Pre-session ritual: One last blast of collecting money

On the eve of the 2013 Florida legislative session, the Capitol was bustling with activity, including the pre-session ritual of lobbyists scurrying from one fund-raiser to the next with campaign checks for the lawmakers. On Tuesday, they will convene and begin to talk about the need for more stringent ethics laws in Tallahassee.

Fund-raising is prohibited during the 60-day session that starts Tuesday and will end in early May. So Tallahassee politicians collect what they can before the ban takes effect.

"I'm going to six (fund-raisers) now, but there are a bunch more at 4:30 and 5," said lobbyist Ron Book, who opened his legislative briefing binder to reveal a stack of checks in envelopes. He said there were a lot more fund-raisers during a stretch of three weeks of committee meetings held in February.

On the third floor of the nearby Governor's Club, Senate Rules Committee Chairman John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, greeted a small but steady stream of lobbyists bearing gifts for a lawmaker who plays a central role in setting the legislative agenda. Thrasher readily agreed to allow a Times/Herald reporter and photographer to attend his midday fund-raiser, and most lobbyists quickly scattered at the sight of a news camera.

"I'm going to run again," Thrasher said. "It's just a way of reaching out and telling people you're out there." Among the lobbyists stopping by to shake Thrasher's hand and say hello to his wife, Jean, were Book, Brian Ballard and Reginald Garcia.  

-- Steve Bousquet

Senate leadership endorses Rep. John Legg's campaign

It's been only two days since Sen. Jim Norman announced he wasn't running for re-election, but as expected support has coalesced around state Rep. John Legg's bid to join the Florida Senate. Five of the most powerful state senators jointly announced their support for Legg today in a statement sent out by the Republican Party of Florida.

Senate President-designate Don Gaetz joined Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, Jack Latvala, Joe Negron and John Thrasher in endorsing Legg. Gardiner will take over the presidency in 2014; Latvala, Negron and Thrasher all want to become Senate president in 2016.

Legg, a Port Richey Republican, faces former state Rep. Rob Wallace and security consultant John Korsak in the August primary.

His other endorsements include Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, House Speaker Dean Cannon, incoming House Speaker Will Weatherford, and Sen. Mike Fasano.

Here is the full text of the joint statement:

Diaz de la Portilla decries ‘bare knuckle politics’ during PIP debate

Senators John Thrasher, R- St. Augustine, Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Coral Gables, Mike Fasano, R- New Port Richey, and Jack Latvala, R- Clearwater, huddle on the Senate floor during a tense debate on PIP reform on Tuesday. [Scott Keeler | Times]

There were somewhat familiar fireworks in the Senate Tuesday afternoon as leaders frantically tried to get their colleagues to reverse a decision on a component of personal injury protection, or PIP reform.

Senators initially voted 24-15 to approve an amendment filed by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Coral Gables, that authorized the continued use of attorney fee multipliers in PIP lawsuits. Immediately after that happened, Senate President Mike Haridopolos left the dais for several minutes and conferred with other leaders as onlookers scrambled to figure out what was happening.

Haridopolos and senators John Thrasher, Don Gaetz, Joe Negron, Garrett Richter, JD Alexander and David Simmons scurried to consult one another on the floor and then in a small meeting room known as “the bubble.” When the chamber was called back to order, Gaetz requested for a re-vote on Diaz de la Portilla’s amendment, saying senators didn’t fully understand what they were doing at the time.

Given a second chance to making a closing argument, Diaz de la Portilla said the “bully pulpit” had been used to “mysteriously reconsider the overwhelming vote by which my amendment was adopted.”

Senate refuses to fast track ‘parent trigger’ legislation

The Senate is divided again. This time it is over the so-called "parent trigger" bill that would empower parents of children in failing and low-ranked schools to set in motion the firing of a principal and the shift in the school to a charter school.

 

The bill passed the House on Thursday on a party-line vote and Senate Rules Chairman John Thrasher tried to pull the Senate companion by Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto out of its last committee and directly onto the floor. But, after Democratic Leader Nan Rich objected, the motion failed to get the required two-thirds votes of the 40-member Senate and failed on a 20-19 vote.

 

Thrasher had a back up plan. He announced that the Senate will hold a rare Saturday morning meeting of the budget committee -- at 8 a.m. -- to take up the lone bill. "Be there or be square,'' he said after the vote.

Repeal of controversial septic tank requirements close to reality

The Legislature is close to repealing a 2010 law that required Floridians to have their septic tanks inspected once every five years. Almost from the beginning, critics decried the measure as creating unnecessary and costly “one-size-fits-all” rules for the entire state.

The House has already approved HB 999, which replaces the statewide requirements with new restrictions on local inspection programs in counties with first-magnitude, or large, springs. The measure also allows local governments to opt out of the new program with a 60-percent majority vote.

The Senate’s Budget Committee approve that chamber's version of the repeal, SB 820 sponsored by Charlie Dean, R-Inverness. The legislation is now ready for a floor vote. Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, and Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, both voted "no" on SB 820. Negron said he was uncomfortable with the measure because it goes beyond a simple repeal of the 2010 law.

Haridopolos, the history professor, gets lesson learned in running state Senate

When Mike Haridopolos was elected Senate president, he vowed to make the traditionally moderate chamber more conservative — in his own image.

But the University of Florida history instructor miscalculated one thing: The Senate by its very nature moderate. Haridopolos and Senate leaders attempted to push several controversial conservative issues in the past year only to have the Senate hit the ideological reset button and vote them down.

It happened two weeks ago with the vote to privatize 30 South Florida prison facilities. It happened last year with the tea party-driven proposal to require all employers to use E-Verify to check immigration status, with the proposal to ban state worker unions from collecting dues, with a House measure to split the state Supreme Court in two, and with dozens of bills that appeared as part of the budget on the last night of session.

Haridopolos and his leadership team wanted them; the chamber, dominated 28-12 by Republicans, still said no.

“The Senate’s independent streak is what distinguishes it from
the House,’’ said Senate Democratic Leader Nan Rich of Weston.
“It’s always there under the surface. You never know when it’s
going to emerge.”

The conflict played out again last week, when Haridopolos’ top deputies attempted to orchestrate a
coup to designate the Senate president for 2014 and 2016. Story here.

Photos by Matt Riva.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/25/v-fullstory/2661220/haridopolos-learns-the-hard-way.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/25/v-fullstory/2661220/haridopolos-learns-the-hard-way.html#storylink=cpy

A girl's death and the sadness of John Thrasher

A tough-as-nails vet and political heavy-weight like John Thrasher isn’t the type of Republican you’d expect to challenge the NRA and get misty-eyed about limiting some gun rights.

But all that changed Jan. 9 when 20-year-old Ashley Cowie died in the arms of her twin sister, whose boyfriend’s AK-47-style rifle accidentally shot her at point blank range at an FSU frat house.

In some ways, the Cowie twins were there because of Thrasher. Their father, Bob, has been his dentist for decades. And Thrasher, like any good Seminole booster, taunted Bob Cowie because his oldest daughter went to the University of Florida.

“I told them they shouldn’t be Gators,” Thrasher recalled. “I had them get a VIP tour of FSU and they loved it. They really wanted to come here.”

In the wake of the shooting, Thrasher struggled with the fact that one of his fellow North Florida Republicans, Greg Evers, was sponsoring an open-carry bill that incidentally allowed concealed-weapon permit holders to carry firearms on college campuses for the first time.

Bob Cowie called his friend and Senator and asked a favor: Don’t let that provision in the bill pass. Thrasher has that power. As the Rules Committee Chairman, he can keep legislation off the floor of the Senate. Thrasher’s wife brought Bob Cowie last week to testify about his daughters, bringing many to tears.

Thrasher wasn’t there. But behind the scenes, he let his stand be known. “I oppose this,” he said. “It’s beyond personal for me,” Thrasher said. “Any other time I might support something like this, but I just can’t. Two families lives have been destroyed by this. It's so unbelievably sad and personal and emotional."

Yesterday, due to an amendment from another Republican, Sen. Paula Dockery, the college language was stripped from the bill. Normally, the NRA doesn't lose in the Florida Legislature. But this is a process dominated by powerful anecdotes and personal and political connections. Facing that, the NRA had little chance with this provision.

 Full story here

Wisconsin pt. 2? John Thrasher goes after union cheddar

Sen. John Thrasher, former state GOP chairman, looks like he has filed a bill (SB830) to starve unions like the Florida Education Association, SEIU, AFL-CIO, firefighters, police unions or AFSCME by banning the Democratic-leaning organizations from using salary deductions for political purposes. The legislation also says any "public employer may not deduct or collect" union dues, etc. Lastly, it says that any public employee who didn't specifically authorize the use of his money could be entitled to a partial refund.

The bill doesn't seem to go  as far as Wisconsin's by ending collective bargaining rights in Florida, though in a right-to-work state there's only so much union bargaining that can take place. Still, the language about union dues sure looks like it's right out of the play book of the tea party/Wisconsin's Gov. Scott Walker (who incidentally is not a high-speed rail fan, either).

Here are some excerpts from Thrasher's bill, SB 830, which doesnn't seem to have a house sponsor. Yet.

"Deductions may not be made for purposes of political activity, including contributions to a candidate, political party, political committee, committee of continuous existence, electioneering communications organization, or organization exempt from taxation under s. 501(c)(4) or s. 527 of the Internal Revenue Code."

"A public employer may not deduct or collect the dues, uniform assessments, fines, penalties, or special assessments of an employee organization from the compensation of any person employed by the public employer..."

"Unless an employee has executed a written authorization, the employee is entitled to a pro rata refund of any dues, uniform assessments, fines, penalties, or special assessments paid by the employee and used by the labor organization of which the employee is a member to make contributions or expenditures, as defined in s. 106.011. The written authorization must be executed by the employee separately for each fiscal year of the labor organization and shall be accompanied with a detailed account, provided by the labor organization, of all contributions and expenditures made by the labor organization in the preceding 24 months."

Thrasher reject's Scott's appeals to remain as RPOF chairman

For weeks, Gov.-elect Rick Scott has been urging state Sen. John Thrasher of Jacksonville to remain as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, serving as Scott's crucial liasion to the party rank-and-file and the Tallahassee establishment. Today, Thrasher today finally formally told him "no."

"I will leave on Jan. 15,'' Thrasher said. "We've had conversations with our staff and the governor's for several weeks." Despite entreaties from the new governor Thrasher told him: "I made it very clear I won't stay. That's what I said when I took the job."

Thrasher was ushered in as a temporary chairman in February after former RPOF chair Jim Greer was forced to resign. Greer has since been indicted by a statewide grand jury on charges that he stole $125,000 from the party through the use of a shell company. But when Scott won the primary against Attorney General Bill McCollum, running against the party establishment and promising no more politics as usual, Thrasher arrived at Scott's Fort Lauderdale headquarters and was the first to offer an olive branch.

When Scott won, he reached out to Thrasher to remain on the job as a handful of officials from county executive committees started skirmishing for the title. Among them is Sarasota County Republican Party Chairman Joe Gruters, an early Scott supporter, Pinellas County State Committeeman Tony DiMatteo, Jefferson County State Committeeman Dave Bitner, Palm Beach County chairman Sid Dinerstein, and Deborah Cox-Roush, vice chairman of the state party and chairman of the Hillsborough Republican Party.

UPDATE: John Thrasher and Marco Rubio use Obama visit to raise $$$

Republican Party of Florida chairman John Thrasher is using President Obama's fundraising trip to Miami today to do a bit of fundraising himself.

"Floridians have had enough of the Obama-Pelosi agenda. But Florida Democrat politicians haven’t gotten the message yet," Thrasher says in an e-mail. "They brought Barack Obama to Florida today for fundraising help – and they will owe him if they win their elections. That means more votes for his
current agenda. Are you fed up too?? Here’s how you can send a message to President Obama and Nancy Pelosi that Florida has had enough of their agenda:

"1.   DONATE to help elect Florida Republicans focused on jobs and holding Washington accountable. Click here to donate...

Senate candidate Marco Rubio is using the trip to raise money as well: "The millions he raises today," Rubio's campaign said in an e-mail asking for money, ""Will be used to attack the ideas that are at the very heart of this campaign.