Archive for July, 2010
State Sen. Dan Gelber's first direct mail piece is landing in mailboxes this weekend and confirms the race is getting negative. It calls Sen. Dave Aronberg, his opponent in the Democratic attorney general race, that four-letter word this election year: "a typical politician."
It
hits back at Aronberg for sending this recent mail piece attacking
Gelber's connection to the Florida law firm representing BP in the oil
spill. (See his recent controversial mail piece page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4.)
Florida's Senate race is about four men elbowing each other in a fierce bid to join the most powerful legislative branch in the United States.
But behind the candidates' nasty accusations are four spouses with mirror ambitions. They are their husbands' ultimate political accessories, the lapel flag in human form: slim legs, coiffed hair, dazzling smiles, a walking thesaurus of their spouses' winning attributes.
Carole Crist. Mei Greene. Leslie Meek. Jeanette Dousdebes-Rubio. Read about them here.
Nearly three-quarters of Floridians support giving the state's voters a chance to decide whether to permanently ban offshore oil-drilling, a new poll shows.
The Quinnipiac University survey — which comes a week after the Florida Legislature rejected Gov. Charlie Crist's proposal to put a referendum on the ballot — shows that 72 percent of voters support such a move. And it comes as nearly half of those polled agree that there "is no need'' for a constitutional amendment because offshore oil-drilling is already barred by state law.
"Voters are obviously wary of offshore oil-drilling, given what's happened in the Gulf,'' said Quinnipiac pollster Peter A. Brown. But he suggested that it was unclear whether the issue would prove to be a factor for Crist's independent bid for the U.S. Senate.
"Whether it will be pressing on Election Day, that's another question,'' Brown said.
One of the problem sitting County Commissioners have is: What do they do with the obscene amount of leftover cash, sitting in their campaign accounts, after they crush their opponents? In 2008 Vile Natacha Seijas had to face that very problem when she collected $304,426. Natacha, of course, works for the "Y" so she gave them the most, $55,000. Terry Murphy, her Chief of Staff, was past president
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Only weeks after reports surfaced that Florida U.S. Reps. Ander Crenshaw, R-Jacksonville, and Allen Boyd, D-Tallahassee, were attempting to introduce a rider that would essentially delay the EPA’s Numeric Nutrient Standards from taking effect, rumors of another rider have begun to circulate. (please click, ‘read more’)From:The Florida IndependentEnvironmental group alleges that another nutrient
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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is hailing today's decision by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee to once again add Everglades National Park to the list of World Heritage in Danger.
The Everglades has been on the World Heritage List since 1979, but was removed from the danger list in 2007 at the request of the Bush administration. The Obama administration asked the committee to put the park back on the list.
"The Everglades remains one of our world’s most treasured – and most threatened – places," Salazar said. "The federal government must once again stand up and meet its responsibilities to Everglades restoration so that one day we can remove the park from the list of sites that are in danger."
The list is intended to focus attention and, thereby, resources of the international community and encourage action to address those threats.
Here's this week's update on the public money (this section of the
public finance law is not affected by today's injuction on the so-called
"millionaire's amendment.") Bill McCollum is the only candidate for
governor taking public money — for various reasons. Rick Scott won't
take it. Alex Sink isn't sure if she wants it. And Bud Chiles wants it
but hasn't yet qualified for it.
Governor: Bill McCollum: $1.7 million. Rick Scott: $0 Alex Sink: $0 Bud Chiles: $0.
Attorney General: Dave Aronberg: $290k. Dan Gelber: $353k. Holly Benson: $249k. Pam Bondi: $307k. Jeff Kottkamp: $259k.
CFO: Jeff Atwater: $586k. Loranne Ausley: $311.
Ag Commissioner: Scott Maddox: $196k. Adam Putnam: $317k.
The 11th District Court of Appeal in Atlanta reversed a Florida court Friday and agreed to Republican Rick Scott's request for a prelliminary injunction halting Florida's public financing law, saying that the provision that allows his opponent to get an excess subsidy of taxpayer dollars violates his 1st Amendment rights.
Writing for the three-judge panel, Circuit Judge William H. Pryor said they agreed with Scott's argument that the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Davis v. Federal Election Commission "requires us to subject the excess spending subsidy to strict scrutiny. We conclude that even if the subsidy encourages participation in the public financing system and indirectly prevents corruption or the appearance of corruption, the excess spending subsidy is not the least restrictive means of doing so.
"Like the district court, we think it is obvious that the subsidy imposes a burden on nonparticipating candidates, like Scott, who spend large sums of money in support of their candidacies."
The decision will put an immediate halt to the matching money Attorney General Bill McCollum thought he was entitled to when his Republican opponent exceeds the state's $24.9 million spending cap, as expected. The numbers are due in today.
Here's the 45-page ruling: Download Scott's appeal ruling. Some highlights:
"The court rejected the Florida court's conclusion that Florida's public campaign finance system was designed to avoid corruption. "At bottom, the Florida public campaign financing system appears primarily to advantage candidates with little money or who exercise restraint in fundraising. That is, the system levels the electoral playing field, and that purpose is constitutionally problematic."
"…Even if we were certain that the public financing system of Florida furthers an anticorruption interest, we agree that Scott has proved a likelihood that the excess spending subsidy is not the least restrictive means of ncouraging that participation.
"…In sum, Davis requires that Florida justify the excess spending subsidy by establishing that it furthers a compelling state interest. Florida has stated that the excess spending subsidy furthers its anticorruption interest by encouraging participation in its public financing system. Florida has not, however, proved that the excess spending subsidy furthers the anticorruption interest in the least restrictive manner. Scott is likely to prevail on the merits of his claim.
"…No party to this appeal is obviously worse served by a preliminary injunction. On this record, we think that each candidate will speak less if he loses this appeal. Scott will avoid aiding his opponent and McCollum will have less
money to support his campaign. We cannot say that the public has an interest in hearing more or less from either party.We also cannot say that enjoining the subsidy will disrupt the looming election. An injunction would require the Secretary to do nothing and permit Scott and McCollum to carry on campaigning as they have for the last several months."
"…In sum, each candidate stands to suffer if he loses this appeal and it is not obvious who stands to suffer more. The public is similarly harmed to a small degree no matter the outcome, as it is likely to hear less from one or the other candidate, but there is no danger of disrupting the looming election. We cannot say that granting preliminary relief would be unfair to McCollum."
–The Miami Heat’s all-star DJ, DJ Irie, recently received a commendation from the City Of Miami, praising his hard work for the community and various charitable efforts. Irie is currentl…
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In the early ’50s, visionary electronic music pioneer Dr. Robert Moog and his Moog Music company would forever change the landscape of popular music by developing the first music synthesize…
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