Lynn Dannheisser, the royally paid Surfside town attorney who has declared a bizarre war on bloggers — comparing them to the KKK at a recent commission meeting — is fast becoming Riptide’s favorite public official. It’s her unhinged quality that makes her so entertaining. Surfside is like her very own…
The major issue of the 2010 election was the economy, and Florida voters chose to further entrench Republican power in Tallahassee. Of course, you can’t put a bunch of Republicans in a legislative chamber and not expect them to pass a bunch of anti-abortion, anti-woman legislation. It’s just what they…
News flash: Old white guy confuses KKK with NAACP.So, is veteran TV reporter Michael Putney uncomfortable with the sight of two black candidates running for Miami-Dade County mayor?A factual error made by the newsman while serving as moderator at a political debate suggests that possibility.While rephrasing a comment made by…
Just days after news that Gov. Rick Scott’s push to eliminate corporate income tax would end in failure, another big item on Scott’s agenda now looks it’s headed for defeat. Scott and Sen. John Thrasher, the former chair of the state GOP, made it a top priority to pass a…
Despite little evidence to the contrary, President Barack Obama offered further proof today that he is in fact a natural-born American citizen by producing his long-form birth certificate. With that issue sorted out, we now call on the American media to investigate the circumstances of Rick Scott’s birth. Riptide has…
Gov. Rick Scott has denied a report in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that his administration aims to kill Citizens Property Insurance during his first term. Scott claims he’s merely sticking to his campaign promise to reduce the state-run home insurer and return it to its original intent as the insurer of last resort…
Remember that time a superideological politician held a town hall and a lot of people from the other end of the political spectrum showed up and yelled not such nice things at him and he decided to completely change his political outlook overnight and everything worked out in the end?…
Add the position of Miami-Dade Transit director to the increasing number of county jobs the new mayor will have to fill when he replaces recently recalled Carlos Alvarez. Harpal Kapoor, the current director of Miami-Dade Transit who was appointed by Alvarez in 2007, has decided to step down from the…
For the past four years, Edgard Dixon has patrolled Dinner Key, catching bike thieves, protecting Miami City Hall, and even helping to nab a fugitive who was hiding out near the docks. But despite a promotion to captain, the 61-year-old private security guard says his employer, Kent Security, pays him…
Oh, how we long for the loss of former Congressman Alan Grayson. He was the best source in Florida politics for “Wait, did that really just come out of his crazy mouth?” stories.Luckily, Rep. Allen West has picked up the slack in that department. The loudmouthed Tea Party Republican from…
Florida is undergoing a radical conservative transformation under Gov. Rick Scott, but one of his top proposals seems to be a bridge too far and too soon even for the Republican supermajorities in the state House and Senate.Even at a time when billion-dollar deficits have become the norm for Florida’s…
Rick Scott wants to run Florida like a business, but he seems ideologically driven to make sure the state isn’t in the business of much. Fresh off a Pulitzer win for investigative reporting, Paige St. John of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune yesterday filed a shocker claiming Scott aims to kill Citizens Property Insurance,…
Every night, hundreds of unlucky partiers stumble out of South Beach clubs to find their cars gone, hauled to a grim storage lot on Bay Road and held for ransom. Towing is big business for the Beach’s only two licensed companies — Tremont and Beach Towing — and since their…
We cannot fathom a world where former SNL star and proud Miami native Victoria Jackson didn’t go on her weird rants about her strange political beliefs. I mean, we don’t agree with anything she squeaks, but we will fight to the death for her right to squeak it (and, of…
Rick Scott apparently hates alligators. He hates them so much he’s had them skinned and made into his really tacky, gold embossed, custom “governor” boots. He hates them so much that he doesn’t want to even be near a live one, unless he had a gun and is shooting at…
Forty-five percent of Republican voters say they believe President Obama was born oversees despite not a single fact pointing to that possibility. Surprisingly, though, Republican politicians from South Florida are lining up to knock the theory down. Echoing statements made by Marco Rubio, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart dismisses the conspiracy theory…
Floridians have seen the controversy that’s erupted in Arizona over their controversial immigrations bill: the economic boycotts, the worries of racial profiling and charges of racism, and the arguments that it violates the US Constitution. Yet, a majority of Floridians have said, “We’d like what they’re having,” despite the fact…
Asked to name a senator he’d like to pattern his own career after, Marco Rubio told the National Review that he really admires Jesse Helms. Yes, Helms, the late North Carolina Republican senator with notorious and well-documented racist and homophobic views. He once called the landmark Civil Rights Act of…
Florida law isn’t murky when it comes to residency requirements for state representatives: “Upon taking office” you must be living and voting in your district. Pretty simple, right?Well, five months after getting sworn to represent a district in West Kendall, Republican Frank Artiles is still living in his $300,000 Palmetto…
Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado and U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen want to make sure everyone in Miami is counted. The two are demanding that the U.S. Census Bureau recount the number of City of Miami residents it tallied in 2010. The feds say only 399,457 residents live in the city, which…
Republicans are eager to claim incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson’s political scalp in the 2012 election, but no clear Republican candidate has emerged yet. State Rep. Adam Hasner, who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, has begun an exploratory committee but is little known around the state.The young and…
Florida’s government is apparently “for the corporations, by the corporation.” Gov. Rick Scott promised to run Florida like a business, and his fellow Republicans in the legislature are pushing through many “pro-business” reforms.They also happen to be taking in tons of cash from corporations. For example, a company that deals…
