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Staff ReportsApril 5, 2017

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Cynthia Hefren is coming home: She will be VISIT FLORIDA‘s next chief financial officer, President & CEO Ken Lawson announced Wednesday. Hefren most recently was Assistant State Audit Supervisor for the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor. But she’s a Florida state government veteran, previously serving as: — Director of Auditing for the Florida Department of […]

A.G. GancarskiApril 4, 2017

When it comes to Gov. Rick Scott and Northeast Florida, is there such a thing as too much of a good thing? For the fourth time since the beginning of March, Gov. Scott was in Jacksonville Tuesday, as Scott held another “business roundtable” with Mayor Lenny Curry and other Jacksonville notables, including former mayor and UNF President […]

Mitch PerryApril 3, 2017

Bob Buckhorn announced last month that he won’t run for governor next year, saying it wasn’t worth separating himself from his family over the next couple of years. It’s certainly not for lack of how he would run his campaign, based on remarks he made on Monday in Tampa. Appearing with St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, the two […]

William PatrickApril 2, 2017

Enterprise Florida Inc. could survive 2017 after all. Established in 1996, the taxpayer-funded organization has awarded nearly $2 billion in economic incentives to private businesses to create jobs and boost the state economy. Its record is mixed, and its reputation has been scarred by exorbitant executive pay, high-profile taxpayer losses and a failure to match private […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 30, 2017

In the world of search engine optimization, a discouraged practice is keyword stuffing: where a search phrase is inserted in the copy with such frequency that the search engine recognizes it as spam. The latest press release from Gov. Rick Scott may not qualify as keyword stuffing, per se. But when it comes to two of […]

Guest AuthorMarch 30, 2017

Right now, jobs and the future of Florida’s economy are in jeopardy. That’s because some politicians in Tallahassee want to eliminate Florida’s economic development programs and slash the state’s tourism marketing efforts. Enterprise Florida and VISIT FLORIDA, Florida’s economic development and tourism marketing programs, are essential to the economic well-being of our state. Eliminating Florida’s […]

Michael MolineMarch 28, 2017

House budget writers stuck to the plan Tuesday in rolling out details of their proposed $12.3 billion for transportation and tourism. It would eliminate economic incentives programs including Enterprise Florida, and sharply reduce spending on Visit Florida. “We’re basically following the tenets of (HB) 7005, the policy bill that was passed a couple of weeks ago,” […]

Michael MolineMarch 22, 2017

Tourism industry leaders hope to escape the Legislative Session with a least a reasonable portion of Visit Florida intact, notwithstanding hostility in the House toward economic incentives that many members consider corporate welfare. “Never underestimate the power of the veto pen,” Carol Dover, president and CEO of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, said during […]

Jenna Buzzacco-FoersterMarch 20, 2017

Florida voters appear to support economic incentives and Visit Florida, at least according to a new survey from the Florida Chamber of Commerce. The survey found 78 percent of Floridians support financial incentives to “encourage companies to stay in Florida or move to Florida from another state in exchange for creating jobs and investing in […]

A.G. GancarskiMarch 20, 2017

When Gov. Rick Scott comes to your town to hold a “Fighting for Florida’s Jobs” round table, that means your GOP State Representatives crossed him on an incentive vote. Scott started off March in Rep. Travis Cummings‘ district, where he repeatedly jabbed at Cummings and Rep. Paul Renner for opposing Enterprise Florida and Visit Florida. Cummings was just one […]

Tag: Visit Florida
Image via Florida Sheriffs Association.

Personnel note: Cynthia Hefren named CFO of VISIT FLORIDA

Encore performance: Rick Scott messages economic incentives in Jacksonville

At economic lunch, Bob Buckhorn blasts ‘Koch Brothers led ideology’ in Tallahassee

House speaker’s ‘corporate welfare’ crackdown runs into Senate roadblock

Rick Scott touts Enterprise Florida in job growth press release

Mark Wilson, Dominic Calabro: Strangling Enterprise Florida, VISIT FLORIDA costly to Sunshine State future

House and Senate cement their differences on Visit Florida funding

Tourism advocates raise specter of Rick Scott’s veto in Visit Florida fight

Poll: 78% of Floridians support incentives to ‘encourage companies to stay in … or move to Florida’

Rick Scott harangues Duval Delegation, pushes incentives in Jacksonville