A morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.
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OBAMA SHIFTS FOCUS TO IMMIGRATION, ECONOMY via The Washington Post
With several controversies fading and a period of intense foreign travel over, President Obama is narrowing his focus this summer to two issues, immigration and the economy, that could help determine the success or failure of his second term.
On immigration, Obama is devising a new, more public strategy that will include events in states with large Latino populations… — part of an aggressive effort to pressure House Republicans who remain skeptical of proposed changes….”The president also plans a series of summertime events focused on steps the government can take to drive economic growth.
OBAMACARE’S HUSHED FRIDAY RELEASE: CLIMB ABOARD, WE WON’T CHECK YOUR TICKET via contributor Karen Cyphers
In a classic Friday news dump sandwiched between Independence Day and its holiday weekend, the Obama administration issued a 606-page final regulation on the Affordable Care Act, the contents of which make clear why such a day was chosen for its release, which was buried in the Federal Register. For starters, the word “delay” turns up 45 times in the document, according to a Washington Post report — not counting the already announced one-year suspension for the employer mandate — and scales back various policies that are critical to preventing extensive fraud on the taxpayer’s dime.
The big two: HHS will no longer attempt to verify individual income eligibility for health coverage subsidies and will rely on self-reporting with only minimal efforts to verify what people say they earn; and state and federal exchanges will no longer have to verify an applicant’s claim that they do not receive coverage from their employer. To the Wall Street Journal, “ObamaCare is now on the same honor system [as liar loans],” writes the WSJ, “with taxpayers in tow.”
Why? Apparently verification is “not feasible” as a result of “operational barriers” and “a large amount of systems development” which cannot happen prior to October 1, 2013. To the administration, these fundamental changes are nothing more than “slight technical corrections.” But to Forbes contributor Avik Roy, it appears the true motivation behind these … delays … is ensuring that enough Americans enroll onto ObamaCare-sponsored platforms to make it politically impossible to repeal the plan in the future. The administration also postponed until 2015 the requirement that states provide electronic notice of eligibility for people who apply for tax subsidies — but, it seems, that without any real eligibility validations in place, folks should feel fairly confident that they’ll get their desired approval.
CRUZ TO KEYNORE TEA PARTY RALLY IN FLA. — NO MENTION OF RUBIO via Cameron Joseph of The Hill
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will keynote a major Tea Party gathering in Florida hosted by Americans for Prosperity, the group announced on Monday, a move that will further fuel speculation about his potential interest in running for president. Cruz, who has fast become a Tea Party favorite, will join Sen. Ron Johnson and conservative commentator Michelle Malkin at the event, scheduled for Labor Day weekend in Orlando. Interestingly, Sen. Marco Rubio has been previously announced as a speaker at the event, but was not mentioned in the group’s release announcing Cruz. The Texas senator is making all the necessary moves ahead of a potential presidential run: He’s also set to visit Iowa twice this summer, and has already been to South Carolina.
RUBIO’S PATHETHIC RICK PERRY MOMENT via Joan Walsh of Salon
Rubio’s membership in the “Gang of Eight” will likely help him with one powerful GOP constituency: big business. But the toll it has taken on the right, without providing gains among Latinos, could be deadly to his national ambitions. Ann Coulter has called Rubio “the Dr. Kevorkian of the Republican Party,” while Glenn Beck says he’s “a piece of garbage,” and at a Tea Party anti-immigration rally last month, people carried signs calling him “Obama’s idiot.”
So now Rubio is making a bold move to win back some of his far-right base: He’s going to be the primary sponsor of a Senate bill imposing a 20-week abortion ban, to match the one pushed through by his Tea Party buddy Trent Franks in the House. No matter that it can’t pass the Democratic controlled Senate, and President Obama says he would veto it if it should ever reach his desk; no matter that it’s also unconstitutional. Rubio can see how being an antiabortion crusader revived the political standing of once-shamed Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and he’s going to try it himself.
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GWEN GRAHAM RAISES $375K DURING FIRST QUARTER ON THE TRAIL via the Tallahassee Democrat
Democrat Gwen Graham raked in an impressive $375,000 during her first three months of fundraising in her campaign to unseat GOP congressional incumbent Steve Southerland in 2014.
Figures released by her campaign Monday also show the former Leon County Schools administrator had roughly $300,000 in her campaign account as of July 1.
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PATRICK MURPHY HAS ALREADY BANKED $1 MILLION FOR 2014 CAMPAIGN via George Bennett of the Palm Beach Post
Murphy’s campaign says its second-quarter Federal Election Commission report, due next week, will show more than $520,000 raised between April 1 and June 30 and more than $1 million in cash on hand for what is expected to be one of the nation’s costliest House races.
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RPOF ANNOUNCES ADDITION OF KEY STAFF FOR DATA, VOTER CONTACT, AND DIGITAL EFFORTS
The Republican Party of Florida, in conjunction with the Republican National Committee, is pleased to announce the hiring of Tim Saler, who will serve as Deputy Executive Director for Political Strategy; John Vinson as the Republican National Committee’s State Director for Florida; and Andrew Abdel-Malik as Director of Digital Strategy. Saler is responsible for guiding RPOF efforts on voter data, targeting, analytics, and voter contact programs. Vinson is responsible for directing field operations in the 2014 cycle. Abdel-Malik is responsible for overseeing and executing RPOF digital marketing and technology initiatives.
Saler has served as Director of Strategy at the Republican Party of Wisconsin, National Turnout Director at the Republican National Committee, Executive Director of the Mississippi Republican Party, North Carolina Victory Director for the RNC, and South Jersey regional field director for Chris Christie’s gubernatorial campaign. Vinson was campaign manager for Chip Limehouse’s congressional campaign. Previously he was Deputy Victory Director in Florida during the 2012 Presidential campaign, Regional Victory Director in Wisconsin for Scott Walker’s successful 2012 recall victory and a Field Director in Iowa for Tim Pawlenty’s presidential campaign. He is a fifth generation Floridian and native of Tarpon Springs. Abdel-Malik most recently served as the Digital Director for the Michigan Republican Party. Abdel-Malik previously served as Victory Budget Director at the Republican National Committee, overseeing the allocation of $160M for the committee’s political operation. As a member of the RNC digital team, Abdel-Malik conceived the first political Open Graph Facebook application. Abdel-Malik has worked on several gubernatorial and U.S. Senate campaigns in New York, the Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign and the RNC in the 2006 cycle. He got his start in politics on the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign, and holds a B.Sc. in Economics from The George Washington University.
SCOTT, ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL, SAYS: ‘WE HAVE TO TELL OUR STORY’ via Steve Bousquet of the Tampa Bay Times
Gov. Scott visibly stepped up his re-election campaign activity with a string of weekend events in North Florida.
On a rainy and stormy afternoon, about 100 people crowded into the Circle Grill, a restaurant locally renowned for its fried shrimp. Scott worked the crowd, posed for pictures and touted his record of reducing debt and unemployment, getting the budget back in the black and creating jobs. The candidate who ran against the Republican Party machine the first time, in 2010, also went out of his way to introduce state Republican Party staffers Tim Saler and Susan Hepworth, who were on the trip.
“We’re going to have another race,” Scott said. “These elections have consequences. We have to show up. We have to tell our story … If we don’t tell our story, then it’s our fault if everybody doesn’t vote our way. Everybody should be a Republican.”
Scott’s chief of staff, Adam Hollingsworth, tagged along on the Sunday campaign swing, which included a brief stop at Holmes Correctional Institution in Bonifay.
Jackson County is very dependent on state government for employment, and some at the Circle Grill said Scott’s paring of the work force and his support for privatization in the prison system will require some explaining on the campaign trail.
SCOTT’ STRATEGY TO DEFEAT CRIST IN ONE VIDEO via David Royse of the News Service of Florida
The theme of Gov. Scott’s campaign against former Gov. Charlie Crist, the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat, has been clear for months now: Whether you like Scott personally or not, “it’s working.” And when Crist was governor from January 2007 to January 2011, it wasn’t. And for anyone who doubted that was going to be the knock on Crist, the newest Republican Party of Florida web video should remove any doubt. The video is part of the RPOF’s feature “This Deek in Crist-ory.” Watch here.
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ASSIGNMENT EDITORS: Gov. Scott will attend and deliver remarks at today’s Flagler County Lincoln Day Dinner. 6:30 p.m. The Grand Club at Pine Lakes. Palm Coast.
CRITICS SAY SCOTT GIVING ‘GREAT FLORIDIAN’ AWARDS TO DONORS via WFTV Orlando
“This governor came from the business world, and in business marketing what you try to do is associate your business with a positive image,” said Rollins College political science professor Dr. Rick Foglesong.
But beyond the sports celebrities, two names on the list also have financial ties to either the governor or to Republican fundraising.
Wayne Huizenga, the south Florida businessman who helped bring the Florida Marlins baseball team and Florida Panthers hockey team to the state, is part of the class of 2013. While he is best known for his businesses, including Blockbuster Video and Auto Nation, he is also a major Republican donor, having given more than $400,000 since 2010.
Betty Sembler is a founding member of Starlight Inc., a nonprofit drug treatment program, her work to prevent drug abuse is listed as the reason for her inclusion on this year’s list, however, she and her husband Mel Sembler have given more than $25,000 to Republican campaigns and PACs since 2010 according to state records.
… While the cost to taxpayers is nominal, critics say by packing in so many celebrities and donors, the governor is diminishing the importance of the award by turning it into a political tool as he prepares for re-election.
SEARCH FOR LG WILL BE ‘INTERNAL’ via Steve Bousquet of the Tampa Bay Times
Scott said Monday that the search for his new lieuteuant governor will be headed by chief of staff Adam Hollingsworth, and he emphasized it will be “internal” with no vetting by outsiders.
“We’re starting the process now,” Scott said, speaking to reporters at the Governor’s Mansion.. “We’ll take the right amount of time because we want to get the right person that would do a great job at this.”
Scott said Hollingsworth will first develop the criteria for the ideal candidate. The post has been vacant since March 12 when Jennifer Carroll resigned.
The Sunshine State News reported last week that former Senate President Mike Haridopolos, who is now a lobbyist, was assisting in the vetting of LG hopefuls, but Scott would not confirm the accuracy of the report.
“The process is an internal process,” Scott said. “It won’t be done externally.”
THE RICK – RICK MAN-CRUSH COMES TO AN END
Upon news that Rick Perry will not seek reelection as Texas’ governor for a fourth time, Gov. Scott took the chance to elbow his Republican counterpart, as the two have been known to do in what some have seen as the perfect political bromance.
Alike in most ways but with rather different approval ratings in doing so, Perry and Scott have sparred over which governor can lure more jobs to their respective state from less business-friendly neighbors. And both have succeeded.
Scott recruited Hertz; while Perry lured Paul Mitchell, the hair care magnate, leading Perry to jab that Scott wouldn’t know much about it: “You don’t waste any time in the morning working on your hair, brother.”
Perry does have rather famous hair up top, and to Scott, he will leave “Texas-size boots” for his successor to fill.
Scott warned Perry to tell his successor that it’s just a matter of time before the Sunshine State surpasses the Lone Star to be number one in job creation. And if he can succeed at that, Scott’s $0 per year job in the governor’s mansion is perhaps the most valuable for Florida to keep.
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FLORIDA’S $9.76 MILLION CABINET via Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida
Cabinet members — Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam — are now collectively worth $9,756,748, up a little more than $900,000 from a year earlier, according to newly filed financial-disclosure reports.
Putnam, whose wealth is tied to the family owned Putnam Groves, continues to be the fiscal pacesetter, with his net worth up to $7.2 million, an increase from $6.49 million in 2011. His net worth had dipped from $6.8 million in 2010, when he was elected commissioner.
Collectively, the trio was worth $8,846,996 a year ago.
Atwater reported a net worth of $1,743,229 in 2012, up from $1.6 million when he ran for the statewide office in 2010.
As with Putnam, the increase shows up in part through a rise in the stock market. A Northern Trust IRA account — which includes investments in AT&T, Conoco Phillips, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Pepsico, Phillips 66 and Proctor & Gamble stock and more than $16,000 in gold — is valued at $1.076 million.
Bondi’s worth has jumped from $472,696 in 2010, while a candidate for state office, to $780,871 and included a $107,000 increase from a year ago.
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FLORIDA MILITARY BASES ON THE AGENDA
The Florida Defense Alliance holds its semi-annual meeting in Pensacola, beginning today at 10 a.m. and through Wednesday. The meetings will be at the Naval Air Station Pensacola. A copy of the meeting itinerary can be found here.
PSC MEETING TODAY
The Public Service Commission meets 9:30 a.m. Tuesday for a commission conference to consider approval of three items, which include a request by Tampa Electric Co. to complete a special contract with a potential new customer that is considering building a large manufacturing facility in TECO’s service area. The agenda can be found here.
STORY I JUST COULD NOT GET TO: “Service Estimates Economic Impacts of Critical Habitat Designation for Cape Sable Thoroughwort in South Florida”
TAMPA AND MIAMI IN COLD WAR OVER CUBAN TRADE via Eric Barton of the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Quietly at first, and now quite publicly, the city of Tampa has courted Cuba in hopes of becoming its future trading partner. Business owners in Tampa talk of how they’ll capitalize when the island opens up, and politicians make trips there and have come out against the embargo.Things are far different across the state in Miami. Elected officials there favor the trade embargo. Business leaders, fearful of retribution, rarely speak about future trade with the island nation. Miami may seem poised to benefit most when the embargo ends, with its close proximity and muchnlarger Cuban-American population. There are 982,758 people of Cuban ancestry in the Miami metro area, compared to 81,542 in the Tampa Bay area. But Tampa has spent the past decade on a careful plan to build relationships with Cuban officials. It began more than a decade ago … Continue reading this excellent column here.
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KATHLEEN PETERS SPEARHEADS MULTIMEDIA AWARENESS CAMPAIGN ON HOMELESSNESS
Rep. Peters, along with the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Homeless Leadership Board are spearheading a social media campaign to change the public perception of homelessness, and are doing so through a unique alliance between Pinellas County and the Art Institute of Tampa. The partners announced their endeavor in a press conference Monday morning, where Peters spoke alongside Pinellas County Public Defender Bob Dillenger, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, Clearwater Chamber president Bob Clifford, and Homeless Leadership chairwoman Carlen Petersen. Art Institute leaders David Konitzer and Jennifer Peterson expressed their support and energy for the program, which will involve collaborative marketing strategies in multiple disciplines such as film, graphic design, web and digital media. Honors students will be guided by faculty to put creative skills behind the campaign. Peters and other stakeholders feel that one of the most difficult homeless groups to assist is the “invisible homeless”, such as single mothers living in the shadows from fear of losing their children for charges of neglect, runaway teens who are couch surfing, and others. Of the approximately 6,000 homeless in Pinellas County, about 38 percent are children.
MARIA SACHS TO REFILE PARASAILING LEGISLATION via the News Service of Florida
State Sen. Maria Sachs intends to refile legislation that would put more regulations on the parasailing industry. “It’s clear we need basic regulations in place to prevent accidents to tourists and Floridians who go parasailing,” the South Florida Democrat said in a Twitter message Monday.
Sachs sponsored a bill (SB 64) last session that would have required parasail operators to carry $2 million in insurance, prohibited operations when wind gusts exceeded 25 miles per hour or when wind speeds exceeded 20 mph for more than two minutes, or in rain, fog or when lightning was within seven miles. The bill failed to advance beyond the Commerce and Tourism Committee. Similar measures failed in 2011 and 2012. “Since (1998) there’s been 33 parasailing accidents in Florida alone,” Sachs wrote. “This is ridiculous, we can do better to protect our tourists and Floridians.”
Sidney Good and Alexis Fairchild, both 17, have been at Bay Medical Center in Panama City since July 1, when a parasail they were in broke loose from its tether, and strong winds sent them into a condominium and several cars in a parking lot. The 2013 bill had been named after Kathleen Miskell, a 28-year-old Connecticut woman who died last August after she fell from a harness while parasailing over the ocean off Pompano Beach, and Amber May White, 15, of Belleview, who died in 2007 after a line snapped on a parasail, resulting in her hitting the roof of a hotel.
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ENDORSEMENTS
Rep. Ross Spano endorsed Blaise Ignoglia for House District 35.
PATRONIS STOPPED RAISING MONEY EARLY via the News Service of Florida
Though state Rep. Jimmy Patronis created a splash last week when he announced he would not run for the Senate in 2016, a newly filed campaign-finance report shows he stopped raising money in early June.
The Panama City Republican raised only $2,800 during the second quarter of the year, after raising $90,585 during the first three months. Also, the new report indicates Patronis did not raise any money after June 4. Patronis announced last week he would not run in 2016 for the Senate District 1 seat, short-circuiting what had been expected to be a heated GOP primary against Rep. Matt Gaetz of Fort Walton Beach. Patronis, who will leave the House in 2014 because of term limits, cited family reasons for his decision. Gaetz’s second-quarter contribution totals had not been posted to the state Division of Elections website Monday afternoon. Gaetz hopes to succeed his father, Senate President Don Gaetz in the Panhandle district.
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MIKE HARRELL, MARNIE GEORGE JOIN PENNINGTON’S LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS TEAM
Pennington P.A. announced Monday the addition of Michael Harrell and Marnie George to the firm’s Governmental and Legislative Affairs team. Harrell has been named senior government affairs consultant and George has been named government affairs consultant.
Prior to joining Pennington, Harrell was with Foley & Lardner LLP where he headed up the Florida Public Affairs Practice Group for seven years. Previously he was the managing partner of Capitol Resources Florida, LLC and founder and president of The Harrell Group, LLC, a multi-faceted governmental relations firm specializing in executive and legislative affairs, as well as procurement consulting. George has vast experience working with the legislative process. She enjoys an outstanding reputation for honesty and integrity and has developed many bipartisan relationships with staff and elected officials on numerous issues.
SAM RASHID CLOSE TO BEING NAMED TO HILLSBOROUGH AVIATION AUTHORITY BOARD
Chances are particularly good that Gov. Rick Scott will appoint Republican political activist Sam Rashid to the Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, the group that oversees Tampa International Airport.
A source close to the situation says Rashid is the leading contender over 20 well-qualified applicants.
A Hillsborough County businessperson, Rashid is also a well-known fundraiser for the GOP. The 51-year-old Valrico resident is CEO of Holtec USA, the American division of a German manufacturer of specialized lumber production equipment.
Dr. Joseph Diaco, a Charlie Crist appointee, previously held the now-open Aviation Authority seat. Amid rumors he would not be reappointed after his term ended July 1, Diaco sent a letter to the governor declining to reapply for the position.
Diaco’s departure leaves two positions Scott will need to fill on the Aviation Board.
Tampa International is in the process of an $841 million expansion, part of a makeover expected to develop over the next 20 years. Plans include a 1.3-mile elevated system connecting the main terminal to a merged rental car facility on the airport’s south side, as well as 50,300 square feet of additional space in the terminal.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY to PR maven April Salter. My apologies for missing devoted reader Jason Kendall’s birthday this past weekend.
