The Fine Print

Rick Scott vs. the Tea Party?

Last fall a group of conservative activists including some Tea Party leaders who backed Rick Scott for governor went into court to get a federal judge to strike down some of the state's campaign finance laws.

Flash forward several months and it turns out that backing Scott doesn't guarantee a free pass with his administration.

The state of Florida -- led by the top elections official appointed by Scott - is actually mounting a vigorous legal defense.

If the lawsuit is successful, groups could raise money to challenge constitutional amendments without having to disclose their donors or include disclaimers on any ads that they run. There are already seven amendments on the 2012 ballot.

This week both sides laid out their legal arguments that will be used to decide whether the state’s campaign finance laws are constitutional. The case is scheduled to go to trial in September but a ruling is expected without having to hold a trial.

Most of the arguments center on recent federal campaign finance rulings - including last year’s contentious Citizens United case that struck down restrictions on independent  “electioneering communications.’’

But lawyers for Secretary of State Kurt Browning -- who is now the main defendant in the lawsuit -- argued in their filings that “invalidating Florida’s challenged political committee laws will destroy the well recognized informational interest of the public to know who is speaking to them about campaign issues.”

You can read more about it here at the Florida Tribune.

Scott promises "eight years" that won't be boring

Rick Scott, the Naples businessman who shocked the political establishment in 2010, appears ready to push ahead with plans to shake up all of state government.

In a lengthy interview given days before he will sworn in as governor Scott even joked: "You think the next eight years will be boring? You will have plenty to write about."

You can read about the entire interview here at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

During the interview, which was given in the same room in the Capitol that former Gov. Jeb Bush used as his office, Scott touched on a number of subjects. But he didn't provide a lot of details, insisting instead that he will unveil comprehensive proposals between now and Feb. 4 when he must submit his first budget recommendations to the Florida Legislature.

But here are some key highlights:

* Scott still plans to donate his salary to charity, sell off the state plane and put his assets in a blind trust. The governor-elect says he has not yet decided who will get his more than $130,000 a year salary but that hasn't stopped people from already asking him for the money.

* Scott will decide by next week whether to withdraw some of the appointments that Gov. Charlie Crist has made in the waning days and weeks of his administration. Scott can call back the names of anyone who has not yet confirmed by the Florida Senate. "We're keeping all of our options open on what we're going to do," he said.

* The governor-elect has still not made his mind on what changes he will push to the Florida Retirement System other than requiring employees to contribute part of the cost.

* Scott wants to push ahead with his ambitious plan to expand the use of school vouchers, but he is still not sure if he will first ask the Florida Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would help make such a program immune to legal challenges.

* Scott will not back down from his promise to cut property taxes - even as the state struggles with a $3.5 billion budget gap. He also seems confident that he can accomplish his agenda - and take on other big items as well.

"It's not daunting,'' Scott said at one point. "It's going to be fun. It's going to be exciting."

* Scott said he will weigh in during the month of January on who he thinks should be the next chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. Scott personally interviewed candidates for the job at the party quarterly meeting last month.

* Scott, who has never held public office before, said he tried to turned to those from the private sector for top jobs in his administration because "I want to have people who have accomplished things and know what they are doing."

 

 

 

 

Florida's wild expensive election could have big stakes

Florida's bitter, expensive and wild election season will finally lurch to a close on Tuesday.

Voters, besieged by a barrage of political ads, could be forgiven for thinking that the main issues are Medicare fraud, lockstep devotion to President Barack Obama and reckless plans to raise taxes.

But the election's impact on a state with a million residents out of work and hundreds of thousands of homes in foreclosure looms far more prominently than all that campaign vitriol filling airwaves and mailboxes.

"I think that Florida is at a crossroads and so is our country, and the Florida election can make a determination of the future of America," said Gov. Charlie Crist, running as an independent for U.S. Senate.

Crist's decision to leave office after just one term to run for a Senate seat helped spark a frenzied run for governor and marked the first time in more than 100 years that both the governor and all the seats on the Cabinet were open at the same time.

Democrats hope to win back the governor's mansion after 12 years of Republican control and begin to chip away at GOP dominance of the Florida Legislature.

"There's an opportunity here in this election to bring some balance back," said Karen Thurman, chairman of the Florida Democratic Party.

Florida voters could help decide the direction of the country and the state. They could help Republicans seize the U.S. House, give the Legislature a veto-proof majority, or pass amendments that could alter the state's political makeup.

A longer look at Florida's high-stakes election can be found here.

Next Senate President not bothered by a no vote on all amendments

Florida voters were supposed to get a crammed ballot this November that would ask them to weigh in on everything from school class sizes to federal health care reform and property taxes.

But a flurry of lawsuits coming from opponents of the amendments -- most of which were placed on the ballot by the Republican-controlled Legislature -- could block many of those proposals from being voted on this fall.

Six of nine proposed constitutional amendments on the 2010 ballot are tied up in court fights. And two measures have already been tossed from the ballot by lower court judges, although each of the cases probably will not be resolved until the state Supreme Court rules.

The latest to fall came Friday when a Leon County judge threw out a proposed amendment that advocates said would have been a boost to Florida's ailing real estate industry.

One lawyer involved in the fights is putting the blame on state lawmakers for crafting amendments that he says are intended to "deceive" the public. But Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, asserted that lawmakers have done all their work in the "sunshine."

But Haridopolos said with all the confusion surrounding the amendments voters could wind up rejecting all of them. And he says he has no problem with that.

"I would be fine if everyone voted no on all the amendments."

Here's the full story at the Sarasota Herald Tribune.