Gov. Scott leaves his official email account off state transparency website

Gov. Rick Scott said he was championing transparency in May when he gave the public access to his emails by posting them online for anyone to see.

But what he failed to say at his May 3 news conference launching Project Sunburst was that the emails he made public were not the emails of his official state account. The emails the public read online were from a different account used almost exclusively by conservative supporters.

On Monday, after the Herald/Times questioned what appeared to be an unrealistically high percentage of favorable emails on the public database, the Scott administration issued a statement acknowledging the two separate e-mail accounts. It also announced that it would phase out RLS@eog.myflorida.com, which Scott solely used to respond to email. That email address — which was not on any official state website — appears on many Tea Party websites across the state, under the heading “Governor Rick Scott’s email.”

“Effective this week, emails sent or received using the official website contact form will also be added to the Sunburst system,” said Scott spokesman Brian Burgess, who emphasized that the governor’s emails are always available through a public records request.

Scott was not available for comment.

A full list of emails sent to both of Scott’s accounts, going back to May 1, will now be uploaded to the system. Scott’s official state email account is rick.scott@eog.myflorida.com, but this account is only used to receive emails and not correspond with the public.

Read more here: 

--@ToluseO

See the press conference announcing Project Sunburst here:

Note: The governor's press office went to great lengths to show that Project Sunburst was "above and beyond" what the law requires and that Scott is one of the most transparent govenors in Florida history.

We've posted the office's lengthy statement, in its entirety, below:

Absentee-ballot fraud case tolls on Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez's reelection

In a bid to stem the political fallout over potential absentee-ballot fraud, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez has asked key campaign consultants to state in writing that they did not hire two women under investigation for illegally collecting ballots.

A dozen paid operatives began signing the notarized affidavits over the weekend, as questions remained over whom exactly the women were working for and why one of them, Daisy Cabrera, was found in possession of several ballots. A county ordinance prohibits anyone from holding more than two ballots belonging to other voters.

Joe Carrillo, a private eye who first alerted police to his suspected ballot-brokering by Cabrera, met on Monday with a public-corruption prosecutor at the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office.

The probe has become a stumbling block for Gimenez, who is seeking reelection Aug. 14 against six opponents, including County Commission Chairman Joe Martinez, his chief rival. Last year, Gimenez ran on his character, portraying himself as a man of integrity.

Gimenez has emphatically said his campaign had nothing to do with Cabrera and Matilde Martinez, who were detained and questioned by Miami-Dade police last week in Hialeah. Prosecutors have not filed any charges.

“If I didn’t hire her, how am I blamed for something that I didn’t do?” Gimenez said in an interview on Monday. “These two ladies do not work for my campaign.”

Dr. Gisela Salas, chief of state elections division, resigns

Dr. Gisela Salas, director of the state Division of Elections, has resigned effective Aug. 1 to take a job closer to her family in Ocala.

Salas' resignation was made public Monday afternoon in an email that her boss, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, sent to Florida's 67 county election supervisors. Because her departure comes at a pivotal time -- just before a statewide primary in a presidential election year -- Detzner emphasized that the office will remain in capable hands.

"John Boynton, deputy secretary (of state), will be overseeing the operations of the division," Detzner wrote, noting Boynton's 39 years of experience at the agency. Detzner said his chief of staff, Jennifer Kennedy, also will work closely with the division, along with the division's three bureau chiefs, Kristi Bronson, David Drury and Maria Matthews.  

Salas earned $90,000 a year. She was the state employee who was in regular -- and in some cases difficult -- contact with election supervisors in recent months over a controversial purge of suspected non-citizens from the voter rolls. 

-- Steve Bousquet

Pam Bondi splitting time between Tallahassee and Tampa

Attorney General Pam Bondi seems to be everywhere these days — stumping for Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, schmoozing with Rudy Giuliani in Tampa or talking about health care on Fox News.

Everywhere, except Tallahassee.

A rising star in the national Republican Party, Bondi appears to be often working from a Tampa agency field office near her home, according to her official schedule, which was obtained by the Times/Herald via a public record request. When she travels to Tallahassee, it is often for required meetings of the Cabinet and state Clemency Board.

There are no rules precluding the arrangement, and statewide office holders past and present have similarly worked from offices near their primary residence.

Still, Bondi's office would not say which days she is working in Tampa versus in Tallahassee or provide an estimate of the percentage of time she spends in each office. Her official schedule is often vague about her whereabouts.

Read more here.

Embarrassing statements abound -- for witnesses too -- in Greer case

There is a bit of bad news for some of the witnesses slated to testify at the trial of former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer.

A four-page report that apparently includes some embarrassing accusations against witnesses is a public record, says Orlando Circuit Judge Marc L. Lubet in an order released Monday.

The judge also refused to limit the records that Greer can subpoena from the state party saying the records are likely to be relevant and favorable to his defense. Greer will have to pay reasonable costs for the documents.

Greer faces trial in November on federal charges of money laundering and grand theft in connection with money he obtained from his secret involvement in a company that handled fundraising for the party in 2009.

Orlando attorney Richard E. Hornsby asked the court to seal the record to avoid violating the privacy of "interested persons'' who were not charged. He would not identify the client who hired him.

During a hearing earlier this month the judge read a list of potential witnesses who might be harmed by the report, including Brian Ballard, a lobbyist and GOP fundraiser; former GOP executive director Delmar Johnson; former finance chairman Harry Sargeant; and Dane Eagle, a House candidate and former aide to Gov. Charlie Crist.

Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Michael Williams said he expects to call all but possibly Eagle.

Lucy Morgan's story is here.

Republican Jewish Coalition's "Buyer's Remorse" ads to run in FL in September

In keeping with today's all-things-Jewish political coverage comes this: The Republican Jewish Coalition announced a $6.5 million ad campaign featuring voters who have "buyers remorse" over voting for Obama. The RJC says it has reserved $1.6 million in time in September in Florida.

Obama supporters countered today by pointing to this Ehud Barak interview on CNN:

"I think that from my point of view as defense minister they are extremely good, extremely deep and profound. I can see long years, um, administrations of both sides of political aisle deeply supporting the state of Israeli and I believe that reflects a profound feeling among the American people," said Barak. "But I should tell you honestly that this administration under President Obama is doing in regard to our security more than anything that I can remember in the past."

Here are the RJC ads:

Connie Mack hosts Palmetto Bay meet & greet at Republican Victory Center

Rep. Connie Mack's hosting a meet & greet Tuesdayon behalf of his campaign and the campaign of Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, for whom Mack stumped in the January Florida primary.

Doors Open at 1:30PM

Location: Victory Center, 8590 SW 152nd St

 

Why Mitt Romney's FL Jewish outreach won't be easy

Mitt Romney’s high-profile trip to Israel has renewed political speculation about the inroads Republicans could make with Jewish voters this presidential election year.

But the Republican outreach probably won’t yield significantly more Jewish votes, according to interviews with Jewish voters, voting studies and experts.

That doesn’t mean, however, that President Obama is guaranteed the same overwhelming Jewish support he enjoyed in 2008, when Republicans made a big effort to cut into this reliably Democratic block of voters.

“A lot of people are upset with the president, but I’ll still vote for him,” said Bernard Witkin, 63-year-old Jewish voter with no party affiliation who lives in the Century Village in Pembroke Pines.

“I just don’t trust the right-wing agenda,” Witkin said. “And we definitely don’t agree with the Republicans on social issues.”

Still, the economy has weighed on Obama, whose poll numbers have slipped among Jews along with the rest of the electorate since 2009. He still beats Romney by a healthy margin, according to the latest Gallup poll, but it’s not clear if the margin is solid enough for Obama.

Jewish voters account for as little as 4 percent and as much as 8 percent of the electorate in Florida, the only battleground state where the Jewish vote is significant enough to make a difference and help decide control of the White House race or the U.S. Senate.

Integrity Florida unveils possible lawmaker conflicts

Legislators and top state officials accepted at least $101,449 in gifts from non-lobbyists so far in 2012, according to a report released Monday by Tallahassee-based Integrity Florida.

Enterprise Florida, the state's economic development organization, for example, paid $12,724 for Lieutenant Gov. Jennifer Carrolls' trade mission to South Africa while The Aspen Institute, the Republican Attorney General Association and other groups have financed $8,860 in travel for Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The gifts do not violate the state's controversial 2005 gift ban because they came from people or organizations that are not registered lobbyists.

"It's okay for people to give gifts to each other...but we'd all like to have a gift to Taiwan," said Dan Krassner, executive director of Integrity Florida. "Would they get these gifts if they weren't lawmakers?"

The report also named at least 10 lawmakers who worked for law firms that lobbied during the 2012 legislative session.

They are: Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Coral Gables, Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, Rep. Joseph Abruzzo, D-Wellington, Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-Trinity, Rep. Jose Diaz, R-Miami, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, Rep. Joe Gibbons, D-Hallandale Beach, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Parrish.

Gov. Scott sticks to his guns, fires back appeal to 'Docs-vs.-Glocks' ruling

Gov. Rick Scott is appealing yet another court ruling, and appears convinced that his interpretation of the Constitution is more valid than that of the federal judge who struck down the so-called “Docs-vs.-Glocks” law, which banned doctors from asking patients about gun ownership in most cases.

The 2011 law, sponsored by Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, was pushed by the National Rifle Association and opposed by Florida doctors. The doctors challenged the law in court, and a federal judge in Miami ruled that barring doctors from asking patients about gun ownership violates their First Amendment freedom of speech rights.

Scott is now appealing that ruling, which pits the First Amendment against the Second Amendment.

Here’s the release from Scott’s office.

Tallahassee, Fla. – “The Department of Health today filed an appeal to the federal court decision blocking enforcement of the Firearm Owner’s Privacy Act.  This law was carefully crafted to respect the First Amendment while ensuring a patient’s constitutional right to own or possess a firearm without discrimination.  I signed this legislation into law because I believe it is constitutional and I will continue to defend it.”

It’s the latest in what has become a litigation-swamped administration for Scott. The state is also involved in lawsuits over voting changes, pension reform, drug testing for state workers and welfare recipients, prison privatization, the Affordable Care Act, etc.

Florida has come out on the losing end of many of those challenges, and Scott has been quick to appeal judge’s rulings each time.

A story in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Monday showed that Scott’s administration has racked up more than $880,000 in legal bills for the various challenges over the constitutionality of several laws passed in the last two years. 

@ToluseO