Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.
By Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster, Mitch Perry and Jim Rosica.
KEY RACES IN FOCUS: SENATE DISTRICT 8
For those looking for high-profile races on the November ballot in Northcentral Florida, the list begins and (arguably) ends with the big-money clash in the Gainesville-centric Senate District 8 between Republican Keith Perry and Democrat Rod Smith.
Both men have raised and spent over half a million dollars each. Both men have a great deal of help (as in six-figures of in-kind contributions, including polling, staffers and ad buys) from their respective state parties. And going down the stretch, it’s hard to say who will win.
A St. Pete Polls survey from Oct. 10 has the race as a dead heat: Perry at 43 percent and Smith at 41 percent; 771 people were surveyed.
If there is a discernible trend, it is going Perry’s way; Smith was up by five points in September.
There are different approaches to advertising in this race; Smith’s ads tend to be seen on Jacksonville broadcasts outlets, while Perry is spending more money with cable ad buys.
If the polling trend means anything, the biggest news of the race — Perry’s confrontation with a gentleman taking down one of his yard signs — hasn’t really hurt him.
Smith’s favorability rating is at a net zero (31-31); Perry is at a negative two (30-32).
One thing that may (or may not) swing the race: an endorsement from the slightly left-liberal Gainesville Sun for Smith.
The Sun’s case for Smith: His “overall approach to the environment is much better suited for our region, where the decline of springs shows the need to do more to protect water quality and quantity … While Perry would continue the status quo, Smith would better defend our environment and schools. He would also work across the aisle to ensure our area isn’t left behind in the budget process.”
These are interesting suppositions.
One would think Perry, as a member of the majority party, would be better positioned in budget appropriations — he wouldn’t have to work across the aisle at all.
SENATE DISTRICT 18
The race for the newly created state Senate District 18 seat in Hillsborough County has been the most interesting legislative race in the Tampa Bay area this fall.
House Majority Leader Dana Young is definitely vulnerable, with third-party groups spending big money trying to knock her out of the Legislature. Her salvation could end up being the fact that the progressive anti-Young vote may be split between Democrat Bob Buesing and perennial gadfly Joe Redner.
Young has certainly had the resources to win the district, which encompasses much of Tampa, Town N’ Country and western unincorporated Hillsborough County. A formidable fundraiser, Young had raised $906,243, and an additional $1.2 million into her political committee, Friends of Dana Young, ($1,262,616).
That’s not including the more than million dollars spent in ads by the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee against Buesing, an attorney who has worked at the Tampa law firm of Trenam Law for 39 years.
The Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee has run an ad alleging that Buesing profited from government waste and abuse in association with the much derided “Taj Mahal” courthouse in Tallahassee. Another mailer has alleged that Buesing’s law firm charged a school district for work that wasn’t needed and “took money that should have been spent on our kids.”
There have been plenty of tough anti-Young ads as well, though none paid for by Buesing. She’s been hit hard for her vote on a complicated fracking bill in the House that Young claims was actually an anti-fracking vote.
But the “X Factor” is Joe Redner, the 76-year-old iconoclastic adult club entrepreneur and activist, who is for the first time in his life as a candidate, spending money. He’s produced three ads in the election cycle, two of them blasting Young for her votes on the environment.
A recent poll showed that Young and Buesing were tied at 36 percent apiece, with Redner grabbing 16 percent of the vote. Democrats insist that his support is not coming from all from Buesing, insisting that Young is losing out to “Donald Trump Republicans.”
That, maybe, is wishful thinking.
While this race remains too close to call, to be one of the few surprises in this region come election night, the ultimate outcome bears watching, not only for the “control of the Senate” narrative, but also for what will surely be a compelling autopsy of the losing campaign.
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THE STATE OF PLAY WITH A DOZEN DAYS TO GO via Larry J. Sabato, Kyle Kondik and Geoffrey Skelley of Sabato’s Crystal Ball — Another week has passed in the presidential race and it appears that Donald Trump is not making up much if any ground on Hillary Clinton. Last month, we coined the term “Fortress Obama” to describe an outer and inner ring of defenses Clinton had against Trump as she sought to recreate Barack Obama’s Electoral College majority. The outer ring consisted of states like Florida, Iowa, Nevada, and Ohio — states that Obama won twice but that are vulnerable to Trump — as well as North Carolina, which Obama carried only in 2008. These are states that Trump needs but that Clinton could probably do without. … At this point, Clinton is no worse than 50-50 to carry each of the outer ring states — even states like Iowa and Ohio, where polls have been very close or even show a Trump edge — and she seems secure in all of the inner ring states. This is why Clinton is such a heavy favorite to win the presidency, and our ratings changes this week make her an even slightly bigger favorite. The fact that early voting has started in earnest in many of critical states also limits Trump’s comeback potential: Even if some major late development causes the polls to tighten, many millions of votes will have already been cast.
On balance, early voting appears to be benefiting Democrats in states like Colorado, Florida, and Nevada, among others. … Iowa and Ohio, two Midwest swing states that are demographically favorable to Trump, seem to be lagging for Democrats this year, although in the case of Ohio it’s hard to say that with finality. Beware any reporting on Ohio that cites party ID of early voters: Party registration in the state is malleable, as voters can switch between parties depending on which party ballot they take in the primary. Republican turnout was much heavier in the March presidential primary, and while some Democrats who took ballots to vote for Trump will probably stick with him in the fall, there are potentially many Clinton voters who are technically “Republicans” because they voted in the GOP primary for favorite son Gov. John Kasich and others. McDonald has noted that ballot requests are down from 2012 in some big, Democratic counties in Ohio, which is a legitimate concern for Democrats, particularly because black turnout may be down. But it’s also possible that Ohio early voting will be a little back-loaded this time: Early voting started later than in 2012, and this year features two full weekends of in-person early voting (this weekend and next weekend), while 2012 featured only one. In any event, “Election Day” is an antiquated concept in many states, and perhaps as much as 40% of all votes will be cast before Tuesday, Nov. 8.
MORE THAN 2.5 MILLION FLORIDIANS HAVE ALREADY VOTED – As of Friday morning, 1,652,421 vote-by-mail ballots have been returned for the November general election, and 865,383 people have voted early across the state. The tallies were posted on the state Division of Elections website. Registered Republicans lead in vote-by-mail ballots to Democrats 694,349 to 649,091, but Democrats lead GOP voters in early voting 371,381 to 336,896. The state’s website for vote-by-mail and early voting statistics is here. Lawmakers recently changed the name of traditional “absentee” ballots to “vote-by-mail” ballots.
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BARACK OBAMA, TIM KAINE CAMPAIGN IN FLORIDA — President Obama will attend a campaign rally at the 5 p.m. at the University of Central Florida’s CFE Arena, 12777 Gemini Blvd. N. in Orlando. The president is expected to lay out the stakes of November’s election and encourage Floridians to vote early. Doors open at 3 p.m., with the president expected to take the stage around 5 p.m. Meanwhile, Kaine, the vice presidential nominee, is scheduled to attend an early voting rally at 1:45 p.m. at Florida State University in the state ballroom at the Oglesby Union, 75 N. Woordward Ave. in Tallahassee. He’ll be joined by former Rep. Gabby Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. Doors open at 11:45 a.m., with Kaine expected to take the stage around 1:45 p.m.
TRUMP ALLY ROGER STONE SCRAMBLING TO CREATE ELECTION DAY OPERATION via Leigh Ann Caldwell of NBC News — Stone is attempting to recruit at least 3,000 volunteers to fan out to “several thousand” hand-picked voting precincts around the country that he and his team have determined to have the highest risk of faulty results. But Stone is far from that goal with just 12 days until the election, having recruited 1,200 people. … Stone said that with his operation, he is planning to provide the evidence – or lack thereof – of any fishy voting results. He claims that if his exit polls are within a two percent margin of error of the certified results, then his opinion, the election can be trusted. Major media outlets also conduct exit polls through a consortium. Those are paper-and-pencil surveys that are randomly given to voters leaving their polling places. The national exit poll is conducted in 350 precincts across the country where 25,000 voters are interviewed. … Stone told NBC News Tuesday that his exit poll operation is “a monumental undertaking” that has been in the works for “many, many months” and one that he is devoting all of his time to with days to go in the campaign. He said he will be training every volunteer to comply with electioneering and polling place laws in each of the states.
HAPPENING SUNDAY – LABOR AND IMMIGRATION GROUPS HOST ‘TRUMP IS SCARY’ EVENT — A coalition of progressive organizations will hold a “Trump is Scary” Halloween parade and get-out-the vote at 3 p.m. in Miami. The parade begins at 3 p.m. at José Martí Park, 399 SW 4th St. in Miami and goes to the Stephen P. Clark Government Center, 111 NW 1st Street in Miami. The block party starts immediately after the parade and runs through 7 p.m.
PUBLIC POLLING SHAPE RACES, OFFERS INCONSISTENT RESULTS via Matt Dixon of POLITCO Florida — During heated election cycles, political observers eagerly await the next round of public polling, numbers that can shape the perception of a race. But in most cases — at best — they offer an inconsistent snapshot of a campaign. … Because public pollsters often do not spend the sort of money traditionally used by the internal polling done privately by campaigns or outside interest groups, they can vary widely in their results. “Having campaigns who are willing to actually invest the resources into good polling and good data is important,” said David Johnson, a longtime Republican political consultant. A good statewide poll can cost between $10,000 and $15,000, but that’s a hefty price tag for universities or other public polling firms. “You have to pay to get good data,” said Kevin Sweeny, operations director for the Florida Justice Association. “It is hard to hit Hispanic and African Americans through a garden variety poll, and a lot of people are not interested in spending money, but would rather get skewed polls that drive the pundit-dominated narrative.”
PATRICK MURPHY LOANS $1M TO HIS SENATE CAMPAIGN FOR LAST-MINUTE AD TIME via Kristen M. Clark of the Miami Herald — Democratic U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy personally loaned $1 million to his U.S. Senate campaign in October to pay for extra TV ad time in the final two weeks before Election Day, his campaign says. “These additional resources will help position our campaign to win with expanded TV buys across Florida. We are confident in our path to victory,” campaign manager Josh Wolf said in a statement Thursday. The campaign plans to use the influx of cash from Murphy’s loan to continue running a Spanish-language ad featuring President Barack Obama in Miami. That’s Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio‘s backyard and where Murphy is working to court the county’s high Hispanic population, which leans Republican. Murphy’s loan will also help pay for ad time in Gainesville, Tallahassee and Jacksonville — areas of the state Murphy hasn’t had much of a visible presence in but where his campaign hopes to close the gap with independents. In those markets, Murphy’s campaign plans to air an ad he debuted earlier this month that knocks Rubio for his poor Senate attendance record.
MARCO RUBIO RALLIES THE FAITHFUL DURING NAPLES STOP via Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster — The Miami Republican held a get-out-the vote rally in Naples on Thursday. The campaign stop came just one day after the second and final U.S. Senate debate, and Rubio used the stop to hammer Rep. Patrick Murphy over his limited congressional accomplishments. “I’m running against someone who has been in Congress for four years; he’s not a theory, he’s not a businessman that’s coming in from the outside,” he told a crowd of about 200 people … in downtown Naples, one block from a popular early voting location. “He’s been in Congress for four years, and yet he’s never had a bill that he wrote that has been passed into law.” Rubio resorted to familiar attacks, pointing to claims Murphy padded his resume. The claims have been a frequent point of contention during the election, and have been at the center of several attack ads. The rally was meant to energize supporters in a deep red county. “We’ll win; we’ll turn this country around. We’re going to leave our children as the freest and most prosperous Americans that ever lived, and Florida as most prosperous state in America.”
RUBIO IS KEEPING THE REPUBLICANS’ HOPES ALIVE IN THE SENATE via Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight — Democrats’ chances of taking over the Senate continue to hold relatively steady — 67 percent in both our polls-plusand polls-only models. Republicans still have a real shot at keeping their majority, and one reason is that Democrats have been unable to put Florida in play. Most Democratic Party money has been pulled from the state, where Sen. Marco Rubio has an 81 percent chance of beating Democratic U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy according to polls-plus. Simply put: The race in Florida isn’t anywhere as close as those in the states that will be key in determining control of the Senate. Rubio is up by a little over 5 percentage points. Murphy still has a nearly 20 percent chance of winning. If Democrats had unlimited resources, funding the race until the very end would certainly be worthwhile. But funds are limited, and Florida is a huge state with many expensive media markets. Murphy’s best chances at victory involve scenarios in which Democrats easily win a majority of Senate seats. And Democratic chances of retaking the chamber aren’t so good right now that they can fret about how big a majority they’ll have. They need to worry about winning a majority of any size.
HAVE YOU SEE THIS MAN? ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL, RICK SCOTT GOES MISSING via Jeremy Wallace of the Tampa Bay Times — Across the nation, Republican governors who are not even on the ballot are using their political weight to try to drag fellow Republicans to victory in a year in which Donald Trump has created great uncertainty at the top of the ticket. But in Florida, where U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and other Republicans are fighting for their political lives, Gov. Rick Scott is missing from the campaign trail. “There’s none on the calendar,” Scott said when asked by the Times/Herald if he had any campaign stops planned. Not even Trump has been able to lure Scott onto the trail. Trump held a rally in Collier County on Sunday when Scott, who lives in nearby Naples, was in town. And then on Tuesday in Tallahassee, Scott was eight miles from Trump’s rally on the outskirts of town. But Scott did not go to and said he had no time to meet with him before either stop. Scott said on Tuesday he had a dinner party with almost 50 people at the governor’s mansion and could not leave them for Trump.
JOHN MICA FENDS OFF DEMOCRATIC ATTACKS ABOUT DONALD TRUMP HOTEL via Jon Reid of Morning Consult – Embattled Rep. Mica found himself on defense after Democrats pounced on his role in the redevelopment of a historic Washington, D.C., landmark into one of Donald Trump’s luxury hotels. … In a phone interview … Mica defended his efforts to restore the building, saying it was losing taxpayers millions of dollars. As chairman of the House Transportation Committee from 2011 to 2012, Mica led the effort to revitalize the century-old building, approving the results of an auction where Trump beat out several other major hotel chains “fair and square,” he said. The building, he said, was losing taxpayers millions of dollars.
PEOPLE FOR PINELLAS CALLS CHARLIE CRIST A ‘CAREER FLIP-FLOPPER’ IN NEW CD 13 AD —The super PAC backing Jolly’s re-election bid in Florida’s 13th Congressional District, released a new ad this week, calling the former Florida governor a “political lightweight” and “career flip-flopper.” “We’ve had enough. These politicians making it about them, not us. And that’s the Charlie Crist story. Thirty years running for office, nothing to show for it,” an announcer says in the ad. “David Jolly is different. Washington insiders can’t stand him because Jolly stands with us, not them; fighting for Pinellas.”
CD 18 DISTRICT MOVES FROM ‘TOSS-UP’ TO ‘LEAN REPUBLICAN’ via The Cook Political Report — The Cook Political Report moved Florida’s 18th Congressional District from “toss-up” to “lean Republican.” The race between Republican Brian Mast and Democrat Randy Perkins is one of the most watched races in the state, as both men battle it out to replace Rep. Patrick Murphy in Congress. “For months, FL-18 was considered the most competitive House race in the country,” said Madison Anderson, a spokeswoman for Mast. “The highly respected Cook Political Report has acknowledged momentum is now with Brian Mast and changed their rating of the race from Toss Up to Lean Republican. We are confident Brian Mast will prevail over Randy Perkins on November 8th.” According to The Cook Political Report, 25 districts across the United States are rated as either “likely Republican” or “lean Republican.” Eight seats are rated as either “likely Democratic” or “lean Democratic.” The race between Democrat Val Demings and Thuy Lowe in Florida’s 10th Congressional District was rated as “likely Democratic;” while the race between Rep. David Jolly and former Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida’s 13th Congressional District was rated as “lean “Democratic.” The Cook Political Report rated the race between Republican Neal Dunn and Democrat Walter Dartland in Florida’s 2nd Congressional District was ranked as “likely Republican.”
TIM CANOVA POLITICAL GROUP CALLS FOR FLORIDA CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS ON OPEN PRIMARIES, REDISTRICTING COMMISSION IN 2018 via Mitch Perry of Florida Politics – Canova wasn’t kidding when he said he was going to stay involved in the political process following his loss to Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Florida’s 23rd Congressional District. The progressive Democrat announced the creation of a political and community action group last month called “Progress for All,” that he said would “will harness the power of our movement.” The five referendums Progress for All is calling for are: Open primaries in which everyone can vote for any candidate, regardless of party. The top two finishers in the primary, regardless of party, then square off against each other in the general election. Creation of a Nonpartisan Redistricting Commission to prevent partisan “gerrymandering” to create safe, uncompetitive legislative districts. Limiting contributions to Super PACs to $5,000. This would rein in the corrupting influence of big money in our politics and provide the Supreme Court with an opportunity to overturn Citizens United … Election integrity to ensure they are transparent and verifiable. That would include paper ballots counted by hand in public, as is presently done throughout European democracies. Overturning felony disenfranchisement. Unfortunately, the failed war on drugs, mass incarceration, and the New Jim Crow have resulted in millions of American citizens being deprived of their right to vote for the rest of their lives, often for nonviolent felonies committed years ago.
WEST WING’S JOSH LYMAN CALLS CARLOS CURBELO ONE OF THE ‘REAL HEROES’ ON CLIMATE CHANGE via Patricia Mazzei of the Miami Herald — Actor Bradley Whitford, best known for his portrayal of Josh Lymanon NBC’s “The West Wing,” was probably not on Curbelo‘s list of political campaign surrogates. Yet there was Whiford, who’s known to be a Democratic activist, being interviewed on NBC’s “Today Show” Thursday morning — and mentioning the Miami Republican congressman by name. Whitford was plugging his work for National Geographic’s “Years of Living Dangerously” series. An upcoming episode titled “Gathering Storm” features Whitford exploring the Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s efforts to get Congress to act on the threat of climate change. “My particular thing was dealing with Republicans who have been resistant to acknowledge the science on climate change,” Whitford told “Today.” “And there’s some real heroes in Congress: Carlos Curbelo from the 26th district in Florida has shown that he really wants to work on this.”
HAPPENING TODAY: State Rep. Larry Ahern hosts a “Let’s Meet for Coffee” meet-and-greet event from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Tripp’s Diner, 10555 Park Blvd. in Seminole. Ahern will speak with constituents and share thoughts and ideas on how to make this area the best place to work, live and raise a family.
DEMOCRATIC HOUSE CANDIDATE DAVID VOGEL DEFENDS MOCKING FACEBOOK POSTS via Megan Reeves of the Tampa Bay Times – The 49-year-old lawyer, who is opposing Republican incumbent Chris Latvala for the Florida House District 67 seat, said harshly worded posts labeling some as mindless, poorly educated and “bigoted piece(s) of trash” actually go back a decade on his page. “They were part of long, ongoing conversations that I was having with friends … conversations extended over years,” he [said]. “I try to talk to Republicans with rational discourse, but that doesn’t work because they are so stuck in their ways.” The posts, he said, are the only way to get the attention of Republicans. In a post dated June 3, Vogel linked to a video titled “Bishop explains why the church invented hell.” He said the clip supports his view that religion has been used to control masses of people for thousands of years — a stance he says he’s taken heat for from what he called religious Republicans. “It’s no coincidence that those to whom I refer are overwhelmingly rethuglikants,” Vogel wrote in the post, fusing together the words Republican and thug. “It takes that kind of lack of mental capacity to believe anything else.” In a more recent post made Oct. 1, Vogel attacked supporters of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. “Every non-Republican knows at least one person who insists that he or she is not a bigoted piece of trash merely because he or she is voting for Trump,” he wrote. “I don’t accept that concept.” He also wrote that he has parted ways with Trump’s supporters because “there is no room in my existence for such xenophobia and abject hypocrisy.” Vogel also used sexually explicit language to describe people who favor Fox News and called Republicans “mindless drone followers” in two posts made March 1. A little more than a month later, April 14, he called Trump supporters “poorly educated.”… “I don’t feel bad for calling them names,” Vogel said. “Sticks and stones.”
ENDORSEMENT WATCH:
Dana Young, running for Florida Senate District 18, has been endorsed by the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO), the Florida Police Benevolent Association (Florida PBA), the West Central Florida Police Benevolent Association (West Central Florida PBA) and the Tampa Police Benevolent Association (Tampa PBA).
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ASSIGNMENT EDITORS: Gov. Scott will attend a groundbreaking of VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering’s new hangar at 11 a.m. at Pensacola International Airport, 2430 Airport, 2430 Airport Blvd. in Pensacola. Media should RSVP to Vernon Stewart at [email protected].
NEXT STATE HOUSE SPEAKER: SANFORD BURNHAM SHOULD REPAY INCENTIVES via Mary Shanklin and Naseem S. Miller of the Orlando Sentinel — The incoming speaker for the Florida House said he intends to hold Sanford Burnham Institute accountable for failing to create jobs it promised in order to get government funding. Rep. Richard Corcoran described the $350 million of state, city, county and other local incentives spent a decade ago to lure California-based Sanford Burnham to open a center in Orlando as “reckless contractual obligations of taxpayer money.” “Right now I have our legal and our legislative staffs looking at any possible remedy under the existing contract,” said the Land O’Lakes Republican, who is set to oversee the House starting in the 2017 legislative session. “My hope is that we find a way for these companies to understand that we will zealously protect taxpayer dollars and we will zealously go after those who abuse those funds.” Corcoran’s push to reclaim at least part of the state’s investment comes … after the University of Florida said it would not proceed with plans to take over the institute’s financially troubled operations in Orlando.
ANOTHER APPELLATE COURT FINDS MEDMAL CAPS UNCONSTITUTIONAL via Jim Rosica of Florida Politics – The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland this week joined the 4th District’s opinion regarding caps on what are known as “noneconomic damages.” The Florida Supreme Court still is reviewing that opinion, however. In 2014, the high court struck down pain-and-suffering damages limits in medical malpractice cases where the patient died. A year later, it ruled that the 2003 law capping medical malpractice awards at $500,000 could not be applied retroactively in cases where the patient was injured but survived. Former Gov. Jeb Bush … called a special legislative session in 2003 to overhaul the law governing medical malpractice lawsuits. Doctors said big-money jury awards were driving up their insurance premiums; some even stopped practicing in Florida. The state limited noneconomic damage from death or injury to $500,000 per plaintiff, and no more than $1 million from all defendants in a single lawsuit. The Supreme Court’s 2015 decision said the “legal analyses for personal injury damages and wrongful death damages are not the same.”
LEFT BEHIND BY THE LAW – 20 YEARS IN PRISON via Noah Pransky of WTSP – If he had raped, killed or robbed, he may have been out of jail by now. But Erik Weyant fired a gun. And he’ll be paying for it for two decades, even though he didn’t hurt anybody and even his convicting jury decided he wasn’t trying to kill any one. Weyant is nine years into a mandatory 20-year sentence that the legislature, governor, and even his sentencing judge have recently suggested he shouldn’t have to serve. But it doesn’t matter because the law was different when he was sentenced in 2007. Back when he was 22, Erik got into an altercation when leaving a Lakeland bar after closing time. A jury then convicted him of firing a gun toward a crowd as he drove away. Erik had a clean record before the incident and claimed the shots were merely in self-defense. But he was ultimately convicted of aggravated assault with no intent to kill. Because the state’s tough-on-crime “10-20-Life” law required a mandatory 20-year-sentence at the time for anyone found guilty of firing a gun in the commission of a crime, Polk County Judge Neil Roddenbery said he had no choice but to sentence the small-business owner to two decades behind bars. The judge even apologized at sentencing, saying his “hands were tied” by the Legislature. The jury was not allowed to know the conviction would come with a mandatory minimum sentence and the judge was not allowed any discretion. But since the sentencing, Florida’s legislature has reformed 10-20-Life, removing the aggravated assault charge from the statute so judges had more discretion when issuing sentences … However, the reform was not retroactive. So Erik will continue to serve the final 10-plus years of his 20-year sentence unless the governor and cabinet choose to grant him clemency.
WHAT TAYLOR BIEHL IS READING: TESLA WORKING WITH HILLSBOROUGH TRANSIT AGENCY via Janelle Irwin of the Tampa Bay Business Journal – The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority announced it is working with electric carmaker Tesla to create a ride hailing service for transit users. The new feature called HyperLINK is the first of its kind worldwide, according to HART. It uses rideshare technology including demand response dispatch, a smartphone app and credit card payments, all with the guarantee of transit. By law, publicly funded transit agencies must comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards. The service will be available almost all day. The Tesla partnership is part of a first/last mile solutions project within the innovation district. The partnership also includes TECO and the Tampa Innovation Alliance. Eagan praised local leaders including Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhornand Sen. Jeff Brandes for fostering a community that promotes technology innovation.
UBER POLICY CHIEF SLATED TO SPEAK AT SAYFIE SUMMIT — The Sayfie Review Florida Leaders Summit announced this week that Justin Kintz, the head of U.S. policy and communications at Uber Technologies, will be a featured speaker at the annual summit. Kintz is expected to speak about transportation and disruptions that mobile and driverless technology will bring to Florida’s transportation system. The 2016 Sayfie Summit is scheduled for Nov. 17 and Nov. 18.
WHAT MICHELLE TODD IS READING: DISNEY TO BASE THREE SHIPS AT PORT CANAVERAL IN 2018 via Dave Berman of FLORIDA TODAY – … as it announced its sailing schedule for January through May 2018. Departing from Port Canaveral: The 4,000-passenger Disney Fantasy continues to sail seven-night Eastern and Western Caribbean voyages. The 4,000-passenger Disney Dream will sail on three- and four-night cruises to Nassau and Castaway Cay in the Bahamas. From Feb. 8 through April 8, 2018, the 2,700-passenger Disney Wonder will alternate similar three-, four- and seven-night itineraries. “They’re definitely bringing a mix of itineraries” to Port Canaveral, said Scott Sanders of Celebration, founder of DisneyCruiseLineBlog.com, which closely follows developments at Disney Cruise Line.
HAPPENING TOMORROW: Southern Strategy Group is among the hosts of Downtown Fright Night, a Halloween Spooktacular: A Downtown Miami Block Party from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. on E. Flagler Street from Biscayne Boulevard to SE 2nd Avenue in Miami. The free event will include two live entertainment stages, costume contest, a pop-up dog park and festive Halloween lounge with DJ. Transit hours will be extended to 2 a.m. RSVP at www.flaglerfrightnight.com or downtownfrightnight.eventbrite.com.
