Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Peter SchorschOctober 16, 2014

If the election for Florida governor were held today, less than 24 hours after Fangate or Fanghazi, it’s likely Democrat Charlie Crist would win his old job back. Not by much, but by the few points afforded to him by Republican Rick Scott’s for-the-history-books petulance. Or maybe not. Maybe there just aren’t enough undecided voters […]

Guest AuthorOctober 7, 2014

If you haven’t yet heard about political writer Matt Bai’s book on the failed presidential hopes of Gary Hart, you will. Bai, once political editor for the New York Times’ Sunday magazine and current political editor for Yahoo, asserts that one week in 1987 forever changed politics in America. Bai is on the interview circuit […]

Guest AuthorOctober 5, 2014

The state’s Department of Children and Families Northeast Region, which was responsible for the safety of the six children massacred by their grandfather in the rural town of Bell, drastically needs new leadership. That’s obvious reading recent reports in the Miami Herald about the 18 complaints investigators received about Don Spirit, his troubled daughter and […]

Guest AuthorAugust 19, 2014

That snarky putdown headlined an opinion piece in The New York Times last week. Written by Pamela Druckerman, a former Miamian transplanted to Paris, where she gained notoriety with a book on the superiority of French mothers, the essay wrote Miami off as a vapid, anti-intellectual backwater. The piece was filled with half-true generalizations based […]

Daniel TilsonAugust 6, 2014

“Let’s Keep Florida Beautiful” is the name of Gov. Rick Scott’s new environmental plan unveiled this week on his website and in multiple public appearances. Team Scott took a “timing is everything” approach to the proposal, introducing it just as news was breaking that billionaire businessman and climate change activist Tom Steyer is targeting the […]

Dan GelberAugust 5, 2014

Rick Scott holding a press conference to declare he wants to clean Florida’s water is sort of like Darth Vader declaring he supports intergalactic peace. Irony is aplenty when Scott announces he wants to spend millions to clean Florida’s waterways. Put aside the point that the last time Scott touted his “record funding” for environmental […]

Peter SchorschJune 2, 2014

Gov. Rick Scott deserves some credit for being one of the loudest critics of the Obama administration’s handling of the scandal at the Veterans Administration. Last week, Scott announced that Florida is suing the VA to grant state health inspectors access to VA hospitals. For more than a month, the Obama administration denied state health inspectors […]

Guest AuthorMay 6, 2014

Whoever limited the length of the Florida legislative session did so wisely. There’s no telling how much damage earnest but ideological politicians can do in 90 days. Too often we saw legislators proposing bills to suit constituents with narrow interests. Exhibit 1: The Growler bill pushed by major beer distributors but one that could have […]

Guest AuthorMay 3, 2014

If an agency is under fire for failing to live up to its statutory responsibility, it can respond in one of two ways. It can take immediate steps to fix the problem and swing the doors wide to public oversight to make sure it won’t happen again. Or it can do what the Florida Department […]

Daniel TilsonMarch 29, 2014

The details of a messy divorce between Gov. Rick Scott and campaign finance co-chair Mike Fernandez became public last week, shedding unflattering new light on the dysfunctional political culture Scott has created in Tallahassee. It’s a light that could help millions of Florida voters see through this year’s attempted “extreme makeover” of Scott, intended to soften […]

Tag: Miami Herald

Peter Schorsch: The two worst days of Gov. Rick Scott’s re-election campaign

Doug Clifton: Miami Herald was right to pursue tip about Gary Hart dalliance

Andrew Skerritt: Mass murder exposes dysfunction in DCF regional office

Doug Clifton: The headline said, ‘Miami Grows Up. A Little’

Daniel Tilson: Rick Scott’s 2014 environmental self-protection plan

Dan Gelber: Scott supporting clean water is like Darth Vader supporting peace

Peter Schorsch: Scott outraged by VA scandal, but unfazed by DCF cover-up

Andrew Skerritt: Ideological politicians run amok during legislative session

Doug Clifton: DCF makes it harder to check up on its performance

Daniel Tilson: Gov. Rick Scott’s culture of insensitivity and paranoia