U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, and his brother, state Rep. Pat Rooney Jr., R-West Palm Beach, would both have tougher reelection battles under early redistricting plans put forward by the Florida legislature.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column, where you’ll also read about potential redistricting implications for U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, and his declared Democratic challengers Lois Frankel and Patrick Murphy.

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney rolled out a list of endorsements from two state Senators and 22 state House members today.

If you’re keeping score, that brings Romney’s Florida legislative endorsement total to 36, including 8 Senators and 28 House members.

The only local on Romney’s new endorsement list is state Rep. Pat Rooney Jr., R-Palm Beach Gardens. Rooney’s brother, U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, endorsed Romney earlier this year and on Monday joined U.S. Reps. Connie Mack and Ander Crenshaw as honorary co-chairs for the Romney campaign in Florida.

Romney has also snagged recent Florida endorsements from Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater of North Palm Beach.

A list of Romney’s legislative endorsements is after the jump…

(more…)

As freshman U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, seeks reelection this year, older brother Pat Rooney Jr. is running for a state House seat and younger brother Brian Rooney is trying to win a Michigan congressional seat.

Read about it this week’s Politics column.

Also: Read about how prosecutors want tougher residency standards in response to Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher’s frequent address changes when she was a state House member. And Robert Wexler returns to South Florida this week.

It took 37 days, but GOP state House hopeful Pat Rooney Jr. on Thursday was able to lock down the endorsement of his younger brother, Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney of Tequesta.

Tom Rooney released a statement that praises his brother’s business and charity work and says he is “flattered that my older brother is looking to follow in my footsteps by entering public service.”

Pat Rooney, one of three Republicans running for the northern Palm Beach County seat of term-limited Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, has also received the backing of former Palm Beach Gardens Councilman Hal Valeche. Valeche, a Republican, was considering running for the seat.

Valeche ran against Tom Rooney and former state Rep. Gayle Harrell in a 2008 GOP primary for Congress. In that campaign, social conservative Valeche tangled with the Rooney family over gambling issues. Pat Rooney Jr. is president of the Palm Beach Kennel Club dog track.

Palm Beach Kennel Club President Pat Rooney Jr., the brother of Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney of Tequesta, announced today he’s running for the northern Palm Beach County state House seat of term-limited Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter.

Rooney, who had been mulling such a candidacy for months, enters a GOP field that already includes Nancy Cardone and Francisco Rodriguez. Three Democrats are also running.

Former Palm Beach Gardens Councilman Hal Valeche is also considering getting into the GOP race for Domino’s seat.

In addition to being top official at the dog track, Rooney runs two restaurants and is a South Florida Water Management District board member.

“Now is the time for bold ideas, common sense decisions and responsible leadership that put people first and energize Florida again,” said Rooney in a press release. “I know how to create jobs, I know how to keep jobs here, I will lead the way on tax relief and spending reform and I will not allow the business of the people to get bogged down by politics.”

How independent should Palm Beach County’s independent ethics watchdog be?

That question is complicating efforts to win 2010 voter approval for an inspector general’s office to monitor local government after a three-year shame spiral in which County Commissioners Tony Masilotti, Warren Newell and Mary McCarty and West Palm Beach Commishes Ray Liberti and Jim Exline went to prison for corruption.

There’s broad support for an inspector general’s office with subpoena powers to keep an eye on local public officials, lobbyists and contractors.

But then the consensus breaks down.

A consortium of business and civic leaders says the inspector should be hired and fired and have its budget set by an independent ethics commission.

County officials propose the inspector be chosen by an outside panel but approved by a commission vote, financed through the county budget process and fired if five of seven commissioners agree.

Commissioners haven’t endorsed anything yet. They can wait until June to agree on a plan and put it on the November 2010 ballot.

The ethics consortium has less time. If it can’t persuade commissioners to endorse its view of the inspector general, the group has vowed to gather 58,200 signatures to put its version on the 2010 ballot. To succeed, such a petition drive should launch in November, said Marty Rogol of Leadership Palm Beach County and Mike Jones of the Economic Council.

Keeping the inspector general independent of the county commission is a key to ethics reform, Rogol and Jones argue.

Commission Chairman Jeff Koons disagrees. He says commissioners are more visible and accountable than an appointed ethics panel.

“We’re public elected officials…Everything we do is in the public,” Koons said. “We’re held responsible and we meet every couple weeks and people can come yell at us.”

If the sides can’t agree, it’s possible voters could see rival inspector-general ballot questions.

“Do we want dueling proposals before voters? Absolutely not,” said Jones. “It’s too early to say there’s no room for compromise.”

* * *

Palm Beach Kennel Club Prez Pat Rooney Jr. says he needs more time to decide whether to launch a GOP campaign for the open state House District 83 seat. Rooney’s brother is U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta.

A third Rooney brother could also run in 2010: attorney and Iraq war vet Brian Rooney, who lives in Michigan and is eyeing a challenge of Democratic Rep. Mark Schauer.

* * *

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Boca Raton resident Dion DiMucci performed three numbers to big applause Wednesday at a powwow of about 300 Republicans featuring congressional hopeful Allen West.

When Dion covered Eddie Cochran’s Summertime Blues, however, the lyric expressing multilateralist sentiment (“Gonna take my problem to the United Nations”) drew audible boos and groans.

Pat Rooney Jr. — the president of the Palm Beach Kennel Club dog track, restaurateur, attorney, radio personality, South Florida Water Management District board member and older brother of Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney — says he’s leaning toward running for a northern Palm Beach County state House seat next year and will announce his plans in September.

Rooney, a Republican, is eyeing the state House District 83 seat of state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter, who faces term limits in 2010 and is running for state Senate.

Republicans already in the race: Nancy Cardone, Francisco Rodriguez and Nick Wukoson. Former Palm Beach Gardens Councilman Hal Valeche — who ran against Tom Rooney in the 2008 GOP congressional primary — is also looking at the race. Democrats Tony Arena, Gary Lew and Mark Marciano have also filed for the District 83 seat.

Pat Rooney Jr. — president of the Palm Beach Kennel Club and brother of U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta — is considering a run for the state House seat of term-limited state Rep. Carl Domino, R-Jupiter.

It could be a crowded 2010 GOP primary with Realtor Nancy Cardone already in the race and Palm Beach Shores Mayor John Workman and former Palm Beach Gardens councilman Hal Valeche also eyeing Domino’s north-Palm Beach County seat. Plus, Valeche and the Rooney family have clashed in the past on proposals by the dog track to expand gambling.

Read about it here.