Fla redistricting push draws concern from D.C.

Rep. Dean Cannon this morning sent to members of the House Select Policy Council on Strategic & Economic Planning a copy of the letter he recently received from Congresswoman Corrine Brown and Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, who have many of the same redistricting concerns voiced earlier this month by Sen. Mike Haridopolos.

Cannon writes that he plans to use the letter from D.C. "as a framework for our next meeting on the subject of reapportionment.  I have directed our legal counsel and House staff to attempt to formulate answers to the questions in this letter and to report back to us during the December committee week." The Senate also will dig deeper into proposed ballot initiatives dealing with reapportionment during that week in December.

Here's the letter: Download Letter from Congresswoman Brown and Congressman Diaz-Balart

What David Rivera and Scarface have in common

Gotta hand it to state Rep. David Rivera -- the Miami Republican knows how to fundraise, gimmicks and all.

Take this Friday's fundraiser with Steven Bauer (pictured right), who portrayed the side-kick "Manny" of Al Pacino's Tony Montana in Scarface. The fundraiser is at Cuba Ocho Art & Research Center in Little Havana. While Rivera loves Scarface and can riff on any line of the film, he loves campaigning more. In his race for a State Senate seat, Rivera has already persuaded the likes of Dan Marino to host a fundraiser for him. Rivera has raised nearly $733k, compared to about $322k of fellow Republican Rep. Anitere Flores.

"If someone has a fundraiser in Palatka, I'll be there," Rivera said.

One Rivera critic knocked him for the fact that Miami-Dade lobbyist Brian May, who often raises money for Dems, is hosting a fundraiser for Rivera, who happens to be the county's Republican Party chairman. Rivera brushed it off, saying the fundraiser is being jointly hosted by Rodney Barreto, who typically raises money for Republicans (except when it comes to the race for governor). Other Rivera backers include former RPOF chief Al Cardenas, a Bush-ite.

Rep. Saunders preps parimutuel bill, holds for special session

Democratic Rep. Ron Saunders says he's drafted proposed gaming legislation that is basically what lawmakers passed in the 2009 session, minus the Seminole gambling provisions that are now in limbo amid strained negotiations between the tribe and the state.

Translation: a parimutuel bill.

Saunders, D-Key West, said his proposal would allow the parimutuels to operate as lawmakers have already agreed they should. That will allow them to benefit from approved tax breaks and start on capital projects that can create jobs, he said.

But he isn't filing it until he gets a clear signal on if and when the Legislature will go into a special session -- which, depending on the day and who you talk to, could include anything from gambling and SunRail to oil drilling and designating a new state pie (well, OK, not that last one...).

"A majority of the Legislature already voted for some of this parimutuel stuff, so why not take what we passed and give these parimutuels the tax breaks," Saunders said. "Right now they're in limbo because of the Seminoles. I support the Seminoles, but resolving that issue is more complicated. The parimutuels are ready to go."

Poof! goes state workers' phantom bonuses

Call it the Phantom Halloween Bonus, more trick than treat.

As the holidays approach and the recession continues its vice-like grip on Florida's economy, hundreds of state workers on Wednesday were tantalized with the prospect of a $1,000 bonus -- only to learn it was a major computer glitch from the department that Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink oversees.

Now you see the money, now you don't.

The phantom bonuses appeared in the electronic pay statements that state workers access online. The state pays many employees at the end of each month, transferring the four weeks of pay to workers' bank accounts. So as some of those employees on Wednesday started checking online in anticipation of this week's payout, they were surprised to see what looked like a $1,000 bonus. An estimated 1,600 workers were affected.

Jaryn Emhof, spokeswoman for the Senate, where about 200 staffers' electronic stubs show the bonuses, said the problem appears to have originated from the Department of Financial Services, which falls under Sink.

Oil drilling pits Dem against Dem in one House race

Seeking to distinguish himself from Democratic primary opponent Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, candidate Rick Minor this morning held a press conference in which he vowed not to take any contributions from organizations or lobbyists representing the push for offshore drilling.

"I believe it's important to demonstrate the type of leadership I will bring to the capital," said Minor, running against Rehwinkel Vasilinda for the district that includes Leon and Jefferson counties.

Minor, who was until recently chairman of the Leon County Democratic Party, said a 'cursory look' at his contributions so far doesn't show any donations tied to oil. But statewide, Democrats have received tens of thousands from oil and related interests. Among those Democrats: Rehwinkel Vasilinda, who voted last session for the last-minute proposal to drill offshore (it passed the House 70-43 but died for lack of Senate support, and is being pushed again for the 2010 session).

Seminole Tribe official blasts legislature's resistence on compact

The Seminole Tribe of Florida's head of gambling delivered a blunt, public message to the Florida legislature Tuesday: 

You can allow unlimited gambling statewide, or you can have our $150 million a year. But you won't get both.

James F. Allen, the Seminoles' chief executive officer of gaming operations, spoke candidly Tuesday about the failure of the legislature, governor and the tribe to agree on a gambling compact. Appearing at the Florida Gaming Summit, held at the Seminole Hard Rock and Casino in Hollywood, Allen decried the lack of progress on a compact out of Tallahassee.

"It's gone on too long, and what's been going on is not in the tribe's best interests," Allen said.

Gov. Charlie Crist and the tribe agreed to most but not all of the legislature's requirements, including paying the state a minimum of $150 million a year for the next 20 years, but it rejected a provision that would allow the legislature to expand gambling elsewhere in the state, as long as it was outside of a 100-mile radius of existing parimutuels.

The Legislature must sign on to the pact and the House's lead negotiator on the gambling issie, Rep. Bill Galvano, has declared the deal worked out by Crist is unacceptable.

Crist said this week that the legislature could ratify the compact during a special legislative session in December on commuter and high speed rail. If that doesn't happen, the issue will wait until the March regular session.

-- ADAM BEASLEY

Hasner: McCollum was right to oppose felons' rights push

Big shocker here: Republicans in the Bill McCollum camp are saying "I told you so" in the wake of this week's news that some felons' rights were wrongfully restored -- saying it shows AG McCollum was right to oppose the expansion that has been a hallmark of Crist's administration, and one supported by Dems.

House Majority Leader Adam Hasner morning seized on the apparent wrongful restoration of some Florida felons' rights -- including a man who raped a minor -- as an opportunity to attack Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink. And he said the program should be suspended altogether "until proper safeguards can be put in place and the public can be assured that mistakes like this will not happen again."

“No one should be surprised that a child rapist and 12 other felons had their rights restored under the newly expanded felons’ rights restoration program.  Not having proper safeguards in place makes mistakes like these inevitable,” said Hasner (R-Delray Beach), in a released statement.
 
Sink was the only Cabinet member Thursday to propose that the 13 questionable restorations be rescinded immediately, rather than wait a few months while the matter is further investigated. But that didn't win her any points with Hasner, who we're guessing will check the "McCollum for Goverbor" box come November 2010.

“Alex Sink’s statements of concern from yesterday ignore the fact that she strongly supported the very changes that resulted in these errors which restored the rights of 13 felons, including a child rapist," Hasner said. "Sink’s aggressive backtracking from her unequivocal support of this ACORN-backed policy makes it clear that Bill McCollum was right to oppose the expansion of this program in the first place."

Galvano: No merit to Planas' complaint vs Cretul

Ouch. Not to suggest that House leadership is the vengeful type, but nonetheless it might be a long and miserable spring session for Rep. J.C. Planas, whose attempted power play against Speaker Larry Cretul just died in Rep. Bill Galvano's hands.

Galvano has dismissed the rules complaint that Planas, R-Miami, filed earlier this month after Cretul restructured committees and assignments -- removing him from two major committees/councils). Planas maintained that Cretul "showed a complete disregard" for the rules by combining two budget committees into one (putting all budget power into the hands of fellow Miami Republican David Rivera. Planas said such a structural change requires a vote of the membership.

(Planas said he was filing the complaint just to make sure the rules are followed, not because Cretul removed him as chair of the Public Safety & Domestic Security Policy Committee and as a member of  the Criminal & Civil Justice Policy Council.)

Planas today called Galvano's decision "very scary."

Herald/Times Video: The Hugo Chavez-Larry Cretul connection

Comparing House Speaker Larry Cretul to a dictator, a Miami state representative Wednesday filed a formal complaint alleging that his fellow Republican broke House rules by reshuffling committees without a vote of the full chamber.

Rep. J.C. Planas acknowledges that his complaint is rare, ultra-wonky and unpopular with some fellow Republicans. But he said someone needed to stand up and stop current and future leaders of the House from acting like strongmen.

``The fact that Hugo Chávez in Venezuela reshuffles the legislative deck so he can get his items passed is something that's bad enough,'' Planas said. ``But the fact that the members of a committee can be shuffled this way in Tallahassee, Florida, should be completely unacceptable.''

Cretul's spokeswoman, Jill Chamberlin, said the speaker had no comment on Planas' allegations nor his complaint.

Complaint here:Download PlanasComplaint. Story here

Rep. Planas blasts speaker's 'complete disregard' for rules

In a rare move by a member of the majority party, Miami Republican Rep. J.C. Planas has filed a rules complaint against his chamber's/party's House Speaker, Larry Cretul. Planas says Cretul "showed a complete disregard" for the rules by combining two budget committees into one. That, Planas said, is a structural change that requires a vote of the membership.

From the complaint:

Under the Rules of the Florida House of representatives, the Speaker does not have the power to abolish those committees without first amending the committee structure contained in the House Rules under Rule 13 .  A historical evaluation of past House Rules  dating back to the 1968 adoption of the modern Florida Constitution clearly illustrates that the Committee Structure is deliberately attached and intertwined to the rest of the procedural rules.  This is further evidenced by House Rules Chairman Bill Galvano’s explanation of the Rules during the 2008 Organizational Session  where he states clearly:

 'And then also the budget crisis that we are in. You know, we don’t put together rules in a vacuum, so we took an extra hard look at that, at what are the things we need to do in both the structure and in the process itself that will help us address some of the most difficult challenges that we will be addressing over the next two years.'