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

Florence SnyderMarch 31, 2015

A half century after an unsolved murder, who did the crime is less important that what the crime did to those left behind. The October 22, 1966 murders of Robert and Helen Sims and their 12 year old daughter Joy changed Tallahassee, overnight, from a place where everyone trusted everyone to a place where the […]

Florence SnyderMarch 31, 2015

Skip Foster, the new Publisher at the Tallahassee Democrat, was greeted as a liberator in his maiden speech to the Capital Tiger Bay Club. The gray-haired eminences who make up the club’s membership know the difference between a good newspaper and a Chamber of Commerce rag. They’re embarrassed that the Times — New York and […]

Florence SnyderMarch 23, 2015

State Rep. Halsey Beshears, R-Not From Panacea, supports small government, except when he doesn’t. Beshears was elected to the House in 2012 from Monticello, in Jefferson County. He’s all in for making a city out of Panacea, located in Wakulla County, inside his sprawling district, but an hour’s drive and a world away from where […]

Florence SnyderMarch 17, 2015

A half-century after an unsolved murder, who did the crime is less important that what the crime did to those left behind. The Oct. 22, 1966, murders of Robert and Helen Sims and their 12-year-old daughter Joy changed Tallahassee, overnight, from a place where everyone trusted everyone to a place where the unspeakable could happen […]

Florence SnyderMarch 16, 2015

Rep. Halsey Beshears (R-Not From Panacea) supports small government, except when he doesn’t. Beshears was elected to the House in 2012 from Monticello, in Jefferson County. He’s all in for making a city out of Panacea, located in Wakulla County, inside his sprawling district, but an hour’s drive and a world away from where he lives and works. Florida law […]

Florence SnyderMarch 12, 2015

Tallahassee’s Red Hills Horse Trials isn’t the first thing that comes to mind for working-class people looking to spend a spring afternoon outdoors with the kids. It’s easy to feel intimidated by a United States Equestrian Association event that attracts an international crowd of diehard members of the horsey set. But the “suggested donation” of $15 is a […]

Florence SnyderMarch 11, 2015

By the time reporters like the Miami Herald‘s Mike Sallah and Carol Marbin Miller and Kimberly Miller of The Palm Beach Post took starter jobs at the Boca Raton News, 1960s-era Publisher Gus Harwell was long gone to bigger jobs at Knight Newspapers. However, his legacy as a reporter’s publisher continued to attract top young […]

Florence SnyderMarch 8, 2015

Tallahassee’s Red Hills Horse Trials isn’t the first thing that comes to mind for working class people looking to spend a spring afternoon outdoors with the kids. It’s easy to feel intimidated by a United States Equestrian Association event which attracts an international crowd of die-hard members of the horsey set. But the “suggested donation” […]

Florence SnyderMarch 8, 2015

In Casablanca, “Everybody goes to Rick’s” Cafe Americain. In Tallahassee, everybody goes to Andrew’s Capital Grill. Or Andrew goes to everybody, as he did last Monday night, personally attending to the feeding and watering of 1,200 of Associated Industries’ closest friends at its annual eve-of-session cocktail party. Andrew Reiss has been doing this since the […]

Florence SnyderMarch 5, 2015

Florida-Businesses-for-a-Competitive-Workforce-Feb-24_Page_2-1024x1024.jpg

Former governor and probable presidential hopeful Jeb Bush calls them “the 20 people who talk to each other.” You know, the folks who make their living in and around The Permanent Campaign. There’s an Internet site that counts down the days, hours, minutes and seconds from one election to the next. The political press refers […]

Florence Snyder
Crowds gather to see Atlantis at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. (Gabrielle Russon)

Florence Snyder: The murders that changed Tallahassee forever

Takeaways from Tally: A postcard from Tiger Bay

Florence Snyder: Republicans seeking a Panacea suddenly like taxes

Florence Snyder: Postcard from a Tallahassee cold case

Halsey Beshears swaps horses on small-government credo

Florence Snyder: At Red Hills Horse Trials, cafeteria ladies join ladies who lunch

Florence Snyder: In loving remembrance of Gus Harwell

Florence Snyder: Postcard from Red Hills

Florence Snyder: Andrew's, where lobbyists begin beautiful friendships

Florence Snyder: Political-journalism boomlet is depressing for most of us