Archive for the ‘Naked Politics’ Category
The Broward Democrat opines in USA Today in opposition to easing sanctions against Cuba.
"Declaring the embargo a failure and using it as justification to reopen
trade and relations ignores the fact that the Cuban economy is on its
knees," she writes. "The paltry changes we've seen (allowing Cubans to buy and sell
some goods) have been necessitated by their economic crisis. Ending the
embargo now not only ignores the atrocities perpetrated by the Castro
regime, it also hands the Cuban government a huge financial boost at
the exact moment they need and want it most."
The House Foreign Affairs committee is scheduled to take up a bill Wednesday that would ease travel restrictions to Cuba. Committee chairman Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., has said he's unsure he has the votes; Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Miami, the top Republican on the committee, opposes it.
Now that Miami-Dade County has signed off on a budget proposal that includes a tax-rate hike, will businessman Norman Braman and others move forward with a threatened recall effort against Mayor Carlos Alvarez and the eight commissioners who favored the increase?
Braman has scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Monday morning. But he didn't sound like someone backing down at a Sunday morning interview on WPLG-ABC 10, criticizing the commission for raising salaries.
"I'm not saying that police and fire shouldn't receive a proper salary, but it could have been postponed," Braman said, calling the budget's 1 percent cut to operations "ludicrous." Braman was coy about his decision, saying he and a group of other like-minded people are "considering all of our options."
County Commissioner Katy Sorenson — who voted for the budge proposal and tax-rate hike and was also on the show, This Week in South Florida — said the spending plan was a balance of trying to keep social services while raising taxes on less than half of the county's property owners.
In a recession, she said, the county needs to look out for those who are worst off: "Those are the people who really need [help], and they're not property owners."
Democratic congressional hopeful Joe Garcia appeared with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a campaign event Sunday afternoon to try to rally the female vote to go to the polls in November.
"We know we have the support, but we have to have people vote," said Pelosi, who spoke at a reception at the Coral Gables home of Miami criminal defense attorney Roy Black. "We have to have no regrets" on election night, she added.
Pelosi was met with applause from the about 70 people in the crowd when she praised President Barack Obama and the federal healthcare reform plan and President Barack Obama. She called Garcia, whom she also campaigned for in 2008, a "force" and someone "who really listens to other people."
Garcia, who unlike his party backs a free-trade agreement with Colombia, said Pelosi met with a handful of Colombian-American leaders at an earlier fundraiser at the home of ex-Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez. "We won't always agree," Garcia said, but "you know where I stand."
He took some shots at his opponent, Republican state Rep. David Rivera, criticizing the Florida House budget chief for wanting to repeal healthcare reform and for voting in favor of a state budget this year that hiked fees.
In a statement, National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Joanna Burgos said, "You are the company you keep and the fact that Joe Garcia has no problem being affiliated with liberal Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi and corrupt Raul Martinez should be a warning sign to Florida voters. If elected, Garcia would be a rubber stamp for Pelosi’s tax-and-spend agenda and would have no problem turning a blind eye to corruption and scandal. In a time of economic recession, Florida families need fiscal discipline and genuine leadership -– not Joe Garcia."
Countered Garcia: "When Raul was mayor of Hialeah, he had a balanced budget," Garcia said. "If Florida's budget has a problem it's because the budget chair in the house, David Rivera, did something wrong, not Nancy Pelosi."
Marco Rubio, appearing this morning on Face the Nation, brushed off questions about his use of a Republican Party of Florida credit card as a distraction from critics who "are wrong on the ideas."
Rubio flatly said, "The Republican Party of Florida has never paid for my personal expenses."
That's a nuanced response. In fact, Rubio routinely charged personal items on the American Express, from groceries to family reunion arrangements. But Rubio said he paid American Express. Only partial record of his spending is public; Rubio has declined to release those before November 2006, saying that is a party matter.
He adroitly addressed the debt issue, pointing out he has mortgages and student loans. "The vast majority of Americans watching this program would be shocked to learn that buying a home with a mortgage is somewhat irresponsible," he said, adding his parents were not wealthy enough to pay for his law school education so he took out loans.
On Social Security, Rubio said he did not feel it should be privatized but said it faces "some longtime challenges that need to be confronted. He suggested the retirement age could be increased and indexes adjusted in an effort to shore up the program. "Younger workers like myself, people 39 years of age like I am, we're going to have to accept that there's going to be some changes to Social Security."
On illegal immigration, he said Arizona's tough new law was borne out of frustration and he put the blame on federal inaction. "I've continued to say the Arizona law should not be a model for the rest of the country, it should be a wakeup call to the federal government to once and for all take the issue of immigration seriously." (Of course, Congress did attempt a plan a few years ago but it fell apart due to partisan differences.)
Rubio was portrayed by the show as a tea party candidate, though he did not claim that title when asked. Rubio said the tea party is an "expression" of the desire to fix what is wrong with government.
– ALEX LEARY
Last I checked, state Sen. Mike Fasano was a Republican. But his political committee backing Gov. Charlie Crist's unorthodox bid for the U.S. Senate, Friends for Freedom and Prosperity, has a new mailing that reads as if it has the Democratic party's best interests at heart.
The sad reality is, our party's nominee for the U.S. Senate can't win the election. And every vote for him moves the Republican, Marco Rubio, closer to victory…It's a difficult decision for Florida Democrats, but our future depends on it.
One side of the mailing features a mock-up of a newspaper's front page with the headline, "Rubio Elected to U.S. Senate.'' The idea is to scare Democrats into voting for Crist.
Here's the other side of the mailing
Mason Dixon: Republican Marco Rubio has increased his lead over independent Charlie Crist in the race for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat, as Democrat Kendrick Meek is increasing his support among Democratic voters.
Statewide, Rubio is now supported by 40% of likely voters (up from 38%), while Crist is backed by 28% (down from 33%) and 23% are for Meek (up from 18%).
Since the primary, there have been some significant shifts in voter support, exclusively to the detriment of Crist. In August, Crist led Meek by 45%-36% among Democrats, but now Meek has moved ahead and holds a 44%-37% advantage with Democratic voters since becoming the party’s official nominee.
Additionally, Crist’s 44%-31% margin over Rubio among independents has now flipped to a 38%-27% lead for the Republican. Meek has also increased his strength with independents from 13% to 20%.
Crist’s support has now dropped 10-points since May, while Rubio and Meek have each made gains. In essence, Crist is bleeding Democrats to Meek and independents to both Meek and Rubio. It is also noteworthy that Crist’s statewide support has fallen below the 30% threshold, leaving him far short of the minimum required to win a three-way race under the most perfect circumstances (34%).
Full analysis here: Download FL910PollPart3
Though the Senate's top budget guru, David Coburn, is leaving of his own volition, his longtime friend, Alan Johansen, was forced out of his part-time job Friday along with Julie Noble, the Transportation & Economic Development Appropriations Committee staff director.
"She was one of the most dedicated, committed people working in the Florida Senate," said Sen. Mike Fasano, the committee chair. "We will miss her greatly." Johansen was well liked by lawmakers and his colleagues.
Is it justified? Fasano said it was incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos' call.
Not everything is.
Outgoing Sen. Pres Jeff Atwater's staff chief, Budd Kneip, continues drawing his $150,000 annual salary. But he's not doing too much staff-chiefing these days now that Haridopolos hired Steve MacNamara as staff chief/executioner. More here on that.
Along with Coburn, Johansen's loss is particularly noteworthy. For years, the economist has served on the revenue estimating conference, an obscure panel that has one of the most major impacts on the state. Composed of analysts from the chambers of the Legislature, governor's office and tax department, the panel literally decides how much money lawmakers have to spend in the budget. The conference members also help estimate the fiscal impact of lawmaker legislation.
That's a lot of pressure to get it "right" in the eyes of the people who can fire you. But the conference prides itself on rendering neutral political advice and analysis. Now Johansen is gone. So is his successor, Finance & Tax Committee staff director Bob McKee, who was forced out weeks ago.
For the record, Johansen earned $69k, Coburn $169 and Noble nearly $87k annually, excluding benefits. In all, decades worth of experience and about $1.4 million in salary (minus $754k in new hires) is so far leaving before the full arrival of Haridopolos, who has promised a "new Senate" and is getting one. But it's leaving bitterness behind. The Senate's familial, bipartisan bonhomie seems fading compared to the days when Senate President Ken Pruitt, in 2007, lauded nearly every staffer on the chamber floor.
Now some are being shown the door.
Some grumble that Noble, an African American, was the second minority female pushed out of Haridopolos' Senate in as many days (health appropriations analysit Marta Hardy, an Hispanic, submitted her resignation Thursday). But Haridopolos' hasn't just hired white guys. He made Matt Carter, an African American, staff director for the Committee on Communications, Energy, Public Utilities and Military Affairs and Domestic Security.
Haridopolos says he wants to get rid of staffers who think they're the "41st Senator." If anyone (deservedly and respectfully) qualified for the title, it was Coburn. Some in the press corps have called him the 41st Senator for years. Yet he was asked to stay. His departure makes Mike Hansen, former budget director in the House and Jeb Bush's office, more valuable than ever.
As for the overall reductions, Haridopolos vows to mirror the private sector and save money by reducing staff and making others pull double duty.
But at a certain point, emptying an organization of institutional knowledge can make people work harder, but not smarter. And that has a cost that can ripple through the state budget, law books and courts.
A mysterious PAC has entered the race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Ron Klein. "We love USA" PAC filed a report with the Federation Election Commission showing it has spent $32,904 on Sept. 24 for media production and ad space and lists Klein as the candidate supported or opposed by the expenditure.
A glance at the weloveusa.com website shows they're clearly against Klein — it shows Nancy Pelosi pulling puppet strings attached to Klein. The site appears to lay some of the blame for increasing gas prices at Klein's feet stating that "Floridians are paying twice as much at the pump as when Ron Klein came into office in 2006." The ad is somewhat confusing — it talks about skyrocketing prices at the gas pump, states Klein sponsored an amendment that allowed price gouging and then cites H.R. Bill 3355 which is about the homeowners defense act which as far as we can tell is about homeowners insurance and not gas prices. And it includes blurry photo of a man — could be Klein? — look at prices at the gas pump.
We'd like to talk to the creators of the website but aren't certain who they are. The links on the website for contact and press releases didn't work late Friday so we're not sure who is behind the group. We called treasurer Nancy Watkins to ask who was behind the group and she said she forwarded our contact information but we haven't heard back.
A third party group attacking Klein could help his Republican challenger Allen West who has about $2.25 million cash on hand compared to Klein's warchest of about $2.8 million. West has raised more this cycle than his opponent but Klein carried over money from his last race.
It was 1976 when David Coburn walked into the legislature and took a job as an intern.
He will leave his post as staff director of the senate budget office on November 2, the latest among senior staffers to leave.
"I’m just worn out,’’ Coburn said Friday. “I’ve been around a long time, I was offered the opportunity to stay, but it’s just time."
Coburn, 58, has directed the budget staff in the House, Senate and for Gov. Lawton Chiles and served as chief of staff for Senate President Ken Pruitt and House Speakers Jon Mills and T.K. Wetherell.
Longtime observers of the legislative process say Coburn knows more about the state budget than anyone else alive.
Asked what he plans to do when he leaves, Coburn said: “rest."
– Alex Leary
How many people would like to have this kind of problem? You write a $1.1 million check and it's not a memorable moment. That appears to be the situation with Republican candidate for governor Rick Scott, who, when asked last week if he'd written another check to cover a new ad buy, told St. Petersburg Times reporter Steve Bousquet: "I don't know."
His report tonight shows he wrote a $1.1 million check to his campaign Sept. 14, four days before he was asked, bringing his total personal loan to $40 million — not including the help from his wife's political committee. The Republican Party of Florida also appears to making good on its promises to work with Scott. It steered $274,825 in soft money to Scott's campaign last week while Scott raised $184, 714 in hard cash.
By contrast, Democrat Alex Sink raised $386,222 for the period between Sept. 11 and Sept. 17, including $381, 713 in cash. This brings her total raised to $8.6 million with about $5.5 million left in cash on hand.
Both campaigns spent drained large chucks of cash from their campaigns accounts this week as they each launched three television ads, turning up the heat with a barrage of new ads.