Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Danny McAuliffeDecember 5, 2017

A testy meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday saw the deaths of three pro-gun bills, including Chairman Greg Steube’s “courthouse carry” push. SB 134, Steube’s bill providing for concealed-carry permit holders to store firearms at courthouses, was joined in failure by Lakeland Republican Sen. Kelli Stargel’s SB 274 and Steube’s other gun-related bill, SB 148. […]

Peter SchorschDecember 5, 2017

If you want to blame someone, blame Charlie Justice. Or, for that matter, you can blame the late C.W. “Bill” Young. Because when the Florida Senate is reduced to proverbial ashes in early 2018, those still standing will be left to wonder where everything went wrong. And that’s why you should start blaming Justice. Or […]

Ana CeballosDecember 4, 2017

As he advocates for specific changes to the Senate’s sexual harassment policy currently under review, Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez said Monday “serious rules” are needed to make sure powerful senators like Jack Latvala stop making a “mockery of serious allegations.” “Without independent investigation or serious rules, persons in power will game the system, intimidate victims […]

Jim RosicaDecember 4, 2017

Planes-autoridades-sur-de-florida-huracan-matthew-rick-scott.jpg

Gov. Rick Scott‘s top lawyer has – at least for now – turned down a request to appoint a special prosecutor from the attorney representing Rachel Perrin Rogers, a Senate staffer who has accused Sen. Jack Latvala of sexual harassment. The reason: Scott doesn’t yet have “the legal authority” to appoint a prosecutor. “This morning, […]

Ana CeballosDecember 4, 2017

Before she filed a sexual harassment complaint against Sen. Jack Latvala, Senate aide Rachel Perrin Rogers allegedly engaged in a pattern of raising claims against fellow staffers at the Senate Majority Office, according to a sworn affidavit released Monday. But the head of that office, Republican Sen. Wilton Simpson, now says it is part of […]

Ana CeballosDecember 1, 2017

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday said her “heart breaks” for the Senate staffer who in a sworn statement said Sen. Jack Latvala groped her private body parts and sexually harassed her for years, and called for legislation to protect sexual harassment victims. “I was astonished to learn that one of the victims of […]

Jim RosicaDecember 1, 2017

More text messages from the Senate staffer accusing Sen. Jack Latvala of sexual misconduct show her describing her dream of a younger, thinner Latvala and calling him “mo betta.” The exchange between Rachel Perrin Rogers, top aide to Trilby Republican and future Senate President Wilton Simpson, and Lillian Tysinger, then a Senate Republican Office legislative analyst, was obtained […]

Ana CeballosNovember 30, 2017

There were the unwelcome sexual comments about her clothes, breasts and legs. And there was the time that he ‘assaulted’ her in a state Capitol elevator, brushing the lower half of her breast and later, his hand attempting to reach her vagina, she said. In the three-page sexual harassment complaint filed with the Senate Rules […]

Ana CeballosNovember 30, 2017

The Florida Senate employee who sparked a Senate sexual harassment investigation against Sen. Jack Latvala called Senate President Joe Negron a “douchebag” during a text message exchange last Session with the Pinellas lawmaker. Rachel Perrin Rogers, a top aide to Republican Majority Leader Wilton Simpson, was texting Latvala when news broke in April about ousted […]

Ana CeballosNovember 29, 2017

Rachel Perrin Rogers, an aide to future Senate President Wilton Simpson, has publicly identified herself as one of the women accusing Sen. Jack Latvala of sexual harassment, according to a POLITICO Florida report. In doing so, a potential conflict of interest is raised in the Senate investigation into the claims because Perrin Rogers is married […]

Tag: Florida Senate

Order in the court? ‘Courthouse carry,’ gun bills die in committee

The coming nuclear war in the Florida Senate

State Senator says Jack Latvala is making ‘mockery of serious allegations’

Request denied: Rick Scott won’t (yet) appoint special prosecutor in Jack Latvala case

Affidavit: Jack Latvala accuser boasted about sabotaging people’s careers

Pam Bondi calls for legislation to protect sexual harassment victims

Text messages: Jack Latvala accuser dreamed of him as younger, skinnier

Sexual harassment complaint against Jack Latvala released

Text messages shed light on working relationship between Jack Latvala, accuser

Jack Latvala accuser outs herself, sets up potential conflict of interest in Senate probe