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edited by: Kay Day,
Florida Editor
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 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 [...]
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 [...]
An early supporter of Gov. Charlie Crist’s senate campaign has reversed course and endorsed former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio.
Cesar Conda, an assistant to former Vice President Dick Cheney and economic advisor to Mitt Romney, said Rubio was “interested in the nitty-gritty of public policy.” He said Rubio was “someone [...]
This is the time in an election year when the candidates for Chief Executive are vetting their potential running mates. Who were the best and the worst, in my memory:
BEST: Reubin Askew's selection of Tom Adams in 1970. Askew was an unknown state senator from Pensacola, with little or no organization; and with [...]
Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink didn’t mince words in responding to a statement by Attorney General Bill McCollum gubernatorial candidate, which called her pursuit of a potential legal action against Bank of America a politically motivated publicity stunt.
“That’s a load of bull,” Sink told reporters, just before the… [...]
"Republican Party of Florida's "crisis of confidence"
Beth Reinhard and Adam C Smith: "As a volatile election season gets underway, the Republican Party of Florida is facing its biggest crisis of confidence in decades."
TALLLAHASSEE — Gov. Charlie Crist says he believes the Republican Party of Florida should release American Express credit card records for all elected party leaders who held them.
“I think it’s a good idea. Transparency is always good,” Crist told reporters Tuesday. “I didn’t have one of those credit cards, by the way.”
Reports that [...]
According to a story at NPR, this is an actual billboard in Wyoming...ProPublica set out to see which members of Congress were capitalizing on the Super Bowl to generate money for their campaigns behind closed doors. Here's what happened when ProPublica partner ABC News showed up at U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek's Senate fundraiser on Saturday fundraiser at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral [...]
With the Republican Party of Florida buffeted by another wave of revelations of spending shenanigans, Gov. Charlie Crist stated the obvious Tuesday: "It doesn't look good."
In retrospect, Crist was asked, why was Jim Greer, his handpicked choice for party chairman, the right man for the job? "Well, you know, I think originally he [...]
From a story about former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin in The Hill:
Whether Palin goes beyond her current schedule of campaign events remains to be seen. What is for certain is that Perry, McCain and Bachmann aren't the only Republicans willing to have Palin by their side in a' [...]
Another possible 20 on top of this....Note: As always, some of these links will magically make noises come out of your speakers – prepare accordingly.
Four new songs enter the music parade at Music Tampa Bay this week, beginning with a 2nd selection from a group that technically does not qualify as local.
Coming down I-75 from [...]
Downtown Orlando’s about to get all Shakespeared up.
This Friday, the Orlando Shakespeare Theater is presenting a four-hour reading of all 154 of William Shakespeare’s sonnets. I will be joining a slew of local notables — from Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson [...]
I shamelessly pinched this from aproustian at Shakesville:If you could live the life of a fictional character, which would it be?I think my life already is the life of a fictional character; why else would I be a playwright? [...] 
