The Political Whore

Our former gov, Jeb Bush, is speaking out against expanding gambling in Florida, telling the Florida Baptist Witness:

… gambling expansion is a “narcotic” state leaders should reject even though the “allure of gambling is probably even stronger today” with the state budget deficit.

Gambling can be opposed for moral, economic, fairness or social costs reasons, but the “combination of all of them” make for a “very compelling argument” against expansion, Bush said.

“I think gambling is a vivid example of a culture that demands immediate gratification,” giving an “impression that you can achieve things without work” and “that luck matters,” Bush said. As such, gambling is a “deterrence for true economic development.”

According to Bush, “the bottom line is that this is a money-making enterprise for a select few that do really, really well at the expense of the communities” where they exist.

Bush continues that the drive to expand gambling is not “unstoppabl” but he is careful not to criticize his successor, Charlie Crist, directly, saying there may be circumstances that he is not privvy to.

How about a state economy that is in shambles, education reforms that have done nothing to make public schools better or more accountable and a lingering land-hucksterism that Bush did nothing to curb in his eight years in the gov’s mansion in Tallahassee?

I especially love Jeb!’s overall assessment of how our state should be, as elucidated in the FBW lede:

If the Sunshine State had a mission statement it should be “Florida is a family-friendly, wholesome, prosperous place” and “gambling doesn’t have a part in that,” former Gov. Jeb Bush told Florida Baptist Witness in an exclusive interview.

Make that quote “heterosexual, traditional nuclear family-friendly, wholesome prosperous for connected land developers place.”

(photo courtesy of Adrian Sampson) 

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Flashback Friday.

• The Hillary Deathwatch. (Don’t worry: They mean the candidate, not the person.)
• “This is like any other cover-up,” Mr. Remes said. “We’ve only scratched the surface.”
• Recession? Probably. Depression? No way.
• Now, where did I put that high-yield nuclear warhead?
• Did the latest al-Qaeda tape give the “attack” order?
• Man found dead, full of bullet holes and laying in U.S. 19 in South St. Petersburg.
• Is there anything better than recorded phone calls involving Courtney Love?
• Hack a Mac in “two minutes flat.”

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Still alive.

• MSNBC’s kick-ass number cruncher Chuck Todd goes inside the latest poll numbers.
  
• The little lady should be seen and not heard: Clinton’s moneymen sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi telling her to shut her trap about superdelegate voting.
• Joe Klein floats Al Gore as the possible democratic nominee. Time to retire, Joe?
• McCain puts Russia squarely in the enemy category.
• The New York Post has linked Spitzer to a second call girl ring (“And There He Ho’s Again”) and provides details on the couple that ran Emperor V.I.P.
• Shuttle Endeavor zips by with a bang.
• The L.A. Times retracts their “Diddy did it” Tupac murder story. Puff is still guilty of murdering Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” for that shitastic Godzilla remake, though.
• Adobe’s Photoshop goes online in an “Express” version, and by “Express” they mean free.

(Photo Credit: Steve Rhodes)

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From the Barack Obama campaign:

The Obama Campaign today announced the appointment of Francisco “Frank” Sánchez, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Transportation, as the National Chair of Latino and Hispanic Fundraising. Sánchez, is also an advisor on Latin American policy for the campaign. In his new capacity, Sanchez will Co-Chair along with Illinois Attorney, Manny Sanchez, the Obama Hispanic Leadership Council. This newly formed Council will work with the national finance team to increase the already growing enthusiasm and fundraising efforts for the Obama campaign in the Hispanic Community.

“Barack Obama is the candidate in the race who will deliver change we can believe in” said Sánchez. “During the course of this campaign, we have seen thousands of inspired Latinos turning out to do whatever it takes to spread Senator Obama’s message of bringing our country together. We need a president with the leadership and judgment to not only unite our country but specifically address the issues affecting Latinos; Senator Obama’s record has proven that he will be a strong advocate for Latinos nationwide.”

“I am proud to have the support of such an influential pioneer in the Latino community,” Senator Obama said. “Frank will play a key role in reaching out to Latinos about our campaign’s vision to unite our country and expand our growing enthusiasm in the Latino community.”

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During the 2007 Tampa City Council elections, the Times‘ Brady Dennis had a great story raising questions about some suspicious campaign contributions made to candidate Julie Brown in her (unsuccessful) bid to unseat John Dingfelder, all with connections to Tampa car dealership owner Jason Kuhn. As the newspaper explained just before the March 2007 election:

A St. Petersburg Times analysis in January found that more than $20,000 of Brown’s contributions came from local car dealer Jason Kuhn, his relatives and associates at his Honda and Volkswagen dealerships.

Dingfelder had previously opposed a plan to add a used car lot to Kuhn’s business on W Kennedy Boulevard.

Kuhn said he didn’t encourage or force employees to give. And Brown said she made no promises on how she would vote.

Here’s exactly what Kuhn said during the campaign, according to the Times:

“We don’t tell our employees who to give money to,” Kuhn said, noting that many didn’t give a dime. He called them simply a “very loyal and very passionate” bunch.

Now we find out that Jason Kuhn really did funnel his own money into the campaign by asking employees to stroke personal checks and then reimbursing them from his wad o’ cash. But he will not be charged criminally because the law and the prosecutor said Kuhn 1.) is really, really sorry and 2.) didn’t know it was against the law to funnel his own cash in excess of campaign contributions limits into a city council race because of his personal dislike of the incumbent.

The Times reported this week:

“We looked at it and said, ‘He won’t do that again. He’s learned his lesson,’ ” said Wayne Chalu, supervisor of the [Hillsborough State Attorney] office’s economic crime unit.

What a steaming pile of bullshit.

In all my years of covering politics and being involved in campaigns as a political consultant, this is the most egregious example of a practice that many suspect is more widely spread than we ever prove. The only solace in this is that Brown ended up losing to Dingfelder anyway — but what role did the revelation by the Times and Dennis of this little scheme play? And what if the press hadn’t caught it? Brown could have won and Kuhn would have gotten away with political murder.

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From the Lib Party:

Washington, D.C. - Mike Gravel, a former Alaskan Senator and Democratic candidate for president, has joined the Libertarian Party.

“I’m joining the Libertarian Party because it is a party that combines a commitment to freedom and peace that can’t be found in the two major parties that control the government and politics of America,” says Gravel. “My libertarian views, as well as my strong stance against war, the military industrial complex and American imperialism, seem not to be tolerated by Democratic Party elites who are out of touch with the average American; elites that reject the empowerment of American citizens I offered to the Democratic Party at the beginning of this presidential campaign with the National Initiative for Democracy.”

Gravel served in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1981. Most recently, Gravel was a Democratic presidential candidate, though forced out of national debates by Democratic Party leadership and the media. Gravel officially became a member of the Libertarian Party today.

Gravel is the most recent former member of Congress to switch to the Libertarian Party. In 2006, former Republican Congressman Bob Barr joined the Libertarian Party.

No word on whether his rock will switch parties as well.

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oops.

• 4000.
• The surge just keeps on surging.
• Debate gamesmanship: Now Hillary’s not sure she can make it.
• The wisdom of Pat Buchanan: “No people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans.”
• Tampa Bay makes a play for a “world’s horniest teachers” designation.
• Google continues the push for a national wireless network.
• “As soon as I saw her coochie, I told Jason, this is special.”
• Britney Spears appears on TV and doesn’t completely suck. Call it a comeback?

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Media General, the owner of Newschannel 8 and the Tampa Tribune, is blaming its lackluster financial performance on us right here in Florida. Specifically, Reuters reports, it’s our shitty economy that is getting the finger(pointing):

Poor economic conditions in Tampa, Florida, will contribute to Media General Inc. reporting a loss when it announces its first-quarter results, the newspaper publisher and broadcaster said on Thursday.

Media General, which publishes the Tampa Tribune, said “the recession in Tampa is so deep that we will not be able to fully offset the revenue shortfalls we are experiencing there.”

The company plans to post a loss of 40 cents to 45 cents a share from continuing operations. The figure does not include five television stations it is trying to sell.

Ahhh, nothing like a nice, deep recession.

Things aren’t as gloomy, however, for the president and CEO of Media General, Marshall N. Morton, according to the AP:

The chief executive officer of struggling newspaper publisher and television station operator Media General received executive compensation valued at more than $2 million during 2007, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.

Marshall N. Morton, who is also president of the company, received a base salary of $925,000, almost an 18 percent increase from the year before, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A large portion of Morton’s compensation came from the value of stock and option awards. The awards, granted Jan. 31, 2007, had a total value that day of $844,719, according to the filing.

He received no bonus, unlike in 2006, when he received $475,592.

Poor baby. No bonus last year. How will he make ends meet??

While the company has laid off employees (and many in the remaining staff are fearful of more job cuts), and eliminated news sections to save $$$, Media General is begging the FCC to allow it to consolidate print and broadcast news operations throughout the country as it does at the Newscenter in Tampa, which is grandfathered and exempt from cross-ownership regulations.

The good news, however, is that MG is bringing its female-oriented and wildly inappropriately named Skirt! publication to town, the Biz Journal tells us. Good news if you are a snarky columnist who writes about MG blunders from time to time (see: Orange.) Here’s the ad the Trib wrote recently looking for Skirt! advertising execs. Note the way-too-hip graphics, tres New Frontier:

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The truth behind the Spitzer resignation is finally revealed, as well as a fascinating recitation on video of a recent Spitzer op-ed. All part of the great things that the Internet and YouTube are bringing to our lives.

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Just another example of Floridians’ hypocrisy when it comes to even the most simple upkeep of our roads, bridges, parks, etc. This time, the case is over in the Pinellas beaches, on the toll-road called the Pinellas Bayway.

Two legislators dropped plans for a higher toll to pay for needed replacement spans on the Bayway after public outrage. Their legislation would have raised tolls from 35-50 cents a trip to as much as $2.50. The Times reports:

“This year? It’s deader than a doornail — I mean it is flat, Black Flag dead,” said state Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, who sponsored bills with Rep. Jim Frishe, R-Belleair Bluffs.

The result is that the cost for the new bridges will now inevitably be spread out onto all taxpayers instead of directed to those folks who live and play on the beaches, the very people who use the damned Bayway in the first place. That sounds fair, at least to groups such as the Citizens Bayway Task Force.

This is just the latest in a decades-long string of Florida stinginess for the basics of civic life and taking care of our infrastructure. The latest tax reform proposal, for instance, would do away with $9-11 billion of education funding that had been tied to property taxes and that would not be replaced with a swap-out 1 percent increase in sales taxes (which are much less stable a funding source and a regressive tax, to boot).

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