The U.S. Department of Justice will “carefully consider” changes to Florida’s elections laws under a bill Gov. Rick Scott is expected to sign into law this week.

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson complained to the feds before the bill was passed that the measure would impose severe restrictions on Floridians’ voting rights. Democrats are convinced the measure is aimed at suppressing Democratic votes in next year’s presidential election in the swing state considered crucial by both parties.

Nelson drew flak with his comments at the time likening the fight against the elections overhaul to the the years-long covert operation that culminated in the death of Osama bin Laden.

The bill (HB 1355) would force voters to cast provisional ballots if they change their address at the polling place, make it harder for third-party groups to register voters and shorten early voting days. Nelson asked U.S. Attorney Eric Holder’s office to investigate the elections changes. Five counties in Florida remain under federal scrutiny because of discrimination against minority voters decades ago.

“We appreciate your bringing your concerns to our attention,” Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich wrote Nelson in a letter dated yesterday. “The Department of Justice will carefully consider the information you have provided in the course of our enforcement and administrative review work under the Voting Rights Act. If you have any more information you wish to share, the Department would be pleased to receive it from you.”

Florida’s Congressional Democrats also today asked the justice department’s civil rights division to check out the bill.

U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton and others wrote that the bill “seriously undermine the basic voting rights” of Floridians.

“We are confident that any honest examination of this legislation will determine that it is in clear violation of the Voting Rights Act,” they wrote.

After the GOP-dominated legislature passed the measure, the League of Women Voters of Florida announced they would no longer conduct voter registration drives. The ACLU and others are expected to challenge the law in court if Scott signs it as expected. He has until May 21 to act on the bill.

Legislative leaders would be allowed to raise campaign cash and give it out to candidates outside of the state political parties’ coffers under a measure on its way to Gov. Charlie Crist for signature.

The proposal would essentially renew a law barred two decades ago that permitted the House Speaker, Senate President and minority leaders in both chambers to have “leadership funds” used to dole out money to candidates.

The measure would also crack down on “electioneering communication organizations,” or ECOs, in the aftermath of a recent court decision that allow the political groups to run attack ads without revealing much of who’s behind them.

Sen. Ted Deutch, a Boca Raton Democrat who is running for Congress, and other Democrats objected to that portion of the election reform (HB 1207) because they don’t want “to let people see the six figure contributions that are coming in from special interests. We should ban them.”

The bill creates “affiliated party committees,” or APCs, much like the old leadership funds lawmakers outlawed 20 years ago because they gave lobbyists too much influence in the legislature.

Republicans argued that the change would shed light on a practice that’s already taking place in the shadows.

“Money’s being raised,” said Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, who is slated to take over as Senate President next year. “We want to make it so the funds aren’t in one big pool. We want to separate it out so people can be accountable…. this is sunshine. People deserve to know when they see the commercials on TV where the money came from. We are opening up the books.”

Sens. Paula Dockery, a Lakeland Republican running for governor, and Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, were the only Republicans to vote against the measure.

Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee, and Democratic Sens. Jeremy Ring of Margate and Gary Siplin of Orlando joined Republicans in the 25-11 vote.

The Senate passed a measure that would have a far-reaching impact on teachers’ salaries and job security after a heated debate by Democratic opponents and an angry defense of the bill by Republicans.

Four Republicans – Sens. Charlie Dean of Inverness, Paula Dockery of Lakeland, Dennis Jones of Seminole and Alex Villalobos of Miami – joined Democrats on the losing side of the 21-17 vote.

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Florida lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a measure now on its way to Gov. Charlie Crist that would prohibit adoption agencies from discriminating against gun owners.

The Senate voted 38-2 on the bill (HB 315) this morning, with Democratic Sens. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton and Frederica Wilson of Miami the only hold-outs. The House earlier unanimously passed the measure.

Story here.

With a slew of lawmakers, including Senate President Jeff Atwater, running for higher office this year, Senate Rules Chairman Alex Villalobos delivered a stern warning to members about using staff for campaign purposes.

Villalobos, who would have been in Atwater’s presidential shoes were it not for a coup staged by Atwater and his backers more than two years ago, sent a memo to the Senate’s 40 members outlining what their aides can – and mostly cannot – while on the clock.

Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, is leaving office early to run statewide for chief financial officer. Senate Democratic Leader Al Lawson, forced out because of term limits, is running for Congress, along with Democratic state Sens. Frederica Wilson of Miami, Charlie Justice of St. Petersburg and Palm Beach County’s own Ted Deutch of Boca Raton. Senate Majority Leader Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, is also expected to run for Congress.

And Sens. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres and Dan Gelber of Miami Beach are running statewide in a Democratic primary for attorney general.

Senate staff can’t use annual leave or comp time to work on campaigns, nor can they work on a campaign during their lunch hour, Villalobos wrote.

They can volunteer after hours, that means outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

But aides can’t take a paying job with a campaign unless they get permission from Atwater and take leave-without-pay first.

“A Senator who uses staff paid by the Senate to work on his or her campaign while ‘on duty’ may be liable for theft,” Villalobos wrote. If the employee earned more than $5,000 or more as a state worker, the crime is a felony.

And the staffer who works on the campaign could also be liable for theft.

Oh, and no using state equipment like telephones or computers for campaign stuff. That’s a misdemeanor.

With more than 1 million Floridians out of work, Florida taxpayers are footing the bill for the salaries for out-of-state workers.

This time, it’s Florida Lottery vendor GTECH’s workers in Texas that are the beneficiaries. GTECH’s call center is located in Austin and that’s where calls regarding the Lottery’s on-line tickets and other products are answered.

And lawmakers don’t even know how many jobs are at stake in Texas because the private contractors hired by the state to handle call lines won’t give up their number of employees or where they’re located, according to legislative analyst Emily Leventhal.

Sen. Ted Deutch, a Boca Raton Democrat who sits on the committee, asked Leventhal how many of the 16 private call centers were located outside Florida.

Only GTECH’s, she told him.

“And do you know how many people the state of Florida is paying to work in Austin, Texas?” Deutch asked.

“I do not,” Leventhal replied.

“I think that would be worthwhile information for this committee,” Deutch said.

An incensed Senate budget chief J.D. Alexander agreed.

“If they take the cash or check they can tell us what we want to know,” said Alexander, R-Lake Wales.

Last year, the Department of Children and Families got in hot water because the agency’s food stamp contractor, JP Morgan Chase, routed questions about food stamp services to a call center based in India. The vendor stopped sending the calls overseas and instead sent them to Ohio and Illinois.

The head of the state’s tourism agency also earned the wrath of lawmakers last year when lawmakers found out that calls to Visit Florida were being answered in Missouri. The agency later canceled the contract.

Former Broward County Mayor Ben Graber reacted to our story today about Sen. Ted Deutch’s attendance record by calling on the Boca Raton Democrat to resign from his state office. Graber and Deutch are rivals in the Democratic U.S. House primary election set for Feb. 2.

“Mr. Deutch cannot continue to hold his Senate seat in reserve while he tries to get a promotion,” Graber said in the statement. “It is unfair to everyone, except Mr. Deutch. It’s obvious that he cannot handle both jobs at the same time.”

Continue reading for the full press release.

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SENATE:

16: Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton; 13: Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami; 10: Rudy Garcia, R-Miami; 9: Charlie Justice, D-St. Petersburg; 7: Charlie Dean, R-Inverness; 6: Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee; 5: Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, Frederica Wilson, D-Miami.

HOUSE:

9: J.C. Planas, R-Miami; 6: Doug Holder, R-Sarasota, Eddy Gonzalez, R-Miami, Geraldine Thompson, D-Orlando, Juan Zapata, R-Miami; 5: Yolly Roberson, D-Miami.

STORY HERE.

Democratic congressional hopeful Ted Deutch expects to raise more than $100,000 today when former President Bill Clinton drops by St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton for a late-afternoon fund-raiser. The event is closed to the press.

Deutch’s campaign says he has already raised more than $800,000 for his special election bid to replace former Democratic Rep. Robert Wexler. Deutch and Ben Graber are competing in a Feb. 2 Democratic primary. The winner runs in an April 13 general election.

Clinton tonight is scheduled to speak at The Breakers to major Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County donors.

Gov. Charlie Crist moved the special election to replace U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler ahead a week after Jewish voters complained the original election would have taken place during Passover.

The Jewish holiday ends on April 6, the date Crist originally picked for the special election.

“Originally, the special general election was inadvertently scheduled during Passover, and out of respect to the Jewish community, the special general election has been rescheduled to Tuesday, April 13, 2010,” Crist’s office wrote in a memo announcing the new election date.

The special primary election in the heavily Jewish Congressional District 19 will still take place on Feb. 2.

State Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, is considered the favorite to replace Wexler, who resigned to head the nonprofit Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation.

Deutch secured not only Wexler’s support but practically the entire South Florida Democratic delegation. He’s been endorsed by U.S. Reps. Ron Klein, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Alcee Hastings.

One of the biggest laugh lines at Saturday night’s annual fund-raising dinner for the Palm Beach Democratic Party turned out to be this:

“It is a true honor to be one of your keynote speakers tonight.”

State Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, delivered the line, then paused knowingly, drawing laughter from the audience of about 350 at the Palm Beach County Convention Center.

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WEST PALM BEACH — After weeks of considering a run in a special congressional election, Mayor Lois Frankel made a big announcement at tonight’s Palm Beach County Democratic Party dinner.

“Where’s Ted Deutch?” Frankel asked the crowd of about 350, calling out the frontrunner in the special race to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton.

“I want you to know I’m running,” Frankel said, pausing for dramatic effect, “in the….Palm Beach Marathon in two weeks.”

Actually, Frankel said in an interview a few minutes later, she has decided not to run in the congressional race.

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Former state Rep. Irving Slosberg of Boca Raton, who lost a bitter and costly 2006 Democratic state Senate primary to Ted Deutch, told the Kings Point Democratic Club today that he’s endorsing Deutch in the special election to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton.

That ends speculation that Slosberg might run for the congressional seat himself.

The Democratic primary is Feb. 2 and the general election is April 6.

“Ted and I have become pretty good friends,” Slosberg said afterward. “He represents the things I represent. So send him to Congress. He’s going to do a great job.”

While out of the special congressional race, Slosberg remains a potential candidate for his old state House seat or the state Senate next year.

With some local Democratic elected officials in open revolt over his record on Israel, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has withdrawn as keynote speaker for next week’s Palm Beach County Democratic Party fund-raising dinner.

He’s the second Democratic keynoter to be scratched this week. The party dumped Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu on Tuesday because local activists were upset by her refusal to commit to blocking a Republican filibuster of health care overhaul legislation.

After Kucinich was announced as the replacement speaker, state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, threatened a boycott and state Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, County Commissioner Burt Aaronson and state Rep. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, voiced disapproval today.

Kucinich has a long history of criticizing the actions of the Israeli government, voting against congressional resolutions in support of Israel and opposing sanctions against the anti-Israel government of Iran.

His critics have “falsely characterized” those stances as being anti-Israel, Kucinich said this afternoon in an e-mail to Palm Beach County Democratic Chairman Mark Alan Siegel. While defending his position, Kucinich said he didn’t want the controversy to hurt the local party’s money-raising efforts.

Read his complete statement to Siegel after the jump….

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More trouble for the Palm Beach County Democratic Party’s annual fund-raising dinner.

Its original Jefferson-Jackson name was dropped because of qualms about Thomas Jefferson’s slave ownership and Andrew Jackson’s Indian-removal policies. Then the renamed Truman-Kennedy-Johnson dinner’s planned keynote speaker, moderate Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, was unceremoniously dumped this week because party leaders disliked Landrieu’s stance on health care reform.

Now Landrieu’s replacement — liberal U.S. Rep. and former presidential candidate Denis Kucinich, D-Ohio — is prompting a boycott threat from state Rep. Kevin Rader, D-Delray Beach, because of Kucinich’s voting record on Israel.

State Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, has announced he won’t attend or support the event, calling Kucinich “someone whose position on Israel stands in total opposition to the conscience of this community.”

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State Rep. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, has lined up an all-star cast of Democratic endorsements if she runs for the state Senate seat of Ted Deutch sometime next year.

Deutch, D-Boca Raton, is running in the not-yet-scheduled special election to replace U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, who’s leaving office in January to head a Middle East think tank. If Deutch wins, his Palm Beach-Broward Senate seat will be open. Depending on the timing of the congressional election, it’s not clear if a state Senate vacancy would be filled by another special election or if the seat would remain open until the fall 2010 elections.

While those scenarios unfold, Sachs has secured big-name backing for her potential Senate bid, including Wexler and U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton; Democratic County Commissioners Burt Aaronson, Shelley Vana, Jess Santamaria, Priscilla Taylor and Jeff Koons; state Rep. Kelly Skidmore, D-Boca Raton; and two dozen Democratic club presidents and activists.

Under one scenario laid out by Florida’s Division of Elections, a special election to replace U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, wouldn’t be until May 5. There are also scenarios that envision March 9 or April 6 elections to replace Wexler, who’s resigning Jan. 3 to head the nonprofit Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation.

Scheduling is tricky because of the holidays and federal overseas ballot requirements. If Wexler’s chosen successor — Democratic state Sen. Ted Deutch of Boca Raton — wins the congressional seat, Deutch’s constituents might be without a Senator in Tallahassee for much of the 2010 legislative session.

Read about it in this week’s Politics column by clicking here.

As he pursues a congressional bid without the blessing of Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler and other party bigs, Ben Graber claims he’s the victim of “censorship” at some of southern Palm Beach County’s influential Democratic clubs.

County Dem Chairman Mark Alan Siegel says club presidents have complained to him that Graber is “being a bully” in his requests for speaking time. Wexler and the party establishment are backing state Sen. Ted Deutch in the special election to replace Wexler, who’s leaving in January to head a Middle East-focused think tank.

While Graber’s is finding it tough to get speaking time in clubland, Deutch generally has an easier time getting the microphone because he’s a sitting legislator.

Read about it here in this week’s Politics column.

South Florida Democratic U.S. Reps. Robert Wexler, Ron Klein, Alcee Hastings and Debbie Wasserman Schultz today endorsed state Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, to succeed Wexler in a special congressional election.

In addition to the display of endorsement firepower, Deutch’s campaign said it has already raised more than $200,000 in its first 10 days. And Deutch has about a dozen fund-raisers scheduled for the next six weeks, including one in Washington hosted by his congressional endorsers and events in New York and Cleveland.

Wexler is resigning in January to head the nonprofit Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation. A special election is expected in early 2010.

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State Rep. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, today made it as official as possible: she’s running for the state Senate seat of Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, if Deutch wins the special congressional election to replace U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton.

Because of a 2007 change to Florida’s resign-to-run law, Deutch doesn’t have to give up his Senate seat to run for Congress unless he wins the special election expected in early 2010. If Deutch wins, Sachs said she’ll run for his Senate seat. Sachs said she’s hired a political consultant for the potential Senate race: Eric Johnson, who is Wexler’s chief of staff and political consultant and who is consulting for Deutch’s congressional bid.