Posted by Mitch Perry on Aug. 18, 2009, at 4:21 pm
By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.
Despite the censure vote on Governor Charlie Crist last week that evenly divided Palm Beach County Republicans (it failed to pass as the group deadlocked at 65 votes apiece), the head of the Palm Beach County Republican Executive Committee says his membership is united.
Posted by Chris Ingram on Aug. 11, 2009, at 6:25 am
The good ol’ boys have a plan to make it so…
By Chris Ingram PoHo contributor
My prediction has now come true. Mel Martinez is resigning his senate seat. Give it a couple of days, and I expect you’ll be reading about our oh-so-tanned governor announcing he is appointing himself to Martinez’s seat because (sorry to John Morgan), he’s “for the people.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Aug. 7, 2009, at 11:32 am
UPDATE at 1 pm: Martinez will hold a 3pm newser and then Crist is expected to name former Secretary of State Jim Smith as the an interim replacement before the summer recess ends. Leading candidates so far include former Secretary of State Jim Smith, former Tampa Mayor and FLA Gov. Bob Martinez, former US Sen. Connie Mack and former Speaker Allen Bense.
After months and months of flat-out denying he would quit his Senate post before his term was up (ever since he announced he wouldn’t seek re-election in 2010), Mel Martinez today made a liar out of himself and announced he will step down now.
That leaves the appointment in Gov. Charlie Crist’s hands. Now, before everyone in the Democratic Party grassroots starts freaking out (too late, judging by my Facebook and Twitter account traffic), yes, Charlie can appoint himself but, no, he won’t. It would be political suicide to do that.
In 2005, CL’s then- Sarasota reporter Allyson Gonzalez gave Martinez a freshman report card. He didn’t do too well:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jul. 22, 2009, at 3:42 pm
‘Memba when Charlie Crist went to Europe last year? Orlando Sentinel columnist Beth Kassab (a former student of mine at UF years ago) takes the opportunity of the 1-year anniversary of the hobnobbing journey to see what exactly Crist accomplished.
Answer: not much.
The big news out of the trip heralded in a news release from the Governor’s Office last year – and the only point Crist mentioned to me when I asked him last week about results of his travels – was that Spanish solar energy company Renovalia would consider building a Florida plant.
Renovalia and Tampa-based Seminole Electric Cooperative signed an agreement to discuss that possibility.
Today those discussions don’t appear to have gone very far.
The formal agreement expired in December, and the two companies didn’t bother to extend it, though talks are still “ongoing,” said Seminole Electric spokeswoman Michele Collet Kriz.
And this man wants to be our next US senator? Can you say, junket??
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jul. 21, 2009, at 6:44 am
The landmark US Sugar-Everglades deal fashioned by Gov. Charlie Crist – limping toward the finish line, a fraction of its once grand scale – could have received a shot in the arm this week with three new appointees to the South Florida Water Management District.
Crist appointed three new members to the district board that oversees and approves the deal to purchase more than 78,000 acres of US Sugar property and eventually take them out of farming production as a means of lowering pollutant runoff into the Everglades.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jul. 17, 2009, at 12:50 pm
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has a web-only ad out hitting Sarah Palin and Charlie Crist, among other Republicans, for “quitting” on their jobs.
Screening information: Outrage is screening exactly once, Wed., July 15 at 7 p.m. at Tampa Pitcher Show, 14416 N. Dale Mabry, Tampa, 813-963-0578. The film carries no MPAA rating.
If there’s a central message to Kirby Dick’s Outrage, it’s that living life denying one’s sexual orientation is an awful existence. Not only is the closeted person lying to their family and friends — often at great emotional cost to everyone involved — they are lying to themselves. There’s a lot of self-hatred hanging in the closet, and it’s an old saw that the most homophobic folks are the most in denial. Still, a person’s choice to keep their preference private is their own. But what about politicians living in the closet who work to advance anti-gay-rights legislation? Don’t they deserve to be exposed? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jul. 10, 2009, at 6:18 am
Applicants Sandy Murman, left, and Victor Crist.
As Charlie Crist looks to appoint an interim replacement for the late Hillsborough Supervisor of Elections Phyllis Busansky, the governor has trimmed a list of 22 applicants to six people — four Republicans, two Democrats — who will get job interviews.
The list includes some frontrunners for the position — Republicans state Sen. Victor Crist (no relation to Charlie) and former state House member Sandy Murman (full disclosure: both are past clients of my former political consulting firm). Others who will get some interview time with the gov and/or his staff are Republicans Chris Hart, a former Hillsborough County commissioner, and Earl Lennard, former superintendent of Hillsborough County Schools; and Democrats Craig Latimer, a former high-ranking Sheriff’s Office official and Busansky’s No. 2 in the current office, and Bob “Coach” Henriquez, a high school football coach, teacher, state bureaucrat and former state House member.
As I wrote in our print edition this week, I expect Gov. Crist to have to appoint a Republican, as he is embroiled in a primary election for the U.S. Senate nomination in 2010. If there is any good news for Latimer, a favorite among those who mourn the loss of Busansky, it is yesterday’s fundraising ass-whupping that Crist put on his challenger, Marco Rubio, that will take some pressure off Crist’s need to appoint a conservative Republican.
Posted by Chris Ingram on Jul. 9, 2009, at 10:00 am
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia
By Chris Ingram PoHo contributor
An Open Letter to Sen. Saxby Chambliss:
Dear Senator:
We have known each other for many years, and I have always admired your conservative values and principles.
However, due to your recent endorsement of Charlie Crist in the open Florida U.S. Senate seat, which is a contested race among more than one Republican (including Marco Rubio), I now doubt your sincerity for honest and fair elections, not to mention good leadership and responsible government.
While perhaps you may have been too preoccupied finding ways to get yourself re-elected and weren’t paying attention when Charlie Crist fully embraced President Obama’s reckless and fiscally unsound “stimulus” plan, Floridians were watching. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Jim Johnson on Jul. 8, 2009, at 11:23 pm
Campaign finance reports are coming in for federal, state, and local offices. Reports are filed quarterly, covering the period three months prior – money raised from April 1 through June 30 of this year. With the election still more than a year away, campaign finance numbers show the relative strength of the candidates. In the race for the United States Senate, Republican Marco Rubio could be in trouble. Read the rest of this entry »
By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND; activist
Remember that water bill we were concerned about that would silence public input and made water permits easier to get (behind closed doors)? Environmentalists and editorial boards alike urged The Bent Over one to veto it. Well, on the heels of signing SB 360 and eliminating what little growth management laws we do did have, Governor Crist signed that water bill (SB 2080) making water and wetland permits easier to get and again disappointed us while putting yet another black mark on his environmental record. In his defense, he did ask them pretty please to continue to make their water permitting decisions in the open (while signing a bill that alleviated them from doing just that).
According to my research everyone in the House and Senate that voted on this voted in favor of it regardless of party affiliation.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 30, 2009, at 12:39 pm
His candidacy has been called “quixotic” as he flies into the face of a Republican challenger who likely will be Charlie Crist, but Kendrick Meek is strongly confident in his ability to force Floridians to examine the real record of their favorite, white-haired governor.
Meek is a rising star in the Democratic Party, finding himself with a seat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee after just four terms in office. Helps to have a progressive voting record and agenda. It probably also doesn’t hurt when your mom served on the House Appropriations Committee with (now Speaker) Nancy Pelosi, as Congresswoman Carrie Meek did.
He’s largely untested (he won his seat in Congress unopposed after his mother retired so close to the qualifying deadline that nobody could mount a real challenge to her son) but he’s shown great energy and won a good deal of the hearts and minds in the Florida Democratic Party, so much so that a few major challengers have stepped aside rather than force an expensive primary race with him.
Meek was in Tampa today and stopped by the Creative Loafing offices. We talked about how to pay for health care reform, whether the stimulus is working, his role in forcing smaller class sizes in public schools and his famous 2000 showdown with then-Gov. Jeb Bush over the dismantling of affirmative action in the state, which resulted in a 26-hour sit-in at the lobby of the Governor’s Office after Bush refused to meet with him and another lawmaker.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 27, 2009, at 6:00 am
By Heidi Lux Daily Loaf contributor
After my brief, stolen moment with Governor C. at the charity fashion show, my life returned to its usual mundane routine. I was a nobody. Why would C. even remember me?
So when I answered my cell phone after class Monday afternoon, I was astonished to find myself on the line with C.’s assistant. Apparently, the Governor had been impressed by me and wished to meet me under better circumstances, and would I be available Friday night? I would. I was instructed not to tell anyone the Governor and I would be meeting, nor was I told where the meeting would take place.
The week passed by me as I sat through my USF classes, unable to concentrate, my entire attention on C. What should I wear? Where would we meet? Was it a date? But the biggest question I had was, why me?
Finally at eight o’clock on Friday night, I stood on the stoop of my apartment building, in a black dress pilfered from my older and more fashionable sister Fate’s closet, and held my breath in anticipation.
Suddenly, a bright light illuminated the scene, accompanied by a loud noise and gusting wind. I didn’t know what to secure first, my hair or my skirt. So I halfheartedly tried to catch both while managing to hold neither, as a shiny, black helicopter descended in front of me. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 19, 2009, at 6:54 am
That is the hope of legislators, who saw Gov. Charlie Crist sign a bill on Thursday that will curtail the practice of state workers who go through a state retirement DROP program, only to resurface with their same jobs 30 days later, giving them a pension and a salary.
You may recall the controversy earlier this year when Hillsborough Planning Commission chief Bob Hunter did just that, drawing attention from 10 Connects’ investigative reporter Mike Deeson and support from a group of activists, including PoHo’s own Kelly Cornelius.
State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said the bill he and Rep. Robert Schenck, R-Spring Hill, sponsored during the 2009 legislative session is specially appropriate in these tough budget times. Fasano said it is not fair that some high-paid public officials arrange to draw their pensions and continue working.
The law won’t take effect until July 1, 2010, so employees who retire before then will still be allowed to return to work after 30 days and keep their pensions. But the new statute will require a six-month break in service, which Fasano said will prevent elected big shots from “double dipping.”
“The six-month ban on re-employment will put a stop to the abuse of this system by elected officials, and judges in particular,” said Fasano. “Those individuals will not be able to take a six-month break from their elected or appointed positions. It will also keep senior management from ‘retiring’ and coming right back to their old positions at a higher salary, since their position will have to remain unfilled for six months.”
Sidestepping critics who say it won’t solve Florida’s pill-mill problem, Gov. Charlie Crist signed long-fought legislation Thursday designed to crack down on clinics and doctors who dole out excessive narcotic painkillers — mainly in South Florida.
The law will force pain clinics, pharmacies and doctors selling pain drugs to log every prescription into a statewide computer database, where the medical officials and police can detect drug dealers and addicts who go from office to office amassing hundreds of pills a day.
Also, the law gives state regulators new powers to inspect and closely oversee clinics owned by investors, a segment of the business that police identify as a blatant source of illegal narcotic pills.
“I’m thrilled,” said Tina Reed, a Davie mother whose adult son used to be an addict and runner for a dealer, and who had been part of a coalition lobbying for the bill (SB 462). “It may not be a perfect bill but the fact is we have a database established that we can work on. We’re not cured of this crisis, but it’s a step in the right direction.”
I did not go seeking my scandalous affair with Governor C., it found me.
The first time I met C. was on a freezing cold February evening. The temperature had fallen to an unbelievably low 68 degrees, and I was forced to wear a t-shirt due to the extreme temperature. Fate, my older sister, had dragged me, reluctantly, along with her to a charity fashion show she was modeling in at the Vinoy in St. Petersburg.
It was a half hour drive from our apartment in Tampa. If I had known the way things were going to turn out, would I have still crossed the Howard Frankland, or would I have paused and reconsidered when I reached West Shore Plaza, stopping in the mall for some window shopping at BCBG before heading back to my mundane middle class life? I cannot honestly say whether the Destiny St. Clair I was then would have been so bold as to willingly embark upon the life I have since lived, but as I reflect now, I’m glad it all happened. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 15, 2009, at 7:55 am
It is a only bit of a surprise (and far from “stunning,” as the campaign puts it), since Deveron Gibbons has long been a supporter of Charlie Crist and a beneficiary of the Gov’s appointments, but Crist has publicly endorsed Gibbons in the mayor’s race in St. Petersburg. Normally, politicians running in their own races have their hands full and stay out of other campaigns where they could make enemies. Nonethless, Crist is on board with Team Gibbons. Here is the news release, and DL the entire release after the jump:
Posted by Dan Sullivan on Jun. 15, 2009, at 7:11 am
Bob Smith, right (and we mean far right) back in Congress, back in the day.
By Dan Sullivan PoHo contributor
Just when you thought the race to replace outgoing Sen. Mel Martinez couldn’t get any more complicated, a man named Bob Smith threw another wrench into the system last week.
Posted by Mitch Perry on Jun. 15, 2009, at 6:22 am
By Mitch Perry PoHo contributor and anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.
For weeks, state and national political reporters have been anticipating that the Charlie Crist/Marco Rubio race for the Republican nomination for Senate in Florida next year will be a barn-burning battle between competing philosophies in the party.
That’s despite a poll released last week that shows the governor with an overwhelming lead in the match-up.
And now Rubio doesn’t necessarily have a hold on all those disaffected Republicans who think the Governor is too moderate for their tastes.
By Kelly Cornelius
PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist
The Hillsborough County Commission seemd at a loss during a discussion about SB 360 during Tuesday’s land-use meeting. Peter Aluotto of the County’s Planning and Growth Management Department (same guy that helped push the ill-fated South County Transportation Plan, for all you Green Swath of death fans) gave the presentation and asked for direction from the board on what to do now. Don’t worry, he wasn’t alone; he had members from the developer community ready and willing to help him present if needed but in a rare wise move from Chairman Ken “Half-Truth” Hagan he did not call up any of the development community to speak.
Basically, what I got from the presentation, combined with the questions raised by the board, is that the county has no freakin’ idea what to do, and the developers they are a-callin’! How are they going to foot the bill for this developer welfare? According to the material online, possibly a gas tax! Or maybe they do the right thing and raise impact fees? (hysterical laughing) No doubt the taxpayers will be taking this one for Charlie’s team; the only question left is how. You can see Aluotto’s documentation here and read the transcripts from the discussion here Warning: if you are a smart growth fan, NIMBY, concerned citizen or activist or if you just think developers have already ruined Florida then you might want to pour a glass of wine (or two) before reading. Read the rest of this entry »
Charlie Crist leads over Marco Rubio 54 percent-23 percent (measuring registered Republicans) for the 2010 Senate seat in Florida according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll. The other 23 percent of voters are undecided or giving other answers.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 7, 2009, at 6:00 am
Here’s an advance look at my print column that will run in next Wednesday’s issue of Creative Loafing:
Green in 2008: Gov. Charlie Crist when being green was easier, with Michael Rea of the Carbon Trust in the U.K. signing an agreement for Florida and that nation to “share expertise on low carbon innovation and investment and to jointly develop strategies to attract low carbon industries.”
Photo: Florida Governor’s Office
They were heady, green days for Charlie Crist in July 2008 as he flew to London to attend a global climate-change conference and hobnob with members of Parliament to discuss the planet’s growing environmental crisis.
Back in the day, Crist shared a national spotlight with the likes of movie star Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, gaining attention as a group of state leaders who stepped up for the environment when George W. Bush’s administration turned a blind eye to science.
It was zenith of his 2007 pledge to turn Florida green, lower emissions and grow a biofuel industry. Last year, he laid out a $200 million investment in his green vision. But today, as Crist is all but a lame duck governor running for the U.S. Senate, very few of those hopes and promises have come true. Blame the knuckle-draggers in the Legislature. Blame the recession. Or, if you are like some environmentalists in the state, blame Crist for not having the strength or guile to get his way on green.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 2, 2009, at 12:44 pm
Cristina Silva has a great story over at Bay Buzz about how the St. Petersburg City Council has a letter queued up to go to Gov. Charlie Crist urging a veto of SB 216, a good-government bill by local Sen. Charlie Justice.
Upshot is that city officials want to keep the ability to spend your money to tell you how to vote on city referenda or other issues. They say this bill is overly broad and could result in local elected officials getting arrested, they say. It is on the St. Petersburg City Council agenda for Thursday’s meeting, so if you can go and tell them to stuff it, that might be a good idea.
Download the draft letter in .pdf format after the jump:
Posted by Wayne Garcia on Jun. 2, 2009, at 6:45 am
Yes, I know, it is a wonky issue. SB 360. Most Floridians don’t give a crap about growth management. Just get the economy going and cut my taxes to near nothing while boosting public services, parks and investments in infrastructure, they figure.
Right.
But Charlie Crist’s cowardly signing Monday of the bill that the St. Petersburg Times says sets back Florida’s growth management by 20 years. He didn’t have a public signing, opting instead for a 5 p.m. news release from his flacks. How shameful not only to do the wrong thing but to hide like a guilty 5-year-old while doing it.
Signing SB 360 leaves Crist’s legacy as a popular governor who didn’t fight the tough fights and who made his decisions on a matrix of how many influential Floridians and/or voters would love him for it. On that scale, SB 360 had lots of upside (campaign contributions for his Senate campaign in 2010) and no downside (the handful of environmentalists and planners who give a crap about such things doesn’t amount to enough to elect the local dog catcher).
And this man wants to be our next U.S. senator? What a chickenshit.
By Kelly Cornelius PoHo contributor & R-LAND activist
No ceremonial photo-op for this signing, probably because nobody wants to see the Governor bending over for special interests but in my opinion that is exactly what he did by signing SB 360. This bill guts Florida’s growth management laws (yes, we had some) and everyone but special interests and their politicians are against it.
The only good news? This should be exactly what we need to get Florida Hometown Democracy approved by the voters in 2010.
By Mitch Perry PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio
Last week, Lakeland State Senator Paula Dockery said she was seriously contemplating
a run for the Republican nomination for governor in 2010.
Apparently, she didn’t get the edict that party Chairman Jim Greer issued recently that all good Republicans should get behind Attorney General Bill McCollum’s candidacy.
But as far as Republican consultant (and soon to be PoHo contributor) Chris Ingram is concerned, Dockery’s possible entrance into the race is a good thing.
In case you missed it, Gov. Charlie Crist made a slight step this week that could help in his Senate race. Especially when you add it to a measure from the 2008 session.
This week, Crist signed the 2009-2010 budget for the State of Florida. Florida’s governor has line-item veto power, a tool many governors use to nix budget provisions with which they disagree. This year, Crist vetoed two items: the first veto restored state workers salaries to current levels, undoing the 2 percent pay cut passed by the Legislature.
The second veto, however, was a bit more important to Crist’s political future.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 28, 2009, at 9:42 am
By Heidi Lux Daily Loaf contributor
Cross-posted from the Daily Loaf blog.
I have a secret I can no longer keep. It burns my soul and pains my conscience. I had an affair. I loved a man powerful in Florida politics, and he loved me back. I cannot reveal his name. My honor and his lawyers do not permit me. I will refer to him only as C. He currently seeks more power, and I know that rumors will begin to fly, so I submit my story publicly to save us both, and our love, from the public’s harsh scrutiny.
It all began in the winter of 2008. I was a 19-year-old USF student, wandering through my studies with no real direction, still trying to find myself among the textbooks and study halls. My life did not live up to my name – Destiny St. Clair – and my bright red hair spoke of an excitement I could not claim. I was, I must say, average in every way, certainly not the type you might soon expect to be sipping champagne on yachts with the most powerful man in the state.
I can remember the exact moment my life changed forever. Jan. 30, 2008, the day John McCain won the Florida Republican primaries. “That man is such a silver fox,” my older sister, Fate, said as we watched the announcement on TV. C. was standing at a podium behind John McCain, looking pleased as they announced the elderly senator’s victory. “How is that man even still a bachelor.”
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 27, 2009, at 9:54 am
For those tracking the grandaddy of bad growth management bills in this year’s Legislature, Mary Ellen Klas (@meklas) of the Miami Herald just tweeted:
Crist hints at a veto of HB 1171 the so-called State Farm bill, deregulating well-capitalized insurers, but sign growth management Sb 360.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 26, 2009, at 10:39 am
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.
By Kelly Cornelius PoHo contributor and R-LAND activist
A piece in the Timesfrom Senator Mike Bennett-R who spawned SB 360 (a bill that dismantles growth management), shares his idea of smart growth as it is titled For smart Fla growth. OK, Mr. Bennett, I guess that depends on what your definition of smart is. He says in part:
The bill promotes growth in dense urban areas by removing the state required costs of transportation concurrency and the duplicative development of regional impact (DRI) process within those areas.
(Nimby translation: Developers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for more growth by having to pay for infrastructure; that is what you taxpayers are for.)
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 20, 2009, at 12:26 pm
Here’s the latest tweak of our enormously popular governor, from his friends across the aisle in the Florida Democratic Party. It’s the first online ad with the “Cut and Run Crist” theme that the party has been drum-beating since Crist announced his Senatorial bid last week.
Posted by Wayne Garcia on May. 20, 2009, at 11:00 am
2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain, who spurned Charlie Crist in his vice presidential selection process, has endorsed the Florida governor in Crist’s bid for the U.S. Senate in 2010. The Florida Capital Bureau reports:
By Mitch Perry
In case you missed it, Gov. Charlie Crist made a slight step this week that could help in his Senate race. Especially when you add it to a measure from the 2008 session.
