Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Mitch PerrySeptember 30, 2015

2015 was supposed to be the year that the Florida Legislature authorized funding to replenish its depleted film tax incentives package, allowing the Sunshine State to compete with Louisiana, Georgia and other Southeastern states in getting its fair share of movie and television production work. It didn’t happen. Despite the reshaping of the incentives and […]

Mitch PerrySeptember 22, 2015

Nine days after Patrick Murphy spoke before hundreds of Hillsborough County Democrats at the party’s annual fundraising dinner, Alan Grayson got his shot Monday night. Speaking to about 70 members of the party’s executive committee members, the Orlando congressman and top Senate challenger to Murphy for the Democratic nomination for Senate spoke and took questions […]

Mitch PerrySeptember 9, 2015

Rumor du jour is that there will be another candidate getting into the wide open countywide Hillsborough County District 6 seat, but it’s not a Republican taking on Jim Norman. The rumor that percolated over the Labor Day weekend is John Dicks, the 62-year-old former Plant City Mayor and Commissioner, is contemplating entering the Democratic […]

Mitch PerrySeptember 8, 2015

The biggest news on Labor Day in Tampa was the report that, in the wake of the tragic stabbing death of former USF student and football player Elkino Watson early Sunday morning outside an Ybor City nightclub, head coach Willie Taggert was banning his players from visiting the historic entertainment district. The biggest story this morning […]

Mitch PerryJune 18, 2015

A sizable percentage of the 100,000 or so entertainment industry professionals in Florida feel let down this week. The Legislature once again refused to include money in the state’s $80 billion budget for tax incentives to lure Hollywood to film in the Sunshine State. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed,” said Gus […]

Mitch PerryApril 16, 2015

For those of you out there less enamored by Florida’s reputation as the “Gunshine State,” there was some positive news out of Tallahassee Wednesday night. That proposal that would give school superintendents the ability to designate a school district employee or volunteer to carry a concealed weapon on a school campus was scheduled on the […]

Mitch PerryMarch 28, 2015

Members of the GLBT community and their allies flocked to Ybor City under idyllic conditions on Saturday, as Tampa held its first gay pride event in more than a decade. In his public remarks, Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner referred to what he called one of the “darkest moments in this country’s history” — the June 15, […]

Mitch PerryMarch 27, 2015

Loretta Lynch, President Barack Obama‘s choice to replace Eric Holder as U.S. Attorney General, was in Tampa Thursday for the swearing-in ceremony of Lee Bentley, the new U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida. Lynch is the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, and would be come the first black female AG in U.S. history if […]

Mitch PerryMarch 4, 2015

In his State of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Rick Scott hailed Florida’s diversity, featuring sentences in his speech that mentioned “we are home to over 250 languages,” and “we are clearly the best melting pot in the world.” However, in Ybor City’s Centennial Park in Tampa on Wednesday, a group of immigration activists said […]

Mitch PerryMarch 4, 2015

In his State of the State address on Tuesday, Gov. Rick Scott hailed Florida’s diversity, featuring sentences in his speech that mentioned “we are home to over 250 languages,” and “we are clearly the best melting pot in the world.” However, in Ybor City’s Centennial Park in Tampa on Wednesday, a group of immigration activists said […]

Tag: Ybor City

Mitch Perry Report for 9.30.15 – Ybor and Florida lose out to Georgia in Hollywood production

Alan Grayson woos Tampa Democrats in his bid for U.S. Senate

Mitch Perry Report for 9.9.15 – Another Democrat to enter Hillsborough County District 6 race?

Mitch Perry Report for 9.8.15 – USF Athletics audibilize on Ybor ban

Film incentive tax bill again dies on cutting room floor in Tallahassee

Mitch Perry Report for 4.16.15 — The $2 billion elephant in the Capitol

Activists at Tampa Pride urge celebrants to fight adoption bill

Mitch Perry Report for 3.27.15 — Could Bob Menendez fate affect Loretta Lynch as AG?

Activists say immigrants should count in Rick Scott’s Florida, too

Activists say immigrants should count in Rick Scott's Florida, too