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John Morgan wrong to insult Mayernicks, lobbying profession

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The he-said, he-said-what? between medical marijuana proponents Ben Pollara and John Morgan has captivated political aficionados during the epilogue phase of the 2017 Legislative Session. On Friday night, the Legislature killed HB 1397, a bill to enact the medical marijuana amendment approved by 71 percent of voters in November. Morgan, who spearheaded and bankrolled much of Amendment 2 in both 2014 and 2016, puts blame for the bill’s failures squarely on Pollara’s shoulders. “Ben Pollara fucked the patients,” Morgan told FloridaPolitics.com bluntly Saturday morning. “The person who…

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Sources: Noah Valenstein set to become next DEP head

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Noah Valenstein, Gov. Rick Scott‘s former environmental policy coordinator, has the inside track to become the next secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, sources tell FloridaPolitics.com. Valenstein, now the executive director of the Suwannee River Water Management District, is the top pick over interim secretary Ryan Matthews. Scott and the Cabinet in February OK’d Matthews to serve as interim department head to fill in for departing secretary Jon Steverson. He quit in January to join the legal-lobbying firm of Foley & Lardner. Valenstein attended an August 2014 meeting in…

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House GOP freshmen fail to adopt rules for Speaker’s race, putting leadership battle into chaos

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Even after meeting dozens of times throughout the 2017 Legislative Session, the House GOP freshman caucus failed to adopt new rules on how to pick a leader. A caucus to ratify rules — drafted by Reps. Ralph Massullo and Michael Grant — to guide the freshman class’s decision-making process met Friday during a break in the House. Only 23 members of the freshman class were present, and neither Rep. Jamie Grant nor Rep. Paul Renner, both in the running to be…

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Winners and losers emerging from the 2017 Legislative Session

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Dysfunction seems to run in Tallahassee like a sine wave. We went from the collapse of 2015 – the House going home early, no budget, a Special Budget Session – to the trains-on-time Session of 2016, to the no-budget-at-the-end-of-regulation Session in 2017. We saw another Session in which we got oh-so-close to a gambling bill, only to have victory swallowed by the maw of Capitol defeat. And yes, the war of words between Gov. Rick Scott and House Speaker Richard…

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Sunburn for 5.8.17 – Sine Die

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Sunburn – The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. By Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster, Mitch Perry and Jim Rosica. The work of the people ended with a whimper Friday, as lawmakers agreed to extend the 2017 Legislative Session to complete the budget, killing a host of other legislation. As the Legislature turned out the lights around 9:30 p.m., high-profile dead bills included efforts to overhaul workers’ compensation and assignment of benefits, and to implement the state’s medical…

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The end for SaintPetersBlog

Ever since I acquired the rights to the perfect domain for my efforts — FloridaPolitics.com — I knew that one

John Morgan after medical marijuana legislation dies: Ben Pollara ‘f*cked’ the patients

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The headline writers had an easy job Friday night after the Florida Legislature failed to agree on rules to enact the medical marijuana amendment supported by 71 percent of Florida voters last November. “Medical marijuana deal goes up in smoke,” blared the Tallahassee Democrat. “Up in smoke: Legislature can’t agree on medical marijuana,” read The Associated Press. In other words, the headlines wrote themselves. What has been harder to discern is why the deal fell apart. After all, the House and Senate…

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Takeaways from Tallahassee — Arthenia Joyner’s bill delayed, but not denied

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Editor’s note: FloridaPolitics.com comprehensive list of the Winners and Losers emerging from the 2017 Session will be published after Sine Die. Arthenia Joyner may no longer be in the Legislature, but she finally was able to see a prized piece of legislation pass. This week, the House unanimously approved the “Compensation of Victims of Wrongful Incarceration” Act, which would allow more people wrongfully convicted and imprisoned in Florida to get some recompense from the state. The Senate unanimously approved it last…

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