Showing posts with label Aaron Deslatte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aaron Deslatte. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Is it government's role to pick winners and losers in the marketplace? Does job creation in Florida depend too much upon corporate welfare and self-dealing? Are Enterprise Florida's attempts to create economic activity and new jobs simply a matter of keeping up with the Joneses, or a foolish waste of tax dollars thrown down a black hole that could have been better spent? WTSP-TV examines what Florida has been doing and why Integrity Florida has been raising red flags about those policies





"I think it's right for the public to ask, 'Is it government's role to pick winners and losers in the marketplace, to give taxpayer money to one company versus its competitors?"-Dan Krassner, Integrity Florida 

Is it government's role to pick winners and losers in the marketplace? Does job creation in Florida depend too much upon corporate welfare and self-dealing? Are Enterprise Florida's attempts to create economic activity and new jobs simply a matter of keeping up with the Joneses, or a foolish waste of tax dollars thrown down a black hole that could have been better spent? WTSP-TV examines what Florida has been doing and why Integrity Florida has been raising red flags about those policies

Fox 13/Tampa video
Job creation or corporate welfare?
Posted: Feb 04, 2013 4:43 PM EST
Updated: Feb 04, 2013 10:20 PM EST
By: Doug Smith, FOX 13
Most of us have heard the old adage, 'It takes money to make money.' In Florida, some leaders in state government also believe it takes money to make jobs.
Governor Rick Scott has made it clear that job creation is a top priority, but are lucrative corporate incentives really necessary or nothing more than corporate welfare?
Read the rest of the related article at: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/20960694/2013/02/04/florida-job-creation-incentives

After reading the article, see this other WTSP-TV video from April of 2011 profiling Mike Fasano when he was still in the Florida Senate, who stated above, "government shouldn't be involved in picking winners and losers."
Exactly!

Perfectly stated common sense that has been desperately needed in Hallandale Beach the past nine years as crony capitalism has flourished with taxpayer and CRA dollars.



Fox 13/Tampa video
Mike Fasano: Florida's renegade Republican
Reporter Noah Pransky profiles the then-FL State senator 
10:53 PM, Apr 25, 2011 
http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/article/188885/8/Mike-Fasano-Floridas-renegade-Republican?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Ct

Meanwhile, feeling the negative effects of being under the gun because his heretofore largely ignored group is getting lots of publicity throughout Florida, most of it negative, Enterprise Florida CEO Gray Swoope feels it necessary to publicly attack Integrity Florida and Dan Krassner and their damning report on Swoope's group, by mentioning that a group opposed to what he calls financial incentives -but which you and I might call corporate welfare- is supportive of Integrity Florida.

Wow, imagine that? 
So how is a group being consistent about their policy negative news?
It really shows how desperate things are getting with the spotlight on him.

Tampa Bay Times
Venture blog
Who is Gray Swoope and how can he reignite Florida's stumbling economy?
Posted by Robert Trigaux at 6:23:41 am on August 08, 2011 
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/venturebiz/content/who-gray-swoope-and-how-can-he-reignite-floridas-stumbling-economy


Orlando Sentinel
Central Florida Political Pulse blog
More on the Enterprise Florida-Integrity Florida cage-match
Posted by Aaron Deslatte on February, 5 2013 4:20 PM


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http://www.integrityfl.org/

http://www.eflorida.com/

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

No Fair Districts here: Surprise! NAACP's proposed 2012 map keeps HB & Hollywood divided: Blacks given to Frederica Wilson, Jews to DWS; told ya!


Above, my screen grab of FL-17 Rep. Frederica Wilson appearing on WPLG-TV/Channel 10's "This Week in South Florida," July 21, 2011, with host Michael Putney. Wilson was only Florida House member to vote YES to increase the U.S. debt limit.

Fair Districts here: Surprise! NAACP's proposed 2012 map keeps Hallandale Beach & Hollywood divided: Blacks given to Frederica Wilson, Jews to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz; told ya!

The Central Florida Political Pulse blog of the Orlando Sentinel, which has been doing an infinitely better job of covering the Florida 2012 redistricting issue than any South Florida newspaper or blog, had the unhappy news yesterday that we were anticipating -despite their previous lip-service, the Florida NAACP was and is the object of the ruling status quo society.

They have zero interest in having this state actually have legislative districts that encourage competitive elections that are based on ideas and public policies.

Here's a question for the NACCP.
Florida is the fourth-largest state in the United States.
Yet the state's Black Democratic politicians are currently so unappealing and ineffective and so lacking in common sense on the issues that most concern Floridians, that in my opinion, not a single one could be elected state-wide.
Not one.

Even while Republican Jennifer Carroll, mother of Dolphin defensive back Nolan Carroll, was elected Lt. Governor as part of Rick Scott's ticket last November.

Compare that to California, Texas, or NY, the three states larger than Florida.
Each one has had African-American Democratic candidates successfully earn the nomination for governor or U.S. Senate based on primary campaigns dealing with ideas and the state's future, and DIDN'T have state Democratic elected officials abandon them and bail in droves like Florida's White Democrats did to Kendrick Meek last year in his third-place U.S. Senate race against Marco Rubio and Gov. Charlie Crist, supporting Crist.

In Florida, though, like a caricature of a cartoon, most of the Black Dems who are best-known to the public throughout the state are known more for negative things than their particular legislative accomplishments or in-depth knowledge of a subject of public policy importance, and the troubling thing is that most reporters and Democratic voters don't seem to care how this looks. Perception becomes reality.
Instead, they just shrug their shoulders.

That means that to the extent they are known at all, they're known and usually reported upon in the state's MSM because of their fashion sense, continuing questions about whether they are STILL breaking state rules on residency, and their unwillingness to engage in a public discussion of ideas other than ones of their own choosing: Frederica Wilson, Joe Gibbons, Corrine Brown.
And there's more where that comes from, like princely State Senator Gary Siplin of Orlando, who, judging from his history, seems to prefer that Florida legislators have as much leeway and as little adult supervision as possible.

See for yourself:
Central Florida Political Pulse blog
Siplin blasts ethics bill, defends Sansom, and Senate committee shoots it down
posted by aaron deslatte on March, 29 2011 5:30 PM
Palm Beach Post
Florida ethics panel drops $200,000 in fines owed by 168 officials after time limit passes
By John Kennedy, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Posted: 4:57 p.m. Friday, June 17, 2011

There's your dose of reality, Florida and Florida reporters.
Breaking News! Not!

Rep. Corrine Brown, FL-3, is someone who is literally her own worst enemy, often placing a verbal noose around her own neck, again-and-again, to defend the indefensible: "Look at the South. Nothing has changed.''
Really?

The evidence to the contrary of that is all around us, starting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but then how do you argue with somone who has made clear for so long that facts have little to do with what she says or does?

See where that quote comes from at the bottom of this post, and see the back story on this perpetually embarrassing woman in the June 12th, 2010 Buzz blog post in the St. Pete Times by Adam C. Smith titled, Corrine Brown and Mr. Gerry Mandering,

To take a look at Rep. Brown's current joke of a congressional district -CD- the Jacksonville-to-Orlando 200-mile absurdity which was highlighted here on my blog and in print ads and TV commercials last year, which helped lead to overwhelming public support among Florida voters for Amendments 5 & 6 last November, see http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=FL&district=3

To see a great video on Corrine Brown's embarrassing CD, see my post of October 25, 2010, titled, New TV ad from FairDistrictsFlorida.org; FL-17 and Corrine Brown's FL-3 are embarrassing embodiment of what unchecked gerrymandering gets you:

Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell spelled it all out very nicely in his Taking Names column of November 8th, saying about her,

If Florida ever stops gerrymandering, Brown's Democrat-loaded district is toast.

There's no way her snake-like district, which covers 200 miles and stretches from Jacksonville to Gainesville and then down to Sanford and Orlando, could survive.


Orlando Sentinel
Corrine Brown, secret interests fight your vote
November 08, 2011
Scott Maxwell, TAKING NAMES

And locally, congrats Hallandale Beach, Liberty City, Overtown and Hollywood!
Like it or not, it's been decided that you voters in FL-17 have an awful lot in common and that you've drawn the short straw and won't be having an actual congressional campaign next year.

Your representative has already been selected for you: globetrotting, do-nothing Frederica Wilson and her far-flung and over-the-top hats.
The woman whom, as I've previously written here, repeatedly said she supported Obama's ill-conceived jobs bill, but who never quite ever managed to find the time to formally sign-up to be a House sponsor herself, behavior that matched FL-20's DWS.
Nope, she was always too busy.
What a hypocrite!

And who locally is laughing about the NAACP's congressional maps?
Residents of Aventura, the Miami-Dade County city south of me by a few blocks, as the NAACP takes the position that Aventura will continue be repped by someone in Washington from Broward County who lives northwest of me, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, while here in the part of Hallandale Beach west of U.S.-1, we get to continue to be represented by someone from Miami-Dade whose district is based far SE from here in Liberty City, Overtown and Opa-Locka.
So whatever happened to the important notion of "compactness'?

Yes, the NAACP will do anything to keep the frequently-absent Frederica Wilson in office, even if it violates the intent and spirit of the two state constitutional Amendments that were overwhelmingly passed last year.
Surprise!

And if that means Wilson never has to have a competitive general election and can take her job for granted...
Right, it's not THEIR problem.

As for FL State House Rep. Joe Gibbons, well as everyone who comes to this blog knows by now, that former HB city commissioner represents a district here in SE Broward County, but it's not where his own wife and children live.

I know, I know, you really thought "home is where the heart is," right?
Not in his case.

Gibbons is an old-fashioned political opportunist and carpet-bagger, and as has been mentioned here numerous times, with the links to articles and post to prove it, Gibbons even tried to claim a Homestead exemption for his so so-called HB home, but the city rejected it because he failed the residency requirements most basic rule -he didn't live there.

Yet what has happened to him?
What has Broward State's Attorney Mike Satz done to show that nobody is above the law, even the low threshold that the Florida Legislature maintains for itself?
Nothing.

When did the august editorial boards of the Miami Herald or South Florida Sun-Sentinel ever write anything about it?
They never have.

When you consider who is on their Editorial Board, it's little wonder -not exactly mental giants!

Some of the folks above are the same people responsible for the endorsement of Anthony A. Sanders for HB City Commission in 2008, despite his disconnectedness from the larger community, a fact which is just as self-evident three years later.
Was it because he was Black and they were suffering pangs of Liberal White Guilt that earned him the nod, when facts seem not to have mattered to the editorial board?

Not that the Herald has ever written a single thing about any of Sanders' actions involving ethics, or the city rushing to purchase his home for more than it was worth, but then renting it out for a dollar a month with no plausible explanation for what the property is intended to be used for. That's still the case.
So why did the city buy it?
No explanation and the Herald doesn't ask.

Meanwhile, his completely unsatisfactory performance as commissioner now enters its fourth year.

Yes, there's your freedom of the press in the year 2011 in South Florida -sleepwalking.

And he talks about running for Congress?
From what state?

And I would know since I've had a Google Alert for Joe Gibbons for years.

Last year I finally subscribed to the Central Florida Political Pulse via my Blogger Reading List, after formally having them Bookmarked for years, since it allows me to receive their posts within seconds of them being posted online, which is fantastic.

NAACP redistricting maps have familiar look
Redistricting NAACP plan with comparison to the current Congressional districts in Central Florida
By Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee Bureau Chief
10:47 p.m. EST, November 20, 2011

TALLAHASSEE — Republican lawmakers say voters who last year endorsed the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts constitutional reforms may be in for a rude awakening when the first drafts of congressional and legislative maps are released in the coming weeks.

Something akin to: Meet the new maps, same as the old maps.
Read the rest of the article at:


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Roll Call
Democrats Betting Big on Florida Redistricting
New Fair Districts Law Will Prevent Major GOP Gerrymander, but Huge Gains Are Not Likely
By Joshua Miller, Roll Call Staff
Nov. 8, 2011, Midnight

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WTVY-TV News (Dothan, Alabama) video: Fla. Redistricting Process Getting Heated. Posted: 9:18 PM Nov 21, 2011, Reporter: Troy Kinsey. Updated: 9:21 PM Nov 21, 2011,

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Meanwhile, at Steve Schale's blog...
Story Lines - Florida Congressional Redistricting
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011 AT 5:54PM

As we near the unveiling of the first official Congressional redistricting maps, here are some of the interesting story lines to keep an eye out for. This list isn't meant to be exhaustive, but more the things that I am watching out for as the reapportionment and redistricting process begins in earnest in early December.
Read the rest of his post at:

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Here's a question: Why is it that all this time after former City of Miami City Manager Tony Crapp, Jr. resigned, that we still don't know for whom -or what group- in the redistricting battle he's working on behalf of?

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*Reminder: Broward County Commission will vote on their own redistricting maps in three weeks on December 13th. More on that as the date approaches.

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Miami Herald http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/20/1834230/congressional-vets-align-with.html

Congressional vets align with business groups to challenge redistricting proposals

By Mary Ellen Klas, Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

September 20, 2010

As the high stakes battle over drawing political boundaries goes to the November ballot, two veteran Florida congressmen joined with business groups Monday to launch a campaign to defeat the proposals that would upend the way their districts are drawn.

Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown of Jacksonville and Republican Rep. Mario Diaz Balart of Miami, both elected to Congress in 1992, said they will work to defeat Amendments 5 and 6 because they believe the standards will lead to less minority representation, not more.

"These amendments will have the effect of bleaching the state of Florida as it was before 1992 when minorities did not have the ability to elect candidates of their choice,'' said Diaz Balart.

"It's unworkable. It will have a devastating effect on minorities across the state.''

The amendments, pushed by Fair Districts Florida, create new standards that would make it harder for legislators to gerrymander political districts. Proponents say the standards will strengthen the rights of minorities under the 1965 Voting Rights Act by chiseling them into the constitution, not weakening them.

"Rep.'s Diaz Balart and Brown are sadly mistaken about Amendments 5 & 6,'' said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. "These constitutional amendments are the most important changes that voters can make right now that will strengthen minority voting rights and protect the right of minorities to elect representatives of their choice.''

The anti-amendment effort, known as the Protect Your Vote campaign, has enlisted the help of former Secretary of State Kurt Browning and the public relations firm of Ron Sachs Communications.

The committee is ready to raise and spend "at least $4 [million] maybe more'' to defeat Amendments 5 and 6, Browning said, and will place ads on television. Associated Industries of Florida and the Florida Chamber of Commerce have lined up in support.

Browning warned the amendments would effectively "give the courts more influence in that process, which is unnecessary.''

Brown and Diaz Balart had hoped that a legislative counter measure would also be on the ballot, but the Florida Supreme Court threw it out two weeks ago. They have also filed their own lawsuit seeking to keep the measure off the ballot, but have lost at every stop.

Florida's once-a-decade redistricting process has been riddled with court fights since 1992, when the court-drawn districts ushered in maps that concentrated minority voters into minority-majority districts. Since then, the state has had three black members and three Hispanics elected to Congress.

That year, the new maps resulted in diluting Democratic congressional districts and the Florida Legislature. It also gradually allowed Republicans to control to the Legislature and assume the majority in Florida's congressional delegation by the mid-1990s.

Supporters of the Fair Districts campaign argue that the amendment will impose new standards that will allow for more geographically compact districts, increase competition for elected office and ensure that minorities are represented when districts are redrawn.

The group has raised $4.2 million to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot and defend the legal challenges. Much of the group's money came from trial lawyers, teachers, unions and out-of-state advocacy organizations.

The amendments are also supported by the NAACP and all but two of Florida's legislative black caucus members, who argued that in the two decades since the 1992 court-drawn districts, minorities have been elected from districts that aren't concentrated and that Florida voters are now more color-blind.

But Brown said Monday she disagrees. "Look at the South. Nothing has changed,'' she said. "You can't take politics out of politics.'' Brad Ashwell of Florida Public Interest Research Group called Brown and Diaz Balart's opposition a self-serving attempt to scare minority voters.

"It's inherently political,'' Ashwell said. ``Reforming the redistricting process is an aggressive assault on whatever party is in power. It's going to radically affect their ability to retain their power. What we want is more competitive elections, more accountability.''

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Florida House votes to repeal red-light camera law, no thanks to wimpy Broward members: 1 for repeal, 16 against HB 4087


I could make this post lengthy and impassioned but I won't.
I'm far too tired and the information below is self-explanatory in the extreme.

If you want to believe the opposite of what you can see right in front of your own eyes, you're entitled to your opinions.
On the other hand, I can use that opinion of yours against you and not think you very credible on other matters in the future based on your lack of seriousness now.
In fact, you can pretty much count on it.


The Pavlovian pro-Nanny State response of the Broward Legislative Delegation Monday explains SO much of what makes this part of the Sunshine State so very unappealing for visitors and depressing for citizen taxpayers.

Those of you living far away have no idea how idea-starved this area is and how myopic Florida legislators vision is.

Speaking of the Broward Legislative Delegation
, I will have a post this coming weekend about them that makes a simple case for ending one of their unfunded mandates that's paid for by Broward taxpayers that the public does NOT benefit from.

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Orlando Sentinel
Central Florida Political Pulse
Red-light repeal lives to fight another day
Posted by Aaron Deslatte on May, 2 2011 4:37 PM

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/05/red-light-repeal-lives-to-fight-another-day.html

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BrowardBeat
House Votes To Ban Red Light Cameras!
By Buddy Nevins
May 2, 2011

The Florida House on Monday passed a ban on controversial red light cameras.

The vote was a razor-thin 59 to 57.

Unlike many issues in the Legislature, banning cameras had significant Republican and Democratic support. They fought a small army of lobbyists for the red light camera industry and cities hungry for the revenue the cameras produce.

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.browardbeat.com/house-votes-to-ban-red-light-cameras/

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So, who voted for the repeal and who voted against?
The Miami Herald's first report on the vote, an AP dispatch, doesn't say.

So what else is new, right?

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/02/2197508/fla-house-votes-to-repeal-red.html

That's been the way things have been there for so long that it's hard to believe that "Once upon a time..."


I cobbled together the information below so that you will know who did what, since neither the Herald or Sun-Sentinel seem too interested in revealing it.



Florida State Representatives that are part of the Broward Legislative Delegation, even if based in another county, and how they voted Monday on HB 4087.
Green is for repeal, red means they love red-light cameras and absolutely believe the Joy Coopers of the world when they say it has nothing to do with revenue.

Just don't ask them if the cameras are deployed first to the areas that received the most red-light running complaints or were the scene s of the most accidents caused by that before their installation.
They really don't want to have to tell the truth on that question since in Hallandale Beach, as is the case with many other cities, they ARE NOT.
The powers that be simply don't want to be bothered with your inconvenient facts.


87 Bill Hager
90 Irving Slosberg

91 George Moraitis, Jr.

92 Gwyn Clarke-Reed

93 Perry Thurston, Jr.

94 Hazel Rogers

95 Jim Waldman

96 Ari Porth

97 Martin Kiar

98 Franklin Sands

99 Elaine Schwartz

100 Evan Jenne

101 Matt Hudson

102 Eduardo Gonzalez

103 Barbara Watson

105 Joe Gibbons

112 Jeanette Nuñez


The voting information above is from the Florida House's own website, but I had to double-check the members House district numbers to put it in some order:
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Sorry, discerning news consumers in FL aren't buying the self-pity being sold by Tallahassee-based media re Gov. Rick Scott, the anti (Charlie) Crist

I've been waiting a bit to drop this post of mine just to see if there was any more secondary coverage of this story about new Florida governor Rick Scott and the expectations, assumptions and presumptions of the Tallahassee-based media that covers the Florida legislature, the governor's office and what passes for Junior Varsity political intrigue and machinations.

I figured I'd give it about a week and a week has come and gone, so here we are.

Excerpt from my email of January 31st titled SunshineStateNews.com: Gov. Rick Scott, Hero; Press Corps, Zero

Below, a variation of the story that received prominent coverage last week in the Miami Herald and the St. Pete Times and several other places around the state, all to little practical effect

You remember, the story about the last-minute dinner at the Governor's Mansion,
where the person chosen to be the 'pool reporter' had other plans and said nyet, throwing 'journalism' into a tailspin?

Meanwhile, no matter how many facts and photos I use to persuade South Florida print or TV reporters to express any curiosity at all about a public building in Hallandale Beach -just steps from the beach- that has only been open three times to the public in what will be 42 months on Thursday, and for which hundreds of thousands of Hallandale Beach taxpayer dollars has been spent, and no doubt, wasted, reporters just yawn.

With one exception,
Stefan Kamph Hallandale Beach's North Beach Facility Might Finally Open, After Four Years
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/juice/2011/01/hallandale_beach_north_beach_opening.php


That, after all this incompetency, the the city manger here has pledged to keep it
closed to the taxpayers of this city is the ultimate insult, but to local reporters, they just roll their eyes at this news, one more fact they could care less about.

It's a story which if it happened in Coral Gables or Miami Beach would've been on the
front page of the Herald's very loosely-edited State & Local section, perhaps with some critical comments later in the editorial page asking with mock dismay, who elected the unelected City Manger, Mark Antonio, to keep a public building closed to the public?

But because it's not located in those cities, it wasn't the predicate to a zinging editorial
that lowered-the-boom on Antonio and HB City Hall.

It's the news story that never happened, the one that so perfectly illustrates the dilemma
for Hallandale Beach citizen taxpayers -caught between the longstanding incompetency and anti-democratic nature of HB City Hall officials, pols and their cronies, and a press corps that doesn't even pretend to be curious.

But now, I'm supposed to care about a meal at the governor's mansion, featuring some people I've never heard of?

No sale.


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Miami Herald
Scott's media limits upset journalists

By Michelle Morgante
Associated Press
January 20, 2011


TALLAHASSEE- Journalists who cover Florida's capital complained to industry leaders Tuesday that the new administration of Gov. Rick Scott is skirting free-press traditions and attempting to control their work by limiting access to events and being slow to provide public records.


Speaking to the board of the Florida Society of News Editors, nine Tallahassee correspondents said Scott's team is imposing an unprecedented level of control over access to Scott and to events that previously would have been considered open. The governor's office also has tried to "cherry-pick'' reporters to provide pooled reports to the rest of the press corps, instead of allowing the journalists to choose.


Bob Rathgeber, senior staff writer for The News-Press of Fort Myers, said Scott, a former healthcare executive, apparently wants to continue operating as if he were still in the private sector, not public office.


"He doesn't care whether we have complaints or not,'' Rathgeber said. "He's from the private sector and he's a private guy.''

The journalists pointed to several examples, including a post-inauguration reception held on the scenic 22nd floor of the state Capitol, where Scott's staff restricted access to a select few.


The event was in a public building and the entire state Legislature had been invited, noted Mary Ellen Klas of The Miami Herald. "That, on its surface, struck me as a public meeting. . . . There's no reason they should be shutting the public out.''

But Klas and others, including an AP reporter, were booted out. The reporters said Scott's staff said a pooled report would be provided and argued that the journalists had accepted the arrangement. She and the other reporters speaking Tuesday said they'd never accepted such a deal. Pool reports typically are only agreed to when space is unavoidably limited, such as aboard an airplane, and the selection of the journalist is made by the participating media groups.


A voice message and an e-mail seeking reaction Tuesday from Scott's communications director, Brian Burgess, were not immediately answered.


The reporters also pointed to an incident last week, when Scott and several lawmakers gathered at the governor's mansion for a dinner. Scott's staff made no announcement about the dinner but, upon deciding the press should be alerted, quickly sought a reporter to provide a pooled report.

Dave Royse, executive editor of the News Service of Florida, said he was invited to be the pool reporter although the dinner was nearly over. He could not accept, but offered a reporter from his staff in his place. When that reporter was rejected, Royse said he declined to participate for ethical reasons.

The party being covered "can't pick and choose the reporter,'' he said.
The correspondents said they would consider creating terms for pooled reports, such as an ordered list of reporters to be called on. But Paul Flemming, state editor for Gannett's Florida bureau, cautioned against encouraging greater use of pools: "I think it's dangerous to go down a pool path at all.''

Jim Baltzelle, FSNE president and Florida chief of bureau for The Associated Press, said the incidents raised concern about the freedom of the press. He said FSNE would consider how to formally respond.

Aaron Deslatte, Tallahassee bureau chief for the Orlando Sentinel, said he's been given very little access to the governor because during Scott's campaign, his staff considered the newspaper "hostile.'' He said his only recourse has been to make several requests for public records. But the administration, he said, has been slow to respond and, in one case, said it would charge him $400 for printing by an outsourced provider even though Deslatte said the information is available electronically.

There are currently 51 reader comments at:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/19/2022456/scotts-media-limits-upset-journalists.html

A more realistic view of what transpired -or didn't- with some well-chosen sarcasm, was expressed elsewhere.

SunshineStateNews
.com
Gov. Rick Scott, Hero; Press Corps, Zero
By Nancy Smith
Posted: January 31, 2011 3:55 AM

Thank God we found out Thursday night that the governor and his guests "dined on mesquite grilled swordfish, corn macque choux, and Florida strawberry shortcake."

Or did they?

Can the people of Florida be absolutely sure? What if diners were really inside that mansion chowing down on roast beef, spinach casserole and English trifle?

How might that have torpedoed the ship of state?


Read the rest of this spot-on post at:
http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/governor-rick-scott-hero-press-corps-zero


See also:
http://www.flgov.com/
http://www.flgov.com/news-releases/
http://www.myflorida.com/

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Ex-Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer's corruption trial looks to be the hurricane that Charlie Crist didn't anticipate -and Greer's going to sing!

Let the games begin!

Based on what I've read this afternoon in this post from the always-reliable Central Florida Political Pulse politics blog, ex-Florida GOP (RPOF) chairman Jim Greer's trial looks to be the hurricane that Charlie Crist didn't anticipate and the one that will cause him the most damage this summer.
What did the Governor and when did he know it?

When it comes out that
Governor Crist was not only NOT the paragon of ethics and rectitude he styles himself as publicly, and was, in fact, as oblivious to the nefarious machinations of Greer & Co. at the RPOF -or did he just look the other way?- as he was with so many matters of state and public policy that he SHOULD'VE been paying attention to, the simple question will be, was Governor Crist oblivious or careless?
It's one of the other, but can't be neither.

For those of you who have been coming to this blog for a while or who have spoken to me over the past few years at one public policy gathering or another, you know that I'm not saying anything new here when I observe that I and many other Floridians are still greatly troubled by the fact that someone who has done such a remarkably crummy job as governor, someone whom I voted for 4 years ago, to my regret, would have the gall to want a promotion, rather than try to actually get some badly needed things done before it's too late.

Based on what I have observed in terms of how vast the differences are between what Crist ran on doing four years ago and what he's done -or in many cases, HASN'T DONE- for the future opf this state, the best place for Charlie Crist after his term ends is his wife's mansion in New York, the same place he'd be spending so much time at if he got elected to the U.S. Senate anyway.

After all, isn't that what he promised his wife when he convinced her to let him run for Senate?
More time in NY with her and her family and not stuck in hot and humid Florida?

------


Orlando Sentinel

Central Florida Political
Pulse politics blog
Greer lawyer: We’ll make people talk
Uncategorized — posted by Aaron Deslatte on July, 6 2010 4:54 AM

By Rene Stutzman, Orlando Sentinel


A criminal defense attorney for former Florida GOP chairman
Jim Greer on Monday promised to make defense witnesses of some of the most powerful people in Florida politics – Gov. Charlie Crist, Attorney General Bill McCollum and state Republican chief John Thrasher.

That’s one long-time ally – Crist – and two enemies.

J. Cheney Mason also said he’ll depose two other GOP power brokers who have become Greer adversaries – prospective Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon, of Winter Park, and soon-to-be Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos, of Merritt Island.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2010/07/greer-lawyer-well-make-people-talk.html

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/

Monday, May 17, 2010

Sayfie Review's Power Play of May 14, 2010: Will there be a special session on oil drilling? Will Charlie Crist's lead in U.S. Senate race last?

Sayfie Review's Power Play of May 14, 2010 with Alia Faraj-Johnson.
Guests:
Orlando Sentinel's Aaron Deslatte and Gannett's Political Editor Paul Flemming.
Will there be a special session on oil drilling? Will Crist's lead in U.S. Senate race last?


Flemming notes that for Crist to lead the three-way race for U.S. Senate with Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek, Crist must hold 40% of all Democrats currently supporting him, something that's unlikely in the Fall once Meek starts advertising and Obama starts coming down regularly for campaign and fundraising events.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjkVAICoeAU




See also: http://www.sayfiereview.com/

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Lessons for SoFla? Central Florida's Little Commuter Rail that Could

Tuesday October 14th, 2008 4:00 PM

Just got back from running some errands, checked my email and saw this interesting item in my daily Central Florida Political Pulse email about a subject I was following fairly closely months ago
-the proposed commuter rail in Central Florida.


I wrote in this space about some of the issues at play back in the spring, and mentioned some very insightful stories that were being written around the state about the subject, of which Aaron Deslatte's May 20th Special Report in the parent Orlando Sentinel, Cash & Threats: How trial lawyers wielded new power to help block commuter rail, was the most powerful in showing the forces at work to build it or kill it.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/orl-csx2008may20,0,3131646.story


In broad strokes, in my opinion, it's a case of well-meaning transit types and common sense business groups in favor of regionalism vs. smart, articulate and powerfully-placed NIMBYs who are used to getting their way, playing all the angles, hoping to get something of value for their possible acquiescence.
Plus, the human drama that is trial lawyers and lobbyists rattling every one's cages in order to drum up bu$ine$$.

Another point of dispute which makes this so divisive is the very parochial and, in my opinion, ultimately self-defeating effort by Orange County to "Big Foot" everyone else in the area by capping their contribution to the commuter rail effort, but not allowing suburban areas to do the same thing, leaving those particular communities to wonder if they'll get swamped financially in the future, even while most of the system infrastructure is located inside Orange County.



Probably the only way to deal with the suburban concerns is to do everything in stages, so that the core of Orlando doesn't have a viable system years before their neighbors have anything, even though that's usually not a course of action I'd be in favor of.


The parent Orlando Sentinel's archives on this subject are very helpful,
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/commuter_rail/index.html and http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/economy-business-finance/csx-corporation-ORCRP004186.topic?pacode=orlnews and are full of facts, graphs and charts that paint a picture of a scene we know all too well down here: What's in it for me?

I should also mention that some -NOT ALL!- of the older reader comments in their archives contain a great deal of savvy insight from people who clearly know what they're talking about.


In that sense, it's much smarter than the reader comments we usually read down here, full of off-topic tangents, personal knocks against other reader comments, and the predictable, "Well, back in New York, we...."



The woman in the center of things, State Sen. Paula Dockery, is someone with real tangible power, yet the Herald and Sun-Sentinel's reporters in Tallahassee rarely mention her in the paper down here, but she has a real Zelig-like knack for always being where the action is.

Back in 1997, Dockery was one of the six State Reps on the losing end of a 7-6 vote in the House Finance & Tax Committee to give Wayne Huizenga $2 million a year in tax rebates for the next 30 years, $60 million in all, to improve the stadium I'll always think of as JRS, making him the first person in the state to get a second bite at that same tasty tax rebate apple, which he first
devoured four years earlier, wearing his Marlins colors.
Yep, $120 million given to a billionaire that could've been used for something better for the region or society as a whole


(That's another dubious Ron Book lobbying success story that I didn't hear about at the time it happened while living up in Washington. That's Mr. Ronald L. Book PA to you!
His client list takes up a full two pages of the current list of Legislative lobbyists in Tallahassee. http://www.leg.state.fl.us/data/lobbyist/Reports/Lobbyist_LEG_2008.pdf )


A couple of recent editorials and endorsements in the Orlando Sentinel makes clear that their Editorial Board is making support for commuter rail in Central Florida a predicate for the paper's support in the future, much more forcefully than local South Florida newspapers are.
The Sentinel's editorial on the commuter rail issue from three weeks ago, below, is, in a word, delicious!


Today, they followed-up by making this argument in one of their endorsements for the FL State Legislature: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-ed30208sep30,0,1517562.story


House District 32
Democrat Tony Sasso won a special election in this district earlier this year. Now he's running for a full, two-year term.

Mr. Sasso, a former Cocoa Beach commissioner, works for a union as a ship inspector. He lists better growth management among his priorities. But on one of the best ways to discourage sprawl in Central Florida -- commuter rail -- he is reluctant to make a commitment.

He expresses some of the same misgivings about lawsuits and union participation that opponents in the Legislature cited when they killed the deal.

His Republican opponent, Steve Crisafulli of Merritt Island, is a farmer and businessman with deep roots in his community. He understands the urgency of utilizing Brevard County's skilled workforce after the shuttle retires, and of developing the economic potential of the medical city now sprouting in east Orange County.

Mr. Crisafulli's also a staunch advocate for commuter rail, touting its environmental benefits. He gets the nod over Mr. Sasso in District 32.
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www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/orl-ed24108sep24,0,2828287.story
Orlando Sentinel
EDITORIAL
We think: Saboteurs shouldn't determine commuter rail's future
September 24, 2008

When selfish interests try to block what a community wants and is poised to get -- like commuter rail -- they resort to deception and intimidation.


That's what Lakeland state Sen. Paula Dockery did in April, falsely telling those who'd listen that they could intercept more than $300 million earmarked for commuter rail; falsely telling them the trains would run so slowly few would want to ride them; and joining with trial lawyers who threatened to unseat lawmakers supporting commuter rail.


Those tactics are unlikely to work a second time for the senator, when better-informed legislators next consider the issue.


Winter Park Commissioner Beth Dillaha looked this month like a disciple of Ms. Dockery as she tried to derail the project in her city, which is slated to host one of 17 stations along the 61-mile rail line. Fortunately, Winter Park wasn't duped.


Ms. Dillaha opposed commuter rail before joining the commission in January. This time, she argued the necessity of Winter Park renegotiating its agreement with Orange County to host a station.


She said costs were out of control, even though the city doesn't have to pay a dime to operate the trains until 2017. And even though the city may never have to -- should officials find a new revenue stream to pay for rail.


The bulk of Winter Park's commuter-rail station also is getting funded by Washington.


No matter to Ms. Dillaha. She claimed residents also didn't know what they were getting into even though they and the commission had voted to help fund commuter rail and site the station.


Unfortunately for Ms. Dillaha, the law also got in her way. Winter Park's attorney said the city probably can't renegotiate its agreement with Orange County.


Fortunately for Central Floridians, officials representing their interests -- the community's real leaders -- are working to get commuter rail rolling. Station designs should be finished by May.

Housing, retail and commercial space are being negotiated around stations in DeLand and DeBary, near Florida Hospital and Orlando Regional Medical Center, and by Osceola Parkway.


And bus routes connecting the stations to the airport, International Drive and other locations are being planned.


Fortunately for Central Floridians, most officials appreciate how environmentally friendly commuter trains can boost the economy and relieve its traffic headaches -- and they're willing or already working to make them happen. That should help keep any selfish interests from sabotaging them, no matter how many times they might try.


Reader comments on this editorial are at: http://www.topix.net/forum/source/orlando-sentinel/TALLS004U6TDDE60C
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Central Florida Political Pulse
The Little Commuter Rail that Could?
Aaron Deslatte on Oct 14, 2008 6:46:03 AM

The train that would carry commuters to and from work in Central Florida has a CEO who makes $176.96 an hour and an almost $300,000 marketing plan.
But it still lacks final approval -- and that can only come from the state Legislature, which said no earlier this year.
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer hopes to rectify that potentially fatal shortcoming by leading lobbying efforts of lawmakers as they prepare for next year's session.


To read the rest of the post, see http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2008/10/the-little-comm.html
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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/orl-commuter1408oct14,0,1521323.story
Orlando Sentinel
On Dyer's to-do list: Win over rail resisters
Dan Tracy
Sentinel Staff Writer
October 14, 2008

The train that would carry commuters to and from work in Central Florida has a CEO who makes $176.96 an hour and an almost $300,000 marketing plan.


But it still lacks final approval -- and that can only come from the state Legislature, which said no earlier this year.Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer hopes to rectify that potentially fatal shortcoming by leading lobbying efforts of lawmakers as they prepare for next year's session.


He has even launched his own brand of personal diplomacy. Twice in recent weeks Dyer has sipped cocktails at University of Florida football games with Lakeland Sen. Paula Dockery, who helped derail the train plan last year.


Dyer concedes Dockery has not dropped her opposition to the $1.2 billion project, but said, "there's cordial communication." Dockery was out of state and could not be reached, an aide said.


"This is one of those things where you can't not be successful. So you can't stop," Dyer said.


Another key opponent is Julie Townsend, executive director of the Downtown Lakeland Partnership in Polk County. Like Dockery, Townsend wants to stop commuter rail because of the extra freight trains that will be rerouted into her city.


CSX, which owns the rail lines, estimates four more trains will be headed to Lakeland to avoid conflicts with the planned commuter rail. That would jump the daily traffic from about 16 to 20 trains, including Amtrak runs.


Townsend said Lakeland could handle 20 trains a day, but she is worried even more of them -- possibly an additional 30 or more -- could be headed the city's way because companies looking to avoid high fuel costs may switch from shipping products by trucks to rail.


"We are required to accept this fate and take a hit for the team," Townsend said.


Even with those misgivings, she said Lakeland could support commuter rail if CSX would promise to limit the future number of trains in the city to 20. CSX will not make that deal, said spokesman Gary Sease, because it does not want to stifle possible growth.


But Dyer is hoping to change more minds than those of Dockery and people living in Lakeland.


He has instructed city-hired lobbyists, including the powerful Tallahassee firm Southern Strategies, to persuade the Legislature to sign off on insurance for the train that was denied when the session ended in May. Without insurance, the train cannot operate.


Though Dyer declined to specifically outline any lobbying strategies, there is little doubt he will be targeting trial lawyers.


They are against commuter rail because the state wants to limit awards to people who might be injured or killed if the planned train were involved in an accident. The state already has a similar insurance deal in place with a commuter-rail system it operates in South Florida.


Paul Jess, general counsel for the Florida Justice Association in Tallahassee, said he has had little contact with proponents of commuter rail about what might happen during next year's session.


"I've not heard of any movement . . . [but] there's always opportunities for reasonable people to get together to talk about these issues," Jess said.


Business leaders also are writing letters to commuter-rail supporter Gov. Charlie Crist to encourage him to help win votes in the Legislature, which convenes again in March.


Fortunately for Dyer and commuter rail, they have time to work on their opponents in the state House and Senate. In the meantime, the planning for the system has moved ahead.


The board overseeing commuter rail signed a contract with consulting firm PB Americas to hire Pete Turrell as chief executive officer of what would be a 61-mile system.


Turrell of Tampa, is a former Amtrak executive who also has run rail companies overseas.

PB will be paid $179.09 an hour for his services, and the company is slated for annual raises of about $5 an hour through 2016. His hours likely will start out low and grow if the train is approved.


The commuter board, made up of elected and transportation officials from Central Florida, also has hired myregion.org, an arm of the Central Florida Partnership, a business group spun off from the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce.


Myregion.org will be paid nearly $300,000 to commission public surveys and conduct focus-group studies on how to promote the train and come up with a logo and color scheme.


The train would run from DeLand in Volusia County through Orlando to Poinciana in Osceola County. The first leg, including a stop in Orlando, could be complete by 2011.


Officials already have spent more than $41 million on the undertaking. They expect to spend another $52 million this year, largely for property around stations and to design rail cars, signals and stations. Half would come from federal funds, and the other 50 percent would be split evenly between state and local sources.


"This [commuter rail] hits just about every positive thing you can think of," Dyer said.

"Every piece of it is the right thing to do for Florida."


Dan Tracy can be reached at dtracy@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5444.


Reader coments are at: http://www.topix.net/forum/source/orlando-sentinel/TH27F589OSSV65DJ0