MTV in the Clear on Voting Fraud

TALLAHASSEE -- If there were any questions that those running MTV's Rock the Vote were perpetuating fraud in registering voters, they were answered Thursday.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced that it had found no evidence of criminal activity from the Rock the Vote website. It had been alerted to the potential of fraud on Oct. 8 by the Florida Department of State's Division of Elections.

But upon interviewing those involved in 20 registration cases the state had flagged as suspicious, the FDLE determined that the information on the Rock the Vote web site was accurate and the people shown as registering on it had initiated the activity.

More prominent cases of potential fraud await, however. Still outstanding, FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger says, are five separate cases against Strategic Allied Consulting, the private firm based in Arizona that had been hired by the Republican Party of Florida. Also open is the case of the mysterious letters with a Seattle, Wash. post mark that were sent to voters telling them that their registration status was in doubt.

Annual Report from DEO lists 2012 highlights, 2013 goals

Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity has released its annual report for 2012, its first full year of operation.

DEO, the job-creation agency created by Gov. Rick Scott in 2011, oversees much of the state’s economic development and workforce training initiatives.

Its annual report lists the highlights of Florida’s economy last year—falling unemployment, increased tourism and growing migration into the state.

The report also outlined strategies for achieving the goal of making Florida a national leader in “economic growth and prosperity,” and “economic competitiveness” for businesses.

The agency is looking to collaborate more effectively with local agencies, develop industry “clusters” in different parts of the state and push improvements in education, infrastructure and the regulatory environment.

The report, while embracing the glass-is-half-full economic positivism of Scott, acknowledged that Florida’s economy still has a number of troubles.

The unemployment rate continues to be higher than the national average, while job growth in Florida continues to lag the national rate. Additionally, there are issues with the state’s transportation infrastructure, water supply, energy consumption and regulations that hamper economic growth.

To tackle these and other issues, DEO came up with 20 objectives to implement over the next five years. They range from “increase film and entertainment productions” to improving “customer services to businesses seeking economic incentives.”

"With job creation as the primary focus, DEO intends to capitalize on the recovery and increase the number of jobs, businesses and tourists coming into the state," wrote Hunting Deutsch, who resigned as director of DEO in January. His replacement, the Scott administration's top lawyer Jesse Panuccio, will take over the reins of the agency on Monday, as the third director in 18 months.

The department’s recommendations, and full report, can be found here.

@ToluseO

Scott warns of devastating ports shutdown; Dems pivot to Obamacare, education

Gov. Rick Scott called for Pres. Obama to take emergency measures to halt an impending shut down of the nation’s ports stemming from a labor dispute.

Joined by the state’s ports directors on a conference call on Thursday, Scott said the shut down of ports throughout the state of Florida would lead to unacceptable job losses and economic turmoil.

“We are together on this call today for one reason – we must help the Florida families whose jobs and livelihoods depend on our Florida ports,” Scott said. “A shut down of Florida ports is simply not an option for Florida families.”

Scott wrote a letter to Obama last week asking for the president to invoke presidential powers to halt a strike by the International Longshoremen’s Association. He said he “hoped” the president had read the letter, indicating that Obama had not yet responded.

The national strike is scheduled to go forward on Saturday if there is no agreement for a new contract. It could have a multimillion-dollar impact in Florida, where the massive port of Miami is located.

A top Democrat in the Florida Legislature was quick to react to Scott’s mention of “families,” pivoting to other state issues that affect families—namely, healthcare and education.

House Minority Leader Perry Thurston, D-Plantation, blasted the governor’s move to intervene in the labor dispute while other state issues linger.

“President Obama will determine what is best regarding the looming strike at the nation’s East Coast ports,” said Thurston, in a statement that asked Scott to focus on implementing healthcare reform and addressing education issues. “Governor Scott can turn his attention to Florida and begin correcting all that he has managed to dismantle.” 

Scott’s press release and the response release from Thurston are below:

Rick Scott touts job creation, goes back to familiar source

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott announced today that L-3 Crestview Aerospace, a New York City aircraft contractor, will create 340 jobs during an expansion over the next two years of its manufacturing operations in Okaloosa County.

“These are hundreds of jobs that will positively impact Florida’s communities – and is a great sign of Florida’s growing economy,” Scott said in a release.

The announcement comes just three days before the release of November’s jobs figures for Florida. Florida added 14,700 jobs in October. The unemployment rate was 8.5 percent in October, higher than the national rate.

Scott has struggled to fulfill his promise of creating 700,000 jobs in seven years as governor. Through October, the total number of jobs created since Scott took office in January 2011 was 154,000.

This is at least his second time trumping L-3 Crestview Aerospace in making the larger argument that jobs are getting created on his watch. In October, Scott toured the L-3 Crestview Aerospace facility in a visit where he highlighted job creation in the state.

Here’s Tuesday's release:

Politics of guns in Florida are complex

Underscoring the politics in the debate following the Connecticut school massacre, Florida officials offered divergent views Monday, from stricter gun laws to arming teachers to focusing instead on mental health.

Others, including Florida Gov. Rick Scott, said it was too early to react or remained mute against rising calls for action.

"We cannot tolerate this any longer. Congress has within its ability to bring up common sense gun regulation very quickly," said U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor of Tampa, echoing growing Democratic support for a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips.

She blamed paralysis on gun control across the political spectrum, including President Barack Obama, who signaled in a speech Sunday in Newtown, Conn., that he would take up the issue after four years of avoiding it.

"The president should have been stronger," Castor said. "But from what I heard in his voice and saw in his eyes last night, he is determined."

Getting there is not easy. Support for new gun laws has not risen after other mass shootings and the National Rifle Association spent more than 10 times as much on lobbying as gun control groups in 2011 and the first three quarters of 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Story by Alex Leary and Michael Van Sickler here.

FEMA to Scott: Sorry, no aid money for Sandy

For the second time in recent months, the federal government has rejected Gov. Rick Scott’s request for aid after a major hurricane mostly bypassed the state.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator, Craig Fugate, sent Scott a letter this week saying that Hurricane Sandy’s impact on Florida was not large enough to require federal intervention.

“Based on our review of  all the information available, it has been determined that the damage to the infrastructure from this event was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments,” wrote Fugate, who used to be Florida’s emergency management chief.

Hurricane Sandy thrashed the Northeast in late October, though parts of eastern Florida were brushed by the massive storm. It caused more than $50 billion in damage in the Northeast, but Florida was mostly spared from such destruction—as it has been for the past seven hurricane seasons, including the one that ends today.

In August, Hurricane Isaac threatened the Tampa Bay area, including the Republican National Convention taking place in Tampa. The hurricane veered west, sparing Tampa from the worst damage.

When Scott asked for  more than $20 million in federal aid for Isaac, he was initially rejected by FEMA. At the time—the middle of a tough presidential election--the rejection was cast in a political light, highlighting the frosty relationship between Scott and the federal government. 

Scott appealed and FEMA eventually agreed to provide aid for Florida. 

The request for Sandy aid--which came just five days before the presidential election--focuses on the following counties: Brevard, Broward, Indian River, Martin, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and St. Lucia.

Scott has 30 days to appeal.

See FEMA’s rejection letter here. 

@ToluseO

Scott finds support for toll roads

To make way for a proposed network of sprawling toll roads, Florida transportation officials are considering reserving tracts of remote timberlands, cattle ranches and phosphate mines from some of the state's largest landowners.

According to a memo released this week by the Florida Department of Transportation, five companies who own a combined 5 percent of the land in the state support the concept of Future Corridors, a series of massive toll roads that would crisscross the state's rural areas to spur economic growth.

"While the need for future roads may be far off in the future," the memo states, "reserving land now provides certainty for planning and may be more cost efficient than future condemnation or acquisition."

Land acquisition can be a deal killer for any road project, so the memo, while brief and vague, could boost the prospects of a project that until recently had appeared dead.

Hatched by former Gov. Jeb Bush, Future Corridors was shelved by former Gov. Charlie Crist, who instead emphasized improving existing infrastructure and urban areas. Gov. Rick Scott, who like Bush killed a high-speed rail plan linking urban centers upon taking office, revived the Corridors project and views it as an economic engine for rural counties that will create jobs.

Exclusive: Citizens Insurance plagued by laundry list of office scandals

At Citizens Property Insurance Corp., a corporate culture plagued by inter-office scandals, sexual impropriety, lavish spending, alleged cover-ups and big severance checks for disgraced employees has simmered under the radar for years, according to hundreds of internal documents obtained by the Herald/Times.

The corporate cauldron of misconduct boiled over this year when internal investigators tracked the trail of scandal up to the highest levels of the company, drafting a scathing 73-page report that highlights a laundry list of improprieties.

Last month, the investigators were terminated, their report was gutted, and Citizens’ Office of Corporate Integrity was abruptly shut down.

Read more here: 

@ToluseO

 

Dems to Scott: Stop meddling

Democrats charged Friday that Gov. Rick Scott is meddling in the U.S. Congressional race between Patrick Murphy and Republican Allen West.

 A judge denied a demand by West, the tea party-based incumbent, for a recount of early voting ballots in St. Lucie County, which makes up the 19th Congressional District along with parts of Palm Beach and Martin counties. Murphy led West by 1,907 votes. Earlier in the week, Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner sent a three-member team to audit the results, according to news reports.

That prompted Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, to issue a statement.

“In a clear effort to overturn an election result after having lost at the ballot box, Allen West has now run to Governor Rick Scott to needlessly interfere with and politicize a non-partisan election process.

"All votes in this election were counted fairly and accurately, and Allen West has lost beyond the mandatory recount range. Having Governor Scott intervene is outrageous and inappropriate. After disenfranchising Florida voters by cutting down early voting days and creating extraordinarily long lines at the polls, Governor Scott is now trying to blatantly overturn an election result he disagreed with and undermine Gertrude Walker, a three-decade veteran of the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections office. Governor Scott needs to remove himself from this process immediately."

That led Chris Cate, the spokesman for Detzner, to issue a response.

Claims that there is any interference by the state in this election are wholly inaccurate and unhelpful to the voters who need to know their votes have been counted accurately. We have a responsibility to ensure Florida’s election laws are interpreted and enforced properly, and our involvement in St. Lucie County has only been observational with the purpose of protecting the voice of the voters and ensuring fair elections were conducted in all of the St. Lucie County races, not just the highest profile contests.

 

Predictable voting debacle? Lawmakers foresaw trouble in 2011, but their proposals were shot down

Many of the problems that surfaced during the 2012 election were predicted by Democratic legislators who tried to soften the impact of a controversial voting law with a slew of pro-voter amendments.

All the amendments to HB 1355 failed in the Republican-dominated House and Senate, though some of the same lawmakers who voted against the reforms now appear to be supporting election reform.

“It’s a little early to say what led to what led to those long lines,” said incoming House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, adding that a committee needs to look at why Florida’s election was plagued by 6-hour lines and a last-in-the-nation presidential result.

Language from the Democrats’ amendments would have expanded the number of early voting sites, limited the length of constitutional amendments and given local election supervisors the option to extend early voting hours on their own if they felt it necessary.

Sec. of State Ken Detzner, Florida’s chief elections official, has said that the length of the ballot and the lack of sufficient early voting sites is what caused the chaos on Election Day.

Amendments and legislation that would have dealt specifically with those issues were rejected by Republican lawmakers, including some in South Florida districts that had lines of up to 9 hours.

One failed amendment would have mandated that local elections supervisors do everything in their power to ensure that no voter waited more than 25 minutes in line.

One after the other, the amendments failed. Now, lawmakers and Gov. Rick Scott, who signed HB 1355, are trying to figure out what went so terribly wrong during Florida’s nationally-televised voting debacle.

Here are a few Democrat-backed amendments to HB 1355 that now seem prescient, 18 months after they were offered, and killed, on the floor of the House and Senate.