Winner and Loser of the Week in Florida politics — Week of 12.1.24

The College Football Playoff Selection Committee has screwed over an ACC team in favor of Alabama for two straight years now.

Last year, it was the undefeated Florida State Seminoles who got leapfrogged by two teams despite entering the final week at No. 4. That happened in part because their star quarterback, Jordan Travis, was out with an injury.

This year, in an expanded 12-team field, it was the 10-2 Miami Hurricanes who appear to be on the outside looking in, despite 9-3 Alabama having one more loss than Miami. It’s not a done deal yet, as things could still change following this weekend’s conference championship games. But the only teams ahead of Miami are way ahead, and the consensus is that they will stay ahead even with a loss.

As we said last year, it’s a little harder to quibble as the first team left out of a 12-team field, as opposed to getting booted from the Top 4. Teams outside the Top 10 are going to be more long-shot bids to win the title. And the Hurricanes had complete control over their destiny, losing two of their last three games to drop out of contention.

And of course, the Seminoles last year were undefeated in the regular season, making their snub much more of a historical anomaly.

But seriously? Alabama? Again?

The ACC was apparently blindsided by the decision on Tuesday to move Alabama ahead of Miami. Some argue Miami’s schedule wasn’t strong enough, and point to Miami’s two losses to then-unranked teams.

But Syracuse, the team that beat the Canes in the regular season finale, finished 9-3 and in the Top 25. Georgia Tech (7-5), which gave Miami its other loss, took No. 5 Georgia to eight overtimes and should have won had they not been screwed by the refs on multiple occasions.

And both Syracuse and Georgia Tech have better records than two teams Alabama lost to on the road, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. Both finished 6-6. And Oklahoma beat Alabama 24-3 just over three weeks ago. Miami’s two losses were by 9 points combined. And of course, Alabama has a third loss at now-No. 7 Tennessee.

Yes, Miami eked out a few wins by the skin of their teeth and their defense often couldn’t stop anyone. But they have the No. 1 offense in the entire country.

Had the CFP Committee not passed over FSU last year, maybe this year’s decision just ends up as a footnote. But this is two years in a row that an ACC team lost out despite having an arguably better record than the SEC team that leapfrogged them.

Now, it’s onto our weekly game of winners and losers.

Winners

Honorable mention: Jeff Holness, Sarah Leonardi and Allen Zeman. The Broward School Board members were the focus of an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing. But all three were cleared by the probe.

Per Scott Travis of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a critic of the School District filed a complaint arguing the Board members had “improper relationships” with vendors and wrongly paid for teacher raises using COVID relief funding.

Continental Attorneys-At-Law, the outside firm tasked with evaluating the claims, disagreed.

“The matters raised by the Complainant are all policy considerations within the Board’s lawful discretion and no evidence of waste, fraud, or mismanagement has been uncovered,” read the firm’s report. “Complainant may disagree with the Board’s wisdom in the way it chose to address contract, staffing, and budget issues, but her recourse lies in persuasion and the democratic process.”

The complainant is still crying foul over the thoroughness of the investigation, but that conclusion above is pretty much a wrap here, and Holness, Leonardi and Zeman will likely all point right to that language as an exoneration.

Almost (but not quite) the biggest winner: Jared Moskowitz. The South Florida lawmaker continued his crusade for bipartisanship in Washington, becoming the first Democrat to join the congressional Delivering on Outstanding Government Efficiency Caucus.

The group aims to coordinate with President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which will be headed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Efforts like this go back to what we talked about in the immediate aftermath of the election, when we advocated for Democrats to resist reflexively starting #resistance efforts and instead try to work with the incoming Trump administration in areas where some good can be done.

That doesn’t mean automatically assuming two wealthy supporters are going to walk in and make cuts to benefit the little guy rather than their own interests. But it does mean we shouldn’t automatically assume the worst, and Moskowitz sees potential here.

“I believe that streamlining government processes and reducing inefficient government spending should not be a partisan issue. I’ve been clear that there are ways we can reorganize our government to make it work better for the American people,” he said.

“The Caucus should look at the bureaucracy that DHS has become and include recommendations to make Secret Service and (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) independent federal agencies with a direct report to the White House. It’s not practical to have 22 agencies under this one department.”

This is yet another example of Moskowitz’s efforts to encourage bipartisanship in areas where, if you ask most people on the street, they can find agreement regardless of political party. Yes, there are clear partisan divides when it comes to policy. But not everything fits that description, and Moskowitz is right to join the governing majority and try to shape the conversation going forward.

The biggest winner: Randy Fine, Jimmy Patronis. Dominoes are falling left and right due to fallout from Donald Trump selecting multiple Florida officials to serve in his incoming administration.

Both Fine and Patronis have secured endorsements from Trump after stepping in to run for Congress.

Fine is looking to replace Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz in Florida’s 6th Congressional District as Waltz prepares to take over as Trump’s National Security Adviser. Trump’s endorsement has prompted other leading Republicans in Washington to back Fine.

Patronis, meanwhile, is seeking to replace former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz in Florida’s 1st Congressional District after Gaetz resigned for a now-aborted push to become Attorney General. Trump’s endorsement also carried with it other national support, and prompted several candidates to drop their bids and back the President-elect’s preferred choice.

Both Fine and Patronis qualified on Thursday, but Trump’s respective endorsements didn’t entirely clear either GOP field. Nevertheless, both Fine and Patronis will be favorites in a GOP Primary given Trump’s backing. And both seats lean heavily Republican, so the respective General Elections will be mere formalities.

With all of the musical chairs, it looks like they’re going to fall backwards into congressional seats that they can pretty much hold onto for life.

Losers

Dishonorable mention: Tampa Bay Rays. Yes, the Rays got some good news this week when the St. Petersburg City Council approved bonds to help fund the Rays’ new stadium project in St. Pete.

But while the city had voiced some skepticism about the plan’s prospects as it slowly collapsed the past few weeks, the city was never the main driver of that downfall; it was the county. And Pinellas County hasn’t given any strong indications that the plan is fully resuscitated.

Meanwhile, the Rays had to deal with a devastating Wall Street Journal piece not only reflecting on the freakishness of Mother Nature completely upending a deal that seemed to be done, which we have covered, but also noting the team’s potential to hamper outgoing MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s legacy.

“He already oversaw the Athletics’ messy divorce from Oakland. The Rays could become the second franchise to relocate on his watch,” the Journal explained.

“Manfred’s ultimate goal is for MLB to expand from 30 to 32 teams. He has said repeatedly that he wants to begin that process before he departs. That can’t happen, however, until the Rays and A’s find solutions to their ongoing ballpark woes.”

So the Rays’ inability to close this deal is not only impacting the team’s own future, but the future of the entire league. Will anything change before it’s too late?

Almost (but not quite) the biggest loser: Chad Chronister. Sure, Chronister probably lands here simply for being forced to pull his nomination to lead the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) just days after Trump announced his intent to nominate him. That has to sting, even for the generally well-respected Hillsborough County Sheriff.

But Chronister especially finds himself on the loser board after Trump added insult to injury by trying to make clear how Chronister’s abandoned bid went down.

“The Wall Street Journal is becoming more and more obnoxious and unreadable. Today’s main headline is: ‘Trump’s DEA Pick Pulls Out In Latest Setback.’ With all that’s happening in the World, this is their Number One story of the day,” Trump wrote Wednesday in response to news of Chronister’s withdrawal, before adding in a kill shot.

“Besides, he didn’t pull out; I pulled him out because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters.”

Trump is referring to Chronister’s COVID pandemic move to arrest Dr. Rodney Howard-Browne, pastor of The River at Tampa Bay Church. At the time, Howard-Browne was defying social distancing orders, and conservatives still irate over the government’s handling of the pandemic haven’t forgiven Chronister for stepping in, even though charges were ultimately dropped.

It’s unclear why Trump went through with the nomination in the first place if this was a sticking point, as Chronister’s actions weren’t exactly a state secret. Chronister responded by saying it was “his decision to withdraw,” but if you’re engaged in a megaphone war with Trump, you’re losing.

The biggest loser: Glen Gilzean. Gilzean’s Office has now been stripped of its funding after county leaders accused the Governor-installed Supervisor of Elections of spending more than $5 million without proper county approval.

We covered the back-and-forth last month. This week, the County Commission responded by voting to cut off funding for the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Office. Comptroller Phil Diamond said Gilzean’s Office still had $4.4 million, which is enough to pay employees to close the year.

Supervisor-elect Karen Castor Dentel will be sworn in on Jan. 7.

Gilzean responded late Thursday, filing a lawsuit against the county and Diamond for freezing the funds. With less than a month to go in his tenure, Gilzean appears intent on pitching a fit on his way out the door.

As we said last month, Gilzean’s spending projects — providing scholarships to students and helping train temp workers who had helped his office during the election cycle — are noble. But by bypassing the normal route for securing funding for those efforts, Gilzean picked a completely pointless fight with the county that is causing a bunch of needless mudslinging.

Now, they’ll be forced to spend even more money fighting a battle in court.

Gilzean is a longtime Ron DeSantis ally. Aren’t Republicans the ones who are adamant about the government being good stewards of our tax dollars?