Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerryFebruary 20, 2015

Happy Friday to y’all. So much to talk about in the news this morning … The Tampa Bay Times’ flooded the zone in December with a series of disturbing stories about New Beginnings of Tampa, one of the city’s largest homeless charities, which for years has made money off its residents through its controversial “work therapy” program. The […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 17, 2015

FDOT spokeswoman Kris Carson tells the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Danielson that Tampa City Council District 6 candidate Jackie Toledo did not have permission to film her campaign ad inside a construction zone along Interstate 275. “You just can’t go into a construction zone and film a commercial without letting DOT know,” Carson said Tuesday morning. […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 17, 2015

FDOT spokeswoman Kris Carson tells the Tampa Bay Times’ Rick Danielson that Tampa City Council District 6 candidate Jackie Toledo did not have permission to film her campaign ad inside a construction zone along Interstate 275. “You just can’t go into a construction zone and film a commercial without letting DOT know,” Carson said Tuesday morning. […]

Phil AmmannFebruary 13, 2015

Rick Swearingen, newly appointed commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, is taking a stand against a recent article criticizing his trips he took as part of Gov. Rick Scott‘s security detail. “State’s new FDLE Commissioner has Earned Governor’s Favor,” which ran Feb. 9, has Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald reporter Mary Ellen Klas claiming Swearingen took several “inappropriate trips” at […]

Phil AmmannFebruary 13, 2015

Rick Swearingen, newly appointed commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, is taking a stand against a recent article criticizing his trips he took as part of Gov. Rick Scott‘s security detail. “State’s new FDLE Commissioner has Earned Governor’s Favor,” which ran Feb. 9, has Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald reporter Mary Ellen Klas claiming Swearingen took several “inappropriate trips” at […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 9, 2015

When it comes to the United States’s role in the world, Barack Obama can do no right in the eyes of his Republican critics on Capitol Hill (Come to think of it, they’re not in too enamored with his domestic policies, either). For months there have been hawks in Congress such as John McCain who […]

Mitch PerryFebruary 9, 2015

When it comes to the United States’s role in the world, Barack Obama can do no right in the eyes of his Republican critics on Capitol Hill (Come to think of it, they’re not in too enamored with his domestic policies, either). For months there have been hawks in Congress such as John McCain who […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 30, 2015

Next week the Florida Cabinet meets in Tampa for the first time since they unanimously approved Rick Swearingen as the replacement for Gerald Bailey to lead the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement. Bailey announced his resignation in December, but told members of the media after Swearingen’s appointment in early January that in fact he had […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 27, 2015

The Tampa Bay Times alienated some of it readership and certainly surprised many others last fall when it editorialized against Amendment Two. That was the medical marijuana initiative being proposed in Florida some 18 years after California became the first state in the nation to legalize the herb for medicinal purposes. The editorial called the substance of the […]

Mitch PerryJanuary 23, 2015

The Hillsborough County School Board’s unceremonious dumping of Superintendent MaryEllen Elia reverberates three days after the fact. In today’s Times, Ernest Hooper bemoans the fact that Sally Harris, the swing vote that went against Elia on Tuesday night leading to her ouster, beat big-time establishment pick Michelle Shimberg in the District 2 race last November, and […]

Tag: Tampa Bay Times

Mitch Perry Report for 2.20.15 — On Rudy, Rick and DWS

FDOT says Jackie Toledo didn't get permission to make ad on I-275

FDOT says Jackie Toledo didn’t get permission to make ad on I-275

New FDLE chief blasts Herald article on "inappropriate" trips as Rick Scott security detail

New FDLE chief blasts Herald article on “inappropriate” trips as Rick Scott security detail

Mitch Perry Report for 2.9.15 – Will Bill Nelson's stance on arming Kiev prevail?

Mitch Perry Report for 2.9.15 – Will Bill Nelson’s stance on arming Kiev prevail?

Jack Latvala blasts Cabinet members in Gerald Bailey affair

Mitch Perry Report for 1.27.15 — The politics of pot returns to Florida

Mitch Perry Report for 1.23.15 — Popular (if not elite) opinion on MaryEllen Elia's ouster isn't monolithic