Tag: Florida

With New Senator, Unemployment Bill Should Pass on Tuesday

Trish

CarteGoodwin
Almost Sen. Carte Goodwin
The Senate’s newest, and youngest, member is set to be sworn in Tuesday, just in time to vote “Yes” on a bill extending unemployment benefits. Carte Goodwin, 36, a lifelong Democrat and West Virginian, was selected by that state’s Gov. Joe Manchin to fill the spot left when the Senate’s oldest member, Robert Byrd, recently died.

Manchin plans to assume the seat himself in November, and appointed his former legal counsel as a place-holder until the voters can choose. Let’s hope Manchin has better luck with that than Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. When Crist picked his most trusted counsel, George LeMieux, to fill the seat vacated by former Sen. Mel Martinez last year, LeMieux looked like a safe and loyal pick. But after Crist left the Republican party to run for the Senate with no party affiliation, LeMieux — seen by many as having further political ambitions — abandoned his former boss and friend and announced he was supporting Republican/Tea Party candidate Marco Rubio.

Goodwin, whose wife Rochelle is state director for West Virginia’s other senator, Jay Rockefeller, has also been described as a “rising star” in party circles. As Manchin’s general counsel, he helped craft new regulations in response to West Virginia coal mining disasters in 2006. At the same time, he opposes limiting carbon emissions in proposed cap and trade legislation, because he says it threatens old technology energy jobs.

For the present, his vote on the unemployment compensation extension will be party-line. With Goodwin, 59 Democrats are expected to vote in favor of the bill, with only Nebraska’s Ben Nelson opposing. All Republicans except possibly Maine’s Olympia Snow and Susan Collins, are expected to vote against it.

Florida’s Dropping Unemployment Rate Should Benefit Democrats But It Won’t

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CharlieBikersAn announcement that Florida’s jobless rate, among the highest in the nation, fell for the third straight month should be good news for Florida’s elected officials. But for those running for the next office, what’s good for the state can be bad for campaigns.

Speculation is whether the news benefits Democrats, who share party affiliation with Pres. Obama, or Republicans, who have done less than nothing to facilitate a recovery, unless you consider holding your breath and stomping your feet, “facilitating.” But Florida’s Gov. Charlie Crist is neither fish nor fowl thanks to a recent move to “No Party Affiliation,” making him the true beneficiary of the drop from the March high of 12.3 percent to June’s still high but better 11.4.

The awkwardness of their positions was evident in the reactions from Crist’s rivals for the Florida Senate seat. If things are going badly, it must be the governor’s fault. If they’re going well…hmmm.

The winner is… Gov. Charlie Crist, NPA

“There are clear signs that we’re moving from recession to recovery, but growth is fragile and much more work needs to be done,” Meek said on Friday.

Republican candidate Marco Rubio has harped on the loss of jobs in Florida while lambasting efforts by President Obama and Governor Charlie Crist, an independent candidate for the Senate, to stimulate the economy.

If the rate continues to drop, Crist looks better and better. All the heat he took from Republicans for accepting federal stimulus funding will seem more like what it was — blustering and posturing at the expense of residents who need work. If the rate even holds steady, Crist can still take credit for moving the needle. Rubio has less to criticize (although a lack of facts hasn’t stopped a Republican from being critical yet), and Meek will be stuck with his, “good but could be better” line.

Irony on Parade: Tea Party Hotheads Turn on One of the Men Who Invented Them

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RickScott
Rick Scott, the light of crazy ablaze in his eyes
Be careful what you provoke, Tea Party exploiters. Florida governor hopeful Rick Scott recently discovered it’s one thing to gin up the teabagging crowds, and something else to be on the receiving end of all that anger.

Scott made millions as CEO of Columbia/HCA. The hospital chain founded by the Frist family (as in former Senate majority leader Bill Frist) swallowed competitors in the ’90s by dictating terms to suppliers. They’d merge with most of the hospitals in a given area, then tell vendors how much they wanted to pay for products. If a vendor balked, they simply switched to a lower bidder, leaving the first one with nobody to sell to. One of the repercussions of this strategy was the trend toward labor outsourcing by American companies, with medical product suppliers moving facilities to Mexico in order to meet pricing demands.

A “shouting, finger-pointing” crowd demands an explanation

Columbia was found guilty in 2000 of bilking Medicare and Medicaid in a massive, concerted, company-wide fraud effort under Scott. The chain was fined $1.7 billion, the largest penalty ever, and Scott was forced to resign or face criminal charges. He soon bounced back, founding the Solantic chain of urgent care clinics, which mainly serves the uninsured. Scott and several confederates have been the big bucks behind the so-called “astroturf” (meaning it looks like grassroots but it isn’t) opposition to health care reform.

Which brings us to the ironic position in which he recently found himself at a Tea Party gathering on the campaign trail.

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Worst Political Ad, or So Bad It’s Viral?

Trish

Move over Dale Peterson, Florida is offering what could be the worst political ad ever. In fact, some on Twitter are calling it Florida’s Demon Sheep video. My state representative, who appears to be running unopposed for all intents and purposes, has posted this truly awful video to his YouTube channel. The spot appears to be done by his son, Scott. And if you somehow missed it in the course of the video, it’s about Mike Weinstein, Florida Dist. 19 Representative, a moderate Republican who bucked the GOP herd and voted against the impossibly bad education reform bill which Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed just before going rogue, i.e., No Party Affiliation. I don’t dislike Weinstein, but if I did, suffice it to say this video would not help me change my view.

Spinning the Spill: BP Just Can’t Tell the Truth

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BP's YouTube site: happy horse manooty
BP's YouTube site: happy horse manooty
I jumped awake in the early morning darkness this morning from a nightmare. In the dream, I was standing on the seawall watching a pod of dolphins surface for air, hearing them expel, then suck in new oxygen through the blowholes near the tops of their heads. Except suddenly the dolphins weren’t here on the east coast of Florida in my warm blue water, they were in the Gulf of Mexico. And when they surfaced to breathe, they were coated in thick brown oil, which they sucked deep into their lungs. Then they began to spasm and die…

One can only guess that the reason BP doesn’t want people to know the extent of the disaster is because they hope to be allowed to continue drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico

The oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico already showed that BP has a basic disconnect between words and actions. The whole “Beyond Petroleum” campaign was just that: a media campaign, a tagline, an empty slogan. BP and the other oil companies have done almost nothing to move beyond petroleum, nor has there been any real pressure — by consumers, shareholders, or legislators — for them to do so.

But the company’s crisis communications is shaping into an even bigger sham. BP has done all the right things, according to the new media ethic. They have profiles on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr. The message is the same at each of these sites: “BP cares, and no one is working harder than BP to make this thing right. Check out for yourself how hard we’re working.”

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Breaking News from Florida: Crist Vetoes Ultrasound Bill

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ultrasoundThe Friday afternoon news dump, wherein someone tries to hide their major, super important news in the hustle and bustle and happy hours of a dawning weekend, was the tool of choice as Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (NPA) announced his veto of a horrifically bad piece of Republican legislation.

Known as the “ultrasound bill,” the law would have required women seeking an abortion to first pay for and obtain an ultrasound test, in which they would either have to view the embryo or listen to a doctor describe it. Tests range from several hundred dollars to $1,500, and would effectively block the abortion option for many, if not most, women.

In his veto statement, Crist, who earlier this week signaled his intention by removing harsh anti-abortion language from his campaign web site, acknowledged a woman’s right to decide.

…personal views should not result in laws that unwisely expand the role of government and coerce people to obtain medical tests or procedures that are not medically necessary…There are many medical or fiscal barriers that could be placed upon a woman in order to prevent her from following through on her constitutionally protected decision to end a pregnancy. However, such measures do not change hearts, which is the only true and effective way to ensure that a new life coming into the world is loved, cherished, and receives the care that is deserved.

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Verbatim

Trish

You’ve got to keep a cool head in order to win a hot game.

— U.S. Senate candidate Gov. Charlie Crist (NPA), commenting on the importance of his leadership in helping Florida deal with the BP oil spill disaster. It’s unclear what actions, if any, Crist has taken in the crisis outside of accepting federal relief, and calling upon BP to provide more compensation to Floridians affected by spoiled beaches, fisheries, and habitat. Crist already accepted $25 million from BP to promote tourism and has asked for another $50 million to cover additional state expenses.

Breaking News: Ex Florida GOP Chair Arrested on Fraud Charges

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Seminole County Jail Inmate Jim Greer
Seminole County Jail Inmate Jim Greer
Jim Greer, ex head of the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) and huge Gov. Charlie Crist supporter (and vice versa) was arrested today on six counts of fraud for funneling money from GOP donors for his personal use.

The indictment is likely to shake up the Florida Senate race. Gov Crist, running without party affiliation, is a personal friend of Greer’s, instrumental in his chairmanship, and continued to support him after calls began for his resignation. Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, along with other Florida Republican politicians, has been paying back money he received from the party under Greer.

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Conservatives Show They are Anything But

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ultrasoundBeing a conservative is more challenging since mass hysteria, aka, the Tea Party, entered the picture in the wake of the election of America’s first African-American president. If limited government whose purpose is not to foster social agendas was ever really what conservatism was about, it isn’t now.

Take a new law, currently on the governor’s desk to be signed (or hopefully, vetoed) in Florida. Demonstrating what happens when you get too many Republican men in a room together, the so-called conservative bill requires that women considering abortions must first schedule an ultrasound test in which the doctor describes to her the contents of her uterus, whether she wants to know about that yolk sac or not. Touting ultrasounds as non-invasive and therefore harmless led the National Institutes of Health to release this statement: “Ultrasound examination in pregnancy should be performed for a specific medical indication.”

Election after election, the “hard-working white people”* vote for the guy or gal spouting the most extreme platitudes, and then wonder why nothing gets done in Washington, why our elected officials don’t work together better

If the faux-conservative legislature gets its way, not only must the woman wait, with the clock ticking, for an appointment for a test she doesn’t want, she must also foot the bill for all this herself. Is it possible for government to be more intrusive in people’s private lives than this?

Marco Rubio, the so-called tea bagger candidate in the Florida Senate race, demonstrated a further failure of rhetoric with the recent announcement of his “policy committee.” Rubio, running on the outsider platform but squarely on the Republican ticket, is tapping entrenched Washington insiders Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) as honorary committee chairs. No doubt they will bring fresh ideas on how to take our country back from…themselves. What’s wrong with this picture?

People who are against progressive initiatives like choice and a positive role for government are being played, again. Candidates pandering to tea bagger fears know what to say and do to appear to offer the answers, which are always both simple and vague. And election after election, the “hard-working white people”* vote for the guy or gal spouting the most extreme platitudes, and then wonder why nothing gets done in Washington, why our elected officials don’t work together better.

We as progressives have to figure out how to wake up our neighbors in this country that we all share, and get them to question the slogans and lies directed at them. If anyone out there knows a good way to do that, I’d love to hear it.

* Hillary Clinton, campaigning for president in 2008 in Pennsylvania

Some Idiot Bought Charlie Crist’s Portrait on ebay

Buck Banks

Gov-Charlie-Crist

Hard to believe, but some anonymous someone (Charlie’s mom maybe? Charlie?) bought Charlie Crist’s portrait on ebay for $7,700. That’s $200 more than the Republican Party of Florida paid for the thing, which was one-tenth of 1 percent of the $7 million Florida Republicans — from Chairman Jim Greer to former House Speaker Marco Rubio — ran up on their party credit cards.

And it’s not even a good likeness — it’s not nearly tan enough and the head shape is all wrong in kind of a rectangular Frankensteiny way.

The RPOF is trying to make hay out of the painting’s origins, but, funny enough, the party didn’t pay for it — at least not directly. Here’s an excerpt from today’s RPOF Trash Charlie e-mail (I get at least one a day):

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