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

Guest AuthorDecember 15, 2013

You have to admire the profile in courage that Florida Republicans are setting. Florida is standing up to all those whiny kids, pregnant women and disabled people and rejecting $51 billion in extra Medicaid funding over the next 10 years. “We don’t need no stinkin’ $5 billion a year for health care,” say the Republicans. […]

Guest AuthorDecember 13, 2013

Senator Marco Rubio’s endorsement of Obamacare for his own family should end the rhetoric coming from Governor Rick Scott and other tea party groups. As many news outlets reported recently, in addition to enrolling his family through the new exchange, Rubio is also receiving federal subsidies – this is good news for his family. The […]

Guest AuthorDecember 12, 2013

ELECTIONmurphy01_1415161884111_9450843_ver1.0_640_480-1024x1024.jpg

It’s never a good idea to take on an issue after Jon Stewart has had his way with it, but you know what they say about fools. The subject, in case you missed it, was the Obama-Castro handshake at the Nelson Mandela funeral celebration. Fox and CNN went gaga with speculation and condemnation over the […]

Guest AuthorDecember 12, 2013

The reaction to President Barack Obama’s handshake with Cuban President Raúl Castro this week is an accurate reflection of the wacky Cold War-era relationship between their two neighboring countries. As he walked up to the podium to eulogize former South African President Nelson Mandela Tuesday, President Obama shook hands and exchanged words with Castro. Even […]

Guest AuthorDecember 11, 2013

I wonder how my mother’s past year may have gone differently had telemedicine been an option for her care. Following the resection of the lower lobe of her lung due to cancer, she developed an inability to swallow properly. She was diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia, and after multiple hospitalizations, she was fitted with a feeding […]

Guest AuthorDecember 11, 2013

I made the mistake of telling Emeline, the 3-year-old, what we were getting her mother for Christmas. “Earrings. But don’t tell her. It’s a surprise,” I said, naively. “Okay, Dad. But I’m not such a good secret-keeper.” This, unfortunately, turned out to be true. An hour after dinner, she couldn’t contain herself. The beans were […]

Guest AuthorDecember 11, 2013

In Northwest Florida, politics is a blood sport. There is one brewing now that deserves statewide attention. On one side is Mayor Ashton Hayward, who was elected three years ago as Pensacola’s first strong mayor. He’s a handsome, likeable person with a big bright smile and who likes to speak of big ideas. Hayward has […]

Guest AuthorDecember 11, 2013

I commend Gov. Rick Scott for running the state as he would a business, taking every chance to maximize and return taxpayer dollars. Scott’s mission has been to make state programs most efficient by limiting waste and working to see dollars translate to jobs. But one policy change being proposed by the Agency for Health […]

Guest AuthorDecember 10, 2013

Almost 150 years after the guns fell silent at the Battle of Olustee, it seemed as if the Civil War never quite ended, that the lessons of the past have been lost on those who claim the legacy of that American misadventure. Just look at the brewing controversy over plans to erect a Union monument […]

Guest AuthorDecember 10, 2013

By most accounts, including his own, 95-year-old Uncle Billy of Clearwater doesn’t need the cane the Veteran’s Administration health care folks insist he use. Until, that is, he did. That’s where I come in. He’s my great uncle, a man I may have met but a couple times decades ago. He’s my mother’s only living relative […]

Guest Author

Mark O’Brien: Florida is a Medicaid Santa — for other states

Charlie Crist: Rubio endorsement of ACA should end Scott’s criticism

Doug Clifton: Breathless talk of Obama-Castro handshake ignored crucial issue

Andrew Skerritt: U.S. foreign policy on Cuba has outlived its usefulness

Karen Cyphers: More ‘telemedicine’ would reduce costs, suffering

Ben Kirby: For more and more Americans, it’s homeless for the holidays

Rick Outzen: A Panhandle political battle is brewing

Denise Rangel: For tax dollars and teeth, prepaid dental is the answer

Andrew Skerritt: Sad battle being waged over Union memorial at Olustee

Linda Cunningham: Kudos to Clearwater cops for tracking down Uncle Billy