Attorney General Bill McCollum's office has asked the statewide prosecutor and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review claims that certain executives at Florida Power & Light may have committed fraud and broken state and federal securities laws by forcing employees to provide inaccurate and incomplete information to regulators [...]
Dr. Ana Viamonte Ros, Florida's top health official, has spent nearly $130,000 on taxpayer-funded travel in her first three years on the job and has spent at least a third of her weekends in her hometown of Miami.
The state surgeon general's travel pattern has not changed despite a belt-tightening edict [...]
The state surgeon general's travel pattern has not changed despite a belt-tightening [...]
Attorney General Bill McCollum's office has asked the statewide prosecutor and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to review claims that certain executives at Florida Power & Light may have commited fraud and broken state and federal securities laws by forcing employees to provide inaccurate and incomplete information to regulators [...]
ST. PETERSBURG -- After Mayor Bill Foster announced last week he was eliminating five full-time ranger positions at the popular Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, neighborhood leaders launched an aggressive e-mail campaign opposing the move.
They routed missives to the city's eight City Council members, pleading with them to intervene. As of today, the council [...]
Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday picked up the endorsement of the Florida Association of State Troopers in his Republican U.S. Senate primary battle with former House Speaker Marco Rubio. FAST, which claims to represent 1,700 "active, reserve, auxiliar and retired" troopers, joins the Police Benevolent Association and Fraternal [...]
Anti-tax acrtivist Grover Norquist has become the latest national-level conservative political figure to endorse Marco Rubio in the Florida U.S. Senate primary.
Norquist, a strong political ally of former President George W. Bush, is known as founder of the anti-tax advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform.
In an announcement from… [...]
U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio has agreed to participate in a nationally televised debate proposed by FOX News for March 28. Waiting to hear from his rival, Gov. Charlie Crist, who said recently that he would debate Rubio but didn't specify when or where.
"We've made no secret about our enthusiasm to debate Charlie" [...]
Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday picked up the endorsement of the Florida Association of State Troopers in his Republican U.S. Senate primary battle with former House Speaker Marco Rubio. FAST, which claims to represent 1,700 "active, reserve, auxiliar and retired" troopers, joins the Police Benevolent Association and [...]
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek made political rounds in Tampa today, escorted by former congressional colleague Jim Davis.
Meek went to a meet-the-candidate forum held by the Tampa Bay Partnership, then talked to reporters downtown.
Meek, a congressman from Miami, has been campaigning hard to build a base in… [...]
Anti-tax acrtivist Grover Norquist has become the latest national-level conservative political figure to endorse Marco Rubio in the Florida U.S. Senate primary.
Norquist, a strong political ally of former President George W. Bush, is known as founder of the anti-tax advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform.
In an announcement from… [...]
Endorsements aplenty rolling out in the GOP Senate primary …
Charlie Crist has picked up the support of the Florida Association of State Troopers, a group that represents about 1,700 active, reserve, auxiliary and retired troopers around the state. It is the oldest troopers’ advocacy organization in Florida.
“Charlie Crist works every [...]
Yesterday I posted an item - with plenty of qualifiers that we couldn't vouch for it accuracy - about a poll purporting to show that as of last Thursday Florida GOP chairman candidate Sharon Day was overwhelmingly leading John Thrasher among members of the executive committee. I was quickly persuaded [...]
TALLAHASSEE — Looks like Senate Republican leadership did make a withdrawal of its own from the Republican Party of Florida last month after executive director Delmar Johnson was dismissed on Jan. 12.
The $294,500 was withdrawn a day after Johnson was let go, which was prompted by the discovery of a [...]
TALLAHASAEE — Monticello Republican Clyde Simpson, who serves as the GOP Congressional District 2 chairman, has added his voice to those calling for the resignations of the state party’s treasurer and vice-treasurer.
Here’s an e-mail he just sent out:
Greetings to all,
I would like to draw everyone’s attention to the recent developments, [...]
No one in the media wants to tell this story, but there’s a populist Democrat from Orlando who beat out all the other members of Congress in fund raising in the last reporting period.
Who is this money-man no media outlet will write about: U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson.
And who is going [...]
Another political organization with ties to state legislators also got money shifted over to it from the Republican Party of Florida last month.
Alliance for a Strong Economy - which is associated with Sen. Mike Haridopolos, Sen. J.D. Alexander, Sen. Mike Bennett, Sen. Carey Baker, and Sen. Alex Diaz de [...]
The records … show that executive director Delmar Johnson padded his $103,000 salary with a secret, $260,000 fundraising contract and another $42,000 for expenses — at the same time the once mighty Florida GOP was having to lay off employees amid anemic fundraising… Internal records show heavy spending [...]
Miami-Dade county commissioner Katy Sorenson said today she's not planning to challenge Miami Republican Mario Diaz-Balart this fall. The commissioner -- who announced last week she won't run for reelection -- had been rumored as a potential candidate and said a poll conducted by Democrats suggested a potential Sorenson candidacy was "do-able.
"I' [...]
Last week, when former Congressman Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., opened the Tea Party national convention with a speech lamenting the demise of literacy tests for voters, Pulse checked with Florida’s GOP candidates for Senate to see what they made of his comments.
After all, both Gov. Charlie Crist and former Florida House [...]
Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight:
On the top 25 issues of the day, Obama’s position appears to be on the correct side of public opinion on 14: the bank tax, repealing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, campaign finance, the credit card bill, D.C. voting rights, fair pay, financial [...]
From Gary Fineout’s The Fine Print blog:
The news that $655,000 was transferred from the coffers of the Republican Party of Florida to the account of a political organization controlled by Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, raises several legal questions.
The first one is whether or not this violates the [...]
We tried pet store options to keep Daisy warm through the recent cold weather, but nothing fit correctly. The combination of short legs and long body obviously does not lend itself to a uniform fit within established canine parameters. Dachshunds, Corgis, Bassets… none of them can shop satisfactorily at Petsmart. [...]
Guests today (3-4 p.m.): Crystal Spencer, Believe in a Better Pensacola, Pensacola Mayor Mike Wiggins. Plus an update from William Reynolds of NorthEscambia.com on the mysterious glowing object found in the woods near Century.
NorthEscambia.Com is reporting an unidentified, glowing object has been found in the woods near Century.The Century Station of Escambia Fire Rescue was first dispatched to an unknown type fire on Dawson Road just off of Bluff Springs Road about 10:15 p.m. When they arrived, they [...]
ARONBERG FILES LEGISLATION SHIELDING HOMEOWNERS FROM FORECLOSURE
Greenacres Democrat teams with Rep. Soto in homeowners' defense bill
As Florida continues to lead in the nation's housing meltdown crisis, few advocates have emerged to protect homeowners from rapacious Wall Street lending institutions attempting to seize distressed homes' [...]
Here’s a story that puts the lie to the myth of the “liberal media.” Too bad hardly anyone has been paying attention.
Sen. Dick Shelby (R-Ala.), a snarling, bloodthirsty Cheneyite neo-con, abruptly ended his attempt to force the Obama administration to approve two pork projects for his home [...]
Tax hater in chief Grover Norquist endorsed Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate today.
"... Marco Rubio’s vigorous advocacy of his property tax reform plan remains a shining example of his willingness to stand up for pro-taxpayer policies, even in the face of opponents committed to the status quo. Just as Marco [...]
As incoming House Leader Dean Cannon asked to have $655,000 in Republican Party funds transferred to his political committee, the question of whether it's time to resurrect leadership funds is emerging again in Tallahassee.
The funds were banned in the 1990s but the practice continued with a wink-wink as incoming leaders often raised money [...]
As incoming House Leader Dean Cannon asked to have $655,000 in Republican Party funds transferred to his political committee, the question of whether it's time to resurrect leadership funds is emerging again in Tallahassee.
The funds were banned in the 1990s but the practice continued with a wink-wink as incoming leaders often raised money' [...]
As a follow-up to yesterday...can I get a "heh?"
Sign at the vet’s office:
“Don’t let your dogs near the cold-killed iguanas… they may contain botulism.”
Cell phone pic, of course.
Daisy and I just returned from the vet, where she had her yearly physical and poking. She didn’t even try to bite anyone!
[...]Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin White will kick off his re-election campaign Feb. 17 with a fundraiser at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. The event starts at 5:30 p.m. It will be interesting to see who continues to back White after the drama surrounding payment of his legal bills by [...]
CFO Alex Sink lambasted the state's top financial regulator at the Cabinet meeting Tuesday for not aggressively pursing litigation against Bank of America -- her former employer -- for its deal with Merrill Lynch.
"I'm not really impressed with the comments you made," Sink started. "The last commissioner lost his job because he hid behind not'" [...]
CFO Alex Sink lambasted the state's top financial regulator at the Cabinet meeting Tuesday for not aggressively pursuing litigation against Bank of America -- her former employer -- for its deal with Merrill Lynch.
"I'm not really impressed with the comments you made," Sink started. "The last commissioner lost his job [...]
The news that $655,000 was transferred from the coffers of the Republican Party of Florida to the account of a political organization controlled by Rep. Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, raises several legal questions.
The first one is whether or not this violates the two decade old law that bans [...]
Quietly last summer, incoming legislative leaders Sen. Mike Haridopolos and Rep. Dean Cannon came to Attorney General Bill McCollum with concerns about how the party was raising and spending money.
McCollum supported a solution: a separate bank account to collect campaign contributions that required two signatures -- not just RPOF Chairman Jim Greer's --' [...]
Quietly last summer, incoming legislative leaders Sen. Mike Haridopolos and Rep. Dean Cannon came to Attorney General Bill McCollum with concerns about how the party was raising and spending money.
McCollum supported a solution: a separate bank account to collect campaign contributions that required two signatures -- not just RPOF Chairman [...]
There is a persistent buzz around the Escambia County Administrative Complex about two members of the Escambia County Consolidation Study Commission, Ken Bell and Rick Harper, may have violated the Florida Sunshine laws when they met with the Pensacola News Journal editorial board on the [...]
The Pensacola City Council will vote on Thursday to set the mayor’s salary at $100,000. What do the county constitutional officers make?
Clerk of Courts, $130,828
Property Appraiser, $130,828
Tax Collector, $130,828
Sheriff: $139,423
Supervisor of Elections: $112,277
These salaries are set by the state legislature every year.
U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions might not be a household name here, but he does hold high rank (No. 4, GOP officials touted Monday night) among U.S. House Republicans. And the Texan who is chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee will be the keynote speaker at the county party's Feb. 20 [...]
TALLAHASSEE — After discovering its existence last month, Attorney General Bill McCollum turned to former RPOF lawyer Richard Coates for a legal opinion on the secret contract that paid party executive director Delmar Johnson at least $199,000 last year.
The early legal answer?
“It appeared to him, and I concurred, that this was all [...]
The Marco Rubio Litmus Test is being applied in the District 8 GOP congressional primary
Attorney and failed-2008 congressional candidate Todd Long formally endorsed Rubio’s U.S. Senate campaign against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist this morning, describing the contest as “a battle for the soul” of the GOP.
He also called on his [...]
