Peter Schorsch - page 484

Does Adrian Wyllie understand how this campaign tour thing works? On the heels of a few recent polls showing that about one in ten voters are happy to choose someone – anyone – other than Rick Scott or Charlie Crist, Libertarian candidate Adrian Wyllie is now getting his fifteen minutes.  So this week he announced his own variation of the Lawton Chiles walk across Florida. And if his choice of venues is any indication, he will have to walk because…

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Nine months after the sixteen-day government shutdown in October, maternity wards in the Washington D.C. area seem busier than usual. “We keep getting asked, ‘What’s going on?’” Yulette Newman, a nurse at Sibley Memorial Hospital told Jessica Contrera of the Washington Post. “And we sit back and say, ‘Well, you’re in D.C. What was happening nine months ago?’” Aftereffects of the federal furlough are starting to show up in unusual, but not surprising ways. Sibley averages 9.2 births occur daily.…

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The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents most state employees, is staking $1 million on the hopes that former Gov. Charlie Crist will beat incumbent Gov. Rick Scott in November. AFSCME joined other government-worker labor organizations in endorsing Crist on Tuesday. AFSCME Florida president Jeanette Wynn Crist told Bill Cotterell of the Tallahassee Democrat that Crist’s position on state employment issues as governor from 2007-11 are in stark contrast to conservative Gov. Rick Scott’s policies. The…

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A morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. Today’s Rise and Shine Fact-iversary is brought to you by Sachs Media Group, the state’s dominant public affairs PR firm: On this day in 1956, “In God We Trust” was adopted as the official motto of the United States. The maxim came from the fourth stanza of The Star Spangled Banner, which includes the phrase, “And this be our motto: ‘In God is our Trust.’” Eventually modern sensibilities took root, and…

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Shawna Vercher, the Democrat candidate for House District 67, has repeatedly claimed she was a “hard-working and important cog” in Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign. But was she? Upon further examination of the records, it seems Vercher’s declaration of her role as a consultant for the Obama campaign is questionable. The author, public speaker and radio host is seeking the seat held by term-limited Republican Rep. Ed Hooper, which covers much of North Pinellas County, including Clearwater and Largo. In a May…

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Writers like Carl Hiaasen have made entire careers pointing to the corruption and absurdity that too often define Florida’s brand of government. But, despite our frequent failings, there have been a few bright shining moments when Floridians could hold their heads high and point with pride to the innovations of their public officials. On rare occasion there has been a virtuous confluence of visionary leadership and powerful public sentiment that have propelled the Sunshine State onto the national stage as…

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Republican Thelma Rohan, who in a press release touts herself as a “medical professional,” wants to make an endorsement from the Florida Medical Association (FMA) an issue in the GOP primary for Florida House District 6. Rohan is calling on front runner Jay Trumbull to “denounce” his endorsement by the FMA now that the organization representing Florida doctors is supporting Medicaid expansion in Florida, a controversial political issue that has divided state lawmakers. Rohan, Trumbull and five other candidates vying to…

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