A morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.
THE WEEK AHEAD
Put down that phone and drive. After years of debate, Gov. Rick Scott will sign a bill Tuesday that bans texting while driving.
Scott also will sign a measure Tuesday that seeks to boost Everglades restoration. Meanwhile, state agencies will hold hearings on issues such as insurance and utility rates.
The News Service of Florida has a comprehensive listing of the week’s events here.
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IMPROVING ECONOMY CHANGES POLITICAL LANDSCAPE via Tom Raum of the Associated Press
Alleged misbehavior by the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies gives the GOP something else to talk about and investigate as the economy clearly, if slowly, recovers on President Barack Obama’s watch, robbing Republicans of a central argument against Democrats. Amid a series of recent positive economic reports, the GOP is revving up its portrayal of the Obama administration as scandal-ridden and inept, while largely abandoning the party’s where-is-the-recovery criticism. Republicans had little choice, given that the economy has gained considerable strength over the past 18 months. Today, the federal budget deficit is shrinking rapidly and tax receipts are rising. Consumer confidence and spending are up, as are auto and housing sales. Stocks are near all-time highs. …
While unemployment is at 7.5 percent, it’s down from the 10 percent of October 2009. Also, recent job creation in the private sector has been relatively strong. … As the rebound gains steam, Republicans stand to lose what had been one of their strongest hands for the 2014 elections: asserting ineffective economic stewardship from the Democrat in the White House and those on Capitol Hill. But they pick up another compelling issue, one that touches directly on Obama’s core 2008 campaign promise to restore public confidence in the ability of government to produce results in an effective and evenhanded way.
PARTISAN CONGRESS THWARTS CHANGES TO OBAMACARE via the New York Times
Almost no law as sprawling and consequential as the Affordable Care Act has passed without changes — significant structural changes or routine tweaks known as ‘technical corrections’ — in subsequent months and years … But as they prowl Capitol Hill, business lobbyists … health care providers and others seeking changes are finding, to their dismay, that in a polarized Congress, accomplishing them has become all but impossible.
Republicans simply want to see the entire law go away and will not take part in adjusting it. Democrats are petrified of reopening a politically charged law that threatens to derail careers as the Republicans once again seize on it before an election year.
As a result, a landmark law that almost everyone agrees has flaws is likely to take effect unchanged.
SNEAK PEEK AT HILLARY’S UPCOMING MEMOIR
Clinton’s forthcoming memoir has a simple book jacket but no title yet.
The description at Amazon.com reads, “Hillary Clinton’s candid reflections about the key moments during her time as Secretary of State, as well as her thoughts about how to navigate the challenges of the 21st century.”
It’s scheduled to be released June 1, 2014.
WEST PLEDGES HE WILL BE BACK
Former Rep. Allen West told a radio show that he would be back in national politics soon.
“Well, we’ll get back into the political scene, but there are so many things I can do right now that can really help us going forward to the midterm elections,” said West. “It’s not about me; it’s about the team, it’s about our country and that’s what I’m focused on primarily. So after the midterm election cycle we’ll look into getting back into the political framework in 2016. There’s no doubt about it.”
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MEET CHARLIE CRIST’S LOOSE-KNIT CREW OF ADVISERS via Adam Smith of the Tampa Bay Times
Ask anyone who knows the former Florida governor well — or as well as anyone can know the ever-sunny but often inscrutable Crist — and they will tell you he has two primary confidants: Carole Crist, his wife, and Dr. Charles Crist, his father.
“He keeps his cards very close to the vest,” said Eric Johnson, a South Florida Democratic consultant who worked on Crist’s unsuccessful U.S. Senate bid as an independent in 2010 and now is chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy. “He listens to everybody and takes in everybody’s advice, but he definitely has an inner compass and does call a lot of his own shots.”
That’s partly why in campaign after campaign, the relentlessly frugal Crist has hired a bare-bones staff. From routine press calls to requests for speaking engagements, Crist often handled them directly rather than having them filtered through an entourage of aides.
… It’s a testament to Crist’s political smarts that most of the people he’s relying on lately are among the smartest and most plugged-in Democratic political minds in the state. Sometimes they offer advice, sometimes they make introductions. None is paid.
Among politicians, there is Gelber in Miami-Dade … Steve Geller in Broward County … former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler … former State Sen. Tony Hill of Jacksonville … and former Attorney General Bob Butterworth.
The operatives he communicates with most frequently are the A-team of Florida Democratic politics: Johnson, Rep. Murphy’s chief of staff; Schale, who ran Barack Obama’s 2008 Florida campaign; and Ashley Walker, who ran Obama’s 2012 Florida campaign and developed a relationship with Crist as he campaigned for Obama.
A couple of Democratic pros in Tampa who keep their profiles lower have longstanding friendships with Crist: Mike Hamby, a businessman and former executive director of the Florida Democratic Party who went to Cumberland Law School with Crist; and Bernie Campbell, who works extensively abroad and even as he was working to elect Democrats across Florida a few years ago quietly helped craft speeches for the then-Republican governor.
Greg Truax, a public relations consultant in Tampa, these days serves as Crist’s de facto “body man,” accompanying the would-be candidate to public events. Former aide Michelle Todd of St. Petersburg often fields interview requests from national media outlets.
SENATE PREZ GAETZ WORRIES ABOUT SCOTT HURTING OTHER REPUBLICANS via The Buzz
As the 2014 election cycle approaches, a lot of prospective Republican candidates are nervously watching Gov. Rick Scott’s low poll numbers, knowing that their campaigns could well be dragged down — or lifted up — by the fellow at the top of the ticket.
Count Florida Senate President Don Gaetz among those worried about Scott’s prospects.
“There is a growing concern among many people who run for office at the local level or the legislative level that we want to have a strong top of the ticket,” Gaetz said. “All of us are together on that ticket. We hope he does well, but I think it’s going to be an uphill battle.”
TWEET, TWEET: @TheFix: Top 15 gov races: 1. FL
TWEET, TWEET: @learyreports: Jim Davis, who ran against Crist in ’06, says he’s been urging Sen. Bill Nelson to run for gov, but chance of Nelson doing so a “long-shot.”
WHY I WON’T RUN FOR GOVERNOR by Roger Stone via the Miami Herald
“I am also a political realist. Florida is one of the most expensive media states in the country. It will take millions of dollars to even make voters aware that there is an alternative to the Democrats and Republicans. If there is any lesson from last year’s Presidential campaign it is this- it doesn’t do any good to have a compelling platform if no one knows about it.
“You could shake hands with voters everyday between now and Election Day and not reach as many voters as one prime-time television spot in the Miami media market. “Money is the mother’s milk of politics” as a great politician once said.
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SCOTT TO SIGN TEXTING, EVERGLADES BILLS TODAY via the News Service of Florida
Gov. Scott will sign the texting-while-driving and Everglades-funding bills in separate South Florida ceremonies on Tuesday. The Everglades measure (HB 7065) will be signed at 9:30 a.m. at the Pine Jog Environmental Education Center in West Palm Beach. The measure provides $32 million — $12 million in general revenue funds and $20 million from the Water Management Lands Trust Fund — during the coming fiscal year to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for restoration work. Funding also is expected in future budgets through 2023.
The texting measure (SB 52), which makes it illegal to read or type texts or emails while driving, is scheduled to be signed at 1 p.m. at the Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Senior High School in Miami. The measure has exceptions for use of GPS devices or for reporting criminal behavior and allows texting while stopped, such as at a red light.
SCOTT TO UNIVERSITIES: DON’T INCREASE TUITION AT ALL
In a series of letters to the chairs of each state university’s board of trustees, Gov. Scott on Friday reiterated his opposition to any tuition increase for the coming school year. The letters come as schools work toward putting in place their budgets for the 2013-14 year — which could include requests to the Florida Board of Governors for tuition increases — and amid questions about a state law that appears to provide for an automatic tuition increase to account for inflation, currently estimated at 1.7 percent.
Scott has already vetoed a 3 percent tuition increase approved by the Legislature. “I want to be clear on this: we absolutely will fight to hold the line on tuition in Florida,” Scott wrote. “This would be a tax increase on our families that must be stopped. We don’t want a three percent increase or even a one percent increase in tuition on our students.” State law, though, says that “the resident undergraduate tuition per credit hour shall increase at the beginning of each fall semester at a rate equal to inflation, unless otherwise provided in the General Appropriations Act.” It doesn’t specify what happens if a tuition increase included in the budget by lawmakers is vetoed.
TWEET, TWEET: @Bill_Cotterell: Did Gov Scott mean to extend Memorial Day salute on FB from “LtGov Carroll, Ann and I,” or did his office just recycle last year’s greeting?
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4 DEP ATTORNEYS OUSTED, PROMPTING FACEBOOK BACKLASH via Bruce Ritchie of the Florida Current
The removal of four Department of Environmental Protection attorneys this week is raising questions among some environmentalists after one attorney wrote that the DEP legal office is moving “not in the direction of environmental protection.” DEP spokesman Patrick Gillespie said new General Counsel Matthew Z. Leopold, who took over his role April 3, made the reductions because fewer attorneys are needed. In terminating attorneys Christopher T. Byrd and Kelly L. Russell, Leopold wrote, “We believe the objectives of the office will be accomplished more effectively by removing you from your position.”
Byrd, though, wrote on his Facebook page that the new general counsel “is moving in a ‘new direction,’ not in the direction of environmental protection, thanks (Gov.) Rick Scott.” Gillespie said the decision had nothing to do with reducing environmental protection. He provided figures showing the number of enforcement cases had dropped by half since 2008 as have the number of permit applications since 2006.
Nevertheless, Byrd’s comments, shared on various Facebook pages and forums, were met with bitter responses from some environmentalists who complained about the governor and DEP. (Shocking.)
BOARD OF GOVERNORS WELCOMES CARLO FASSI OF UNF AS NEW STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE
The Board of Governors welcomes a new member last week. Carlo Fassi, the student body president of the University of North Florida, was chosen by a group of peer student leaders from across the State University System to serve as the board’s student representative. This role is in concurrence with Fassi’s newly elected chairmanship of the Florida Student Association. Fassi will serve as a full voting member of the 17-member board, which is charged with setting policy for Florida’s 12 public universities.
Fassi, 22, is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in political science with a focus in international relations. He is currently beginning his second term as UNF Student Government president, and has previously held the positions of budget and allocations chair and Student Senate president.
FCAT SCORES MOVE UP OR HOLD CONSTANT via the News Service of Florida
Students across the board improved their marks this year on the state tests for writing, while third-graders boosted or held steady their scores on reading and math, according to the State Department of Education. In writing, 58 percent of students in fourth, eighth and tenth grade got a score of 3.5 or higher on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, up from 54 percent in 2012. But the standard for the test, which is used to calculate grades for schools, is moving up from 3.0 to 3.5; about 81 percent of students met that mark in 2012, and 82 percent this year. On the third-grade reading test, which is used to help determine whether a student moves on to fourth grade, about 57 percent of students scored at Level 3 or above, up from 56 percent in 2012.
About 58 percent scored at that level in math, the same as 2012. The number of students receiving a Level 1 score — which can lead to a student being held back — stayed constant at 18 percent on both tests.
JUDGE DENIES STATE MOTION FOR STAY IN TEACHER PAY LAWSUIT
A federal judge denied a request Friday from state officials to pause a legal challenge to Florida’s performance-pay law for teachers. But U.S. District Judge Mark Walker did give lawyers for Education Commissioner Tony Bennett and the State Board of Education more time to respond to the lawsuit, which has been spearheaded by the Florida Education Association.
The state had argued that the legal challenge could be affected by whether Gov. Rick Scott decides to sign a bill (SB 1664) that would address some of the complaints from the teachers who filed the lawsuit contending the 2011 performance-pay law violates constitutional rights. Relying on statements that lawmakers would likely send Scott the bill in time for him to sign it before the July 1 effective date, Walker gave the state until July 8 to respond to the lawsuit.
“Given the fact that defendants are well aware of the issues and the potential changes that could occur, this deadline gives defendants ample time to fashion a meaningful response assuming the Legislature and Governor follow the custom as represented,” Walker wrote. “If the bill is not acted upon by that date, defendants are likewise positioned to file a meaningful response.”
LEGISLATIVE STAFFING MERRY-GO-ROUND
On: Irena Sas as new district secretary to Rep. Lori Berman.
Off: Loren Londner, who has left Berman’s office.
Off: Kathleen Roe has left the office of Rep. Karen Castor Dentel.
POLICY NOTES
>>>The Agency for Health Care Administration will hold a hearing as part of an effort to renew federal approval of what is known as the “MEDS-AD” program in Medicaid. 1 p.m., Agency for Health Care Administration, 2727 Mahan Dr., Tallahassee.
>>>The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice will hold its 12th town hall meeting on proposed reforms to the juvenile justice system. 6 p.m. Dr. Carrie D. Robinson Community Center, 2990 Edison Avenue, Fort Myers.
>>>The Florida Sterling Council will hold an education summit that will look at issues facing Florida’s schools, universities and communities. Among the expected speakers are state Sen. Bill Montford; University of South Florida President Judy Genshaft; Glenn Good, dean of the University of Florida College of Education; and Jon Schnur, a former education advisor to President Obama and President Clinton. 7:30 a.m, JW Marriott Orlando Grande Lakes, 4040 Central Florida Parkway, Orlando.
>>>The Medical Care Advisory Committee, a panel that reviews issues related to the Medicaid program, will meet. 1 p.m., Agency for Health Care Administration, 2727 Mahan Dr., Tallahassee.
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TWO POLITICAL STUDIES POSE BROW-RAISING INSIGHTS by contributor Karen Cyphers
Hey weekenders, put down your cold one and check out some perplexing pearls of political insight from two recent studies; or on second thought, keep that beer nearby. The first study was pretty straightforward. Researchers found a link between a man’s upper-body strength and their political views: the greater the bicep, the more right wing the political stance, with weaker men are more likely to support the welfare state. The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, collected data from people in the US, Argentina and Denmark, and controlled for socioeconomic status and other factors. Lead researcher Michael Peterson sees a link between politics and ‘natural selection’ within human evolutionary history. No links were found among women between upper-body strength and opinions on redistribution, but that’s not surprising: bicep size is not a great measure of a woman’s fitness. So, Republican operatives, you know what this means… right? Get your voters pumping iron and they’ll be more likely to see things your way.
The next study was all about women: specifically, what makes women feel more or less confident when called to political action. Published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, the study had individual men and women deliver speeches in front of panels of strangers. On the back wall, behind the audience, hung a picture of either Bill or Hillary Clinton. Overall, men spoke longer and were judged as better speakers than women — except for the group of women who spoke while seeing Hillary’s face. These women spoke longer and were judged as significantly more confident when conveying their message. Women primed with Hillary’s image also rated themselves more favorably after speaking. ‘Confidence’ is not among the words I would choose when describing my own emotional reaction to Mrs. Clinton’s image; but, that said, who doesn’t like a cool experiment?
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JIMMIE SMITH FUNDRAISER SET FOR JUNE 12
The re-election campaign for Rep. Jimmie Smith continues with a Wednesday, June 12, fundraiser hosted by Speaker Designate Steve Crisafulli, Chairman Richard Corcoran, and Rep. Jose Oliva. You can join them in Tallahassee at the Governor’s Club, Capital Room, at noon.
KEN ROBERSON LOOKS TO HAVE HIS LAST YEAR IN A HOUSE SEAT LOCKED UP via Jeff Henderson of Sunshine State News
As summer begins, Rep. Ken Roberson appears in excellent shape as he seeks a fourth and final term next year in the Florida House.
… After winning his seat in 2008, Roberson utterly routed Democratic candidate Andrew Saltman in 2010, taking 66 percent of the vote. Roberson had an even easier go during the 2012 election cycle when he faced no opposition.
… Since filing to run again on Nov. 7 — the day after Election Day — as of March 31, Roberson raised almost $15,000 and spent less than $570.
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ENGAGED: Capital beat reporters Kathleen Haughney of the Sun-Sentinel and Gray Rohrer of the Florida Current
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Richard DeNapoli and lobbyist Clark Smith. And belated wishes to the grandest dame of them all, Marian Johnson.
READING LIST: Double Down: Game Change 2012, the forthcoming book by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, is now available for pre-order.
