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Bill Rufty - page 4

Bill Rufty has 71 articles published.

Former Ledger of Lakeland columnist Bill Rufty is Central Florida political correspondent for SaintPetersBlog and Florida Politics. Rufty had been with the Ledger from 1985-2015, where, as political editor, he covered a wide range of beats, including local and state politics, the Lakeland City Commission, and the Florida Legislature. Ledger editor Lenore Devore said about Rufty’s 30-year career: “[He is] a man full of knowledge, a polling expert and a war history buff … who has a steel trap in his brain, remembering details most of us have long since forgotten.”

Bill Rufty: Polk GOP endorses in nonpartisan race

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

The Polk County Republican Executive Committee endorsed incumbent Polk County School Board member Hunt Berryman for re-election. Berryman is a registered Republican voter. The school board is supposedly a nonpartisan office. Don’t tell that to the thousands of Republican insiders across the nation who are supporting the concept of “total majority,” which means endorsement and election of registered Republicans no matter if the office is nonpartisan. Berryman came in second in the Aug. 30 election. As was the case with…

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Bill Rufty: A political rarity in HD 41 – Republican, Democrat agree

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Republicans and Democrats agreeing on a major issue – It seldom (if ever) happens lately in national politics. But on a state level, Republican Sam Killebrew and Democrat Bob Doyel, competing for Florida House District 41, agreed on the critical issue of education in the state of Florida. There are too many tests and perhaps not geared to finding children’s progress so much as to grade teachers or schools, they said in front of a Polk County Tiger Bay luncheon…

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Dennis Ross returns to Washington after heart surgery rehab

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, who underwent heart surgery Aug. 9, is returning to Washington Monday to resume his congressional work. “We have votes at 6:30 p.m. (in full session) then it is business as usual Tuesday with a Financial Services Committee meeting,” the Lakeland Republican said. Ross, who turns 57 Oct. 18, has been recuperating from the surgery in Orlando to repair a heart defect he has had since birth. He missed the first week of Congress’ reconvening after its…

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Bill Rufty: Diverse Florida electorate crucial in presidential election

in 2017/Top Headlines by

If you are a presidential candidate, you can’t come to Florida with a single, cookie-cutter campaign and speak to issues based on national surveys. Florida is one of the most diverse and perhaps, with 29 electoral votes, the most crucial swing state in the presidential election, University of South Florida political science professor Susan MacManus told a large audience Thursday evening. MacManus was the leadoff speaker for the new season of the Florida Lecture Series hosted by the Lawton M.…

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Bill Rufty: Polk becoming a two-Party county?

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Polk County will likely never return to the Democratic bastion that was home to four U.S. senators, three governors, and four presidents of the Florida Senate. But from Tuesday’s primaries and the fielding of candidates for the Nov. 8 general elections, Polk Democrats are slowly learning to make the now-GOP bastion a two-party county again. There was a big Democratic Primary in eastern Polk County for Florida’s 9th Congressional District, but not one of the four candidates were from Polk. However,…

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Polk political notebook: Strong mayors, weak spellcheck and dueling websites

in The Bay and the 'Burg/Top Headlines by

Strong mayor pushed because of weak responses The city of Lakeland has been going through a series of bipolar political moves or lack of moves over the last few decades. Its leaders and business executives in the city can’t seem to figure out if they want to be a big municipality or a small town. A strong mayor is the sign of a large city, supporters say. But at the same time supporters are pushing for that big city appeal and…

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With landslide vote, Lakeland Ledger reporters, staff approve union

in Apolitical/Top Headlines by

The reporters, photographers and copy editors of The Lakeland Ledger overwhelmingly voted Thursday to be represented by the News Guild-CWA, Communications Workers of America, in contract negotiations with the paper’s owners, GateHouse Media. The vote, supervised by the National Labor Relations Board, was 23 for union representation and 3 against, setting off rumors of other newspapers’ news personnel ready to request their own union votes in the state. The Ledger newsroom is now the first union newsroom in Florida, but…

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