Sunburn – The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.
By Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Mitch Perry, Ryan Ray, and Jim Rosica.
DEBATE NIGHT IN AMERICA
It will be the smallest lineup of candidates on stage to date when the GOP candidates for president gather in North Charleston, South Carolina tonight for the latest presidential debate.
The seven candidates who will participate in the prime time event broadcast on the Fox Business Network include Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush and John Kasich.
It will not include Rand Paul, despite the Kentucky Senator’s plea that a Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Poll concluded before the January 10 cutoff but released 36 hours after had him at 5 percent support in Iowa’s Republican caucus – good enough for fifth place and sufficient to get into the prime time encounter.
Paul has said he won’t participate in the “kiddie’s table” debate set for 6 p.m. Eastern, which will include Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum.
This will not be the last debate before the Iowa caucus. Fox News is hosting another GOP encounter on January 28 from Des Moines. That forum will see the return of moderator Megyn Kelly, who was the recipient of intense criticism from Donald Trump after her hard hitting questions angered him at the first debate of the season last August.
Neil Cavuto and Maria Bartiromo will moderate tonight’s prime-time debate; anchors Trish Regan and Sandra Smith will moderate the first debate.
POLL DU JOUR: A new Economist/YouGov national survey finds Trump leading the GOP presidential field with 36%, followed by Cruz at 20%, Rubio at 11% and Carson at 6%. In a three-way race, it’s Trump at 45%, Cruz at 30%, and Rubio at 21%.
JEB BUSH TO DONALD TRUMP: ‘I KNOW WHAT I DON’T KNOW’ via John McCormick of Bloomberg Politics – Bush is starting his campaign appearances with an unusual sentiment for a candidate running for president: telling his audiences that he doesn’t know everything and suggesting that puts him ahead of his top rival. “I know what I don’t know,” were some of the first words the former Florida governor’s uttered at an afternoon appearance Tuesday with about 125 people in Grinnell, Iowa.
BUSH SEES CONSERVATISM AT STAKE IN ’16 via Thomas Beaumont and Steve Peoples of the Associated Press – Bush says he misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters before his White House campaign and believes the country in 2016 is “dramatically different” than in past elections. Yet he insists he’s still a viable candidate, and one who has broadened his mission to include defending conservativism from GOP front-runner … Trump. “I just think it’s important to fight this fight … I don’t know what the consequences politically for me are. But I do think it’s important that the conservative party nominate a conservative, and someone that understands the role of America in the world.”
BUSH GETS PERSONAL IN NEW TV AD FOCUSING ON DAUGHTER’S FORMER ADDICTION via John DiStaso of WMUR – Bush’s campaign … will begin airing a new television ad based on a personal story Bush told at a town hall meeting in Dover last week. It was the story of the problems faced by his daughter, Noelle, who has suffered from drug addiction. The 60-second ad … is part of a $4.6 million buy for the final weeks of the campaign … not only the first paid spot in which Bush talks about his daughter, but it also touches on one of the top issues facing New Hampshire and the nation.
REPUBLICANS WARN BUSH TEAM AGAINST HARMING MARCO RUBIO via Eli Stokols of POLITICO – Increasingly, establishment Republicans worry that … Bush‘s campaign is little more than an ego trip. With the former Florida governor now sitting stagnant in the middle of the pack and his super PAC ratcheting up its attacks on … Rubio, a growing number of Republican centrists are coming to view Bush’s campaign as a distraction — one that could hurt their ability to keep the nomination away from Trump and Cruz.
PRO-RUBIO SUPER PAC PUNCHES BACK AT BUSH’S ‘TRAIN-WRECK’ CAMPAIGN via Patricia Mazzei of the Miami Herald – Conservative Solutions PAC released a video calling Bush‘s campaign a “train wreck.” Its pro-Bush counterpart, Right to Rise USA, has targeted Rubio in a recent spate of Web and TV advertising. “Jeb Bush: After spending millions on his train-wreck campaign, he’s fallen to throwing mud at Marco Rubio,” the pro-Rubio video begins.
ENDORSEMENTS REINFORCE RUBIO’S IMAGE AS THE GOP ESTABLISHMENT CANDIDATE via Ledyard King of USA TODAY – Rubio has tried to fashion himself as anything but a creature of Washington. But with each new congressional endorsement he claims [he] looks more and more like the presidential choice of the GOP establishment … Rubio won the backing of South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy … Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz … and Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe … “He’s got some kind of good momentum building around him,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the Senate’s No. 3 Republican. Thune has yet to endorse anyone. Rubio’s establishment backing is fueled by two factors — his slow and steady rise in the polls (he’s now third in a RealClearPollitics average of national surveys), and concern that if Trump or Cruz wins the nomination, Democrats will take the White House and Republican candidates will suffer in other races.
RUBIO UNLEASHES CONGRESSIONAL SURROGATES AS CLOCK TICKS DOWN TO IOWA via Anna Palmer of POLITICO – Rubio’s campaign is dispatching allies to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina … carrying Rubio’s message that he represents the next era of Republican leadership and presenting him as the face of the party’s future. House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz of Utah hammered that message home at a campaign event last week in Columbia, South Carolina. “It’s time for a change here, and we need a new generation that can articulate these kinds of conservative values … We need somebody who can be that intellectual leader. This country needs somebody who can be that trustworthy conservative who can articulate the aspirations of a new generation.”
BUSH’S PAC IS TROLLING TRUMP. AGAIN. via Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post – Charlie Spies, chief counsel of Right to Rise, the super PAC trying to help elect Bush president, has already demonstrated a knack for writing amazing, troll-y letters to Trump this election. Well, he’s back! Spies forwarded along this complaint, which he just filed with the Federal Election Commission … and which builds Right to Rise’s issues with Trump using corporate resources to benefit his campaign, to me this afternoon … “It was clear before, but is now abundantly clear, that Trump’s misuse of his company’s corporate employees and resources to defend and aid his political candidacy has rendered the Organization and the Campaign as virtually indistinguishable entities. It is remarkable that a candidate fixated on erecting walls refuses to establish any semblance of a wall between his company and his presidential campaign. As we explained in the Initial Complaint, the blurred lines between the Organization and Campaign put Respondents squarely at odds with the Act’s prohibition on a federal candidate’s use, acceptance, direction, or control of corporate contributions and resources in connection with a campaign for federal office.”
TRUMP’S IOWA GROUND GAME SEEMS TO BE MISSING A COACH via Trip Gabriel of The New York Times – Trump, who Iowa polls show is neck-and-neck with … Cruz, may well win the caucuses … But if he does, it will probably be in spite of his organizing team, which after months of scattershot efforts led by a paid staff of more than a dozen people, still seems amateurish and halting, committing basic organizing errors. Some volunteers in charge of turning out supporters to caucus Feb. 1 are given lists of all registered Republicans in their precincts to contact, ignoring the large number of independents and Democrats who appear to be leaning toward Trump. Moreover, the volunteers urge people to caucus regardless of whom they support, which risks turning out voters for Trump’s rivals. Compared with the well-oiled machines of other leading candidates in both parties, particularly that of the Cruz campaign, the Trump ground game in Iowa seems partly an afterthought, as if Trump’s strategy is to leverage his charisma — the appeal that draws thousands to his rallies — to motivate voters.
— “Trump in Pensacola: I’m angry” via POLITICO Florida
CHRIS CHRISTIE WARNS VOTERS: DON’T ELECT A FIRST-TERM SENATOR via Kathleen Ronayne of The Associated Press – “The U.S. Senate is like school,” he told a packed firehouse … “They tell you where to go, what time to show up, what kind of questions you’re going to get … That’s not the way it works when you’re a governor, I can tell you. The issues come at you from every direction at all hours of the day and the night.” Christie‘s remarks were a swipe at Rubio and Cruz, two rising contenders for the GOP nomination. He’s competing in particular with Rubio in New Hampshire, the state where Christie has pinned his presidential hopes. Christie’s pitch centers on his executive experience as governor and a former U.S. attorney.
“GAME CHANGE” AUTHORS TAKE ACT TO SHOWTIME via Mitch Perry of Florida Politics – Mark Halperin and John Heilemann have hosted “With All Due Respect” on Bloomberg Television … the show seems to have found its legs as we near the voting in Iowa (it doesn’t hurt to have Trump bringing more eyeballs to cable news overall) … Now comes a weekly Showtime documentary series, to begin airing this Sunday night, called, “The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth.” It’s a joint effort produced with political consultant Mark McKinnon. “I want the nitty-gritty of how campaigns works. I want access to Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, but I also want the people behind the candidates,” Showtime President David Nevins told POLITICO last month.
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HAPPENING TODAY: Congressman David Jolly, who is currently campaigning for the U.S. Senate, will give a speech to the Central Pinellas Republican Club. Meeting begins 11:30 a.m., 9100 113th St. North in Seminole.
DAVID SANTIAGO ANNOUNCES RUN FOR CONGRESS via Mark Harper of the Daytona Beach News-Journal – The Deltona Republican … describes himself as “a committed conservative” who has experience “fighting for the residents of Volusia County.” The boundaries for U.S. House of Representatives District 6 have been redrawn and now encompass all of Volusia and Flagler counties in addition to parts of Lake and St. Johns. “I will be a voice for repealing Obamacare as we know it, securing our borders at all costs, abolishing the IRS and reforming our broken entitlement system,” Santiago said. He joins a Republican field that includes former New Smyrna Beach Mayor Adam Barringer; Ormond Beach businessman G.G. Galloway; and Brandon Patty, an officer in the Navy Reserves and veteran from St. Augustine. State Rep. Fred Costello … is also considering a run.
NO COLD WAR HERE: DEMOCRATIC RIVALS FOR CONGRESS, CHARLIE CRIST AND ERIC LYNN, OPEN UP ON CUBA via Charlie Frago of the Tampa Bay Times – Lynn, who is battling former governor Crist for the nomination, traveled to the island nation for two days this week … Lynn traveled with his campaign finance chair, Craig Sher. Lynn said he met with Cuban officials in the Foreign and Culture ministries and the top-ranking official at the U.S. Embassy while there to nudge along projects championed by Kriseman and other Pinellas power brokers, including a Cuban art exchange with the Salvador Dalí Museum, an exhibition game in Havana with the Tampa Bay Rays and establishing a Cuban consulate in St. Petersburg. Crist’s position on Cuba has evolved over the years. As governor, he opposed lifting the embargo. But in his unsuccessful 2014 bid for governor … he came out in favor of scrapping the trade blockade, saying it was the right thing to do and would help Florida’s economy. More than a year later, he still hasn’t visited Cuba, said longtime adviser Kevin Cate. But he helped set a precedent with his bold campaign stance on lifting the embargo, Cate said.
DESPITE INTRAPARTY TENSION, STATE SENATORS PONY UP CASH TO FLORIDA GOP via Florida Politics – RPOF’s fundraising totals are their lowest in years. They even failed to double up the Florida Democratic Party, as was standard most years. Observers blamed internecine conflict spurred by the defeat of Scott‘s handpicked party chairman … Scott no longer raises money for the RPOF, while its Senate Victory arm moved out of the party’s headquarters, taking its campaign cash with it. But … some state Senators are giving generously … $2.29 million quarterly totals were bolstered by major checks from committees affiliated with leaders in the legislative upper chamber, including $8,400 from the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. Joe Negron’s Treasure Coast Alliance PAC gave $50,000 on New Year’s Eve, surpassed only by Disney for the largest single check of the quarter … Bill Galvano gave $25,000 … Wilton Simpson gave $25,000 … Jack Latvala‘s Florida Leadership Committee ponied up $20,000. Other senators, such as David Simmons, chipped in smaller donations with their formal campaign accounts. All told, contributions with senatorial origins exceeded $130,000 for the quarter.
HEART DOCTORS OUTRAGED FLORIDA DUMPS HOSPITAL STANDARDS AFTER BIG GIFTS TO GOP via Elizabeth Cohen and Catherine Grise of CNN – Florida is putting thousands of children with heart defects at risk, a group of cardiac doctors say, because of a change in policy that came after Tenet Healthcare contributed $200,000 to Florida Republicans. In a widely publicized investigation in June … a program at a Tenet hospital in Florida had failed to live up to state quality standards for children’s heart surgery. Less than two months later, the state decided to get rid of those standards. That decision came after the giant for-profit hospital chain made contributions to … Scott and his party that dwarfed those the company made to candidates or parties in other states. “The whole situation is outrageous. It’s just outrageous,” said Louis St. Petery, a pediatric cardiologist in Tallahassee and former executive vice president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
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RULING PUTS FATE OF FLORIDA DEATH ROW INMATES IN QUESTION via Jason Dearen and Kurt Anderson of The Associated Press – Convicted killer Michael Lambrix is scheduled to be executed Feb. 11, one of 390 Florida death row inmates whose fate is now in question after the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the state’s method of imposing death sentences. Attorney William Hennis… will seek a new sentencing hearing for Lambrix, who was condemned to die in 1984 for the killings of two people he met at a bar and invited home for a spaghetti dinner. Now the Florida Supreme Court said it will consider arguments for how the new ruling affects his case. The American Civil Liberties Union and American Bar Association have each urged the state to halt current executions until changes can be made and it can be determined how the ruling affects the condemned. The high court took issue with the fact that Florida gives judges the final power to determine a death sentence, saying the Sixth Amendment requires juries to find facts necessary to impose death. “The bottom line is the Florida death penalty system is unconstitutional,” Hennis said … former Miami U.S. Attorney Marcos Jimenez said defense lawyers are likely to argue that the new decision should apply to all Florida death row inmates. “The retroactivity question is difficult, but the short answer is that (the U.S. Supreme Court decision) will apply retroactively at least to all death penalty cases still pending either at the Florida trial court or Florida appellate court level,” Jimenez said. Attorney General Pam Bondiadvised in a statement that the situation of current death row inmates will be reviewed in light of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a “case by case” basis.
FLORIDA ENDS 2015 WITH SOLID JOB GROWTH IN DECEMBER via Florida Politics – The Sunshine State closed out 2015 with a gain of 23,800 jobs in December, according to a report by payroll company ADP. Most of the new jobs were in the service industry, with 2,300 jobs added in the goods-producing sectors. The industry breakdown shows 9,500 jobs went to professional and business services; 3,300 jobs were added in the trade, transportation and utilities sectors; and there were 1,300 new manufacturing jobs for the month. The numbers beat all other states … except California and Texas, which added 30,500 and 26,500 jobs, respectively. The December total also improved from November, when 20,500 jobs were added, and improves on December 2014 by 1,800 jobs.
FLORIDA CHAMBER POLL: JOB CREATION IS TOP CONCERN FOR FLORIDA VOTERS via Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster of Florida Politics – Florida voters’ top concern is job creation and improving the economy … The poll found 15 percent of respondents said education was a top concern for them; while 9 percent said health care was a top concern … 44 percent of respondents said Florida is headed in the right direction, while 34 percent said the state is headed in the wrong direction … 53 percent of voters oppose gambling in Florida. It also found that, if the election were held tomorrow, the medical marijuana amendment would pass, with 74 percent of voters saying they favored the amendment.
CISSY PROCTOR TO CHAMBER CROWD: FLORIDA’S ECONOMY “LEADING THE WAY” via Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster of Florida Politics – Calling business owners the “backbone of Florida growth over the past five years” … Proctor helped kick off the annual Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Capitol Days event … “A strong economy is good for all of us,” said Proctor, newly appointed executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. “We can’t rest now … The momentum we’ve built up over the past five years is really remarkable, and a great way to see how much momentum we have is seeing how we compare to other states. Florida is beating the nation in the Top 10 states in private sector job growth. In fact, Florida has beat Texas eight months in a row now.”
RICHARD CORCORAN SENDS CHAMBER MESSAGE: WE ARE THE ENEMY via Mary Ellen Klas of the Tampa Bay Times – Corcoran didn’t tell the Florida Chamber exactly what he thought of them … but he came close when he suggested that many of them were complicit in the self-interested politics and artificial barriers to free-market competition that has led to voter distrust and the emergence of Trump. “Who is the cause? Who are the problem? It is us. We are absolutely the enemy and the reason we are the enemy, the reason Donald Trump is on the rise, is because we campaign one way and we govern another.” He said that while Republican legislators often campaign as advocates of the free market, once they are elected “and then come up to Tallahassee and all too often we don’t.”
SENATE PASSES STATEWIDE WATER AND NATURAL RESOURCES POLICY via Sunshine State News – Senate Bill 552, sponsored by … Charlie Dean … was crafted to implement a statewide policy to preserve and restore these resources for future generations. The bill requires the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to publish an online, publicly accessible database of conservation lands on which public access is compatible with conservation and recreation purposes … creates the Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act to provide for the protection and restoration of Outstanding Florida Springs (OFSs) … updates and restructures the Northern Everglades and Estuaries Protection Program to reflect and build upon the DEP’s completion of basin management action plans for Lake Okeechobee, the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary, and the St. Lucie River and Estuary … requires additional information related to all water quality or water quantity projects as part of a 5-year work program and requires the Office of Economic and Demographic Research (EDR) to conduct an annual assessment of water resources and conservation lands and modifies water supply and resource planning and processes to make them more stringent.
SENATE VOTES TO GROW, AND RENAME, SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOLARSHIPS via Travis Pillow of RedefinED – SB 672 would codify changes allowing 3- and 4-year olds, children with muscular dystrophy and more students with autism to qualify for Personal Learning Scholarship Accounts. It would also boost funding for the scholarships to $71.2 million and expand higher-education programs for children with special needs. Step Up for Students … helps administer the accounts … the program would be renamed the Gardiner Scholarship, in honor of Senate President Andy Gardiner, who championed the scholarships since they were first created two years ago.
BILL AIMED AT HYDRAULIC FRACKING CLEARS FIRST SENATE COMMITTEE via Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster of Florida Politics – The bill (SB 318), sponsored by Sen. Garrett Richter would require drillers to get a permit for high-pressure well “stimulations,” calls on the Department of Environmental Protection to conduct a study such techniques would have on Florida’s geology, and increases the penalty from $10,000 a day to $25,000 a day for violations. “This legislation does create stringent disclosure laws,” said Richter … “Without this, the status quo is so much worse.” The measure also designates FracFocus, a national chemical disclosure registry, as the state’s chemical registry. The measure also has preemption language that prohibits local governments from having ordinances regulating oil and gas exploration. Zoning laws in place before Jan. 1, 2015, will still be valid.
LARRY AHERN WANTS CONGRESS TO DECLARE WAR ON ISLAMIC TERRORISM via Mitch Perry of Florida Politics – Ahern wants Congress to declare war on al-Qaida, ISIS, ISLE, and “all other Islamic terrorist organizations that similarly engage in acts of terrorism” … “ISIS and Islamic extremism is the single greatest threat to our way of life today,” the Seminole-based representative said in a statement released Wednesday. “It is right that the American government take action to protect its people from these radicals, their ideology and their plans to destroy Western Civilization.” Ahern is sponsoring a memorial (HM 1319) in the House. A companion memorial has been filed in the Senate by … Greg Evers (SM 1710).
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HAPPENING TODAY: The House is scheduled to hold a floor session beginning 4 p.m. in the House chamber of the Capitol.
FATE OF GUNS BILLS TO EMERGE IN TWO WEEKS, SENATE JUDICIARY CHAIR SAYS via Arek Sarkissian of Political Fix Florida – Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla said he will decide whether two bills – a plan (SB 68) to allow handguns on college and university campuses and another (SB 300) that would allow people to openly carry handguns – will make the agenda of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Last year, Diaz de la Portilla … decided not to schedule the bill allowing guns on post-secondary campuses. “I still need to talk with the sponsors of the bills and I also need to talk with people who are against the bill,” Diaz de la Portilla said … “I will probably have a decision in the next couple weeks.”
GANNETT ACT SUCCESSFULLY ATTACHED TO SENATE OMNIBUS ETHICS PACKAGE via Legislative IQ powered by Lobby Tools – After defeat by members of the Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability … a proposal that would attempt to fight corruption by instituting stricter ethics standards for state contractors was revived as an amendment to omnibus ethics reform bill SB 686 [which] already instituted a number of substantial changes to lobbying transparency, financial disclosures and ethics investigations … the bill would authorize the Commission on Ethics to initiate its own investigations with the vote of seven of the panel’s nine members, instead of waiting for public officials to file a complaint. It would also prohibit legislators from working for companies that receive public funds, and would require mayors and city commissioners to file the same financial disclosure forms as lawmakers and other statewide candidates … the bill would now also classify government contractors as public servants, lowering the burden of proof prosecutors must carry in order to convict those entities of crimes like bribery or bid tampering. Don Gaetz, who sponsored both ethics bills, said that attaching the measure to SB 686 gave legislators “a lot more reason to vote for this bill” … several of the provisions were inspired by a speech … Richard Corcoran … gave when he was designated as the House’s next speaker.
AFP BACKS MATT GAETZ LEGISLATION ON RIDE-SHARING via Mitch Perry of Florida Politics – The House Economic Affairs Committee will discuss legislation sponsored by … Gaetz regarding TNC’s. Americans for Prosperity’s Florida chapter has endorsed his bill. “Representative Gaetz should be commended for driving the discussion on the importance of the innovative industries coming to Florida,” said AFP state Director Chris Hudson. “His ride-sharing legislation, H.B. 509, will create a framework to responsibly regulate the transportation network companies. Ride-sharing companies have been fighting for survival against burdensome regulations from local municipalities that have been siding with special interests.”
VICTOR CRIST HINTS AT “RADICAL” MOVE IN HILLSBOROUGH IF LEGISLATURE DOESN’T ACT ON UBER, LYFT via Mitch Perry of Florida Politics – “If they don’t fix it within the next 60 days, we will here,” he warned. “You may or may not like our fix. But this is not going to be a PTC problem 12 months from now. We are not going to put this agency’s existence in jeopardy anymore” … “We are handcuffed at this point,” a resigned Crist said. “There is one less option we have at our disposal, but it’s radical, and not one that we would wish to exercise but if forced into the corner we’ll have no other chance to do but to move forward with it.”
UBER DRIVERS IN TAMPA COULD PROTEST NEW PRICE CUTS ‘THROUGH GASPARILLA’ via Frances McMorris of the Tampa Bay Business Journal – Uber drivers in Tampa aren’t taking the ridesharing company’s recent announcement on price cuts lying down … they will assemble at Lykes Gaslight Square Park at 4:30 p.m. and begin weekend actions on Saturday to protest the latest round of Uber rate cuts, said Josh Streeter, head of the drivers’ steering committee. Drivers say the rates are below what it costs them to operate their vehicles. When Uber announced the cuts last weekend, “everybody freaked out,” Streeter said … “The anger is building.”
ALL ABOARD FLORIDA RIDERS COULD DRINK BEER UNDER NEW BILL via Jim Rosica of Florida Politics – Legislation that would allow beer to be sold and consumed on All Aboard Florida train cars and at its stations cleared a Senate panel … The Regulated Industries Committee OK’d the bill (SB 698) without objection. The train provisions were added as an amendment by committee Chairman Rob Bradley … He mentioned All Aboard Florida by name as he explained the new “railroad transit station” language. The bill next heads to the Senate’s Appropriations Subcommittee on General Government.
HAPPENING TODAY: “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH” RALLY: Members of the Florida Education Association (FEA) will join with parents, public school supporters and members of the community to tell lawmakers “enough is enough” at a rally at the Capitol courtyard from noon to 2 p.m. Speakers will express anger and exasperation with the Florida’s testing mania, the blaming and shaming of teachers, the state’s unfettered support for vouchers and for-profit charters, the state’s refusal to fairly implement the class size rules voters placed in the state constitution, changes in higher education and the need for a higher minimum wage. Before the rally, there will be a march for public education from the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, 505 W. Pensacola St., to the Capitol beginning at 11:15 a.m.
ASSIGNMENT EDITORS: The Florida Hospital Association (Federal Housing Administration) host a webinar at 10 a.m. for interested media to unveil a new section of its “Mission to Care” website, which will feature publicly available information on hospital prices and quality in an easy-to-use, searchable format. During the webinar, FHA staff will walk through the information, features and resources available on the new section of the website. View webinar access instructions online. Provide your name and email address to receive access instructions to tomorrow’s event via email.
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NO NEW HEARING FOR FLORIDA JUDGE KICKED OFF BENCH OVER FIGHT via the Associated Press – The Florida Supreme Court is refusing to grant a new hearing for a judge who was ordered off the bench for berating and threatening to fight an assistant public defender … it is denying Brevard County Judge John Murphy‘s request for a rehearing in the case. Murphy had asked the court to change the reason for his removal from the bench last month. He said it should be for a permanent disability, not disciplinary reasons, because he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in the U.S. Army Reserve, including a battle tour in Afghanistan.
DELRAY BEACH VICE MAYOR SOON TO BE ONLY CANDIDATE FOR HD 88 via Florida Politics – A Delray Beach city commissioner filed for the House District 88 seat held by Democratic Rep. Bobby Powell, who is expected to leave the House to run for state Senate … Al Jacquet, who also holds the title of deputy Vice Mayor of Delray Beach, filed for the seat Jan. 8 and will be the only candidate for the seat once Powell officially launches his Senate campaign. The second-term representative is expected to run in the new Senate District 25, which covers an inland stretch of Palm Beach County as well all of Martin and St. Lucie counties. Democratic Attorney Emily Slosberg, the daughter of … Rep. Irv Slosberg, has already announced she will run in that district.
ON THURSDAY’S GOVERNORS CLUB BUFFET MENU: One of the founding principles of Tallahassee’s Governors Club is a “comfortable and elegant environment,” with excellent food and outstanding service. Some feel that legislators, who perform the people’s business, deserve no less. On Thursday’s menu are such delights as Shrimp Chowder; Classic Cold Cut Wraps with Chips; Chef Salad Bar; Tuna Salad & Chicken Salad; Beef stroganoff; Grilled Wahoo with Pineapple Salsa; Chicken cordon bleu; California Vegetable Mix & Rice Pilaf; and Peach Cobbler & Assorted Mini Desserts. Bon appétit, lawmakers.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to future Speaker of the Florida House (oops, did I write that?) Chris Sprowls.
LUCKY NUMBERS: Powerball winners will split $1.6 billion, the largest jackpot in U.S. history: “California had one of them, sold at a 7-Eleven in a strip mall in Chino Hills [San Bernardino County]. … Florida and Tennessee also reported one.” Odds: 1 in 292.2 million. Winning numbers: 4-8-19-27-34; Powerball 10.
