Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorJanuary 7, 2014

In this election year, “progressives” have announced that they’re going to make a big issue of income inequality. President Obama has said so, and New York City’s new mayor, the ultraliberal Bill de Blasio, has announced that addressing income inequality will be his administration’s top priority. However, a quick survey of the real world suggests […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 6, 2014

Guns. We are awash in them and words about them. Some of the latest came from Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal, which ruled that the University of North Florida could not ban students from keeping guns in their on-campus cars. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by Florida Carry, a gun […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 6, 2014

I’ve been instructed by my editor that referring to Florida as the “Sunshine State” is a cliché — a goofy term that is out of place in columns about momentous political happenings. Likely so. But here’s a case where the term is fitting: Florida, the state named for its sunshine, has more tanning beds than […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 6, 2014

Three articles recently struck me as needing more conversations so I am taking keyboard in hand and opining. The first was by Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel. He shared details about himself, giving readers a glimpse into his life and thus his thought processes. He presented his view of our state capital. “Just look […]

Peter SchorschJanuary 5, 2014

Political prognostication is not an exact science despite what forecasters and pundits would have readers believe. Many fall somewhere between the obvious and the inane, and often take a familiar and non-threatening shape. “The race for (insert candidate here) comes down to which campaign turns out their voters,” or some similar form. Imagine a sports […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 5, 2014

As the political winds are turning to presidential politics in 2016, now is the time for Republicans to start thinking about their ticket. I know it’s early, but the top of the Democratic ticket has already been pretty much decided by the mainstream media. It’s Hillary and whoever she wants as her veep. For the […]

Julie DelegalJanuary 5, 2014

It’s a principle of our representative democracy that we, the people, don’t weigh in on every bit of minutia entailed in making laws and policy. The oft-quoted maxim, usually attributed to Prussian statesman Otto Von Bismark, posits that lawmaking, like sausage-making, is a process better left unviewed. But at what points in the “sausage-making” should […]

Tim StapletonJanuary 5, 2014

Providing their patients with the best possible medical care is the top priority for physicians. It’s why they became doctors in the first place — to care for people. But there is too much bureaucracy standing between Florida physicians and their patients. The Florida Medical Association is proposing legislation this session designed to reduce needless […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 2, 2014

The newest university in the state, Florida Polytechnic, is under construction in Polk County, with several hundred new students already lined up for classes scheduled to begin later this year. It is projected to be a showpiece for science and technology education and research, perhaps the kernel of new Silicon Valley-like corridor along I-4. So […]

Peter SchorschJanuary 2, 2014

If you go by the headlines in some Florida newspapers, you’d think that there’s a wave of hate crimes being committed across the state. “Hate crimes up 22 percent across Florida,” reads the headline from the Florida Times-Union. “Hate crimes rise in Florida,” blares the Orlando Sentinel. Indeed reported hate crimes increased 22.3 percent in 2012 over the prior year, […]

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Image via AP.

Robert F. Sanchez: Solving “income inequality” is very complicated

Doug Clifton: With all the slaughter, how does gun lobby continue to win?

Karen Cyphers: Dangerous tanning beds popular in Sunshine State

Ed Moore: Let’s have more college presidents going into government

Peter Schorsch: Five bold predictions for Florida politics in 2014

Barney Bishop: Jeb Bush is best presidential candidate for GOP in 2016

Julie Delegal: Voters benefit when the ‘sausage’ is made in public

Tim Stapleton: Legislation would reduce red tape that hampers doctors

Cary McMullen: GOP paradox: promote science classes, reject evolution

Peter Schorsch: Newspapers overplay the increase in Florida hate crimes