Sunburn – The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.
By Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Mitch Perry, Ryan Ray, and Jim Rosica.
With just three days before New Year’s Day, Florida politics finds itself in a dichotomy. On one hand, the business of state and local government is in a holiday slumber. The capital is as quiet as a Christmas mass, despite many in The Process dreading the early start to the 2016 Legislative Session. On the other hand, the presidential campaign is at full pitch. Balloting in Iowa, New Hampshire and even in Florida (via early voting) begins in just over a month. There are debates slated and TV ads blaring. Donald Trump is omnipresent on social media, while the last defenders of the establishment — Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush — are attempting to muster a final stand.
Some of you reading today’s Sunburn are still on vacation, maybe at a wintry destination, while a few of you are taking in today’s rundown before canvassing in Des Moines or Nashua or Columbia. Either way, here’s the exciting news which has taken place over the Christmas break…
Former Florida GOP Chairwoman and House District 19 candidate Leslie Dougher got engaged…
… as did top comms pro Razi Amador.
Thomas Hobbs of Liberty Partners of Tallahassee is off the market …
… as is well-regarded lobbyist James Kotas …
Meanwhile, Nick Hansen (adviser to U.S. Rep. David Jolly and state Sen. Jeff Brandes) and his wife have good news: “Six years ago on the farm in Boone we were expecting baby#1. Here again with #4 on the way.”
… as does digital genius Jordan Raynor:
GAY MARRIAGE IS BIGGEST FLORIDA STORY OF 2015, POLL SAYS via Terry Spencer of the Associated Press – Florida’s biggest news story for 2015 happened in the year’s first days, when the state became the 36th with legalized gay marriage, according to an Associated Press poll of the state’s newspaper and broadcast editors. Gay marriage easily beat out the No. 2 story, the long-running saga over the districts the Florida Legislature drew for Congress and the state Senate that had to be redrawn … Other stories voted into the Top 10: 3. Bush and Rubio both announced they would seek the Republican nomination for president. 4. Florida surpassed New York to become the nation’s third-most populous state … 5. Hunters killed 298 Florida black bears over an October weekend as the state allowed the animals to be hunted for the first time in 21 years … 6. Scott was sworn in for a second term … making the same promise he made when he took office in 2011 – to keep government small, lower taxes and create jobs by making the state more business-friendly. 7. The Florida House and Senate stalemated over whether to expand the state’s Medicaid program as part of the Affordable Healthcare Act. 8. Scott and the Cabinet settled a lawsuit filed by media organizations over the firing of former Department of Law Enforcement chief Gerald Bailey. 9. The Florida Legislature needed a special session to pass a budget after the House walked out three days early during the regular session in a fight over Medicaid expansion. 10. Two Palm Beach County teens went missing in July after their boat capsized at sea.
— “In 2015, the normal rules of politics didn’t apply” via Mark Murray and Chuck Todd of NBC News
— Mitch Perry’s top 10 stories in Hillsborough politics of 2015
— “The 29 craziest things that came out of candidates’ mouths in 2015” Nick Gass of POLITICO
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THE GOP’S NEW HAMPSHIRE NIGHTMARE via Eli Stokols of POLITICO – Forget Iowa, which Cruz appears to be locking up. It’s New Hampshire that will cull this field. And with Christie, Bush and Kasich making this first primary state the singular focus of their campaigns, and Rubio, should he lose Iowa, needing a top-tier finish, the fight to be the mainstream alternative to Cruz or Trump could end here. … If Trump wins the Feb. 9 [N.H.] primary a week after Cruz wins Iowa, only one or two candidates finishing behind him will likely have the momentum to carry on. If four or even five candidates split the vote of an establishment electorate that never coalesces behind one standard bearer, there may be only hollow victories to declare on primary night because none will have the firepower to challenge Cruz or Trump in South Carolina. Just ask Cruz; he’s counting on it.
HEAR THE ONE ABOUT JEB BUSH’S HUMOR? YOU HAVE TO LISTEN CLOSELY via Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times – As his campaign has struggled to rejuvenate a languishing bid, some close to him have suggested the existence of a (very) secret weapon: It is at least possible that … Bush is funny. “Irony doesn’t work,” he said last month … “in the world of digitized campaigning.” … As Bush’s poll numbers have lagged, the bids for laughs have proliferated. … He has been whimsical with animals. … His team has posted videos of the candidate musing on the “Sharknado” films and struggling to pull a hooded sweatshirt over his face, labeling the clips #JebNoFilter.
BUSH TO FLOOD AIRWAVES WITH ADS PRIOR TO PRIMARY via Chris Cassidy of the Boston Herald –Bush and his super PAC are set to dominate the TV airwaves between now and the Granite State primary, reserving more than $14 million in commercials on both New Hampshire and Boston stations – including two Super Bowl spots … Bush operatives, despite criticism over already spending more than $35 million nationally on commercials for just 4 percent in the polls, are doubling down on a strategy of massive TV buys … Bush’s forces plan to spend $14.1 million on ads on TV stations in New Hampshire and Boston, … compared to $6.1 million by … Rubio and his super PAC, Conservative Solutions … Christie’s super PAC, America Leads, is slated to spend $4.9 million, while … Kasich‘s super PAC, New Day for America, reserved $1.4 million in ad space.
“Bush eyeing South Carolina” via Michael Bender of Bloomberg Politics
MARCO RUBIO DIPS IN POLLS HEADING INTO CHRISTMAS via Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg Politics – He hasn’t fallen far but [Rubio]… is going in the wrong direction at the wrong time. Viewed by many Republican and Democratic elites as his party’s best hope of winning back the White House, Rubio is polling a distant third both nationally and in the first three voting states. He has lost ground in Iowa to Cruz. In New Hampshire, which hosts the first presidential primary Feb. 9, he faces fresh competition from Christie … who has been more active in the state in recent months and has picked up some prize endorsements there.
HOW RUBIO COULD LOSE ALL THE KEY EARLY STATES AND STILL WIN via Nate Cohn of the New York Times –The opposition [to Cruz and Trump] will not evaporate, even if one of them wins in Iowa and New Hampshire. Opposition could even grow in a desperate, last-ditch effort to stop them. … Rubio would need to … emerge as the natural [mainstream] candidate … The easiest way … would be to beat those who are in the more moderate lane – Chris Christie … Bush and … Kasich – by a clear margin in New Hampshire … Rubio would need to hang on until more favorable states on March 8 and particularly March 15, because he probably won’t be doing much winning before then.
TREY GOWDY TO ENDORSE RUBIO via RedState.com – “Marco is a rock solid conservative and a strong leader we can trust. I look forward to campaigning in Iowa with him, and introducing my good friend to voters across the state.” This is not a huge surprise. Rubio’s campaign manager, Terry Sullivan, worked on Gowdy’s 2010 House campaign. The endorse is a critical get for the Rubio campaign as Gowdy is favorably viewed by conservatives and Republicans and, in the most recent poll, Rubio was running in a distant third place in South Carolina, statistically tied with Carson and Bush.
NEW HAMPSHIRE COULD TEACH RUBIO THAT ALL (PRESIDENTIAL) POLITICS IS LOCAL via Erik Eisele of the Conway Daily Sun – We had roughly 20 minutes with [Rubio] on Monday, and … it was like watching a computer algorithm designed to cover talking points. He said a lot, but at the same time said nothing. It was like someone wound him up, pointed him towards the doors and pushed play. If there was a human side to senator, a soul, it didn’t come across through. … Rubio [is] a man so stuck on script it doesn’t even matter when the cameras are off. In local races — the New Hampshire House or Senate, for example — it’s nearly impossible to vote straight ticket. When you know the candidates it’s not just enough to agree with their ideas; we need to trust the individual as well, to believe they are the kind of person we should elevate to power. It’s no longer just party. Here it’s personal.
RUBIO MAY STRUGGLE TO WIN OVER POTENTIAL KEY BLOC: FLORIDA’S PUERTO RICANS via Alan Rappeport of the New York Times – The frustration felt by many with ties to the island has a familiar face … Rubio … once poised to back legislation that would have allowed Puerto Rican municipalities to declare bankruptcy. However, Rubio, who has received financial support from bondholders who would suffer losses under the proposal, backpedaled in September and said access to so-called Chapter 9 rules should be a last resort. “We would be very upset if it looks like he’s defending the bondholders rather than the 3.5 million U.S. citizens on the island,” said Betsy Franceschini, Florida regional director for the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration. “That’s very disappointing, and we won’t forget.” There are about a million Puerto Ricans in Florida, and if Rubio … wins the Republican nomination, they could be an important voting bloc to help him in the state.
“Rep. Rob Bishop backs Sen. Marco Rubio for president” via Matt Canham of the Salt Lake Tribune
BARACK OBAMA’S TEAM SAYS THE GOP EARNED DONALD TRUMP via Edward-Isaac Dovere of POLITICO – Loyalists say that after two terms of obstruction, Republicans are getting the anger candidate their rhetoric created … According to people in the White House, Obama doesn’t talk about Trump much. When he does, it’s with a combination of amusement and disgust at the rhetoric, occasionally mentioning his amazement at GOP leaders’ inability to understand Trump’s supporters and the long-term damage the president thinks Trump is doing to the party with the groups of voters who will decide future elections. … “It’s personal. The West Wing still burns over Trump leading the birth certificate charge in 2012.”
TED CRUZ AND DTRUMP BATTLE FOR THE SOUTH via Katie Glueck of POLITICO – The battle for the South has settled into a race between two candidates, and neither is Rubio. In interviews with more than two dozen party officials, political operatives and activists, Cruz and Trump were repeatedly named as front-runners and likely winners in one of the most conservative regions of the country. Both contenders draw huge crowds and appeal to large swaths of middle- and lower-income white Republican Southerners, who are deeply angry with Washington.
— “Florida GOPer endorses Ted Cruz” via Kristen East of POLITICO
JOE GRUTERS HITCHES HIS WAGON TO TRUMP via Zac Anderson of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune – Gruters’ perseverance and risk taking have paid off in big ways, gaining him a high-profile appointment to the Florida State University board of trustees and important backers as he again seeks a state House seat and positions himself for future races … Now … he is taking another political gamble that offers some of the greatest risks and potential rewards of anything he has attempted so far, hitching his wagon to the political sensation known as … Trump … [as] Florida co-chairman … inextricably linked to whatever the candidate says. Some are calling for him to disavow the comment or resign from the FSU board. Yet even as he takes heat for some of Trump’s statements, Gruters also is basking in the adulation of Trump’s many fans and the heightened exposure that comes from a high-profile position in a top presidential campaign. Gruters had delivered for The Donald, twice giving him a venue to get his message out amid big crowds. When the candidate began developing his Florida team, his Sarasota connection seemed an obvious choice. The opportunity to work on a leading presidential campaign was too good to pass up.
CHRIS CHRISTIE CREEPS UP ON JEB BUSH IN NEW HAMPSHIRE via Daniel Strauss and Ben White of POLITICO – The stakes for Bush and Christie are clear: Both men have made succeeding in New Hampshire a do-or-die prospect, with no clear path forward if they don’t finish at or near the top. And both are vying for the same pool of voters: mainstream conservatives who aren’t comfortable with … Trump or Cruz.
RAND PAUL SAYS HE WON’T PARTICIPATE IN UNDERCARD DEBATE via Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed News – [He] will refuse to participate in a “second-tier” debate if he is relegated to the undercard stage by the Fox Business Network … “We’ve got a first-tier campaign. I’ve got 800 precinct chairmen in Iowa. I’ve got a 100 people on the ground working for me. I’ve raised 25 million dollars. I’m not gonna let any network or anybody tell me we’re not a first-tier campaign.”
NUMBER OF GOP POLLS JUMPS 90 PERCENT IN FOUR YEARS via Matt Viser of the Boston Globe – The number of polls of Republican voters in the first three primary and caucus states — Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina — has skyrocketed nearly 90 percent compared with the 2012 GOP primary … The trend toward saturation polling shows little sign of abating, with online polls now cheaper than ever and polling firms and universities competing to satisfy an insatiable media appetite for the latest upticks and downturns, the trends in the minute-by-minute drama of the contest. “People like the competition, the horse race nature of it. Issues are certainly second, down on the list when compared with the politics,” said John McLaughlin, a longtime Republican pollster unaffiliated with any presidential campaign. At times the race can have the feel of watching a football game in which the announcers read off the score every few seconds, with a lot more emphasis on the score rather than the game itself.
VOTERS TOLD TO UPDATE SIGNATURES IN ADVANCE OF FLORIDA’S PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY via Steve Bousquet of the Tampa Bay Times – Hundreds of thousands of voters have received letters from county elections supervisors urging them to fill out new voter registration forms or risk having their ballots rejected … becoming increasingly common as more Floridians vote by mail rather than at early voting sites or on Election Day. Now that the Legislature allows voting by mail for any reason, experts say it’s inevitable that it will become the preferred way of casting ballots in Florida. Double-checking signatures on absentee ballot envelopes is required by state law as a check against voter fraud in a state that has had serious problems with it. When elections workers see a signature on an absentee ballot envelope that does not match the voter’s signature on file, the ballot is set aside and reviewed by a three-member canvassing board that renders a final decision as to whether the ballot is counted.
MEANWHILE — IN FINAL YEAR, PRESIDENT SEEKS TO STAVE OFF LAME-DUCK STATUS via Julie Pace of the Associated Press – Obama now stares down 11 months before his successor is chosen in an election shaping up to be a referendum on his leadership at home and abroad. He stirs deep anger among many Republicans, a constant reminder of his failure to make good on campaign promises to heal Washington’s divisiveness. But he remains popular among Democrats and foresees a role campaigning for his party’s nominee in the general election … packing his final year with foreign travel and has about a half-dozen trips abroad planned, including a likely visit to Cuba. The White House’s legislative agenda is slim and centers mostly on areas where he already has overlapping priorities with Republicans, including final passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact and criminal justice reform. But he’s also eyeing provocative executive actions, including an expansion of background checks for gun purchases and the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center.
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MODERATE PATRICK MURPHY GETS PROGRESSIVE SUPPORT IN DEM PRIMARY via George Bennett of the Palm Beach Post – Liberal Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s recent email touting … Murphy’s 2016 Senate campaign wasn’t gushing when compared to many political fundraising pitches, but it was telling nonetheless … liberal Rep. Alan Grayson of Orlando, once cited Brown as the kind of progressive paragon he’d stand with in the Senate to fight against Wall Street. But Brown’s America Works PAC gave $5,000 to the more moderate Murphy in July and Brown made a pragmatic appeal for Murphy this month. “Florida is going to be a key battleground state in the next election…And recent polls show that Patrick is in the best position to win this race,” Brown wrote in a Dec. 8 email solicitation. Another leading liberal, Sen. Al Franken … made a similar appeal for Murphy
MAN WHO LANDED GYROCOPTER AT CAPITOL PLANS TO CHALLENGE DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ via Marc Caputo of POLITICO Florida – Douglas Hughes … said he would run for the 23d Congressional District seat … As a felon, Hughes would not be able to vote for himself, however, because Florida’s Constitution bans people who have been convicted of such crimes from the ballot box. The Democrat also lives in Ruskin, far away from Wasserman Schultz’s district. “It’s very bizarre,” [said] Ron Meyer, a Florida election law expert … “He can go to the federal pen in Destin in the Panhandle and run in Fort Lauderdale in South Florida.”
FORMER FLORIDA REPORTER JOINS DEMOCRATIC OPPOSITION RESEARCH GROUP via Alex Leary of the Tampa Bay Times – [Sydney Freedberg] … four-time Pulitzer Prize winner has gone to work for American Bridge, the Democratic research group … worked for years at the Miami Herald and St. Petersburg Times (now the Tampa Bay Times) and had stints at the Detroit News, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and, most recently Scripps. “Sydney Freedberg is a fantastic addition to the American Bridge team and has already used her finely tuned research skills to help us keep politicians accountable,” said American Bridge 21st Century President Jessica Mackler. “Sydney’s talent for uncovering political corruption makes her an excellent hire to our research team. We are thrilled to have her joining us.” Freedberg, who at the Herald and Times wrote a number of in-depth stories about Jeb Bush.
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ELECTIONS SUPERVISORS TO COURT: DECIDE SENATE REDISTRICTING BY MARCH 15, PLEASE via Jim Rosica of Florida Politics – “Qualifying for federal and state candidates (including state Senate) will occur the week of June 20-26, 2016,” says the filing, submitted by longtime association attorney Ron Labasky. “Candidates must know the district lines before this time in order to determine which district they will run in and qualify for.” Moreover, new maps and precincts “must be presented to the respective board of county commissioners for approval,” it says. “This total process will take a minimum of 60 days after receipt of the new Senate map from the Florida Supreme Court.” Florida’s Presidential Preference Primary is also on March 15, and immediately after “supervisors of elections would like to remap the new Congressional and Senate districts at the same time.”
REDISTRICTING SAGA MOVES CONGRESSIONAL MAP ‘CLOSER TO FAIRNESS’ via Mary Ellen Klas of the Tampa Bay Times – Across the state, incumbents find themselves representing communities that have never voted for them — prompting challengers, who otherwise may have waited on the sidelines for incumbents to retire, to consider running now. “We’re closer to fairness,” said Michael McDonald, associate professor of political science at the University of Florida and an expert on redistricting. Pamela Goodman, president of the League of Women Voters, which successfully challenged the Legislature’s map, believes the map the challengers drew, and which the court accepted, will have a ripple effect on policy. “The goal of the amendments was never to make a fairer map,” she said. “It was to produce fairer and more competitive elections, to expect incumbents to listen, to be a mouthpiece for their constituents — not special interests and campaign interests.”… “More importantly, it’s likely not only a gain for Democrats but for racial representation in Florida,” McDonald said, as the map opened the door to elect a black or Hispanic person from Orlando — bringing the total number of minority seats from six to seven.
SHOT: “The biggest political action committees run by state politicians in 2015” via Jeremy Wallace of the Tampa Bay Times
CHASER: @MDixon55: Random reminder. PCs send checks back and forth regularly. The initial contribution & transfer should not both be counted in top line numbers.
WHO WILL FIGHT MEDICAL-MARIJUANA INITIATIVE THIS TIME? Via Scott Powers of the Orlando Sentinel – None of the groups that made up Don’t Let Florida Go to Pot last year – including the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Medical Association, and the Florida Sheriffs Association – filed any opposition to 2016 proposed amendment earlier this month when the Florida Supreme Court approved its language as appropriate … The Drug Free America Foundation, which helped attract a $2.5 million donation from [Sheldon] Adelson last time, says it will remain steadfast in opposition in 2016. The group was part of the Don’t Let Florida Go to Pot coalition.
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DESPITE JOB GAINS, RICK SCOTT STILL STRUGGLING TO WIN SUPPORT via Jeremy Wallace of the Tampa Bay Times – Just 23 percent of [Tampa Bay] residents say Scott is doing a good or excellent job, according to a Tampa Bay Times/WTSP … 44 percent gave Scott a rating of either not so good or poor … Another 30 percent rated the governor’s performance as average … over the course of the past two years, the state’s unemployment rate has dropped precipitously, raising expectations that as the economy improved, so too would the Republican governor’s status with voters … But the improving economy is not just Scott’s doing, poll respondents said … part of Scott’s problem is that even though he is a two-term governor, he has never won more than 49 percent of the vote in either of his campaigns.
STATE OFFICIALS TO SPRAY FOR MOSQUITOES DUE TO RAIN, HEAT via the Associated Press – Wet, hot and itchy – welcome to Christmas in South Florida, where the heavy rains and abnormally high temperatures are prompting officials to spray for mosquitoes on Friday. … Miami-Dade County is nearly 10 inches above normal, while the South Florida Water Management District shows Palm Beach County receiving 6.2 inches of rain already this month. That’s 4.15 inches above the normal for December. Temperatures are running nearly 10 degrees above normal. The windy weather has also made it difficult for officials to get ahead of the mosquito problem.
LEGISLATIVE MONEY COULD FLOW INTO TREASURE COAST WATER FARMS via Tyler Treadway of TCPalm.com – Caulkins Citrus Co. wants to add more than 2,500 acres to its water farm in Martin County. Evans Properties Inc. wants to add two sites totaling 14,100 acres to its operation in St. Lucie County. The expansions would keep an additional 47.6 billion gallons of water out of the St. Lucie River estuary. They also would cost up to $15 million a year. The expansion projects have a good chance of being approved when the state Legislature convenes … And, more importantly, getting Scott‘s OK, said Eric Draper, executive director of Florida Audubon. The Caulkins and Evans projects have good support in the House of Representatives, Draper said, and how they do in the Senate will depend on how hard state Sen. Joe Negron … “gets behind them and pushes.” Negron said he’ll push hard, that his “short-term focus” for the upcoming legislative session will be funding the Caulkins expansion.
RENE GARCIA PROPOSES TAX HOLIDAY TO HELP SMALL BUSINESSES via Jim Rosica of Florida Politics –Garcia has again filed legislation to create a “Small Business Saturday sales tax holiday.” The tax holiday would be next Nov. 26 – the day after Black Friday – and would apply to sales tax on items costing $1,000 or less. It defines small businesses as those owing “less than $200,000 in total tax.” The bill also would set aside $200,000 in nonrecurring general revenue funds to subsidize the tax holiday.
— “State lawmakers hope bill will solve Uber, Lyft ride-hailing impasse” via Jeff Schweers of the Tampa Tribune
JUDGE W. DAVID WATKINS GETS ALL POT LICENSE CHALLENGES via Scott Powers of the Orlando Sentinel – Florida Administrative Hearings Judge … Watkins … has been assigned to preside over all 13 challenges filed earlier this month against the state’s medical marijuana licensing efforts. Twenty-four companies competed for the licenses and in late November the Department of Health selected five. Then 11 companies then filed a total of 13 challenges to those selections. Watkins handled cases in late 2014 that invalidated parts of the state’s first effort to write rules for medical marijuana. He also handled cases in the spring of 2015 that validated the state’s second effort, leading to the license-award competition.
WHAT MIKE FASANO IS READING — STUDY: FLORIDA’S CRACKDOWN ON ‘PILL MILLS’ LINKED TO FEWER PAINKILLER OVERDOSE DEATHS via Alene Kennedy-Hendricks, Matthew Richey, Emma E. “Beth” McGinty, Elizabeth Stuart, Colleen L. Barry, and Daniel W. Webster for InsuranceJournal.com – The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers … say an estimated 1,029 fewer people in Florida lost their lives to prescription painkiller overdoses over a 34-month period than would have had the state not taken aim at pill mills … also found substantially fewer deaths in Florida from overdoses involving either prescription painkillers or heroin during 2011 and 2012, a finding that calls into question claims that reducing prescription painkiller diversion will increase overall heroin use. Rates of prescription painkiller addiction are at historic highs and a portion of those abusing these medications have switched to heroin, which can be cheaper and, in some cases, easier to obtain. Other research has found that four out of five new heroin users first used prescription painkillers. What could be happening in Florida, they say, is that with less access to prescription painkillers, fewer people may be developing an addiction, which in turn may prevent people from later transitioning to heroin.
WHAT MARC DUNBAR IS READING — “DraftKings, FanDuel sue Illinois attorney general over fantasy sports betting opinion” via Fox News
PERSONNEL NOTE: ELIZABETH LANE JOINS LEADINGAGE FLORIDA via Jim Rosica of Florida Politics – Lane will join LeadingAge Florida as director of Education and Events, the organization announced in a Wednesday news release … She previously was with the Florida chapter of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists and the Florida Association of Consultant Pharmacists.
JAX MAYOR AIMS TO HIRE FIRMS TO LOBBY IN TALLAHASSEE via David Bauerlein of the Florida Times-Union –In the heat of the mayoral campaign, a political committee supporting Lenny Curry sent out a mailer that ripped his rival Bill Bishop for pushing to hire an outside lobbying firm when Bishop was City Council president … “Wasting taxpayer money on a high-paid lobbyist,” said the mailer paid for by Together for a Greater Jacksonville … Curry went on to win the mayor’s race, and as the Legislature gets ready to meet in regular session Jan. 12, Curry is going to do what Bishop tried to do in 2012 — hire outside lobbying firms savvy about working the halls of the state Capitol. The city budget has $150,000 set aside for lobbying fees, and the mayor’s office is negotiating with three firms to go to bat for the city. “We haven’t been making our case in Tallahassee,” Curry said.
WHAT LOBBYIST JOE MOBLEY AND HIS NEW FAMILY TAUGHT ME ABOUT COVERING POLITICS via Tia Mitchell of the Florida Times-Union – Mobley works for The Fiorentino Group, a firm with offices in Jacksonville and Tallahassee and clients ranging from Uber to the Jaguars to AT&T. Mobley and his colleagues are major players in state and local politics. Playing Santa Claus is part of the job. This column … is not just about Joe Mobley the lobbyist. It’s about Joe Mobley the person and how getting to know him has caused me to think deeper about how I approach my own job. I force myself to remember that every politician, staff member and lobbyist I meet in the halls of the Capitol has a unique story that includes love and loss and disappointment. Part of my job as a journalist is to understand where they are coming from and how that influences the decisions they make … Mobley is a wheeling, dealing lobbyist who “plays Santa” to make sure he remains relevant in the process. But for just the second Christmas, he is also a dad with three kids who had to talk himself out of buying them one more gift to put under the tree.
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‘FORCE AWAKENS’ BECOMES FASTEST MOVIE TO $1 BILLION via Sandy Cohen of the Associated Press – The Walt Disney Co. said “The Force Awakens” crossed the billion-dollar mark Sunday, accomplishing the feat in just 12 days. The previous movie to reach $1 billion the fastest was Universal’s “Jurassic World,” which did it in 13 days in June. “Jurassic World” also had the benefit of record grosses in China. “The Force Awakens” doesn’t open in the world’s second-largest movie market until Jan. 9. J.J. Abrams‘ installment of “Star Wars” also posted the biggest Christmas Day box office in history with $49.3 million and the best second-weekend earnings with $153.5 million … has been setting records since its debut Dec. 17. It brought in … $238 million in North America over its opening weekend … It scored the biggest worldwide debut with $529 million. It also topped $100 million in IMAX screenings in 10 days, another global record.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY a day early to my friend, Rep. Chris Latvala.
