Rick Scott’s decision to decline $2.4 billion in federal funds to build a state-of-the-art high-speed rail system in Florida continues to draw anger, ire and confusion today even from many Republicans. Today, a veto-proof majority of 26 state senators wrote a letter rebuking Scott’s decision, while even former Republican Governor…
The Obama administration was set to spend $2.4 billion to build a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando in a project that would have created thousands of jobs, but Governor Rick Scott has drowned the plan in a big pot of ideological tea killing all those jobs with it…
“I grew up probably in the same situation as you guys,” Rick Scott said yesterday while addressing a group of state legislators. “I started school in public housing. My dad had a sixth-grade education.”That would have been fine if he was speaking in front of a group of lawmakers who…
Jeb Bush’s name keeps coming up when people discuss possible Republican presidential candidates in 2012, even though he’s said time and time again he won’t. Probably because he’s said he think President Barack Obama can probably still win re-election. Well, according to a Fox News poll Bush is erring on…
The American Conservative Union, the group now headed by Miami lobbyist Al Cardenas, has released their 2010 ratings of congress and they’ve deemed the three Cuban-American Republicans who represented much of Miami-Dade county not conservative. In fact, Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart were the only Republican congressmen…
Former First Lady of Florida Carole Crist may not be the newest member of the Senate Spouse’s club, but she’s sticking by her man. In fact, despite plans by the couple to split their time between Miami and Tampa Bay, she’s put her fancy Fisher Island condo on the market…
When Sen. Marco Rubio announced he’d be sitting out the Conservative Political Action Conference this year, it gave the impression that he was trying to distance himself, for now at least, from certain elements of the right wing. Well, Rubio actually did make an appearance at CPAC today, though through…
Rick Scott introduced his budget this Monday to cheers at a Tea Party event inside a Eustis, Florida, church. Back in the reality of Tallahassee, though, the new governor’s plans haven’t been greeted with much enthusiasm. Even Republican lawmakers aren’t sure it’s a workable budget. Scott is facing criticism that…
Al Cardenas is one of Miami’s top political insiders. He’s a former two-term chair of the state GOP, and a former member of the nation-wide Executive Committee of the Republican Party. The guy even gave Marco Rubio his first break in politics. The Cuban-American has just been named the president…
With investigations ongoing and more shady ethics charges mounting up, freshman Republican Rep. David Rivera might not even make it until 2012, let alone run for election. If he does, he’s in for one hell of a hard campaign. Politico has ranked the top ten most contentious house races for…
State Senator Rene Garcia is our new hero. The Hialeah Republican has introduced a bill in the state legislature that would effectively ban the use of red light cameras and has called them a “big-brother initiative.” It’s probably one of the few times when a Republican from Hialeah and the…
Despite that whole separation of church and state thing and calls to tone down partisan political rhetoric, Rick Scott introduced his first budget as governor today at a Tea Party rally in a church in small town Eustis, Florida. The rally took on a defiantly partisan affair as Tea Partiers…
When lawyers for Miami Voice — the group that organized a successful recall effort against County Commissioner Natacha Seijas — got her to sit down for a video deposition yesterday, they asked Herald reporter Matthew Haggman to come and watch. It’s not that unusual a move. Depositions aren’t open by…
Senior Democratic Senator Bill Nelson may be the most popular state-wide elected politician in Florida right now, but considering all the others are newly elected, that’s not exactly surprising or necessarily an indication that his reelection bid in 2012 is in the best shape. His approval ratings may be better…
Governor Rick Scott and the press corp that covers him are now in a full out war, according to Politico. The press isn’t happy at the perception that Scott is trying to limit their access to a state Government, that in principal at least, has traditionally tried to be transparent…
Rick Scott hasn’t even been in office a month and he hasn’t exactly endeared himself to the Florida populace yet. Most Floridians barely know enough about the guy to decide if they like him or not, and voters here in South Florida don’t particularly like him at all. Though, a…
With Republicans now back in control of the US House of Representatives one of their first orders of business seems to be a drastic legal redefinition of rape. The proposal has been met with outrage by many anti-rape activists, including South Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz who says she “consider[s]…
Name recognition and family connections seems to go along in politics. Salon’s Steve Kornacki points out that “there have been 15 presidential elections since 1952, and in all but two — 1964 and 2008 — the Republican ticket has included someone named ‘Nixon,’ ‘Dole,’ or ‘Bush,'” and wonders if we’re headed to…
Judge Roger Vinson, a Republican-appointed Federal judge from the North Florida District, has ruled a portion of the recent Democratic penned health care overhaul unconstitutional. In particular Vinson has ruled that the provision the mandates all Americans be covered by health insurance by 2014 or face paying a fine is…
Last year Marco Rubio delivered the keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Headlining perhaps one of the most important centralized Conservative events in the country officially made Rubio a right wing superstar. In fact, his picture is prominently displayed on graphics promoting this year’s CPAC shindig, and yet…
Funny how though Tallahassee has been in the death grip of complete Republican control for more than a decade, the state still finds itself year after year with billion dollar budget holes to close. In order to shore up this year’s $3.6 billion shortfall Gov. Rick Scott, several Republican politicians,…
Doral, that place out there to the west with the fancy golf resort, some strip malls, and some other stuff, probably, has a mayor. His name is J.C. Bermudez and he wants to be your next county mayor. Bermudez announced his entrance into the crowded field of contestants jockeying to replace Carlos…
