Lost in translation: GOP platform DOES include Cuba travel restrictions

Memo to those assembling the GOP platform for the upcoming Republican National Convention: Don't say restrictions on Cuba trade aren't a plank when it is.

A GOP platform that mentions support for the Cuban embargo isn't news. It's like Republicans affirming their support for tax cuts. A GOP platform without Cuba? That's news. Very big news.

So when the Los Angeles Times today attended an RNC platform meeting and two Republican officials mentioned that Cuba wasn't part of the platform, it obviously was news. Very big news. After all, Republican vice-presidential pick Paul Ryan had an anti-embargo voting record until about 2007, Republican Cuba experts say. After that, they say, Ryan became more pro-embargo (more here).

Mitt Romney's campaign quickly responded to the story by noting that the platform does include language that supports restrictions on Cuba. And they blame the story on supporters of Congressman Ron Paul, a free-trader.

"Alternatively, we will stand with the true democracies of the region against both Marxist subversion and the drug lords, helping them to become prosperous alternatives to the collapsing model of Venezuela and Cuba.

Regulators start FPL rate case and dust up by allowing settlement talk

Florida’s consumer advocate tried and failed to get state regulators to postpone the hearing on a $690.4 million rate increase request by Florida Power & Light Monday, arguing that a last-minute settlement deal threatens to taint the proceedings.
 
FPL last week proposed to settle its rate case before the Public Service Commission by agreeing to keep flat or reduce the rates for large industrial users, hospitals, NASA and military operators but raise rates for residential customers and other businesses over the next four years.
 
The agreement was rejected by the Office of Public Counsel which represents all 4.6 million of FPL’s consumers and opposed by the Florida Retail Federation and AARP, saying it was a bad deal for most of the company’s customers because it would allow for automatic rate increases of up $1 billion over four years. They argued that by allowing the company to discuss the proposal during the two-week long rate case gave the company an unfair ability to introduce new issues that haven't been tested in pre-trial proceedings. 
 
 “The FPL document is the elephant in the room and we’re asking you to remove that elephant before proceeding,’’ said Charles Rehwinkel, a lawyer with the Office of Public Counsel. 

Connie Mack links Akin's 'legitimate rape' with Biden's 'chains.' What about 'forcible rape?'

Florida Senate candidate Connie Mack joined the GOP chorus in condemning the remarks of fellow GOP Congressman Todd Akin, who had said he opposes rape-and-incest exceptions to an abortion ban because pregnancy is nearly impossible in cases of "legitimate rape."

But Mack didn't stop there. He drew a link with Vice-President Joe Biden's "put y'all in chains" comment last week, which many (mainly Republicans) see as race-baiting.

The press release:

Responding to outrageous and offensive comments made in the past week by Vice President Joe Biden and Representative Todd Akin, Congressman Connie Mack made the following statement:

"Like Joe Biden's comments last week, I find Todd Akin's comments made Sunday to be just as outrageous and offensive. Such insulting and offensive remarks from Joe Biden and Todd Akin have no place in our political discourse."

Mack, incidentally, was one of 277 cosponsors (almost all Republican, including Akin) of H.R. 3, No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. One version of the act used the phrase "forcible rape." Abortion-rights groups objected strenuously. And now they're drawing a connection between the "forcible rape" phrase and "legitimate rape." DNC Chair/Broward Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz linked GOP vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan with the bill and Akin's remarks last night.

Obviously, more to come.

Monroe County won't agree to fewer early voting days

Gov. Rick Scott's top elections official, Secretary of State Ken Detzner, tried Monday to get five counties to agree to eight 12-hour days of early voting, the truncated schedule approved by the Legislature last year but criticized by three federal judges in a ruling issued Friday.

The five counties are under U.S. supervision for any voting changes because of past discrimination. Four of the five counties agreed to the state's request: Hillsborough, Collier, Hardee and Hendry. But the fifth county, Monroe, strongly disagreed with the state's request and will not go along.

"What I told them is that the days are more important than the hours," said Monroe County Supervisor of Elections Harry Sawyer, a Republican who has held the post for 24 years. In every election in the Keys, Sawyer said, early voting participation has increased. "It's working for us," he said. "I told them, if it's not broke, don't fix it."

Sawyer said the state was asking all five counties to sign a document to be presented to the three-judge panel in Washington, D.C., in an effort by the state to secure approval, or "pre-clearance," for the new eight-day early voting schedule in all 67 counties.

"They are really pushing on the five counties showing solidarity with the other 62, that we can all work under the same plan," Sawyer said. "But I feel that this law does discriminate against minorities and working people in general. They have more access to early voting by day rather than by a shorter number of days and extending the hours ... I think daily access is more important than hourly." 

The three judges said reducing access to early voting discriminates against African-Americans, who history shows are more likely to vote early than are white voters. But in their 119-page decision, the judges clearly nudged the state in the direction Detzner tried to move on Monday.

"If the counties were instead to utilize the maximum 96 hours permitted under the new law," the judges wrote, "and offer them on a standard 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. schedule that would provide the opportunity for voters to vote before and after the workday, Florida would likely be able to meet its burden of demonstrating that the overall effect of the changes would not be retrogressive."

-- Steve Bousquet

 

Early voting fight escalates: Democrats demand more days

State Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, led a six-person delegation of black leaders to the governor's office Monday. Unannounced, they asked to meet on the spot with Scott, who was in his office at the time. The group arrived at 11 a.m., in the midst of an hour described as "staff and call time" on Scott's schedule.

Scott's legislative affairs director, Jon Costello, emerged to say Scott would be happy to meet with the group at a later date. "Unfortunately, his schedule is kind of packed," Costello told Joyner (at center in photo. Rep. Alan Williams, D-Tallahassee, is at left, and Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor is at right). 

The group wants Scott to issue an executive order expanding the number of days of early voting in Florida from eight to 12 in November. Their demand for an audience with Scott comes three days after a panel of three federal judges in Washington refused to approve the eight-day schedule in five counties, saying it would discourage black turnout and was "analogous to closing polling places" in predomantly African-American communities in the five counties that are under U.S. jurisdiction for voting (Hillsborough, Monroe, Collier, Hardee and Hendry).

Joyner cited the "precedent" of 2008, when then-Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican at the time, issued an order extending early voting because of long lines at numerous early voting centers.

"The governor has to make a decision," Joyner said. "Is he going to stand up on the side of the people -- the people who want to exercise the right to vote? Because it's quite obvious that none of this occurred until Barack Obama was elected president. Then this great push across this country to impede the right to votes of black people in America and others who vote Democratic."  

Crist acted largely at the behest of Dan Gelber, a Democratic state senator, and the action was later viewed as benefiting Obama, who won Florida and the presidency in 2008. Scott is a Republican who supports Obama's opponent, Mitt Romney.

The Legislature, which is dominated by Republicans, changed the law last year to require 8 days of early voting for up to 12 hours a day, ending the Saturday before the election. The old law required 14 days of early voting. The political fight is largely about days, not hours. Black leaders claim eight days of early voting discriminate against blacks -- and they cite the judges' strongly-worded decision.

"Minority voters will be disproportionately affected by the change in the early voting process," the judges wrote. "They disproportionately use early, in-person voting."

Others in the Joyner delegation were Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho, the Rev. William Foust of the Southern Leadership Council, and Dale Landry of the Florida State Conference of the NAACP. 

-- Steve Bousquet

Politico nuggets: Obama said Rubio would've gotten his 'ass kicked;' Wasserman Schultz grated on campaign

Politico is out with a new e-book that looks like a delicious inside-the-campaign tale of problems and conflicts in President Obama's re-election effort.

Obama comes across as both cool and intelligent, but also peevish and arrogant:

Obama’s trash-talking competitiveness, a trait that has defined him since his days on the court as a basketball-obsessed teenager in Hawaii, was on display one night last February, when the president spotted a woman he knew was close to Sen. Marco Rubio in a Florida hotel lobby. “Is your boy going to go for [vice president]?” the president asked her. Maybe, she replied.

“Well,” he said, chuckling, according to a person who witnessed the encounter. “Tell your boy to watch it. He might get his ass kicked.”

Florida's other high-profile politician, Congresswoman and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was out of favor with Team Obama as well:

 Many of Obama’s advisers have quietly begun questioning whether they should have picked Wasserman Schultz, an outspoken Florida congresswoman, as his DNC chairwoman. She has clashed with Chicago over her choice of staff and air-time on national TV shows — and they think she comes across as too partisan over the airwaves.

Obama’s brain trust secretly commissioned pollster David Binder to conduct an internal focus study of the popularity of top Obama campaign surrogates. Number one was former press secretary Robert Gibbs, followed by Cutter. Traveling press secretary Jen Psaki, who was added to a second study, was third. Axelrod, Plouffe and current White House press secretary Jay Carney were bunched in the middle. Wasserman Schultz ranked at the bottom.

The Obama campaign, noting Wasserman Schultz has been a frequent surrogate, issued a respondse via spokesman Aam Fetcher: “The Chairwoman is a trusted and effective surrogate for the President, and she will continue to play a key role in the campaign’s efforts to communicate with the American people about the fundamental economic choice they face in this election.”

An aside note: How undisciplined and dumb is the Obama campaign? They're shocked their partisan chair is.... partisan? That would be like Republican Mitt Romney's folks telling RNC Chair Reince Priebus to chill. What's more, the anonymous folks here are sandbagging one of their most-prolific fundraisers, Wasserman Schultz, who happens to be their best and most-vocal defense amid the Obama's-losing-Jewish-support onslaught.

Movers & Shakers: Scott's legislative affairs director moves on, DOH hires new communications director

This week's Movers & Shakers is short and sweet.

DOH appoints new communications director

State Surgeon General Dr. John Armstrong hired Hue Reynolds as the new communications director for the Florida Department of Health.

Reynolds will coordinate media relations, internal and external communications, communications training, and marketing.

“Ms. Reynolds brings management expertise and diverse communication experience from her work across state agencies and professional trade organizations,” Armstrong said.  “She is ready to lead the talented team of DOH communications and marketing professionals as we expand our multi-media initiatives.”

Reynolds was previously the external affairs director at the Agency for Persons with Disabilities and served as the deputy director for communications and external Affairs at the Florida Department of Education.

Prior to her work in state government, Reynolds worked in the web development and design arena, serving as the web manager for the Florida Medical Association and the Florida Institute of CPAs.

Donna Williams, director of Tobacco Free Florida, had been serving as interim communications director.

Gov. Rick Scott’s legislative affairs director moves on

Gov. Rick Scott's legislative affairs director, Jon Costello, will be stepping down Sept. 7.

He’s accepted a position for the North Florida Water Management District.

Previously, Costello worked for the Tallahassee law firm of Rutledge, Ecenia and Purnell as a government consultant. In a press release from the Governor’s Office, Costello called working with Scott “the opportunity of a lifetime.”

See more here.

Movers & Shakers is a weekly update of political personnel changes. Send tips to bdavis@tampabay.com or via twitter @britt_alana.

'Legitimate rape' gaffe in Missouri could be bad news for Sen. Bill Nelson in Florida

Nothing can clarify or take back a phrase like "legitimate rape."

When Missouri GOP Senate candidate and Congressman Todd Akin uttered the two words Sunday, he tried to take it back as an "off the cuff" remark in explaining why he opposes rape-and-incest exceptions to an abortion ban. The Republican presidential ticket distanced themselves from Akin. Other Republicans started writing off his campaign to unseat incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill.

And that could be bad news for Florida Sen. Bill Nelson.

Here's why: Nelson's supporters were hoping that the GOP Super PACs might let up on him and start heading to the Show Me State as he started to bloody up Republican Congressman Connie Mack, whose campaign has made some Republican insiders in Florida a little nervous. As noted here last month: "Nelson's camp probably hopes to tar Mack, hurt him in the polls in time for the August Republican National Convention in Tampa, slow his fundraising (reports are due about the time of the RNC) and hope the Super PACs go somewhere else if they believe Mack's not worth the investment. Florida is a large TV state and it might be more cost-effective for the Super PACs to go elsewhere, say less-expensive and more-competitive Missouri, to pick up a Senate seat."

Then Akin opened his mouth on KTVI-TV in Missouri as he explained pregnancies that arise from rape.

“It seems to me, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare,” he said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something: I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be of the rapist, and not attacking the child.”

Watson declared winner over Julien with 13-vote margin in House 107 race

In what is likely to be the closest outcome of any legislative race this season, Miami Gardens Rep. Barbara Watson edged out North Miami Beach Rep. John Patrick Julien in the contest for House District 107 by a narrow 13 votes, according to a manual recount Saturday by Miami Dade County officials.

Watson and Julien, both freshmen Democrats, were drawn into the same district during the painful redistricting process last session that pitted a handful of incumbents into the same districts because of new redistricting rules.

Because the margin was so narrow, state election officials ordered a manual recount by 3 p.m. Sunday. Watson now faces two write-in candidates in the November general election.

Watson's victory came despite Julien's nearly three-to-one fundraising advantage.  Watson, a former vice mayor of Miami Gardens and a member of the city council, raised and spent about $30,000 while Julien, a former member of the North Miami Beach city council raised nearly $107,000 and spent $82,000 by the last report.