Tag: Florida
Florida Republican Calls Out Governor on Education Cuts
What is more surprising is the governor’s sudden emphasis on K-12 education. The budget we sent him funds education at a higher level than the governor recommended just a few months ago, when he proposed a 10 percent cut. The governor communicated numerous priorities during session, and we did our best to accommodate him. It would have been helpful if the governor had shared this new-found emphasis with us before the budget was finalized.
Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon (R – Winter Park), reacting to a new strategy crafted by the Republican Party of Florida and Gov. Rick Scott to deflect criticism of the state’s budget. The relationship between the tea party governor and the Republican-controlled legislature continues to erode.
RPOF Talking Points, in Case Scott’s Budget Left You Speechless
If you weren’t among the select few invited to Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s (R/Tea) ceremonial re-enactment of the signing of the hot mess that is this year’s state budget at a gated, tea party haven retirement community in the most land-locked part of Florida, we can help.
There is no reason for anyone to be at a loss for words when it comes to Florida’s new budget, which cuts money for fire protection in a drought-stricken region, law enforcement in the nation’s leading pill mill state, and services that keep the elderly in the community instead of much more expensive nursing homes in the state with the most older residents.
Thanks to the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF), which recently got the message that Floridians care about education, you can simply refer to this handy list of talking points, conveniently located on the Rick Scott for Florida web site. At least, you can access it after you supply your name, email address, and zip code, watch a video in which Scott’s mom says she still loves him, and do a search for “budget talking points.” What could be easier?
But all that work is worth it, when you can get these gems.
Update: Scott Aide Who Barred Dems from Event Is Identified
Part of the series, Assault on Florida.
On Friday, we asked who ordered Sumter County, Fla., deputies to bar Democrats from a town square where Florida Gov. Rick Scott was holding a bill-signing event.
Now, via Jonathan Turley, we know:
Apparently, it was all the work of a poor misguided staffer, Russ Abrams, a $60,000.00 a year special assistant to the Governor who has a serious First Amendment mental block. Despite newspaper notices that the meeting in the conservative retirement community was open to the public, Abrams told Sumter County Sheriff’s deputies that the event was private and that Democrats and liberals were not required. A reluctant deputy informed the banned folks that he was instructed to remove them.
“Not so” says Scott spokesperson, Lane Wright: “This was a public event. It was brought to our attention that the local authorities had removed some. We don’t know first-hand who was removed or why.”
But wait. Was it a public event? A more reliable source said the “public square” at the Villages is private property and that it was leased for the event by the Florida Republican Party:
Florida’s Scott Continues to Sink in Popularity
29%
Of Floridians approve of the job Rick Scott (R/Tea) is doing as governor, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. This figure represents a decrease from last month, when both he and the state’s legislature, which holds a Republican super majority, earned approval from 35%. Today, the legislature is even lower than Scott, at 27%. Both results are the lowest for any Florida governor or legislature in the history of the poll.
Best Day of New Jacksonville Mayor’s Campaign Was the Day Gov. Scott Showed Up to Campaign for His Opponent
Jacksonville is a Republican stronghold, but even with that relatively conservative electorate polls show Barack Obama more popular than Rick Scott. That election in Florida’s largest city was not about Obama or Scott, but there’s no question that Scott’s talk about draconian cuts to school budgets and other services helped elect a Democrat arguing that cuts need to be targeted and strategic. One of the best days for Democrat Alvin Brown came when Rick Scott came to Jacksonville to campaign for the Republican mayoral nominee at a Tea Party rally.
– Adam Smith, political editor for the St. Petersburg Times
GOP/Tea Overconfidence Ends in Defeat
He didn’t write anybody off. He went and talked to everybody, while on the other side, they ran like they had already won it.
— Former Jacksonville, FL mayor Jake Godbold, commenting on the win for the office by Democrat Alvin Brown. The Republican/Tea Party candidate was so favored to win that both he and his party badly miscalculated voter sentiment.
Florida Mayor’s Race Could Be Early Indicator of Tea Party Decline
Jacksonville Republicans are reeling because the nightmare they were having when they went to bed last night didn’t slip away as they hoped at today’s dawn. No, Democrat Alvin Brown, a former Clinton administration and Al Gore advisor, African-American, and pro-education candidate (not to be confused with bizarre nobody Alvin Greene of South Carolina) was still 603 votes ahead in the mayor’s race, just like he was last night.
As we speak, absentee and provisional ballots are being counted, so anything could happen in what the elections supervisor is calling the closest mayor’s race in Jacksonville history. Anything could happen, that is, except reinstating the conventional wisdom that a Democrat can’t win in Jacksonville – or in Northeast Florida. Apparently he can.
Brown was one of six candidates in the elimination round in March that was expected to easily pick Republican Audrey Moran, who passes for moderate in these parts, and fellow Republican and incumbent Tax Collector Mike Hogan to face off in the final race. Had that played out, Duval County voters would have the familiar Republican Thing One and Republican Thing Two from which to choose, and First Baptist Church (a Jacksonville institution that pulls most of the power strings), the Chamber of Commerce, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver, and a few others could resume running things for another four years.
And then something strange happened.
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