigation. My marriage is intact. My health is good and thank God the health of my family is good.”

–U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, announcing his plan to resign from Congress.

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Oct. 13

“When in doubt, don’t.”

–Former state Sen. Daniel Webster, a Republican and former House Speaker saying he won’t run against U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, an Orlando Democrat.

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Oct. 10

“Now give Bill McCollum some credit. He’s done a very good job of making sure he always has a job. But what about jobs for everybody else?”

–Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink, a relative newcomer in Florida politics, cracking on her likely Republican opponent Bill McCollum, who has been in politics for 29 years.

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Oct. 8

“Once again our leadership skills and our statesmanship will be put to the test with this challenging budget environment.”

–State House budget chief David Rivera, R-Miami, on the $2.6 billion budget hole lawmakers face next year.

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Oct. 5

“The official misconduct charge is hanging by a thread.”

–Indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom’s attorney, Steven Dobson, after a judged dismissed key parts of the case.

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Sept. 26

“They wanted a change back in 1976. You remember? …. They got one-Jimmy Carter. Four years later, they took care of business-Ronald Reagan. It may happen again.”

–Gov. Charlie Crist predicting a one-term presidency for President Barack Obama.

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Sept. 23

“We have gone from having nothing of substance to something that is more stringent than state law and even the Miami model.”

–Palm Beach County Attorney Denise Nieman about a plan to create an watchdog unit to investigate corruption.

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Sept. 21

“I feel we have scrutinized every item.”

–Palm Beach County Commissioner Jess Santamaria supporting a 14.9 percent the tax rate increase.

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Sept. 18

“We don’t use technology to circumvent the open government laws and we don’t use text messages to discuss state business.”

–Gov. Charlie Crist’s spokeswoman, Erin Isaac, describing the governor’s decision to bar his staff from sending text, PIN and instant messages from their cell phones.

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Sept. 14

“There’s nothing secret about the Sunshine team.”

–Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum answering questions about a new open government initiative.

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Sept. 9

“You lie!”

–U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., during President Obama’s speech on health care reform.

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Sept. 8

“After reading and hearing of what’s happening over at the Public Service Commission, it sounds to me like they’re ready to implode over there.”

–Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, asking for a Senate ethics investigation into possible ethics violations at the PSC.

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Aug 24

“Such inexcusable conduct undermines the public trust and confidence in the regulatory process and impugns the integrity of this commission.”

–Public Service Commission member Nathan Skop after learning the regulator’s chief lobbyist attended a Kentucky Derby party at the Palm Beach Gardens home of FPL Vice President Ed Tancer. FPL has two cases pending before the PSC worth more than $4 billion.

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Aug 24

“Whoop de do – who’s that hurting? It’s not hurting anyone.”

–Boynton Beach recreational fisherman Robert Bishop insisting he shouldn’t need a $9 fishing license to catch small fish. A new state law this year requires a license for shoreline, saltwater fishing.

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Aug 14

“Dunkin’ Donuts is pleased that the signs have been removed.”

– A company spokeswoman after the state fired Bay County Heath Department Director Mike Thomas for posting a sign reading “America Dies on Dunkin” as part of his campaign against obesity.

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Aug 13

“Maybe by divine justice it came out to a tie.”

–Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein on a failed bid to censure Gov. Charlie Crist.

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Aug 11

“We’re getting back zippo.”

–Palm Beach Councilman William Diamond recommending the town secede from Palm Beach County.
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Aug. 6

“To walk away without a compelling reason is disrespectful to the party and the people you took an oath to represent.”

–Former Republican Party of Florida Director David Johnson on U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’s resignation.

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Aug. 6

“I don’t think so.”

–Gov. Charlie Crist
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Aug. 5

“Chris Craft is a job-killing army of one.”

–The opening salvo from National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Andy Seré after Craft, a St. Lucie County Democrat, announced his campaign to unseat U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta.

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Aug. 2

“If the editor saw me walking across Sarasota Bay on top of the water, the next day the headline would say: ‘Bennett can’t swim.”

–State Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, after being questioned about using taxpayer money to charter planes to commute to the Capital.

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July 31

“‘Cash for clunkers’ is an apt description of the kind of government Americans are getting in return for their tax dollars these days.”

–Former Jeb Bush speechwriter Albert Martinez via Twitter.
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July 24

“Hey, nobody thought Utah was going to beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, right? But it happened.”

–Designated House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders on his party’s chances of taking control of the chamber in 2010 for the first time in 14 years.

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July 14

“This is the big banana.”

–Attorney General Bill McCollum about a $2.3 million price gouging settlement announced Monday.

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July 3

“Every March, when Tallahassee comes to life, no one’s safe.”

–St. Lucie County Clerk of Courts Joe Smith about changes state lawmakers made this year in the way courts are funded.

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July 1
SMOKE ‘EM IF YOU CAN AFFORD ‘EM

–News Service Florida headline about the state tax on cigarettes increase by $1 today.
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June 24
“495 days until Election Day 2010!”

–GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum via Twitter.
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June 23

“Since the legislature is building airport hangars instead of funding FDLE, they’re a little behind.”

–Leon County State Attorney Willie Meggs after being asked when a forensic exam of indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom would be completed.
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June 17

“Florida received an F-, the lowest overall grade in our survey.”

–The Heartland Institute’s Property and Casualty Insurance 2009 Report Card.

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June 14

“Hopped up out of bed, turned my swag on….”

–State Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, sending Soulja Boy lyrics out to his Twitter followers.

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June 10

“I don’t understand it. … He’s unassailable.”

–Sean Snaith of the UCF Institute for Economic Competitiveness on how Gov. Crist has maintained high approval ratings despite the state’s economic woes.

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June 4

“I guess she’s not going to be able to do it.”

– Norman Ostrau, director of FAU’s Public Ethics Academy, on former Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty’s scheduled June 17 speech on how not to behave in office.

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May 29

“Pythons are not Republican or Democrat and neither is water.”

– SFWMD Chairman Eric Buermann after touring the Everglades.

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May 24

“He’s always liked boxers, the wilder the better. But we’d never seen him wear pink before.”

– Sheree Boyd, whose son, Zachery, was pictured in pink “I Love NY” boxers during a firefight with the Taliban.

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May 22

“It’s been a remarkable job.”

–Palm Beach County stripper registrar Barbara Wilmoth.

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May 21

“In our business we pride ourselves on telling the truth.”

–Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton, explaining that Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty should be fired for allegedly misleading him about an insurance bill.
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May 20

“Did you guys see my house? I’m trying to figure out if my lawn is getting mowed there.”

–President Obama during a phone call with the space shuttle Atlantis crew.

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May 19

“On the road again today with my campaign aides Mr. Garmin and Mr. Sunpass.”

–U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio via Twitter.

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May 18

“We’re going to win!”

–Republican Bill McCollum announcing his campaign for governor.

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May 15

“That’s all disgusting stuff, man…. I’m not into that kind of politics at all. I don’t want to even talk about it. I don’t want to hear about it. I don’t want anything to do with that stuff.”

–GOP U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio responding to a question about Outrage, a documentary that implies his Republican primary opponent, Gov. Charlie Crist, is gay.

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May 13

“In unique and challenging times like these, our state needs a new and different kind of leadership.”

–Democrat Alex Sink announcing her campaign for governor.

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April 22

“Do it for the children.”

–Republican Gov. Charlie Crist urging lawmakers to take $1.1 billion from the Seminole Indians of Florida for allowing blackjack, roulette and craps in their casinos.

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April 20

“My particular newspaper has called on me to make sure that I vote to do away with special-interest, state-delivered welfare to corporations. And I am going to do that.”

–Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, before voting to remove a sales tax exemption for newspapers and magazines delivered by mail.

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April 17

“Do you want a haircut or do you want an amputation? That is your choice.”

–Rep. Alan Hayes, R-Umatilla, on House Democrats’ objections to nearly $1 billion in new fees to cover budget holes.

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April 15

“They send these kids to Iraq to fly jets, they ought to be able to play blackjack.”

–State Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island, on why he opposes a proposal to increase the gambling age in Florida from 18 to 21.

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April 14

“My car is actually parked right outside the door. So could you let me know what time you’re leaving?”

–Democratic Rep. Audrey Gibson, a Nissan Altima owner, responding to Rep. Adam Hasner, R-Boca Raton. Hasner said said he wanted lawmakers to approve a constitutional amendment for the 2010 ballot more than a 18 months before Election Day because he “might get hit by a car” leaving the Capitol.

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April 13

“I’m not going to congratulate you on bringing forth this bill. However, I am going to congratulate you on all the shots you’ve taken as you’ve brought forth this bill.”

–State Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, before voting against a bill from Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff to increase oversight on county clerk of court budgets.

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April 12

“Tell me about it!”

–U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, responding to a Boyton Beach woman who told him that she couldn’t “live with my parents in their 55-and-older community forever.”

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March 31

“Smoke ‘em, chew ‘em, dip ‘em or whatever. We have to tax ‘em. Doesn’t matter if its … smuggled in from Castro. They need to be taxed.”

–Senate Health & Human Services Appropriations Chairman Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, in explaining his support for a $1 tax increase on cigarettes and other tobacco.

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March 27

“Wiggling, who knows? Wiggle, wiggle. I’m wiggling right now.”

–House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, on whether there was “wiggle room” in his chamber’s opposition to new card games at Seminole casinos.

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March 25

“We’re hoping and praying that the money will be there.”

–Senate Pre-K-12 Appropriations Committee Chairman Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville, about the chamber’s proposed education budget.

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March 24

“Veterans have a right to run for office without being termed out. So I think we have some credence here.”

–Senate Community Affairs Committee Vice Chairman Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, before voting for a constitutional amendment that would ask voter to extend property tax breaks for disabled veterans and extend term limits.

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March 20

“We threw that away.”

–Senate Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Chairman Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, on Gov. Charlie Crist’s budget recommendations.

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March 19

“This is the slowest session beginning I have ever seen in my life.”

–Vern Pickup-Crawford, who has four decades of experience lobbying in the state Capitol, to the Palm Beach County delegation.

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March 12

“Don’t piss on me and tell me it’s raining.”

–Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, in a heated exchange about President Obama during a Senate Transportation and Economic Development meeting.