Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryJanuary 6, 2015

At approximately 12:11 p.m. today, Hillsborough County Clerk of the Courts Pat Frank wound down her official duties in officiating over the mass same-sex marriage ceremony in downtown Tampa’s Joe Chillura Park. “By virtue of the authority invested in me, under the laws of the state of Florida, I now pronounce you joined in matrimony,” she […]

Martin DyckmanOctober 30, 2014

You’re the victim of a bad business deal, a drunken driver, a home improvement fraud, or a big bad check. So you call your lawyer. Nothing happens. The other guy’s lawyer has gotten to yours. They go partying together and he contributes money to your lawyer’s political campaign fund. If this happened in private life, […]

Martin DyckmanOctober 26, 2014

The last time the Constitution Revision Commission met, in 1997, it had some very good ideas. One of them was to establish an independent panel to redistrict the Legislature and congressional districts. More than half the members favored it, but fierce pressure from John Thrasher and other Republican bosses in the Legislature peeled off an […]

Martin DyckmanOctober 20, 2014

The title of the Florida Public Service Commission is about as relevant to reality as that of the People’s Republic of China. In each case, the true constituency is a narrow group of self-perpetuating special interests. Making the public interest the true constituency of the PSC ought to be high on the agenda of the […]

Martin DyckmanOctober 19, 2014

The term limits initiative that Florida voters put into the Constitution in 1992 was one of the most popular issues ever, passing with 3,625,500 “yes” votes to only 1,097,127 against it. But what it has done to the Legislature makes it one of the costliest mistakes in Florida history. The voters deserve an opportunity to […]

Martin DyckmanOctober 8, 2014

The campaign for governor strikes many Floridians as all sound and fury, signifying nothing but that too much money is being put to too little good. Some are even questioning why they should bother to vote. The answer is elemental. If they don’t, other people will be voting for them. At the end of the […]

Guest AuthorAugust 12, 2014

George Sheldon is campaigning for the Democratic nomination for Florida Attorney General. If he wins, he will face Pam Bondi, the current attorney general, in November. Here are his answers to questions I posed to him: What does the Florida Attorney General do? The attorney general is the chief legal officer for the state, responsible […]

Tag: George Sheldon

Over a hundred same-sex couples get married in downtown Tampa

Martin Dyckman: Attorney General Pam Bondi repeatedly has been lobbied out of representing the people of Florida

Martin Dyckman: Constitution commission needs to end abuse of primary elections

Martin Dyckman: If you want the PSC to protect customers, vote for Crist

Martin Dyckman: Elect Crist if you want to fix the mess created by term limits

Martin Dyckman: Two huge reasons to vote — the courts, the state constitution

Stephen Goldstein: A Q&A with George Sheldon, Democratic candidate for AG