Emails & Opinions

Peter SchorschMay 10, 2017

Sunburn – The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. By Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster, Mitch Perry and Jim Rosica. Session ended at 8:52 p.m. Monday. By Tuesday morning, the 2018 election cycle had begun in earnest. Rep. Jay Fant launched his 2018 Attorney General run at the Florida Capitol, before kicking […]

Guest AuthorMay 9, 2017

For the last five years, my big brother, Ben Pollara, has fought to bring medical marijuana treatment to suffering citizens in the state of Florida. He acted as campaign manager for United for Care, which was the chief facilitator of Amendment 2’s passage November, and has since worked tirelessly to craft and pass fair legislation […]

Peter SchorschMay 9, 2017

It’s been seven years since Rick Baker exited City Hall as its most powerful, successful mayor. Hardly a day has gone by that someone — perhaps this site more so than anywhere else — has wondered whether he’d have to, like Cincinnatus, come in from the fields to save the city he loves. Today, St. Petersburg […]

Peter SchorschMay 9, 2017

The he-said, he-said-what? between medical marijuana proponents Ben Pollara and John Morgan has captivated political aficionados during the epilogue phase of the 2017 Legislative Session. On Friday night, the Legislature killed HB 1397, a bill to enact the medical marijuana amendment approved by 71 percent of voters in November. Morgan, who spearheaded and bankrolled much of […]

Tre' EversMay 9, 2017

Don’t pick a fight with folks who buy ink by the barrel — or so the saying goes. Well, it’s a good thing Peter Schorsch doesn’t actually buy ink, because I’ve got a bone to pick with him. Rick Scott and John Morgan could be considered “losers” only in a Tallahassee-centered universe. These two guys […]

Martin DyckmanMay 9, 2017

When the Florida Constitution Revision Commission was debating the election of judges 20 years ago, I sat in the gallery to hear my own words used to attack something that my editorials and columns consistently had supported. The issue was whether all trial judges should be chosen exclusively by appointment, without elections, in the same […]

Peter SchorschMay 8, 2017

Even after meeting dozens of times throughout the 2017 Legislative Session, the House GOP freshman caucus failed to adopt new rules on how to pick a leader. A caucus to ratify rules — drafted by Reps. Ralph Massullo and Michael Grant — to guide the freshman class’s decision-making process met Friday during a break in the […]

Peter SchorschMay 8, 2017

Dysfunction seems to run in Tallahassee like a sine wave. We went from the collapse of 2015 – the House going home early, no budget, a Special Budget Session – to the trains-on-time Session of 2016, to the no-budget-at-the-end-of-regulation Session in 2017. We saw another Session in which we got oh-so-close to a gambling bill, […]

Guest AuthorMay 8, 2017

“It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men (and women)” — Frederick Douglass It is incredible how many societal ills arise out of a failure to educate, in the fullest sense of the word, the children of our great state. We utter platitudes like, “we must do better,” as we watch […]

Joe HendersonMay 8, 2017

Florida State Senate President Joe Negron continues to insist there was no dark conspiracy to deny pre-eminent status to the University of South Florida. He swears on a stack of legal briefs that state graduation guidelines weren’t changed at the last minute just to make sure USF wouldn’t qualify. As we now know, this is […]

Emails & Opinions

Sunburn for 5.10.17 – Adam Putnam launches; … so does Jay Fant; Session epilogue; Med. marijuana special session?; Parks boost Disney revenue

Samantha Pollara: In defense of my big brother Ben Pollara

Rick Kriseman needs to respond forcefully to Rick Baker’s Trumpian ‘St. Petersburg carnage’

John Morgan wrong to insult Mayernicks, lobbying profession

Tre’ Evers: On the contrary — Rick Scott, John Morgan real winners of 2017 Legislative Session

Martin Dyckman: Judges are not politicians, nor should they play politics

House GOP freshmen fail to adopt rules for Speaker’s race, putting leadership battle into chaos

Winners and losers emerging from the 2017 Legislative Session

Michael Bileca and Manny Diaz: Florida’s educational industrial complex earned need to be reformed

Joe Henderson: Bottom line for USF — Close, but no pre-eminence status