Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Associated PressJune 5, 2017

President Donald Trump and his GOP allies on Capitol Hill have made it through nearly half their first year in power without a single major legislative achievement. If that’s going to change, it will have to start soon, a reality that Republican lawmakers will confront when they return to the Capitol on Monday from a […]

Joe HendersonJune 1, 2017

The irony of the state Constitutional Revision Commission trying to avoid sunshine laws is almost too rich to describe. If allowed to happen, that would be a dark day indeed. But that’s exactly what CRC Chair Carlos Beruff is proposing, even as the commission continues a series of town hall meetings designed to take public input […]

Associated PressMay 31, 2017

President Donald Trump has been handing out his cellphone number to world leaders and urging them to call him directly, an unusual invitation that breaks diplomatic protocol and is raising concerns about the security and secrecy of the U.S. commander in chief’s communications. Trump has urged leaders of Canada and Mexico to reach him on […]

Darryl PaulsonMay 31, 2017

Sometimes political change comes slowly, one drop at a time. That was the 2016 Florida congressional election where Democrats gained a single seat, although the opportunities were everywhere. Sometimes elections result in a political tsunami, where the political landscape is fundamentally altered, and one party replaces the other party as the dominant political force. The […]

Mitch PerryMay 30, 2017

Sarasota Republican Congressman Vern Buchanan wants President Donald Trump to keep the United States in the Paris Agreement, the landmark climate change document officially ratified last year by the U.S. and 194 other signatories. Although Trump said this past weekend that he was still considering whether to remain in the pact, Axios reported this weekend that it’s […]

Steve SchaleMay 24, 2017

In my earliest days on the Barack Obama campaign in 2008, one of our first statewide polls showed a weakness with Black voters, at least compared to other states. It wasn’t necessarily that John McCain was doing better than elsewhere, just that there were more voters on the sidelines. It didn’t take long to figure […]

Mitch PerryMay 16, 2017

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Kathy Castor is not interested in running for Tampa mayor in 2019. Elected in November to a sixth term in Congress representing Hillsborough County, the idea that Castor was contemplating leaving Washington to succeed Bob Buckhorn was floated by Patrick Manteiga in his La Gaceta column late last month. On Tuesday, Castor dismissed such speculation. “You know, I love […]

Jim RosicaMay 16, 2017

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George Sheldon, a former Florida official now facing an ethics inquiry as director of Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services, also ran into a spot of trouble at home this week. Property records show Sheldon, secretary of Florida’s Department of Children and Families in 2008-11, claimed a homestead exemption on his Tallahassee house while […]

Staff ReportsMay 15, 2017

George Sheldon‘s hometown newspaper now has weighed in on the former Florida politico, putting in newsprint the latest ethics woes of the now-director of Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services. The Tallahassee Democrat’s Monday edition (online version here), with help from the Chicago Tribune’s estimable reporting of the last few weeks, documented Sheldon’s travails as head of […]

Darryl PaulsonMay 12, 2017

Although a Republican and a conservative, I was never able to support Donald Trump for president for three reasons. First, he has seldom been a Republican in his lifetime. Second, he is a pragmatist and populist, but not a conservative. Finally, he has difficulty telling the truth. So, what was so appealing about Trump that […]

Tag: Barack Obama

GOP running out of time for legislative achievements

Joe Henderson: Sunshine law should remind leaders that people of Florida are citizens, not serfs

Donald Trump’s cellphone diplomacy raises security concerns

Darryl Paulson: Will 2018 bring no change or a political tsunami?

Vern Buchanan wants Donald Trump to keep U.S. in Paris climate accord

Steve Schale: Dear Dems, one 2018 project — Caribbean voters

Kathy Castor dismisses talk of her running for Tampa mayor

George Sheldon, under fire in Illinois, also faces questions at home

George Sheldon now taken to task by hometown paper

Darryl Paulson: President ‘Pants on Fire’