Daily Clips for July 30, 2012

PROGRESS FLORIDA IN THE NEWS

Report: Among Florida Lawmakers, ALEC’s Influence Runs Deep
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
The report chronicles all the ways in which the American Legislative Exchange Council, also known as ALEC, has influenced public policy in the GOP-led Florida Legislature. Compiled by Progress Florida, Florida Watch, People For the American Way, Center For Media and Democracy and Common Cause, the report comes as state legislators from all over the country — including many from Florida — gather in Salt Lake City to attend the group’s annual conference.

FEATURED STORIES

Republican leaders steer millions to hand-picked candidates
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald
Two leading Republican Florida lawmakers hold an outsized influence over which party legislative candidates will get the fundraising advantage in next month's primary election, a testament to the power of incumbency despite a new redistricting law designed to weaken that clout.

Committees outspend candidates 3-to-1 in latest campaign reports
By James Call
Florida Current
Political spending by committees continues to dwarf spending by candidates, according to campaign finance reports released Friday.

Tab for taxpayers in suits over Scott-backed laws hefty and growing
By Kathleen Haughney
Orlando Sentinel
Lawsuits over major legislation championed by Gov. Rick Scott more than a year ago are still working their way through the courts, and the legal bills for Florida's taxpayers continue to mount.

Bondi as VP? Speculation rising, but experts say no
Staff Report
Tampa Tribune
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is the latest name to emerge from the pool of rumored contenders for the Republican vice presidential slot, but experts consider her a long shot.

Conservative Duval County in the midst of transition
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
If ever there's a place to see if Democratic enthusiasm for Barack Obama in 2012 matches that of 2008, it's Duval County.

Democrat Rep. Corrine Brown sues over early voting changes
By Steve Bousquet
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Days before early voting begins in Florida, a Democratic member of Congress wants a federal court to block the state from what she calls a racially motivated reduction in the days of early voting.

EDITORIAL CARTOON OF THE WEEK

By Andy Marlette
Pensacola News Journal

FLORIDA POLITICS

Crist has Greer problem if he runs again for governor
By Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
It's obvious that former Gov. Charlie Crist is trying to launch a political second-coming as a Democratic candidate for governor in 2014, with his recent media foray decrying Florida's current Republican leadership for its voter purge.

Ethics panel dismisses 2010 claim about Rubio
By Alex Leary
Tampa Bay Times
The Florida Commission on Ethics dismissed a long lingering complaint against U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio on Friday, clearing him of wrongdoing in questions surrounding his use of a state GOP-issued credit card.

Plane carrying Rubio makes emergency landing in NM
Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
An airport official says a small plane carrying U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and his wife made an emergency landing in Albuquerque.

Sansom sues state for legal bills
By Brandon Larrabee
News Service of Florida
Former House Speaker Ray Sansom is suing the state, saying he should be reimbursed for the costs of defending himself against corruption charges that were eventually dropped.

Some Florida lawmakers see wealth rise while in office
By Brittany Alana Davis
Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Public office has been good to the bottom line of many state lawmakers, for some much more than others, two new analyses of publicly available financial disclosure forms show.

IRS targets, slaps liens on Rep. Daphne Campbell
By Michael Sallah and Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
Already facing a Florida Medicaid fraud probe, state Rep. Daphne Campbell is being investigated by federal agents who are tracing hundreds of thousands of dollars through bank accounts tied to a web of family healthcare businesses, The Miami Herald has learned.

As Hialeah absentee-ballot probe continues, voter regrets accepting help
By Melissa Sanchez and Enrique Flor
Miami Herald
Matilde Galindo, who is 75 and illiterate, has no clue who she voted for last week.

POLITICAL RACES

Obama borrows campaign tactics from Bush
By Marc Caputo
Miami Herald
The embattled incumbent who’s better at campaigning than governing faces a tough challenge from the Massachusetts flip-flopper who comes across as less-likable.

Mitt Romney: Too Wimpy for the White House?
By Michael Tomasky
The Daily Beast
It should be the easiest thing in the world for a presidential nominee: a trip to England.

GOP rivals chafe at Mack’s low-key, no-debate U.S. Senate campaign
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
Related: Nelson says he’s taking primary seriously, but looking ahead to Nov. 6 race
Florida Republicans may be ready to bank on history as they try to make some of their own and send two GOP senators to Washington for the first time since 1875.

GOP finds big spenders in legislative battles
By Aaron Deslatte and David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
Republicans and their interest-group allies are building a monumental cash advantage this election season despite Democratic hopes that redrawn districts could help restore at least some respectability in the GOP-dominated Florida Legislature.

Coalition to March on the RNC making final preparations for Republican convention protest
By Janelle Irwin
WMNF Tampa
A nationwide coalition of political groups is expecting 5,000 protesters to march on the first day of the Republican National Convention one month from today.

RNC 'Romneyville' camp faces legal review
By Ray Reyes
Tampa Tribune
A tentative truce has been reached between city zoning officials and a group of protesters camping out on a commercial lot in downtown Tampa.

BALLOT INITIATIVES

Time running out for sick-days initiative
By Mark Schlueb and David Damron
Orlando Sentinel
A coalition of workers' advocates is fast approaching the number of signatures needed for a ballot measure requiring businesses to provide sick time for their workers — but it may not be fast enough.

ENVIRONMENT AND ENERGY

Audubon Florida files legal challenge against sugar farms' permits
By Bruce Ritchie
Florida Current
Audubon Florida says an Everglades restoration plan proposed by the state and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month needs to require sugar farmers to clean up their pollution discharges.

Joining Hands across the Sand: Peaceful offshore drilling protest set for Aug. 4
By Molly Mosher
The Walton Sun
At noon on August fourth, people around the world will gather at Hands Across the Sand events to take hands and ask local, national and international leaders for “clean energy now.”

Growers: Act now to fight greening, save citrus crop
By Ludmilla Lelis
Orlando Sentinel
The battle against the bug-borne bacteria known ascitrus greening — the greatest threat to Florida's valuable citrus crop — is taking on a fresh sense of urgency with a bill sponsored by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson that would pour millions of dollars more into the fight.

LGBT

Chick-fil-A sandwiches become a political symbol after president voices objection to gay marriage
By Bill Barrow
Associated Press
All of a sudden, biting into a fried chicken sandwich has become a political statement.

St. Petersburg domestic registry starts Wednesday
By Stefanie Fogel
WTSP Tampa Bay
Starting Wednesday, gay and lesbian couples in St. Petersburg can register their domestic partnerships with the city clerk's office.

EDUCATION

High number of Florida high school grads needing remedial college classes costing state millions
By Allison Ross
Palm Beach Post
A high school diploma doese not mean the end of high school classes for nearly two out of every five Palm Beach County students who go on to higher education at a public Florida institution.

Ed Commissioner Slips and Slides
By Glenn Marston
Lakeland Ledger
A pair of appearances in Polk County on Monday proved Florida Education Commissioner Gerard Robinson to be politically slick.

Test central
By Brad Rogers
Ocala Star-Banner
There is a growing consensus among policy-makers and the public that Florida needs to re-evaluate FCAT’s dominance in measuring our students, teachers and schools.

State 'Online U' would be innovative, but educators uneasy
By Donna Koehn
Tampa Tribune
Florida, not known as a higher-education innovator, nevertheless might become the first state in the nation to open an all-online public university.

JOBS, BUDGET, AND ECONOMY

How accurate are state job-placement numbers?
By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel
The news release last week hit all the right notes for a governor who has staked his reputation on job creation.

Citizens wants to raise rates 10 percent in 2013
By Toluse Olorunnipa
Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee Bureau
The board of Citizens Property Insurance Corp. voted Friday to raise rates by a statewide average of 10.2 percent, adding $250 million in new insurance costs for policyholders already burdened by reinspections, higher deductibles and reduced coverage.

Florida's fraud watchdog muzzled
Editorial
Tampa Bay Times
Even as Florida was leading the nation in mortgage fraud, Tom Grady thought it wise to close half the state's regional offices charged with investigating the mortgage business.

HEALTH AND SENIORS

After horrific abuse documented at Hardee Co brain injury facility, consumer group demands investigation
By Adam C. Smith
Tampa Bay Times
Walter Dartland,executive director of the Consumer Federation of the Southeast, is calling on  state and federal authorities to immediately send aprotective services team to Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation (FINR) in Hardee County after Bloomberg News detailed a dangerous a pattern ofabuse and neglect of residents there.

Story of Abuse at Brain-Injury Center Demands Attention, Action
By Rosemary Goudreau
Florida Voices
It is impossible to look at the pages-long list of abuse allegations from a Central Florida facility for people with brain injuries and not wonder how the Florida Institute for Neurologic Rehabilitation is allowed to remain open.

ALF task force includes owner of home fined for neglect
By Michael Sallah and Carol Marbin Miller
Miami Herald
Related: Stacked task force useless on ALF reform
Rushed to the emergency room, the elderly woman was clad in a filthy hospital gown, covered with head lice, scabies on her face, feces caked under her fingernails — and a pressure sore on her heel.

State sends TB patients to $35-a-night Jacksonville motel
By Pat Beall
Palm Beach Post
The low-rent coral and green motel on the outskirts of downtown doesn’t look like a haven for tuberculosis patients.

CIVIL RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL ISSUES

State Not Likely to Change Gun Laws
By Lloyd Dunkelberger
Lakeland Ledger
Florida lawmakers are not likely to make any dramatic changes in the state's gun laws in the wake of the Colorado movie theater massacre that left 12 dead and dozens wounded this month.

JUSTICE AND THE COURTS

Court staff blocks subpoenas in case involving justices
By John Kennedy
Palm Beach Post
A lawsuit aimed at barring three Florida Supreme Court justices from the ballot this fall has taken another strange twist.

Teen killers such as Nicholas Lindsey now have a chance to get sentences reduced
By Curtis Krueger
Tampa Bay Times
After teenager Nicholas Lindsey was convicted of murdering a St. Petersburg police officer, his future seemed dismal yet clear: life in prison, no possibility of parole.