House Democratic Leader Ron Saunders came up with a way to add $105,000 to the Alzheimer’s Mobil Network: Do away with the Department of Elder Affairs deputy secretary/chief of staff position.

Saunders, D-Key West, said “no one can seem to tell me what the position does.” He offered an amendment doing away with the unnamed person’s post and shifting the money during debate on the state budget just before this evening’s floor session ended.

Who holds the job that isn’t listed on the position agency’s “Other Key Department Staff” page?

Ron Whitaker, former Republican Party of Florida executive director.

Saunders brought Whitaker’s resume with him onto the House floor, but said the Alzheimer’s advocacy folks asked him to withdraw the amendment for fear that it would get their funding cut in House-Senate conference.

“I think the point was made,” Saunders said, although he conceded “nobody was paying attention” as the budget debate dragged into the evening.

- The Orlando Sentinel’s Aaron Deslatte contributed to this blog.

Republicans hold super-majorities in the state House and Senate, and Republican Gov. Rick Scott will get to deliver his first State of the State speech on the Legislature’s opening day.

But House Democrats have still found a way to bring a little drama to March 8. They’ve got a contested race for the caucus’ top leadership spot in 2012 — and they’ll choose their champion about an hour before the scheduled start of the legislative session.

The contenders: Reps. Joe Gibbons of Hallandale Beach, and Perry Thurston of Plantation.

It’s an intra-Broward County contest that will be decided by the House’s 39 Democrats. Current Democratic Leader Ron Saunders of Key West called the election Friday. If it counts for anything in handicapping, Gibbons is the current Democratic leader pro tempore.

Technically, the winner is the party’s designee for House speaker. But given that Democrats have a long way to go to gain a majority, “leader” may be the fanciest monicker the eventual winner ever gets.

A proposed statewide referendum that wouldn’t really do anything to balance any budget but would send a statement to Congress generated a lot of heat in the House Rules committee this morning.

“Basically House memorials are meaningless. They’re like toilet paper,” House Democratic leader Ron Saunders said of the proposal.

The “nonbinding statewide advisory referendum,” pushed by GOP leaders including Senate President Jeff Atwater and already passed by the Senate, would ask voters the following question:

In order to stop the uncontrolled growth of our national debt and prevent excessive borrowing by the Federal Government, which threatens jobs, robs America and our children of their opportunity for success, and threatens our national security, should the United States Constitution be amended to require a balanced federal budget without raising taxes?

“This sends a message today that federal spending is out of control and we need to have a balance,” House budget chief David Rivera, R-Miami, told the Rules Committee this morning.

But Saunders and other Dems objected to the strongly-worded proposal as election-year “propaganda,” “incendiary” and “hypocritical” because lawmakers raised millions of dollars in drivers “fees” and cigarette taxes to balance the budget last year.

“The language here is unnecessary and just an opportunity to demagogue,” said Saunders, D-Key West, who offered an amendment changing the language to “Should the U.S. Constitution be amended to require a balanced federal budget?”

His amendment failed, and the referendum passed along partisan lines.

In a tongue-in-cheek hint of what will likely take place during a budget debate on the floor tomorrow, House Democratic Leader-to-be Ron Saunders filed an amendment on a transportation bill that sweeps nearly $150 million from road projects to fill a $3.2 billion spending gap.

The veteran Key West lawmaker’s amendment renames the transportation bill the “Job Killer Act of 2010.”

Look for Democrats to try to amend the budget mainly in the House but without much success.

As evidence, House Majority Leader Adam Hasner offered his own amendment to counter Saunders’.

Hasner, R-Delray Beach, wants to name the bill (HB 5503) the “Protecting Healthcare and Education Funding Act of 2010.”

The Senate is expected to debate and amend its budget and pass it out so they can cancel session on Thursday and get in a longer Easter weekend.

House Rules Committee Chairman Bill Galvano dismissed a Tea Partier’s complaint against Democrat Ron Saunders on Wednesday.

James K. Barnes of Coral Springs alleged that Saunders, a veteran lawmaker from Key West, charged the state for travel money for trips to Tallahassee from his home in the Florida Keys while also filing for reimbursement for official and campaign work while in his Keys district.

Galvano ruled that the complaint had “numerous deficiencies” and found no evidence that Saunders broke a variety of House rules as Barnes alleged.

Saunders did not break House rules two years ago by soliciting campaign contributions during the legislative session, Galvano, R-Bradenton, decided. Saunders deposited several campaign checks on the first day of the 2008 session but that is permitted, Galvano wrote in a letter to Barnes.

Barnes also filed similar complaints with the state elections commission and ethics commission.

Although the Tea Partier filed the complaints against Saunders, Republicans have targeted Saunders, slated to become House Democratic Leader later this year, in his reelection bid in November.

A South Florida Tea Party activist has filed ethics complaints against state Rep. Ron Saunders accusing the Key West Democrat of double-dipping on travel expenses and violating state campaign finance rules.

James K. Barnes of Coral Springs filed complaints with both the state elections and ethics commissions as well as the House of Representatives.

Barnes alleges that Saunders, a veteran lawmaker who returned to the House, charged the state for travel money for trips to Tallahassee from his home in the Florida Keys while also filing for reimbursement for official and campaign work while in his Keys district.

The complaints also allege that Saunders accepted campaign contributions during the legislative session, a violation of state law and that Saunders “requested reimbursement for travel expenses from more than one source for the same travel and has claimed per diem amounts for which he is not entitled.”

“Corruption is running rampant in both Florida parties, from Ray Sansom’s ethical lapses to party credit card abuse to Saunders’ multiple violations,” Barnes said in a press release. “If the Florida Legislature wants to rebuild trust with voters today, Saunders’ apparent violations must also be fully investigated and, if true, punished.”

Read the Barnes ethics complaint here, the elections complaint here, and the House complaint here.