Posts Tagged ‘florida’
Republican Wins Special Election in Florida
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 01:46 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 14 April 2010 01:17
From The Jacksonville Observer:
Gaetz defeated Democrat Jan Fernald, although local elections officials have said the election may not be officially certified for 12 days. The House has the authority to swear him in based on unofficial results, however. In a release late Tuesday the Republican State Leadership Committee said Gaetz’ election was the 51st GOP win in a special election since the 2008 election, and Republican Party Chairman John Thrasher in a separate statement welcomed Gaetz to the Legislature.
Tags: florida | Posted under State Legislature News | No Comments
Florida: Majority Support ObamaCare Lawsuit
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 01:58 Written by rslcpol Monday, 5 April 2010 01:39
From SunSentinel.com:
Florida Democrats haven’t made much political headway with their attacks on Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum for joining a dozen state AGs in a lawsuit on the constitutionality of ObamaCare. In fact, just the opposite is occurring.
A recent Mason-Dixon poll has 51 percent of Floridians supporting McCollum’s court challenge, while only 39 percent oppose it. Plus, the poll has McCollum leading Democrat Alex Sink in the gubernatorial race by 49 percent to 34 percent. In the last poll, McCollum led Sink, the state’s chief financial officer, by just 6 percentage points.
The attorney generals’ challenge revolves around the10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” The AGs claim that ObamaCare is an illegal assumption of power by the federal government prohibited by the amendment.
Tags: florida | Posted under Attorney General News | No Comments
FL: Republican Attorney General Leads Democrat by 15 in Governor’s Race
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 02:07 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 30 March 2010 01:08
From OrlandoSentinel.com:
Republican Bill McCollum’s relentless criticism of a federal health-care reform bill and his willingness to sue to block it appear to be paying dividends with Florida voters.
The attorney general and leading GOP candidate for governor has moved out to a double-digit advantage over Democrat Alex Sink since last June, garnering an edge of 49 percentage points to 34 percentage points in the latest Mason-Dixon poll released Monday.
Last June, the lead for McCollum, a 20-year Congressman and three-time statewide candidate with far higher name recognition than Sink, was just 6 points, fanning Democratic exuberance that the party had its best shot in decades at retaking the Governor’s Mansion.
Tags: florida | Posted under Attorney General News | No Comments
Florida AG Files Challenge to Health Care Bill
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 02:17 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 23 March 2010 02:02
From South Florida Business Journal:
As promised, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum on Tuesday filed a lawsuit, alleging that the health care reform law signed by President Barack Obama is unconstitutional.
“This lawsuit should put the federal government on notice that Florida will not permit the constitutional rights of our citizens and the sovereignty of our state to be ignored or disregarded,” McCollum said in a news release.
Attorneys general from South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Washington, Idaho and South Dakota joined him.
McCollum said the requirement that individuals purchase health care insurance is unconstitutional.
Tags: florida | Posted under Attorney General News | No Comments
Florida Begins Legislative Session
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 02:49 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 2 March 2010 02:07
From PostOnPolitics.com:
The 60-day 2010 legislative session began with the usual pageantry as Senators, their families, Gov. Charlie Crist and the Florida Cabinet and the Florida Supreme Court crowded into the Senate chambers for Senate President Jeff Atwater’s opening day speech.
The chamber was filled with opening-day flowers, one of the only exemptions in the gift ban law barring lawmakers from accepting presents of any kind, including food.
Among the guests attending this morning: Linda King, widow of the late Sen. Jim King, the Jacksonville Republican who died earlier in July after a bout with pancreatic cancer and who once served as Senate President.
Tags: florida | Posted under State Legislature News | No Comments
FL: State Lawmakers Tackling Hot-button topics
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 02:50 Written by rslcpol Monday, 1 March 2010 02:14
From TCPalm.com:
State lawmakers are expected to further tighten the purse strings on the state’s spending as they revisit a number of issues that were left unresolved last year when they begin their 60-day regular session Tuesday.
Even with federal stimulus dollars saved from last year, the next fiscal year’s budget is projected to have $3.2 billion fewer dollars coming in than the revenue expected in the current year’s budget that ends June 30.
Tags: florida | Posted under State Legislature News | No Comments
FL: Democrats on the Defense
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 03:42 Written by rslcpol Monday, 1 February 2010 03:12
From TheLedger.com:
On the eve of the most important legislative elections in 10 years it is pretty well agreed that Democrats will not win a majority of seats in the Florida House. That will give the Republican leadership control over how the boundaries of legislative districts are drawn in two years.
But Democrats, after years of fumbling, have found they can play defense if the team sticks together.
After each decennial census, state legislatures redraw the boundaries of congressional seats and their own districts to reflect equal numbers of residents.
Tags: florida | Posted under Blog | No Comments
Florida Lawmakers Focus on Economy
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 03:47 Written by rslcpol Thursday, 28 January 2010 02:49
From news-journalonline.com:
As Florida politicians get ready for this year’s legislative session and elections, they are focused on a well-worn message: It’s the economy, stupid.
Top state leaders and candidates paraded in front of journalists Wednesday at the Capitol to vow that their priority in 2010 will be fixing the economy and creating jobs.
“It all comes down to jobs — jobs, jobs, jobs,” said state Sen. Paula Dockery, a Lakeland Republican who is running for governor.
Tags: florida | Posted under State Legislature News | No Comments
Florida AG Has Solid Lead over Democrat in Governor Race
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 03:50 Written by rslcpol Wednesday, 27 January 2010 02:12
From Tallahassee.com:
Attorney General Bill McCollum, the Republican gubernatorial hopeful, appears to be increasing his lead over his Democratic rival, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, 41-31, according to the latest poll released this morning.
Quinnipiac University pollsters warn, however, that McCollum, a former congressman, has been on the political stage a lot longer than Sink and that both are relatively unknown. The poll shows that in the race, 25 percent of voters are still undecided.
The poll also shows by a 49-42 percent margin, voters approve of McCollum’s plan to sue to block part of President Barack Obama’s national health care reform that would require everyone to buy insurance.
Tags: florida | Posted under Attorney General News | No Comments
FL: 2 redistricting amendments go on Fla. ballot
Last Updated on Wednesday, 29 September 2010 03:50 Written by rslcpol Tuesday, 26 January 2010 02:55
Crossposted on RSLC.com/redistricting:
From the Associated Press:
The amendments as well would require maps to follow existing city, county and geographical boundaries where feasible.The proposals have drawn opposition from state and federal lawmakers of both major parties who say they would reduce minority representation and result in turning redistricting over to the courts.
The critics include U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown, a Democrat, and Mario Diaz-Balart, a Republican, who each appeared before a joint meeting of state House and Senate reapportionment committees last week.
Brown told the lawmakers it’s not possible to “take politics out of politics” and that she’s afraid the proposals would turn the clock back to before 1992 when she was one of the first blacks elected to Congress from Florida in 129 years.
Brown represents the 3rd Congressional District that snakes more than 100 miles from Jacksonville, where she lives, to Orange County to pick up enough black voters to form a majority.
Diaz-Balart, a Cuban-American from Miami, represents the 25th District, which includes a large Hispanic base on the east coast but stretches across the southern end of Florida’s peninsula to the west coast.
The proposals put minority districts at risk through “standards that are conflicting,” Diaz-Balart said.
Tags: florida | Posted under Blog | No Comments