Archive for the ‘Naked Politics’ Category
Executives from the Las Vegas Sands are making rounds throughout the Capitol today in preparation for their report Thursday to the House Committee on the Seminole Indian Compact Review.
The committee will hear a report from legislative economist Amy Baker on the revenue potential of expanding gaming in Florida from auctioning off new gaming licenses. That will be followed by a presentation from two executives from the Las Vegas Sands Resorts, the mega-convention center and casino company that has opened similar resorts in Macao and Singapore. Sands officials have been presenting the pitch to legislators, suggesting that it's the logical next step for a gambling state, and to shore up the state's service-based economy.
The idea is to create a new class of gambling offerings in Florida, the resort casino. Under their proposal, the state would open up bids for four resort casinos throughout the state, including Tampa and South Florida and attract international convention business to the state. The resorts would devote no more than 10 percent of the floor space to casino games, and the state would agree to limit their competition. More here.
They say this kind of gaming will be the best competition the state could have to the Seminole Tribe but, they would not compete with Florida's existing parimutuel industry, as long as that industry is also given Las Vegas-style slot machines.
"Their market is not the market we are looking to attract,'' said Andy Abboud, vice president of Las Vegas Sands Government Relations. Instead, the parimutuels appeal to a regional market while the Sands' project in Florida would attract visitors from South America and Europe, he said.
"They can survive with expanding games under this model,'' said Nick Iarossi, the Sands' Tallahassee lobbyist.
The Legislature is staring at a $3.2-billion deficit, but that doesn't
mean lawmakers can't scare up some money for member projects –
especially in an election year when it's important to take something
home to the constituents.
In the Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations
Committee, chairman Mike Fasano has tentatively approved spending about
$2-million for hurricane shelters and cultural
facilities in the districts of a handful of senators.
One of the biggest line items is $750,000 for the Mike Fasano Regional Hurricane Shelter,
located in the town of Hudson in Fasano's district. The money would
help the Premiere Health agency get up and running to provide health
care to the indigent. The line item surfaced for the first time on
Wednesday as "Regional Hurricane Shelter, Pasco County Community Health
Center."
"There are member projects every year. You know that," Fasano said.
"I don't have any problem telling somebody that I wanted to fund a
community health facility that will help the uninsured and the
underinsured."
Fasano said Thursday's hearing would provide a full public airing
for other member projects in the districts of Sen. Paula Dockery,
R-Lakeland; and Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville.
But it's not as if Dockery or any of the other members proactively asked for the money. Fasano said he asked his staff to call the committee members to see if they had any projects they wanted to fund, and a Dockery aide mentioned the chapel in the senator's district.
– Steve Bousquet
Gov. Charlie Crist's labelling of Senate opponent Marco Rubio's earmark spending as "pork" looks like revisionist history to the Rubio campaign. It just sent out a letter from Crist to Rubio where the governor lauded Rubio's biggest appropriation: an $80 million University of Miami genome project.
In a press releast the campaign says "Crist’s hypocrisy was on full display today when he attacked Marco Rubio for so-called “pork” spending on projects that Crist himself supported and approved. In addition, Crist’s claim to have vetoed the so-called “pork” spending is laughable considering the fact that he supported close to 98 percent of it. In fact, Crist even sent Rubio a letter saying how “thankful” he was to be able to support one of the projects he now labels as “pork.” "
Download Letter-from-Crist-to-Rubio
President Barack Obama welcomed Hatian President Rene Preval to the White House Wednesday, pledging that as it rebuilds, the earthquake-wracked country "will continue to have a steady and reliable partner in the United States of America.
"America's commitment to Haiti's recovery and reconstruction must endure and will endure,'' Obama said. "This pledge is one that I made at the beginning of this crisis and I intend for America to keep our pledge. America will be your partner in the recovery and reconstruction effort.''
Preval called the damage to his country from the Jan. 12 quake "unimaginable,'' but noted the response from the international community — "from Asia to Africa, from the United States, from Canada, from all of Latin America, from the Caribbean, from Europe, all the way to the Middle East — thanks to its swiftness, thanks to its size, was commensurate with the disaster.''
The two presidents met privately in the Oval Office for what Obama said was a "very productive meeting'' before delivering remarks to a crowd in the Rose Garden that included aid workers, members of Congress and Haitian-Americans from across the country.
Preval said he told Obama that the country has immediate needs: to shelter those who were left homeless and to prepare for the rainy season.
But, he added, "And at the same time, we must deal with the need of rebuilding Haiti,'' he said. He said the country needs to adopt decentralization by offering health care, education and jobs across the country to avoid overcrowding in Port-au-Prince.
Obama said Preval offered an update on the progress of recovery "and the daunting challenges ahead in a disaster that, even now, defies comprehension.'' The InterAmerican Development Bank has pegged the recovery cost at $14 billion.
Obama noted that on the scale of Haiti's loss, "it's as if the United States, in a terrible instant, lost nearly 8 million people'' or that 100 million Americans — îîsuddenly had no home, no food, or water.
"No nation could respond to such a catastrophe alone,'' Obama said. "It would require a global response. And that's exactly what we have seen these past two months.''
The two were joined in the Rose Garden by officials with some of the U.S. agencies who responded to the quake, including representatives of the State Department, USAID, Homeland Security, FEMA, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and the Defense Department.
Also in attendance, volunteer physicians, nurses and paramedics and members of the urban search and rescue teams who pulled survivors out of the wreckage — including members of the Miami-Dade and the South Florida search and rescue teams.
The visit comes as the administration is preparing to ask Congress for as much as $3 billion in emergency aid for Haiti. Obama said the situation in Haiti "remains dire, and people should be under no illusions that the crisis is over.
"Many Haitians are still in need, desperate need in some cases, of shelter and food and medicine,'' he said. îîAnd with the spring rains approaching, those needs will only grow. The challenge now is to prevent a second disaster.''
Both presidents noted that international donors will convene at the United Nations March 31 to discuss Haiti reconstruction plans.
"Haiti can lead the way, and will lead the way, with a strong vision for its future,'' Obama said. "The international community can pledge the resources that will be necessary for a coordinated and sustained effort. And working together, we can ensure that assistance not simply delivers relief for the short term, but builds up Haiti's capacity to deliver basic services and provide for the Haitian people over the long
term.''
Obama told Preval that the Haitian people had responded to the crisis with "with resolve and faith that inspired the world — in song and in prayer, and in the determination to carry on.
"As you declared during last month's national day of mourning,'' Obama said. "It is time to wipe away the tears; it is time for Haiti to rebuild.''
Preval, who met Tuesday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, thanked Americans for their generosity and expressed sympathy for the more than 100 Americans who died in the earthquake. He also singled out Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, "not only for the material aid, but also for the moral support, the psychological support, that helped us realize that we were not alone and that provide us great comfort in our distress.''
He said the earthquake should serve as a lesson, noting it was followed by an earthquake in Chile, as well as other earthquakes.
"We must draw the lessons from what occurred in Haiti — the massive, spontaneous, generous help was a good response to the disaster,'' he said. "However, its effectiveness must be improved, because effectiveness depends on the quality of coordination.''
He said he supports the creation of "red helmets'' within the United Nations — "a warning system'' for natural disasters and a humanitarian force which would be the equivalent of the UN's blue helmeted peace keepers.
He was to meet with Congressional leaders later Wednesday, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Back in 2003, a last-minute complicated provision got added to a conforming bill (ahh! the sunshiney ole’ days) that ultimately ensured that an HMO like Miami-Dade’s Preferred Medical Plan would automatically get 15,000 Medicaid recipients. Guaranteed.
Big HMOs like Humana didn’t like it, but they couldn’t get lawmakers or the courts to reverse the provision.
Until now. At the last minute yesterday evening in the Senate Health Regulation Committee, Melbourne Sen. Thad Altman presented a simple amendment striking the language – “Subsection (13) of section 409.9122, Florida 6 Statutes, is repealed.”
The amendment was pushed by Humana lobbyist Pete Buigas, who’s also representing Simply Healthcare Plans, a new HMO that, he says, has a harder time starting up because there’s not enough competition in Miami-Dade as a result of the provision.
Expect some behind-the-scene tussling to ensue. It looks like the HMOs don’t just want to gobble up fee-for-service in Medicaid. They want to gobble each other up as well.
Gov. Charlie Crist insists he is running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican and won't switch to an independent. Besides a likely drop-off in campaign donations the new Public Policy poll might add some more evidence as to why: Such a run would benefit Marco Rubio by siphoning off more Democratic votes from Kendrick Meek than GOP votes from Rubio.
This is the same firm that the Crist camp derided yesterday as too liberal. It had Rubio leading the primary 60-28. From the firm's analysis:
In a hypothetical three way contest Rubio leads with 34%
to 27% for Crist and 25% for Kendrick Meek. Crist gets 32% of the Democratic vote but only 18% of
Republicans running as an independent. He also leads among independents with
35% to 24% for Rubio and 22% for Crist.
The general election scenario that would give Democrats the
best chance at winning the seat is a straight on contest between Rubio and
Meek. The Republican leads 44-39 in that match up, and because there are a lot
more undecided Democrats (20%) than Republicans (12%) the race is realistically
probably even closer than 5 points. Rubio benefits from a more unified party
with 77% of Republicans already committed to voting for him compared to 67% of
Democrats who say they'll vote for Meek. But Meek leads 41-34 with
independents, a very rare outcome in this political climate when independents are
usually leaning strongly toward the GOP.
A Crist-Meek general election contest, which had looked like
the most likely match up for so long, would give Republicans their easiest shot
at holding onto the seat. Crist leads Meek 46-33. He's a stronger general
election candidate because he gets 29% of the Democratic vote, compared to just
13% for Rubio, and because he wins independent voters by 10 points where Rubio
loses them by 7. But given Crist's standing for the primary at this point these
numbers seem almost elementary.
A leadership-pushed proposal that was the focus of a 30-minute workshop in the Senate Regulated Industries Committee offers up new limits on how far the state will compromise with the Seminole Tribe in its gambling compact — and opens the door to more gambling if the tribe doesn't agree.
The measure, which gives the governor 60 days to negotiate a compact, ties the governor's hands to negotiate only the legislation that is approved by lawmakers. It also orders the attorney general to request that U.S. attorneys take criminal action to shut down the tribe's casino games until a compact is signed.
If a compact is not signed and ratified by the Legislature, the proposal would also expand gambling by allowing all dog tracks and horse tracks around the state to offer electronic slot machines and black-jack and other casino style games and even authorize roulette and craps casino games if approved by voters in each county .
"Let's get on a concept, protect the public, and lets get some revenue with the state,'' said Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole. "If we're going to have a compact, the governor is going to have 60 days to get with the Indians and move forward. We've fiddled around with it for three years."
It's not likely to be a proposal that gets very far. The tribe has said it will not sign any agreement, however, that gives slot machines — even electronic slot machines — to its competitors outside of Miami-Dade and Broward. And the House, which has been conducting negotiations with the tribe for the last three weeks, is not likely to accept the expanded gaming provisions.
The move is an bit of a shift for the Senate, which has always been more amenable to resolving the impasse over the gambling compact than the House. This year, the House leadership appears downright open to passing legislation to enable a compact with the tribe, while the Senate now stands out as the more stubborn one.
The retiring Miami Republican offered rare words of praise Wednesday for the Obama administration, saying he's been impressed with its response to the earthquake that leveled Haiti.
"We have here a lot of partisan differences and debate," Diaz-Balart said at an earthquake briefing for Florida lawmakers. "But with regard to the response of the Obama administration, all decisions and actions should be commended. I think all Americans should be proud of the way the administration acted from the first minute. All actions and subsequent decisions I commend."
It’s a “significant” buy on Fox News in all major media markets. Why so early? “First is to let voters get to know who Marco is, what he believes and why he’s running,” said Rubio adviser Todd Harris. “And the second goal is to be the first campaign out of the gate to establish what the race is about. Marco Rubio believes the race is about bringinging conservativeleadership to Washington to take on President Obama and Congressional liberals. As we’ve seen over the last several days Charlie Crist thinks this race is about attacking Marco Rubio and climbing the political ladder. The third goal is to introduce marco to voters before the Charlie Crist false attack ad machine gets up and running.”
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Gov. Charlie Crist took a swipe this morning at his Senate opponent, former House Speaker Marco Rubio over this story concerning the $250 million in earmarks Rubio had inserted in the budget, despite his campaign persona as a no-earmarks kind of guy.
“It sounds like a Porkus Rubio to me. That’s a lot of pork. That’s a lot of money. And that’s why it’s nice to be able to, when you get elected governor, have a veto pen," Crist said.
But is Crist really being fair? Of the $25 million in Rubio-related earmarks, Crist vetoed only $3 million of them. Asked if he were complicit in the porcine nature of the spending, Crist steered his comments to disgraced former House Speaker Ray Sansom's budget dealings:
“You do the best you can in the office that you’re in. When there are projects that you think are worthwhile, you let them go. If there are projects that you think are not, you try to stop them. And then there are projects that get kind of get buried in the budget. Nobody finds out what they are until you guys report on them, like what went on in the Panhandle."
Crist made his comments at a ceremonial bill signing to delay the unemployment compensation tax hike. He's flying around the state to promote it, though he signed the bill March 2. Wonder how much the flyaround will cost? Also, can't help but notice the unemployment numbers come out today, so this is a good way to step on that "still-losing-jobs" headline.