Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Martin DyckmanJanuary 8, 2015

If you need to go to court, do you want the judge wondering, as a politician might, why your lawyer didn’t contribute to her campaign? Or didn’t give enough? That’s the crux of a Florida case to be argued at the U.S. Supreme Court on January 20. Yanell Williams-Yulee, a Tampa lawyer, is appealing a […]

Gary FineoutDecember 30, 2014

A Florida judge on Tuesday tossed out a lawsuit aimed at blocking an expansion of the state’s main private school voucher program. Chief Circuit Judge Charles Francis didn’t rule directly on the main points of the lawsuit. But instead he said that those who filed it didn’t legally show how the expansion would harm them. […]

Guest AuthorNovember 11, 2014

Almost everyone was waiting for their discredited heads to roll. And yet, the three most politically vulnerable governors in the United States were re-elected. For most of four years, Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s policies hurt teachers and public schools, the poor, the disabled, the undocumented — just about every group except business interests. His approval […]

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 […]

Martin DyckmanOctober 1, 2014

In considering the exploitation of college athletes, it’s usually about how little they share of the stupendous wealth they generate for the big football and basketball programs. Not much is said about the risks they take. In that regard, it would be hard to find a worse case than what happened to Ereck Plancher and […]

Guest AuthorOctober 1, 2014

Barney Bishop’s column in Context Florida opposing Amendment 2 was as rambling and incoherent as it was wrong. One might suspect he’s gotten his hands on some of this “high THC” weed he’s so terrified about. I generally do the sensible thing and ignore Bishop’s paranoid screeds, but his latest missive not only contains the […]

Martin DyckmanSeptember 28, 2014

“If the law says that,” said Mr. Bumble, “the law is a ass, a idiot.” — Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist Florida’s First District Court of Appeal sits in splendid isolation in a Tallahassee suburb, five and a half miles from the Capitol, housed in a magnificent edifice nicknamed the Taj Mahal for the $50 million […]

Martin DyckmanSeptember 18, 2014

Voters across Florida cast ballots in November 2000 to say whether they wanted to continue electing most of their circuit and county court judges or would let the governor appoint them. Election was the overwhelming favorite everywhere. In Duval, Nassau and Clay counties, which comprise the Fourth Circuit, it was the choice of 69.3 percent […]

Julie DelegalSeptember 14, 2014

Former and would-be Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has defied this columnist’s prediction. Coming out on a policy that has divided Florida for 16 years was definitely against the odds. The Tanned One has chutzpah. The policy is education reform, and, as governor, Crist stood shoulder-to-shoulder with his predecessor, Jeb Bush, for whom education is now […]

Guest AuthorSeptember 11, 2014

The following commentary about Amendment 2 was signed by seven former justices of the Florida Supreme Court, including five who served as chief justice: Parker Lee McDonald, Leander J. Shaw Jr., Stephen H. Grimes, Major B. Harding, Charles T. Wells, Raoul G. Cantero III, and Kenneth B. Bell: As former Florida Supreme Court justices, we […]

Tag: Florida Supreme Court

Martin Dyckman: Will U.S. Supreme Court listen to Florida on campaign financing and judicial integrity?

Florida judge dismisses voucher expansion lawsuit

Stephen Goldstein: The Koch brothers are laughing at Americans

Barney Bishop: Challenges to Amendment 2 loopholes still not answered

Martin Dyckman: Court to decide if college athletic programs can keep immunity

Ben Pollara: One more time, here are the reasons to pass Amendment 2

Martin Dyckman: Fla. Supreme Court must restore common sense in election dispute

Martin Dyckman: How the First District Court of Appeal ignored Florida voters

Julie Delegal: Charlie Crist and the Voucher Factory

Former Florida justices: Why those who are both for and against medical marijuana oppose Amendment 2