Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Daniel TilsonMarch 3, 2014

Florida’s 2014 legislative session runs from March 4 until May 2. Then comes Election Day on Nov. 4. It’s that last date you want to keep uppermost in mind when you hear about winners and losers in Tallahassee these next couple of months. When it comes to predicting win/loss percentages, let’s just say the casino […]

Julie DelegalMarch 3, 2014

Officials at private schools that accept voucher students are now “terrified,” writes Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel. They’re worried about some legislators’ suggestions that schools that admit students who pay tuition with tax-credit vouchers should be required to administer the same standardized tests that public schools do. But take heart, private school officials! House […]

Peter SchorschMarch 2, 2014

No one’s life, liberty or property are safe while the Legislature is in session, Mark Twain famously remarked. Unfortunately for many Floridians, the Florida Legislature has taken Twain’s words more as a challenge, rather than a warning. A recent Tampa Bay Times editorial was right when it said that under the current regime in Tallahassee, “it is […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 24, 2014

Corruption shrinks from sunlight; disclosure is the key to accountability. The public has long known that to hold elected officials and candidates accountable, we must be able to follow the money. In 2013, true to Florida’s laudable open-government history and culture, our Legislature enacted a package of significant campaign finance reforms. Championed by House Speaker […]

Guest AuthorFebruary 23, 2014

The curtain is about to go up on the 2014 session of the Florida Legislature and perhaps the top story is not what our leaders will accomplish, but what they will ignore. Since the enactment of term limits, legislators know when they are leaving from the day they are elected. The election night tally begins […]

Daniel TilsonFebruary 19, 2014

Here they go again. A determined cohort of elected officials in our Legislature is trying to turn working and retired people against each other, to better the odds of a dangerous bill becoming destructive law. As reported in The Florida Current, the Senate Community Affairs Committee Tuesday passed a bill by a 5-4 vote that […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 30, 2014

Any closed door can be opened. Such is the case of medical marijuana and the State of Florida. Twenty states have legalized medical marijuana in the past few years, while the conservative Florida Legislature ramped up its war against the drug. It is ironic that Florida is known throughout the country as THE destination for […]

Daniel TilsonJanuary 29, 2014

Millions of middle-class Floridians will have the opportunity this year to prove an important point to comfortably incumbent state legislators. The point? When members of the Florida Senate and House of Representatives distort or hide the truth about their achievements, motives, methods and goals, sufficient numbers of voters will be savvy enough to catch on […]

Peter SchorschJanuary 20, 2014

For a full decade, a measure filed in the Legislature was doomed before bill drafting entered the final line. The proposal — to give in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants living in Florida — was unthinkable in Florida’s two Republican-controlled chambers. Remember, these elected Republicans were to answer to their Republican constituents every election cycle, and […]

Peter SchorschJanuary 5, 2014

Political prognostication is not an exact science despite what forecasters and pundits would have readers believe. Many fall somewhere between the obvious and the inane, and often take a familiar and non-threatening shape. “The race for (insert candidate here) comes down to which campaign turns out their voters,” or some similar form. Imagine a sports […]

Tag: Will Weatherford

Daniel Tilson: Winners and losers in Florida 2014 legislative session

Julie Delegal: Voucher students must take the tests public-school pupils do

Peter Schorsch: Here are some issues that will define the legislative session

Lester Abberger & Marilynn Wills: Put all campaign finance reports online

John Grant: ‘Bulldozer politics’ is good for politicians, bad for citizens

Daniel Tilson: Fla. Legislature must stop 2014 attack on public employee pensions

Gary J. Stein: Legislation, a constitutional amendment open door to medical marijuana in Florida

Daniel Tilson: Florida Republicans reveal 2014 legislative agenda

Peter Schorsch: Odds good for in-state tuition for undocumented students

Peter Schorsch: Five bold predictions for Florida politics in 2014