A morning read of whatâs hot in Florida politics.
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ICYMI: POLITICO’S GUIDE TO OBAMACAREÂ
Ready to set the record straight on what’s really in the law? Check out POLITICO Pro’s new, comprehensive guide to the law – just in time for the launch of Obamacare enrollment. “Understanding Obamacare: POLITICO’s Guide to the Affordable Care Act” is a detailed, plain-English explainer of how the law is supposed to work and how it might work in reality – and it’s loaded with fact checks of the talking points both sides are throwing around as the Obamacare debate heats up. It’s POLITICO’s first-ever policy guide, and it covers both the politics and the nuts and bolts. The guide, written by Pro’s David Nather, is now live on the website, where you can read just the chapters you want or download the whole thing as a pdf. Check it out here
A FISCAL CRISIS WITH NO NEGOTIATIONS via the Washington Post
Everything is different this time.
A different set of political dynamics has upended the old playbook, and a resolution to this fiscal crisis seems especially remote.” President Obama, Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid “remain far apart, having occasional phone calls but no substantive negotiations.
The Fix: “If Day 1 of the government shutdown told us anything, it’s that this situation isn’t going to resolve itself anytime terribly soon… Entrenchment in established positions is the name of the game at the moment. And, you don’t dig in deeper when you are looking for ways to move on.”
LONG SHUTDOWN GIVES DEMOCRATS LEVERAGE ON DEBT LIMIT via The Hill
Senate Democrats believe the longer the government remains shut down, the more leverage they will wield in the debt-limit debate later this month.
There is growing sentiment among Democrats that the short-term funding resolution and debt-limit increase should be combined. They claim the issues should be merged to take advantage of Republicans, who are pided and off balance trying to fend off blame for the shutdown.
PEN PALS BUT NOT FRIENDS
Harry Reid sent John Boehner a letter explaining his hatred for the Iraq War was similar to Boehner’s current distaste for Obamacare. “I could have taken the steps that you are taking now to block government funding in order to gain the leverage to end the war,” Reid wrote. “I faced a lot of pressure from my own base to take that action. But I did not do that.” Boehner’s response indicated he still isn’t about to budge.
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25% OF AMERICANS BELIEVE OBAMA IS ‘CONSPIRING’ TO STAY IN OFFICE PAST 2017
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds that 25% of Americans say that President Obama is secretly trying to figure out a way to stay in office beyond 2017 – including 44% of Republicans.
POLL: AMERICANS THINK GOP’S TOP PRIORITY IS TROUBLEMAKING
A new National Journal poll finds a plurality of Americans believes that causing political problems for President Obama is now the GOP’s top priority in Washington.
32% said the GOP’s highest priority was “causing political problems for President Obama.” By contrast, 19% said Democrats’ highest priority was “causing political problems for Republicans in Congress.”
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CRIST ADOPTS OBAMA POPULISM READYING FLORIDA GOVERNOR RUN via Toluse Olorunnipa of Bloomberg News
Charlie Crist, who fatally damaged his party stature by hugging President Barack Obama in 2009 as Floridaâs Republican governor, is embracing the Democratâs populist politics as he weighs a bid to reclaim that job.  A Republican who turned independent and then became a Democrat, Crist, 57, is making plans to run against Governor Rick Scott, a businessman turned politician, next year. As he ramps up attacks focused on Scottâs wealth, Crist pitches himself as a scrappy defender of middle-income families, echoing Obamaâs tactics in beating Republican Mitt Romney in 2012.
A race between Crist, washed out of politics by the 2010 Tea Party wave, and Scott, a Republican who rode into office atop it, may reverberate around the nation. Florida is the largest presidential swing state carried by Obama last year, and Democrats are hoping to revive his populist campaign message to unseat Republican governors from Michigan to Maine.
âI donât care about his bank accounts,â Crist said by e-mail in a reference to the $100 million the Republicanâs campaign plans to spend on a 2014 re-election bid. âI care about the bank accounts of regular working Floridians.â
The former governor has worked to shore up his support among Democrats, and even lawmakers from the party who once attacked him now tout his record and urge him to run.
Dan Gelber, a former legislator and Democratic leader from 2006 to 2010, said Crist has a strong record on issues important to middle-income families. He said Crist is one of a few people who has a chance against Scottâs well-funded campaign.
âCharlie Crist is well known to Florida and having the well-known nominee is not going to hurt us,â he said. âPeople want a governor who is thinking about them, who has their back.â
TWO TAKES ON CHARLIE CRIST via Jeff Henderson and Nancy Smith of Sunshine State News
To Jeff Henderson, “Charlie Crist might be up 12 percent over Rick Scott in a new poll but there are serious warning signs that could hurt his efforts to return to the governorâs mansion….Crist is barely keeping his nose above water with voters in the new poll: 43 percent favorable and 42 percent unfavorable. Thatâs a pretty steep drop from where he was in a PPP poll in January: 49 percent favorable and 38 percent unfavorable. The new numbers are not too far off of a PPP poll in March: 46 percent favorable and 43 percent unfavorable. At first glance, Crist should be happy with his numbers with Democrats in the new poll: 58 percent favorable, 24 percent unfavorable…. But even there, Cristâs numbers have gone down from the start of the year.”
And to Nancy Smith, “Wonder why Charlie Crist isn’t in the game yet? Picture a Little League ballfield. Charlie’s the kid on deck, the Mudcats’ only home-run threat.” In her column, titled “Does Charlie Crist have stomach for the game?”, Smith goes on to write: “There he stands in the on-deck circle, swinging bats through thin air, watching a pitcher who just mowed down the first two batters on six blazing strikes. And he’s next. The pitcher, the fans, the teams — everybody is waiting. Is Charlie scared? Doubtful. In this league, he’s a veteran. Charlie’s problem is, he doesn’t want to be here. He lacks motivation. He should have been promoted to the senior division by now, but he’s still here. Apathetic, a little disgruntled even, he looks out at the bald-headed skinny kid on the mound who still has fire in his eyes and better “stuff” than he’d been led to believe. Gotta get in the game, he’s thinking, gotta suck it up and get in the game …”
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MICHAEL PUTNEY: RICK SCOTT IS THE ‘TIN MAN’ OF FLORIDA POLITICS  via Michael Putney of the Miami Herald
Itâs taken nearly three years, but Iâve finally figured out what it is that bothers me about Rick Scottâs concept of being governor. He wants to manage the state, not be its political leader. He sees himself as Floridaâs CEO. Itâs Florida, Inc., Rick Scott, prop. This might work if the goal of government were to produce a profit. But itâs not. Itâs to provide services to its citizens…
I wonder if Rick Scott seriously, systematically thought about the idea of governance before he ran for governor. Did he read Rousseau and Hobbes, John Stuart Mill and John Maynard Keynes? Oliver Wendell Holmes and Henry David Thoreau? The writings of Franklin, Adams and Jefferson? The Federalist Papers? He gives no indication that he has. His speeches, his style and his demeanor indicate his reading tends to books like Who Moved My Cheese?
Sorry if that sounds elitist, but the best elected leaders Iâve known in Florida had read all those Big Thinkers and a lot more before they sought public office. Iâm thinking of, among others, former governors Bob Graham and Jeb Bush. Bush, in fact, talked endlessly about âhow we organize ourselves.â
Scottâs concept of societal organization is fairly straightforward: Business good, government interference bad.
He and his advisors recognize that heâs a cool personality and are trying to warm him up. At both South Florida events he began by pulling out pictures of his newborn grandchildren. Itâs a natural âawwwâ moment thatâs good for Scott. His pride in his grandkids is genuine, but thereâs something slightly off-kilter about it. He has to show pictures of grandkids to prove that heâs got human emotions like everyone else?  Scott is the Tin Man of Florida politics. He needs a heart.
SCOTT’S BUDGET CHIEF SAYS $500 MILLION TAX CUT COULD WORK via Tia Mitchell of the Tampa Bay Times
Scott‘s budget chief has outlined a path to accomplish the governor’s proposed $500 million tax cut while still bolstering the state’s emergency savings fund.
Budget chief Jerry McDaniel said there are three ways to reach the magic number, but stopped short of advocating a particular plan or determining whether a $500 million tax cut was a good policy decision. The savings can be reached by further reductions in state spending, growth in general revenue due to a rebounding economy, moving funds from special accounts to the general revenue budget, or any combination of the three, McDaniel wrote.
So far, budget estimates predict an $846 million increase in general revenue, even after accounting for the state’s existing budget needs, “clearly leaving sufficient funds to provide broad tax cuts for Florida families and increased reserves,” according to the memo. Â
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FLORIDA PRISON OFFICIALS DIDNâT ASK, COMPANIES DIDNâT TELL ABOUT HUNDREDS OF MALPRACTICE CASES via Dan Christensen of Broward Bulldog
The Florida Department of Corrections awarded a five-year, $1.2 billion contract to provide medical care for thousands of state prisoners in north and central Florida to Corizon, a Tennessee company that was sued 660 times for malpractice in the last five years. Nearly half of those cases remain open. Of those that are closed, 91 â one in four â ended with confidential settlements that Corizon declined to discuss. Corizon began work in August providing care at 41 correctional facilities.
A second contractor, Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources, signed a five-year, $240 million contract in December to provide medical services to state inmates in nine institutions in South Florida. Wexford, however, was hit with 1,092 malpractice claims â suits, notices of intent to sue and letters from aggrieved inmates from January 1, 2008 through 2012. Records say Wexford settled 34 of 610 closed matters for a total of $5.4 million, as well as another case that ended in a $270,000 jury verdict against the company.
The Department of Corrections, headed by Secretary Michael D. Crews, hired Corizon and Wexford to lead Florida toward millions of dollars in savings promised by the massive privatization of inmate healthcare enacted by Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-controlled Legislature. Along the way, however, the corrections department never asked the corporations bidding for those lucrative jobs to disclose their litigation histories â how often theyâd been accused of malpractice, where those cases were filed and the outcomes.
Prisons are obligated under the Eighth Amendment to provide prisoners with adequate medical care.
The problematic litigation histories of Corizon and Wexford raise questions about the quality of inmate care promised by those companies and paid for by Floridaâs taxpayers.
FUNDING APPROVED FOR STRATEGIC FLORIDA SEAPORT PROJECTS
Wednesday, the Florida Seaport Transportation and Economic Development (FSTED) Council approved $15 million in allocations to seaport projects around the state. The FSTED Council is comprised of the port directors for Floridaâs 15 public seaports, and representatives from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and the Department of Economic Opportunity. There are 10 port projects included in these allocations, which now will become part of the FDOT 2014/15 Work Program that comes before the Florida Legislature for approval this next Legislative Session.
The Council also approved allocations under the new Strategic Port Investment Initiative within FDOT, which requires a minimum of $35 million be invested in priority seaport projects annually. This program was created by the Legislature in 2012.
POLICY NOTES with a h/t to the Florida Current and the News Service of Florida
Enterprise Florida Executive Committee: Holds an EFI Board/Stakeholders Council Meeting via conference call. For more information contact Al Latimer at (407) 956-5602 or [email protected].
Department of Juvenile Justice 2013 Human Trafficking Summit: Begins at 8 a.m. at the Marshall Student Center, University of South Florida, Tampa. The agenda and more information here.
DCFâs Homelessness Awareness and Outreach Committee: Holds a public meeting via conference call at 10 a.m. The meeting is to continue developing recommendations and work tasks to reduce homelessness. The number to participate in the conference call is (888) 670-3525, participant code 9798513235#. More information is available here.
Duval County Area Supervisor Roundtable and Secretary of State Ken Detzner: Begins a series of five two-hour roundtable meetings with local supervisors of elections across the state to discuss the latest voter purge effort. They are open to the public at 1 p.m. in Panama City at 840 11th St.
Former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham: Joins Knight Fellow in Residence Preston Haskell to discuss issues surrounding the importance of being a civically engaged citizen. Presented by the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at 6 p.m. in Pugh Hall on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. More information here.
Florida Communities Trust: The Florida Communities Trust, which works with local communities on issues such as protecting natural resources and preserving working waterfronts, will hold a board meeting. 9 a.m., Douglas Building, 3900 Commonwealth Blvd., Tallahassee.
Florida Department of Environmental Protection: Continues a series of meetings across the state to receive public comment on its list of possible state lands that could be sold. An initial list in August of 5,331 acres had been trimmed to 3,463 acres on Sept. 25, 2013. A meeting will be held 6 to 8 p.m. in Fort Myers at the Joseph P. D’Alessandro Building, 2295 Victoria Ave., Suite 364. More information about the meetings here.
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COMMISSION ON ETHICS TO INVESTIGATE REP. JAMIE GRANT’S BUSINESS VENTURE via Michael Van Sickler of the Miami Herald
The Florida Commission on Ethics is investigating what happened to millions in grant money awarded a start-up created by Rep. Jamie Grant. Senior ethics investigator Robert Malone notified Grant and Henry Kuhlman, a Hardee County resident who filed the complaint against Grant, that the investigation had begun. The âcomplaint has been found sufficient for investigation and has been forwarded to the Investigative Section of the Commission on Ethics,â Malone told Kuhlman in a letter dated Sept. 24.
For the past two years, Kuhlman has spearheaded an effort to account for more than $2.5 million that Grant began receiving in 2011 after Hardee County commissioners awarded his yet-unnamed company the money.
The money is from $42 million the phosphate giant Mosaic is paying the county over 10 years for mining rights to 11,000 acres. Hoping to kick-start a depressed Third World economy in Hardee, county officials are doling out the money to businesses in hopes they produce jobs. Grant promised he would through a company he would later call LifeSync, along with $26 million in sales by 2014. The product he would create he called Blue Water.
Kuhlman says there is no product and that Grant and his successor in the project, Continuum Labs, have failed to produce any jobs.
The State Attorney’s Office in Bartow opened a criminal investigation. It closed it in October of last year concluding there was no evidence of criminal misconduct. But a second investigation by state auditors raised red flags. According to an Auditor Generalâs report, concerns included: The Hardee IDA awarded the money to Grant’s company even though it didn’t exist at the time of the application, violating state law; Although the agreement stated Grant’s company would develop a product to be marketed and supported by Hardee personnel, there was no evidence the company delivered; There was no oversight of the money. Disbursements weren’t supported by detailed invoices or other documentation.
DIVORCE MESSINESS FOR REP. BILL HAGER via Jose Lambiet
State Rep. Bill Hager wants his share from the $1.3 million-sale of the house he owned with his ex-wife in the fancy Patch Reef Estates in Boca Raton.
But for Hager to get a check for $872,000, his cut, he needs the exâs cooperation.
And, the Republican lawmaker claims in court documents, thatâs been hard to come by.
The ex, Florida Atlantic University nursing professor Beth King, isnât returning his calls.
So Hager, 65, had a Palm Beach County family court re-open his divorce case and asked that his wife be forced to sign off on the distribution of the proceeds of the sale.
The divorce became final in January after nearly two years of legal wrangling.
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ATTACK ADS FLY BETWEEN CANDIDATES FOR HOUSE DISTRICT 36 SEAT via Rich Shopes of the Tampa Bay Times
The mailer shows a sepia-and-white image of Republican Bill Gunter and labels him “everything that’s wrong with Tallahassee politics.” Another shows Democrat Amanda Murphy and a postcard that reads, “Just wanted to write you a quick note from my vacation home in Cancun, Mexico.”  The mailer says: “It’s bad enough we can’t trust Amanda Murphy with our money, but with two vacation homes around the world, can Amanda Murphy really relate to the challenges we face?”
“For the next two weeks, voters will probably see nothing but negative advertising,” said former state Rep. Mike Fasano, whose decision in August to become Pasco’s tax collector set the stage for the election in District 36 in west Pasco.
Fasano figures the campaigns are turning negative because the candidates are polling even or closely.
Murphy owns a timeshare in Cocoa Beach and part of a timeshare in Cabo San Lucas â not Cancun â that’s worth $7,124, according to election reports.
Other ads refer to her as a “Wall Street broker” when in reality she works as an investment adviser at Raymond James in Tampa.
Gunter, meanwhile, is portrayed as a pal to Gov. Rick Scott and “special interests” â all photographed in black-and-white for maximum sleaze effect, including the unnamed “special interest” guy, who’s dressed like Scott.
Another mailer calls Gunter “an extremist politician.” Both are paid for by the Florida Democratic Party.
FLA GOP OFFICIALS FUNDING TV CAMPAIGN FOR GUNTER via Adam Smith of the Tampa Bay Times
Democrats tracking the TV buys for the special election in House District 36 campaign say that two thirds of the spots on behalf of Gunter are being funded by the nobley named Accountability in Government Committee.
What dat, you ask? It’s chaired by Republican operative Alachua GOP Chairman Stafford Jones, an old hand at running well-funded attack campaigns through such independent committees (including $6-million in ads bashing Rick Scott for Medicare fraud during the 2010 primary between Scott and Bill McCollum and in 2012 using a committee called “Progressives” to attack Democratic candidates from the left). Accountability in Government has a Tallahassee address that just so happens to be shared by Richard Coates, the general counsel for the Republican Party of Florida.
The Committee has bought about $22,000 in cable TV time, while the Gunter campaign has bought about $12,000 in TV time.
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FEDERAL LOBBYISTS CAN’T STOP, WON’T STOP DURING SHUTDOWNÂ POLITICO Influence
Far from relaxing on the links or taking boozy two-hour lunches, Beltway lobbyists are making their normal load of Hill meetings and client work happen – in spite of a federal government operating without hundreds of thousands of staffers and a congressional stalemate over Obamacare and the budget. “I’ve been on the Hill all day,” David Urban, a lobbyist with the American Continental Group, said on Tuesday. But, he added, “it’s been challenging logistically to get things done.” Other lobbyists echoed that they were working a normal work day – with a fair number of logistical challenges added into the mix. “I went to a 7:45 a.m. breakfast on the Hill this morning with two congressmen – it was packed and they were on time,” said Brian Johnson, a tax and trade lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute. “With long lines at all the congressional buildings, I’m thankful I’ve built relationships where folks on the Hill will just take a call – most of them, that is.”
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Margaret Bradin, Uhlfelder & Associates PA: UPS
Thomas Grigsby:Â Wardlaw Claims Service, LLP
David Ramba, Ramba Consulting: Associated Industries of Florida;Â Florida Association of Public Insurance Adjusters
SPOTTED: Capitol Insight’s Alan Suskey with Congressman Paul Ryan in the elevator of the Rayburn Building in Washington D.C.
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LEROY COLLINS INSTITUTE CELEBRATES 25TH ANNIVERSARY
Established in 1988, the LeRoy Collins Institute will officially honor its 25th anniversary today with a symposium honoring the legacy of Governor LeRoy Collins. Policy experts, academicians and current and former government officials will join together to discuss the Sunshine Stateâs current challenges, focusing on new areas where the Institute can bring academic research to bear.Â
âWe are extremely pleased to be celebrating 25 years of applied research that has had a great impact on smarter policymaking in Florida,â said Lester Abberger, Chairman of the LeRoy Collins Institute Board. âTo honor this milestone anniversary, we are revisiting the legacy of Governor Collins, a visionary leader, and how his principles can continue to guide us today as we undertake impactful research to solve the myriad of issues our state faces.âÂ
The symposium will debut an essay, authored by former Florida Trend editor Rick Edmonds, entitled LeRoy Collinsâ Legacy: The Politics of Constructive Change and Leadership, as well as a video featuring Governor Collinsâ landmark moments in the political arena and the ways in which his leadership inspired policymakers who followed.Â
âWith the essay and the video, we hope to reintroduce to Florida citizens one of Floridaâs most influential leaders,â said Carol Weissert, director of the LeRoy Collins Institute and political science professor at Florida State University. âNo matter the issue, big or small, no matter what he was up against, Governor Collins always sought to do what was right â and he ended up creating many of the building blocks of the Florida we know today. His passion for this state was, and remains, unrivaled. The Institute is proud to celebrate 25 years of success in research and policy solutions by highlighting the Collins legacy and continuing to honor Governor Collins by working to make Florida a better place.â
