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

Ryan RayApril 22, 2015

Has Rick Scott been drafted to fight in the “war” Richard Corcoran has declared on the health care industry? The governor said in a press release on Tuesday that if the Legislature cannot adjourn on time with a budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year he will create a “Commission on Healthcare and Hospital Funding.” The […]

Ryan RayApril 20, 2015

Doug Dodd and his friend “the Little General” aka Lance Barabas began like a lot of high school kids in Tampa and outlying Pasco County these days: At get-togethers after wrestling practice they would drink beer, smoke a little pot and maybe dabble in something harder. Hardly wholesome to be sure, but as Guy Lawson in Rolling Stone writes, […]

Ryan RayApril 20, 2015

A proposal by Sen. Anitere Flores to bring some finality to a long-simmering legislative food fight between major airline carriers like United Airlines and Delta and their smaller upstart rivals operating in Florida is getting closer to taking off from the Capitol Building and landing in the Governor’s Mansion to await the approval of Gov. Rick Scott. The legislation – which seeks […]

Ryan RayApril 19, 2015

On the campaign trail, former U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland would always take great pains to remind anyone who would listen — especially anyone with a camera — that he was from the “real America.” He’d tell you he was not a snobby sophisticate with insider ties to Capitol Hill power players like his 2014 opponent Gwen Graham. By Southerland’s […]

Ryan RayApril 18, 2015

First-term Miami Congressman Carlos Curbelo is raising election-season levels of campaign cash almost two years out from 2016 U.S. House elections – Curbelo’s campaign account has taken in $705,649 according to recent Federal Election Commission finance reports. That gives Curbelo an almost $1.1 million fundraising lead over Democrat Annette Taddeo, who recently announced her candidacy for the 26th District. The National […]

Ryan RayApril 16, 2015

Sen. Joe Negron announced Thursday that he has succeeded in brokering an agreement between the Legislature and the Florida College System in their ongoing conflict over the proper role and scale of Florida’s community colleges. The deal — under the moniker of the “2+2 Program,” referring to the common course of study that includes two years toward […]

Ryan RayApril 16, 2015

During a conference call late Thursday morning, the anti-rail group Citizens Against Rail Expansion in Florida inveighed against a plan backed by Gov. Rick Scott to build more rail lines in the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County areas. Its main bone of contention is an April poll conducted by Mason-Dixon that CARE says offers stark evidence that […]

Ryan RayApril 15, 2015

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A lengthy debate over a lobbying ethics reform bill ended with with former Senate President Don Gaetz moving to TP his own bill. The proposal — Gaetz’s SB 1372 — would tighten many restrictions on lobbying in Florida. Most notably, it would hold Gov. Rick Scott‘s brainchild — Enterprise Florida Inc., housed within another Scott innovation in […]

Ryan RayApril 14, 2015

A proposal to allow big-box grocers and retailers to sell hard liquor in a cordoned-off section of a larger store — the so-called “whiskey and Wheaties” bill, for those keeping score at home in this year’s legislative food fights — was rejected by a House panel Tuesday afternoon, likely bringing an end to the effort […]

Ryan RayApril 14, 2015

It seems lawmakers hit the annual “drink, drop and dash” scene exceptionally hard this year. Legislators are prohibited from raising campaign cash during the Legislative Session in Tallahassee. However, in the run-up beforehand, statehouse pols pulled in more than $1 million dollars in eleventh-hour contributions. Much of it came from lobbyists and business interests who […]

Ryan Ray

Did Rick Scott join the Corcoran Army?

Band of teenage Tampa wrestlers was 3-man pill mill

Jet fuel tax changes looking poised to pass Senate

Self-styled D.C. “outsider” Steve Southerland turns up as Washington lobbyist

Carlos Curbelo among House Republicans raking in big contributions early

Joe Negron announces community college partnership pact

Anti-train group rails against All Aboard Florida

Lobbying ethics bill stumbles in Senate Rules

“Whiskey and Wheaties” bill goes down in House panel

Legislators raked in campaign cash just before Session start