Crist to Sens. McCain, Levin: Jax channel needs $46-mil

Gov. Charlie Crist today sent a letter to his old pal U.S. Sen. John McCain, asking for federal support (i.e. cash) for the dredging of the Mayport channel in Jacksonville, part of planned upgrades to the Naval Station there.

Crist tells McCain and Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Senate armed services committee, that he worries about a House proposal to strip from the federal budget $46 million that has been slated for the project.

Read the letter here:  Download 2009.7.15 Letter to United States Senators Carl Levin and John McCain

Washington to Tallahassee: Start backing commuter rail or risk federal funding

Members of Florida's congressional delegation criticized their counterparts in Tallahassee for rejecting funding for Tri-Rail and a proposed commuter rail line in Orlando, saying the move could put federal money in jeopardy.

"I can tell you the rest of the country will clean our clock if we continue to stumble,'' said Rep. John Mica of Orlando, the top Republican on the House Transportation Committee. The Legislature this spring rejected a controversial rail line in Central Florida and failed to give Tri-Rail a dedicated source of funding, making it more difficult, Mica said, for lawmakers to make the case in DC that the state needs transportation dollars.

Mica's remarks came as Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Stephanie Kopelousos and her counterparts from various states were to meet at the White House with Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to talk about $8 billion in federal dollars available for a high-speed rail corridor across the U.S.

Rep. Kathy Castor said she thinks Florida's got a good chance of securing some of the dollars in the competitive process. "It's obvious President Obama wants to make a splash," she said. Biden -- a DC-to-Delaware Amtrak enthusiast -- told governors and state transportation officials at the meeting he believes high speed is "really a no-brainer."

"This is how the interstate highway system started, folks," he said. "It wasn't like the Lord on the eight day said -- boom! -- there's the interstate highway system."

Did McCarty's deputy lie to Congress? Not really

Coventry LLC, a viaticals company, recently accused an Office of Insurance Regulation deputy, Mary Beth Senkewicz of lying to Congress during a hearing in which she said the company "refused to file an Annual Report" as required by law. (More here)

Coventry is demanding a correction/retraction for this "false and misleading" statement, pointing out that Senkewicz had written that a filing by the company "fulfills Coventry's obligations."

So how can the company refuse and fulfill its obligations at the same time? Because Coventry challenged the rule that would have required it to submit major parts of the annual report in the first place. In addition to petitioning the Department of Administrative Hearings, Coventry also has sued OIR in federal court over the agency's demand for more records.

"My statement is accurate," said Senkewicz. Commissioner Kevin McCarty said he had full faith in her.

But Coventry's attorney, Frank J. Santry, said that Senkewicz's statements were misleading at best. "the only conclusion a Member of Congress could draw from her testimony was that Coventry was violating the law. That’s a serious matter to contend before congressman," Santry said.

Either way, this isn't going away.

Florida's Fugate to head FEMA?

That's the word from a Democratic official and the Associated Press, which says Craig Fugate, Florida's emergency management director is among 2 finalists to head up the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

He'd replace his friend, R. David Paulison, whom President Bush named FEMA director in 2005 after a torrent of criticism for the agency's handling of Hurricane Katrina. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush named Fugate director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management in 2001. Gov. Charlie Crist kept him in the post when he took office.

Fugate on Monday left this intriguing clue on his Twitter account: "Packing, flying DC this morning for meetings and to Orlando for FEPA Friday."

It wouldn't be the first time Fugate has made the shortlist: he was considered when President Bush was looking for a replacement for Michael 'Yer-doin'-a-heckuva-job' Brown of Katrina fame/infamy.

Fugate, though, is no Brownie. He's the calm veteran who managed Florida's hard-to-criticize responses to hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, Dennis, Katrina, Rita and Wilma in 2004 and 2005.

Putnam: The GOP needs to step it up

Rep. Adam Putnam -- who gave up his GOP leadership post and is leaving the House -- told NPR today his party needs to get more tech savvy if it hopes to launch a comeback.

"When John McCain publicly said 'I don't really use the Internet,' you just turned off an entire generation of voters," said Putnam, who is running for Florida agriculture commissioner.

And he explained why he's not running for Mel Martinez's Senate seat.

"I'm a House guy," Putnam said. "As frustrating as congressional issues can be in the House of Represenatives, they can be maddening in the Senate....The pace of actually moving an agenda across the Senate floor can be terribly frustrating."

Listen to the interview here.

Anti-Jewish slur could be struck from FL law

The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee just unanimously approved a bill to strike the word "shylock" and "shylocking" from Florida statutes, where it's used synonymously and repetitiously with the term "loan shark."

The word is named after the villain in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, who demands a "pound of flesh" in satisfaction for a debt owed by the play's hero, Antonio. Sponsors: Sen. Eleanor Sobel and Rep. Elaine Schwartz, both of Broward.

The term "shylocking" entered Florida's enlightened statutes in 1969.

HM uh-oh: State workers steered to sex line

What's so hot and sexy about an HMO enrollment card, anyway? About 21,000 state workers found out when AvMed, one of the state's HMO providers, sent out ID cards with a new member services number containing an incorrect prefix (it's an 888 number, but the ID cards said 800). Customers who called the number heard a sultry female voice say, "Hey, hot sexy guy ..."

"The number belongs to a different vendor, one that the state clearly does not endorse or support," wrote Cathy Schroeder of the state Department of Management Services. AvMed noted that correcting the mistake was at the company's expense, not taxpayers'. Read AvMed's letter of apology here.

-- Steve Bousquet

What's so hot and sexy about an HMO enrollment card, anyway? About 21,000 state workers found out when AvMed, one of the state's HMO providers, sent out ID cards with a new member services number containing an incorrect prefix (it's an 888 number, but the ID cards said 800). Customers who called the number heard a sultry female voice say, "Hey, hot sexy guy ..."

"The number belongs to a different vendor, one that the state clearly does not endorse or support," wrote Cathy Schroeder of the state Department of Management Services. AvMed noted that correcting the mistake was at the company's expense, not taxpayers'. Read AvMed's letter of apology here.

-- Steve Bousquet

Florida home builders sound the warnings sirens: quick action needed

The Florida Home Builders held a press conference today in which they had everything but the three-alarm sirens. Their unmistakable message: stop extreme bank lending practices that are jeopardizing their ability to hold onto what's left of their shaky industry.

Here's what's happening in a nutshell: Banks that gave loans to builders in better economic times are now reappraising the value of their loans. The loans were based on earlier projections of home prices and, now that those values have dropped -- by as much as 30 percent -- banks want builders to make up the difference. Banks are conducting "capital calls" and demanding large amounts of cash from these builders to restore the original loan-to-value ratio.

No surprise, the builders can't manage it. "The cash call is forcing builders into insolvency,'' said Jay Carlson, president of the Florida Home Builders Association. The building industry troubles that are already wreaking havoc on the state's budget, he said, "have gotten much worse and the result will be further deterioration of Florida's economy."

A contingent of home builders from Florida visited U.S. Sens. Christopher Dodd and Bill Nelson in Washington, D.C. last week and Florida CFO Alex Sink in Tallahassee on Monday demanding a time out -- not a bail out. They want a moratorium on lending insitutions calling in loans. They want government -- state and federal -- to help homeowners to stop the spiraling decine in homeownership that has 54,000 homes in foreclosure in Florida and homes around them rapidly decline in value. And they want Congress to stop banks from taking bail-out money on the front end, but closing credit to builders on the back end.

"This isn’t something we need to do in 60 to 90 days. This is something that has to be done now,'' said John C. "Chuck" Fowke, a builder from Valrico. "Without results now, the economic crisis that you read about will be a picnic compared to what’s coming."

Florida's unemployment inches up to 7 percent

Florida's unemployment lines are growing. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October was just released and the number has grown to 7 percent, the highest since December 1993. It means that of the 9.6 million in the state's workforce, 655,000 are out of work. The rate is higher than the September rate of 6.6 percent and the national rate of 6.1 percent and it's 2.7 percentage points higher than a year ago.

This bad news comes as Florida's revenue estimators meet to agree on another forecast, and nearly all expect virtually no to little job growth in the year ahead. Their initial projections: Florida's revenues are $2.3 billion below the 2008-09 budget, more money than the state has left to tap from its reserve accounts. That undoubtedly means two words in Tallahassee: special session. Download october_unemployment_release.pdf

Miami-Dade library system gets a White House salute

Miami-Dade's library system was among those feted Tuesday night at the White House by First Lady Laura Bush -- a former librarian -- who paid tribute to the winners of the 2008 National Medals for Museum and Library Services.

"You might guess this is one of my favorite events at the White House," Bush said. "I love hearing all the great stories about terrific things that are going on in libraries and museums across our country."

And she noted, the night was a "nostalgic time for a former librarian, for me, because this is my last one."

She said Miami-Dade got the nod for its "Art of Storytelling" initiative, which she said "unites the diverse Miami community for workshops and festival celebrations.

"Teams of storytellers and librarians from Miami have participated in international exchanges with countries, including Jamaica, Ireland, and Ghana," she said. "This program is just one way the Miami-Dade Public Library System shows its 'Five-Star Commitment' to the community.  Patrons can enjoy art displays, computer classes, tutoring, and more."