Advocacy groups say Bondi going too soft on big banks

A coalition of clergy and community leaders plans to pay Attorney General Pam Bondi an unfriendly visit on Monday.

The groups, PICO United of Florida and Focus Orlando, say they are dissapointed by rumors Bondi isn't pushing for harsher penalities for banks as she leads a coalition of states in negotiating a settlement. The activists said they will show up at her office on noon Monday to drop off a statement airing out their grievances and urging stronger action.

“Ms. Bondi’s attitude demonstrates how out of touch she and the rest of Tallahassee is with everyday people,” said Trenise Bryant, a resident of Miami and leader of the Miami Workers Center, via a news release.  “We need a settlement that repairs the harm that was done to homeowners in our community, not one that lets banks off the hook.”

The groups believe Bondi should reject any settlement that "would grant the banks a broad release from liability for their actions" and urged her to launch a wide-ranging investigation into how mortgage fraud has contributed to the state's housing market collapse, the news release said.

Settlement discussions are ongoing, but Bloomberg reported Friday that banks may be released from claims involving certain types of documentation errors but could still face criminal prosecution and other civil lawsuits. Several state attorneys general have either dropped out or threatened to withdraw from the settlement if if prohibits further action against the nation's largest banks.

Scott suspends Boynton Beach mayor accused of corruption

Boyton Beach Mayor Jose Rodriguez was suspended from office today and has been accused interfering with a child abuse probe involving his estranged wife's daughter.

From the Associated Press:

The mayor of Boynton Beach is facing corruption charges and has been suspended from office.

Prosecutors have charged Mayor Jose Rodriguez with unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior, solicitation to commit unlawful disclosure of confidential criminal information and obstruction of a law-enforcement officer. He was arrested Thursday and released on bail later that night.

Boynton Beach's city attorney informed Gov. Rick Scott's office of the arrest Friday morning. Scott issued an executive order that afternoon suspending Rodriguez.

Rodriguez's term runs to March 2013. City commissioners will have to decide whether to appoint a replacement or hold a special election.

Authorities say Rodriguez used his position to try to stop a child abuse probe involving his estranged wife's daughter.

Rodriguez denied the allegations in an email to The Palm Beach Post, saying the charges were politically motivated.

Click the following link to read Scott's executive order suspending Rodriguez and the State Attorney's charges against the mayor:

Download Rodriguez Mayor Executive Order

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/27/2611860/boynton-beach-mayor-faces-corruption.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/27/2611860/boynton-beach-mayor-faces-corruption.html#storylink=cpy

Allen West on NPR: GOP candidates should go after Obama, not each other

Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, was interviewed this afternon by Michel Martin on NPR's Tell Me More. The Florida congressman talked about the GOP presidential primary in Florida as well as the forum he held earlier this week in Washington on black conservatism. (Story about that here, from earlier this week.)

Here's what he told Martin about the primary:

"The theme that they should really focus on is, you know, making the case for their vision, for their ideas to be contrasted against that of President Obama so that the people can make the decision of who is the best person to go into that arena of ideas and be able to challenge the president as far as the future and the legacy of this republic. So I think that, you know, people have gotten off-track in a lot of the back and forth, you know, anti-immigrant, Bain Capital, this, that, you know, six of one, half dozen of the other. We've got to get back to the basics. And I'll tell you, a lot of the people that I talked to down in our constituency, that's what they'd like to see the candidates get back towards is talking about ideas and making that contrast."

House committee slaps down Fair Districts plan, blasts its 11th-hour critique

The House Redistricting Committee forcefully pushed back against a blistering critique of their redistricting maps from the Fair Districts group that proposed the new standards and Friday rejected the group's alternative maps before passing three of its own.

 “I think it’s an unfortunate and more likely a legal stunt that this has taken, and I frankly find it offensive personally,” said Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, chairman of the committee, referring to a 12-page letter sent by the coalition of voters groups.

Despite his disappointment, Weatherford offered the maps for the House and congressional districts submitted jointly by the League of Women Voters, La Raza and Common Cause as an alternative to the committee's staff-drawn maps -- which result in at least 38 lawmakers pitted against each other.

With the amendment teed up, the committee then roundly beat up on it, with Democrats joining Republicans to kill it. Weatherford even urged his colleagues to oppose his own amendment.

Continue reading "House committee slaps down Fair Districts plan, blasts its 11th-hour critique"

Freddie Mac attack boomerangs on Connie Mack

Rep. Connie Mack hit the campaign trail this week to bash Gingrich for saying little about his profitable ties to mortgage giant Freddie Mac – a potent issue in foreclosure-racked Florida.

But when it comes to Mack’s profits from Freddie Mac’s cousin agency, Fannie Mae, the congressman was mum.

"What’s important here is what Newt Gingrich did for Freddie Mac," said Mack, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Fort Myers.

The Romney campaign made Gingrich’s estimated $1.6 million Freddie Mac consulting work an issue because it was a two-fer: It showed Gingrich was a Washington insider and it has the potential to stoke voter resentment in a state where one in 360 properties is in foreclosure.

But the attack also had a boomerang effect.

At Thursday’s Republican presidential debate, Gingrich said Romney had made $1 million from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bonds. Romney responded by noting that Gingrich also had invested with the mortgage giant.

And, it turns out, Mack and his wife, California Rep. Mary Bono Mack, have turned a profit as well off Fannie Mae, a government-sponsored enterprise that, along with Freddie Mac, is blamed for stoking the mortgage crisis.

Like Romney, their profits were derived from bonds, not stocks. Romney also said his investments were made by a manager of a blind trust.

More here

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/01/27/2611839/freddie-mac-attack-boomerangs.html#storylink=cpy

Offended panel approves new district maps

The Florida House Redistricting Committee approved new maps for state House and Senate and Congressional districts this morning…but as Rick Stone reports, not without some fireworks.

 

Listen now

 

The committee spent much of the morning adjusting boundary lines to make sure that as many cities and counties as possible were kept intact in single districts. That's one of the requirements of the Fair Districts amendments that voters approved to reduce gerrymandering.

Hours before, committee chairman Will Weatherford got a 12-page letter from the League of Women Voters and two other organizations, accusing the committee of violating Fair Districts to preserve Republican dominance. When the league's lobbyist, who was seated among the spectators,  refused to explain the letter, Weatherford hit the roof. 

Frankly I find it disappointing that anyone would suggest, first calling our maps, in a derogatory manner, explaining they don't follow the letter of the law and then refusing to get up and explain to us how theirs does..

 The League -- along with Common Cause and the National Council of LaRaza -- did include maps of its own which Weatherford proposed as amendments. The committee rejected them unanimously. But committee Democrats all voted no on the final work product. Representative Evan Jenne of Broward County said the maps do not reflect Florida's reality.

 Floridians are pretty much 50-50 when it comes to their voter registration. And at the end of the day I think you will still see a very strong Republican majority.

The new district maps are now ready for a House floor vote next week. Similar maps are coming up through the Senate. 

Rick Stone

Rick Santorum makes hard-line pitch, wins backing of Miami's Latin Builders

Compared to Newt Gingrich, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania gave a more personal speech before the Latin Builders Association in Miami Friday, with a more explicit appeal to Cuban-American voters. 

Along with stump-speech pledges to lower taxes and rollback President Barack Obama's regulations, Santorum told the story of his grandfather, an Italian immigrant who worked in Pennsylvania coal mines until he was 72 years old.  

"Those were the hands that dug freedom for me in America," he said. He then praised Miami's Cuban-American community for its "passion for freedom." 

Santorum then vowed to take a hard-line against any alliance between Iran and Venezuela, which Santorum described as "Cuba Part B." 

Santorum's speech won over the builders. Following the forum, the LBA's board voted to endorse Santorum in the Republican primary.

 "We are most interested in supporting a candidate that is going to reinvigorate the economy," said Bernie Navarro, the LBA's president.

--SCOTT HIAASEN

As GOPers go to vote, Obama-ites organize in Florida

From President Obama's re-election campaign:

As OFA Florida continues to see growing support across Florida for the re-election of President Obama, grassroots supporters of the President will host a variety of voter outreach events throughout the Sunshine State on Saturday, January 28 and Sunday, January 29. Events include opening offices in St. Petersburg and Boca Raton, providing supporters of President Obama a local place to gather and work to organize these communities. Additionally, there will be phone banks, canvases and other outreach activities across Florida. Since the President announced his re-election campaign in April, OFA Florida has committed to a smart, strong and strategic organizing strategy that touches every community in the state in preparation for November 2012. Floridians looking to get involved, should connect with us at FL.BarackObama.com, Facebook.com/OFA.FL, and on Twitter @OFA_FL.

 

Continue reading "As GOPers go to vote, Obama-ites organize in Florida"

Puerto Rico Gov. Luis G. Fortuño endorses Mitt Romney

Yesterday our sources said Puerto Rico Gov. Luis G. Fortuño would likely endorse Mitt Romney today. Today we confirm it. The press release:

Boston, MA – Mitt Romney today announced the support of Puerto Rico Governor Luis G. Fortuño.  

Continue reading "Puerto Rico Gov. Luis G. Fortuño endorses Mitt Romney"

In Tampa, strong criticism of Florida voting laws

Election experts and Democratic voting advocates told U.S. senators Friday that a Republican-backed overhaul of Florida election laws will suppress Democratic turnout in the nation's biggest battleground state next fall.

Democratic Sens. Bill Nelson of Florida and Dick Durbin of Illinois held a field hearing at the Hillsborough County Courthouse that drew a racially diverse crowd and at times resembled an orchestrated Democratic rally. In packed pews in a sixth-floor courtroom, people wore yellow stickers that read "Our voice, our vote" and hissed a witness who defended the law.

Testimony centered on the most controversial changes: reducing early voting from 14 days to eight, from 96 hours to a minimum of 48, and ending it on the Saturday before the election; requiring third-party groups to register and face fines if they turn in voter registration forms after 48 hours; and requiring voters to cast provisional ballots if they moved from another county since they last voted if they did not update their addresses.

The crowd erupted into loud applause when Durbin said: "There are people literally fighting and dying for the right to vote in countries like Syria, and we are finding ways to restrict the right to vote?"

Two county election supervisors, both Republicans, gave sharply contrasting views of the law.

Ann McFall of Volusia County criticized the law for not allowing more variety in early voting sites such as churches and she complained of being forced to "turn in" long-time friends and neighbors for turning in voter registration forms after 48 hours, including New Smyrna Beach teacher Jill Cicciarelli, who got a warning letter from the state.

"This is a bad law," said McFall, who predicted students at historically black Bethune Cookman College in Daytona Beach would be caught by the provisional ballot rule because of its traditionally high number of address changes on Election Day.

-- Steve Bousquet

A confident Mitt Romney energizes Hispanic Leadership Network crowd

A loose Mitt Romney, clearly riding a wave from his performance in Thursday night's Jacksonville debate, energized a friendly crowd at the Hispanic Leadership Network conference in Doral, where the audience was clearly happier to see Romney than Newt Gingrich about an hour earlier.

"I thought it was a delightful debate," Romney said as he took the microphone. "I loved it!"

He was introduced by the youngest of his five sons, Craig, who speaks Spanish after spending some time in Chile. (He is frequently featured on Romney's Spanish-language ads.) The son delighted the crowd by introducing his own son, Parker, and saying Romney "será un presidente excelente" -- will be an excellent president. Ann Romney then introduced her husband.

Romney received several sustained rounds of applause, and a standing ovation about 20 minutes into his half-hour speech when he pledged, "We will help Cuba become free."

He also said he would appoint a presidential envoy responsible for democracy and freedom in Latin America. And he went further than Gingrich on Puerto Rico, saying he hoped Puerto Ricans would follow the lead of Gov. Luis Fortuño and vote for statehood for the island. Fortuño, who was at the conference earlier Friday, is rumored to be backing Romney, though the governor was cagey when approached by a reporter asking him about the endorsement.

"I expect the peopke of Puerto Rico will decide -- like he feels -- they want to become a state," Romney said.

In a clear move to appeal to Fortuño, Romney spoke about drug trafficking. Fortuño is scheduled to appear with Sen. Marco Rubio later Friday to address that very topic in Miami.

"We are not a good example in this regard," Romney said, adding that the U.S. should teach Americans about the consequences of drug use, an argument he has made in Spanish-language interviews in Miami. "Stop taking drugs, because they're killing people," he added, calling for a hemispheric task force on drugs.

On immigration, Romney made refence to a Gingrich attack ad Rubio and others derided, and declared, "We are not anti-immigrant. We are not anti-immigration. We are the pro-immigration, pro-legality, pro-citizenship nation." The crowd applauded and whisteled.

The 11 million people in the country in here illegally already should be given a temporary status and then have to return to their home countries to apply for citizenship, Romney said. "Other people call that self-deportation," he said. "We're not going to go out and round people in buses and send them home."

Romney said he intends to fight for the 4.5 million people waiting to come to the U.S. legally.

"I want them to get here. I'd like to see a transparent process," he said. "I'd like them to be able to go on the internet and see where they stand."

And he spoke about letting employers find out if workers are illegal, the kind of e-Verify-dependent proposal that died last year in the Florida Legislature. "I will crack down aggressively on those employers just like we do on companies that don't pay their taxes," he said.

Finally, Romney spoke about unemployment and the economy, citing the 11 percent jobless rate for Hispanics nationwide. "This is a failed presidency," Romney said of President Barack Obama. "He did not cause a recession, but he made it worse."

Newt Gingrich talks Puerto Rico, 'self-deportation' to Hispanic Republicans

Newt Gingrich may not have been at the Hispanic Leadership Network's Doral conference to listen to Sen. Marco Rubio, but it was clear to the audience here that Gingrich had a tough act to follow, after Rubio gave a sweeping immigration speech.

Gingrich, fresh off a breakfast with the Latin Builders Association and an impromptu press event to officially announce the backing from Hispanics including U.S. Rep. David Rivera, spoke for about 25 minutes, his wife, Callista, by his side.

He repeated many of the U.S. foreign policy themes he laid out Tuesday in a speech at Florida International University but also touched on Puerto Rico, which came up at Thursday night's debate in Jacksonville. At one point, a Puerto Rican woman from the audience interrupted Gingrich to try to get him to say whether he supports statehood for the island.

"I believe the people of Puerto Rico should make that decision," Gingrich said, receiving the most enthusiastic applause of his remarks when he told the woman, "If you don't like it, I disagree."

When he turned to immigration, Gingrich noted the failures of previous Republican and Democratic administrations. "I don't believe you can pass a comprehensive bill," he said, adding that it would face "too many enemies."

That's when he mentioned primary rival Mitt Romney -- 18 minutes into Gingrich's speech.

"This is where I have a big disagreement with Gov. Romney," Gingrich said regarding what to do with the about 11 million people who are in the United States illegally.

Gingrich, who had mocked Romney's mention of "self-deportation" at a Tampa debate Monday, said "a very significant number" of "young, unattached" undocumented immigrants would go back to their countries and apply for a guest-worker program under Gingrich's porposal. "Self-deportation in fact works for those groups," he admitted.

But not for everyone: "The idea that a grandmother is not going to be supported, the idea that she's going to self-deport...this is not a solution."

Gingrich ended with what he called "a very brief commercial."

"I am running for president," he said, sounding somewhat subdued. "We have a primary here on Tuesday. I'd love to have your support, your endorsement. I'd love you to go on YouTube, Facebook...even talk to people face-to-face.

"I will try to lead all Americans into a dramatically better future."

Jeb joins the Dis Newt Gingrich's Message Club over 'ridiculous' Crist bashing

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush dissed Republican candidate Newt Gingrich for invoking the name of former Republican-turned-independent Gov. Charlie Crist, whose former staffers work for Mitt Romney (some former Crist-ites also work for Gingrich's camp)

“That’s not a serious accusation,” Bush told the National Review Online. “Candidates win elections. I’m not a big Charlie Crist fan, as you recall, but these guys shouldn’t have that moniker attached to them, as if Governor Romney is part of some evil plot. That’s ridiculous.”

Bush's comments are a harsher version of Sen. Marco Rubio's statement on the matter Tuesday. Rubio followed up Wednesday with a forceful condemnation of Gingrich's Spanish-language radio ad that called Romney 'anti-immigrant.'

Not a good week for Gingrich heading into Tuesday's vote.

With Latin Builders in Miami, Newt Gingrich steers clear of mentioning Mitt Romney

The morning after another combative Republican primary debate, Newt Gingrich emphasized his pro-business, anti-regulation platform -– and his connections to Ronald Reagan as a young congressman -– in a speech before a Hispanic business group in downtown Miami on Friday.

Unmentioned in Gingrich’s 30-minute speech: Republican rival Mitt Romney.

Speaking at a candidate forum organized by the influential Latin Builders Association, Gingrich emphasized his years as Speaker of the House of Representatives, years when Congress passed welfare reform legislation and balanced the federal budget. And he also cast himself as an early champion of Reagan’s supply-side economics in the early 1980s.

Gingrich promised to go back to the supply-side “playbook” again if elected president, lowering taxes on corporations and gutting the federal bureaucracy. Among his proposals: Erasing the Environmental Protection Agency -– what he called a “dictatorial job-killing agency” -- and recasting it as the “Environmental Solutions Agency.”

Gingrich said his top priority as president will be to reduce unemployment.

“In the long run, the answer to the housing crisis is getting people to work,” Gingrich told the association, which includes many large homebuilders.

Gingrich opened his address by endorsing a new bill proposed by Miami congressman David Rivera that would provide citizenship to young immigrants who serve in the U.S. military.

Gingrich’s campaign also announced the creation of a Hispanic “steering committee” to generate support among Hispanic voters. The committee includes Rivera, Miami City Commissioner Francis Suarez, Miami-Dade Commissioner Xavier Suarez, and Otto Reich, a former ambassador and State Department official.

Romney, Gingrich’s chief rival in the polls, was not scheduled to appear before the builders association, though he was invited to the forum. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is scheduled to speak to the builders group later Friday.

--SCOTT HIAASEN

Doug Darling, head of Florida's economic development agency, resigns

Doug Darling, the executive director of Florida's economic development agency, is resigning from his post, according to a letter he sent Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday. 

The resignation comes less than a year after Darling accepted the position as head of the state's new Department of Economic Opportunity.

Here's Darling's resignation letter, which cites "personal reasons" for his departure:  Download DarlingResignationLetter

Darling's effective date of resignation will be Feb. 29, but he has requested to have his last day on Tuesday (Jan. 31).

Continue reading "Doug Darling, head of Florida's economic development agency, resigns"

Protesters interrupt Marco Rubio speech at Jeb Bush's Hispanic Leadership Network

UPDATE: Rubio gave a sweeping immigration speech where he derided both parties for playing politics with an issue so crucial to Hispanics, acknowledged his own party's shortcomings and called for a compassionate approach to dealing with the country's illegal immigrants. For our ongoing notes throughout the speech, see below.

Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican on the vice-presidential short list, will speak Friday morning to the Hispanic Leadership Network, former Gov. Jeb Bush's organization. Some 600 people have RSVP's to Friday's conference, which began Thursday night and featured a debate-watching party that appeared on CNN. (Read more about the debate here.)

In the lead-up to Rubio's speech, critics from a group called Presente Action had a propeller plane circling the Doral Golf Resort & Spa with a banner reading, Hey Marco: No Somos Rubios, which translates to "We aren't Rubios." It's a play on words on the word rubio, which in Spanish means blond or fair. The group is attacking Rubio largely over immigration, protesting that the senator doesn't support the pro-immigrant DREAM Act.

For updates on Rubio's speech once it begins, refresh this blog post.

After saying a few words in Spanish, Rubio, who was greeted by a standing ovation, said he got a text message froma friend telling him about the airplane banner. "Marco, we're not blond," he said, translating the banner. "Which, by coincidence, neither am I -- although if I'm in the Senate for another year, I may start being a little bit more gray."

The crowd laughed. Then Rubio immediately went into the issue of immigration -- and a couple of suit-clad protesters stood up, raised signs that said "Marco Rubio -- Latino or Tea-Partino" and asked Rubio why he isn't helping them. "You're an immigrant yourself!" they yelled.

Rubio appeared unfazed. Security approached the protesters while Rubio said, "I ask that you guys let them stay, because I think that they're going to be interested in what I'm going to say." Rubio got a standing ovation. "I don't want them to leave," he repeated. "I want them to stay."

"Let them stay!" chanted the crowd. 

But the protesters were escorted out.

"They came here to a crowd that they know may not be friendly," Rubio said. "I think God that I'm in a country where they can do that.

"I'm not who they think I am," he said. "I don't stand for what they claim I stand for."

Then, speaking without notes, an energized Rubio launched into a 20-minute speech his supporters said afterwards was one of the best they have heard throughout the presidential campaign.

"Our country has a broken legal immigration system," he began. "The status quo is unsustainable."

Rubio spoke of bipartisan support for a guest worker system and making it easier for people to obtain U.S. visas. But the policies haven't moved forward, he said, because of politics.

"We must admit that there are those among us that have used rhetoric that is harsh and intolerable and inexcusable," Rubio said. "And we must admit -- myself included -- that sometimes we've been too slow to condemn that language for what it is."

On the left of the political spectrum, politicians too have been guilty, Rubio said, of setting "unrealistic expectations" to appeal to Hispanic voters.

"It's not realistic to expect that you're going to deport 11 million people," he acknowledged. He added later, "No, we cannot legalize 11 million people."

Rubio spoke about his family, at one point appearing to get choked up, trying to make light of controversy stirred last fall when he was forced to correct a mistake on his website saying his parents came to the United States from Cuba after Fidel Castro came into power. They actually left Cuba before. "I got some dates wrong in my parent's immigration history," Rubio said. "And it created some uncomfortable days."

But, he said, it was "a blessing in disguise" to have to review his family's history. He told of his grandfather's polio and hardships and ask the audience to put themselves in the shoes of people in other countries facing similar hardship today for their children.

"There is no fence high enough, there is no ocean wide enough that most of us would not cross to provide to them what they do not have," he said. "I hope never again that young people will have to stand up in an event like this and hold up a sign because the issues been taken care of."

In the end, Rubio cited "The New Colossus," a poem by Emma Lazarus. ("I'm not a big poetry fan," Rubio admitted. "There's nothing wrong with poetry...now I'm going to get the poet people upset. You gotta be careful every vote counts," he joked.) The poem is engraved in a plaque inside the Statue of Liberty.

"A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame/Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name/Mother of Exiles," Rubio read.

"This is who we were for 225 years. This is who we've been," he said. "The question now is, is this who we will remain?" 

He received another standing ovation before leaving, without speaking to reporters.

 

Newt Gingrich announces backing of Miami Hispanic politicians

In the wake of Newt Gingrich's campaign events in Miami Friday, his campaign announced the launch of a "Hispanic Steering Committee" feeaturing several well-known Miami-area politicians.

Among them is U.S. Rep. David Rivera, who has been ushering and introducing Gingrich around South Florida. So is GOP fundraiser Ana Navarro, who had earlier worked for Jon Huntsman. Also on the list: Miami Commissioner Francis Suarez.

See press release after the jump.

Continue reading "Newt Gingrich announces backing of Miami Hispanic politicians"

Texting bill sponsor's a texter herself

It was a good day for Nancy Detert, R-Venice, whose texting bill died in the Senate last year. This year's version passed its third committee vote on Thursday, with just one more to go before a full Senate hearing.

  But it's a mild ban. Texting drivers could only be ticketed if they had already been stopped for some other offense, the first offense fine is only $30…and it doesn't apply to the kind of roadway texting that Detert does herself.

  The senator she says when she has to send a message from behind the wheel, she fiddles with her Android phone, brings up a speech-to-text app and dictates. Unlike manual typing, she claims, it is not distracting.

 "My eyes are still on the road, as opposed to the original texting which was the Blackberry, where you had to type with two thumbs, and there was no way you were looking at the road," Detert said. 

  Several studies suggest many Americans text while driving, although big majorities think it should be illegal. But two years ago, the Highway Loss Data Institute found that traffic safety did not improve in states that banned texting while driving.

  HLDI president Adrian Lund reported in 2010 that car crashes actually increased in three of the four states that were studied, possibly because drivers' effort to avoid detection made texting even more hazardous.

Texting-WR-rstone

 

Romney leads Gingrich in Florida 38-29 in new Quinnipiac poll

From Quinnipiac:

Just four days before the nation’s first big-state presidential primary,former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney opens up a 38 – 29 percent lead over former House Speaker Newt Gingrich among Republican likely voters in Florida, according to a Quinnipiac University poll taken Wednesday and released today.  Only 6 percent are undecided, but 32 percent say they might change their mind by Tuesday. 

This compares to results of a January 25 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University, showing Romney with 36 percent of likely primary voters to Gingrich’s 34 percent.  Wednesday’s survey showed Gingrich ahead 40 – 34 percent among voters surveyed after the South Carolina primary.

Continue reading "Romney leads Gingrich in Florida 38-29 in new Quinnipiac poll"

Fair Districts lambasts legislative maps, details alleged legal violations

The Fair Districts coalition broke its silence on the legislature's nearly completed redistricting maps late Thursday and delivered a 12-page letter to lawmakers lambasting their proposals for manipulating the political boundaries for partisan and incumbent advantage, in violation of the state Constitution.

"It appears that all maps under consideration were drawn with an intent to gain partisan advantage and/or to protect incumbents," the group wrote in its letter to House Redistricting Chairman Will Weatherford. "The Legislature’s refusal to follow this efficient and logical redistricting method proves that it wanted to retain its ability to surreptitiously favor a party or incumbents, and the numbers bear this out."

In short, the group which helped bring new state's redistricting standards to the state Constitution, accuses lawmakers of not only strategically protecting incumbents with the drawing of districts but doing it to strengthen weak districts, pick favorites in competitive areas, pack minority voters into districts and strategically secure a Republican majority for the next decade.

Continue reading "Fair Districts lambasts legislative maps, details alleged legal violations"