Voters undecided in statewide 2010 races

A new Ron Sachs/Mason-Dixon poll shows wide open races for statewide offices with few voters confident about which candidate to elect. (Here are the findings.)

Take the race for Attorney General: voters are 73 percent undecided in the Democratic primary (feature Sen. Dan Gelber verse Sen. Dave Aronberg) and 72 percent undecided in the three-way Republican primary (which pits Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp against prosecutor Pam Bondi and former agency head Holly Benson).

The most intriguing figures come in the Agriculture Commissioner election where the poll tested a the match-up between Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam and former Tallahassee mayor Scott Maddox, a Democrat. It's a deadlock with Maddox at 31 percent, Putnam at 30 percent and undecideds at 39 percent. (The margin of error is 4 percent for this question.)

"The huge number of undecided voters is really where this election rests," said PR guru Ron Sachs, whose firm isn't representing any candidates.

Scott Maddox firm sues BP over oil spill

You knew it was going to happen. The growing oil spill in the gulf has spawned a number of lawsuits against BP. One class action lawsuit, on behalf of eight Panhandle fishermen and seafood restaurants, is suing the oil company and Transocean, which managed the Deepwater Horizon rig.

Fun fact: One of the attorneys listed on the suit works at Maddox Horne law firm in Tallahassee, home of Scott Maddox, the leading Democratic candidate for Agriculture Commissioner. He’s not listed personally, but Maddox’s views on the oil spill are well known.

From the suit: "The oil slick has caused and will continue to cause harmful effects to Florida’s and the United States’ marine and coastal environments, and their contiguous environs, which will severely impact activities Plaintiffs and all others similarly situated rely on for income, such as, but not limited to, commercial fishing, seafood processing, distribution and consumption, and tourism and tourism related activities."

Download Oil spill complaint

Maddox hopes oil spill will 'shame' Putnam

Scott Maddox -- the leading Democrat running for Agriculture Commissioner -- essentially held an "I told you so" press conference where he laid out his repeated calls against efforts to open up Florida's waters to oil drilling. After the Deepwater Horizon spill, he is asking all candidates for the Cabinet to sign a pledge against offshore oil drilling.

Under proposals bandied about by Legislative leaders, the Cabinet would vote on whether to grant drilling leases as close as three miles from Florida's coast. Maddox said he hopes the spill will "shame" his opponent, U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, into changing his mind on oil drilling.

“I think it’s astounding that four days after the explosion Adam Putnam was reaffirming his position in favor of off-shore and near-shore oil drilling,” Maddox said. “The most important thing is that we don’t face this type of risk very close to our shores.”

Putnam has been in favor of expanded drilling in the past, including a few days after the spill. (Though it's fair to say most people didn't grasp the magnitude of the spill until several days after it happened.) We've got a call out to his camp on the Maddox pledge, and we'll update you with his reaction.

UPDATE: Putnam's campaign e-mails this response: "I am deeply concerned about the economic and ecological damage the oil spill is causing. Everyone from the President on down has correctly said we should have a thorough investigation of its causes and the lack of preparedness of the industry to respond to a disaster before proceeding with any new exploration.

Unlike my lobbyist opponent, I have been focused for the past decade on homegrown sources of energy in Florida from agriculture, and a hundred other things relating to the job for which I am running. Maddox  refuses to answer questions about the most basic issues facing agriculture and this position. Instead he uses this tragedy as to deflect his complete ignorance of the issues in this race and his own checkered past."

First quarter fundraising roundup

Here are the highlights of the official first quarter fundraising numbers that came out last night. (With a helpful assist from Christina Johnson over at On3PR)

Toplines in the governor's race: Republican Bill McCollum raised just less than 1.4 million in the first three months of 2010, compared with Democrat Alex Sink's 1.1 million. Sink still holds the overall edge in campaign cash, though, with $5 million on hand compared to $3.8 million for McCollum. GOP challenger Paula Dockery has $410,000 on hand. That figure includes $280,000 in personal cash she has put into her campaign.

An interesting note in the AG race. Days before the official numbers came out, Democratic Sen. Dan Gelber announced an impressive haul of $330,000. Turns out that number was pumped up with about $100,000 worth of in-kind contributions. His actual cash haul was $218,000.

Other AG candidates: Sen. Dave Aronberg took in $259,000 to use in the primary against Gelber. On the Republican side: Lt. Gov Jeff Kottkamp raised $232k, Pam Bondi raised $222k and Holly Benson raised $198k.

Senate President Jeff Atwater and Congressman Adam Putnam both opened up wider leads in their races for CFO and Agriculture Commissioner. Atwater took in $446,000 and has almost $2 million on hand. His Democratic challenger, Loranne Ausley has $346,000 on hand. Putnam had about $1.2 million on hand, while Democrat Scott Maddox has $314,000.

All the people that supported Jim Greer

In the political fallout from the criminal investigation of Jim Greer, one question remaining is who it will hurt. Gov. Charlie Crist was the obvious target when the initial news broke, given that he handpicked Greer for the GOP helm. But this flier for Greer's re-election -- slogan, "The service we trust. The leadership we need -- as chairman includes many more bold-faced names: including Attorney General Bill McCollum, Senate President Jeff Atwater and disgraced Speaker Ray Sansom and former Speaker Marco Rubio.

See the invite here.

Florida's take on EPA water standards: 'Be afraid'

Florida's Congressional delegation sent a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson today asking the agency to extend the comment period and expand public hearings on its water quality standards issued last month. The letter  -- signed by U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and George LeMieux and 18 U.S. House members, led by Rep. Adam Putnam -- follows the first detailed remarks from Florida Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Sole, who told a state House committee Wednesday to "be afraid" of some components of the new rules.

EPA is hosting two public forums at three locations Feb. 16 (Tallahassee), Feb. 17 (Orlando) and Feb. 18 (West Palm Beach) and soliciting comments for 60 days. 

Sole and EPA critics -- including Gov. Charlie Crist, Attorney General Bill McCollum and Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Bronson -- were surprisingly quiet when the standards were released. But now the campaign to fight them is gearing up. State lawmakers joined the chorus Wednesday with Rep. Rich Glorioso, R-Plant City, wondering aloud why the lawsuit against the federal government isn't already filed. "What do we do other than seceding from the Union?" he asked.

Find the full text of the letter from the Congressional delegation below.

Crist commutes sentence in Tampa manslaughter

From the Times' Meg Laughlin: Jennifer Martin, who was convicted of manslaughter in a 1998 car crash that killed a passenger, had her sentenced cut in half Tuesday by Gov. Charlie Crist. She will be released Wednesday from prison.

Martin, 30, was sentenced in 2000 to 16 years in prison for her role in the Interstate 4 crash that killed Josh Nicola, 23, and severely injured Scott Schutt, 23.

Crist's decision followed a clemency hearing last week at which Martin's former prosecutor had sought mercy. Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink had championed Martin's clemency bid after reading a story in the St. Petersburg Times.

The other two members of the state's clemency board, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson and State Attorney General Bill McCollum, also voted to commute Martin's sentence.

Cabinent signs order rescinding rights

Gov. Charlie Crist and his fellow Cabinet members quietly signed an order Wednesday to revoke the civil rights mistakenly restored to 11 felons.

State auditors conducted a review of the Parole Commission that found a 6 percent error rate in sample of 203, meaning that 13 felons were granted the rights without authorization. Two felons are still incarcerated and no action was necessary to rescind their rights.

"There's human error involved in a lot of things that happen," Crist said. "These people are trying to do the best that they can and sometimes mistakes occur. When they do, you try to rectify it and that's the best that you can do."

An opinion piece in the St. Petersburg Times today, written by Mark Schlakman, suggests more work needs to be done.

EPA limits on water pollution get political

The EPA's decision to set water pollution limits in Florida is quickly becoming a political issue -- and given the potential effect on big business and big agriculture, one that is attracting a litany of special interests.

Michael Sole, the state's Department of Environmental Protection secretary, briefed the Cabinet on Tuesday. All members, in particular Attorney General Bill McCollum who called the EPA's actions "outrageous," appear ready to go to court to challenge the federal government if they don't like the number set in January.

Already one legislative committee heard from DEP about the issue and a second group of lawmakers will get briefed this afternoon.

The forces aligned against the EPA -- led by Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, who expressed skepticism in global warming yesterday -- are making presentations with heightened rhetoric about a standard that the federal government hasn't even set yet. Likewise, the environmental groups that settled the lawsuit with the EPA continue to parade the same series of enlarged algae bloom photos to prove their point.

But in an interview, Sole clarified a few points that should quiet the crowd's draconian predictions -- if they listen.

Maddox on offshore drilling: 'Where's the moral outrage?'

Agriculture Commissioner candidate Scott Maddox, a Democrat, made his position on offshore oil drilling perfectly clear at a press conference Monday: "an absolute no."

The former state party leader and Tallahassee mayor stood next to an enlarged photo of an oil rig on fire and declared that offshore oil drilling (in any form) would hurt the the state's tourism economy and environment without providing much cost-savings at the gas pump or new jobs for the state. He thinks every candidate for the cabinet (which could approved exploratory drilling under a state legislative proposal) should take a stand on the issue.

"It's like we've been asked to sell our favorite daughter," he said, referring to the quality of the state's beaches. "Where's the moral outrage?"