The Fine Print

GOP to hold onto Latvala loot and other inside the bubble news

 

 Time for some inside the bubble news here in Tallahassee:

LATVALA DONATIONS....Five years ago in the immediate aftermath of the Allied Veterans of the World charity gambling scandal, the Republican Party of Florida donated $300,000 to a veterans charity. That was the same amount that Allied Veterans had given the state party. The party made the move after the arrests of dozens of people connected to Allied Veterans and the resignation of then-Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll. (Carroll was never charged with any wrongdoing and in the end no one did any lengthy jail time in connection with the incident.)

But times have changed.

Republican Party of Florida chairman Blaise Ingoglia says that his party will not return - or offset with a charitable donation - the money that the party has received from a political committee controlled by former State Sen. Jack Latvala. Latvala resigned after a investigation concluded there was probable cause that he had engaged in sexual misconduct. Latvala has denied any wrongdoing, but the matter has been turned over to state law-enforcement authorities.

Latvala's political committee has donated $190,000 since late 2015 - and gave $100,000 in the final quarter of 2017. It's been well-documented that the party isn't raising as much money as it used to because Gov. Rick Scott and Senate Republicans have their own fundraising organizations now. Latvala himself promised to help the party out amid those reports.

In an interview, Ingoglia says that money from Latvala has already been spent or budgeted by the party. But he also argues that it will be .put to good use by the party.

"I would say that the money being used in the Republican Party coffers,  helping to get Republicans elected and putting the infrastructure in place for 2018 is probably a better use for the money,'' Ingoglia said.

Ingoglia added, however, that he would be willing to consider donating or returning the money if the Florida Democratic Party were to return donations it received from former Chairman Stephen Bittel. Bittel resigned after Politico reported that he had made demeaning comments to women.

Campaign records show that Bittel during his time as chairman gave more than $212,000 to the party. In the months ahead of the 2016 election, Bittel also donated $150,000.

OFFICE FOR SALE...One of Tallahassee's most influential lobbying firms - Ballard Partners - recently moved from a historic home on Park Avenue to a brand new office building located at the corner of Park and Monroe Street.

Property records show that Ballard's old offices was bought for $1.35 million by Rubus Idaeus LLC. That's a company that was set up by Tallahassee attorneys Tor Friedman and Eric Abrahamsen. The firm, which has moved into the old Ballard Partners office, handles criminal defense cases, employment law, and personal injury cases.

The roster of attorneys at the firm also includes Tiffany Cruz, who has been in the news lately because she is representing Rachel Perrin Rogers, the Senate employee who filed a formal complaint against Latvala that led to his resignation.

The firm is also representing Farhan "Ronny" Armed - one of the victims at the 2014 shooting at Florida State University who was paralyzed as a result- in a lawsuit against the FSU Board of Trustees. The lawsuit that was filed last year contends that FSU was negligent in providing security.

Kathryn Ballard is a member of the FSU trustees and is married to well-known lobbyist Brian Ballard who runs Ballard Partners. Property records show that both Kathryn and Brian Ballard were listed as co-owners of the office building that was acquired by Rubus Idaeus.

WAITING FOR THE NUMBERS....For the third time this decade, Florida legislators are holding their annual legislative session in January.

One of the prime reasons for the move was that legislators said they liked being able to spend spring break with their children instead of spending it in the halls of the state Capitol.

This year, however, the timing is causing a bit of a potential hiccup.

House and Senate budget writers are having to start work on a new 2018-19 budget without the latest estimates on tax collections. That's because state economists have pushed back the date of their annual estimating conference until Feb. 9th, the fifth week of session.

Amy Baker, one of the main economists, said the reason is primarily due to Hurricane Irma. Irma ripped through the state in September and was responsible for nearly 100 deaths and caused widespread devastation.

Baker explained that sales tax collection data received by the economists generally has a lag in it. So the economists are waiting for a new round of data that will be released Jan. 25th that will show December tax collections, but in reality is more an accurate reflection of November sales.

If economists had scheduled their conference earlier, it was "too close to the hurricane to be useful to us." Baker said that the additional month gives economists "cleanly into the recovery period." The House and Senate agreed to the change, but in order to keep the session on schedule they will begin work on new budgets prior to getting the updated numbers.

This could create a scenario where budget negotiators have to change the budget during the conference period where House and Senate legislators work out differences.

But Sen. Rob Bradley, the Senate budget chief, last week said he was not concerned that the new numbers would show big changes from the previous forecast.

The power and the swagger: Richard Corcoran and his fight for "soul of the party."

Separated by a couple of hundred yards, a scene played out on Friday night that in a brief few moments captured the essence of the entire 2017 session of the Florida Legislature.

At one end Senate President Joe Negron made his case for why Republican Gov. Rick Scott should look favorably on the new state budget crafted by the GOP-controlled Legislature (and which will be voted on this Monday.)

Negron's logic was even though Scott didn't get what he want the Senate was always on his side. Senators backed Scott's request for money for business incentives and to fully fund Visit Florida, the state's tourism marketing agency. They just couldn't get the House to go along.

"On the Senate side the track record speaks for itself ,'' Negron told reporters. 'We've been a strong ally in the Senate of the governor and his priorities.'

Contrast that to  House Speaker Richard Corcoran who took a much more confrontational position toward the governor. (A governor by the way who has criss-crossed the state blasting GOP legislators and even running ads critical of legislators.)

'There's a war going on for the soul of the party,'' Corcoran said. "Are we going to be who we say we are?"

To Corcoran this "war" means opposing business incentives, or "corporate welfare' as he called them in the past. And in his brief session with reporters he also mentioned politicians who campaign saying they want to crack down on illegal immigration and are opposed to "the liberal socialistic health care policy called Obamacare" but then change their position when they get into office.

Without using his name directly, it was clear that Corcoran was taking aim at Scott, who flipped on Medicaid expansion (part of Obamacare) in his run-up to his re-election campaign and who ran in 2010 promising to take a hard line against immigration but then in 2014 signed a bill that extended in-tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants. (Corcoran voted against the bill even though it was strongly supported by then-House Speaker Will Weatherford.)

"I think what we need to do is elect leaders who say what they mean and mean what they say,'' said Corcoran, who maintains he has yet to make up his mind on whether he plans to run for governor next year.

Corcoran also predicted to reporters that he thought the House and Senate had the votes to hand Scott his first veto override if the governor does indeed veto the entire budget. (This requires a two-thirds vote of both chambers, which means Democrats will have to go along.)

His exchange with reporters showed that Corcoran - who talked before session of turning on the lights and finding the "cockroaches" that the Scott administration had allowed to flourish during six years in office - finishing the 60-day session with the same provocative, confrontational stance he had before it started.

Given everything that has happened over the last two months of the session it's not really surprising.

Along the way he pushed back against anyone - whether they were in media, his own party, or whomever - who challenged his statements or positions. Sometimes he did it in a lawyerly fashion (such as complaints about transparency weren't valid because the media focused on just one part and not the totality of the changes he pushed.)

But other times it was through sheer force.

He used the budget negotiations (largely behind closed doors) and Negron's own top priority to create a reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee to get the Senate to take up a proposed constitutional amendment that would expand Florida's homestead exemption. Corcoran was able to get the Senate to move quickly on this proposal even though it languished most of the session and was opposed by Sen. Jack Latvala, the Senate budget chief.

Corcoran also used his power in less visible, but still effective fashion (like shutting down session for long stretches in the final days when the pressure builds to act.)  It has been argued that his crackdown on lobbyists before session and the requirements about increased disclosure were more about giving him the speaker a clearer idea of where lobbyists may be taking aim at his agenda.

And on Day 60 Corcoran got the Senate to sign off on a nearly 300-page overhaul of education policy (some of it never seen in public before) that will also be taken up Monday on the final day of session. Corcoran used the budget conference process to place all this policy into two "conforming" bills (bills that change state law to conform to the budget) even though some elements of the legislation weren't ever included in the budget conference. He also got policy changes for Visit Florida included in a bill that initially just dealt with a "displaced homemakers" program.

Corcoran wasn't apologetic for the move, saying instead that the bill (HB 7069) and which includes his "Schools of Hope" proposal to shift students in low-performing schools over to charter schools was some of the "boldest most transformational" change ever and would even rival former Gov. Jeb Bush's A+ plan that put in place the state's entire school grading system.

The setbacks for Corcoran were few: His push for major ethics reform and judicial term limits were never taken seriously in the Senate. There's an argument that despite his pre-session warnings to avoid them that there were plenty of special interest fights . Witness the drawn-out battle over the so-called "Whiskey and Wheaties bill" - which would allow grocery stores to eventually sell hard liquor - as one example. (Corcoran, who appeared to take a strong interest in the measure, maintains his backing of that bill was about free-market principles.)

But of course the question is whether Corcoran's victory dance is premature.

Because at this point it's unclear what Scott will do and whether he will use his own considerable power against the House speaker.

This past week Corcoran and his top allies let it be known that they had offered Scott a deal where they would have relented in a couple of places and funded a couple of his priorities: Visit Florida as well as money for repairs to the Herbert Hoover dike surrounding Lake Okeechobee.

That Scott's people rejected the deal isn't that hard to explain. As explained by those close to Scott, the governor didn't deliver a long list of demands to state legislators this year so it shouldn't be too hard to get the handful of things he asked for.

Of course there remains the chance there will be a few more chess moves before ultimately the Corcoran vs. Scott drama plays itself out.

Corcoran and Negron could refuse to immediately deliver the budget to Scott, meaning that the governor - and the Legislature - would have less time to act as the state moves closer to the end of the fiscal year on June 30. There's nothing in state law that mandates when the Legislature has to deliver the budget to Scott's desk. So theoretically the Legislature could hand it over a week ahead of time.

Yet in one way the two legislative leaders have given Scott an easier path to a budget veto.

The main general appropriations act is $82.4 billion, but it doesn't include many key elements. Legislators have placed more than $700 million worth of spending for Negron's Lake Okeechobee plan, Schools of Hope, Visit Florida and the state employee pay raise OUTSIDE the main budget bill.

This means Scott can sign some of the bills important to the Senate (where it may be easier to sustain a veto) while at the same time vetoing the budget and any other bills important to the House.

Of course if Scott does veto the entire budget (a rare occurrence in recent Florida history) then we get to watch Round 2 between the speaker and the governor.

And the war for the "soul of the party" will rage on.

The coming clash for Tallahassee lobbyists and other lobbying tidbits

Consider this an all-lobbyist edition of inside the bubble news....

While much of America is waiting for Nov. 8 to come, the date that Tallahassee's lobbying corps is waiting for is Nov. 10.

That's the date that incoming House Speaker Richard Corcoran (pictured left) has said he will distribute proposed new rules for the Florida House.

And judging by the chatter among lobbyists, they are viewing it as an oncoming train that will roll right over them and greatly affect the $100 million-plus a year influence industry.

Corcoran, a Republican from Land O' Lakes, has made no secret of his intention to blow up the process or in the words of his GOP caucus designation speech "cleaning up our own house."

And that means adopting rules and laws that will greatly impact what lobbyists can and can't do - and impact what legislators can and can't do.

One of his most notable proposals is his plan to end the "revolving door" between the Legislature and lobbying by pursuing a constitutional amendment that would bar legislators from lobbying the legislative or executive branch for six years not two.

But another big change  - which Corcoran himself alluded to a year ago - and which is expected to show up in the new rules is a requirement that lobbyists disclose a lot more information.

Lobbyists will be required to not only name their clients, but to force them to disclose - at least on the House side - the names of the bills, amendments and even the appropriation items they are lobbying House members on.

There's no doubt that if this goes through it will be one of the most substantial changes to lobbying since then-Senate President Tom Lee shepherded the gift ban bill that also required contract lobbyists to disclose (somewhat) how much they are getting paid by their clients. Corcoran's proposed change will allow reporters and the public to match the money paid to the lobbyists to the items that they are lobbying on.

Another big change under consideration (and first reported by The Tampa Bay Times) is a proposal to ban local governments including cities, counties and school boards from hiring contract lobbyists.

Corcoran, who has been unwilling to share many details of the proposed rules because there's still being worked on, told the Times that it's a "disgrace" that local governments use taxpayer dollars to hire contract lobbyists.

There are rumblings that there are many other changes in the works - including serious changes in the budget process now utilized by the Legislature.

Corcoran - with House Speaker Steve Crisafulli - already forced lawmakers to once again attach their names to budget items they were seeking. The question is whether there will be additional changes designed to bring additional transparency to the way the budget is crafted. Right now items drop into the budget at the last minute with little idea where it came from or who it will benefit.

Now will there be pushback? Absolutely.

Corcoran's motives are already under question, with some positing that this is his way of drawing attention to himself in a possible run-up to a 2018 bid for governor. Corcoran for the record demurs when he is asked the question and said he is gearing up to be speaker.

Regardless, however, the adoption of sweeping House rules will immediately place attention on the Florida Senate - which has had a rocky relationship with House in recent years. Will the Senate adopt similar rules on its side? Or will senators be forced to explain why a higher level of transparency works for one chamber but not the other?

When lawmakers convene for their organizational session on Nov. 22 it could be the start of a tumultuous period for the Florida Legislature and for the hundreds of men and women who rely on the Legislature for their living.

TALLAHASSEE'S LIKELY NEXT DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN WAS ON PAYROLL OF BIG TRUMP BACKER

And speaking of lobbying, former state senator - and likely member of Congress after Nov. 8 - Al Lawson has been straight forward that he has worked as a lobbyist for the last several years for several clients including Florida State University and on behalf of school choice proponents.

But financial disclosures Lawson filed earlier this year revealed that he was on the payroll of the high-powered lobbying firm of Brian Ballard, who is a top fundraiser for Republicans including GOP president nominee Donald Trump. Ballard also has lobbied on behalf of Trump.

Lawson's financial disclosure filed May 16 with the clerk of the U.S. House lists Ballard Partners as source of income exceeding $5,000. This form said that Lawson's duties for Ballard Partners were "lobbying."

Three days later Lawson filed an amended form that changed his duties for Ballard from "lobbying" to "consulting."

(It's worth noting that Lawson's state lobbying registration filings do not show him registering for lobbying on behalf of Ballard.)

When asked about it a few weeks ago, Khloe Greenwood, a spokeswoman for Lawson's campaign said: "Senator Lawson is not currently on payroll with Ballard Partners. He was a consultant during the legislative session earlier this year, and provided counsel for governmental and public affairs on a variety of projects."

Still the connection to Ballard and his firm may have proved useful to Lawson in other ways.

Jacksonville reporters noted that Susie Wiles, a top Trump campaign operative in Florida who also works for Ballard Partners, helped Lawson in his campaign to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown. Lawson defeated Brown, who is currently facing federal fraud charges, in the Democratic primary. In one article there's a paraphrased quote from Wiles saying that the reason she's helping Lawson is because he had a good relationship with the Ballard firm.

Well, as his federal filings show, that was definitely the case.

For some Florida Republicans it's time for golf, wine and mild California weather

After a protracted absence, more inside the Tallahassee bubble news.

The really important local race that could impact the whole state....The end of qualifying _ and the lurch into the official campaign season _ has been dominated with talk about the U.S. Senate race featuring incumbent Marco Rubio as well several high profile congressional and state senate races.

Yet there's one very important race that is emerging within the shadows of the Florida Capitol.

Last August State Attorney Willie Meggs announced that he was ending a career stretching back to 1985.

Three challengers have stepped forward to challenge him: Jack Campbell, an assistant state attorney and son of late Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, Sean Desmond, a former prosecutor under Meggs who is now in private practice, and former Statewide Prosecutor Pete Williams.

Over the course of his time in office Meggs engaged in cases that had reverberations in state politics. He aggressively investigated in the '90s whether or not legislators were accepting gifts and trips from lobbyists. The Meggs investigation into House Speaker Ray Sansom wound up forcing the Destin Republican to resign from both the speakership and the Florida Legislature.

Meggs was ultimately forced to abandon the case against Sansom, which was tied to his push for an appropriation in the budget that appeared to be benefit a Republican businessman from Sansom's area.

But because of a Meggs subpoena that probe forced into daylight the use of Republican Party of Florida credit cards by top elected officials - a topic ultimately that caused questions for a long line of politicians including Rubio, then-Gov. Charlie Crist as well as RPOF Chairman Jim Greer.

Other times, however, Meggs has resisted calls to investigate powerful people, such as in 2015 amid the outcry over Gov. Rick Scott's decision to oust Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey. Meggs refused to investigate Bailey's ouster even there were allegations of Sunshine Law violations and Bailey himself alleged that the Scott administration had potentially tried to interfere with an investigation.

So how will the next state attorney handle these types of cases?

Well, it could very well depend on who wins.

In Tallahassee at least - which is where the largest concentration of votes in the race will come from - the primary focus for the candidates is Leon County's crime rate, which is currently the highest in the state.

During a recent community forum featuring the three candidates, Campbell was blunt, saying that while "you need to have the courage" to take on potential corruption cases it would not be a pressing item for him.

"We got plenty of people getting shot in the street, I’ve got plenty of people getting raped at FSU campus,'' Campbell said.

Desmond echoed that sentiment: "I think it's absolutely a duty to shine a light on everything, but if it's going to impact and take away resources from other things we need to prioritize that."

Williams, who noted he pursued corruption cases when he was statewide prosecutor, maintains that "I will be very aggressive there." But in a followup statement Williams faulted the way that Meggs' office has handled certain cases, including the unsuccessful prosecution of Liberty County Sheriff Nick Finch. (The case was handled by Campbell and Williams contended that it should have been handled by an outside prosecutor instead of someone working for Meggs. Williams also contended Finch was prosecuted because he backed Williams in the 2012 election, an allegation that Campbell said was a "lie.")

Desmond and Campbell are squaring off in the Democratic primary and the winner of that race will run against Williams, the Republican nominee, in the November general election.

"Going to California"....

Gov. RIck Scott has pilloried California over the last couple of years and has visited the state in an effort to woo businesses in that state to move to the Sunshine State.

But apparently it's a good place for some Republicans to go and escape the heat, humidity, algal blooms, mosquitoes and raise money.

The main fundraising committee led by Sen. Joe Negron that is helping Republican state Senate candidates held a two-day fundraiser this week at the famed Pebble Beach golf course (where the daily high was in the mid-60s) located near Carmel and Monterey.

This is a recurring site for fundraisers and it's been held in this site before. But which elected officials decided to attend it? Shh. That's a secret.

A spokeswoman for Negron said he would not discuss fundraising events. But the little birds who flock to Peter Schorsch told him that joining Negron at the California event were Sens. Anitere Flores, Lizbeth Benacquisto, and Rob Bradley.

Also there was Sen. Bill Galvano, who is staying out west this week to hold a separate Napa Valley fundraiser for his own political committee Innovate Florida. The invitation promises a group dinner and private vineyard lunch tasting at the Far Niente Winery about 171 miles north of Pebble Beach.

Galvano, who was re-elected to a new term in office without opposition, said earlier this month that he decided to hold the fundraiser at the winery since he was going out west for the Pebble Beach fundraiser.

Since the end of the 2016 session Galvano has piled up a significant amount of money in his political committee.

State filed fundraising reports for March, April and May - along with paperwork on the Innovate Florida website for June - show that Galvano has collected more than $357,000. Some of the big donors include Associated Industries of Florida and the Florida Medical Association.

So far in the last few months Galvano has steered money from his Innovate Florida account to other political committees - such as the one helping Senate candidates - the campaign accounts of GOP senators as well as payments to his staff, a fundraising consultant and reimbursements that Galvano has claimed. State records show that money from the account has been used to pay for hotels, meals and travel including a nearly $500 tab at The Edison in early April.

Bondi's silence amid questions about lobbying, the gift ban and free trips

Right before she was elected to a second term into office, a series of stories by the New York Times detailed the practice of law firms who were skilled at developing contacts and relationships with the top lawyers of various states - including Attorney General Pam Bondi. These firms helped out corporate clients whose businesses had been targeted by some states, but not others.

One of the stories also pointed out that Bondi allowed a lawyer from one of the firms to recuperate from surgery at Bondi's house.

Now 16 months later the matter has come to a quiet close - at least as it concerns Florida's ethics laws.

The Florida Commission on Ethics voted last week there was no probable cause to conclude that the now-defunct law firm Dickstein Shapiro - or one the lawyers who used to work at the firm, Bernard Nash - had broken the state's ethics laws. The finding was made public Wednesday.

The probe into their activities focused on two items: Was it a violation of Florida's gift ban for the firm and Nash to donate money to an organization that wound up paying for trips by Bondi? During her first four years in office Bondi accepted more than $51,000 worth of travel costs, hotels and meals to conferences and other events with other attorneys general. The trips to places such as California, Michigan and countries such as Mexico were picked up by groups such as the Republican Attorneys General Association.

The other part of the probe focused on whether activities by Nash and the firm constituted lobbying even though Nash and members of Dickstein Shapiro had not registered as lobbyists.

An outside lawyer brought in to help look into the case concluded in his report to the commission that in both instances the law had not been broken.

George Reeves argued that a contribution to RAGA was covered by a part of the lobbying law that makes it clear political contributions are not expenditures.

But during the commission meeting, Reeves acknowledged that the lobbying issue was a bit more complicated.

Lawyers are not considering lobbying if they are representing clients involved in a judicial proceeding. But in this instance Nash was reaching out to Florida on behalf of a client who was under investigation in another state. He called Bondi's then chief of staff, Carlos Muniz, and then sent him a follow up email about the issue.

Reeves told commissioners, according to audio that was released along with the files, that what Nash did was "very risky" and that others may be "well served" to register as a lobbyist but said in this instance there wasn't anything that should have prompted the commission to take action.

Yet a deeper look into the information does comes up with several interesting highlights:

1: Bondi herself was never questioned directly by investigators. The investigative report states "Her staff advised that due to her busy schedule and heavy workload she would be unavailable for an interview." Those close to Bondi contend that this may paint a somewhat inaccurate picture, arguing that after investigators interviewed Muniz they did not make it clear they wanted to talk to her.

2: During an hour-long recorded interview with Nash, he tells the commission investigator about how his firm would set up dinners and receptions where they would invite all attorney generals across the state to join them. He said that those from states with ethical restrictions would pay their own way. Nash is unsure if Bondi or Muniz, who usually accompanied her to some of the conferences, attended those dinners. But Nash said no log or register was ever kept of who attended the events. Nash was not asked if any receipts were kept to verify that attendees bound by ethical restrictions in fact paid.

Muniz told investigators that he is certain he and Bondi attended at least one of the meals and maybe more. He said both he and the attorney general always paid for their meals.

3: Nash explained the rationale behind the dinners as a way for his clients to deal directly with attorneys general: "It's an opportunity for them to hear them directly, not filtered through me, what AG’s are saying."

4: Nash downplayed a Bondi fundraiser that Dickstein Shapiro hosted at Mar-A-Lago, the club owned by GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. He said that his firm was listed because it agreed to give a certain amount. "If you contribute less, you are just an ordinary peon."

5: The investigative report points out that Nash denied that he or any of the Dickstein Shapiro employees lobbied. But Reeves in his recommendations to the commission concluded that there was "insufficient evidence" to determine if the other employees  _ including Lori Kalani, the attorney who stayed at Bondi's house, had lobbied Bondi's office. He noted that these employees had called or emailed Bondi's staff regarding issues involving several clients "yet the report of investigation does not elaborate on the substance of these communications and specifically whether matters of policy were discussed."

He added: "This is a very delicate area in which it seems that the line between advocating concerning "policy" and advocating the facts of a specific case could get very blurry," Reeves wrote. "Certainly it seems as though the safer practice would be for such an attorney to register as a lobbyist and then freely advocate for his client regarding the specific facts and policy without concern. However, such safer practice cannot create probable cause where it does not otherwise exist."

Even though Bondi was subjected to scrutiny over her free trips two years ago, she has continued to accept them since she was re-elected.

Gift disclosure forms show that since the fall of 2014 Bondi has received airfare, hotel and meals worth nearly $51,000, including more than $11,000 donated by the government of Taiwan during an eight-day visit in October of last year that appears to have been organized by the National Association of Attorneys General. She has also taken several trips paid by the Rule of Law Defense Fund - a group that bills itself as a "forum for Republican attorneys general to study, discuss and engage on important policy affecting the states and their citizens."

 

5 biggest questions for the 2016 session

After one of the most tumultuous years since Republicans assumed control of the Florida Legislature - the GOP-controlled House and Senate return this week for a 60-day jaunt that many legislative leaders hope/predict is relatively calm and uneventful heading into what could be a highly unpredictable election year.

Most insiders of course can recount the score: The budget meltdown, the abrupt ending of the 2015 regular session, two failed redistricting special sessions, a budget finally passed with days to go before a state government shutdown.

Legislators are returning early this year as part of an experiment to move up the date so that lawmakers can be back home in time to spend spring break with their families. (It would take a change in the constitution to move up session start for every year.)

Here then are the 5 biggest questions of session:

Can everybody just get along?

The expectation is that the resolution of the long-simmering Senate presidency battle (which was won by Sen. Joe Negron) and the Senate's tabling of Medicaid expansion should make it easier to reach a consensus on the state budget and other issues. Throw in the fact that it's an election year and there is an anticipation that there will be a willingness to compromise. But that may not capture the complicated situation at hand.

First all, there's Gov. Rick Scott who enters the session with a longer wish list than normal. And it's not just the $1 billion tax cut package and Enterprise Florida reforms that the governor wants (although that appears to be a big ask). Scott put together a $3 billion gambling deal with the Seminoles and he's also pursuing his health care transparency package.

Last year Scott showed that there is a price to pay (through his substantial budget vetoes) if you don't go his way. So you can be assured that remains on the minds of many legislators.

But let's not forget there are some Scott agency heads whose fates remained unresolved, or that there remains a split in fundraising/political activities that has resulted in the Senate and Scott raising money separately from the party. You can also throw in the whole unsettled situation in the Senate due to a redrawn state Senate map that could theoretically force some senators to moderate their positions.

Lastly, a key question is how supporters of former Gov. Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in the Legislature will view Scott's decision to nudge ever so closely to endorsing GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Say what you will about the sausage-making in the state Capitol a lot of it still depends on connections and relationships and many of the items cited could play a role. And if Scott is viewed as isolated from members of his party then there is even less willingness to work with him.

Is it possible to ever reach an agreement on gambling?

Well, you certainly wouldn't want to bet on it given the competing forces (including dog and horse tracks from outside of South Florida) who don't like some of the fine print on the deal that Scott reached with the Seminole Tribe. In the past few years attempts to pass major gambling bills have floundered amid the Scylla and Charybdis that exists in the Legislature on this issue.

But Scott remains a wild card on this. The governor, who began his business career as a deal maker, put together a proposed compact with tribal officials that was guaranteed to get big headlines and promised a big payout.

Throughout his time as governor Scott has remained, for lack of a better word, agnostic about gambling in the state. In other words, the governor isn't going to back the tribe, the dog tracks, the anti-gambling factions including Disney, Las Vegas casino owner Sheldon Adelson, or even Trump at all cost.

It would not be surprising if Scott's approach is basically: 'Hey, I helped put together a deal. Tribe, it's up to you and your lobbyists to get it passed.' And more importantly, is Scott amenable to changes as long as the overarching achievement - the money in the state's bank account is unchanged? Signs point to yes.

Tribal officials - who are still locked in a court battle over whether they can keep blackjack tables in their casinos under the 2010 deal that expired last summer - may have to decide if they need to cobble together something that makes everyone happy. Or decide if they could take their chances and just wait until next year.

Scott has been very deferential so far in his public pronouncements and has made it clear that it's up to the Legislature to work something out. If it doesn't happen the governor can maintain it wasn't his fault.

How many gun bills will reach their target?

Apart from the budget and gambling battles, you can expect a fair amount of attention in the media to be focused on the gun bills already moving through the Legislature. These include bills allowing open carry of firearms, guns on college campuses and changes to the Stand Your Ground law.

The decision by legislative leaders to already allow these bills to move through legislative committees even before the start of the 60-day session is a sign that there is considerable support for them.

And President Barack Obama's decision to pursue actions on guns on the federal level will likely add momentum as GOP legislators will be able to contrast their actions at the state level with what's happening with D.C.

Plus long-time National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer has made it abundantly clear that she and her supporters have no plans to modify their stances on these bills. Hammer has told everyone that she will be keep pushing the legislation for as long as it takes.

Put that together and it would reasonable to assume that most, if not all, of the bills stand a good chance of reaching Scott's desk later this year. Yes, there is opposition to the various bills, including Florida State University President John Thrasher and university police chiefs on campus carry to some of Florida's sheriff's on open carry.

But the gun bills give Republicans a chance to do something that will fire up their own political base heading into what could be a chaotic election season.

There is a caveat with all of this though and that's the unresolved question of whether the new Senate districts (which appear to tilt toward Democrats) will persuade some senators that contentious issues of this sort need to be put on hold until 2017.

How will the growing power of Joe Negron and Richard Corcoran affect the process?

The general theory about the Legislature is that the influence/power of the outgoing legislative leaders begins to ebb during their second session while the clout of their successors begins to grow.

There have been exceptions to that rule over the years i.e. Dean Cannon as House speaker and John McKay as Senate president.

There will be those who will make snide comments that Corcoran, a former top aide to Rubio and current House budget chief, already has considerable sway in the House. Yes there are many signs that he does wield a good deal of influence, but expect it to get even larger.

Among some insiders who follow the process the operating theory right now is that House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner will get to watch their top priorities pass in the opening days of the session. (For Crisafulli, a potential Agriculture Commissioner candidate, that's a comprehensive water bill, while for Gardiner it's bills to aid families with children who have developmental disabilities.)

After that moment of comity, the rest of the session will be conducted in Corcoran and Negron's shadow. That could affect plenty of important bills, whether it's Negron's support of a measure to legalize/regulate fantasy sports to the judiciary reforms that Corcoran has already promised to push through.

Other considerations: Negron, an attorney, has clashed in the past with the insurance industry so that may make it hard for them to push through changes opposed by trial attorneys such as the revamp of assignment of benefits. Corcoran - along with his successor Rep. Jose Oliva - have expressed skepticism about for targeted business incentives like those championed by Scott or for items such as film incentives or subsidies to sports teams and operations.

Will this really be a do-nothing year for the Florida Legislature?

Talk to most lobbyists and they will quietly concur: This may be a really tough year to get anything substantial passed.

The reasons are many, starting with the epic battles of last year (see No. 1) to what appears to be an unpredictable election year (see Trump, Donald.)

There is a feeling right now that any attempt to move major changes/reforms in key areas will be difficult. It's not just the gambling deal with the tribe. This could flow to everything else including the types of tax cuts, health care changes pursued by the House to some of the environmental bills being pursued to alimony reform and major education bills. If Republican leaders are intent on putting aside any public disagreements then the easiest way may be to just deep-six many of the more contentious proposals.

As of this past weekend, 1,644 bills have been filed which does appear to put the Legislature on pace to meet last year's totals so maybe legislators themselves remain somewhat optimistic that they can things done. There is always a natural tendency for the Legislature to try to fix/improve/change things and have something to campaign about in the fall.

But the most substantial year for legislation in recent years was 2011 when you had a new governor and a supermajority in the Legislature following the 2010 wave year for the GOP. That track record suggests that 2016 will be relatively quiet.

Bondi's fantasy dilemma

It's only been a few short months since the start of football season - which is what helped bring the ever-expanding world of daily fantasy sports into the spotlight.

Now with the Super Bowl right around the corner - and a new legislative session about to commence - one key question remains:

What, if anything, does Attorney General Pam Bondi plan to do about the murky legality surrounding fantasy sports in Florida.

Let's scroll back.

It was back during the summer that the big players in daily fantasy - FanDuel and DraftKings _ started hiring lobbyists in Tallahassee as the same time they were starting a huge national ad campaign. Their moves came as a legal theory began to emerge that fantasy sports - the idea of selecting players in various sports and winning money based on their performance - was not allowed under Florida law.

This theory - which has been explored by South Florida attorney Daniel Wallach and further expanded in a paper penned by Wallach and Tallahassee attorney/lobbyist Marc Dunbar - says a key impediment is a 1991 opinion authored by then-Attorney General Bob Butterworth that concluded spending $100 on a season-long fantasy football team was illegal gambling.

It was shortly afterwards - some of it sparked by national reports of a DFS employee participating in a contest on a rival's website - that a backlash began to mount for the two big companies in other parts of the country. Nevada ruled that fantasy websites needed to shut down or be licensed, while the attorney general in New York said they were illegal gambling and is trying to shutter them.

Move to Florida and there are apparent signs of some prosecutors getting involved, namely that U.S. Attorney Lee Bentley in Tampa has reportedly launched his own investigation according to Wallach and others. There are also civil lawsuits being filed. And there was a key development in that arena when Law360 reported earlier this week that State Attorney Bernie McCabe has taken an interest in the issue.

McCabe, whose jurisdiction includes Pasco and Pinellas counties, filed a memo supporting an effort to remand the case against FanDuel and DraftKings back into state court because he asserted that the state was in fact the "real party of interest" in this case.

But it's hard to pin Bondi or her office down on how the state's top legal officer (and whose office houses the statewide prosecutor) views the evolving situation even as other law-enforcement officials take action.

Bondi has said she still supports the 1991 Butterworth opinion and has made no moves to rescind it or repeal it. But beyond that Bondi and her office continue to defer questions.

"Our office engaged in extensive discussions with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and we both agreed the matter should be handled federally,'' said Bondi spokesman Whitney Ray late last year "Also, our office is in regular contact with U.S. Attorney Lee Bentley, and we have full confidence that the U.S. Attorney's Office will handle the matter appropriately."

Additionally, so far Bondi has remained fairly quiet about whether she supports efforts by the fantasy effort to put in laws that would regulate the industry. Sen. Joe Negron and Rep. Matt Gaetz have sponsored bills to do so for the upcoming session that kicks off next Tuesday and FanDuel is increasing its workforce in anticipation of the new law being put in place reported the Orlando Sentinel.

(It's worth pointing out that even though the Negron and Gaetz bills directly affect his agency, Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam has also not been exactly clear whether he's a fan or not of either version.)

The big giants in the fantasy sports industry are being primarily represented in Florida by mega-lobbyist Brian Ballard and his firm. Ballard is of course a big-time fundraiser who is now supporting Marco Rubio for president and also lobbies on behalf of Donald Trump.

But late last August one of the other lobbyists who signed up to represent the fantasy companies was well-known GOP consultant Marc Reichelderfer. He is friends with Bondi and has done campaign work on her behalf.

When asked about it directly last fall, Bondi said she was unaware that Reichelderfer had begun representing the fantasy sports industry.

Some of Bondi's interactions with lawyers, lobbyists and how her office has handled such cases has drawn scrutiny, most notably in articles that appeared in the New York Times. So it can be argued that it's important for voters and citizens to know what her office is - or isn't doing on this.

Bondi during her five-year stint in office been very selective about what issues she will - or won't - engage in.

She once took a stance against casino gambling, but yet other times she has refused to take a position on bills even if they directly impact her agency operations. Bondi is also as of now remaining fairly quiet about what she thinks about the $3 billion compact negotiated between Gov. Rick Scott and the tribe (and which could allow a new casino in South Florida.)

With another session dawning, it will be interesting to watch whether or not the state's top legal officer weighs in on the various legal issues that surrounding gambling or gaming. Or if she will remain in a neutral (and silent) corner.

(This post has been updated to note that FanDuel is expanding its workforce in Florida.)

Which lobbyist will win the jackpot with the Florida Lottery?

Another installment on inside the Tallahassee bubble news....

Putnam or Scott?....Every one is aware that Gov. Rick Scott has been raising money for his own political committee _ Let's Get to Work_ as opposed to raising money for the state Republican Party this year.

But a closer look shows that contributions shows a bit of slowdown in the last three months. His largest contribution during that period hasn't been any actual cash but a large in-kind donation courtesy of Walt Disney World that he got from them in order to hold his economic growth summit with presidential contenders.

So has anything changed?

Yes, Meredith O'Rourke, one of the state's most sought after GOP fundraisers, is no longer working on behalf of the governor.

O'Rourke, who was in Naples celebrating when Scott defeated Charlie Crist last November, stopped work for Scott sometime in April.

Campaign finance records show that O'Rourke's company took its last payment for $25,000 from Let's Get to Work on April 17.

So what led to her departure?

Sources close to O'Rourke say that Scott gave her an ultimatum: Either raise money for me, or raise money for Adam Putnam, a likely contender for governor in 2018. This is apparently not the first time that Scott had asked O'Rourke to make this choice. But this time around O'Rourke chose Putnam.

Scott is widely rumored to be considering running for U.S. Senate in 2018. He has steadfastly brushed aside any questions about it, saying that he is focused on his job as governor. Putnam for his part has also brushed aside any questions about his intentions three years from now.

Still this is another sign of the gulf that exists between Scott, the mega-millionaire maverick who took on the GOP establishment, and Putnam, the native Floridian with long-time connections who has been steadily moving up the political ladder. 

The animus between Scott and Putnam dates all the way back to 2011 when Scott insiders viewed Putnam as a potential primary rival in 2014. Scott repeatedly has threatened to veto Putnam's top legislative priorities. This year he vetoed budget items Putnam wanted even after Putnam sought a meeting to discuss why they were important. Putnam's office has said the Scott administration never responded to their request before issuing the vetoes.

Putnam also questioned the forced ouster of former Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey by the Scott administration and went so far as to have phone conversations with Bailey about his departure afterwards.

Jackpot time at the Florida Lottery...Of course one important advantage that the Scott administration continues to have is that state agencies with huge budgets are responsible for doling out large contracts. This attracts high-profile lobbyists who themselves can raise a lot of money for potential candidates.

And right now some of the bigger contracts up for bid are at the Florida Lottery.

This includes a contract for the department's lottery online games that is at least worth $300 million over the next 10 years. (This contract includes the machines used to issue tickets for games such as Powerball and Mega Millions as well as the instant ticket vending machines.)

And it's already had some interesting twists and turns.

The existing contract with lottery operator Gtech was scheduled to expire at the end of September 2015. The agency put the contract out to bid in March 2014 - in the middle of a heated election year - and then....nothing.

In late January, the department issued a one-page announcement that it was rejecting the bids from Gtech, as well as Scientific Games International and Premier Lotteries Florida.

Why did it do this? Lottery officials won't say, other than department officials concluded it was "in the best interest" to reject them. So they started all over again and issued another invitation to negotiate in March of this year.

But with the looming expiration of the existing contract the department on June 16 extended the existing contract with Gtech. The operator will continue to get paid (largely under the current terms of its $333 million contract) until March 2017 or until a new vendor is selected.

Gtech is represented by lobbyists with deep connections to Scott, including Brian Ballard and his team as well as long-time Scott friend and lobbyist Bill Rubin. (Worth noting: Ballard's representation of Gtech predates Scott but we also know Ballard raised a lot of money for the governor.)

Scientific Games was represented by well-known Tallahassee figures Jim Magill and Mac Stipanovich until June 16 - the same day that Gtech got its extension. Right now the only listed executive branch lobbyist for the company is former Lottery Secretary David Griffin.

The third vendor that bid on the lottery contract is linked to a company called Camelot Global Services, which is represented by lobbyists at the firm of Southern Strategy Group, one of the more successful firms in town.

So it will be interesting to see who eventually winds up winning the lucrative online system contract.

But that's not the only contract worth watching.

Another major contract is the Lottery advertising contract in which a firm gets millions to manage the state's ad campaign. The last time the contract was up it sparked a bid protest after the department awarded a $100 million contract (which includes money for ad placements) to St. John & Partners.

The current contract - which initially ran for three years and was renewed twice for another three years - is due to expire at the end of August.

The bid for a new contract was released in June and it already appears to be drawing fire with complaints reaching all the way up to Scott's office.

Last week Deputy Chief of Staff Jeffery Woodburn directly emailed Lottery Secretary Cynthia O'Connell "in the interest of transparency" to tell her that Slater Bayliss, Nick Iarossi and Dan Russell had raised concerns with the governor's office over the ad contract.

Bayliss is a former aide to Jeb Bush who is a partner at The Advocacy Group at Cardenas Partners. Iarossi is another well-known lobbyist in town who has represented various gambling interests and a long list of other clients including Zimmerman Advertising (which lost out to St. John last time.) Russell is an attorney with the Jones Walker law firm and once worked as general counsel for the department.

The email from Woodburn to O'Connell doesn't include any instructions regarding whether the agency should change the bid.

But it does outline areas cited by the three lobbyists including desired qualifications, disclosure and ownership of reply contents and the staffing plan.

Concerns about the way the contract bid has also surfaced in the questions that were submitted by potential bidders to the Lottery.

The July 14 addendum to the bid documents shows that one vendor was concerned that the department wants bidders to spend "hundreds of hours" working on a presentation before they even know if they have been chosen as a finalist. "The current approach is very different from the standard practice in our industry,'' states the question (which does not identify the vendor that asked.)

In its response the department said it considered the question but left the bid requirements unchanged.

That same document also shows that another complaint is that the agency is requiring that people who would be responsible for managing the contract do the actual presentation and interviews with state officials. This means that senior managers at ad firms would be not be allowed to participate in the pitch to the Department of Lottery unless they planned to do the work. The department also refused to change this item as well.

Last week the department opened up the bids. Only four companies responded including St. John. Among those who did not participate this time was Zimmerman Advertising. The others who are vying for the contract are CommongroundMGS, PP+K, and Sapient.

The flurry of activity comes at a time when many key Republicans in the Legislature remain skeptical about the Lottery, including Senate President Andy Gardiner. O'Connell, who is a holdover from Scott's first term, is one of Scott's appointees who got caught up in the meltdown of this year's regular session when the Senate refused to confirm many of his choices.

She will be forced to step down next year if the Senate fails to confirm her for a second year in a row.

(This post has been updated to include the names of the four companies that have bid on the advertising contract.)

Did Jeb Bush just save Florida's maligned lobbyist gift ban?

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush returned to the state capital on Monday to outline his plans to overhaul the culture of Washington D.C.

And in doing so - he may have  _ to the consternation of some of those in the audience helped preserve the state's lobbyist gift ban.

The ban was enacted in late 2005 - one of the strictest regulations in the country at the time - and came after legislative wrangling that was an outgrowth of changes sought by then-Senate President Tom Lee.

For a national audience it may have sounded Monday as if Bush was the instigator of the ban.

"I know how that culture works,'' Bush said. "I saw it here in Tallahassee. Over time, lobbyists and legislators grew a little too comfortable in each other’s company, cutting deals that didn’t have much to do with the public interest. So along with the other changes we made, the Florida Legislature passed a law that I signed into law that created the strictest lobbying reforms in the country."

There's nothing inaccurate in that statement. But it does kind of brush aside a bit of the back story that existed in the development of the ban since it was legislators, not the governor, who was the main driver of the change.

Lee's goal was never to ban anything. He advocated two things: Disclosure of the freebies that lobbyists gave to legislators - and disclosure of how much money lobbyists were paid.

Lee told reporters at the time that they would be surprised how much money was in the system, and how that disclosure would shed a light on why the Legislature did some of the things that it did.

The Brandon Republican made his push for changes at the same time that a series of articles _ many of them in The Miami Herald _ that showed how the state's existing disclosure and gift laws had been flouted.

One example: Legislators couldn't accept anything more than $100 - and items lower than that but higher than $25 were supposed to be reported. Lobbyists would routinely agree to split the costs among themselves and spread it to multiple legislators to sidestep this requirement.

Other stories disclosed how one legislator solicited contributions from lobbyists for a trip to Africa, while another described a lavish engagement party held for one legislator and paid for lobbyists.

Lee's push initially went nowhere - but the issue gained momentum after the Herald published a story in late 2005 that pointed out four legislators flew to Canada on a private jet and visited a casino. They argued that they were raising money for the Republican Party of Florida so it was legal. But the cost of the trip was much more higher than the money raised. Plus it came at a time when legislators were considering how to implement a constitutional amendment dealing with gambling in South Florida.

During a special session late that year Lee pushed to add the gift ban to the mix since it was not included in the initial call issued by Bush. (The special session was called to implement an overhaul of Medicaid and to implement the amendment that allowed slot machines in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.)

The initial Senate bill did not ban everything. Instead it required detailed reporting of who provided meals and beverages to legislators on an individual basis. But it was the House _ led then by Speaker Allan Bense _ that moved a bill that called for a complete ban.

The telling of the tale since then has posited that Bense and the House did not like the disclosure requirements pushed by Lee so they countered with such a Draconian measure that the Senate would reject it. Only that didn't happen. Lee and the Senate amended their bill to match the House measure and sent it over. Just 9 legislators voted no. Bush eagerly signed the measure into law.

"I applaud President Lee and Speaker Bense for their leadership in reforming the political status quo,'' Bush said at the time. "This measure increases transparency and accountability for the political process."

Since then the ban has survived a legal challenge, but the criticism against it has been steadily mounting, including those who note that there are legal ways for legislators to sidestep it. One key way: Solicit money from lobbyists for political committees and then use that money to pay for meals and other items.

Some lobbyists have complained that the gift ban has somehow distorted the process because they can't share a meal, or drink with legislators and that the ones with access are those who raise large amounts of money for campaigns and political committees.

Tallahassee-area legislators have maintained _ with little empirical data _ that the gift ban hurt the local economy.

Last year marked the first time since 2005 that an attempt to alter the gift ban statute made it through the process. The bill made a relatively minor tweak by making it clear that a local government that gives a legislator use of public property for a public purpose does not violate the gift ban if the local government has hired lobbyists.

But the passage of the bill included several asides from legislators that more substantial changes should be made to the law in the near future.

Bush may have blunted that momentum for now by citing the ban as a justification for a series of reforms he wants to push if elected president.

"I think the system is significantly better after that law was passed,'' Bush told a crowd gathered at Florida State University.

Now for certain it was an interesting crowd for Bush to make the remark since many of those in attendance are themselves lobbyists.

Some of the news accounts noted the connection that Bush himself has to lobbyists, including that his top adviser, Sally Bradshaw, is married to Paul Bradshaw, who founded one of Tallahassee's most successful lobbying firms Southern Strategy Group.

But by placing the gift ban into the orbit of his legacy Bush has created a rationale for top Republicans in the Legislature to support keeping it in largely intact for now. Many top GOP leaders are backing Bush for president.

It still may have been unlikely that the gift ban would have been revamped during the 2016 election year but Bush's decision to champion it may make that an even more remote possibility.

What Jeb Bush's friends (and others) want in a new budget

Latest round of inside the Tally bubble news....

Will he or won't he...fly away to Paris?

State legislators this week began a 20-day special session in an effort to pass a new state budget to avoid a possible partial government shutdown at the end of the month.

The timing of the session, however, is coming at a bad time for Gov. Rick Scott.

Scott has been planning to attend this year's Paris Air Show. It will be his 11th trade mission since he became governor - and the first one since he was re-elected last November.

But the air show is scheduled to run from June 15 to June 21 _ or exactly when the special session could be running into crunch time. (Not to mention that Scott will only have a handful of days to sign the budget into law once it is adopted.)

Last week during a meeting of Enterprise Florida a business leader told Scott that he was looking forward to joining him in Paris. Scott didn't say anything in response.

But when asked if the governor would actually leave town, the Scott administration said "it's a game day decision."

The rationale for the trip is that Florida is home to a lot of aviation and aerospace companies. But Scott _ who has had a limited presence during the special session so far _ could risk being out of the country at a critical moment for state government.

"I hope we can get him out of here in time," quipped Sen. Tom Lee, the Senate budget chief when asked whether or not the governor should attend the event.

What Jeb's allies want

While the fate of Florida's safety net hospitals, tax cuts and the fate of Scott's boost in school funding are the top items at play in the budget this year, there's plenty left in the $77-$80 billion spending plan that will be the target of lobbying in the next few days.

Take for example an appropriation in the House budget for $1.2 million to provide liability insurance to teachers.

This is not a new idea and had been in place while Gov. Jeb Bush was in office. The idea is for the state to help pay for coverage and take away a recruiting tool for the Florida Education Association - which right now is engaged in a lawsuit against Florida's tax credit scholarship program. (This program pays for roughly 70,000 kids to attend private schools around the state.)

Patricia Levesque, a former top policy aide to Bush, chief executive officer of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, executive director of the Foundation for Florida's Future, wrote an email to Senate budget chief Tom Lee strongly urging that the Senate set aside the money for the program.

In a March 31 email with the subject line - "couple of new budget issues for your radar" - Levesque wrote:

    "There is a policy moving in the House that would provide every full-time teacher in the state with liability insurance coverage to match the level provided by the teacher's union. As you know, one of the primary reasons teachers give for joining the union is the liability insurance coverage. Teachers are not told that most districts have coverage for their employees or that they could buy a person rider on their homeowner's policy for $100. Instead they join union and pay $650- $850/year in membership dues. The state can provide comparable liability insurance coverage for only $5-6 per teacher ($1.2 million).

You might remember that we had this policy in place for a few years (2001-2006). It took a couple years for the information to get down to teachers - it wasn't until year 3 of the state-provided insurance that insurance cards were actually sent to the teachers before the  start of the school year. But as soon as that occurred, the union immediately began working to repeal it. We believe there was a significant hit to membership that year. We think this policy is important to show teachers the state supports them, while giving them peace of mind and allowing them to choose whether or not they want to save their membership dues."

Bush _ who will announce his candidacy for president on June 15 _  left the foundations that he started ahead of his active consideration of the Republican nomination.

But this is a reminder of the long-running battle that Bush and his allies have waged against the state's teacher union (which helped boost the candidacy of Bill McBride, the Democratic nominee for governor who challenged Bush in 2002.)

Big money, big contracts also at stake

Another long-running battle at stake in this year's special session?

Florida's law-enforcement radio contract.

The ongoing tug-of-war over the contract, which now belongs to Florida-based Harris Corp., has been documented over the last couple of years. Part of the debate has been whether to move ahead and begin procurement now for a new contract in advance of the 2021 expiration of the existing one.

But Rep. Ritch Workman, the powerful Rules Committee chairman (and who is missing the first part of the session because he's out of the country), wrote to the Department of Management Services late last month to make the case for his hometown company.

Workman told DMS that Harris would upgrade the existing network to a new type of technology for the radios under its existing contract "at no additional cost." This would obviate the need to award a 19-year contract that could cost nearly $1 billion to fully implement.

Download Workman Request

The catch is that the state would have to buy the additional radios needed to run on this system. That would be a $84 million cost according to estimates that Harris provided to DMS.

DMS Secretary Chad Poppell in his response to Workman agreed that "savings to the state may exist." But he added he looked forward to "productive discussions" with the Legislature to fund it. He also said it would require a substantial technical undertaking to fully evaluate the proposal. Poppell also said that DMS would likely have to hire additional employees in order to oversee the project.

Download Response Letter

One of Harris's main competitors for the new contract, however, has a slightly different viewpoint on the proposal.

A project manager for Motorola Solutions wrote Poppell and said the proposal "amounts to a tactic to bypass the state's competitive bidding laws."

"If the state were to implement this proposal as written, it could become a very costly mistake,'' wrote Jay Malpass, strategic project manager for Motorola Solutions.

The letter contends that Harris' proposal would allow it to get a head start on other vendors in advance of the new contract.

"We want to be clear that it is our opinion that if the state proceeds with the accepting the Harris proposal, it will create an anti-competitive environment in which legitimate vendors would not be in a position to offer what will be a better, more comprehensive and cost effective solution to the state."

As Marc Caputo with Politico noted this morning on the same subject: The contracting battle should be closely watched because those backing Harris are friends, allies and big time fundraisers of Gov. Rick Scott. The Harris roster of lobbyists includes Brian Ballard and the rest of Ballard Partners as well as long-time Scott pal Billy Rubin and other lobbyists in The Rubin Group including former top Scott aide Chris Finkbeiner.

Motorola is represented by Southern Strategy Group - the deeply-connected well-heeled firm formed by Paul Bradshaw, attorney, lobbyist, and who been in close contact with many top GOP politicians in the state. Bradshaw's wife, Sally Bradshaw, is a former chief of staff for Jeb Bush and will likely have a substantial role in helping him run for president.

SSG's long-roster of lobbyists also includes many former top officials in state government during the last two decades.