The Political Whore

The first shot in the confirmation battle over Sonia Sotomayor is out there, a video appearance by the judge at Duke University in which, ABC News reported, she said that the district appeals court is where “policy is made.”

If that is true, that would make her an “activist” judge, a label that is radioactive and would create a real problem for Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court.

So what did she say, exactly? And what did she mean?

The left-leaning Media Matters defends her and says her words were taken out of context, that ABC (and others) erred in their characterizations. That spin is being echoed by Democrats on this morning’s news shows. It goes like this:

In fact, Sotomayor was responding to a student who asked the panel to contrast the experiences of a district court clerkship and a circuit court clerkship. Sotomayor’s remarks from the Duke panel discussion … :

SOTOMAYOR: The saw is that if you’re going into academia, you’re going to teach, or as Judge Lucero just said, public interest law, all of the legal defense funds out there, they’re looking for people with court of appeals experience, because it is — court of appeals is where policy is made. And I know — and I know this is on tape and I should never say that because we don’t make law, I know. OK, I know. I’m not promoting it, and I’m not advocating it, I’m — you know. OK. Having said that, the court of appeals is where, before the Supreme Court makes the final decision, the law is percolating — its interpretation, its application. And Judge Lucero is right. I often explain to people, when you’re on the district court, you’re looking to do justice in the individual case. So you are looking much more to the facts of the case than you are to the application of the law because the application of the law is non-precedential, so the facts control. On the court of appeals, you are looking to how the law is developing, so that it will then be applied to a broad class of cases. And so you’re always thinking about the ramifications of this ruling on the next step in the development of the law. You can make a choice and say, “I don’t care about the next step,” and sometimes we do. Or sometimes we say, “We’ll worry about that when we get to it” — look at what the Supreme Court just did. But the point is that that’s the differences — the practical differences in the two experiences are the district court is controlled chaos and not so controlled most of the time.

Watch the video clip after the jump, and you make the call:

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By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo Contributor

Actually, I could’ve titled this post “Are Republicans afraid of homosexuals?” But I’m going to pick on the conservatives for now.  Read the rest of this entry »

Actually, that doesn’t sound like a bad name for a law firm, “Welcome to Niemann, Sullivan, Leto & Schweitzer, how may I direct your call?” But back to the job at hand: I have four new contributors to announce. I am excited about the knowledge and qualities they bring to PoHo, including some indepth writing on historic preservation (Leto) and the intersection of religion and public policy (Schweitzer).

Here are their bios, after the jump. I will have some more to announce by the end of this week:

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Dan Waite e-mailed me to tip me off to his first effort to make and post a political video, and it is a good one, explaining how Senate Bill 360 that is on Gov. Charlie Crist’s desk is a bad one.

Watch the full video after the jump:

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Here’s a quick look at how the media — professional and otherwise — are treating this morning’s announcement of District Court of Appeal Judge Sonia Sotomayor as the first Latina to be nominated to the highest court in the land.

[UPDATE: after the jump, I've added the Libertarian Party's blistering assessment of Sotomayor as an activist judge.]

HuffPo says it guarantees a dramatic storyline:

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I was on Rob Lorei’s Florida This Week last Friday and was asked to lead off discussion of Florida’s chances of getting high-speed rail. I was taken by surprise, because I had studied Barack Obama’s stimulus plan extensively, especially its engineering aspects, for a freelance piece I did for the UF Engineering College alumni magazine and didn’t remember any money being set aside for high-speed rail in Florida.

It turns out that even Obama himself mentioned Florida as a possible recipient in a recent speech. But I’m guessing that it’s more of a hope than a reality, and a South Florida Sun-Sentinel story lays out the problems with Florida being competitive for some of $8 billion set aside in stimulus dollars for a Miami-Orlando-Tampa high-speed train:

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By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor

UPDATE 8:46 a.m.: Barack Obama will announce later this morning his selection of Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the Federal Appeals Court as his nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, The New York Times reports. If confirmed by the Senate she will be the third woman on the court and the first Hispanic justice.

The MSM will undoubtedly cast Obama’s first Supreme Court choice in terms of liberal vs. conservative. While the consequences of Barack Obama’s decision will have political overtones, the real debate centers around how the document in question (the U.S. Constitution) should be interpreted.

In the one camp, there’s Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas.

In the other, Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and John Paul Stevens are firmly situated.

And Obama could announce the next member of the high court as early as today.

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By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.

D.C. reporters were disappointed last Friday when Nancy Pelosi refused to answer questions regarding her current contretemps on the CIA and waterboarding.

It came right days after her disastrous news conference where she alleged that the CIA misled her in a Sept. 4, 2002, secret briefing about torture.

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By Peter Schweitzer
PoHo contributor

Ed.’s note: Peter Schweitzer is marketing and public relations professional who has worked in politics and the law. This is his first guest blog for The Political Whore.

By all accounts, President Obama’s recent controversial Notre Dame commencement address was a hit. He was cool, eloquent, and not the least bit intimidated by the U.S. bishops who had all but called for his head on a platter the weeks prior to the address. Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: Weekend Rewind is a new feature of PoHo, republishing the best, longer posts about politics and public affairs from my blog and Daily Loaf as well, in case you might have missed them the first time around. Think of it as my version of a Sunday/weekend newspaper.

By Grant RImbey, CNU
Green Community contributor

A year ago I was doing microfilm research on local history at the John German Library in Tampa. Anyone who’s done this research knows how tedious it is; there’s no index for microfilm so to find pertinent articles one must scan each newspaper page on each microfilm roll. While doing this I was flabbergasted to discover a Tampa Tribune article from Nov. 25, 1924, that mentioned the work of the famous town planner John Nolen in connection with Tampa.

To my surprise, the City of Tampa commissioned Nolen to survey the city in 1924 in preparation for a master plan that he was to create for the city. I know a good deal about the planning and architectural history of the area but hadn’t heard that Nolen was working in our area. Tragically, Nolen created his survey but was never commissioned by the city to create his master plan for Tampa: 1924 was the height of delirium during the 1920s Florida real estate boom and the development industry of the time did not want to slow down the good times enough to allow the creation of a master plan and code to direct them. The great depression came early to Florida and by the end of 1926 the roaring 20s were over.

The discovery of John Nolen’s survey of Tampa is important as he’s arguably the finest town planner to have worked in Florida and is the namesake of the John Nolen Medal for Contributions to Urbanism in Florida, given by the progressive planning organization Congress for the New Urbanism, Florida Chapter. In Florida, Nolen was the genius behind the town plans of Venice, Sarasota, West Palm Beach, Clewiston, and Temple Terrace.

In 1924, the problems that Mr. Nolen identified in Tampa’s planning remain problems to this very day:

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By Ben Luongo
PoHo contributor

Iran’s missile launch on Wednesday is not making President Barack Obama’s diplomatic efforts in the Middle East any easier. This demonstration, however, could be seen as more of a reason for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to embrace the two-state solution.

Netanyahu has made it clear that he sees Iran as a threat.  On Tuesday, after meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he said:

“[Iran] is a great danger to all of us, to Israel specifically and to the moderate Arab regime, and to America.  Especially if this regime were to arm itself or arm terrorists with nuclear weapons, the consequences could be unimaginable.”

Here’s video of the Israeli leader in Washington, after the jump.

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Anybody needing a distillation of the differences between the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama on the “War on Terror” need look no further than today’s competing speeches by Dick Cheney and Obama on the subject.

Politico reports:

President Barack Obama will attempt to regain control of a boiling debate over anti-terrorism policy with a major speech on Thursday — an address that comes on the same day that former Vice President Dick Cheney will be weighing in with his own speech on the same theme.

The dueling speeches amount to the most direct engagement so far between Obama and his conservative critics in the volatile argument over what tactics are justified in detaining and interrogating suspected enemy combatants.

The national security debate — egged on by frequent charges from Cheney that Obama is leaving the country more vulnerable to attack — is the only subject on which many Republicans believe they have been able to gain traction against a popular president and the Democratic majority that now dominate Washington.

It ought to be hilariou-scary to see Cheney defend torture and keeping Gitmo open. The key to today’s semi-debate is not whether Cheney, wildly unpopular even in his own party, wins the hearts and minds of the U.S. citizenry but whether the president can score points on the left and in the middle with his “walk a thin line” approach.

Late yesterday, Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio weighed in on a movement to perhaps lift her city’s lawn-sprinkler ban and water restrictions, the toughest in Tampa Bay.

In a letter to city council members, Iorio said the recent torrential rains have helped — but not enough to lift the sprinkler ban. She set a goal of a flow of 60 million gallons a day in the upper Hillsborough River before lifting the restrictions.

Going forward, the best way to decide when water restrictions should be eased is by the level of our reservoir and the rate of flow in the river. This is an approach that is scientific in nature, not subjective. Our staff indicates that when the reservoir level is at 21 feet or higher, and Hillsborough River flows exceed 60 million gallons per day at Morris Bridge, we will propose that our watering restrictions be relaxed to the Southwest Florida Water Management District Phase 4 modified level, which will allow customers to irrigate once a week on their watering days.

Download her full letter after the jump.

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You may recall from this blog earlier in the year that the state was considering, to be quite blunt about it, selling the stretch of I-75 known as Alligator Alley (across the Everglades and Big Cypress Swamp) to the highest bidder, who would pay the state upfront and then collect the tolls on it for decades to come. (Technically, it was a long-term lease, but the net effect is the same.)

The plan sucked. And now, one South Florida lawmaker tells the Fort Myers News-Press, it is dead, at least for now:

Alligator Alley will remain in the hands of the state, for now. The Florida Department of Transportation received no bids to lease the 78-mile section of Interstate 75 by Monday’s deadline.

Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres, said he hopes the state’s efforts to lease the alley are over.

“This idea was ill-conceived from the very beginning. It was sped through the process with minimal public input, and it deserves to be dead and buried forever,” said Aronberg, whose bill to bar foreign companies from leasing state roads did not pass during session.

“It was a bad deal for taxpayers, a bad deal for the state of Florida and would have set a dangerous precedent.”

Here’s the bad news:

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Cross-posted from the Daily Loaf blog:

By Michelle Schenck
Green Community contributor

The Florida Green Building Coalition is organizing its Sixth Annual Florida GreenTrends conference to take place between June 10-12 at the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront. The GreenTrends 2009 conference focuses primarily on housing and building green trends that are both cost effective for the individual homeowner and business owners.

Some of the Education sessions that are already set in motion include Green Remodeling, Greening your business, and new trends in water efficiency. There are also myriad keynote speakers, ranging from general contractors to solar energy experts. Read the rest of this entry »

By Ben Luongo
PoHo contributor

President Obama spoke at Notre Dame’s commencent address on Sunday. There has been some controversy as to whether Notre Dame would honor him with an honorary law degree or not.  Some from Notre Dame are opposed to Obama receiving a honorary degree because of his policy preferences, such as abortion, have not reflected the Catholic morality.

The controversy over honoring Obama with a degree may not be the most impacting news story in the world, but it does speak volumes on the issue of morality and religion and how they intersect with politics.

See video of Obama getting his honorary degree at Notre Dame after the jump.

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The shockwaves from the government-labor takeover at Chrysler is reverberating in the Tampa Bay area, as seven dealerships are set to be closed as part of nearly 800 dealer closings across the nation.

The local dealerships are:

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Here is a video that was the winner of The Congress for New Urbanism CNU 17 video contest, a film that looks at the connection between suburban sprawl and environmental degradation. From independent filmmaker John Paget.

h/t to Kelly Cornelius, PoHo contributor.

Watch the full video after the jump.

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By Lorna Bracewell
PoHo contributor

eQuality Giving, an online community that provides strategic advice for philanthropists interested in legal equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans, has ranked all 50 states according to the number of Equality Goals each has achieved. On this States of Equality list, Florida ranks an embarrassing 37th with a score of 1.5 out of a possible 6 points barely beating out Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and other shining beacons of progressivism.

What hurt the Sunshine State’s score?

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By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio

Democratic Party political strategist James Carville has published a new book out with the audacious title of “40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation.”

The first thought from any sensible person should be that the hyperbole is a little rich. If nothing else, political junkies don’t have to have a long memory to remember how Karl Rove fell off his petard with his (now ludicrous) proclamation about ushering in a” durable Republican majority” earlier this decade. That didn’t exactly work out that way.

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By Ben Luongo
PoHo contributor

It seems as though the threat of swine flu has died down. Despite that Florida has five confirmed cases and 22 probable cases, Florida high schools reopened their doors this week. This is because were finding out more and more that the swine flu isn’t all that different than a typical seasonal flu. If that’s the case, did the media and goverment overhype the threat of swine flu? Read the rest of this entry »

They are an unlikely pair: She’s a lifelong Democrat, and he’s a conservative Republican. Their cities are known for decades of feuding and rivalries, a history that seems remote in these days of regionalism. But Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker both share a passion for history; Iorio was a history major at USF and earned her master’s in the subject, while Baker has written his own history of St. Petersburg.

In “A Tale of Two Cities,” a forum held last night at the historic Centro Asturiano building between downtown Tampa and Ybor City, Baker and Iorio showed off their historian chops in front of a crowd of a few hundred people. USF historians Gary Mormino and Ray Arsenault moderated.

I was asked to join La Gaceta publisher Patrick Manteiga and St. Petersburg Times columnist Ernest Hooper in questioning the two mayors on historical matters, and I asked both: What one historical building that no longer exists in your city would you like to have back, and why?

Their answers, and pictures of those two buildings, after the jump:

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CNBC’s reputation-damaged investment show host Jim Cramer just told The Today Show that the “banking nightmare” is over as a result of the stress tests on banks being released today.

His point? That even though a few banks still need billions to shore up their balance sheets, they are making money and likely can raise those extra funds in the market – not from taxpayers.

Bloomberg reports that the market indeed likes the results of the financial stress tests:

Stocks rallied after the news, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Financials Index to its highest level in four months. The results are the culmination of weeks of investigations, led by the Federal Reserve, into the banks’ lending practices, funding strategies and securities and loan portfolios.

“The markets are telling us we’re in a recovery and the banks are beginning to heal,” William Isaac, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said in an interview today. The end of the stress tests after “three months of water torture” is providing investors some relief, he said.

The regulators put an emphasis in their reviews on tangible common equity, and will give firms needing bigger reserves six months to meet their requirements. Citigroup’s assessment reflects the New York-based bank’s previously announced plan to convert some of its preferred shares into common stock.

By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio

This past Saturday in Tampa, the man hailed as the savior of the Iraq war, Gen. David Petraeus, as part of being honored by Toastmasters International, was to have given a speech, However, Washington business took precedent, and speaking in the Central Command leader’s stead was Rear Admiral Mike Franken, U.S. Navy Deputy Director of Strategy Plans & Policy for Central Command.

Appearing at the Marriott Westshore Hotel, Franken said he was up for taking questions from the hundred conventioneers in attendance at the end of his slide filled presentation. Unfortunately, Toastmasters provided limited time for the military official to speak (the world champion of public speaking from 2005 was giving a seminar in the same room), and thus he was able only to respond to a couple of audience queries before being summoned from the dais.

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For better or for worse (and there are some who say it bodes poorly for efforts to get rail transit here in Tampa Bay), but Orlando’s five-year effort for a light-rail system using CSX freight tracks appears finally dead.

A floor vote in the Senate yesterday that could have helped switch more votes to its side failed. From the pro-SunRail Orlando Sentinel:

SunRail proponents could try to bring up the measure again today – the last day of the regular session – but its chances of success are low because it would take 27 votes to do so.

“It’ll take some maneuvering to get it done. I think the forces of evil have won,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

He was among the dozens of supporters who tried in vain to corral the 21 votes necessary for SunRail to prevail. But he lost two members of the Central Florida delegation: Sens. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, and Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach.

And despite the support of Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and numerous Central Florida business leaders, 15 Republicans voted against the measure.

By Eric Snider
cross-posted from The Daily Loaf

“The whole purpose of the law is to stifle speech against people who speak against the deviant [gay] lifestyle.” —Bill Keller

The first and second installments of The Devi’s Advocate with Bill Keller drew lots of traffic and comments. Welcome to our third Q&A. I’ll be playing the role of Devil’s Advocate.

One of our most controversial religious figures, Pinellas-based Bill Keller is known for his incendiary rhetoric and unbending view of Bible-based morality. He believes homosexuality is an abomination, abortion is murder and … you can pretty much guess the rest. Click here for a bit more detail on Keller’s ministry.

Today’s Topic: The U.S. Congress is in the process of expanding Hate Crimes laws to include “sexual orientation,” “gender” and “gender identity” to federally protected classes that already include race, religion, color or national origin. Bill Keller doesn’t like this at all.

The Devil’s Advocate: By opposing the addition of gender identity to the existing hate crimes bill, does that mean you’re OK with crimes against gays?

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So even before my first cuppa this morning I am subjected to a live Today Show interview with beauty queen aspirant Carrie Prejean, the Miss California entrant who believes that celebrity blogger and out-gay Perez Hilton cost her the Miss USA title with his query about same-sex marriage.

So giving her the benefit of the doubt at that time, Prejean was a very bad question-answerer.

Now, however, we have confirmation that she is a bonafide gay hater. Prejean is part of an anti-gay-marriage advertisement being unveiled today by a national anti-gay group. It won’t embed, so you have to check it out here. Politico reports:

The anti-same-sex marriage National Organization for Marriage is trying to turn the tables on gay rights activists this morning with a new ad accusing them of attacking Miss USA contestant Carrie Prejean for opposing gay marriage.

The ad … will be released at a press conference with Prejean — the new star of that movement — today in Washington, D.C.

Video of Prejean on Fox News right after the pageant after the jump.

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Sen. Dan Gelber, a candidate for the U.S. Senate and a Democrat, warns of a rumor to that regard. From his Twitter account earlier today:
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A friend of mine wrote to C.W. Bill Young regarding a pending federal hate crimes bill (H.R.  1913 AKA The Mathew Shephard Act) that would expand the 1969 federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by the victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. I’ve posted the Congressman’s response in its entirety after the jump. I found it offensive both intellectually and morally.

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The first 100 days of the president’s administration is usually used as a report card to judge its success or gauge where it might be for the rest of its term. However, the closing of President Obama’s honeymoon may not even be the news headline as reports of Arlen Specter switching parties overshadows the president. This completely arbitrary 100th-day-mark might underscore more the status of the Republican Party than anything else.

Watch Arlen Specter’s statement after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a good review from the Tallahassee Democrat of just how the petroleum industry and its lobbyists sprung their 11th-hour surprise to end a 20-year ban on offshore oil drilling on the House of Representatives.

From the Democrat’s Florida Capital News website:

With a little less than an hour’s discussion, and a quick, mostly party-line vote, every conservationist’s worst nightmare was headed for the House floor. The House gave preliminary approval on Friday.

“This is like a Carl Hiaasen novel,” laments Janet Bowman, a lobbyist for the Nature Conservancy.

But unlike the colorful characters who scheme to sell out Florida’s natural wonders in Hiaasen’s works of fiction, the supporters are very real. Their ranks also include some respected names, including Martha Barnett, a former president of the American Bar Association.

Former House Speaker John Thrasher, a lobbyist who is also pushing the measure, smiles broadly and praises Cannon’s master stroke.

“He’s a rising star,” Thrasher said. “We needed to look at this, not just pull it out and have everyone just say no. It’s been amazing to see the pent-up energy for this.”

By Ben Luongo
PoHo contributor
Ben Luongo is a USF political science graduate student. He will be graduating this spring.

Florida universities face serious budget cuts if the proposed House of Representatives budget (here’s a .pdf of its appropriations) for higher education goes through. The budget would cut $500 million in basic budget support and an additional $100 million in salaries.

What does this mean for our Florida Universities?

Here is the video, after the jump

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From tampabay.com:

Voters could be asked next year to raise the sales tax to build a multibillion-dollar light-rail system and to double bus service in Pinellas County.

A panel of local officials has worked for several months to fashion a plan. The likely favored option: a 1 percent tax increase on the 2010 ballot.

“It is the only viable funding source out there to move forward with light rail,” said Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch, a member of the panel that is working through the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority.

The cost to build rail and double bus service would be $3.8 billion to $7.4 billion, according to estimates provided to County Commissioner Karen Seel. Running the rail and bus services could cost $2.7 billion over 25 years.

Explosive stuff from the Wall Street Journal:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and then-Treasury Department chief Henry Paulson pressured Bank of America Corp. to not discuss its increasingly troubled plan to buy Merrill Lynch & Co. — a deal that later triggered a government bailout of BofA — according to testimony by Kenneth Lewis, the bank’s chief executive.

Mr. Lewis, testifying under oath before New York’s attorney general in February, told prosecutors that he believed Messrs. Paulson and Bernanke were instructing him to keep silent about deepening financial difficulties at Merrill, the struggling brokerage giant. As part of his testimony, a transcript of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Lewis said the government wanted him to keep quiet while the two sides negotiated government funding to help BofA absorb Merrill and its huge losses.

Under normal circumstances, banks must alert their shareholders of any materially significant financial hits. But these weren’t normal times: Late last year, Wall Street was crumbling and BofA faced intense government pressure to buy Merrill to keep the crisis from spreading. Disclosing losses at Merrill — which eventually totaled $15.84 billion for the fourth quarter — could have given BofA’s shareholders an opportunity to stop the deal and let Merrill collapse instead.

The Wall Street Journal has transcript excerpts.

President Obama announced on Earth Day new initiatives to harness alternative energy including wind, solar, and ocean currents. During his speech, Obama made it clear that his new initiative was not only intended to address threats of climate change but could also create new jobs.

Now, the choice we face is not between saving our environment and saving our economy. The choice we face is between prosperity and decline…. The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st-century global economy.

It is refreshing to finally have a president who recognizes that “environmentally friendly” doesn’t mean “bad for the economy.” A video (after the jump) demonstrates how a green economy can actually create jobs. The new initiative will lease federal waters to harness wind and ocean currents as a renewable source of energy. These facilities must be designed, materials need to be bought, their construction needs to be contracted, staff needs to maintain it – all are positions waiting to be filled.

Here’s the video:

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