Sunburn – The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.
By Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Mitch Perry, Ryan Ray, and Jim Rosica.
SUNBURN READERS — HOW ARE YOU SPENDING THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS? WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE HOLIDAY TRADITIONS? Email me at [email protected] and we will share with your fellow readers in our special Christmas edition of Sunburn.
INFLUENCE MAGAZINE – THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT Subscribe here – INFLUENCE is what a magazine would look like if George Magazine had been about Florida politics … Complete your Christmas list with a one-year subscription to INFLUENCE Magazine for only $25.
DID YOU KNOW THAT TODAY IS FESTIVUS? Via Robb Crocker of ABC News – The holiday falls on December 23 – so get ready for “A Festivus for the rest of us” … You’ll need a Festivus pole … There will be the Airing of Grievances … A Festivus Dinner must be served … Festivus enthusiasts incorporate some of the food that was referenced to in the episodes of Seinfeld … Make sure you put some time in at the gym; otherwise, you won’t be ready for the Feats of Strength … the holiday is not over until the head of the household has been pinned.
THIS HOLIDAY SEASON IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THESE FLORIDA LOBBYISTS AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATIONS
The 2015 holiday season marks a quiet before the storm in Florida politics, before the lawmakers and lobbyists take over Tallahassee in January and the high drama of Jeb Bush vs. Marco Rubio and the rest of the GOP presidential field reaches its primary crescendo.
So this year, before the annual rites and rituals of “The Process” come to the forefront with visions of appropriations spreadsheets replacing the sugarplums dancing in our heads, the celebrations and good times with friends and family promise to be even dearer.
For now, we take note of and memorialize the people who again will animate the Capitol and the campaign trail after taking time off this month, whether to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or any another winter holiday. After all, it’s about the organizations and individuals who comprise them that keep the political wheels turning behind the scenes to ensure we keep the holiday spirit alive year after year.
Let’s begin with the big retailers – some online, some just down the street – whose products are gifted and re-gifted and exchanged and returned, opened beneath trees and around menorahs, at office gift exchanges, and in the sharing of charity with strangers.
Three partners share responsibility for lobbying Florida lawmakers for Amazon.com, the nation’s largest online retailer: Brian Ballard, Carol Bracy and Mathew Forrest; and one firm, Metz, Husband & Daughton, keeps the political boat a’sail for eBay in Florida waters. Thank Jim Daughton, Warren Husband, Aimee Diaz Lyon, Steve Metz, Andy Palmer, Patricia Green, Ally Liby-Schoonover, and Gregory Black for that.
New media practitioner Justin Sayfie has been joined by Ballard and Jan Gorrie as well as in-house advocates Ron Barnes and Joseph Dooley in representing Google, the search engine that most likely brought you to those Amazon or eBay products.
The retailers also pack some influence muscle as well – Gov. Rick Scott himself personally announced the addition of 2,000 new Florida jobs when Amazon expanded in the Tampa Bay area. Some of that pull is doubtless related to the retailer’s political contributions. So far in the 2016 election cycle, Amazon has raised $607,595 and spent $133,827, backing congressional candidates to the tune of $95,500 from its PAC, 52 percent to Republicans, and 48 percent to Democrats.
CBNC reported that as of the Friday before Christmas, nearly a fifth of all Americans had not begun to shop for the holidays. That’s going to mean some serious visits to brick-and-mortar shopping emporiums for those without the luxury of waiting for goodies to be delivered.
Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy share the distinction of being giants both in the in-person and online retail worlds. For its Florida political needs, Target works with David Griffin, Marlene Quintana, Todd Steibly, Robert Stuart and Jason Unger of GrayRobinson, as well as Sean Pittman among others; Best Buy with Chip Case alone; and Wal-Mart with a rock-star team including Michael Corcoran, Jeff Johnston, Matthew Blair, Michael Cantens, and Amanda Stewart.
Then there’s the organization making it click – literally, and figuratively – in Florida’s universe of all things consumer: the Florida Retail Federation, which is repped by Johnston & Blanton, as well as staffed in-house by Melissa Joiner Ramba, Samantha Padgett and many more to make it happen in Tallahassee.
But, wait! How can we be talking about the holidays without looking at who works on behalf of their spiritual core, the proverbial “reason for the season”?
Representing the Florida Catholic Conference are three ecclesiastical and political experts: Ingrid Delgado, James Herzog, and Michael Sheedy. With the Florida Association of Jewish Federations, you have Mario Bailey, Bernie Friedman and Yolanda Cash Jackson to thank for their commitments, too. David Barkey also lobbies in Florida on behalf of the Anti-Defamation League, fighting antisemitism and promoting religious tolerance.
The pro-Israel American Israel Public Affairs Committee, better known as AIPAC, wields tons of influence among Florida politicians and residents, spending over $2.5 million for federal lobbying so far this year, down from their high of nearly $3.1 million in 2014. Though the Legislature is generally considerate of their interests, AIPAC employs no lobbyist at the state level.
This month, Gov. Rick Scott joined Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and CFO Jeff Atwater in illuminating a Florida-grown Leland Cypress at the Capitol. It was felled at Powell Tree Farm in Jackson County. For other Floridians, Christmas trees are brought to you by – at least when it comes to the political side of the industry – lobbyists Lee Ann Fisch, Alan Shelby and Jim Spratt who represent the Florida Forestry Association.
December is also the “most wonderful time of the year” for the people who make possible the comforting annual blizzard of holiday greeting cards.
The Greeting Card Association does its part on the national scene, spending about $100,000 for lobbying – but it’s FedEx that registers as a true heavy hitter in its annual political activity. The firm’s 2016 PAC has raised $1,270,982 and spent $1,415,087 as of December, ahead of next year’s elections.
In Florida, FedEx is represented by lobbyist Duple Jantelle Travillion; rival UPS has on hand a two-person team in Steve Uhlfelder and Toni Large of Uhlfelder & Associates.
And what could be a more fitting Florida Christmas tradition than a trip to “The Happiest Place on Earth”?
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts employs a high-powered stable of nearly 50 influence professionals in Tallahassee, from big-time principals such as Paul Bradshaw, David Browning, Towson Fraser, Jim Smith, and Christopher Dudley of Southern Strategy Group, and Capitol Insight’s Dean Cannon, Larry Cretul, Cynthia Lorenzo, Kirk Pepper, Richard Reeves, and Joseph Salsverg, to boutique shops like that of strategist and comms expert Steve Schale. Disney makes its mark on federal elections, too. So far in 2016, the entertainment conglomerate has raised $271,283 and spent $186,032 in political outlays, including to Republican members of Congress Ron DeSantis, Dan Webster, and Ander Crenshaw as well as Democrats Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Ted Deutsch.
Which reminds us – since political gift-giving is prohibited for state lawmakers during Session, from January to March, the holiday season is a last chance to double-check your list of pols and gift wrap any political contributions.
Of course, for the 21 and over crowd, it’s not New Years Eve without a little bubbly. The spirits industry continues to take an active interest in Florida politics, and their influence shows.
Southern Wine & Spirits of America keeps some top-shelf lobbying pros in their employ, including David Ramba and Michael Abrams, Monica Rodriguez and Brian Ballard of Ballard Partners. So does ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, whose go-to influencers in Tallahassee are the inimitable Sarah Bascom and Scott Dick of SKD Consulting.
The Distilled Spirits Council also moves its bones in a major way in Washington, D.C., doling out some $117,952 in the most-recent election cycle – including Sarasota’s own U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan – and lobbying to the tune of $5,670,000 in 2014, good for No. 74 overall out of 3,514 federal players.
And whether you’re watching the wee ones or celebrating with your fellow grown-ups, who doesn’t like to ring in the new year with a few pyrotechnics?
The American Pyrotechnics Association has been successful in getting rule makers to relax regulations on fireworks. Only three states still have a total ban on do-it-yourself displays: Delaware, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Toward that end the group has spent about $16,000 in federal contributions through a PAC and $23,000 on lobbying efforts.
FLORIDA’S CAPITOL LESS FESTIVE WITHOUT COMPETING NATIVITY, SATANIC DISPLAYS via Arek Sarkassian of the Tampa Tribune –A Rainbow Gay Edition of the Festivus pole will likely stand on its own in the Florida Capitol … Florida Prayer Network opted this year to turn the other cheek … In response, the Satanic Temple also opted to stand down. “Without a nativity display we haven’t been properly motivated to apply for a display of our own,” Doug Mesner, of the Satanic Temple, said in an email. “Should the decision to not set up a nativity be reversed at any point, however, we have a beautiful display at the ready.” The Florida State University group responsible for the Flying Spaghetti monster could not make time to install its display … Freedom From Religion Foundation banner was nowhere to be found … That leaves the … Festivus pole to stand tall in front of the cavernous hallway toward … Scott’s office.
GAS DROPS IN TIME FOR 100 MILLION TRAVELERS via the Sarasota Herald-Tribune – … the statewide average was … $2.03, while the national average price was hovering just above $2 … AAA data shows … the number of year-end holiday travelers will top 100 million for the first time on record, meaning nearly one in three Americans will take a trip this holiday season … 100.5 million people will journey 50 miles or more from home. If that prediction holds, it would be a 1.4 percent increase from last year and the seventh consecutive year of growth.
NUISANCE OR NICE? FLORIDA FAMILY’S HOLIDAY LIGHTS FRAZZLE NEIGHBORS via Barbara Liston of Reuters – When it comes to holiday decorations, Kathy and Mark Hyatt go to extremes … they transform their home in Plantation … into a 200,000-light spectacle, with Santas, reindeer and candy canes blanketing the lawn … The reaction of some neighbors and their city? Bah humbug! “This is a war zone, all because of the ego of that guy,” said neighbor Rafael Imbert … The city of Plantation, about 30 miles north of Miami, is seeking to shut down their display that it deems a public nuisance. The couple is not backing down … Plantation sued the Hyatts in 2014 on the grounds that the “carnival-like atmosphere” was incompatible with the neighborhood. A trial has been set for April.
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MOST RIDICULOUS PARAGRAPH OF THE DAY via Susan Page of USA Today: “Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, says he’s getting “a lot” of encouragement to launch another White House bid from Republicans concerned about the prospect of Donald Trump as the 2016 GOP nominee.”
POLL DU JOUR: Donald Trump tops a new national Quinnipiac University poll of the GOP field with 28%, but Ted Cruz is closing in with 24%. Rubio takes 12%, followed by Carson with 10%, Christie with 6% and Bush with 4%. How the “Diploma Divide” shapes up: Trump leads among voters without a college degree at 30%, followed by Cruz with 26% and Carson with 12%. Trump is also ahead among voters with a college degree at 24%, compared to 21% for Cruz and 19% for Rubio.
NEW POLLING FROM AIF SHOWS DONALD TRUMP STRONG BUT “RACE STILL YOUNG” via Jim Rosica of Florida Politics – Trump [is] sweeping primaries in Florida and early-vote state New Hampshire, and tying with… Cruz in South Carolina. [Pollsters warn] the “race is still young” and “there is still much room for movement for virtually all of the candidates.” More to the point, other focus-group surveys suggest Trump “may have hit his ceiling” … Trump leading New Hampshire with 24 percent, Florida with 29 percent, and coming neck-and-neck with Cruz in South Carolina with 27 percent each. Cruz is in second in both New Hampshire and Florida, according to the polls, and Rubio is in third in all three states … however, Associated Industries of Florida Vice President of Political Operations Ryan Tyson shakes some salt on the numbers. “This data is a snapshot in time and only meant to detail how 2015 is ending … There is still plenty of time for movement within the top-tier candidates and this is evidenced by the soft image ratings of virtually every candidate we surveyed in New Hampshire and South Carolina … The higher a candidate’s ‘very’ percentage, be it favorable or unfavorable, is a gauge of intensity … With that in mind, the image ratings in these early states suggests there is still much room for movement for virtually all of the candidates, and we should expect the persuasion efforts to ramp up dramatically after the holidays” … the GOP race “is essentially a three-way contest between … Trump … Cruz and … Rubio.”
ONLY SIX GOP CANDIDATES LIKELY TO MAKE NEXT DEBATE STAGE via Hadas Gold of POLITICO – … potentially pushing Kasich, Fiorina and Paul out of the main event and into the undercard debate … According to debate criteria that will be announced … host Fox Business Network will consider both early-state and national poll results in deciding which candidates make the primetime forum. That main debate will feature candidates who place in the top six nationally, based on an average of the five most recent national polls recognized by Fox News, or place within the top five based on an average of the five most recent Iowa or New Hampshire state polls recognized by the network. There’s no limit on the number of candidates on the main stage. But according … calculations based on only the national polling available … the primetime debate stage would include Trump … Cruz … Rubio … Carson … Bush and Christie.
JEB BUSH DENIES HE’S LOW-ENERGY: “I WORK 16-HOUR DAYS” via Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed News – Bush says he doesn’t care about … Trump calling him “low-energy” … “I don’t care about; I don’t care about that … I work 16-hour days. My wife doesn’t care about that, she could think of a lot worse thing to say … If you want someone who can fix the damn things that exist in this country, I am your guy, and I don’t think that’s low-energy.”
WHAT NEW HAMPSHIRE IS READING — DAY ON THE TRAIL: BUSH LOOKS TO GAIN GROUND via Elodie Reed of the Concorde Monitor – [If New Hampshire] audience members expected the restrained, low-energy Bush they may have heard about on the news, they were in for a surprise … “Just one other thing, and I’ve got to get this off my chest. Donald Trump is a jerk” … Everyone clapped. Criticizing Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio – while positioning himself as the alternative – is Bush’s newest campaign tool … following a stronger performance in last week’s GOP debate in which he claimed Trump was not a “serious candidate” for president, Bush is re-focusing once again. “So you have this dichotomy of people latching onto him – he’s the guy on the big horse right now,” Bush said … “But when people get serious about this – I don’t think they’re going to consider him a serious candidate. His views on things just aren’t well thought out” … campaigning in New Hampshire is unique and beneficial because of these types of interactions. “It’s a state where you can literally meet almost everybody – that’s a special situation,” he told the Monitor. “The cumulative effect is; you get a sense of what’s on people’s minds. You get a sense of what’s important.”
BUSH PICKS UP SEVERAL LINDSAY GRAHAM BACKERS IN SOUTH CAROLINA via Steve Holland of Reuters – Former U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins, a veteran fundraiser who was Graham‘s state finance chairman, has signed on to help Bush … Nine other members of Graham’s operation have also chosen to help Bush, including three co-chairs of Graham’s state finance operation … Eddie Floyd, Anita Zucker and Bob Royall … In New Hampshire … Bush picked up the support of Pam Patenaude, a former Graham delegate in the state. Graham himself has yet to endorse one of his rivals for the nomination, with six weeks to go until Iowa holds the first nominating contest on the road to the Nov. 8 presidential election.
SUPER PAC TO TOUT MARCO RUBIO’S EFFORTS AGAINST OBAMACARE IN EARLY-STATE AD via Emily Stephenson of Reuters – The pro-Rubio Conservative Solutions PAC will launch a new statewide TV ad in Iowa and New Hampshire today highlighting the senator’s opposition to the Affordable Care Act. “On Obamacare, some Republicans gave up. Some talked tough but got nowhere,” the spot’s narrator says, before adding Rubio “conceived and pushed a plan that will all but kill Obamacare.” At $2.2 million, Rubio’s campaign and outside allies are spending more on TV than any other Republican this week.
WHY ISN’T RUBIO WINNING? 5 THEORIES via Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine – Theory No. 1: He’s too lazy. Reporters at the Washington Post and National Review have sussed out the interesting fact that Rubio is spending less time than other candidates pressing the flesh in early primary states. Theory No. 2: He’s in too much of a hurry. Theory No. 3: Republicans know something bad about Rubio. “Those who have looked into Marco’s background in the past have been concerned with what they have found,” a leaked document claims. The Bush campaign is also reportedly spreading allegations of financial impropriety and infidelity. Theory No. 4: Immigration reform has doomed him. Rubio’s erstwhile support for bipartisan immigration reform may well prove to be a major liability in the race. Theory No. 5: He’s too thirsty … Rubio’s abnormally high need for hydration, which has detracted from many of his speeches by causing him to interrupt himself, make slurping noises, or lunge for water bottles on camera.
RUBIO CHOOSES UNTRAVELLED ROAD TO REPUBLICAN NOMINATION via Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg Politics – [Rubio’s] strategy appears to involve unifying the GOP’s establishment wing behind him and siphoning enough votes from … Cruz, to prevent the Texan from consolidating the party’s conservative wing. That would enable Rubio, rather than Cruz, to emerge as the party’s alternative to Trump … But less than six weeks before the first votes of the race will be cast, Rubio has a light footprint in Iowa and New Hampshire compared to some of his chief competitors … Eschewing the kind of labor-intensive retail campaigning that voters in those early-voting states traditionally demand, Rubio is waging a gamble by running a more national- and media-driven campaign. He has also placed a premium on landing wealthy donors, with notable successes. As a result, in New Hampshire, which may be Rubio’s best bet for an early state victory, some Republican voters view him as a man of mystery.
USED NEWS – “Marco Rubio steps up campaigning amid criticism” via Alex Leary of the Tampa Bay Times
BECAUSE … all of these stories ran before Leary’s story: “is Marco Rubio’s Iowa operation strong enough to win?” via Betsy Klein of CNN (November 10, 2015); “Marco Rubio’s N.H. surge is riddled with doubts” via James Pindell of the Boston Globe (Dec. 2, 2015); “Can Marco Rubio even win a primary?” via Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast (Dec. 4, 2015); “Is Marco Rubio a paper Tiger?” via Jamelle Bouie of Slate (Dec. 10, 2015); “Marco Rubio’s turnout operation may shock naysayers” via David Drucker of the Washington Examiner (Dec. 11, 2015); “Marco Rubio’s strategy is utterly baffling” via Andrew Prokop of Vox (Dec. 12, 2015); “Chris Christie attacks Marco Rubio for being hard to find in New Hampshire” via Jeremy Peters of the New York Times (Dec. 12, 2015); “Rubio faces pressure over nontraditional schedule” via Steve Benen of MSNBC (Dec. 14, 2015); “Fretful backers push Marco Rubio to pick a must-win early primary state” via Jeremy Peters of the New York Times (Dec. 17, 2015); “Campaign clock is ticking” via Rebecca Berg of realclearpolitics.com (Dec. 18, 2015); “Marco Rubio is pretty bad at this whole ‘campaigning’ thing” of Heather Digby Parton of salon (Dec. 18, 2015); “Marco Rubio backers confront ‘second thoughts’” via Steve Benen of MSNBC (Dec. 18, 2015); “Rubio campaign’s early state strategy, or lack thereof, is confusing many Republicans” via Doug Mataconis of outsidethebeltway.com (Dec. 18, 2015)
JOE SCARBOROUGH UNLOADS ON RUBIO FOR FUNDRAISING OFF HIM via Jonathan Easley of The Hill – Scarborough [blasted] the presidential candidate for fundraising off remarks he made that were critical of a Rubio ad. Scarborough was mentioned in a Rubio campaign fundraising email that went out Monday morning, which sought to fundraise off Scarborough’s claim that a new Rubio campaign ad was “nativist” … “Here’s a guy that flies around in private jets every day, and he has for years … Here’s a guy that sits in luxury suites At Miami Dolphins football games, and other football games around America. Here’s a guy that got paid $800,000 by a massive powerful Manhattan publishing company for a book … and he’s got the guts to go on and lift a line out of this nativist playbook?”
EMAIL I REGRET OPENING: “Marco as Garfield” via American Bridge because, well, this:
INSIDE RUBIO’S VEGAS: WHERE THE SON OF A BARTENDER STARTED via Tim Mak of the Daily Beast – Driving through the working-class, northern Las Vegas neighborhood where … Rubio grew up … you get the sense that—in a slightly different world—Rubio might have become a rising star in Democratic politics instead … Vegas is where Rubio experienced his first case of real racial animus, first saw the reality of urban gang violence, began listening to R&B to fit in with the locals, and convinced his family to go to a Catholic church (rather than the Mormon church it had previously attended) … was also where Rubio got his first taste of labor politics, when his father and other members of the Culinary Worker Union held a strike over wages and working conditions in 1984. Rubio helped support the strike, which was located across the street from Sam’s Town, a hotel where his father worked as a bartender … Now a fiscal conservative, Rubio wrote in his memoir that the strike became his “obsession,” helping to walk the picket line, make signs, and block security staff from videotaping the picketers. Rubio even accused his father of selling out when he returned to work despite the strike after money ran low … a fact that he’s ashamed of now.
TED CRUZ SUPER PAC TWEAKS RUBIO IN NEW AD via Katie Glueck of POLITICO –The minute-long spot, called “Trust,” … produced by Keep the Promise I, in collaboration with Keep the Promise PAC, part of a cluster of super PACs supporting [Cruz’s] presidential bid. The ad … also takes an oblique swipe at Rubio … “Who actually has stood up not just to Democrats, but to leaders in our own party?” Cruz says in the spot … followed by an image of Rubio’s face, as well as that of … Mitch McConnell … “He’s not afraid to say the honest truth, even from the Senate floor, even if it’s unpopular,” says one voter. “He has been consistent on every issue,” says another.
CRUZ’S VIEW OF THE RACE: IOWA LOCKED UP, IMMIGRATION AT THE FORE, AND A LOOMING BATTLE WITH MARCO RUBIO via Tim Alberta of the National Review – Cruz can see himself on a collision course with Rubio, barreling toward a head-to-head battle … that is, if Rubio can deliver on his end of the deal … [Cruz] says he has consolidated the conservative “lane” of the race … suggests that his rival is “hiding from the grassroots” and running for president “from a TV studio” … clearly believes Rubio is best positioned to consolidate the other lane of the race. “Historically, conservatives have outnumbered moderates in the Republican party two to one. That has changed. Barack Obama has radicalized the American people. Today in the Republican party conservatives outnumber moderates three to one,” Cruz says.
DONALD TRUMP BEGAN PLANNING BID RIGHT AFTER MITT ROMNEY LOST via Michael Daly of the Daily Beast – Trump applied to trademark the phrase “Make America Great Again” six days after … Obama was elected to a second term … timing suggests that Trump was preparing his latest run for president long before most people imagine. And he was poised to do so while appropriating an old Ronald Reagan slogan as his own … Call it The Art of the Steal … Make America Great Again was a slogan from Reagan’s 1980 campaign, employed prominently in everything from buttons to posters to his acceptance speech at the Republican convention … In that race, Trump contributed to President Carter, not to Reagan.
HE KIND OF HAS A POINT — TRUMP RIPS OBAMA FOR PLAYING ‘MORE GOLF LAST YEAR THAN TIGER WOODS’ via Marissa Payne of the Washington Post – Trump – whose real estate portfolio includes several top notch golf courses – criticized President Barack Obama for playing golf, saying it had gotten in the way of his work schedule. “It was reported today [Obama] played 250 rounds of golf and he’s going to be in Hawaii, I think did they say for three weeks?” Trump said … “Two hundred and fifty rounds, that’s more than a guy who plays in the PGA Tour plays. He played more golf last year than Tiger Woods. We don’t have time for this. We have to work.”
BEN CARSON’S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN BURNS THROUGH CASH via Reid Epstein of the Wall Street Journal – October was the best month of … Carson’s presidential campaign. … Behind the scenes, things weren’t going as well. Internal campaign budget documents … show a political operation hemorrhaging cash. … Carson’s team raised $8.8 million in October and spent $9.5 million. … The budget documents also undermine the Carson campaign’s Nov. 1 claim that it raised $10 million in October … spokesman Doug Watts said he expects the Carson campaign to raise between $23 million and $25 million in the last three months of 2015. … “I don’t know how much we’ve spent … That’s something I hardly ever track.” The Carson budget documents reveal a campaign spending almost all of its financial resources to reach new donors.
AS TV AD RATES SOAR, ‘SUPER PACS’ PIVOT TO CORE CAMPAIGN WORK via Nick Corasaniti and Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times – as ad rates shoot up, super PAC’s that were once funding advertising are paying for more ordinary, day-to-day campaign operations. They’re “de-emphasizing the costly broadcast television buys that had been their main role in past presidential campaigns in favor of the kind of nuts-and-bolts work that candidates used to handle themselves.” The shift away from TV commercials comes after summer advertising blitzes by groups backing … Bush and … Kasich … failed to give them much of a lift and exposed an important weakness: While candidates are guaranteed by law access to the lowest unit advertising rates, super PACs must pay whatever the market will bear. There are also more super PACs than ever, each competing for time slots and driving prices higher. Many super PACs will turn to television soon enough, but even those that have done so already have recognized the need for more than just TV ads.
FLORIDA MAN IS A SUPER PAC FETISHIST via Cady Zuvich of the Daily Beast – “Josh Larose,” usually known to exasperated election regulators as Josue Larose … so far this month created more than 350 political groups—including hundreds of federal super PACs that claim to represent interests ranging from racquetball to the petroleum industry. Since 2010, Larose has registered hundreds upon hundreds of these and other political groups under his name … almost none of Larose’s groups ever generate a dime. He registers super PACs, forms political parties and even runs for political office … actions come to a halt once he files the required paperwork. And more, it creates headaches for the federal and state commissions charged with regulating campaign finance.
EVEN WITH A LATE PRIMARY, FLORIDA REMAINS CRITICAL IN SELECTION OF GOP PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE via Bartholomew Sullivan of the Naples Daily News – Florida will be “make or break” even after two dozen other states have held primaries by mid-March, said John Feehery, former spokesman for GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert … “Whoever wins Florida wins the nomination … It’s early enough in the process to be relevant but it is late enough to be the place where the true contenders compete … It’s also a big state that proves the organizational capabilities of the winning candidate.”
FIRST ON FLORIDAPOLITICS.COM – DAVID SANTIAGO POISED TO LAUNCH CONGRESSIONAL BID via Florida Politics – In recent days, the state House District 27 representative has made phone calls to several Tallahassee-based donors, fundraisers, and lobbyists seeking their support for a campaign expected to get off the ground in early 2016. Buoying Santiago’s ambitions are two internal polls showing him with positive favorability numbers and higher name recognition than the other announced candidates in the race … would be the fourth Republican in that primary, along with Sandy Adams, Adam Barringer, and G.G. Galloway.
CORRINE BROWN WON’T RUN IN WEBSTER’S DISTRICT via Alex Leary of the Tampa Bay Times – Despite speculation … Brown would move toward Orlando to run in a revamped Congressional District 10, the Jacksonville Democrat has filed to run in her district, which is also getting redrawn. “She plans to run in the current district, district 5,” spokesman David Simon said … “I’m sure you know, she does not think the district will change and has filed a federal suit to keep district five’s boundaries as they are.”
— “Charlie Crist sends out nice, nondenominational holiday greeting email” via Kate Bradshaw of Creative Loafing Tampa
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OFFICIAL: VA CHANGES POLICY ON DECLARING VETERANS DEAD via Tamara Lush of the Associated Press – The federal government has acknowledged that it wrongly declared more than 100 veterans dead and suspended their benefit payments, and says it is changing its policy of confirming deaths … Rep. David Jolly … brought the issue to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ attention in a November letter … When officials think a veteran is dead, the department will send a letter to his or her address and request confirmation of the death from a surviving family member, according to a … letter from the VA to Jolly’s office. If the VA doesn’t hear from the family – or from a veteran erroneously believed dead – only then will the department terminate payments.
IT’S OFFICIAL: FLORIDA JOINS THE 20 MILLION CLUB via Craig Pittman of the Tampa Bay Times – According to the U.S. Census Bureau … Florida’s population in 2015 reached 20,271,272. Only California (39,144,818) and Texas (27,469,114) had more people … So where did all those new Floridians come from? About 30,000 were babies. That part is what’s called “natural population increase” — in other words, the number of people born that exceeds the number that died … the bigger increases resulted from hordes of people moving to Florida, despite the fact that it’s the U.S. capital of mortgage fraud and identity theft, not to mention ranking No. 1 for sinkholes, lightning strikes, shark bites and concealed weapons permits.
VIRGINIA BREAKS CONCEALED CARRY DEAL WITH FLORIDA, 24 OTHER STATES via the Associated Press – Concealed handgun permits held by residents of 25 states will no longer be valid in Virginia … attorney general … Mark Herring, a Democrat, said the state will revoke its reciprocity agreement with the states because their concealed weapon laws don’t meet Virginia’s standards. Those states hand out permits to fugitives, convicted stalkers and drug dealers, which undermines the state’s law and puts residents at risk, he said. Virginians will no longer be able to use their concealed handgun permits in six states that require a mutual reciprocity agreement: Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wyoming. Adam Putnam, whose department issues concealed weapon licenses in Florida, said the “real losers … are law-abiding gun owners in half the states in our country.”
GAMING INTERESTS DONATE TO RICK SCOTT AFTER COMPACT DEAL REACHED via Jeremy Wallace of the Tampa Bay Times – Three days after … Scott signed a new gambling agreement … Scott’s Let’s Get to Work political committee reported receiving a $20,000 check from Resorts World Miami – a part of The Genting Group … a new gaming deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida … opens the door to expanded gaming, especially in South Florida where the Genting Group has said it wants to build a casino resort on Biscayne Bay on the former site of the Miami Herald building. Resorts World Miami has given over $120,000 in donations to political players in Florida this year, but the $20,000 donation is the single largest check since the company wrote the Republican Party of Florida a $50,000 check on March 3. Over the past three years, the Seminole Tribe ha
WORST FACEBOOK STATUS OF THE DAY via Matt Gaetz: “All I want for Christmas is to pass Open Carry! One more committee stop in the House and 2 more in the Senate. Session starts in January. Game on.”
>>>I’m not necessarily against Open Carry, but to link it to Christmas? Really Rep. Gaetz. That’s the meaning of the season?
AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY GOES DIGITAL TO KEEP LAWMAKERS IN CHECK DURING HOLIDAYS via Florida Politics – Much like Santa Claus, Americans for Prosperity Florida will be checking its “naughty list” this Christmas. “Typically, lawmakers think they can escape the pressures of calls from their constituents to do what is right over the holidays,” AFP-FL Director Chris Hudson said. “They are wrong if they think their actions will escape taxpayers’ attention this year … In 2016, lawmakers should oppose any and all proposals to use taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars to prop up Tallahassee’s crony special interests.” The group launched an ad and Web page attacking … Scott’s $250 million economic incentives. The site allows constituents to contact their legislator via email asking them to oppose the plan, known as the Florida Enterprise Fund.
LEGAL BRIEFS ORDERED IN SOLAR AMENDMENT REVIEW via Jim Rosica of Florida Politics – The Florida Supreme Court … ordered legal briefs to be filed for a review of … The utility-backed Consumers for Smart Solar is sponsoring the amendment titled “Rights of Electricity Consumers Regarding Solar Energy Choice.” The court asked for briefs by Jan. 11 – the day before the start of the 2016 Legislative Session. Parties then can respond to each other’s briefs by Feb. 1.
APPELLATE COURT QUASHES RULING FOR POST TO REMOVE TEXT OF JAIL CALLS FROM JAIL SNITCH STORY via Daphne Duret of the Palm Beach Post – Florida’s 4th District Court of Appeal released the decision just after Circuit Judge Jack Cox held a brief hearing with Assistant Public Defender Elizabeth Ramsey, who he has charged with contempt of court on allegations that she violated his Nov. 30 order barring attorneys in the case from talking about the jailhouse calls of Frederick Cobia. Prosecutors have used Cobia as an informant in a number of cases where he claims defendants have confessed to him. In the recorded calls that Cox barred from public view, Cobia discusses his relationship with detectives with relatives. Martin Reeder and Bryce Albu, attorneys for The Post … called the move a victory for first amendment rights.
***Liberty Partners of Tallahassee, LLC, is a full-service consulting firm located just steps from the Capitol. The firm specializes in the development and implementation of successful advocacy strategies highly personalized for each client. Team Liberty is comprised of professionals with a track record of successful coalition-building, grassroots efforts and team coordination. The combination of a strong commitment to clients and practical government and private sector experience is why Fortune 500 companies and not-for-profits alike choose Liberty Partners of Tallahassee.***
APPOINTED: Deborah “Debbie” Cox-Roush to the Florida Small Business Development Center Network State Advisory Group.
NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS
Melanie Bostick, Jennifer Green, Thomas Hobbs, Liberty Partners of Tallahassee: Auto Care Association; Wexford Health Sources
Matt Bryan, David Daniel, Jeff Hartley, Jim Naff, Andrea Reilly, Smith Bryan & Myers: Nabors Giblin & Nickerson; Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund
Jordan Connors, Jordan Connors Group: City of Pahokee
MIchael Corcoran, Michael Cantens, Corcoran & Johnston: National Expungement Database Center
L. Kent Gaines, Gate Way Group: First Rule
Robert Reyes, Capitol Group: Ameritas Life Insurance Corporation
Terrence Wolfe, New Century Government Affairs: Florida Association of Student Education Tours; Partnership for a New American Economy Action Fund
NEW ON THE TWITTERS: @Charlie_Gray2, founding director at GrayRobinson law firm.
MIAMI ATTORNEY TO BECOME FLORIDA BAR PRESIDENT IN 2017 via the Associated Press – Michael J. Higer’s term will begin after Tampa lawyer William J. Schifino Jr. serves in the post next year. Both will be sworn in at the Florida Bar convention in June 2016. Higer has been a member of the Florida Bar Board of Governors since 2008 … [His] practice in Miami focuses on commercial litigation.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Chris Dawson, Nikki Lowrey and Mark’s better half, Amy Zubaly.
