Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorJanuary 9, 2014

There’s more and more talk about giving college football players more money for providing us all that excitement on Saturday afternoons. Just do a computer search for “pay college football players” and see what comes up. This season some players wore wristbands with “APU” on them during games. That stands for All Players United, “a […]

Peter SchorschJanuary 9, 2014

Outside of the fictional Indiana city of Pawnee, the setting for NBC’s comedy series, “Parks and Recreation,” most people don’t attend public hearings. And, according to a study by the Knight Foundation, doing so is more likely to reduce a person’s sense of political efficacy than to increase it. “Despite the fact that governments are pumping out more […]

Daniel TilsonJanuary 9, 2014

Working and retired Floridians from all walks of life commonly flock together in long lottery ticket lines, dreaming of better days. But joining forces to vote for progressive political candidates who could help fulfill that dream … that’s another story. I get it that no politician or elected official, no matter how progressive, can make […]

Daniel TilsonJanuary 8, 2014

Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36th President of The United States, must be spinning in his grave and cursing up a storm this week. You see, to mark the 50th anniversary of LBJ’s landmark ‘War On Poverty’, congressional conservatives like Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio are taking turns trying to discredit it. First came […]

Bob SparksJanuary 8, 2014

This week, a federal judge issued a ruling involving Florida’s approach to clean water. The lawsuit is about whether state or federal standards should govern Florida’s water bodies Florida argues that federal rules are far too costly and unworkable. Opponents say Florida’s standards are full of loopholes. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle ruled […]

Julie DelegalJanuary 8, 2014

Context Florida’s Steve Kurlander applauded U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor for blocking the contraception mandate from the Affordable Care Act, more widely known as “Obamacare. Catholic leaders asked her to do it because they didn’t want to provide medical care that violates their religious teachings. The Obama administration has alleviated their concerns, however, by […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 8, 2014

The Florida Association of Health Plans (FAHP), which represents billion-dollar HMOs, is pulling a bait-and-switch on the health of Florida’s most vulnerable children. They oppose important legislation designed to protect the oral health of underserved kids. At issue is roughly $200 million annually in taxpayer dollars that today provide care to kids through the “carved-out” […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 8, 2014

To be a teacher is to shove all housekeeping tasks to those tight windows of time when the grading goes away. All semester long, dirty laundry piles up. The lawn grows unchecked. And then, just after my semester ends in December, or May, or August, I schedule long-overdue oil changes and haircuts and dental appointments. […]

Martin DyckmanJanuary 7, 2014

Among the Republicans who ruled Pinellas County midway in the last century, none was more conservative than Wilda J. Cook, the supervisor of elections. Deploring what she called “curbstone registration,” she permitted enrollment at only four or five locations. Had she lived to see the Motor-Voter law, she might not have survived the shock. “We’re […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 7, 2014

What would Pope Francis think? He’s probably not up to speed on the details of the lawsuit brought by the Little Sisters of the Poor against the federal government. The Sisters say they should be exempt from providing contraceptive coverage to their employees who work at the Sisters’ home for the aged in Colorado. The […]

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Image via AP.

Tom O’Hara: End the hypocrisy, hire players for college teams

Peter Schorsch: The role of public hearings in citizen engagement, public trust

Daniel Tilson: The Florida GOP’s 2014 version of ‘Believe It or Not’

Daniel Tilson: The GOP’s impoverished anti-poverty platform

Bob Sparks: States have important role in environmental regulation

Julie Delegal: The Little Sisters’ ludicrous litigation

Sen. Flores & Rep. Diaz: Protect dental health of underserved kids

Nathan Holic: The struggle to eliminate clutter in the digital age

Martin Dyckman: Republicans display a growing antipathy to science

Tom O’Hara: What would Pope Francis think about challenging Obamacare?