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

Joe HendersonSeptember 22, 2016

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman is angry — MAD, I tell you! — that Gov. Rick Scott is playing politics just because the city’s streets and waterways were covered in sewage following Hurricane Hermine. Um, Mr. Mayor? I suspect you already know this, but you have a lot bigger problems than the Republican governor of […]

Joe HendersonSeptember 21, 2016

One Saturday afternoon several months ago, I needed to drive from Brandon to St. Petersburg. As always, I took Interstate 4 to I-275 in downtown Tampa and headed toward the lovely ‘Burg. Most days, that trek would take me about 40-45 minutes, assuming the weather was good, and there wasn’t a wreck at Malfunction Junction […]

Joe HendersonSeptember 20, 2016

TAKE 1: Who won? I would call it a draw. Both candidates got in zingers at the other and both successfully reinforced the message they are trying to sell to voters. In Jolly’s case, he wants to remind voters he has been a maverick in his two-plus years in the U.S. House of Representatives. That’s […]

Joe HendersonSeptember 18, 2016

We love the water around here. We boat on it, haul fish from it, swim in it, and build houses that provide spectacular views of it. Water is such a big deal around here that many people identify us not by the actual places where we live, but by the catchall name of Tampa Bay. […]

Joe HendersonSeptember 16, 2016

In the Aug. 30 primary, Florida voters made it unmistakably clear how they feel about solar energy. Nearly 73 percent of them voted to approve an amendment providing a tax break for businesses that convert to solar power. That was just what backers of clean energy in Florida wanted, of course. Now they have a […]

Joe HendersonSeptember 13, 2016

According to the Associated Press, the governor’s office just got a $153,000 makeover. Well, technically it was to the reception area outside the place where Gov. Rick Scott conducts the weighty affairs of state. There was new carpet to replace the 13-year-old stuff that covered the floor. That’s good. We want visitors to think we […]

Joe HendersonSeptember 12, 2016

There was an interesting news release Monday on the Florida Department of Health website. The agency issued a lengthy rebuttal to a Miami Herald report last month that its data on the state’s Zika problem was wrong, late or both. “This story is misleading and the claims made in it are inaccurate,” the agency said. […]

Joe HendersonSeptember 8, 2016

Let’s get this straight: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi says “Hillary Clinton will not bully me” over the legitimate scrutiny being paid to the timing of a campaign donation Bondi received in 2014 from Donald Trump. Bullying is a pretty stern accusation, so let’s explore this further. What did Clinton do to rise to that […]

Joe HendersonSeptember 6, 2016

While city officials play those favored political parlor games of finger-pointing and pass-the-blame, thousands of residents remain without power. That’s all we ought to care about now. There are reports of price gouging. Large trees are down all over the city. People are steaming as they wonder about the competence of the power they have […]

Joe HendersonSeptember 2, 2016

I love a good campaign slogan. It can be the key to victory, as we saw with Barack Obama’s “Hope and Change” and George W. Bush’s “Compassionate Conservative” pitch. And then there is Marco Rubio, Florida’s reluctant U.S. senator who is running, sort of, for re-election to an office he doesn’t appear to completely embrace. […]

Joe Henderson

Joe Henderson: St. Pete’s stinky mess, sewage and politics

Joe Henderson: Cross-Bay ferry – an idea whose time has finally come

Joe Henderson: Five takeaways from the Charlie Crist-David Jolly CD 13 debate

Joe Henderson: Polluted water in St. Pete leaves little room for mistake

Joe Henderson: For solar energy supporters, Amendment 1 raises red flags

Joe Henderson: Open government office goes behind closed doors

Joe Henderson: Cutting through the maze of political blame over Zika

Joe Henderson: Pam Bondi is no ‘victim’ in Trump U scandal

Joe Henderson: Hurricane Hermine leaves Category 5 mess in unprepared Tallahassee

Joe Henderson: Marco Rubio’s 2016 slogan — ‘Maybe I’ll stay. Maybe I won’t.’