Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Jim RosicaJanuary 31, 2018

Rep. Jason Brodeur is telling the state’s top health officials to get to work on medical marijuana—or they won’t get paid. The Sanford Republican has offered an amendment to the House’s 2018-19 budget proposal that would freeze more than $1.9 million in salaries and benefits for the Department of Health‘s brass, including Secretary and state Surgeon General Celeste […]

Blake DowlingJanuary 20, 2018

The political world has been full of scandals over the years regarding spying and eavesdropping. President Richard Nixon certainly ranks at the top of the list. Our current President may or may not be taping calls and meetings. Lots of U.S. presidents have taped conversations. Opinions differ on the practice, good documentation versus flat out […]

Danny McAuliffeNovember 20, 2017

Tallahassee Democrat Publisher Skip Foster shared a familiar message to the Capital Tiger Bay Club on Monday: The night is always darkest just before the dawn. To be clear, the publisher of the paper of record for the capital city didn’t verbatim quote the famous line from “The Dark Knight” or evenly remotely reference it. […]

Guest AuthorNovember 1, 2017

I read with great interest the letter by First Amendment Foundation (FAF) President Barbara Petersen to Lisa Carlton, chair of the Declaration of Rights Committee of the Constitution Revision Commission (CRC), regarding her concerns over the proposal written by former Florida Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Bell, and which I am sponsoring, entitled the “Florida Privacy Restoration Act.” […]

Guest AuthorOctober 9, 2017

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I always thought journalists were trained to avoid reaching a broad conclusion from just one specific example, no matter how shocking it may be. Yet in his guest commentary in Wednesday’s Tallahassee Democrat, opinion columnist Carl Hiaasen unfairly slammed Florida’s entire long-term care profession based on the shameful and inexcusable actions of a single nursing […]

A.G. GancarskiAugust 28, 2017

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum may be facing fundraising problems and accountability problems in his bid for the Democratic nomination for Governor, but odds are they won’t be a topic of conversation in Jacksonville this week as he addresses friendly audiences. Gillum has at least two area appearances this week, on Tuesday and Thursday evening respectively. On Tuesday evening […]

Jim RosicaJuly 12, 2017

Update: The cancelled CRA meeting mentioned below, originally set for this Thursday, was rescheduled for next Wednesday (July 19) at 9:30 a.m. in City Hall’s commission chambers. The meeting agenda is here. A spokeswoman Wednesday said the city of Tallahassee and its Community Redevelopment Agency has turned over thousands of pages’ worth of material regarding the FBI’s investigation of the […]

Staff ReportsJuly 3, 2017

We’ve beat up on them before, but we have nothing but praise for the tenacious and relentless reporting of the Tallahassee Democrat as it digs into the percolating scandal surrounding the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). To recap, the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office in north Florida has issued subpoenas seeking information on redevelopment projects that involve the […]

Jim RosicaMay 16, 2017

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George Sheldon, a former Florida official now facing an ethics inquiry as director of Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services, also ran into a spot of trouble at home this week. Property records show Sheldon, secretary of Florida’s Department of Children and Families in 2008-11, claimed a homestead exemption on his Tallahassee house while […]

Staff ReportsMay 15, 2017

George Sheldon‘s hometown newspaper now has weighed in on the former Florida politico, putting in newsprint the latest ethics woes of the now-director of Illinois’ Department of Children and Family Services. The Tallahassee Democrat’s Monday edition (online version here), with help from the Chicago Tribune’s estimable reporting of the last few weeks, documented Sheldon’s travails as head of […]

Tag: Tallahassee Democrat

Jason Brodeur to Health Dep’t: No pay till progress on marijuana

Blake Dowling: Who is listening?

Tallahassee Democrat publisher shares hope for capital city

John Stemberger: Constitutional privacy fix will protect Floridians

John Simmons: Florida’s nursing centers – setting the record straight on quality care

Avoiding Tallahassee scrutiny, Andrew Gillum in Jacksonville this week

Tallahassee hands over 90,000 pages to feds over CRA deals

Let us now praise a famous (and good) newspaper

George Sheldon, under fire in Illinois, also faces questions at home

George Sheldon now taken to task by hometown paper