The Fine Print

Now that the party is over: Reflections on Florida's convention

The Republican National Convention ended late last night in Tampa with the coronation of Mitt Romney as the GOP nominee.

Here's a few reflections and quick takeaways on what the first convention held in Florida since 1972 means for the state.

1. Enjoy the feeling Floridians. Given the close brush near the convention by Hurricane Isaac, one has to wonder when Florida will get the chance to host another convention. While the convention went off without any large scale problems the fact that the storm forced planners to cancel a day of events may leave future party leaders skeptical about a return to the Sunshine State.

2. Does the convention propel Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn into the conversation about Democrats who could run statewide? Buckhorn made the most out of being the chief ambassador for the region and he seemed to bask in the limelight that came with it. The fact that the convention was not marred by the serious protests and arrests that have occurred at other conventions could also help his reputation.

3. Did Hurricane Isaac help Gov. Rick Scott's image? Scott's decision to bypass convention events until the final night and instead focus on the state's response to Isaac brought praise from people like Buckhorn and Republicans such as Jeb Bush.

"It was smart of Gov. Scott to do his job of preparation and response,'' Bush said.

Bush is one person who knows that successfully handling hurricanes can help one's image. When he left office Bush remained immensely popular despite pushing policies that did not always poll well with voters. That popularity was due in part to the serious and organized way he dealt with the eight hurricanes that hit the state in 2004 and 2005.

Here's more on Scott's decision to focus on the storm and tourism instead of "yucking it up" at the convention.

 4. Was this Pam Bondi's one brief moment in the limelight?

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi got her time during the convention doing a tandem with Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens criticizing the federal health care overhaul pushed by President Barack Obama.

Some commentators found the presentation confusing and stilted, but it may be more important to note that this might be the last hurrah for Bondi on this issue. Florida's court case is now over. And it will be up to voters to decide whether or not the federal care overhaul should be repealed or kept in place since Romney has vowed to eliminate it if he gets in office.

Bondi made the health care lawsuit her primary focus during her first two years in office. While she has also gone after prescription drug abuse, it seems that there could be a bit of vacuum for Bondi now that the health care lawsuit is finished.

Bondi, for example, has not adopted the same populist outlook that characterized previous AG's such as Charlie Crist and Bob Butterworth. Both Crist and former Attorney General Bill McCollum battled utility companies over rate hikes but Bondi so far has chosen to "monitor" rate hike proposals and not fight them.

5. The convention only enhanced both the reputations of Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.

Rubio's speech introducing Romney touched on many of the same themes he pushed during his 2010 campaign, including American exceptionalism and how his own biography is a manifestation of the American dream.

Where Rubio goes from here remains to be seen. We still don't know if how he would stand up to a constant vettting by the national press. Stories about Rubio's finances that were written by the Florida media would likely resurface in a much more specatcular fashion if he were to run for President.

As for Bush a run for national office is there if he wants it. Some speculate that Bush will stay on the sidelines and allow a younger generation to step forward. Maybe. But judging from the way he was treated at the convention he would become an immediate frontrunner for 2016 if Romney were to lose.

Will Florida have a John Kerry moment on immigration?

Attorney General Bill McCollum and Rep. William Snyder are expected this morning to unveil proposed new legislation on immigration that is modeled after the controversial Arizona law that has drawn popular support but is opposed by the administration of President Barack Obama.

The key question for McCollum - who will be in Orlando to make the announcement - is just how close this new bill follows past immigration legislation that has gone nowhere in the Florida Legislature.

Snyder and other lawmakers have said there is a need to push immigration changes. McCollum, who has come under fire from GOP rival Rick Scott for changing his stance on the Arizona law, has also said something needs to be done.

But it's worth noting that back in 2008 - when Marco Rubio was House speaker and McCollum was already in office - that a major immigration bill sponsored by former Rep. Gayle Harrell never it made it beyond a committee workshop.

HB 821 specifically states that "if a law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that a person arrested for a felony arrest is not legally present in the United States, the officer shall report that person to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of the United States Department of Homeland Security."

The bill goes even further and states that correctional officers and judges who deal with a person arrested and convicted of felony must report them to federal authorities if they suspect them of being an illegal alien. The measure also requires law-enforcement agencies to provide notices to officers that it is their duty to cooperate with federal officials regarding enforcement. And the bill also directs Florida's Attorney General to "vigorously pursue" all opportunities for federal funds to reimburse the state for enforcing federal immigration laws.

The legislation, which was called unnecessary at the time by some Hispanic Republicans in the Legislature, also required verification of national identity in order to qualify for certain public benefits. The measure also required that if someone were arrested for a DUI that a "reasonable effort" be made in order to find out their citizenship status.

So the question is whether Florida lawmakers will now push for a bill that two years ago wasn't considered worthy enough to even vote for the first time. It will revive questions about Rubio's stance on immigration and whether he has altered them in connection with his run for the U.S. Senate.

Plus, it is also worth remembering that the Legislature this past session wound up rejecting immigration bills. The House, for example, approved a measure by Rep. Sandy Adams, that required contractors who work for the state to verify the citizenship status of their employees. The measure died because it was never taken up by the Florida Senate which is led by Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach and a candidate for chief financial officer.

(UPDATE - The bill that was unveiled is a bit different from the Harrell legislation although it does include similar language that was included in Adams' bill from this year. But the bill does mandate that law enforcement try to determine the immigration status of someone if they have "reasonable suspicion" that they are in this country illegally.

When asked why McCollum is unveiling the legislation now, a spokeswoman for McCollum said that he has been involved in immigration enforcement efforts during his time as Attorney General. Sandi Copes also defended the timing of presenting the bill now, saying the Arizona controversy has reinforced the public's desire to do something about immigration at this time.)

McCollum's own staff didn't want to hire expert caught up in Rentboy scandal

The hiring of a now-disgraced psychologist to defend Florida's ban on gay adoption was done over the objections of the main attorney defending the case for the state, according to records made public Thursday.

Attorney General Bill McCollum pushed for the hiring of a critic of gay adoption over the objections of one of his subordinates.

Nevertheless, Attorney General Bill McCollum pushed for the hiring of the psychologist George Rekers, who was at the time a leading advocate for conservative social issues.

The controversy has emerged as an issue in the governor's race, in which McCollum is the leading Republican candidate. Gay rights advocates say it showed poor judgment on the part of McCollum and reflects the flawed efforts Republicans have made to keep gays from adopting.

Florida wound up paying more than $120,000 to hire Rekers, whose credibility was tarnished after he recently went on a European vacation with a gay male escort. The state's ban on gay adoption was declared unconstitutional by a Miami judge in late 2008 who criticized Rekers as "not credible."

The e-mails released Thursday show that an attorney in McCollum's own office warned against hiring Rekers, whose testimony had been deemed suspect in an earlier Arkansas lawsuit that challenged a ban on placing foster children in homes with gay parents.

Keep reading here.

Will Charlie today help or hurt McCollum's campaign for governor?

(Update: Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday evening announced that he signed HB 131 into law.)

While everyone is waiting to see what Gov. Charlie Crist does with the $70.4 billion budget there is another bill on his desk that could have a big impact on the upcoming elections.

Crist must also act Friday on HB 131, the lengthy elections bill. The bill contains several changes to law, including giving the power of the Secretary of State to order recounts and to make it clear that state election laws always trump local ordinances.

Crist, however, is apparently divided over what to do with the bill because it includes a provision he opposes.

The legislation delays from 2012 until 2016 a requirement that disabled voters have access to voting machines that use paper ballots. Former Secretary of State Kurt Browning testified to lawmakers that Crist did not like the delay but it was pushed by the state's election supervisors who don't want to incur the cost right now of buying new machines.

For candidates like Attorney General Bill McCollum the big provision in the bill, however, is the language that would re-regulate 527s after a federal court struck down the state's previous regulations.

Why? Because without the bill it could become illegal in Florida for campaigns to coordinate with third-party groups that launch attack ads.

This week a group known as Alliance for America's Future is launching ads that go after GOP rival Rick Scott. While McCollum's campaign has not acknowledged its involvement McCollum's own ad man is helping with the organization.

The elections bill would require such groups to register with the state and disclose finances if the groups runs ads 30 days before the primary and 60 days before the general election.

But just as importantly the bill would resolve issues raised last August by Tallahassee attorney Mark Herron, one of which is whether or not 527 groups can coordinate with candidates if the underlying law regulating these organizations is wiped out.

The Division of Elections has yet to issue a formal opinion dealing with Herron's questions. And Browning even said in April that the opinion has been put on hold pending final action by legislators.

Herron's 5-page letter also asked whether any ads run by 527 organizations is considered a contribution to a candidate's campaign if the 527 organization runs an ad that either attacks or supports a candidate in such a way that it is the "functional equivalent of express advocacy," which is a new definition cited recently in federal court decisions.

The upshot is that coordination will likely remain legal - and 527 ads won't count as contributions - if Crist signs HB 131. But if Crist vetoes the bill then 527 organizations - which are not bound by the same $500 limits as candidates - may not be able to do anything in concert with statewide candidates like McCollum or even legislative candidates. That could be a big deal during an election season when there are candidates using large amounts of their own money.

A spokeswoman for McCollum's campaign confirms that the Attorney General supports the bill.

So what do you have to do to earn nearly $121,000 from the state?

Here's a belated posting of some of the documents that have provided by state agencies in connection to the hiring of George Rekers, one of the two expert witnesses hired by Attorney General Bill McCollum to defend Florida's ban on gay adoptions. Rekers as most people now know has become linked to the words Rentboy after it was revealed he hired a young man associated with the site to accompany him on a trip to Europe.

Download Rekers document

Rekers got paid at a rate of $300 an hour - or twice the rate paid to the other expert used in the trial. He eventually was paid close to $121,000 for his work.

These documents spell out what Rekers did for some of his money and what Walter Schumm did to earn his money from the state.

Rekers said he worked 402.31 hours on behalf of the state.

The first part of his work - which cost $60,900 - is documented here and includes: 30 hours of conducting research on books and journal articles pertinent to the case, 90 hours to "read relevant publications" and evaluate and critique methodological quality and reported findings of newer research, 18 hours to meet with McCollum's staff to prepare for deposition, 20 hours for being present at the actual circuit court trial on the ban (which the state lost).

These documents also show that McCollum's office in Feb. 2009 requested that the Department of Financial Services - which is under Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink - reimburse Rekers a total of nearly $60,000 "absent a written document."  That letter states that McCollum's office "accepts responsibility" for not obtaining a written document but that it is the state's best interest to "settle this claim."

There is a settlement agreement dated February 20, 2009 that notes that there was not a written agreement executed for the rest of the money due "to unforeseen circumstances" and that invoices were rejected because there was no formal contract in place.

It also notes that "this agreement is contingent upon approval of the Chief Financial Officer."

Last week Sink was highly critical of McCollum's decision to hire Rekers when she appeared on a Tampa Bay radio program. She called McCollum a "typical politician" who tried to "lay the blame" on someone else when he was responsible for hiring Rekers.

Sandi Copes, a spokeswoman for McCollum, explained that it was "not unusual" for estimated costs to require adjustment and that the second payment was made because Rekers exceeded his contracted hours and that "extra hours were decided merely by discussion, hence the necessity of the settlement agreement."

McCollum urged hiring of anti-gay activist involved in rentboy.com scandal

Attorney General Bill McCollum personally urged that the state hire George Rekers, the anti-gay psychologist whose recent European trip with a gay male escort has exploded into a furious media frenzy since it was first reported last week.

Rekers was paid more than $120,000 to help with the state’s defense of a more than 30-year old ban on gay adoption.

McCollum said on Monday that he “wouldn’t do it again” had he known more about Rekers, whose trip was first reported by the Miami New Times.

"We’ve been defending the constitutionality of the state law and we’ve been representing the Department of Children and Families, who hired him and paid him and needed expert witnesses and he was available and credentialed,’’ said McCollum."I wouldn’t do it again if I knew what I knew today but I didn't know that then and neither did anybody else.’’

Rekers has said he hired the man to carry his luggage for him on a trip to Europe, but Jo-vanni Roman, also known as Lucien, told CNN last week that he gave Rekers “sexual massages” on the trip. Rekers on his website says he did know about Roman’s ad on rentboy.com until after the trip was in progress and that he was not involved in any “illegal or sexual behavior’’ with him. He has also told The Miami Herald that he is "not gay" and never has been.

DCF was sued after it denied a South Florida gay man the right to adopt two young brothers who lived with him as foster children. The state agency turned to McCollum’s office to defend them in the lawsuit.

McCollum wrote a July 2007 letter to then DCF Secretary Bob Butterworth where he said his legal team “strongly” recommended the hiring of Rekers, a psychologist once on the faculty of the University of South Carolina and who helped found the Family Research Council back in the ‘80s.

“They believe that this expert and his testimony are necessary to ensure a successful result in this case,’’ wrote McCollum in the letter obtained by the Florida Tribune.

Read more here at the Florida Tribune.

Here's a copy of letters between McCollum and Butterworth: Download Rekers letters

Oil spill legal team leader says son's lobbying for BP is 'irrelevant'

One of the leaders of a newly created oil spill legal team for Florida says it is "irrelevant" that his son lobbies for BP America.

Jim Smith and Bob Butterworth, both former attorney generals, were named by Gov. Charlie Crist and Attorney General Bill McCollum on Monday to lead a pro bono legal advisory council. This council will identify law firms and help develop legal strategies in case the state needs to sue BP, the company that operated the Deepwater Horizon oil rig.

Smith's son, however, works for a Tallahassee lobbying firm that last year earned anywhere from $40,000 to $80,000 representing BP before the Legislature.

"The fact that he lobbies for BP is nothing in my equation,'' said Jim Smith. "That's irrelevant."

See more here at the Florida Tribune.

McCollum's bid to block health care reform could target FSU

Attorney General Bill McCollum’s push to block federal health care reform may now have an unintended target.

Florida State Universitywould be forced to drop a requirement that its college students purchase health insurance under a legislative proposal being championed by McCollum.

House Republicans last Friday, saying they want to prevent any “unconstitutional individual mandate,’’ voted to place a ban in state law. The legislation – which passed a House panel over the angry objections of Democrats – also said that people in the state cannot be subject to any “fine or penalty’’ for failing to obtain or maintain health insurance.

FSU since 2007 has required students to purchase health insurance from the university unless they can show proof of their own insurance. That coverage must include providers in the Tallahassee area and provide at least $100,000 worth of medical major coverage.

Sandi Copes,a spokeswoman from McCollum’s office, said on Monday that the impact on FSU had “just been brought to our attention.” Copes said later that McCollum’s staff was meeting with legislative staff to “address provisions such as FSU’s.”

More here at the Florida Tribune.

Secession, robocalls, freedom: Day 1 after health care reform

Within 24 hours of health care reform passing in Washington D.C., we had here in Florida:

Attorney General Bill McCollum, the leading Republican candidate for governor, declare that he would file a lawsuit with nine other states as soon as Tuesday and that his decision had nothing to do with any political ambitions or attempts to place conservative critics of health care reform.

"No politics involved in this whatsover,'' said McCollum during a press conference held on Monday morning. It is all about the fact that the bill is bad and unconstitutional, he said.

About six hours later, McCollum's campaign sent out a press release attacking Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink that stated "while she provides lip service on addressing the serious challenges facing our state, Alex Sink refuses to stand with the small businessmen and small businesswomen who will be harmed by the higher taxes and government mandates this legislation will bring."

The release further states: "Fortunately, Attorney Bill McCollum is leading the charge to challenge the Democrats’ unconstitutional health care plan – showing the true leadership we need for Florida’s future.”

The attack on Sink came because after months and months of refusing to say whether or not she supported Obamacare she finally put out a statement that said she was in favor of the bill headed to the president, sort of.

"Though it is certainly not perfect, these long-overdue reforms are better than Washington continuing to do nothing to improve America's health care system.'' said Sink, the main Democratic rival to McCollum for governor.

While Sink and McCollum weighed in, the Florida Legislature jumped right into the fray as well, passing not one, but two bills out of legislative committees. One bill urges McCollum to sue, while the other would put a constitutional amendment on the 2010 ballot that would say Floridians are not obligated to follow any mandates to participate in any health care systems.

"It is our duty to step up and reassert the rights of Floridians, in this case protecting our citizen’s rights and freedoms to make appropriate decisions as it relates to their own health care,”said Rep. Scott Plakon.

State House Democrats, in a bit of clever wordplay, announced that now was not the time to "secede" and that Republicans were having an outrageous display of partisanship and ignoring the fact that nearly 25 percent of adult Floridians were uninsured.

Former House Speaker Marco Rubio said he would launch a petition to repeal health care reform and chided his U.S. Senate rival Gov. Charlie Crist for not being strong enough on the issue. Crist's campaign pointed that he did in fact support repealing the measure. And if that wasn't enough, there was the release from the Rubio campaign that stated the road to health care reform started with the "Crist-Obama stimulus."

Lastly, the re-election campaign of U.S. Rep. Allen Boyd did robocalls to voters in the 2nd Congressional District trying to explain why he changed his vote from a no to a yes on health care reform.

His call touted the legislation as a way to stand up to insurance companies, while offering a tax credit to middle class families and help out with the deficit.

"For too long insurance companies have had too much power to determine patient coverage and care, premiums are out of control, and health care costs threaten our nation's fiscal future,'' Boyd declared in the phone call.

Health care reform he promised would "put a stop to insurance companies who deny care or cancel coverage when you get sick care."

He added that "I'm confident that with these reforms we will begin to control health care costs for our families and our country, reserve the right to choose your doctor and stop many of the abuses of the big insurance companies."

What matters more - media or the message?

A scholarly political science journal concluded way, way back in 2008 that effective campaigns could find a successful strategy by going after not just the motivated supervoters, but by also targeting those who don't normally vote in every election.

A quartet of political science professors writing in the March 2008 issue of Political Behavior said that "we conclude that even in high-profile, high dollar races the most important determinant of voter turnout is voter history, but that holding this variable constant reveals a positive effect for campaign communication among "seldom voters," registered but rarely active participants who-ironically- are less likely than regular or intermittent voters to receive such communication.

"In fact, we find that those with the least active political pasts are the most likely to feel the positive effects of campaign communication,'' the article written by Professors Janine Parry, Jay Barth, Martha Kropf and E. Terrence Jones.

Put simply: It helps to reach out to voters who aren't used to the attention.

There is ample evidence that this theory played itself out in the 2008 presidential campaign especially among the campaign team of Barack Obama as it utilized everything from text messages to social media to raise large amounts of money and to motivate voters, including some of those "seldom voters" like young people and African-Americans.

The Obama strategy has been followed to some extent, according to a November 2009 Wall Street Journal article written by Peter Wallsten, by Republican gubernatorial candidates who won elections last fall.

Steve Schale, the Florida state director for the Obama campaign, said that "we used every tool that was available" including even using ads on Internet videogames as a way to target college students.

But Schale said in the end he still thinks that what social media and the Internet did was make it easier to motivate people to help out the campaigns, citing for instance a program used by the campaign that would encourage volunteers to go and physically contact voters in their own neighborhoods.

"You utilize them to do the things that traditionally win campaigns,'' said Schale, adding that "banging on someone's door" can be just as effective as a candidate appearing on television. Schale adds that it also helps to have people enthused about the candidate they are working for.

Flash forward then to this year.

If you look at the numbers, former House Speaker Marco Rubio is winning the new media war so far in the U.S. Senate race.

Rubio - who has surged past Gov. Charlie Crist in the polls for the U.S. Senate - has more than 10,000 followers on Twitter and has more than 36,000 fans on his Facebook page. Rubio has posted more than 110 videos on his YouTube page, with some videos getting more than 43,000 views.

Crist by contrast has 4,559 followers on Twitter and 9,203 fans on his Facebook page. His campaign has posted 35 videos on YouTube, with no video even getting 600 views.

But Schale is one person who doesn't think that Rubio's success is just about his utilization of media.

He contends that Rubio is succeeding because he has plugged into a frustration among conservative voters and used it against Crist.

"It's not a field of dreams and build it and they will come,'' said Schale. "If you put the Yankees on the field you are going to have a good team."

Schale adds: "I don't think we have gotten to the point where you can create that kind of movement from social media out of whole cloth."

There are those, of course, who disagree to some extent with Schale. But if Rubio wins in the primary against Crist it will be interesting to see if it is the media or the message that gets the credit.