Peter Schorsch
After nearly six years, Republican Gov. Rick Scott finally gets his chance to make a dent in the state Supreme Court’s “left-leaning cabal,” as one GOP lawyer privately (of course) called it.
Justice James E.C. Perry announced his retirement at the end of the year, creating an opening Scott must fill. Speculative journalism pieces soon appeared, laying odds on which candidates might get a look.
The seven-member court often splits 5–2 on matters of public policy. Justices Charles Canady and Ricky Polston are the court’s only consistently reliable conservative votes.
The question is, does the governor add a “Rick Scott conservative” or a “Republican Party conservative?”
“Scott has never been a party man,” said political expert Darryl Paulson, a retired professor of government at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. “He’s never really done much to help the party. So he’s likely to focus on someone he perceives as pro-business.”
Unless, as many suspect, Scott challenges Bill Nelson for his U.S. Senate seat in 2018.
“Then the pick takes a more important role,” Paulson said. “He may want a more traditionally conservative jurist to be acceptable to the conservative (voting) base.”
So far, only one person has applied: C. Alan Lawson, chief judge of the 5th District Court of Appeal. (Because Perry represented that appellate district, applicants must be from that area, which adds another wrinkle: Only residents of Brevard, Citrus, Flagler, Hernando, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, and Volusia counties can apply.)
At first blush, Lawson would seem to satisfy that base: When he applied previously for a seat on the high court, he was backed by “religious conservatives and the National Rifle Association,” according to a 2009 Tampa Tribune story.
No matter who gets the appointment, most right-leaning folk think something’s gotta give. Indeed, the court has been beaten up by Florida conservatives in recent years.
Who can forget House Speaker Dean Cannon’s “shot heard ‘round the Capitol” in 2011, when he tried to cleave the Supreme Court in two, one court for criminal appeals and another for civil?
“Critics have maintained that Cannon was looking to get back at the court for shooting down a number of proposed amendments backed by the Republicans in 2010,” including an opt-out of the federal health-care law, Sunshine State News reported then.
The court has since angered the GOP and the business community with what they perceive as unfavorable rulings on redistricting, medical malpractice, workers’ compensation, and many other issues.
But one step forward could be followed by a step back if Donald Trump wins the presidency: Canady is on the final list of Trump‘s “potential picks” to replace the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
If Trump wins and if Canady gets the nod (admittedly both big if’s), Scott at least gets another pick. And the media guessing game starts all over.
Coming up, the usual assortment of tidbits, leftovers and not-ready-for-prime-time moments by Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster, Michael Moline, Jim Rosica, and Peter Schorsch.
Now, the “Takeaway 5” — the Top 5 stories from the week that was:
The end is in sight — The 2016 election cycle will (hopefully) come to a close Tuesday. The Division of Elections reported nearly 5.3 million Floridians have already voted, and millions more are expected to cast their ballots between now and Election Day. Presidential hopefuls and their top surrogates are expected to crisscross the state this weekend, making one last push for voters. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Tuesday, and Secretary of State Ken Detzner reminded Floridians that any voters waiting in line at 7 p.m. will have the chance to cast their ballot. “Florida voters have many choices to exercise their right to vote,” he said in a statement. “I encourage eligible voters who are not voting by mail to exercise their right to vote during early voting through Nov. 5 or at the polls on Election Day. Some counties may also be offering early voting on Sunday, Nov. 6.”
Lobby-free zone — House Speaker-designate Richard Corcoran called local governments’ decision to hire lobbyists to represent them in the Florida capital a disgrace this week. The Land O’Lakes Republican told the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald he thought it was “a disgrace that taxpayer dollars are used to hire lobbyists when we elect people to represent them.” Many local governments contract with lobbyists to supplement the work of their staff. Corcoran has railed against special interests in the past, and is in the process of rewriting House rules, a move that has some governmental affairs gurus on edge. Corcoran also is looking to end the “revolving door” between the Legislature and lobby corps; and may push lobbyists to disclose more information.
Sunshine suit — Solar advocates filed two lawsuits asking the Florida Supreme Court to disqualify the results of Amendment 1. The suits, filed by the Florida Solar Energy Industries Association and Floridians for Solar Choice, asked the court to reopen the case involving ballot language, saying supporters of the amendment withheld relevant information and misled the Court. Supporters of the amendment called the lawsuit “political grandstanding at its best.”
Court consequences — A decision by the Florida Supreme Court could lead to a new wave of foreclosures, attorneys said this week. According to the decision, when a mortgage foreclosure action gets dismissed by a Florida court, it resets the clock on the five-year statute of limitation. That means the lender can try again to get paid. Florida was ranked No. 1 in the country for completed foreclosures in 2015-16, with 55,000 actions, according to real estate data tracking firm CoreLogic. “I think this decision will cause a new wave of foreclosure cases to be filed in the next 12-24 months,” said Jonathan Kline, a Westin attorney who practices primarily in foreclosure defense. “Basically, banks are getting a do-over.”
New chairman — The Seminole Tribe of Florida picked a Marcellus W. Osceola, Jr. as its new chairman this week, one month after ousting their last leader. Osceola, 44, lives on the Hollywood Seminole Reservation, and was previously elected to serve on the governing Tribal Council of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The announcement comes as the tribe waits on a decision by a federal judge about whether it can keep offering blackjack to their casino customers.
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Gov. Rick Scott tipped his cap to Southwest Florida veterans this week.
The Naples Republican gave more than 100 veterans the Governor’s Veterans Service Award during a ceremony at the U.S. Army National Guard Armory in Fort Myers. The medal honors Floridians who have served in the U.S. military.
The governor honored three veterans during the ceremony, including Dr. Nathaniel Sheckman. He entered the ROTC while attending the College of the City of New York from 1929 to 1933.
After he graduated, Sheckman was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the infantry 77th Division, and received his induction letter in the Army three weeks after Pearl Harbor. He was transferred from the infantry to the Dental Corps. He remained in the reserves after the war, gaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. He retired in 1968 with 35 years of service.
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The state’s top jobs agency is helping vets get checks.
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity is partnering with the CareerSource Florida network, the Florida National Guard, and the Florida Department of Veteran Affairs for the 2016 “Paychecks for Patriots” campaign. The campaign is meant to connect employers with veterans looking for employment.
“Florida is proud to be the most military and veteran friendly state in the station, and we work hard to honor our many veterans and military members for their service and sacrifice,” said Gov. Scott in a statement. “The annual Paychecks for Patriots events are a great way to give back to our heroes and their families by providing more opportunities to find meaningful employment so they can live the American dream they work so hard to protect.”
CareerSource regions across the state will be hosting Paychecks for Patriots events across the state. Employers involved will include national companies, as well as local employers. More than 1,700 military and veteran candidates who participated in previous events have gotten jobs because of the event.
Scott also declared Nov. 7 through Nov. 11 as “Paychecks for Patriots” week.
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There’s a new member of the Board of Physical Therapy Practice.
Gov. Scott appointed Ellen K. Donald to the board. Donald, a Fort Myers resident, is an assistant professor at Florida Gulf Coast University. She joined the university in 1996 as the founding department chair for physical therapy, and helped oversee its expansion from one program to three.
She fills a vacant seat and was appointed to a term ending Oct. 31, 2020. Her appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.
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Let’s get growing, Florida.
POLITICO Florida reported the state’s economy is projected to grow about 2 percent over the next six months. That growth rate was projected as part of recent projections from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
The organization produces the leading indexes for each of the 50 states. The indexes are calculated monthly, and predict the six-month growth rate of the state’s coincident index.
POLITICO Florida reported the state’s economy grew .3 percent in September, and 4.2 percent over the past year. The newly projected growth is the 16th highest projected growth in the nation, and is the strongest in the nation as a whole.
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Dr. Bruce McIntosh, a pediatrician, has joined the Department of Health as medical director for the Statewide Child Protection Team program.
McIntosh now is responsible for the management and oversight of child protection teams throughout Florida. They support the child protective investigation activities of the Florida Department of Children and Families and law enforcement.
“We are grateful for Dr. McIntosh’s unwavering commitment to children in our state,” said State Surgeon General and Secretary of Health Dr. Celeste Philip. “His wealth of knowledge and experience with these very difficult situations will benefit children and families as he takes on this important role full time.”
McIntosh “consecutively served for more than 32 years as a medical consultant and medical director for child protection teams in Jacksonville,” according to a press release.
Most recently, he was co-interim medical director for the statewide program with Dr. Walter Lambert.
McIntosh also was medical director for the University of Florida First Coast Child Protection team in 2005–14 where he was awarded the Child Protection Team Medical Director of the Year Award in 2008. He also served as medical director for the Children’s Crisis Center Child Protection Team in 1988–2004.
He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Emory University and a medical degree from the University of Florida. McIntosh later became a member of the American Board of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Pediatrics, Section on Child Abuse and Neglect.
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It’s hard to hide a giant check, but CFO Jeff Atwater sure gave it his best shot.
Atwater stopped by Fort Lauderdale’s Holy Cross Hospital this week to hand-deliver a check worth more than $1.2 million in unclaimed insurance benefits. The check represents the proceeds of Holy Cross employee Eileen Fleese‘s life insurance, according to a press release.
She “did not inform her former employer that she had named the hospital as the beneficiary on her life insurance policy, so Holy Cross staff did not know to claim the benefits after she passed away in 2009,” according to Atwater’s office.
The event was yet another victory lap for the CFO, who championed a measure that became law this year, requiring insurance companies to track down beneficiaries. It was later featured on CBS’ “60 Minutes.”
The law, which is retroactive, requires life insurance companies to check every year on which policyholders have died; then they must track down the beneficiaries.
If the beneficiaries can’t be found, the insurance proceeds must be turned over to the state as unclaimed property.
Four insurers — United Insurance Co. of America, Reliable Life Insurance Co., Mutual Savings Life Insurance Co., and Reserve National Insurance Co. — sued Atwater and his Department of Financial Services earlier this year in Leon County Circuit Civil court.
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The Department of Children and Families wants Floridians to focus on amazing children in November.
In recognition of National Adoption Month, DCF launched a statewide effort to connect hundreds of Florida children with loving families. The 30 Days of Amazing Children campaign will highlight two children looking for their “forever home.”
“When we remove a child from a home to protect them from abuse or neglect, our work has only just begun,” said DCF Secretary Mike Carroll. “We have a responsibility to help them heal, learn to bond again, and learn to love again, and that is why our foster and adoptive parents are so vital. As an adoptive parent myself, I can tell you that they give as much love and joy in return. Adoption is a beautiful way to grow a family.”
The online campaign features pictures and stories about children available for adoption. Many of the children are teens, sibling groups or children with special needs.
“Every child deserves a loving family and adoption provides a unique opportunity to improve children’s lives and enrich the lives of adoptive parents,” said Gov. Scott, who proclaimed November as Florida Adoption Month. “This past year, more than 3,400 children were adopted across our state, and I urge more Floridians to consider opening their hearts and homes to children in need of a forever family.”
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The start of dry season means more time for fun outside.
It also means there is a higher chance of wildfires across the state.
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam and the Florida Forest Service are urging Floridians to use caution with all outdoor fires because of increased wildfire danger levels throughout Florida. Dry conditions have sparked wildfires in many areas across the state, threatening 20 homes within the last three weeks.
“When citizens are careful with fire, they are doing more than just protecting themselves and their property,” said Florida State Forester Jim Karels. “They are helping to protect the lives of Florida’s wild land firefighters and first responders.”
The No. 1 cause of wildfires is human carelessness, and 20 percent are caused by escaped yard trash burns. The Florida Forest Service urged Floridians to make sure they never leave a fire or outdoor heat source unattended; avoid burning on dry, windy days; and keep water nearby.
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CFO Atwater must love breaking records.
The state’s CFO on Tuesday said his Division of Unclaimed Property had “completed another record-breaking month of returns in October,” processing and paying more than $33 million in claims.
The previous record was $32.1 million returned in February 2016.
“Nearly 58,000 claims were processed and the resulting funds were returned back to the rightful owners,” he said in a press release. “It is our goal to return every dime of unclaimed property back to its rightful owner, and I’m proud to see that our efforts to do so are paying off.”
More than $1.4 billion in unclaimed property has been returned to rightful owners since Atwater took office in 2011. That amounts to more than 40 percent of all returns since the program was created in 1961.
But accounts remain to be claimed, with a total value of more than $1.5 billion.
“In addition to money and securities, unclaimed property includes tangible property such as watches, jewelry, coins, currency, stamps, historical items, and other miscellaneous articles from abandoned safe deposit boxes,” the release explained. “Unclaimed money is deposited into the state school fund, where it is used for public education.”
You may have money coming to you: Go to https://www.fltreasurehunt.org to check. (We did. We got nothing.)
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But wait, says Agriculture Commissioner Putnam. His department “recovered nearly $300,000 for Florida consumers” in October.
It’s oft forgotten that the full name of his agency is the “Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.”
And it actually regulates a variety of operations, “such as motor vehicle repair shops, charitable organizations, pawnbrokers, health studios, sellers of travel, intrastate movers, professional surveyors and mappers, sweepstakes/game promotions, and telemarketers,” according to its website.
“In 2015, the department recovered nearly $3 million for Florida consumers from moving companies, vehicle repair shops, pawn shops, health studios, telemarketers, sellers of travel and more,” the release says.
Putnam calls his shop “the state’s clearinghouse for consumer complaints,” with a “call center staffed with trained analysts who can respond to questions about programs and regulations under the department’s purview, provide information on a wide variety of topics or direct callers to the appropriate government agency.”
For more information, go to FreshFromFlorida.com or call 1-800-HELP-FLA (435-7352).
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Associated Industries of Florida wants to hear from you.
The statewide business organization announced this week it was soliciting comments from the public about how Florida can “restore a stable, self-executing, and affordable workers’ compensation system as the Florida Legislature intended.” The organization created a Florida Workers’ Compensation Strategic Task Force, chaired by lobby president and chief executive officer Tom Feeney, to look for a legislative remedy to the court rulings.
The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation on Sept. 27 approved a 14.5 percent increase in workers’ compensation rates, blaming Florida Supreme Court rulings lifting limits on attorney fees in claims litigation and removing a limit on temporary total disability payments.
Feeney cited a study by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services indicating Florida will rank No. 23 among the states in the cost of workers’ compensation insurance.
Florida had the most expensive rates in the country before the Legislature enacted reforms in 2003, Feeney said, and by 2010 had the 40th lowest rates.
Want to comment? Floridians can sound off here.
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Congratulations, Rep. Kathleen Passidomo!
The Naples Republican received the state legislative achievement award from the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. Passidomo was honored for her “extraordinary leadership as one of the business community’s strongest and most reliable allies in the fight for legal reform in Florida.”
“I’m honored to be recognized by the U.S. Chamber for our work defending businesses from frivolous lawsuits,” she said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing our efforts in the State Senate as we improve Florida’s business climate, protect jobs, and reform the civil justice system to work for everyone.”
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Natural gas price hedging is on hiatus.
Florida’s major public utilities have agreed to a one-year moratorium on natural gas price hedging while they look for a more accurate way to do it — or consider abandoning it altogether.
Hedging means contracting to purchase natural gas at an agreed-upon price sometime in the future. If prices rise in the meantime, ratepayers save money. If prices decline, they pay more than they needed to.
According to the Office of Public Counsel, which represents ratepayers before the commission, bad bets by utilities have cost customers $6.5 billion since 2002.
Large utility customers who appeared before the commission Wednesday were split on the moratorium. But Jon Moyle, an attorney representing large industrial power users, welcomed the development.
“We would rather pay at the pump. We don’t like hedging. We’ve lost billions of dollars on hedging,” Moyle said.
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If you’d blinked you’d have missed it, but the Public Service Commission authorized Florida’s major private electric utilities to raise more than $9.5 billion in debt on Wednesday.
The biggest slice belongs to Florida Power & Light Co., which can raise $6.1 billion. Spokesman Mark Bubriski said the company plans to invest “more than $3.5 billion a year in clean energy, fuel efficiency, smart grid technology, storm hardening, and other infrastructure advancements.”
Duke Energy Florida LLC won authority to raise $1.5 billion; Tampa Electric Co. $1.2 billion; and Gulf Power Co. $750 million.
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Interchange improvements are coming to North Florida.
Gov. Scott joined state and local officials to kick-off the I-95/I-295 North Interchange project in Duval County this week. The project will update the existing interchange to help improve safety and traffic flow for the Jacksonville community.
The project is also meant to serve as a hub connecting JAXPORT with Interstate 95, downtown Jacksonville with the Jacksonville International Airport. Traffic in the corridor, according to the governor’s office, is expected to increase over the next two decades, and the interchange will help alleviate traffic issues.
“Gov. Scott recognizes that strong economic growth can benefit from strategic investments in transportation infrastructure,” said FDOT Secretary Jim Boxold in a statement. “His investments in this area and around the state continue to help support Florida families and businesses.”
The design and construction of the $177 million project was funded with state and federal dollars. It’s expected to be completed in the summer of 2020.
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Hooray, books!
Sally Bradshaw threw open the doors of her new Tallahassee bookstore, Midtown Reader, this week. The cozy, 1,500 square-foot store is filled to the brim with an estimated 10,000 books.
Bradshaw is hoping the shop will become a destination for book lovers across the region, a place where readers can stop by, browse the shelves, and chat about their favorite piece of prose.
“There’s a lot of advantages to the social media world we live in, but the experience that’s missing on the internet is it’s very difficult to browse,” she said. “There’s value in being able to go into an independent bookstore and being able to browse. We’re really attentive to building a community of readers.”
While Midtown Reader will have a little something for everyone, expect to see a focus on literary fiction and Southern literature, especially Florida authors. Her dedication to Florida authors is already on display. The first in-store event is Saturday, and features Craig Pittman, author of “Oh, Florida!: How America’s Weirdest State Influences the Rest of the Country.”
And if you need a suggestion for a good book, Bradshaw recommends picking up “Heroes of the Frontier,” by Dave Eggers.
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It’s almost time to start thinking about turkey day.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles announced the start of its annual “Stuff the Charger” Thanksgiving food drive. The department is collecting non-perishable food donations for Florida families in partnership with food banks across the state.
“Our mission is to feed the hungry through our network for partner agencies,” said Robert Fritchey, director of food resources at America’s Second Harvest of the Big Bend.
The Florida Highway Patrol will be accepting non-perishable food donations at each troop headquarters across the state, including the general headquarters in Tallahassee. Floridians can donate canned goods, including canned meats and vegetables; dried goods, including boxed potatoes and stuffing; and other products, like evaporated milk and broth.
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Here’s this week edition of Capitol Directions:
