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461 posts from August 2016

August 31, 2016

Broward state attorney reviewing elections office posting results early

Snipes

Broward State Attorney Mike Satz has begun reviewing why the Broward elections office posted results on its website before the polls closed in violation of state law.

Partial results based on absentee ballots and early voting were posted atwww.browardsoe.org at about 6:40 p.m. After the Miami Herald tweeted about it, the results were taken down minutes before 7 p.m. A vendor took responsibility.

Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner contacted Satz Tuesday night to ask him to review the matter.

“It has come to my attention that certain election results were released in Broward County prior to the closing of the polls in that county,” Detzner wrote in an email to Satz at 8:47 p.m. Tuesday. “This is unacceptable. I ask that you investigate this incident to determine whether further legal action is appropriate.”

Keep reading here.

With tropical storm on the way, Tim Kaine cancels next Florida visit

CC2V0039

@ByKristenMClark

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine won't be coming back to Florida this week after all.

An intensifying tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico has prompted Kaine to cancel a planned trip to Pensacola and Panama City on Thursday and to Jacksonville on Friday.

Hillary Clinton's campaign previously said that, in Pensacola, Kaine was to meet with military families. And in Panama City and Jacksonville, Kaine was expected to to talk about Trump's rhetoric regarding African Americans, Latinos, women, veterans and people with disabilities.

It's unclear whether the trip will be re-scheduled.

The National Weather Service upgraded Tropical Depression 9 into Tropical Storm Hermine this afternoon. State officials caution the possibility of it reaching Category 1 Hurricane status by the time it makes landfall in the Big Bend area, likely later Thursday.

Kaine was in Florida just last week for a couple fundraisers, a voter registration event at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee and other events in South Florida.

Photo credit: Hillary Clinton's running mate Tim Kaine speaks at Florida A&M University on Aug. 26, 2016 to encourage voter registration. Joe Rondone / Tallahassee Democrat

With 15 percent of vote, Pam Keith makes her mark in Florida U.S. Senate primary

Pam_Keith_Speaking_4

@ByKristenMClark

Throughout her unsuccessful 22-month bid to be Florida's next U.S. senator, Democrat Pam Keith was ever the underdog -- quietly campaigning across the state almost daily on her own, with an assist from a small but loyal band of staff and volunteers.

She gained some momentum over those months by offering specific policy ideas and delivering energetic and charismatic speeches to groups large and small, but she faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles from the start.

The party establishment ignored her.

Donors didn't flock to her; she had to partially self-fund.

Florida and national media generally paid her almost no attention until this summer and, even then, there wasn't much widespread coverage.

She wasn't even included in most statewide polls and those that did pegged her most often with single-digit support. One in March had her as high as 11 percent support.

But despite that, Keith -- a Miami labor attorney and Navy veteran in her first bid for public office -- somewhat beat the odds after all.

More here.

Where Carlos Beruff did best and worst against Marco Rubio

@JeremySWallace

There's no sugar coating the results. Carlos Beruff got beat badly Tuesday in his longshot bid to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. Marco Rubio beat Beruff in every single Florida county.

And Beruff failed to hit even 20 percent of the vote statewide, despite putting $8 million to the race.

"Critics will say it was a fool’s errand to stay in the Senate race," Beruff said in a statement to the media after his loss on Tuesday. "They will say we had no chance of beating Rubio, and they will say I wasted money. But of course, critics are most often those people who lack the courage and commitment to enter the arena."

Still, there are counties that Beruff nearly hit 30 percent of the vote. Three of the five counties Beruff did best are in the Tampa Bay region. In Hernando, Pasco and Pinellas County, Beruff was able to get over 25 percent of the vote. His best county was a little further away in Hardee County, which gave Beruff 28.8 percent of the vote.

On the flip side, there are 17 counties where Beruff couldn't even scrap up 10 percent of the vote. Not surprising Miami-Dade, Rubio's home county, Beruff won just 5.4 percent of the vote. But that wasn't Beruff's worst performance. That was in Madison County in North Florida. There, Beruff captured just 4.5 percent of the vote according to unofficial results posted by the Florida Division of Elections and finished third behind both Rubio and Dwight Young, a little known Clearwater Republican who spent less than $17,000 on his campaign and did not run a single television commercial.

Carlos Beruff's Best Counties:

1. Hardee - 28.8 percent

2. Hernando  - 28.6  percent

3. Baker - 28.4 percent

4. Pasco - 28.0 percent

5. Pinellas - 25.7 percent

 

Carlos Beruff's Worst Counties:

1. Madison - 4.5 percent

2. Miami-Dade - 5.4 percent

3. Lafayette - 5.6 percent

4. Gilchrist - 7.3 percent

5. Dixie - 7.3 percent

Tim Canova: I will concede Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a corporate stooge

Fl-august-primary-us-house-5-ng-FL0041159127

Tim Canova refused to go quietly into the night as he sat by the bar of Kasa Champet in Pembroke Pines after all precincts finally reported around 11:30 p.m.

"I will concede Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a corporate stooge,"' Canova said.

As for working with Wasserman Schultz in the future, well, don't bet on it.

"She's never asked for my help," Canova said. "She's never given me the time of day. She's never given the time of day to her constituents as far as I'm concerned."

Democratic voters in the Broward/Miami-Dade district didn't share Canova's view: the Weston Democrat won 57 to 43 percent.

- by Amy Sherman and George Richards and photo by Sun Sentinel

 

 

 

DCCC praises Scott Fuhrman, who'll challenge Ros-Lehtinen in November

@PatriciaMazzei

Political newcomer Scott Fuhrman easily won the Democratic primary Tuesday in Florida's 27th congressional district, winning him the chance to challenge longtime Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who also cruised to victory.

Fuhrman received 59 percent of the vote over Frank Perez's 24 percent and Adam Sackrin's 17 percent. Neither Perez nor Sackrin campaigned much, while Fuhrman, who is personally wealthy, mailed plenty of fliers to reliable primary voters.

"The results from yesterday's primary victory made clear that Democrats are united in taking back the House seat by seat," Fuhrman said in a statement Wednesday. "I am dedicated to standing up to special interests like the NRA on behalf of the families torn by gun violence in our district and around the country. I'm the only candidate to sign Bullsugar's pledge to protect the environment from the dumping by Big Sugar, and I stood for Miami families terrified by Zika after Congress failed to act."

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which didn't actively recruit Fuhrman or anyone else to go up against the popular Ros-Lehtinen, praised his win.

"Fuhrman's efforts to hold Republicans accountable for their failure to provide funding to combat the growing Zika epidemic is a clear example that he is willing to fight for South Florida's priorities," DCCC spokesman Jermaine House said in a statement.

Republicans debut website highlighting Murphy's resume embellishments

Capture

@ByKristenMClark

National Republicans don't want general election voters to forget that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Patrick Murphy was caught embellishing his resume.

To highlight the gaffes, the National Republican Senatorial Committee today launched a website -- RealMurphyResume.com -- to detail instances where Murphy either exaggerated his credentials or didn't provide a complete explanation of his experience.

The subject has been and will continue to be a prime line of attack against Murphy, a 33-year-old, two-term congressman from Jupiter who became the official Democratic nominee in Florida's U.S. Senate race after Tuesday's decisive primary.

The NRSC's website mocks Murphy by referencing his wealthy South Florida family and their yacht, "Cocktails," and including a "personal statement" that reads: "Never Worked A Day In My Life As A CPA. Never A Small Business Owner. Never Going To Be A United States Senator."

Much of the website isn't fact so much as partisan spin based on some truth.

Media reports documenting the inaccuracies and discrepancies in Murphy's resume began a few months ago, after the Herald/Times discovered Murphy inflated his academic resume by claiming to have had two degrees from the University of Miami when he only earned one.

Murphy's experiences as a CPA and business owner are more nuanced. Murphy's explanation of that work has evolved with more detail in recent months as several media outlets probed what he actually did during those years. Politifact sifted through the facts and found "that Murphy’s description of his past employment is based on actual circumstances, but at times he omits a full explanation."

Murphy faces Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio in November.

When asked for comment in response to the NRSC's new website, Murphy campaign spokeswoman Galia Slayen said: "Marco Rubio and his Republicans allies are committed to doing and saying anything to distract from the fact that he has the worst voting attendance record of any Florida Senator in nearly 50 years and still won't commit to a full term. Rubio abandoned Floridians for his own personal political ambition and it's time for Florida families to have a Senator who will show up to work for them."

*This post has been updated with comment from Murphy's campaign.

Image credit: RealMurphyResume.com

Murphy says Rubio doesn't do enough to help constituents in Florida (with update from Rubio and Nelson office)

Murphy riney

@alextdaugherty

A day after winning the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, Patrick Murphy unveiled a new line of attack that sets the tone for his general election fight ahead: Marco Rubio doesn't serve his constituents in Florida.

Tim Riney, a Florida resident and the father of a solider severely injured in a military training exercise, appeared at a Wednesday morning press conference alongside Murphy to criticize Rubio's response to his son's needs and recent TV ads highlighting the Republican's support from veterans. 

Riney's son Timothy Riney Jr. went to a private hospital to recover and his family dealt with Warrior Transition Unit, a military body set up to provide support for injured and wounded soldiers and their families. 

When Riney had issues with the WTU, he called Rubio. He wasn't satisfied with the response. 

"It took Senator Rubio four to five months to get back to me," Riney said. "In that time, we were put through hell." 

Riney, who criticized Rubio for running for president instead of helping constituents like him, said he communicated with Rubio's Orlando office.

He also called Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, but said didn't hear back from his office.  

Murphy said his work with the United Solutions caucus in Congress showed that "we need to reduce the backlog at the VA [Veterans Administration]. It is shameful that the folks who are putting their life on the life for this country are coming home waiting in line to get service." 

"Our VA can and should be doing a lot more and a lot of that comes down to funding," Murphy said. "This shouldn't be a partisan issue."

Rubio used recent TV ads to tout his record on veterans' issues with his campaign saying "Marco Rubio wrote and passed bipartisan legislation allowing the VA to fire negligent workers."

Politifact rated that statement as mostly true and Murphy voted in favor of a larger bill that included Rubio's legislation to make it easier to fire incompetent VA workers.  

Murphy also committed to one debate with Rubio, and said he will accept Rubio's challenge of six debates, including one hosted by a Spanish-language outlet, when Rubio commits to a full six-year term in the Senate. 

"I'm going to take his challenge seriously," Murphy said. "We've already agreed to one debate, I'm looking forward to that and our teams are going to continue, you know, talking to hash out the details there. There are going to be multiple debates." 

Murphy also said he trusts Hillary Clinton saying "I believe that herself and the campaign and the Clinton Foundation made the necessary reforms to help instill more trust in the voters." 

UPDATE: 4:45pm

Rubio's office released a statement regarding their handling of Riney's case: 

“Our office responded to Mr. Riney’s request within two business days. In the following months, our office was in frequent contact with Mr. Riney, the Army and the Senate Armed Services Committee about this case, which was primarily handled by a team of professionals in our office who all took this duty seriously, including a veteran and a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps."

“Our office was able to assist the Riney family on getting some answers, but this was a complex case involving a training accident which occurred during the course of Spc. Riney’s service in the Army – the kind of case that takes some time to work through and is subject to lengthy internal investigation by the Army itself. When we last communicated with Mr. Riney in October 2015, he indicated that no further action was needed from our office at the time. We remain committed to working with him to ensure his son receives the care he deserves.

“Our office receives approximately 30,000 items of constituent correspondence each month and our caseworkers work tirelessly to assist thousands of Floridians each year. We are never satisfied with anything less than a completely satisfactory resolution for all the Floridians we assist and only wish we could do more to help each and every person who contacts our office.”

UPDATE 6:07pm

Nelson's office released a statement regarding the Riney case: 

"Timothy Riney contacted our office in March 2015 and asked for our help. We had him fill out a consent form. We then contacted the Army on his behalf and asked them to look into the case. The Army sent us a written response, which we then sent to Timothy Riney in May 2015."

Hillary Clinton campaign to open office in Miami's Little Haiti

CLintonMiamiHerald

Hillary Clinton's campaign will open an office in Miami's Little Haiti Saturday.

The office will be at 5905 NE Second Ave. Clinton will not attend the event which is scheduled for 2-5 p.m.

The Clinton campaign has opened multiple offices in South Florida including Wynwood and Fort Lauderdale. South Florida's large contingent of Democratic voters is a crucial campaign battleground for Clinton.

 

 

Scott praises Beruff after loss then (13 hours later) Rubio on victory

Beruff rubio

@JeremySWallace & @ByKristenMClark

Carlos Beruff may have lost badly in his race against U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, but his effort is still winning praise from Gov. Rick Scott who helped encourage Beruff to run and heaped praise on him during joint speaking events with Beruff. Within minutes of Rubio salting away the win, Scott took to Twitter and Facebook to congratulate Beruff -- not Rubio.

Beruff wasn't the only one to get praise from Scott. The governor also celebrated Republicans Matt Gaetz and Francis Rooney for winning GOP primaries for Congress.

But Scott conspicuously waited almost 13 hours to congratulate Rubio -- the Republican incumbent who trounced Beruff 72 percent to 18 percent in unofficial results from Tuesday's primary.

The Facebook post this morning praising Rubio came shortly after a Herald/Times reporter asked Scott's spokeswoman why the governor had congratulated Beruff but not Rubio.