A committee that boosted former Democratic state Rep. Kevin Rader‘s unsuccessful 2010 bid for state Senate is facing a $15,250 fine for failing to file a campaign finance report just before last year’s Aug. 24 primary.

The Florida Elections Commission approved the fine Tuesday against the Committee to Improve Florida’s Economy. The committee plans to appeal the fine, attorney Mark Herron said this morning.

The committee is chaired by veteran Democratic operative Eric Johnson. Johnson was also Rader’s consultant last year.

While the committee was two months late filing a report that was due Aug. 20, Herron argued that a “significant portion” of the information required on the report had been mistakenly included in a previous report that was available for public inspection on the Division of Elections website.

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In the heated Democratic state Senate District 27 primary, attorney Peter Burkert says state Rep. Kevin Rader “crossed the line” by voting for an insurance bill when he’s an insurance agent.

Rader and his allies say it’s Burkert who crossed the line with a “false and reckless” attack in a race where Dems are already nervous about the GOP taking the seat in the fall.

Speaking of line-crossers, remember when Gov. Charlie Crist was a Republican and tapped Democrat Priscilla Taylor for a Palm Beach County commission vacancy? Now that Crist is an indie Senate candidate, find out if Taylor is willing to cross the line for him.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

Democratic state Senate hopeful Peter Burkert says he’s merely offering some legitimate, issue-based criticisms of his primary rival, state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach.

But after Burkert rapped Rader for an insurance vote and for failing so far to fulfill his promise of Acreage tax relief legislation, Rader’s campaign accused Burkert of “desperate…vicious and misleading” attacks. And some of Rader’s big-name backers — former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson and state Rep. Mark Pafford, D-West Palm Beach — accused Burkert of endangering the party’s chances of hanging onto the seat now held by Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, a registered Democrat whose office is nonpartisan, is endorsing Republican Sharon Merchant’s bid for a state Senate seat that’s expected to be a partisan battleground in November.

Bradshaw said his endorsement of Merchant is for both the GOP primary and for the general election if Merchant advances.

Former state Rep. Merchant faces a tough GOP primary against former Wellington Councilwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto for the seat of state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres. Aronberg is leaving the seat to run (also with Bradshaw’s endorsement) for attorney general.

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Several Democrats say state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, has decided to drop his 2010 bid for the state Senate seat of Sen. and attorney general candidate Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres.

Rader didn’t return calls late Thursday and this morning.

At a Florida Alliance for Retired Americans meeting in West Palm Beach this morning, Alliance President Tony Fransetta and Senate hopeful Peter Burkert said Rader is dropping out of the race for Aronberg’s seat and will instead seek the seat of Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, who’s running in a special congressional election to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler.

Burkert said Rader told him two days ago of his plans.

If in fact Rader pursues Deutch’s Senate seat, it could create internal Democratic tumult. Several big-name Dems, including Wexler and County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, have endorsed state Rep. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, for Deutch’s Senate seat if Deutch wins an April 13 special congressional election.

“I’ve urged him (Rader) to stay in his House seat,” Aaronson said this morning.

Democratic congressional hopeful Ben Graber features his six-month-old granddaughter in campaign signs and has toted her to political events. The head of the Kings Point Democratic Club isn’t keen on the idea.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column (third item).

Also: Palm Beach County GOP boss Sid Dinerstein backs a Democrat and a former Connecticut Senate candidate takes a “peripheral look” at a South Florida congressional seat.

Palm Beach County voters can expect two blockbuster state Senate races if trends from recent campaign finance reports hold up.

In two primary battles among candidates hoping to replace Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, the candidates combined to collect more than $305,000 during the third quarter. The four have a total of $826,000 on hand, more than 10 months away from the August primary.

In the race to replace Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, collected $132,921 from July through September. About 20 percent came from insurers and attorneys.

Read the rest here. The story was printed in the Oct. 15 edition of The Palm Beach Post.

To see how all the bankrolls are shaping up for candidates in contested races on the Palm Beach County and Treasure Coast, click here.

Palm Beach County Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel, who earlier this week frowned at the prospect of Delray Beach Democratic state Rep. Kevin Rader running for state Senate, says he’ll back Rader now that the freshman Representative has launched a Senate campaign.

“I’m going to support him. He’s shown himself to be an outstanding legislator and obviously he’ll be very good in the Senate,” Siegel said.

Siegel also spoke glowingly of Rader earlier this week, but said it would be bad for the party if Rader ran for Senate and created a Democratic primary for that seat (Fort Myers attorney Peter Burkert is also running as a Dem) and for Rader’s House seat (several Democrats are likely to run for it now that Rader is leaving).

Rader on Thursday officially announced his plans to run for the seat of Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, who’s running for attorney general. Senate District 27 runs from West Palm Beach to Fort Myers, with roughly equal numbers of voters in Lee and Palm Beach County. In a Democratic primary, however, Palm Beach County has roughly a 2-to-1 advantage.

Rader has announced endorsements from some of Palm Beach County’s big Democratic guns: U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, state Sen. Ted Deutch, County Commissioners Burt Aaronson and Shelley Vana, state Rep. Mark Pafford and Tax Collector Anne Gannon.

Sounds like Democrats will have a primary to match the Republican duel in Senate District 27, a district that stretches over five counties from Palm Beach to Lee and Charlotte on the state’s west coast currently represented by Democrat Dave Aronberg of Greenacres.

Fort Myers attorney Pete Burkert officially announced his candidacy this morning. Meanwhil, state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Boca Raton, has decided to enter the race as well and will soon make a formal announcement. Palm Beach Democrats make up about 66 percent of the party’s registration in the district, but may account for as much as 75 percent of a primary turnout.

On the Republican side, Wellington Councilwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto and former state Rep. Sharon Merchant of Palm Beach Gardens have both opened up campaigns.

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On his way to winning the state House District 78 seat last year, state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, often reminded voters that he actually lived in the district while Democratic primary rival Steve Nichol did not and candidate Steven Perman had merely rented an apartment there while owning a house in Broward County.

Now Rader is entertaining thoughts of running next year in a state Senate district where he doesn’t live.

He has plenty of company.

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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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Another heavyweight Republican endorsement for Wellington Councilwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto in her state Senate bid: U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, is backing her in the 2010 race for the seat of Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, who’s running for attorney general.

Rooney called Benacquisto “a tireless advocate” for Wellington “and I know she will bring the same dedication to Tallahassee.”

Earlier this week, Benacqusito picked up endorsements from three big Senate Republicans: President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, and former Senate President Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie. The three Senators are hosting a fund-raiser in Tallahassee for Benacquisto this month.

Benacquisto was also endorsed this week by Lee County Republican Matt Caldwell, the GOP’s unsuccessful 2008 candidate for the seat.

Benacquisto is the only announced Republican in the Senate race, though former Republican state Rep. Sharon Merchant has said she’ll probably run. Democratic attorney Peter Burkert is also likely to enter.

In a geographically significant announcement, Fort Myers real estate appraiser Matt Caldwell, the GOP’s unsuccessful 2008 candidate for the state Senate District 27 seat, said today he will not run for the seat in 2010 when incumbent Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, runs for attorney general.

Caldwell also announced he’s supporting a Palm Beach County Republican — Wellington Councilwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto — in the 2010 Senate race.

District 27 runs from West Palm Beach to Fort Myers. About 54 percent of voters live in Palm Beach County and about 45 percent live in Lee County. In a Republican primary, however, Lee County is dominant, with about 60 percent of GOP voters living there.

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With state Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, running for attorney general, the scramble is on to fill his trans-Florida District 27 Senate seat, which runs from Palm Beach County to Lee County on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The district is about 40 percent Democratic and 36 percent Republican. About 54 percent of voters live in Palm Beach County and about 45 percent live in Lee County, with a handful of voters in Charlotte, Glades and Hendry counties.

When handicapping primaries, keep in mind that most of the district’s Republicans live in Lee County and most of the Democrats live in Palm Beach.

So far, Wellington Councilwoman Lizbeth Benacquisto (R) says she’s running, former state Rep. Sharon Merchant (R) and Fort Myers lawyer Peter Burkert (D) say they’ll probably run and Cape Coral Mayor Jim Burch (D) has been mentioned but couldn’t be reached today for comment.