Her name is Anna Alexopoulos, and today was her first day as field director for Charlie Crist's Senate campaign in Broward and Palm Beach counties. She hit the ground running by making sure Crist had a good turnout (about 300 people) at tonight's Broward Republican Party meeting.
Alexopoulos is 24 years old, [...]
In a speech to about 300 Broward Republican activists tonight, Gov. Charlie Crist said he agreed with Sen. George LeMieux's vote Saturday to block the Democrat-backed health care legislation. Republicans failed to stop the Senate from taking up the bill for debate.
Crist said he agreed with his political appointee and former chief' [...]
Rumors are circulating that suspended Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, who has a hearing in federal court Wednesday, has a plea deal in the works.
"I don't know anything about that,'' he said today. "I don't know where you are getting your information from. You need to go back to your [...]
From Politico: A top adviser on Hispanic issues to John McCain’s presidential campaign said Sunday that a joint interview with McCain and Sarah Palin planned for Univision last fall had to be canceled because Palin was unprepared to discuss Latin America policy.
“She did not feel comfortable speaking about issues regarding Hispanics and Latin [...]
A special lawmaking session over high-speed and commuter rail inched closer Monday as legislative leaders and the governor said they were ready to tap surplus money discovered in the transportation budget rather than raise taxes on rental cars.
The surplus money -- about $76 million for the current and next budget [...]
Vowing to save the state $5 million, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink said Monday she's asking legislators to make it easier for her office to go paperless to collect payments from vendors. The proposed legislation would allow her to require electronic funds transfer payments, instead [...]
When does Al Jones -- Gov. Charlie Crist's pick today for a Broward County Commission seat -- need to move to the district?
That could lead to a debate. Jones lives in Dania Beach which isn't in the district that spans Fort Lauderdale to Pompano Beach. Republican officials are under the' [...]
Despite criticism that he's focused too much on fundraising and not enough on governing, Gov. Charlie Crist continues to mingle with the rich and famous. Billionaire Donald Trump is hosting a $1,000-per-person reception on Dec. 11 for Crist's Senate campaign at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm [...]
So the Alex Sink for Governor campaign unearthed a photo of Republican opponent Bill McCollum smiling with accused Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein (more here). Now McCollum's folks have dredged up their own photo of Sink and Rothstein. Here it is.
Neither the Sink or McCollum photos [...]
Sounding engaged and no longer a bit dismissive of the threat from former House Speaker Marco Rubio in the Republican U.S. Senate race**, Gov. Charlie Crist suggested the Miami Republican has escaped significant scrutiny and has been able to campaign in a vacuum. But not for long.
"What is said sometimes" [...]
Gov. Charlie Crist today appointed Dania Beach City Commissioner Al Jones to replace suspended Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion.
Crist spoke about Jones' longtime involvement as an educator, coach and public servant in Broward.
"The thing I love most about Al is his dedication,'' Crist said. "I know that he will serve' [...]
Initial findings from a study of 51 homes by the Consumer Product Safety Commission links corrosion in homes with Chinese drywall to the imported product, the agency said Monday.
Several federal agencies have been investigating complaints from thousands of homeowners -- many in Florida -- whose homes were built with [...]
Agriculture Commissioner candidate Scott Maddox, a Democrat, made his position on offshore oil drilling perfectly clear at a press conference Monday: "an absolute no."
The former state party leader and Tallahassee mayor stood next to an enlarged photo of an oil rig on fire and declared that offshore oil drilling (in any form) [...]
Gov. Charlie Crist will announce his replacement for Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion at County Hall today at 2:30 p.m.
Will it be Dania Beach City Commissioner Al Jones or Broward College Trustee Levi Williams? Both are black Republicans vying to represent a black Democratic district -- which means that Democrats [...]
Mustering all the fear of Armageddon, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush warns in an op-ed in the Tallahassee Democrat this weekend that if Florida Power & Light and Progress Energy don't get their rate increases a reliable energy grid could be "threatened." He blames "populist politics,'' translation: Gov. Charlie Crist, who has'" [...]
Today's Miami Herald editorial board urges George LeMieux to drop his "hold" on the US ambassador to Brazil.
"When George LeMieux was appointed three months ago to replace retiring U.S. Senator Mel Martinez, the 40-year-old former chief of staff to Gov. Charlie Crist vowed to focus on making government more efficient and" [...]
The dynamic duo of Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. George LeMieux will be the "featured guests'' at a fundraising lunch for the Republican Party of Florida on Tuesday at the Riverside Hotel in Fort Lauderdale.
Hosted by Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer, tickets to the reception start at $1,000" [...]
A bevy of Republican senators -- including Florida's George LeMieux -- took to the lectern ahead of today's Senate vote to allow debate on a sweeping health care bill.
LeMieux said his office has fielded 950 calls on the matter in the last 6 days -- and at least 800 callers [...]
Thirty years of spying for Cuba will send a retired State Department official to prison for life after he and his wife pleaded guilty Friday to sending secrets to the United States' longtime antagonist.
Walter Kendall Myers, 72 -- known to his Cuban handlers as ``Agent 202'' -- agreed to a life sentence without' [...]
Attorney General Bill McCollum says there is reason to appeal a circuit court ruling dismissing part of the criminal case against dethroned House Speaker Ray Sansom.
A motion motion filed today with the First District Court of Appeal, lays out several technical arguments why the appeal is justified and asks the appellate court [...]
State Sen. Mike Bennett sent an angry letter to the state's five Public Service Commissioners this week, "appalled with the lack of oversight'' in the general counsel selection process when it let agency executive director Mary Bane "change the rules as you go in order to accommodate candidates who failed to meet the deadlines.''
"With'" [...]
From Hotline OnCall:
FL Gov. Charlie Crist (R) -- under fire from conservatives for his famous embrace with Pres. Obama at a Feb. event in support of the stimulus package -- would not embrace ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R) today, noting that Palin hasn't offered her endorsement of his FL SEN' [...]
A source close to the case tells the Herald that Walter and Gwendolyn Myers -- accused of spying for Cuba for decades -- will plead guilty this afternoon in federal court.
Myers, 72, and his wife, have been held without bond since pleading not guilty last June to charges of wire fraud, serving [...]
Attending a fundraiser for his US Senate campaign at a law firm in downtown DC, Gov. Charlie Crist insisted his focus remains Florida and job creation -- as the state's unemployment rate edged up to 11.2 percent.
"I just think it's so important to stay focused on jobs, jobs, jobs," Crist said, suggesting [...]
Attorney Bill Scherer filed his lawsuit today in Broward suing disgraced attorney Scott Rothstein, a few employees at the firm and TD Bank, among others. We are sifting through 300-some pages of documents, but here is our favorite Rothstein phrase so far:
"Ciao ciao, Money never sleeps motherfucker :)
That's how Rothstein" [...]
A poll commissioned by Al Lawson's campaign shows him even with U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd in the Democratic primary for the 2nd Congressional District.
In the head-to-head match up, Lawson took 34.9 percent to Boyd's 30.7 percent, a slight lead that fell within the 4.6 percent margin of error, the results from [...]
Two years ago, Charlie Crist was the rock star of the Republican Governors Association's annual meeting, having bucked the anti-GOP backlash in 2006 to win election in the nation's biggest battleground state. Crist was a populist success story who had garnered unprecedented support from black voters for a Republican running [...]
California Democrat Howard Berman said he's not particularly exercised over the spat between the ranking Republican on his House Foreign Affairs Committee meeting and retired Gen. Barry McCaffery.
McCaffrey took exception to Ileana Ros-Lehtinen's aggressive questioning and suggested she not only questioned his national security creds -- he's the former commander [...]
Resident rabblerouser Javier Manjarres said the Broward Republican Party's request that people RSVP to see Gov. Charlie Crist speak at its meeting on Monday is an effort to intimidate supporters (like himself) of former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
"It's a scare tactic,'' said Manjarres, who said he plans to organize a" [...]
Cuba's celebrated and increasingly brassy blogger Yoani Sánchez is emerging as a player in U.S.-Cuba relations, scoring a lengthy reply from President Barack Obama to her questions and playing a starring role in a congressional hearing on efforts to let American tourists visit Cuba.
Sánchez's blog, Generación Y, posted Obama's responses to seven pointed [...]
George LeMieux's controversial effort to block the nomination of Thomas Shannon, the incoming US ambassador to Brazil, has gained him support from some fellow Florida lawmakers -- including Cape Coral Republican Connie Mack, who says he's got "serious concerns with the Obama administration's approach to Latin America and its" [...]
Today's House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing was a highly-charged event -- but the real sparks flew when Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen tussled with retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey.
McCaffrey raised the Miami Republican's hackles with his testimony that Cuba represents no risk to national security and the travel ban should be scrapped since it hurts longtime U.S. interests.
But during [...]
Stuart Rosenfeldt was busy today and asked Brittany Wallman, a reporter at the Sun-Sentinel -- our news partner -- to forward on this message to the Miami Herald: he is starting a new firm with Shawn Birken called Rosenfeldt and Birken.
[...]The liberal Daily Kos blog has released a new poll with some intriguing results in Florida's Republican U.S. Senate race between Gov. Charlie Crist and former House Speaker Marco Rubio. Crist leads by only 10 points, 47-37, among likely Republican voters, according to the poll, which is bad for two [...]
CFO Alex Sink just announced she is promoting deputy chief financial officer Tammy Teston to serve as her chief of staff for the Department of Financial Services. The change will take effect January 2010, replacing current Chief of Staff Jim Cassady, who is leaving then to work on the Sink for Governor [...]
If we have to blog one more lob in this week's tit-for-tat between Dems and Republicans on the whole unemployment compensation/federal stimulus deal, we might pull our hair out.
So we talked to Amy Baker, chief economist, to try and bring this partisan finger-pointing to a conclusion.
Baker's conclusion is [...]
Gov. Charlie Crist will speak to the Broward GOP Monday night at the Sheraton Suites Cypress Creek in Fort Lauderdale. He will speak at some point between 7 and 8 p.m. but get there early -- it will be crowded. Social hour starts at 6.
Crist is trying to secure the [...]
Update:
The blue collar union at Broward County voted down five-day furloughs earlier this week that were part of the budget cuts for this fiscal year.
About 78 percent of the workers rejected the furloughs, said Will Vargas, business agent for the union that represents about 1,100 workers. The other unions haven't' [...]
Here is Equality Florida's breathless review from of Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink's appearance at its fundraiser on Sunday:
Fantastic news from our Equality Florida Broward Gala. Last Sunday's gathering of Equality Florida activists, donors, elected leaders and volunteers was our biggest event of the year and smashed through all of our previous fundraising records. The event has triggered major' [...]
The Center for Public Integrity reports that a bill introduced by Rep. Kendrick Meek would scrap a competitive bidding program aimed at reducing fraud in the durable medical equipment business.
"The bulk of the durable medical equipment industry, which lobbied against the program, has found a new champion in Meek —" [...]
New Florida Sen. George LeMieux's first foray into foreign relations has drawn brickbats from former high-ranking State Department officials who say his effort to block the Obama administration's new ambassador to Brazil is damaging U.S. relations with Latin America.
"This continuing, prolonged vacancy sends an unintended signal that the United States does not consider'" [...]
Steve Geller, who is running for county commission, wants to return the $50,000 donation he received from lawyer Scott Rothstein for his political committee but he isn't sure who to give the money back to.
Geller filed a motion today in Broward asking Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld to make that call. The Florida' [...]
Sen. Mike Bennett will try again this legislative session to get a bill through that allows lawmakers to serve longer -- but this time he wants to target local elected officials, too.
SB 598 would allow state senators to serve two 6-year terms, and House reps to serve 3 four-year terms. City [...]
In politics, payback can be a real ...well, you know, female dog.
Sen. Mike Bennett insists his just-filed bill isn't payback, but it sure could affect the job security of Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty.
SB 740 would require that the Cabinet, acting as the Financial Services Commission, reconfirm the insurance regulation leader' [...]
U.S. Congressman Kendrick Meek, the Dem who could find himself runnng against Gov. Charlie Crist for U.S. Senate, wades into today's unemployment compensation [...]
Gov. Charlie Crist's campaign and acolytes have stepped up their pressure on his Republican U.S. Senate opponent, Marco Rubio. But not the governor himself.
Asked why his campaign is going negative now, Crist said "No reason. No reason. People deserve to know the facts."
What will you be telling people?
"We'll have to'" [...]
The city of Hollywood's charter review committee presented a list of ethics reforms to City Commissioners today. Commissioners didn't discuss the proposal indepth but gave kudos to the committee and they expect to discuss it in detail at a January workshop.
The push for ethics occurred after former City Commissioner Keith' [...]
Steve Geller has picked up another union endorsement in his battle against Broward County Commissioner Sue Gunzburger. Today Geller announced that the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed him. He has also been endorsed by unions that represent firefighters and the Longshoremen.
[...]Republican-leaning fundraiser Scott Rothstein will never practice law again in Florida, according to this Florida Bar press release:
"The Florida Bar and Scott W. Rothstein have agreed to his permanent disbarment – subject to the approval of the Supreme Court of Florida – in lieu of Rothstein defending himself against allegations" [...]
Mary Ellen Klas, Lesley Clark, Marc Caputo, Beth Reinhard, Amy Sherman, Patricia Mazzei, Shannon Colavecchio, Alex Leary, John Frank, Lee Logan, Amy Hollyfield
