Guest Author, Author at Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorMarch 27, 2014

We hate children. Oh, stop the breathless denials and heart-tugging, oh-to-the-contrary protestations. We hate our children because we flat out refuse to support public schools. The United States spends $500 billion a year on public kindergarten through 12th grade. We spend $716 billion a year on the military — and that’s after the sequestration and […]

Guest AuthorMarch 27, 2014

I am a proud member of the sandwich generation. Sociologist Dorothy A. Miller coined the term in 1981 to classify people who care for their aging parent(s) while helping to support their own children. A recent analysis of Census Bureau data by the Pew Research Center noted that nearly half (47 percent) of Americans aged […]

Guest AuthorMarch 26, 2014

Last weekend, I was invited to attend a reunion celebration of the 20th anniversary of Joe Scarborough’s first campaign for Congress. Scarborough and his team did something that we rarely see in our lifetimes. They changed the course of politics not only in Northwest Florida, but the entire state. In 1994, Bill Clinton was president, […]

Guest AuthorMarch 25, 2014

The recent congressional special election in the Tampa Bay area was a painful process to watch. Two decent major party candidates, sincere in their desire to serve the people, displayed their wares, offering different philosophies and different political positions on the issues of the day. Each identified with a political party that has differing plans […]

Guest AuthorMarch 25, 2014

Recently I read an opinion piece by Teresa Sullivan, President of the University of Virginia, in which she highlighted four kinds of value in higher education. Her writing is relevant, especially with conversation in Washington, D.C. focusing on two benefits of a college education – getting a job upon graduation and how much a graduate […]

Guest AuthorMarch 24, 2014

At a time when the reparations debate has gone silent in this country because there’s a black man in the White House, it’s getting a lot of play in the islands. Recently, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) heads of governments approved a 10-point plan for reparations for the lasting damage of slavery and the slave trade. […]

Guest AuthorMarch 23, 2014

Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, explained away the withdrawal of his Senate version of voucher expansion with “there just wasn’t enough time to develop accountability provisions that everybody could agree on.” Sure. Galvano had no such qualms in voting through SB 1642, a bill that confirms Florida’s continuing accountability apparatus earlier this month. And maybe he […]

Guest AuthorMarch 23, 2014

If you are a legislator in the South and want to prove your mettle during a legislative session, either address abortion or marriage. Both are great fodder for provoking headlines. Last week, Rep. Cynthia Stafford, D-Miami, got titillating headlines by proposing a law that would ban youths under age 16 from getting married. According to […]

Guest AuthorMarch 20, 2014

As one who is tasked with spending time in both Tallahassee, Florida’s capital city, and Washington, D.C., our nation’s capital, I am often struck by the broad differences in culture, rhythm, processes and style. Now one might call me a provincial or, if you sought to be derogatory, call me a naïve country bumpkin, but […]

Guest AuthorMarch 20, 2014

The Florida property insurance market continues to make great strides forward and, while there is still some work to do, consumers are finding it easier to obtain insurance in the private market and insurance rates are beginning to stabilize. This is great news for consumers! The Florida insurance market is starting to benefit from the […]

Guest Author

Linda Cunningham: Do we love our kids? If so, then let’s fix our schools

Rebekah McCloud: ‘You are the Momma now’

Rick Outzen: Scarborough’s 94 campaign began GOP revolution

John Grant: Get ready for the fall elections and a flood of PAC-paid attack ads

Ed Moore: Placing value on higher education

Andrew Skerritt: We need an honest debate about slavery reparations

Bob Sikes: Why voucher expansion really died in the Florida Senate

Steve Kurlander: There’s no need to ban marriage for youths under age 16

Ed Moore: Why state capitals are better than Washington, D.C.

Donovan Brown: ‘Insuring’ a brighter future for Florida property