Monday, March 1, 2010
Tea Partiers on 'Alert' as Democrats Lay Groundwork for Health Care Passage
From: FoxNews.com
Democrats appear to be gambling that a perceived lull in Tea Party activism, combined with an eight-month window to the November midterm election, is going to buy them enough time to muster the simple majorities they need in the Senate and House to give President Obama at least partial victory in his push to remake the nation's health care system.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Obama will have a proposal on the table "in a matter of days."
"Time is up," she said in an interview Sunday.
But conservative activists, particularly the Tea Party groups, are gearing up for a fight to the last vote, even if political judgment day may seem far off.
"Health care is right now our first priority because we know ... it's so close to passing, and if we look away for one second, it will," said Shelby Blakely, a leader with Tea Party Patriots and executive director of its media arm, New Patriot Journal.
The all-fronts push for health care reform by top Democrats in Washington is a sharp turnaround from late January, when President Obama declared in his State of the Union address that "jobs must be our number-one focus in 2010" while burying the section on health care. But Blakely argued that Obama was "intentionally" playing down the issue to make the debate less toxic.
"I think they created the lull on purpose," she said. "Just because it's not front-and-center in the news cycle does not mean it's gone away."
The third Tea Party Express tour -- a road show of anti-tax, anti-spending activists -- is set to start March 27 in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's home turf of Nevada and wend its way toward Washington, holding rallies at dozens of stops along the way. More than 1,000 Tea Party rallies are planned nationwide for the April 15 tax day demonstration. Both the tour and the tax day rallies are expected to focus heavily on health care reform.
Blakely said April 15 is "the next big thing" in the health care reform battle, but that the Tea Party groups will be watching the debate carefully, ready to jump in with carefully applied pressure to key lawmakers.
Tea Party Express spokesman Levi Russell said the group, and the 400,000 people on its mailing list, will be on a "high degree of alert" in the coming weeks.
Pelosi, in an interview Sunday with ABC's "This Week," appeared to be trying to mollify the Tea Party movement by appealing to its anti-establishment instincts.
"We share some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role of special interest in Washington, D.C.," she said, adding that the Republican Party was "hijacking the good intentions" of those in the movement who "share some of our concerns" about special interests.
While Tea Party groups say they're no fans of a number of Republicans in Congress, it's highly unlikely they'd see a friend in the Democratic leadership team either.
Republicans say that if Democrats go through with plans to pass the health care reform bill without major revisions, they can kiss their majority goodbye.
"It is my belief that the Democrats will lose their majority in November if they ram this thing through without any bipartisan support," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., told Fox News on Monday.
But top Democrats are signaling that that may be the price to pay for a historic piece of legislation that could fundamentally reshape the health care industry.
Asked Sunday what she says to members afraid of losing their seats in November, Pelosi said, "We're not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress. We're here to do the job for the American people."
Obama concluded his daylong White House summit on health care reform Thursday by telling Republicans that his party may have to "go ahead and make some decisions," and if so, "then, that's what elections are for."
Article Weblink:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/01/tea-partiers-alert-democrats-lay-groundwork-health-care-passage/
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that Obama will have a proposal on the table "in a matter of days."
"Time is up," she said in an interview Sunday.
But conservative activists, particularly the Tea Party groups, are gearing up for a fight to the last vote, even if political judgment day may seem far off.
"Health care is right now our first priority because we know ... it's so close to passing, and if we look away for one second, it will," said Shelby Blakely, a leader with Tea Party Patriots and executive director of its media arm, New Patriot Journal.
The all-fronts push for health care reform by top Democrats in Washington is a sharp turnaround from late January, when President Obama declared in his State of the Union address that "jobs must be our number-one focus in 2010" while burying the section on health care. But Blakely argued that Obama was "intentionally" playing down the issue to make the debate less toxic.
"I think they created the lull on purpose," she said. "Just because it's not front-and-center in the news cycle does not mean it's gone away."
The third Tea Party Express tour -- a road show of anti-tax, anti-spending activists -- is set to start March 27 in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's home turf of Nevada and wend its way toward Washington, holding rallies at dozens of stops along the way. More than 1,000 Tea Party rallies are planned nationwide for the April 15 tax day demonstration. Both the tour and the tax day rallies are expected to focus heavily on health care reform.
Blakely said April 15 is "the next big thing" in the health care reform battle, but that the Tea Party groups will be watching the debate carefully, ready to jump in with carefully applied pressure to key lawmakers.
Tea Party Express spokesman Levi Russell said the group, and the 400,000 people on its mailing list, will be on a "high degree of alert" in the coming weeks.
Pelosi, in an interview Sunday with ABC's "This Week," appeared to be trying to mollify the Tea Party movement by appealing to its anti-establishment instincts.
"We share some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role of special interest in Washington, D.C.," she said, adding that the Republican Party was "hijacking the good intentions" of those in the movement who "share some of our concerns" about special interests.
While Tea Party groups say they're no fans of a number of Republicans in Congress, it's highly unlikely they'd see a friend in the Democratic leadership team either.
Republicans say that if Democrats go through with plans to pass the health care reform bill without major revisions, they can kiss their majority goodbye.
"It is my belief that the Democrats will lose their majority in November if they ram this thing through without any bipartisan support," House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, R-Va., told Fox News on Monday.
But top Democrats are signaling that that may be the price to pay for a historic piece of legislation that could fundamentally reshape the health care industry.
Asked Sunday what she says to members afraid of losing their seats in November, Pelosi said, "We're not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress. We're here to do the job for the American people."
Obama concluded his daylong White House summit on health care reform Thursday by telling Republicans that his party may have to "go ahead and make some decisions," and if so, "then, that's what elections are for."
Article Weblink:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/01/tea-partiers-alert-democrats-lay-groundwork-health-care-passage/
CRIST SAYS HE WOULD NOT SCRAP DEMOCRAT HEALTH CARE REFORM
Miami, FL – U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio today issued the following statement in light of Governor Charlie Crist’s declared position that he would not scrap the current Democrat health care reform, as reported by the Palm Beach Post (article below):“Once again, Charlie Crist has shown why Floridians can't trust him to go to Washington and stand up to the misguided agenda of President Obama and Congressional Democrats. At a time when Americans are pushing back against the government takeover of health care and calling for a complete reset to this flawed bill, Charlie Crist says he would not scrap it. Even more problematic, he claims he would approach health care in the same way he handled the stimulus. Floridians know all too well the soaring debt and expansion of government that resulted from that misguided approach.
“Make no mistake, the current health care proposal is a deeply flawed plan that should be scrapped entirely in favor of a truly bipartisan approach that won't sacrifice the things that have made our health system the best in the world."
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Palm Beach Post
http://www.postonpolitics.com/2010/02/crist-says-he-would-not-scrap-dem-health-care-reform-cant-identify-part-worth-keeping/
By Michael C. Bender
Saturday, 2/27/2010
Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate, told The Palm Beach Post editorial board on Friday that, unlike many Republicans in Washington, he didn’t think President Obama should scrap his health care reform proposal:
“There may be parts of it that you don’t have to scrap. There are three parts of it that I would like to see scrapped: It would raise taxes significantly, it would raise rates significantly and it would take half-a-trillion dollars out of Medicare.
“I think the real issue here, as it relates to health care, is that people want it to not cost so much and people want to have access to it. I think there is a consensus of agreement that the health care that is delivered in America is good. But it’s not easy to get it and it’s too expensive when you do get it.”
Asked if there were any parts of the bill he liked, Crist said:
“I don’t think a whole lot. Watching the discussion yesterday (Thursday) you get a chance to sort of see more of it be ferreted out. You know, I’m the kind of guy … I’m pragmatic. The stimulus is a great example. We needed the money. Every other Republican governor took it, too. I was just maybe a little more honest and straight forward about it. Well, shame on me for being honest. But, you know, as it relates to health care, if there are good ideas, I’m willing to look at them. And I would take that same approach to any issue in Washington.”
Asked again if there were any parts he liked he said:
“Not at present. No.”
Not one good idea?
“There may be. There may be. You know, I’m pretty focused on Florida right now. I mean, after the session I’ll be more focused on the issues in Washington. But I’ve got to do my first job first.”
A Sit Down With Osceola County Commissioner Chairman Fred Hawkins Jr.
By: Jeremy Fetzer (2/25/2010, 1:45 p.m.)After his first year in office, newly elected County Commissioner Chairman Fred Hawkins Jr. understands the importance of hard decision making to address critical issues facing Osceola County comes at a price.
Fred Hawkins Jr. was elected as Osceola Commissioner District 5 in 2008 and has had a tough first year facing major policy decision regarding the county budget, the increase of county millage rates and fire fees, and the controversial vote by the Florida State legislature regarding the commuter rail system known as SunRail.
Through all these tough decisions, Chairman Hawkins realizes his conservative and free market principles which he holds dearly to his heart will help Osceola County find real, long term solutions to job creation here locally and will be able to limit the tax burdens on each family in the county.
Chairman Hawkins’ top priority for 2010 is not to increase taxes, focusing on economic development to create long term employment opportunity for county residents, and focusing on creating a smaller/smarter local government.
During our conversation I asked Chairman Hawkins about the unanimous vote to increase millage rates and fire fees which he stated, “He did not feel if he voted against the increase it would have changed the outcome but he understands it was the wrong solution and he still gets heartburn over it”. He went on to say he is not going to vote on a fire fee increase the next time around until the fire budget has been thoroughly reviewed and all options have been put on the table first. He stated he would rather cut back services than increase the financial burdens on families during these hard economic times.
As for the controversial SunRail legislation which Osceola County residents have a $121 million dollar bill, he stated while the County Board of Commissioners supports mass transit the County cost for the system is unaffordable and voted against the final resolution because of the price tag. While the Florida Department of Transportation is working with the county to lower some of the cost, Chairman Hawkins still believes the county just can’t afford the SunRail system at this time.
Chairman Hawkins went on to say, “If it is in the yellow pages, government should not be doing it!” He believes the government’s role is to provide the basic services to the community which they cannot provide for themselves and doesn’t mind if people say he is to the right wing Commissioner…
When looking back at the first year in office I asked Chairman Hawkins what inspired him to run for office? He stated, “His 6 year old daughter”. He said when he looks around Osceola County and thinks about every father’s dream of having their child go to the best college, get the best degree, and have the opportunity to fulfill the American dream he believed those opportunities where not available here in Osceola County. He said his goal and reason for going into public service is to rebuild the trust with the citizens of Osceola County and to provide an opportunity for economic development so one day his and everyone’s children can come home to Osceola County to build the American dream.
Monday, February 22, 2010
White House: If GOP Filibusters, We’ll Pass Health Reform Via Reconciliation
From: Greg Sargent's blogThe game of chicken commenceth — right now.
In the course of unveiling Obama’s new health reform proposal on a conference call with reporters this morning, White House advisers made it clearer than ever before: If the GOP filibusters health reform, Dems will move forward on their own and pass it via reconciliation.
The assertion, which is likely to spark an angry response from GOP leaders, ups the stakes in advance of the summit by essentially daring Republicans to try to block reform.
“The President expects and believes the American people deserve an up or down vote on health reform,” White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said on the call.
Pfeiffer said no decision had been made how to proceed, pending the outcome of the summit. But he added that Obama’s proposal is designed to have “maximum flexibility to ensure that we can get an up or down vote if the opposition decides to take the extraordinary step of filibustering health reform.”
Translation: If the GOP doesn’t cooperate with us in any meaningful sense, we’re moving forward on our own.
Also on the call, White House advisers detailed Obama’s new proposal, which was just posted on the White House web site, and discussed the ways it seeks a compromise between the Senate and House proposals. Among the details:
* As expected, the plan has no public option — but this does not preclude a reconciliation vote on the public option later.
* The proposal boosts the threshold for the “Cadillac” tax on the most expensive health plans from $23,000 for a family plan to $27,500. That’s actually a better deal than some labor officials were expecting, though some House Dems will still be angry that the tax is being included at all.
* The proposal also preserves the Senate bill’s state-based exchanges, and does not have a national exchange, as the House bill did.
* However, House Dems will be cheered by the fact that Obama’s compromise closes the Medicare prescription drug “donut hole” coverage gap.
* Also, the bill nixes Ben Nelson’s Nebraska deal and boosts Federal financing for Medicaid expansion in all states.
* And finally, as expected, Obama’s proposal creates a Federal panel to monitor and block exorbitant rate hikes and other unfair practices by the insurance industry.
One final note: On the call, Pfeiffer was careful to note that the proposal is not the product of an agreement between the House and Senate, but rather is “the President’s bill.” This is meant to preclude GOP efforts to cast the proposal as the product of a backroom deal. The lines are drawn.
**************************************
Update: Eric Cantor spokesman Brad Dayspring emails a response:
The Obama plan costs a trillion dollars, puts government in control of personal health decisions, and allows the government to set prices in the private market. That mirrors the Pelosi/Reid plans that have already been soundly rejected by the bipartisan majority of Americans.
Web Link: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/white-house-if-gop-filibusters-well-pass-health-reform-via-reconciliation/
RPOF Elects John Thrasher
By: Aaron Deslatte
Orlando Sentinel
After weeks of angst over lavish spending and secret deals, Florida Republicans turned to a GOP stalwart Saturday to help lift the cloud of financial scandal hanging over the party.
State Sen. John Thrasher, a 66-year-old former House speaker from Clay County who helped build the party to prominence in the 1990s, was tapped to serve the remaining 11 months of ousted Chairman Jim Greer's term — and right a party rocked by subpar fundraising, intra-party bickering and allegations of financial mismanagement.
Thrasher captured 135 votes out of the 222 eligible on the Republican Party of Florida's executive board, compared with 85 votes cast for his toughest challenger, Broward National Committeewoman Sharon Day, and two votes for Osceola committeeman Mark Cross.
After the vote at a special meeting at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Thrasher and GOP leaders pledged to launch a "forensic audit" immediately to unearth whether any illegal or improper spending and enrichment occurred within the state party.
"I hope that it's as clean as a whistle, but we're going to find out," Thrasher told the GOP executive board after his election.
Most of those questions have swirled around Greer, who appeared at the Rosen Centre to preside over the election but refused to answer any questions.
Greer was forced to resign in January amid complaints about party finances and rumors of his high-flying spending.
But the situation exploded after the Orlando Sentinel reported two weeks ago that Greer had inked a secret fundraising contract with his 30-year-old executive director, Delmar Johnson, that boosted Johnson's total pay last year to at least $408,000. Legislative leaders forced Johnson to resign after learning of the deal – which included a confidentiality clause to keep information from the party's own finance committee and major donors.
The news prompted Democrats and even some GOP leaders to call for outside legal reviews and possibly criminal probes into the financial dealings.
"Everything will be examined, whether that's credit cards, airplanes, questions about a contract," said Attorney General Bill McCollum, a GOP candidate for governor. "If there is any illegal behavior they discover, and I don't know if there will be, I stand ready to assist … in recommending that to the appropriate law enforcement agencies in our state."
Thrasher and party brass hoped to leave Saturday's election with a new sense of unity heading into what appears to be a promising election year for Republicans nationwide.
But the GOP clearly still has some baggage to handle first.
At its quarterly business meeting following Thrasher's election, Lee County GOP Chairman Gary Lee accused party general counsel Jason Gonzalez of telling him there was a secret severance agreement to keep paying Greer — then denying it in public last week.
"Gary, I just can't even believe you're suggesting that," Gonzalez said to Lee. "You asked me if there was an agreement, and I told you no agreement was reached."
Thrasher then said even if there were one, he wouldn't enforce it.
"The fact is Jim Greer is gone, and there's no commitment to provide him with anything further," Thrasher said. "If there were any agreements to that effect, I would not enforce them."
A few on the RPOF board were also irate that House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon and Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos had yanked close to $1 million from party coffers in the last month after Greer's resignation. The RPOF finished the month of January with $670,000 in cash on hand — a staggeringly low amount considering the party had $9.8 million in the bank heading into the 2006 election year.
When Treasurer Joel Pate was asked who approved the lawmakers' transfers, he said "As far as I know, it was Delmar Johnson."
"That was their money, and they have the authority to use it," Pate said.
Thrasher again jumped in to say he would get briefed on that soon and hoped the two powerful lawmakers could be convinced to give back the money, which they had raised for Republican campaigns and have deposited into a pair of political funds that they control.
"I'm hopeful our friends in the House and Senate will be willing to reconsider that," Thrasher said.
Thrasher will also have to rebuild bridges within the party at the grassroots level.
In the days leading up to the vote, Day had called Thrasher a Tallahassee insider who had known of Greer's woes and tried to cover them up. She said Thrasher's fundraising prowess — he'd help collect $1 million for the party in the weeks leading up the vote — was too much to overcome, and her supporters "heard it constantly" as they reached out to other committee members.
"We're in a tough place financially," she said. "And they played that hand very well — that fear factor."
But, Day said, she worries that once the legislative session opens, Thrasher will have to put his role as a fundraiser on hold. Lawmakers are prohibited from raising money while they are in session.
She also begged off a chance to throw her full confidence behind Thrasher. Asked if she was optimistic about the party's future, Day said, "I'm absolutely optimistic about our values and beliefs."
Thrasher will also have a chore winning over the grassroots activists that supported Day. To many, his election simply confirms their suspicion that party elders anointed Thrasher and that their desire for new blood wasn't taken seriously.
Greer's tenure, coupled with the same frustration helping fuel the Tea Party movement, has made many rank-and-file activists wary of anyone with ties to the "establishment."
Matt Nye, a Brevard Republican Executive Committee member and a Tea Party organizer, said Thrasher will have to reach out to Day supporters to demonstrate he understands the frustration at the local level.
"There's going to be a ton of resentment out there, especially among the people who aren't here today," Nye said. "They're going to see this as just more of the same."
A common complaint among county activists is that the GOP leadership is too quick to compromise conservative principles in the name of pragmatism.
"It's great to be united," Nye said, "but first you need something to be united behind."
Orange County GOP Chairman Lew Oliver said Thrasher can build confidence quickly if he immediately contacts local party members and adopts a series of policies to promote transparency at RPOF headquarters.
Both strategies, he said, are needed to "correct the errors of the previous administration."
In talking with Thrasher and the other chairman candidates, Oliver asked for a commitment that they would return his calls — something he said Greer didn't do.
"People here aren't different than anywhere else," Oliver said. "They want some attention. They want to feel like they have access to their chairman."
Bob Reid, a Day supporter from Putnam County, said despite his disappointment, he's ready to get behind Thrasher.
"As far as I'm concerned, once we leave here today, he's got the grassroots' support," Reid said. "We move on united."
Orlando SentinelAfter weeks of angst over lavish spending and secret deals, Florida Republicans turned to a GOP stalwart Saturday to help lift the cloud of financial scandal hanging over the party.
State Sen. John Thrasher, a 66-year-old former House speaker from Clay County who helped build the party to prominence in the 1990s, was tapped to serve the remaining 11 months of ousted Chairman Jim Greer's term — and right a party rocked by subpar fundraising, intra-party bickering and allegations of financial mismanagement.
Thrasher captured 135 votes out of the 222 eligible on the Republican Party of Florida's executive board, compared with 85 votes cast for his toughest challenger, Broward National Committeewoman Sharon Day, and two votes for Osceola committeeman Mark Cross.
After the vote at a special meeting at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Thrasher and GOP leaders pledged to launch a "forensic audit" immediately to unearth whether any illegal or improper spending and enrichment occurred within the state party.
"I hope that it's as clean as a whistle, but we're going to find out," Thrasher told the GOP executive board after his election.
Most of those questions have swirled around Greer, who appeared at the Rosen Centre to preside over the election but refused to answer any questions.
Greer was forced to resign in January amid complaints about party finances and rumors of his high-flying spending.
But the situation exploded after the Orlando Sentinel reported two weeks ago that Greer had inked a secret fundraising contract with his 30-year-old executive director, Delmar Johnson, that boosted Johnson's total pay last year to at least $408,000. Legislative leaders forced Johnson to resign after learning of the deal – which included a confidentiality clause to keep information from the party's own finance committee and major donors.
The news prompted Democrats and even some GOP leaders to call for outside legal reviews and possibly criminal probes into the financial dealings.
"Everything will be examined, whether that's credit cards, airplanes, questions about a contract," said Attorney General Bill McCollum, a GOP candidate for governor. "If there is any illegal behavior they discover, and I don't know if there will be, I stand ready to assist … in recommending that to the appropriate law enforcement agencies in our state."
Thrasher and party brass hoped to leave Saturday's election with a new sense of unity heading into what appears to be a promising election year for Republicans nationwide.
But the GOP clearly still has some baggage to handle first.
At its quarterly business meeting following Thrasher's election, Lee County GOP Chairman Gary Lee accused party general counsel Jason Gonzalez of telling him there was a secret severance agreement to keep paying Greer — then denying it in public last week.
"Gary, I just can't even believe you're suggesting that," Gonzalez said to Lee. "You asked me if there was an agreement, and I told you no agreement was reached."
Thrasher then said even if there were one, he wouldn't enforce it.
"The fact is Jim Greer is gone, and there's no commitment to provide him with anything further," Thrasher said. "If there were any agreements to that effect, I would not enforce them."
A few on the RPOF board were also irate that House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon and Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos had yanked close to $1 million from party coffers in the last month after Greer's resignation. The RPOF finished the month of January with $670,000 in cash on hand — a staggeringly low amount considering the party had $9.8 million in the bank heading into the 2006 election year.
When Treasurer Joel Pate was asked who approved the lawmakers' transfers, he said "As far as I know, it was Delmar Johnson."
"That was their money, and they have the authority to use it," Pate said.
Thrasher again jumped in to say he would get briefed on that soon and hoped the two powerful lawmakers could be convinced to give back the money, which they had raised for Republican campaigns and have deposited into a pair of political funds that they control.
"I'm hopeful our friends in the House and Senate will be willing to reconsider that," Thrasher said.
Thrasher will also have to rebuild bridges within the party at the grassroots level.
In the days leading up to the vote, Day had called Thrasher a Tallahassee insider who had known of Greer's woes and tried to cover them up. She said Thrasher's fundraising prowess — he'd help collect $1 million for the party in the weeks leading up the vote — was too much to overcome, and her supporters "heard it constantly" as they reached out to other committee members.
"We're in a tough place financially," she said. "And they played that hand very well — that fear factor."
But, Day said, she worries that once the legislative session opens, Thrasher will have to put his role as a fundraiser on hold. Lawmakers are prohibited from raising money while they are in session.
She also begged off a chance to throw her full confidence behind Thrasher. Asked if she was optimistic about the party's future, Day said, "I'm absolutely optimistic about our values and beliefs."
Thrasher will also have a chore winning over the grassroots activists that supported Day. To many, his election simply confirms their suspicion that party elders anointed Thrasher and that their desire for new blood wasn't taken seriously.
Greer's tenure, coupled with the same frustration helping fuel the Tea Party movement, has made many rank-and-file activists wary of anyone with ties to the "establishment."
Matt Nye, a Brevard Republican Executive Committee member and a Tea Party organizer, said Thrasher will have to reach out to Day supporters to demonstrate he understands the frustration at the local level.
"There's going to be a ton of resentment out there, especially among the people who aren't here today," Nye said. "They're going to see this as just more of the same."
A common complaint among county activists is that the GOP leadership is too quick to compromise conservative principles in the name of pragmatism.
"It's great to be united," Nye said, "but first you need something to be united behind."
Orange County GOP Chairman Lew Oliver said Thrasher can build confidence quickly if he immediately contacts local party members and adopts a series of policies to promote transparency at RPOF headquarters.
Both strategies, he said, are needed to "correct the errors of the previous administration."
In talking with Thrasher and the other chairman candidates, Oliver asked for a commitment that they would return his calls — something he said Greer didn't do.
"People here aren't different than anywhere else," Oliver said. "They want some attention. They want to feel like they have access to their chairman."
Bob Reid, a Day supporter from Putnam County, said despite his disappointment, he's ready to get behind Thrasher.
"As far as I'm concerned, once we leave here today, he's got the grassroots' support," Reid said. "We move on united."
Florida GOP gathers in Orlando to elect new chairman
By Aaron Deslatte and Jim Stratton, Orlando Sentinel
A month ago, Florida Republicans met in Orlando amid demands for a new party chairman, rumors of lavish spending and rising discontent among grass-roots activists.
In hindsight, it seems pretty tame.
Since January, the GOP has been rocked by a financial scandal that has stunned its members. Reports of private jets, five-star hotels and secret contracts have tainted the party, delighted Democrats and spurred calls for a criminal investigation.
And as the party meets todayin Orlando to replace ousted Chairman Jim Greer, the revelations threaten anyone tied to the party's establishment.
"There's a black-helicopter conspiracy out there with some people," said Jason Steele, chairman of the Brevard Republican Executive Committee. "It's like if you're an incumbent or had anything to with leadership, you're bad."
The tension has surfaced in e-mails from state Sen. John Thrasher and Broward County National Committeewoman Sharon Day, two candidates vying for Greer's job.
Day, a grass-roots favorite, blasted Thrasher when word leaked that Thrasher and others may have cut a deal with Greer to force him out. Thrasher, a consummate Tallahassee insider and ex-House speaker, called the accusations "outlandish." He said some party leaders spoke with Greer, but he was not involved.
Thrasher, tapped by elected officials to replace Greer, swiped at Day, writing that he would never step "into the gutter with those who would attack their fellow Republicans."
The exchange sets up a potentially explosive showdown at the Rosen Centre Hotel when GOP members meet to elect Day or Thrasher as party chief. Thrasher had twice as many publicly pledged votes among the 250 or so executive-committee members, and the backing of the governor, House speaker and Senate president, who appoint an additional 30 votes.
But as activists arrived in Orlando on Friday, the outcome wasn't certain.
A Thrasher win would put a well-connected operative in charge, but it would anger activists demanding new blood.
"People desperately want leaders who value principles over politics," said Matt Nye, a Day supporter and member of Brevard's executive committee. "The way this whole thing with Thrasher evolved smacks of how Jim Greer came to power."
Greer, a former Oviedo council member, has become the iconic "fat cat" to many grass-roots Republicans. Picked in 2006 by then Gov.-elect Charlie Crist to run the party, Greer inherited the keys to a fine-tuned political machine used to raising hoards of cash and winning big. He leaves the organization in a financial fog.
After the 2008 elections, the RPOF had just $785,000 in the bank, according to its annual audit. The party came out of the 2006 election year — in which it had a governor and U.S. Senate race — in much better shape, with nearly $1.7 million in cash.
Greer was angling for a national-leadership post or a congressional run but said Crist convinced him to stay. He continued to travel to national GOP events and hold fundraisers in far-flung locales.
In the first quarter of 2009, Greer filed reimbursement claims for $16,386 for hotels, flights and rental cars. He charged $10,176 to his party American Express card in the month period leading up to Crist's U.S. Senate announcement, buying meals at the Blue Fin on Broadway in New York, The Ritz-Carlton in Washington and Citrus Club in downtown Orlando.
Normally, a state party builds its war chest heading into a busy election year such as 2010. But while the RPOF raised $15.2 million last year in state and federal money, it burned through the cash almost as fast. It spent $14.4 million, finishing the year with $124,129 in its federal account and $466,978 in debts.
The full financial picture might not be known until the party files its annual audit next month. But based on the assets and liabilities the RPOF had on its books in 2008, campaign-finance reports suggest the party finished 2009 with a total of about $1.5 million in its federal and state accounts.
That was before House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R- Winter Park, and Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, yanked nearly $1 million from party coffers. For comparison, heading into the 2006 election year the RPOF had $9.8 million in the bank.
The numbers raised questions about Greer's management.
"Whether he did anything wrong or not, he had lost the confidence of a tremendous amount of elected officials and party leaders," said Ken Plante, a GOP lobbyist and former chief of staff to Gov. Jeb Bush.
Greer's support of Crist didn't help matters.
When Crist entered the Senate race, Greer angered Marco Rubio backers by trying to funnel national-party resources to Crist. Day, who serves as RNC secretary, blocked him. Meanwhile, Crist's Senate run hurt the RPOF because the governor was not available to raise state party money.
What few knew last summer was that Greer had turned fundraising over to 30-year-old Executive Director Delmar Johnson, a former Crist campaign staffer.
Johnson's secret contract would boost his total pay to at least $408,000 even as fundraising suffered. Johnson would charge about $1 million to his AmEx card on $3,000 meals, greens fees at Torrey Pines and charter jets. After Greer dramatically cut up his own card — as a display of fiscal restraint — Johnson charged things for him. The two were reimbursed for $106,000 in out-of-pocket expenses last year, the party's federal reports show.
As criticism mounted, Crist stuck by his chairman. Chris Kise, a former adviser to the governor, said Greer "abused" his position and "made himself a sycophant." Kise said Greer told the governor, "Don't listen to these people. They're your enemies."
Kise also took exception with the rationale Greer and Johnson used that to make money, you had to spend big money.
"If you spent in the corporate world like that, you would be fired."
A month ago, Florida Republicans met in Orlando amid demands for a new party chairman, rumors of lavish spending and rising discontent among grass-roots activists.
In hindsight, it seems pretty tame.
Since January, the GOP has been rocked by a financial scandal that has stunned its members. Reports of private jets, five-star hotels and secret contracts have tainted the party, delighted Democrats and spurred calls for a criminal investigation.
And as the party meets todayin Orlando to replace ousted Chairman Jim Greer, the revelations threaten anyone tied to the party's establishment.
"There's a black-helicopter conspiracy out there with some people," said Jason Steele, chairman of the Brevard Republican Executive Committee. "It's like if you're an incumbent or had anything to with leadership, you're bad."
The tension has surfaced in e-mails from state Sen. John Thrasher and Broward County National Committeewoman Sharon Day, two candidates vying for Greer's job.
Day, a grass-roots favorite, blasted Thrasher when word leaked that Thrasher and others may have cut a deal with Greer to force him out. Thrasher, a consummate Tallahassee insider and ex-House speaker, called the accusations "outlandish." He said some party leaders spoke with Greer, but he was not involved.
Thrasher, tapped by elected officials to replace Greer, swiped at Day, writing that he would never step "into the gutter with those who would attack their fellow Republicans."
The exchange sets up a potentially explosive showdown at the Rosen Centre Hotel when GOP members meet to elect Day or Thrasher as party chief. Thrasher had twice as many publicly pledged votes among the 250 or so executive-committee members, and the backing of the governor, House speaker and Senate president, who appoint an additional 30 votes.
But as activists arrived in Orlando on Friday, the outcome wasn't certain.
A Thrasher win would put a well-connected operative in charge, but it would anger activists demanding new blood.
"People desperately want leaders who value principles over politics," said Matt Nye, a Day supporter and member of Brevard's executive committee. "The way this whole thing with Thrasher evolved smacks of how Jim Greer came to power."
Greer, a former Oviedo council member, has become the iconic "fat cat" to many grass-roots Republicans. Picked in 2006 by then Gov.-elect Charlie Crist to run the party, Greer inherited the keys to a fine-tuned political machine used to raising hoards of cash and winning big. He leaves the organization in a financial fog.
After the 2008 elections, the RPOF had just $785,000 in the bank, according to its annual audit. The party came out of the 2006 election year — in which it had a governor and U.S. Senate race — in much better shape, with nearly $1.7 million in cash.
Greer was angling for a national-leadership post or a congressional run but said Crist convinced him to stay. He continued to travel to national GOP events and hold fundraisers in far-flung locales.
In the first quarter of 2009, Greer filed reimbursement claims for $16,386 for hotels, flights and rental cars. He charged $10,176 to his party American Express card in the month period leading up to Crist's U.S. Senate announcement, buying meals at the Blue Fin on Broadway in New York, The Ritz-Carlton in Washington and Citrus Club in downtown Orlando.
Normally, a state party builds its war chest heading into a busy election year such as 2010. But while the RPOF raised $15.2 million last year in state and federal money, it burned through the cash almost as fast. It spent $14.4 million, finishing the year with $124,129 in its federal account and $466,978 in debts.
The full financial picture might not be known until the party files its annual audit next month. But based on the assets and liabilities the RPOF had on its books in 2008, campaign-finance reports suggest the party finished 2009 with a total of about $1.5 million in its federal and state accounts.
That was before House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R- Winter Park, and Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, yanked nearly $1 million from party coffers. For comparison, heading into the 2006 election year the RPOF had $9.8 million in the bank.
The numbers raised questions about Greer's management.
"Whether he did anything wrong or not, he had lost the confidence of a tremendous amount of elected officials and party leaders," said Ken Plante, a GOP lobbyist and former chief of staff to Gov. Jeb Bush.
Greer's support of Crist didn't help matters.
When Crist entered the Senate race, Greer angered Marco Rubio backers by trying to funnel national-party resources to Crist. Day, who serves as RNC secretary, blocked him. Meanwhile, Crist's Senate run hurt the RPOF because the governor was not available to raise state party money.
What few knew last summer was that Greer had turned fundraising over to 30-year-old Executive Director Delmar Johnson, a former Crist campaign staffer.
Johnson's secret contract would boost his total pay to at least $408,000 even as fundraising suffered. Johnson would charge about $1 million to his AmEx card on $3,000 meals, greens fees at Torrey Pines and charter jets. After Greer dramatically cut up his own card — as a display of fiscal restraint — Johnson charged things for him. The two were reimbursed for $106,000 in out-of-pocket expenses last year, the party's federal reports show.
As criticism mounted, Crist stuck by his chairman. Chris Kise, a former adviser to the governor, said Greer "abused" his position and "made himself a sycophant." Kise said Greer told the governor, "Don't listen to these people. They're your enemies."
Kise also took exception with the rationale Greer and Johnson used that to make money, you had to spend big money.
"If you spent in the corporate world like that, you would be fired."
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Enemy Play Book
By James Marshal, CommentaryFor most, watching the NFL Super Bowl can be quite exciting, especially when the fourth quarter begins to wind-up with the score still close enough to provide a real nail biter ending. Fun indeed! However, this type of situation isn't nearly as much fun for us politicos where it's much more exciting to actually see the other side be completely routed in a landslide victory. Of course, a Super Bowl game like that would have people heading home early or turning the TV channel to catch a Sunday movie. Not as much fun especially for those companies with high dollar commercial segments airing in the second half.
After the game, a thought occurred to me. Would the score have been any different had the Colts been offered a copy of the Saints playbook a week or two before the Super Bowl? My answer… certainly! How different? My answer… by a landslide margin!
With the election season of 2010 now hard upon us, and with so much more at stake in our Nation than simply a years' worth of bragging rights or lucrative commercial contracts, perhaps an honest introspection is in order. Is your organization fully trained and conditioned for the war that team Obama, Pelosi, Grayson, and Kosmas will be bringing to the field against all conservatives? Is your coaching staff fully prepared? Are you sure?
Even the most skillful teams will have difficulty playing against a lesser skilled team who has acquired a copy of your playbook well in advance of the game. If you're like me, you're not looking to have a "nail biter field goal with 3 seconds left on the clock" styled win in November… you want a landslide win in November! Therefore, I have some good news and some bad news for you.
First the good news – Your team and coaching staff can actually get a copy of the Obama playbook! Furthermore, by having Obama's playbook you also have access to the same plays currently being used by every community organizer, every radical leftist, and nearly every Democrat in Washington DC (some of them can't read).
Now for the bad news – You have to open up the playbook and read it. Study each play and tactic. Understand why the tactics work and how they can easily unravel the very best of our efforts. Failing to do so will only serve to increase the odds that we'll see a nail biting fourth quarter finish in November. In politics, that's not fun.
To paraphrase some sage advice, "keep your friends close; keep your enemies (playbook) closer."
This political life changing book comes highly recommended not only by Obama but also by the esteemed National Education Association (NEA) specifically for their teachers:
Here is the review of the book Rules for Radicals from the largest teacher’s union in the country:
"Saul Alinsky, who was a labor and civil-rights activist from the 1910’s until he died in 1972, has written here a guidebook for those who are out to change things. Alinsky was hated and defamed by powerful enemies, proof that his tactics worked. His simple formula for success…“Agitate + Aggravate + Educate + Organize”
Born to Russian-Jewish parents in Chicago in 1909, Saul Alinsky was a Marxist who helped establish the dual political tactics of confrontation and infiltration that characterized the 1960s and have remained central to all subsequent revolutionary movements in the United States.
Though Alinsky is generally viewed as a member of the political left and rightfully so, his legacy is more methodological than ideological. He identified a set of very specific rules that ordinary citizens could follow, and tactics that ordinary citizens could employ, as a means of gaining public power. His motto was, "The most effective means are whatever will achieve the desired results."
In the Alinsky model, "organizing" is a euphemism for "revolution" -- a wholesale revolution whose ultimate objective is the systematic acquisition of power by a purportedly oppressed segment of the population, and the radical transformation of America's social and economic structure. The goal is to provoke enough public discontent, moral confusion, and outright chaos to spark the social upheaval that Marx, Engels, and Lenin predicted -- a revolution whose foot soldiers view the status quo as fatally flawed and wholly unworthy of salvation. Thus, the theory goes, the people will settle for nothing less than that status quo's complete collapse -- to be followed by the creation of an entirely new system upon its ruins. Toward that end, they will be apt to follow the lead of charismatic radical organizers who project an aura of confidence and vision, and who profess to clearly understand what types of societal "changes" are needed.
As Alinsky put it:
"A reformation means that the masses of our people have reached the point of disillusionment with past ways and values. They don't know what will work but they do know that the prevailing system is self-defeating, frustrating, and hopeless. They won't act for change but won't strongly oppose those who do. The time is then ripe for revolution."
But Alinsky's brand of revolution was not characterized by dramatic, sweeping, overnight transformations of social institutions. As Richard Poe puts it:
"Alinsky viewed revolution as a slow, patient process. The trick was to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties."
He advised organizers and their disciples to quietly, subtly gain influence within the decision-making ranks of these institutions, and to introduce changes from that platform. This was precisely the tactic of "infiltration" advocated by Lenin and Stalin. As Communist International General Secretary Georgi Dimitroff told the Seventh World Congress of the Comintern in 1935:
"Comrades, you remember the ancient tale of the capture of Troy. Troy was inaccessible to the armies attacking her, thanks to her impregnable walls. And the attacking army, after suffering many sacrifices, was unable to achieve victory until, with the aid of the famous Trojan horse, it managed to penetrate to the very heart of the enemy's camp."
In 1946 Alinsky wrote Reveille for Radicals, his first major book about the principles and tactics of "community organizing," otherwise known as agitating for revolution. Twenty-five years later he authored Rules for Radicals, which expanded upon his earlier work. His writings, and the tactics outlined therein, have had a profound influence on all "social change" and "social justice" movements of recent decades.
Winning was all that mattered in Alinsky's strategic calculus:
"The morality of a means depends on whether the means is being employed at a time of imminent defeat or imminent victory."
"The man of action … thinks only of his actual resources and the possibilities of various choices of action. He asks only whether they are achievable and worth the cost; of means, only whether they will work."
For Alinsky, all morality was relative:
"The judgment of the ethics of means is dependent on the political position of those sitting in judgment."
Alinsky studied criminology as a graduate student at the University of Chicago, during which time he became friendly with Al Capone and his mobsters. Ryan Lizza, senior editor of The New Republic, offers a glimpse into Alinsky's personality: "Charming and self-absorbed, Alinsky would entertain friends with stories -- some true, many embellished -- from his mob days for decades afterward. He was profane, outspoken, and narcissistic, always the center of attention despite his tweedy, academic look and thick, horn-rimmed glasses."
Conservatives have been subject to Alinsky tactics and rules by and for radicals for several decades now. It is only with clear understanding of these tactics and rules that conservatives can then begin to understand the forces being applied against traditional America. To then map out counter strategies that can help other Americans realize just how close we are to loosing the very freedoms previous generations fought so hard to keep.
The campaign to immunize conservative people and organizations from any further impact of radical tactics begins with your willingness to study one book. To frame the importance of this appropriately, one would say that if we are asking a soldier now or in the future to pick up a rifle and fight for our liberty, we should all be willing to pick up at least one book to stave off the tactics of impending tyranny.
Monday, February 8, 2010
The Key to Sustainable Job Growth for Florida
By James Marshal, FloridaToday.com, Commentary
Putting Florida back on the path to sustainable state GDP growth and employment will require a significant measure of fortitude during this year's legislative session. To succeed, we must be willing to take the road less traveled that includes doing the things that other states won't do or can't do. Florida can become the primary hub of entrepreneurial activity and economic growth in the US if legislators are willing to reposition our state to become the "Capital" of capital investment. For investment capital is like sunshine to a Florida orange tree. Without sunshine, you'll have no growth and the economic winter will simply be unbearable.
To achieve this, we must first understand that capital investment will always flow to the places where it is treated best. Where the proverbial 'red carpet' is rolled out for it and given celebrity status in such a fashion that it wouldn't ever want to leave. On the other hand, capital that is treated poorly and beaten upon with whips and chains in the form of taxes and heavy regulation, shall flee as refugees would from a war torn country. This can be exemplified by noting the day in which President Obama unveiled his intent to wage war upon the banking industry whereby a ten month rally in asset prices immediately reversed course as capital fled for the boarder.
Strengthening Florida's economy doesn't need to be complicated. We simply need to do more of the things that attract capital and less of the things that make it run in fear. We need to understand that investment capital represents a fundamental ingredient in the evolution of an idea into a sustainable job producing entity that in turn will reward its surrounding communities with sustainable consumer activities. The key word here is "sustainable". Spending borrowed money to create jobs that ultimately end when the task is done or when the money runs out is unsustainable and only favors politicians who need stronger job numbers to win their reelections. Their short term game is at the long term expense of our collective economic prosperity.
Long term jobs are created and sustained by those who provide goods and services that other states and nations want and need and will purchase. Therefore, for Florida to strengthen its own GDP, leadership must develop more of the products and services that the world wants and focus less upon that which the world doesn't want. We must become the absolute best in our identified economic strengths. Recognizing the areas where we shall have a huge competitive advantage within the world while avoiding those areas where we won't.
Economic life isn't too far detached from the natural cycle of wildlife populations. As many may recall from their days in science class, we long ago learned that nature as a way of keeping animal populations in balance. In an environment where a given species has too many predators, the population will be reduced until the point that the predators either leave or starve from lack of food. In the opposite environment where the population has grown too large, predators increase in numbers as their food source remains abundant which ultimately brings the population back into proper balance. If this weren't the case, the species could grow beyond its available food capacity and both the species and predator would starve. Government is represented as the economic predator while private industry is represented today as a deer in the headlights of an oncoming bullet train (pun intended).
Government, both state and national, has grown too large to be sustainable as its food source population (private industry) is being over harvested (taxes, fees, regulation, etc). Government, or rather predator payrolls and new hires have grown while the private sector has steadily lost. This cycle will certainly end in tears as it always has and always will for those who have become dependent upon a strong predatory Government. It's just a matter of time before the predators turn upon themselves for food as what remains of the private industry retreats into less hostile lands or into hibernation so as to survive what shall become a long cold economic winter.
WebLink:
http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/opinion/2010/02/key-to-sustainable-job-growth-for.shtml#comments
Putting Florida back on the path to sustainable state GDP growth and employment will require a significant measure of fortitude during this year's legislative session. To succeed, we must be willing to take the road less traveled that includes doing the things that other states won't do or can't do. Florida can become the primary hub of entrepreneurial activity and economic growth in the US if legislators are willing to reposition our state to become the "Capital" of capital investment. For investment capital is like sunshine to a Florida orange tree. Without sunshine, you'll have no growth and the economic winter will simply be unbearable.
To achieve this, we must first understand that capital investment will always flow to the places where it is treated best. Where the proverbial 'red carpet' is rolled out for it and given celebrity status in such a fashion that it wouldn't ever want to leave. On the other hand, capital that is treated poorly and beaten upon with whips and chains in the form of taxes and heavy regulation, shall flee as refugees would from a war torn country. This can be exemplified by noting the day in which President Obama unveiled his intent to wage war upon the banking industry whereby a ten month rally in asset prices immediately reversed course as capital fled for the boarder.
Strengthening Florida's economy doesn't need to be complicated. We simply need to do more of the things that attract capital and less of the things that make it run in fear. We need to understand that investment capital represents a fundamental ingredient in the evolution of an idea into a sustainable job producing entity that in turn will reward its surrounding communities with sustainable consumer activities. The key word here is "sustainable". Spending borrowed money to create jobs that ultimately end when the task is done or when the money runs out is unsustainable and only favors politicians who need stronger job numbers to win their reelections. Their short term game is at the long term expense of our collective economic prosperity.
Long term jobs are created and sustained by those who provide goods and services that other states and nations want and need and will purchase. Therefore, for Florida to strengthen its own GDP, leadership must develop more of the products and services that the world wants and focus less upon that which the world doesn't want. We must become the absolute best in our identified economic strengths. Recognizing the areas where we shall have a huge competitive advantage within the world while avoiding those areas where we won't.
Economic life isn't too far detached from the natural cycle of wildlife populations. As many may recall from their days in science class, we long ago learned that nature as a way of keeping animal populations in balance. In an environment where a given species has too many predators, the population will be reduced until the point that the predators either leave or starve from lack of food. In the opposite environment where the population has grown too large, predators increase in numbers as their food source remains abundant which ultimately brings the population back into proper balance. If this weren't the case, the species could grow beyond its available food capacity and both the species and predator would starve. Government is represented as the economic predator while private industry is represented today as a deer in the headlights of an oncoming bullet train (pun intended).
Government, both state and national, has grown too large to be sustainable as its food source population (private industry) is being over harvested (taxes, fees, regulation, etc). Government, or rather predator payrolls and new hires have grown while the private sector has steadily lost. This cycle will certainly end in tears as it always has and always will for those who have become dependent upon a strong predatory Government. It's just a matter of time before the predators turn upon themselves for food as what remains of the private industry retreats into less hostile lands or into hibernation so as to survive what shall become a long cold economic winter.
WebLink:
http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/opinion/2010/02/key-to-sustainable-job-growth-for.shtml#comments
Dockery says RPOF should release all credit card reports now
Posted by Mary Ellen Klas, The Buzz at 04:15:27 PM on February 5, 2010State Sen. Paula Dockery, a Republican candidate for governor, today demanded that state party officials release all financial records, including the credit card statements given to any party leader since RPOF Chairman Jim Greer took office in 2007. "If there is no improprierty, we remove the cloud of suspicion,'' she told the Herald/Times. "If there is impropriety, we own up to it and rebuild the trust.''
She said she will be calling on the two candidates who are hoping to replace Greer at the party meeting on Feb. 20 -- state Sen. John Thrasher and Broward Republican Executive Committeewoman Sharon Day -- to agree to release all credit card statements and conduct a financial audit "to remove this shroud of secrecy.''
Dockery said the party "can't move forward until we have transparency.'' The Orlando Sentinel reported today that since Greer cut up his party credit card in response to complaints about party spending, the spending continued as his deputy, Delmar Johnson, used Greer's credit card to pay for many of the expenses through him.
Dockery's opponent, Bill McCollum, has called for a thorough audit and tighter internal party controls but he has stopped short of endorsing the release of the controversial American Express credit card statements.
UPDATE: McCollum spokeswoman, Kristy Campbell would not say whether McCollum would agree to release the statements or not. "He believes we should take measures that that what happened never happens again,'' she said.
Sharon Day, however, said that if she is elected "I would do a forensic audit to see what has happened but whether we release it out, I would decide at that time,'' she said.
Dockery aid the party should come clean on all its credit card expenses since 2007. "We learned yesterday about the obscene salaries that one person was making. What else is out there?'' she said.
She expects that would include former House Speaker Marco Rubio, now Republican a candidate for U.S. Senate against Gov. Charlie Crist, former House Speaker Ray Sansom, speaker designate Rep. Dean Cannon as the Senate's former, current and incoming presidents -- Ken Pruitt, Jeff Atwater and Mike Haridopolos.
"I see no reason why anybody should have these cards,'' she said. "There seems to be a concerted effort to keep these records confidential. If there is nothing to hide, release the records. If there is something to hide, release the records."
Web Link: http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2010/02/dockery-says-rpof-should-release-all-credit-card-reports-now.html#more
GOP fundraiser charged huge sums to AmEx card
By Aaron Deslatte ORLANDO SENTINEL TALLAHASSEE BUREAUTALLAHASSEE — From golf-course fees to charter jets to the nation's capital, Republican Party of Florida Executive Director Delmar Johnson racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel, food and expenses to his party-issued American Express card last year.
He flew to Las Vegas and San Francisco, to New York and Boston.
He picked up $3,000 tabs at posh restaurants such as Del Frisco's steakhouse in Orlando and at cheaper spots such as Regina Pizza in Boston; he chartered jets; bought flowers for the wife of party Chairman Jim Greer; and charged greens fees at the Torrey Pines championship golf course in San Diego, according to internal RPOF accounting records and credit-card invoices obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.
Johnson and Greer have said the travel and spending were a requirement in order to move in big-league political-fundraising circles, and the party says many of the charges covered travel and meals for big donors or party staffers, as well as day-to-day operating expenses such as phone bills and copying fees.
But they have also steadfastly refused calls to open the party's finances to outside auditors in the wake of accusations by GOP critics that money was being misspent.
"It all has to be taken in perspective," Johnson said Thursday. "I'm sure it's nothing compared to a big corporation. Everybody used that card."
Grass-roots party members and big donors have been fuming for months over what they call lavish spending at a time when fundraising has been hampered by the economy and a string of political controversies. The party's federal account, which pays for much of its operating expenses, ended last year with a $342,000 apparent deficit, while a larger state account spent most of the $13 million it raised.
Johnson was laid off along with 18 other staffers last month after GOP elected leaders — Attorney General Bill McCollum, House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon of Winter Park and Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos of Merritt Island — found out about a contract signed by Greer that hired Johnson as the party's chief fundraiser in return for 10 percent of all "major donor" contributions.
The contract, which the party leaders said they were never told about, paid Johnson $199,000 last year on top of his party salary of $153,000. Johnson received an additional $56,750 from a fund Greer set up to promote his own re-election as party chairman — bringing his total compensation to $408,000.
Greer, a former Oviedo city councilman handpicked by Gov. Charlie Crist as party chair, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Accusations that Greer and party staffers used GOP resources to live the high life have been at the heart of the months-long effort by Republican dissidents to oust him — an effort that succeeded last month when the elected party leaders convinced him to resign effective Feb. 20.
In return for agreeing to step down, Greer is expected to be paid severance roughly equal to his current annual salary — $130,000 — along with continued health-insurance coverage, two sources briefed on the arrangement said.
A campaign spokeswoman for McCollum refused Thursday to directly confirm the severance agreement.
"General McCollum is as shocked and outraged as anyone. He hopes that the money that was spent can be accounted for and was legitimate," spokeswoman Kristy Campbell said.
"We were aware of [severance] negotiations taking place as Chairman Greer announced his resignation. We were unaware of any specific details."
In August, Greer chopped up his own AmEx card in a public display of fiscal restraint that followed news accounts of how former House Speaker Ray Sansom, R-Destin, had used a party-issued card to rack up $173,000 in expenses on equipment, flowers, Starbucks and a trip to Europe.
"I am tired of reading this garbage that's been promoted by people who ultimately want this party to fail," Greer told the party executive committee at its quarterly meeting.
"There is nothing inappropriate about a multimillion-dollar organization with senior staff traveling around the country to have credit cards," he said, adding at one point that "if you're going to ask major donors to write $100,000 checks, I hope you bought them dinner."
Indeed, Johnson did just that, racking up in a month almost as much as Sansom did in a year.
From mid-July through mid-August, Johnson charged $133,763 to the party-issued card.
The charges include paying former Olympian-turned-motivational speaker Bruce Jenner $22,500 to speak in August at a youth conference called "Drive the Discussion" at the Gaylord Palms resort near Kissimmee — an event that cost more than $100,000 to put on.
Johnson also charged tickets to Disney World and Orlando Magic games. And he charged office supplies, campaign materials, rental cars, hotel rooms and plane trips for himself, RPOF staff and staffers of campaigns whose expenses were being charged to the party.
The internal accounting records indicate that after chopping up his own card, Greer used Johnson's AmEx card to pay for his own travel, and trips taken by Crist campaign staffers and a handful of state legislators.
Johnson said charges to his card increased after Greer recalled all the party's other credit cards and that "only a small fraction" of the travel was really his. However, he refused to be specific about how much of the travel charges were his own.
In several instances, Greer used a charter pilot to fly him in his own plane across the state, the records suggest. Just two months of charges billed by Baer Air in Merritt Island, where Greer keeps his plane, totaled more than $45,000.
Johnson also used the card to charter a $15,000 flight to Washington for U.S. Sen. George LeMieux's swearing-in ceremony in September.
"It is incredible to me that they would have the audacity to do that after the wake-up call that has been Speaker Sansom," said GOP lobbyist Brian Ballard, a longtime party fundraiser. "It leaves you speechless."
Broward Republican National Committeewoman Sharon Day, who is running to replace Greer in the election later this month, called it "smoke and mirrors" for Greer to continue to use Johnson's card after publicly chopping up his own. And she said she — like most members of the party's executive committee — had no idea how Greer was running the party's finances.
"It was a very secretive operation," Day said. "I don't know if that's reasonable, not reasonable … I wouldn't even know where to start."
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Crist expects more federal money for rail
Fox News 35
Gov. Charlie Crist says he expects more federal money to pay for a high speed rail system between Tampa and Orlando.
Crist on Friday called President Barack Obama's announcement that Florida would get $1.25 billion in stimulus money for the project a "down payment."
The governor was on hand Thursday to greet Obama in Tampa where the president announced high speed rail grants for Florida and other states.
The $1.25 billion, though, is only about half of what Florida requested.
Gov. Charlie Crist says he expects more federal money to pay for a high speed rail system between Tampa and Orlando.
Crist on Friday called President Barack Obama's announcement that Florida would get $1.25 billion in stimulus money for the project a "down payment."
The governor was on hand Thursday to greet Obama in Tampa where the president announced high speed rail grants for Florida and other states.
The $1.25 billion, though, is only about half of what Florida requested.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Carey Baker drops out of Ag Commissioner race
State Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, just sent out e-mail saying he’s withdrawing from the race for Agriculture Commissioner. This leaves U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow — who’s got roughly $1 million in his campaign warchest — as the only major Republican in the race.
Baker, who raised about $500,000, didn’t mention Putnam in his announcement.
Here’s what Baker said in his e-mail:
“As with any campaign, you have to achieve certain objectives to set yourself up for victory. I had to prepare myself to wage a full-scale campaign that would give Floridians a chance to see what I had to offer them if elected Commissioner of Agriculture. This would not be an easy task in a big state like ours, but nothing ever worth pursuing is easy.
Unfortunately, I was unable to meet those goals. And so I was faced with a difficult decision, but ultimately a necessary one. With so many other challenges to address in our state, particularly in the Legislature, it would be wrong of me to continue a campaign when I have not met the goals I need to win. It’s time for me to choose where I am most prepared to help the people of Florida.”
Baker, who raised about $500,000, didn’t mention Putnam in his announcement.
Here’s what Baker said in his e-mail:
“As with any campaign, you have to achieve certain objectives to set yourself up for victory. I had to prepare myself to wage a full-scale campaign that would give Floridians a chance to see what I had to offer them if elected Commissioner of Agriculture. This would not be an easy task in a big state like ours, but nothing ever worth pursuing is easy.
Unfortunately, I was unable to meet those goals. And so I was faced with a difficult decision, but ultimately a necessary one. With so many other challenges to address in our state, particularly in the Legislature, it would be wrong of me to continue a campaign when I have not met the goals I need to win. It’s time for me to choose where I am most prepared to help the people of Florida.”
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Bill McCollum tackles health-care reform, while Alex Sink manages office supplies
Aaron Deslatte Capitol View
It makes little sense these days for politicians to be creatively frugal when this is how the polls — i.e., the voters — respond.
Look at Florida's race for governor. The Republican running, Attorney General Bill McCollum, has been seizing on big, national issues that the Governor's Office has little direct involvement in — primarily, the national health-care debate — and lambasting Democratic positions on them. Meanwhile, Democratic Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has been playing small ball.
Two weeks ago, Sink said that with advice from businesses like Publix, Disney World and Rosen Hotels & Resorts, she had revamped her office's risk-management procedures in ways that could save the state $12 million a year by, among other things, reducing injury risks to state employees.
Last week, she announced her office was hoarding paper clips. Seriously. She gathered the Capitol press corps to announce she had saved taxpayers $200,000 by ordering her workers to stop buying "non mission-critical office supplies" and instead stockpile extra paperclips, pens and notepads.
"Obviously, times are tough here in state government," Sink said.
If other agencies took the same approach to paper clips, Sink estimated the state could save $14 million a year. "Think about how many schoolteachers that is," she said.
At least in theory, voters demand that politicians be responsible stewards of the taxpayer dime and search for "common-sense solutions" to budget problems.
But it looks like McCollum got some sage political advice — and lots more public attention — when he decided to challenge the legality of the proposed federal health-care overhaul.
The issue has helped vault him to a 41 percent-to-31 percent lead over Sink, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. Sink held a 38 percent-to-34 percent lead in the same poll last June.
For sure, a number of factors can explain the shift, and McCollum is benefiting from both the anti-Democrat animus as well as his better name-recognition.
Sink, meanwhile, has refused to wade too deep into the health-care debate. Instead, she talks about nickel-and-dime cost-savings.
Florida Republicans were quick to pounce with a video mocking Sink's paper-clip management, asking, "Are these the best ideas Florida Democrats have to offer?"
On the other hand, though, McCollum hasn't yet proposed a single budget-cutting or job-creating idea, focusing instead on his virulent opposition to the Democrats' health-care expansion.
McCollum cites constitutional issues, declaring that Congress has no enumerated power to impose a tax on individuals who don't buy health insurance, as the current version of the bill would do.
But he was annoyed when asked by a reporter last week if he would also object to Florida instituting a state-run health-insurance program to cover its 4 million uninsured residents similar to what Massachusetts has done.
Voters thus far take McCollum's side.
The Quinnipiac poll found that Florida voters disagreed 57 percent to 32 percent with the health-care-reform plan being considered by President Barack Obama and Congress. And 73 percent of Republicans thought it was a "good idea" for McCollum to sue if the plan mandates that individuals buy health insurance.
But is Sink's problem the lack of coverage, or are voters genuinely less impressed with a politician scrounging for pocket change?
"Voters want governors that handle big things," said Peter Brown, Quinnipiac's assistant polling director. "They like her; they just like him more."
It makes little sense these days for politicians to be creatively frugal when this is how the polls — i.e., the voters — respond.
Look at Florida's race for governor. The Republican running, Attorney General Bill McCollum, has been seizing on big, national issues that the Governor's Office has little direct involvement in — primarily, the national health-care debate — and lambasting Democratic positions on them. Meanwhile, Democratic Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink has been playing small ball.
Two weeks ago, Sink said that with advice from businesses like Publix, Disney World and Rosen Hotels & Resorts, she had revamped her office's risk-management procedures in ways that could save the state $12 million a year by, among other things, reducing injury risks to state employees.
Last week, she announced her office was hoarding paper clips. Seriously. She gathered the Capitol press corps to announce she had saved taxpayers $200,000 by ordering her workers to stop buying "non mission-critical office supplies" and instead stockpile extra paperclips, pens and notepads.
"Obviously, times are tough here in state government," Sink said.
If other agencies took the same approach to paper clips, Sink estimated the state could save $14 million a year. "Think about how many schoolteachers that is," she said.
At least in theory, voters demand that politicians be responsible stewards of the taxpayer dime and search for "common-sense solutions" to budget problems.
But it looks like McCollum got some sage political advice — and lots more public attention — when he decided to challenge the legality of the proposed federal health-care overhaul.
The issue has helped vault him to a 41 percent-to-31 percent lead over Sink, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. Sink held a 38 percent-to-34 percent lead in the same poll last June.
For sure, a number of factors can explain the shift, and McCollum is benefiting from both the anti-Democrat animus as well as his better name-recognition.
Sink, meanwhile, has refused to wade too deep into the health-care debate. Instead, she talks about nickel-and-dime cost-savings.
Florida Republicans were quick to pounce with a video mocking Sink's paper-clip management, asking, "Are these the best ideas Florida Democrats have to offer?"
On the other hand, though, McCollum hasn't yet proposed a single budget-cutting or job-creating idea, focusing instead on his virulent opposition to the Democrats' health-care expansion.
McCollum cites constitutional issues, declaring that Congress has no enumerated power to impose a tax on individuals who don't buy health insurance, as the current version of the bill would do.
But he was annoyed when asked by a reporter last week if he would also object to Florida instituting a state-run health-insurance program to cover its 4 million uninsured residents similar to what Massachusetts has done.
Voters thus far take McCollum's side.
The Quinnipiac poll found that Florida voters disagreed 57 percent to 32 percent with the health-care-reform plan being considered by President Barack Obama and Congress. And 73 percent of Republicans thought it was a "good idea" for McCollum to sue if the plan mandates that individuals buy health insurance.
But is Sink's problem the lack of coverage, or are voters genuinely less impressed with a politician scrounging for pocket change?
"Voters want governors that handle big things," said Peter Brown, Quinnipiac's assistant polling director. "They like her; they just like him more."
Florida GOP Fundraiser's Hefty Pay Riles Donors
By Aaron Deslatte Orlando Sentinel Tallahassee BureauTALLAHASSEE - For the past year, Delmar Johnson mixed and mingled with the well-heeled and powerful, chasing checks from large Republican donors from fishing piers in Key West to a football stadium in Boston.
But even as the economy soured and GOP fundraising lagged, Johnson earned more than perhaps any party leader in Florida history -- at least $408,000 as executive director and chief fundraiser for the Republican Party of Florida. His total pay was more than triple what party chairman Jim Greer made.
Nearly $200,000 of that came through a contract signed by Greer and Johnson naming Johnson as the party's chief fundraiser. That contract was apparently never divulged even to senior members of the party's executive committee.
Anger over the party's flailing finances prompted an unusual combination of grass-roots activists and big-ticket donors to force Greer's resignation last month. And that was before party elders knew of Johnson's fundraising contract – and his outsized earnings.
Now a number of prominent donors are coming forward to complain they were kept in the dark about the contract, and they want Johnson to refund what he was paid.
"Obviously, that is absolutely unconscionable compensation, and it was done in a way to obfuscate or hide the intent," said Al Hoffman, a former Republican National Committee finance chair and one of the state's largest developers and GOP check-writers.
"I don't think in history any party chairman would have allowed their executive director to earn that kind of stash."
Greer, who did not return calls to his cell phone and to the state party, will be replaced in a party election scheduled for Feb. 20. Johnson, whose last day was Monday, was one of 19 staffers laid off last month.
Word of Johnson's pay has been spreading through the halls of the Capitol this week. State Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, who is running to replace Greer, called Johnson's compensation "a gross overpayment.
"It sends exactly the wrong message to the people who we want to participate in the Republican Party," he said. "It's not going to happen again."
Sharon Day, the Broward County committeewoman who's running against Thrasher for party chair, said she pressed Greer for fundraising details last August when it was apparent donations were drying up.
"I was basically told he [Greer] was handling the financial side of the party, and he didn't give me anything," she said. She promised, if elected chair, to institute stronger internal financial controls.
Greer tapped Johnson, 30, an Orlando native, last January to be the party's executive director at an annual salary of $153,000. A relatively fresh face in statewide politics, Johnson is a former Florida State University student-body president who broke into politics working for Gov. Jeb Bush and moved on to coordinate Gov. Charlie Crist's 2006 gubernatorial campaign in Central Florida.
In an unusual arrangement, Greer made Johnson chief fundraiser as well, effective Feb. 1. Traditionally, the fundraising post has been a separate full-time job held by well-known political insiders with fat Rolodexes.
The fundraising contract paid Johnson at least $199,000 last year through a shell company called Victory Strategies, according to internal records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel as well as the Republican Party of Florida's federal election report filed this week. Johnson's contract paid him a 10-percent commission of all "major donor" contributions.
Johnson said he was asked by Greer to serve in both roles to save the party money. The RPOF's previous fundraiser, Meredith O'Rourke, had been paid roughly $30,000 a month, he said.
"I don't know if it was the best choice for me health-wise or professionally, but that was the challenge made to me. I was asked to do it," Johnson said.
Johnson was paid another $56,750 from a fund Greer set up to promote his re-election as party chair last year – boosting his total pay to more than $408,000. Further, he was reimbursed $64,000 for travel, meals, movies, "artwork" and other expenses associated with fundraising, and his rent in Tallahassee was covered by the party.
Orange County GOP Chairman Lew Oliver called Johnson "a ball of energy" who had the right intestinal fortitude for fundraising, even if he lacked the donor contacts of a more experienced political hand.
"Finding people who are willing to get on the phone pestering people for money is a hard thing," Oliver said, adding "Working for the campaign, he met just about everybody in the state … and Delmar was significantly more popular than Jim Greer was."
That said, Oliver agreed the payday was huge. The Florida Democratic Party pays its executive director, Scott Arceneaux, $127,000 – or $26,000 a year less than Johnson's party salary. Greer was paid $130,000 as RPOF chairman, and Crist's state salary as governor is $132,900.
Greer was ousted largely over criticism that he splurged party resources on charter jets and limos, while the state party was suffering the effects of the national recession that saw political giving drop by several million dollars last year.
The party raises money in two accounts, because federal law has tighter restrictions on party activities than state election law. The federal account, which supports GOP candidates for the U.S. Senate and Congress, pays for much of the party's administrative overhead. A second, larger account supports candidates for state races.
This week, the RPOF disclosed in its federal report that it ended the year with $124,129 in cash-on-hand and debts of nearly $467,000 -- or $342,000 more in liabilities than cash. The GOP's state committee raised $13 million last year -- but spent $11.9 million.
Last week, Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos and House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon offered another indication of how tight party finances had grown, reminding party leaders in a letter that dollars they'd raised for House and Senate campaigns "have been used for everything from paying the field staff to paying the electric bill for Party headquarters — and even paying for the quarterly and annual meetings" in Orlando.
Johnson said the economy made the fundraising environment especially challenging, but that his commission was fair because it was based on performance.
"I'm not going to run away from the fact that I was compensated well for my work, but at the same time it was my entire life," said Johnson. "I would stay until 10 at night dialing for dollars and trying to fund the party, trying to pay our staff, which obviously was a challenge."
That argument doesn't wash with Greer critics, who want the party's executive committee to demand a refund. Hoffman and others said the details of the contract were unusual and should have included a third-party as a signatory given that it was self-serving for Johnson.
The two-page agreement was signed by only Greer and Johnson and spells out that the financial details "shall not be disclosed to any person, including major donors or members of the RPOF Finance Committee, without the express approval" of either Greer or Johnson.
What's more, critics said the job of executive director inherently involves fundraising and demands the full-time effort of whomever has the job.
"It's just outrageous that a person who wasn't qualified to be the executive director in the party would then pad his pay by doing something he's even less qualified for as a fundraiser," said Brian Ballard, a prominent Tallahassee lobbyist and fundraiser for Crist.
"He should return that money."
With Signed Certification in Hand, Scott Brown Heads to Washington
From FoxNews.comSen.-elect Scott Brown is expected to be sworn in as the "41st vote" on health care on Thursday, heading down to Washington, D.C., after Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed the certification of election to make him the next U.S. senator.
Patrick signed the certification around 9:30 a.m. ET, which he was planning to do anyway on Thursday. Brown will be sworn in by Vice President Biden in a mock ceremony for the cameras at 5 p.m. ET.
Brown had originally planned to be sworn in next Thursday, but urged a rush on the certification, saying that "it's time to get to work."
"The 11th was a tentative date based on the information we were getting from the secretary of state's office as to what he would need for certification. When he called me a couple days ago and indicated he would have it ready yesterday, we obviously moved our plans up because it's been a couple of weeks and it's time to get to work," he said.
The Senate is expected to hold some potentially important votes before next Thursday, something Brown's attorney wrote in a letter to Patrick and Secretary of State William Galvin.
Among those votes are approvals of two of President Obama's nominees -- one to the National Labor Relations Board and another to the General Services Administration.
The vote of Craig Becker to the NLRB has raised objections from Republicans, who say they want to filibuster the man who reportedly does not believe employers should have a say in whether employees unionize.
Having Brown in the Senate potentially could allow Republicans to block the nomination.
Brown has already indicated he also wants to stop the president's health care reform agenda, which may be a vote that never is taken because Democrats seem adrift on how to proceed.
Brown's election -- built in large part on his vow to block health care -- has been received as a warning by some Democrats who view the vote as a public affirmation of opposition.
Other administration priorities, like climate change, energy policy and judicial appointments, could all be impacted by Brown, though he has repeatedly said he will not be a rubber stamp to GOP efforts to stop Democratic priorities.
Brown is filling the seat held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy for 47 years but he won't get the desk Kennedy used. Sen. John Kerry, the senior senator from Massachusetts, has called dibs on Desk 83, which was also used by John Kennedy. However, Brown will get the desk once used by another Kennedy -- Robert, who was briefly a senator from New York.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Central Florida GOP members backing Thrasher for RPOF chairmanship
Orlando Sentinel Blog TALLAHASSEE — A lengthy list of Central Florida’s GOP leadership gave its blessing this week to state Sen. John Thrasher’s bid to take over as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.
The list of endorsers in the e-mail that went out Monday includes Orange County GOP Chairman Lew Oliver, county committee members Gerald Braley and Nancy Patterson, Republican National Committeeman Paul Senft, Brevard Chairman Jason Steele and Seminole Chairman Jason Brodeur, among others.
Thrasher is squaring off with Broward Republican Sharon Day at the Feb. 20 RPOF executive committee meeting in Orlando to finish the last nine months of ousted chairman Jim Greer’s two-year term. While the party’s top elected brass has endorsed Thrasher, a healthy dose of grassroots members have flocked to Day in anger over the way Tallahassee moved to hand-pick a Greer successor.
“This coming November is crucial for Florida, the state that has been referred to as a ‘Blue State’ after President Obama won Florida last cycle,” the group wrote. ”But this year, we need to send a message that Florida is focused on less taxes, less government and more personal freedom – and to do this we must send a Republican to the U.S. Senate, maintain the Governor’s Mansion and regain all cabinet seats.”
Keep reading for the letter and list:
Senator Thrasher:
On behalf of all of the state committee members signed below, we are pleased to offer you our endorsement for Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.
The last year has been a difficult one for our party and has detracted us from our main goal as party activists – recruiting and electing good Republicans to office. This coming November is crucial for Florida, the state that has been referred to as a “Blue State” after President Obama won Florida last cycle. But this year, we need to send a message that Florida is focused on less taxes, less government and more personal freedom – and to do this we must send a Republican to the U.S. Senate, maintain the Governor’s Mansion and regain all cabinet seats.
We have no doubt that Sharon Day is a dedicated member of our party, and we do thank her for her dedication as national committeewoman, but we believe that you are the leader that we need for the remainder of 2010.
Thank you for your willingness to serve and we will proudly stand with you in your election for chairman on February 20th.
In support,
Linda Ivell, Polk, Committeewoman
Jason Brodeur, Seminole, Chair
Mike Thomas, Brevard, Committeeman
Paul Senft, Polk, National Committeeman
Jim Stelling, Governor’s Appointee, CD 7 Chair
Jason Steele, Brevard, Chair
Roy Abshier, Marion, Chairman
Lew Oliver, Orange, Chairman
Gerald Braley, Orange, Committeeman
Nancy Patterson, Orange, Committeewoman
Erwin Beck, Governor’s Appointee
Greg Truax, Governor’s Appointee
Scott Glover, Governor’s Appointee
Palin Wants Rahm Fired
In a Facebook post, Sarah Palin calls on President Obama to fire Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel for reportedly describing the strategy of Senate liberals as "f#$%#%$ retarded."
"Yes, Rahm is known for his caustic, crude references about those with whom he disagrees, but his recent tirade against participants in a strategy session was such a strong slap in many American faces that our president is doing himself a disservice by seeming to condone Rahm's recent sick and offensive tactic."
Meanwhile, an interesting new poll of Republicans finds that a majority think Palin is more qualified than Barack Obama to be president.
Read more: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/02/02/palin_wants_rahm_fired.html#ixzz0eR99akUV
Crist Leaves Fiscal Mess For Next Governor
Mike Thomas COMMENTARY
You may see this state as a fiscal wreck, a place where jobs and people are vanishing at a record clip.
But in an alternate universe, on the planet Pandora, our happy Chieftain Charlie Crist promises happy days ahead and millions of dollars all around.
He has $500 million for schools, $100 million for universities and $67 million for community colleges.
He has $100 million in tax cuts for corporations, and $24million in back-to-school tax cuts for mom and dad.
He even has $50 million to save the Everglades.
Meanwhile, back on planet Florida, dour and scowling men are convening in Tallahassee. They say they don't see the millions Charlie sees. They've looked and looked and it just isn't there.
They are about to drag Charlie out of his idyllic Pandora and into their harsh reality.
But that's the least of his problems.
Senate challenger Marco Rubio is taking aim at Charlie's Tree of Souls, his once towering approval rating that is his source of strength and power. And that great rumbling in the Republican neuro-net is an awakening Jeb Bush. His disdain for Charlie is growing. His endorsement of Rubio is pending.
When that happens, it will be the end of Charlie.
Nixon spent his final days talking to portraits of former presidents. Judging by his budget, Charlie is talking to the potted plants.
Our governor is going out with one last burst of fantasy populism. Call it a last desperate attempt to turn the tide that's building against him.
It is an old strategy that he is pushing to new extremes because these are desperate times.
Charlie's political career is based on churning out a constant stream of positive first impressions. Keep them coming so nobody tracks the follow-up. That is why, more than three years after entering office, he has accomplished nothing other than being liked.
Last week he traveled the state, a champion of education, a champion of the environment, a champion for liberals, a champion for conservatives.
He will cut taxes in a budget that is cut to the bone.
He will increase spending when there is no more money to spend.
He will make government smaller except where you want it bigger.
Charlie has confused the state budget with his campaign budget, not surprising in that he spends a lot more time worrying about the latter than the former.
Florida faces up to a $3 billion budget shortfall this year. On top of that, it is $1.1billion in the red on its bankrupt unemployment benefits fund.
State employees are looking at layoffs and furloughs.
Things are this bad with more than $5 billion in federal stimulus dollars coming in last year, and $4 billion coming in this year. Washington also is underwriting a lot of our exploding Medicaid budget.
The federal money begins vanishing next year.
Crist plans to permanently cut taxes based on a temporary infusion of ObamaBucks. Last year he plundered the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund, set up as a continuing source of revenue to fund programs for poor children and senior citizens. This year he plans to plunder it more. He would leave the state bare of reserves.
He is creating one huge mess for the governor who will follow him.
His budget is beyond reckless but that doesn't matter because it is beyond Charlie's horizon. He sees only as far as August when Republicans will decide whether to send him or Rubio to Washington. He doesn't care what it takes to win, he doesn't care about the aftermath.
Legislators eventually do catch on. They understand this budget is nothing more than a campaign brochure. They understand that once again, he is setting them up.
During the campaign for Amendment 1, he promised to increase school spending even though the measure would cut taxes. Three months later, the Legislature was forced to slash schools $327 million.
That is why a number of legislators from his own party summarily dismissed Charlie's budget the minute it hit the press.
"We're not in the business of creating false expectations,'' said House Budget Chairman David Rivera, R-Miami.
Tallahassee is growing weary of this. Politicians of both parties are desperate for an adult to be in charge, be it Alex Sink or Bill McCollum.
The governor of Florida has become irrelevant when it comes to governing Florida.
He has gone from lame duck to Daffy Duck.
You may see this state as a fiscal wreck, a place where jobs and people are vanishing at a record clip.
But in an alternate universe, on the planet Pandora, our happy Chieftain Charlie Crist promises happy days ahead and millions of dollars all around.
He has $500 million for schools, $100 million for universities and $67 million for community colleges.
He has $100 million in tax cuts for corporations, and $24million in back-to-school tax cuts for mom and dad.
He even has $50 million to save the Everglades.
Meanwhile, back on planet Florida, dour and scowling men are convening in Tallahassee. They say they don't see the millions Charlie sees. They've looked and looked and it just isn't there.
They are about to drag Charlie out of his idyllic Pandora and into their harsh reality.
But that's the least of his problems.
Senate challenger Marco Rubio is taking aim at Charlie's Tree of Souls, his once towering approval rating that is his source of strength and power. And that great rumbling in the Republican neuro-net is an awakening Jeb Bush. His disdain for Charlie is growing. His endorsement of Rubio is pending.
When that happens, it will be the end of Charlie.
Nixon spent his final days talking to portraits of former presidents. Judging by his budget, Charlie is talking to the potted plants.
Our governor is going out with one last burst of fantasy populism. Call it a last desperate attempt to turn the tide that's building against him.
It is an old strategy that he is pushing to new extremes because these are desperate times.
Charlie's political career is based on churning out a constant stream of positive first impressions. Keep them coming so nobody tracks the follow-up. That is why, more than three years after entering office, he has accomplished nothing other than being liked.
Last week he traveled the state, a champion of education, a champion of the environment, a champion for liberals, a champion for conservatives.
He will cut taxes in a budget that is cut to the bone.
He will increase spending when there is no more money to spend.
He will make government smaller except where you want it bigger.
Charlie has confused the state budget with his campaign budget, not surprising in that he spends a lot more time worrying about the latter than the former.
Florida faces up to a $3 billion budget shortfall this year. On top of that, it is $1.1billion in the red on its bankrupt unemployment benefits fund.
State employees are looking at layoffs and furloughs.
Things are this bad with more than $5 billion in federal stimulus dollars coming in last year, and $4 billion coming in this year. Washington also is underwriting a lot of our exploding Medicaid budget.
The federal money begins vanishing next year.
Crist plans to permanently cut taxes based on a temporary infusion of ObamaBucks. Last year he plundered the Lawton Chiles Endowment Fund, set up as a continuing source of revenue to fund programs for poor children and senior citizens. This year he plans to plunder it more. He would leave the state bare of reserves.
He is creating one huge mess for the governor who will follow him.
His budget is beyond reckless but that doesn't matter because it is beyond Charlie's horizon. He sees only as far as August when Republicans will decide whether to send him or Rubio to Washington. He doesn't care what it takes to win, he doesn't care about the aftermath.
Legislators eventually do catch on. They understand this budget is nothing more than a campaign brochure. They understand that once again, he is setting them up.
During the campaign for Amendment 1, he promised to increase school spending even though the measure would cut taxes. Three months later, the Legislature was forced to slash schools $327 million.
That is why a number of legislators from his own party summarily dismissed Charlie's budget the minute it hit the press.
"We're not in the business of creating false expectations,'' said House Budget Chairman David Rivera, R-Miami.
Tallahassee is growing weary of this. Politicians of both parties are desperate for an adult to be in charge, be it Alex Sink or Bill McCollum.
The governor of Florida has become irrelevant when it comes to governing Florida.
He has gone from lame duck to Daffy Duck.
Florida Dems cut into GOP's big cash advantage
By Aaron Deslatte, Orlando Sentinel Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- The intra-party rebellion that ousted Florida Republican Chairman Jim Greer this month was fueled by images of limo rides, expensive meals, cocktail soirees at ritzy South Florida resorts, even cigars bought by the case.
Meanwhile, Florida Democrats are pinching themselves instead of their pennies.
Heading into a bleak election year nationally, the state Democratic Party raised nearly $6.8 million in 2009, a record total that cuts significantly into the cash advantage Republicans have historically held and helps illustrate why GOP insiders forced a shake-up within their ranks.
Democrats can thank an influx of powerful industries, such as Florida Power & Light, Progress Energy and TECO Energy, which gave a combined $400,000 in their bid to win higher electric rates and ease regulatory burdens from any renewable-energy legislation passed.
For years, big corporations such as these gave only sparingly to the minority party in Tallahassee, which relied on trial lawyers, labor unions and a handful of wealthy donors for money. But times have changed.
"We're a little more open to the business interests and trying to create jobs," said Rep. Ron Saunders, D- Key West, who heads up state House races for the party. "As we've won seats and are poised to win more, that has certainly opened people's eyes."
On the individual level, Republicans continued to outraise their Democratic counterparts: seven of the 10 best-funded candidates last year were from the GOP. Though Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Alex Sink led the pack with $5 million, compared with rival Bill McCollum's $3.27 million, the only other Democrats in the top 10 are Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber, and they're both running for attorney general.
But the RPOF has been rocked by criticism of Greer's spending, which Republican critics blame, along with the recession, for a funding falloff.
"Traditional donors, Realtors, attorneys have been off," said RPOF Vice Chairman Allen Cox, who is resigning after leading the charge to force Greer out. "But there's also less enthusiasm within the party.
"You can see they're raising money, but they're spending it equally as fast as they're raising it."
Overall, however, the RPOF's fundraising -- and spending -- under Greer seemed comparable to previous years.
The RPOF raised $13 million last year, compared with $15 million in the last off-election year in 2007. But that total was distorted by the pending 2008 presidential election. In 2005, the last off-year without a presidential election on the horizon, the party raised $11.9 million.
An Orlando Sentinel analysis of campaign-finance data shows the GOP spent roughly 91 cents out of every $1 it raised last year; by comparison, the Democrats spent 77 cents, one reason for their cash-on-hand advantage. But the GOP spending rate is virtually identical with 2005's, before Greer took over.
Still, GOP fundraisers say the party should be on much firmer financial footing.
Part of the problem was certainly Greer. Late last year, a dozen large donors demanded he resign in the wake of the big-spending charges (summed up by $725,000 in reported credit-card bills.) Critics who ultimately included gubernatorial candidate McCollum said the GOP would be financially hamstrung unless he was removed.
"I think it was frustrating for folks raising money. It seemed to go into a black hole," said lobbyist Brian Ballard, a chief fundraiser for Gov. Charlie Crist. "I think it's an indictment on how the party was run."
But Crist himself hampered party fundraising. When he plunged into the U.S. Senate race in May, the party lost its best fundraiser. And well-heeled business donors, especially utilities, have been furious with the governor's heavy-handed role in urging the Public Service Commission to deny utility-rate hikes.
"There's a lot of people in the business community that aren't happy with Charlie Crist," said Associated Industries of Florida CEO Barney Bishop, whose group gave Crist $200,000 for his 2006 election but has drastically scaled back since then.
Others say the economy was largely at fault. The GOP's top donors for 2009 remained Gary Morse, who owns The Villages retirement development in Central Florida and gave $500,000 to the party, along with utilities (which gave roughly $1 million combined), Blue Cross and Blue Shield, physicians, Walt Disney Corp. and phosphate companies.
But the Florida Association of Realtors' contributions dropped from $546,000 in 2007 to $170,000 last year. FAR Vice President John Sebree said the organization had lost 20 percent of its membership -- 40,000 or so Realtors -- and dues to its political action committee were down.
Last year was a tough year. Most Realtors are more concerned with making their car payments than to the PAC," he said.
Critics of Greer have blasted his active role in Crist's U.S. Senate primary with former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
Under Greer, the state GOP shifted nearly $4.3 million into its federal bank account, which is used to pay for salaries, voter registration and other organizing related to federal campaigns. That compares with $1.6 million shifted in 2005, the last time there were open races for both a governor and U.S. Senate.
Greer's critics have questioned whether the money was shifted to aid Crist's campaign. But spending from the federal account is not disclosed until Jan. 31, and Greer did not respond to a request for comment.
"That side of the house was very tightly held by Jim," said Republican National Committeewoman Sharon Day of Fort Lauderdale, who is campaigning to replace Greer and blocked him last summer from steering party resources to Crist.
"We really don't know."
But GOP Executive Director Delmar Johnson said there was no help to Crist.
"There was no additional money spent to help one candidate over another," said Johnson, who is one of the 15 full-time and four part-time employees dismissed last week in advance of selecting a new chairman.
Those layoffs included gutting Greer's operations aimed at youth and minority outreach, as well as the party's field staff, efforts critics said largely failed to make up ground lost to Democrats in 2008.
Democrats amassed a 670,000-vote advantage that helped deliver the state to President Barack Obama, and have grown it to more than 700,000, while GOP critics contend there have been only token efforts to lure younger voters and Hispanics to the party.
Said GOP strategist David Johnson, "The new chairman has much catch-up work to do."
TALLAHASSEE -- The intra-party rebellion that ousted Florida Republican Chairman Jim Greer this month was fueled by images of limo rides, expensive meals, cocktail soirees at ritzy South Florida resorts, even cigars bought by the case.
Meanwhile, Florida Democrats are pinching themselves instead of their pennies.
Heading into a bleak election year nationally, the state Democratic Party raised nearly $6.8 million in 2009, a record total that cuts significantly into the cash advantage Republicans have historically held and helps illustrate why GOP insiders forced a shake-up within their ranks.
Democrats can thank an influx of powerful industries, such as Florida Power & Light, Progress Energy and TECO Energy, which gave a combined $400,000 in their bid to win higher electric rates and ease regulatory burdens from any renewable-energy legislation passed.
For years, big corporations such as these gave only sparingly to the minority party in Tallahassee, which relied on trial lawyers, labor unions and a handful of wealthy donors for money. But times have changed.
"We're a little more open to the business interests and trying to create jobs," said Rep. Ron Saunders, D- Key West, who heads up state House races for the party. "As we've won seats and are poised to win more, that has certainly opened people's eyes."
On the individual level, Republicans continued to outraise their Democratic counterparts: seven of the 10 best-funded candidates last year were from the GOP. Though Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Alex Sink led the pack with $5 million, compared with rival Bill McCollum's $3.27 million, the only other Democrats in the top 10 are Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber, and they're both running for attorney general.
But the RPOF has been rocked by criticism of Greer's spending, which Republican critics blame, along with the recession, for a funding falloff.
"Traditional donors, Realtors, attorneys have been off," said RPOF Vice Chairman Allen Cox, who is resigning after leading the charge to force Greer out. "But there's also less enthusiasm within the party.
"You can see they're raising money, but they're spending it equally as fast as they're raising it."
Overall, however, the RPOF's fundraising -- and spending -- under Greer seemed comparable to previous years.
The RPOF raised $13 million last year, compared with $15 million in the last off-election year in 2007. But that total was distorted by the pending 2008 presidential election. In 2005, the last off-year without a presidential election on the horizon, the party raised $11.9 million.
An Orlando Sentinel analysis of campaign-finance data shows the GOP spent roughly 91 cents out of every $1 it raised last year; by comparison, the Democrats spent 77 cents, one reason for their cash-on-hand advantage. But the GOP spending rate is virtually identical with 2005's, before Greer took over.
Still, GOP fundraisers say the party should be on much firmer financial footing.
Part of the problem was certainly Greer. Late last year, a dozen large donors demanded he resign in the wake of the big-spending charges (summed up by $725,000 in reported credit-card bills.) Critics who ultimately included gubernatorial candidate McCollum said the GOP would be financially hamstrung unless he was removed.
"I think it was frustrating for folks raising money. It seemed to go into a black hole," said lobbyist Brian Ballard, a chief fundraiser for Gov. Charlie Crist. "I think it's an indictment on how the party was run."
But Crist himself hampered party fundraising. When he plunged into the U.S. Senate race in May, the party lost its best fundraiser. And well-heeled business donors, especially utilities, have been furious with the governor's heavy-handed role in urging the Public Service Commission to deny utility-rate hikes.
"There's a lot of people in the business community that aren't happy with Charlie Crist," said Associated Industries of Florida CEO Barney Bishop, whose group gave Crist $200,000 for his 2006 election but has drastically scaled back since then.
Others say the economy was largely at fault. The GOP's top donors for 2009 remained Gary Morse, who owns The Villages retirement development in Central Florida and gave $500,000 to the party, along with utilities (which gave roughly $1 million combined), Blue Cross and Blue Shield, physicians, Walt Disney Corp. and phosphate companies.
But the Florida Association of Realtors' contributions dropped from $546,000 in 2007 to $170,000 last year. FAR Vice President John Sebree said the organization had lost 20 percent of its membership -- 40,000 or so Realtors -- and dues to its political action committee were down.
Last year was a tough year. Most Realtors are more concerned with making their car payments than to the PAC," he said.
Critics of Greer have blasted his active role in Crist's U.S. Senate primary with former House Speaker Marco Rubio.
Under Greer, the state GOP shifted nearly $4.3 million into its federal bank account, which is used to pay for salaries, voter registration and other organizing related to federal campaigns. That compares with $1.6 million shifted in 2005, the last time there were open races for both a governor and U.S. Senate.
Greer's critics have questioned whether the money was shifted to aid Crist's campaign. But spending from the federal account is not disclosed until Jan. 31, and Greer did not respond to a request for comment.
"That side of the house was very tightly held by Jim," said Republican National Committeewoman Sharon Day of Fort Lauderdale, who is campaigning to replace Greer and blocked him last summer from steering party resources to Crist.
"We really don't know."
But GOP Executive Director Delmar Johnson said there was no help to Crist.
"There was no additional money spent to help one candidate over another," said Johnson, who is one of the 15 full-time and four part-time employees dismissed last week in advance of selecting a new chairman.
Those layoffs included gutting Greer's operations aimed at youth and minority outreach, as well as the party's field staff, efforts critics said largely failed to make up ground lost to Democrats in 2008.
Democrats amassed a 670,000-vote advantage that helped deliver the state to President Barack Obama, and have grown it to more than 700,000, while GOP critics contend there have been only token efforts to lure younger voters and Hispanics to the party.
Said GOP strategist David Johnson, "The new chairman has much catch-up work to do."
Gutierrez to pursue a baseball team, not Grayson
By David Damron ORLANDO SENTINEL
South Florida transplant Armando Gutierrez says he wanted to serve in Congress – but he also saw a chance to find a way to bring major league baseball to Orlando.
So rather than possibly strike out at both, Gutierrez unexpectedly stepped out of the batter's box Tuesday and ended his bid to take on U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando. In a press statement the 28-year-old -- who wasn't registered to vote here six months ago -- said he was devoting himself solely to the improbable task of bringing big leaguers to play in Orlando.
"At this point," the statement said, "I feel I can do more for the Central Florida economy by bringing a baseball team to the community than I can as a member of Congress."
In an e-mail later, Gutierrez said no one leaned on him to get out of a crowded GOP primary field. "I was not in one bit pressured by anyone," Gutierrez wrote, taking time from a fishing trip. "In fact, our fundraising this quarter was set to surpass last quarter."
Grayson, well-known nationally now for yanking conservatives' chain, seized the moment to gloat:
"I said before, 'Nobody wants to run against us,'" Grayson said in a statement. "Well, it turns out that even the nobodies don't want to run against us."
In some respects, Gutierrez's abrupt out was a surprise. The youthful developer had easily lapped his fellow Republican opponents by raising $203,684 in outside contributions by the end of 2009, or twice as much as the rest of the primary field combined. He also dropped in $100,000 of his own.
He also bagged numerous endorsements, from former state party Chairman Al Cardenas, and a host of state and U.S. House members. He even signed on Orlando attorney Fred Leonhardt, a fund-raising stalwart in a district that includes most of Orange, and parts of Lake, Marion and Osceola counties.
Leonhardt said Gutierrez voiced doubts in the last week about where his heart was – whether to pursue Congress or a baseball team.
"A race for public office is tough," Leonhardt said. "I told him, 'If you need to get out, do it now.'"
Leonhardt said Gutierrez was pursuing a major league franchise, specifically an owner interested in selling a team. He would not say which one – though skeptics have said it's extremely unlikely Major League Baseball would allow a team to locate so near the Tampa Bay Rays.
Leonhardt said that Gutierrez planned to return his contributors' money and free up his backers to endorse other candidates.
They have plenty to choose from. Winter Park traffic-signal businessman Bruce O'Donoghue filed to run Monday, joining attorney and failed-2008 GOP primary candidate Todd Long. Those two and Rep. Kurt Kelly, R-Ocala, who won an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, are the front-runners.
However, two Tea Party activists -- former pilot Dan Fanelli and Lake County homemaker Patricia Sullivan -- are also running. So is doctor Ken Miller, who recently jumped in after first challenging U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D- New Smyrna Beach.
And the list could get longer. Former Ruth's Chris Steakhouse CEO Craig Miller is looking at a run and was said to be in Washington meeting with GOP officials.
South Florida transplant Armando Gutierrez says he wanted to serve in Congress – but he also saw a chance to find a way to bring major league baseball to Orlando.
So rather than possibly strike out at both, Gutierrez unexpectedly stepped out of the batter's box Tuesday and ended his bid to take on U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando. In a press statement the 28-year-old -- who wasn't registered to vote here six months ago -- said he was devoting himself solely to the improbable task of bringing big leaguers to play in Orlando.
"At this point," the statement said, "I feel I can do more for the Central Florida economy by bringing a baseball team to the community than I can as a member of Congress."
In an e-mail later, Gutierrez said no one leaned on him to get out of a crowded GOP primary field. "I was not in one bit pressured by anyone," Gutierrez wrote, taking time from a fishing trip. "In fact, our fundraising this quarter was set to surpass last quarter."
Grayson, well-known nationally now for yanking conservatives' chain, seized the moment to gloat:
"I said before, 'Nobody wants to run against us,'" Grayson said in a statement. "Well, it turns out that even the nobodies don't want to run against us."
In some respects, Gutierrez's abrupt out was a surprise. The youthful developer had easily lapped his fellow Republican opponents by raising $203,684 in outside contributions by the end of 2009, or twice as much as the rest of the primary field combined. He also dropped in $100,000 of his own.
He also bagged numerous endorsements, from former state party Chairman Al Cardenas, and a host of state and U.S. House members. He even signed on Orlando attorney Fred Leonhardt, a fund-raising stalwart in a district that includes most of Orange, and parts of Lake, Marion and Osceola counties.
Leonhardt said Gutierrez voiced doubts in the last week about where his heart was – whether to pursue Congress or a baseball team.
"A race for public office is tough," Leonhardt said. "I told him, 'If you need to get out, do it now.'"
Leonhardt said Gutierrez was pursuing a major league franchise, specifically an owner interested in selling a team. He would not say which one – though skeptics have said it's extremely unlikely Major League Baseball would allow a team to locate so near the Tampa Bay Rays.
Leonhardt said that Gutierrez planned to return his contributors' money and free up his backers to endorse other candidates.
They have plenty to choose from. Winter Park traffic-signal businessman Bruce O'Donoghue filed to run Monday, joining attorney and failed-2008 GOP primary candidate Todd Long. Those two and Rep. Kurt Kelly, R-Ocala, who won an endorsement from U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, are the front-runners.
However, two Tea Party activists -- former pilot Dan Fanelli and Lake County homemaker Patricia Sullivan -- are also running. So is doctor Ken Miller, who recently jumped in after first challenging U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D- New Smyrna Beach.
And the list could get longer. Former Ruth's Chris Steakhouse CEO Craig Miller is looking at a run and was said to be in Washington meeting with GOP officials.
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