Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorOctober 21, 2014

Answering questions is as unspeakable to Rick Scott as eating pork is to someone who keeps kosher. The governor treats talking with the press and public as trayf (Yiddish for tainted food), as though he would be putting himself at risk for the political equivalent of trichinosis. Ask him anything. And, as if unable to […]

Guest AuthorOctober 21, 2014

Rubble. Fife. The Dinosaur. Bishop. What do these Barneys have in common? None of them live in reality. Barney Bishop’s most recent hyperventilation published on Context Florida about Amendment 2 — which would allow medical marijuana in Florida — both repeated some of his previous made-up contentions and introduced some new ones. Again, Bishop ignores […]

Guest AuthorOctober 21, 2014

“The early evidence indicates that this strategy is succeeding.” These are the words of White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, defending President Barack Obama’s strategy to address the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Let’s review some of that early evidence. As I write this, Islamic State jihadists in Iraq have […]

Daniel TilsonOctober 20, 2014

Anti-government, anti-Obama, anti-Democratic Party, hardcore conservative voters no doubt constitute a majority of the 4.1 million or so registered Republicans in Florida. But they’re a minority of the state electorate overall, representing maybe a third of 12 million registered voters statewide. Nonetheless, Democrats and independents who comprise the large majority of voters repeatedly let these […]

Martin DyckmanOctober 20, 2014

The title of the Florida Public Service Commission is about as relevant to reality as that of the People’s Republic of China. In each case, the true constituency is a narrow group of self-perpetuating special interests. Making the public interest the true constituency of the PSC ought to be high on the agenda of the […]

Bob SparksOctober 20, 2014

With the election only two weeks away, we suffer degrees of numbness from the political ads. Depending on your region of Florida, you may already have fled to Netflix or DVDs to escape the bombardment. But complaining about negative ads is pointless because they’re so effective. For those seeking a respite, I recommend reading or […]

Guest AuthorOctober 20, 2014

When defining the ethnicity, gender and race of American society, I find it is interrelated with the cultural dialogue. The African-American experience has always been tied to those topics. In America, the concept of the “one-drop rule” — that a single drop of “black blood” makes a person a black — was founded on sub-Saharan […]

Martin DyckmanOctober 19, 2014

The term limits initiative that Florida voters put into the Constitution in 1992 was one of the most popular issues ever, passing with 3,625,500 “yes” votes to only 1,097,127 against it. But what it has done to the Legislature makes it one of the costliest mistakes in Florida history. The voters deserve an opportunity to […]

Guest AuthorOctober 19, 2014

Early this month Ben Pollara, campaign manager for United for Care, wrote a column for Context Florida challenging some of my arguments opposing Amendment 2, the medical marijuana measure on the Nov. 4 ballot. Some of Ben’s answers were just plain wrong and some were misleading, so let’s look at his attempts to answer my […]

Guest AuthorOctober 19, 2014

If you live in Florida’s capital city, one routine complaint is the airport: Flights are too expensive; it’s just hard getting anywhere from here. So city officials are trying to change the narrative, if not the flight path of Tallahassee Regional Airport. They want to join the ranks of Melbourne International and Sarasota-Bradenton International. Before […]

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Stephen Goldstein: Scott won’t answer questions and too many voters don’t care

Ben Pollara: I may be naive, but I’m certain Floridians would benefit from medical pot

Thomas Rooney: Obama must use more military force against the Islamic State

Daniel Tilson: Florida needs its ‘unlikely voters’ to restore majority rule

Martin Dyckman: If you want the PSC to protect customers, vote for Crist

Bob Sparks: The incredible non-political story of Lorenzo Cain

Anthony Major: Playwrights helped explain the black experience to America

Martin Dyckman: Elect Crist if you want to fix the mess created by term limits

Barney Bishop: Challenges to Amendment 2 loopholes still not answered

Andrew Skerritt: Trying to take off, Tallahassee Airport wants to go international