State examining thousands of foreigners on Florida voting rolls (2,000 in Miami alone)

Thousands of foreign citizens – particularly in South Florida -- might be registered to vote in Florida and could have unlawfully cast ballots in previous elections.

The potential problem is largest in Florida's largest county: Miami-Dade, where the elections supervisor is examining 2,000 potentially unlawful voters, CBS4 News reported. Broward is examining 260 suspected foreign voters. One suspected non-citizen voter has been registered for about 40 years, CBS4 found.

It's unclear how many -- if any -- have cast ballots and when.Election supervisors in Miami-Dade and the state’s 66 other counties are contacting these voters and asking them to prove their citizenship within 30 days.

“If we find out after the fact that you are actually a non-citizen, and you are registered to vote, then we would report you to the State Attorney's office," Christina White, Miami-Dade’s deputy supervisor of elections, told CBS4.

"If you are not [a citizen] and you check the box on the registration form that says that you are [a citizen],” White said, “we are required to register you to vote, because you are taking that under oath."

With few exceptions, only U.S. citizens who are lawful Florida residents without felony records are eligible to vote in the state. A voter who unlawfully casts a ballot could be charged with voter fraud, a third-degree felony, punishable by a maximum five-year prison sentence and $5,000 fine.

Over the past year, the state's Division of Elections has begun identifying potential foreigners on the rolls in coordination with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said division of elections spokesman Chris Cate. He said the state has forwarded the names to county election supervisors who are in charge of the rolls.

"There will be more names," Cate said.

The discovery of potentially unlawful voters is sure to fuel the partisan debate over voter fraud and voting rights. With 1.2 million registered voters in Miami-Dade, 2,000 potential non-voters may not seem like a big number -- however it's more than enough to swing a close election in a state like Florida, where the 2000 presidential election was decided by 537 votes in favor of George W. Bush.

"It's very important that we ensure that the voter rolls are accurate and that only people who are eligible are able to vote," White said.

Steve MacNamara and the quiet, $5 million no-bid transparency contract

When the Florida Senate was looking for someone to put its budget data online, it set aside $5.5 million and turned to the business partner of a close friend of the Senate’s chief of staff at the time, Steve MacNamara.

The developer of the program, Anna Jo Mattson, owns a software company with Tallahassee lawyer and lobbyist Jim Eaton, MacNamara’s long-time friend. She also owns Spider Data Services, the company that developed the software program licensed by the Senate. She said Tuesday the companies are not related. MacNamara did not respond to requests for comment.

MacNamara negotiated the contract with Mattson in February when he worked for Senate President Mike Haridopolos. He left the Senate to become Gov. Rick Scott’s chief of staff in July. To date, Mattson has been paid $5 million for development of the no-bid project. Another $2.5 million has been set aside in the governor’s 2012-13 budget to pay for access to her patented program next year.

“What we’ve got is state of the art in terms of budget transparency programs,’’ said Craig Meyer, who succeeded MacNamara as Senate chief of staff. Story here.

Marco Rubio on student loan vote: "Surreal listening to Dem colleagues lecture me"

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was among the Senate Republicans blocking a Democratic-led effort to freeze student loan rates.

By a 52 to 45 vote, with Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, voting "present," the Senate fell eight votes short of the number needed to cut off the debate and move forward. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., voted for moving forward with debate.

Republicans objected because Democrats wanted to close a tax loophole to fund the plan. The House of Representatives has passed legislation to freeze the rate, which would double to 6.8 percent July 1 if nothing is done. But Democrats disliked the GOP-authored House plan because it cut money for health care.

Rubio took to social media to explain his vote, saying this on Twitter: "As maybe only Sen paying a #studentloan surreal listening to Dem colleagues lecture me on #studentloandebt."

Rubio said he supports "a hundred percent making sure that the interest rates on student loans do not go up," but doesn't support the Democratic plan.

The 40-year-old senator still pays Sallie Mae each month for his law school education. It's an estimated $101,000 to $250,000 debt, according to his most recent financial disclosure report.

He's not the only high-profile U.S. leader who's griped about about paying back the loans. It's also become a frequent refrain on the campaign trail for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

Read more here: http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/washington/2012/05/senate-republicans-block-effort-to-debate-student-loan-bill.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

Steve MacNamara's inner circle goes lobbyist fishing

As the going got tough for Gov. Rick Scott's chief of staff Steve MacNamara, his inner circle got to fishing in the Florida Keys with one of the Capitol’s top lobbyists, David Browning, who caught this nice red grouper.

It was enough to feed the crew: MacNamara’s two top deputies, Marc Slager and Chris Finkbeiner, and an insider who has also fed at the government trough, Abe Uccello, the recipient of a questionable $360,000 no-bid contract awarded by MacNamara when he was in the Senate.

Uccello now heads Scott’s task force overseeing government waste. Slager and Finkbeiner were brought to the governor’s office by MacNamara, who made sure to pay them $135,000 each -- 35 percent more than two female deputy staff chiefs. Slager was involved in a curious broadband contract kerfuffle. And Finkbeiner was a liaison to Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office during a controversial Cuba bill signing that politically blew up on Scott.

Even Spanish-language TV has started to question MacNamara's role in Scott's administration. Scott has complained that the news media is being "mean" as we scrutinize his $189,000-a-year staff chief.

Mitt Romney bashed "abortive pill," but plans to fundraise with its maker

Think Progress has an interesting post that takes Republican presidential canndidate Mitt Romney to task for:

1) falsely saying that the so-called Plan B contraception was an "abortive pill" (it works more like a common contraceptive) and

2) holding a $50,000-a-head fundraiser at the Star Island home of Phil Frost, who chairs Teva Pharmaceuticals, which happens to make..... Plan B.

The Think Progress report is here

Gov. Scott in Marathon in Cabinet meeting

 For the first time in recent memory, a state Cabinet meeting was held in the Florida Keys – and at a school: Stanley Switlik Elementary School in Marathon, a small town in the Middle Keys.
      Not much official business took place during the public two-hour meeting Tuesday morning. Gov. Rick Scott, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Commissioner of Agriculture Adam Putnam and CFO Jeff
Atwater approved several bonds for college dorms for Florida International University, University of Florida and Florida A&M and they approved an updated emergency hurricane shelter plan.
      The Cabinet also approved $50 million for wasterwater treatment facilities in the Keys, part of a $200 million grant that had been authorized in 2009 but not allocated until it was a line-item that
survived in the recent state budget. Scott said it was the right thing to do for the environment.
      Officials in the Keys also helped convince him with statistics that the funding would create 1,100 jobs for four years.
       The large crowd in the school cafeteria cheered for the funding that will go to wastewater projects in Islamorada and the Cudjoe Key area, with the goal of improving water quality in the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
       “It’s the most popular sewer line ever,” Atwater said.
        Bondi left midway during the meeting to be with her stepson, who had a fall and was having surgery.
        Gov. Scott toured the elementary school where first graders drilled him with questions. Do you know the President? How big is your office? And how old are you? 

       Scott’s schedule for the afternoon included an outing on the water where he will release a sea turtle rehabilitated at the TurtleHospital in Marathon. But he’s not the first governor to do so. Gov.
Charlie Crist also helped release one of the marine creatures while he was in office.

Here's Scott's comments on some other issues... 

On appealing state employee drug testing that was ruled unconstitutional, “As you know, every voter wants to have their government be having an efficient, effective workforce. It’s no different than the private sector. As you know, the private sector drug screens and they do it because they want to have effective employees and efficient employees. I believe the same thing for state workers. It’s the right thing to be doing for your tax dollars. It’s a good use of your tax money to make sure we’re productive.

On Citizen Property Insurance reducing number of policies:
“I’m not sure how much smaller Citizens can get. But here’s the position Citizens is in now. They have over $500 billion worth of risk, with less than $10 billion worth of surplus. So that’s a lot of risk and I think one of the most important things homeowners want is if there ever is a disaster that their insurance company is going to be able to pay the bill.”

Health insurers owe Floridians tens of millions, report says

Health insurance companies owe Florida policyholders tens of millions of dollars for failing to meet a provision of the Affordable Care Act that limits the amount of premium dollars that can be spent on overhead, according to new estimates.

The Kaiser Family Foundation recently issued a report that said insurers will owe Floridians nearly $149 million in rebates this summer for failing to meet the medical loss ratio rule found in the federal health care overhaul. The nationwide rebate total is $1.3 billion, according to Kaiser, a non-partisan organization that analyzes health policy.

Under the MLR provision, insurers offering health coverage to individuals and small businesses must spend at least 80 percent of premiums on claims and direct services. The threshold for large group plans is 85 percent of premium dollars. Insurers who failed to meet those requirements in 2011 must issue rebates to consumers in August. Florida unsucessfully petitioned the federal government for flexibiilty under the rule for individual plans.

Companies are required to submit a report to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by June 1 showing what they spent on health care and activities that improve care during 2011. They must provide rebate notices and issue rebates by August 1.

Movers & Shakers: LobbyTools beefs up staff, Romney campaign hires Scott press aide

James Call joins LobbyTools & The Florida Current

LobbyTools & The Florida Current continue to build their reporting team with the recent addition of James Call, announced today.

Call, 56, has covered state government and North Florida for more than 20 years.

Previously, Call was managing editor of the Apalachee Tortoise, a Tallahassee community newspaper that encouraged citizen involvement in public policy decisions. Before that, he was a section editor with Research in Review Magazine, which explained scientific research for a mass audience.

Call also had stints as associate editor at Florida Wildlife Magazine and executive producer at WTXL-TV in Tallahassee, according to a press release from the company.

Call's work has won awards from The Associated Press, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Pew Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, the release states. The company also recently hired Bill Cotterell, a veteran of the Tallahassee Democrat.

Rep. Jeff Clemens hires campaign manager to kick off Senate bid

Cesar Fernandez is the new campaign manager for Rep. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, who is bidding for a seat in the Florida Senate.

Fernandez was formerly legislative assistant to Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, deputy campaign manager at Thomas Hawkins for Gainesville City Commission, and field organizer for Dan Gelber's attorney general bid.

Amy Graham leaves governor's office to join Romney campaign

Gov. Rick Scott’s deputy communications director is joining the Mitt Romney campaign. Amy Graham, 25, is a former press aide to Gov. Jeb Bush and press secretary for the Department of Environmental Protection. She earns $71,000 per year.

For more, read here.

Floridian Partners hires Chamber of Commerce veteran

Floridian Partners, a statewide corporate and public affairs consulting and lobbying firm, announced that Teye Reeves, former policy director for the Florida Chamber of Commerce, joined the firm. 

Reeves will be based in the firm’s Tallahassee office, but will also serve clients in Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami. 

Reeves most recently served as the director of Business Climate and Quality of Life issues for the Florida Chamber of Commerce, overseeing insurance, tort reform, tax, and health care policy and legislation, according to a press release from the organization.
 
"Teye has quickly developed a wide-range of experience at the state and local level.  She is a top notch, versatile talent who will bring immediate value to our clients," said Brian May, South Florida managing partner.

Movers & Shakers is a weekly roundup of personnel changes in Tallahassee. Please send tips to bdavis@tampabay.com or via twitter @Britt_alana.

Mitt Romney targets $8m on multi-city Florida fundraising swing.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is planning to hit up at least five fundraisers in Miami, Coral Gables, Tampa, Jacksonville and Boca Raton on Wednesday and Thursday of next week (May 16, 17).

Total fundraising goal: $5 million to $8 million for Romney Victory, Inc., a joint fundraising primarily composed of Romney’s campaign and the Republican National Committee.

The numbers may seem jaw dropping, but in a state where it costs at least $1 million a week to run a competitive ad campaign. Romney and the PAC supporting him spent at least $12 million in Florida’s January primary, a supporter says, and Republicans are bracing for President Obama to spend anywhere from $75 million to $100 million to win Florida, without which Romney can’t win the presidency (remember: Gov. Rick Scott spent about $76 million).

Those wishing to attend the photo-op VIP receptions at the various venues will have to drop $10,000 per person. The conventional receptions are $2,500 per person.

Gallery: Eric Tournay records 35 years of FL leadership

Eric Tournay, known as ET, was personal photographer for nine Florida governors and retired recently after 35 years. His story ran Sunday.

Tournay's portfolio is understandably epic: 1 million images. And it doesn't just include politicians. Tournay, over the years, rubbed elbows with athletes, musical artists and movie stars. He met every president and first lady since Ronald and Nancy Reagan.

Click here to view some of his work.