Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Guest AuthorMay 6, 2015

A few days ago we saw an unfortunate failure of leadership in the Legislature. As a businessman still somewhat new to the process, I was disappointed that the will of the majority was bypassed. By putting politics before the work of the people, too many important issues were left stuck in the balance. One issue […]

Florence SnyderMarch 31, 2015

A half century after an unsolved murder, who did the crime is less important that what the crime did to those left behind. The October 22, 1966 murders of Robert and Helen Sims and their 12 year old daughter Joy changed Tallahassee, overnight, from a place where everyone trusted everyone to a place where the […]

Diane RobertsMarch 19, 2015

OCCUPIED TALLAHASSEE–When the Death Mermaid shows up, pay attention. Back in 1881, she appeared to Hamilton Disston, warning him against trying to drain the Everglades. Old Ham, never the most emotionally stable of multimillionaires, shut his eyes tight and swore on his mother’s grave he’d stop drinking cologne. In 1969, she scared the feds into […]

Bruce RitchieMarch 15, 2015

Rep. Steve Crisafulli suggests the state needs to take better care of its land before buying any more with Amendment 1 money. Amendment 1, approved by 75 percent of voters statewide in November, is expected to provide $757 million for water and land conservation programs in the coming year. Crisafulli, a Republican from Merritt Island, […]

Bruce RitchieMarch 15, 2015

Rep. Steve Crisafulli suggests the state needs to take better care of its land before buying any more with Amendment 1 money. Amendment 1, approved by 75 percent of voters statewide in November, is expected to provide $757 million for water and land conservation programs in the coming year. Crisafulli, a Republican from Merritt Island, […]

Guest AuthorMarch 13, 2015

Home for me has always been Poarch, Ala. — 10 miles from the Florida state line. I know when I pass the highway marker that I am leaving one state and entering another, but it is a separation that means little to those of us who grew up with family spread out on both sides of […]

Guest AuthorMarch 13, 2015

Innovation is all around us. We see it in electronics, automobiles, and many other sectors of our economy. American consumers regularly use products with new features they think will make their lives a little more interesting, more convenient, more efficient, or otherwise better. While a thinner phone or a faster computer certainly may seem significant […]

Martin DyckmanMarch 12, 2015

For 13 years, Florida’s death penalty process has been on thin ice at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Legislature has pretended not to notice even though the state Supreme Court sent an early warning. Now, the ice is cracking. On Monday, the high court agreed to consider whether Florida’s law conflicts with its 2002 opinion […]

Florence SnyderMarch 11, 2015

By the time reporters like the Miami Herald‘s Mike Sallah and Carol Marbin Miller and Kimberly Miller of The Palm Beach Post took starter jobs at the Boca Raton News, 1960s-era Publisher Gus Harwell was long gone to bigger jobs at Knight Newspapers. However, his legacy as a reporter’s publisher continued to attract top young […]

Guest AuthorMarch 5, 2015

For decades casino lobbyists have tried to turn Florida into Las Vegas. However, they have been turned back time and again by voters, legislators, governors and business groups who understand the toxic nature of gambling economics. Gambling lobbyists are back again, though, this time pushing for the biggest expansion of gambling in Florida’s history. There […]

Tag: outside opinion

Wilton Simpson: A water policy for all of Florida

Florence Snyder: The murders that changed Tallahassee forever

Legislators, ignore the Death Mermaid at your peril

Bruce Ritchie: Manage state land better AND buy more. It's not either/or

Bruce Ritchie: Manage state land better AND buy more. It’s not either/or

Stephanie A. Bryan: Poarch Creek Tribe urges new gambling compact

Gus Bilirakis: A bill to improve existing medicines

Martin Dyckman: Will U.S. Supreme Court rule Florida’s death penalty unconstitutional?

Florence Snyder: In loving remembrance of Gus Harwell

John Sowinski: Florida has "a lot to lose" with gambling expansion