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The 2014 Governor’s race is now officially underway.  Governor Rick Scott released his first campaign ad on Facebook this week.  The video shows Scott speaking to a group of factory workers… talking about how much the economy has improved since he’s been in office.

“There’s a stunning contrast between the economy I inherited and the economy today.  As you know the four years before I became governor the state had lost 832-thousand jobs.  Unemployment had tripled from 3.5 to 11.1 percent” says Scott, who met with reporters after attending a jobs announcement in Jacksonville.

The ad could be a direct shot at former Governor Charlie Crist, who is expected to enter the race as a Democrat. Scott was asked about the race on CNN Wedesday morning and said it wasn’t about 2014,, but about reminding Floridians how far the state has come. He repeated his mantra that he wants every family “to have a job”.

http://www.itsworkingflorida.com

State officials say state law forbids them from talking about Sanford Shooter George Zimmerman’s concealed weapons permit. Information about concealed weapons was taken out of the public domain in 2006, so we don’t know who has a concealed weapon, but as Mike Vasilinda tells us, we do know a lot of people are carrying weapons in Florida.

One in every 20 Floridians has a valid concealed weapons permit. Sanford shooter George Zimmerman still has his. State law is very specific about when the permits can be suspended or revoked.

“If you’re charged with a felony crime, and the department is notified, we can certainly move to have the license suspended,” Sterling Ivey with the Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services. “Once a conviction takes place, we can revoke that individual’s license.”

This past year, state lawmakers lowered the cost of a concealed permit by fifteen dollars. They now cost 70 dollars. Applicants must also pass a gun safety course. The Brady Project to prevent gun violence says concealed carry permits are too easy to get in Florida.

“You know, this man George Zimmerman, is a living example of that,” Brady Project President Dan Gross said. “This is a guy who had an arrest record, this is a guy who had a violent past. This is a guy who in numerous other states would never be offered a permit to carry a loaded, hidden, handgun.”

The NRA declined to appear on camera for this story. But they argue that statistics show only law abiding citizens get and keep a permit. State figures show 98 percent of all applicants receive a carry permit.

Since 1987, more than 2 million concealed weapons permits have been issued in Florida, and of those permits just three of every thousand have been revoked.

The Brady project counters that just one concealed permit in the wrong hands is an injustice.

In addition to lowering the license fee, lawmakers also reduced the renewal fee by ten dollars. Concealed weapons permits now cost about eight and a half dollars a year.

If lawmakers don’t act by Friday, Florida’s unemployment tax will more than double. The tax is going from 71 dollars an employee to more than 170. As Whitney Ray tells us, efforts are underway to reduce the increase, but lawmakers will have to act fast or they’ll run out of time.

Good food and great services are the ingredients for success for Brian Rowe and his BBQ business. Piggy’s BBQ employees 35 workers. The restaurant has added catering and a food truck, but the rising price of food and fuel presents a huge challenge.

“It hurts our bottom-line. I’m not going to do a price increase to our customers,” said Rowe.

It could get worse. Piggy’s is about to be hit with a 35-hundred dollar increase in state unemployment taxes. The tax is skyrocketing from 71 dollars to more than 170 per employee.

“It’s kind of a double whammy there. When you have all these increases that are affecting us, ultimately you will have to increase the prices or drop your staff and have fewer staff,” said Rowe.

And if lawmakers don’t act by Friday there will be an 817 million dollar increase to all business owners statewide. Legislation to cut the increase in half is being heard late in session. State Senator Ellyn Bogdanoff says the bill will make it across the finish line.

“I don not anticipate Sine Dieing before this thing passes. This is a priority of the governor and we have been working diligently to get it through,” said Bogdanoff.

The increase is needed to pay back the federal government. In 2009, the state ran out of cash to pay unemployment claims. Florida borrowed 2.6 billion dollars from Uncle Sam to keep the money flowing and now the bill has come due with interest.

Critics of the bill say delaying the increase will only prolong payment to the federal government, and since they are charging interest, in the long run businesses will end up paying more.

Mental health advocates and economists say spending cuts in the senate�s budget plan would cost the state more in the long run. The Florida Senate wants to cut 210-million dollars from mental health and substance abuse programs. As Whitney Ray tells us, economists say those cuts would force the state to spend more on prisons, hospitals and emergency services.

140-thousand Floridians suffering from addiction, anxiety and other mental illnesses would lose services under spending cuts in the Senate�s budget. The Senate wants to cut 210-million from mental health and substance abuse programs.

Bob Sharpe, the president of the Florida Council for Community Mental Health, says those cuts will force the state to spend more down the road.

�Spend more for corrections, jail admissions; health care the child welfare system, more people will be homeless,� said Sharpe.

Rob Weissert, the Vice President of Research at Florida TaxWatch, says cutting programs that help former felons beat addiction increases the chances those who are denied treatment will end up back in prison.

�Addressing these issues up front can not only save money, but really can reduce future crimes, so it�s a very positive way that the state can focus resources to actually reduce the overall costs and enhance public safety,� said Weissert.

The state house holds mental health and substance abuse programs harmless in its budget. For the next two weeks they�ll be negotiating with the senate to keep those cuts from going through and if the governor has his way, he�ll side with the house. Governor Rick Scott says funding the programs is a priority.

�We�ve got to make sure we spend the money as wisely as possible, so when we put our budget together, we tried to allocate the dollars because that�s part of your job as governor to try to allocate the dollars to the biggest issues you have,� said Scott.

Monday the House and Senate start the budget negotiations. If the Senate moves to restore the cuts, something else will have to go. Mental health and drug abuse advocates say along with the loss of services, there will be a loss of jobs. They estimate 5-thousand people will be laid off if the Senate gets its way.

One in five Floridians is Hispanic according to the 2010 census statistics released this week. The figure may not bode well for immigration reform legislation; opponents believe would encourage racial profiling. As Whitney Ray tells us, some Hispanic Republicans say they�ll vote Democrat if the GOP led legislature passes the immigration reform bill.

250 Latinos, some legal, some not, were at the state capitol Thursday, angry over an Arizona inspired immigration measure they say would encourage racial profiling.

The immigration debate rages as the latest census numbers show the Hispanic population soaring. Now 22 percent of Floridians are Hispanic; up from 16 percent after the last census. And as Hispanics register to vote, few are registering as Republicans.

With one in three Hispanics registering as an independent their vote is up for grabs, and they are using their support or opposition as leverage in the immigration debate. Opponents say lawmakers better take heed.

�The decisions they are making now are going to have serious ramifications for the future of the state and the future of their politics,� said Subash Patel, an organizer with We are Florida a group organized against the bill.

Filipe Matos, who delivered petitions to the Senate President running for Congress, sees the growing numbers of Hispanics as a political bargaining chip.

�If he doesn�t stand with the Latino community, we will not stand with him in 2012,� said Filipe.

But not all Florida Hispanics side with Filipe. The immigration reform bill is being sponsored by Senator Anitere Flores a Cuban-American� and many in the Hispanic caucus have her back.

Republicans lost Hispanic voters between 08 and 10� while 96-thousand Hispanics registered Democrat.

The battle to ban offshore oil drilling in Florida waters in raging on two fronts. A petition drive and legislation to create a constitutional ban on drilling were both announced today at the state capitol. As Whitney Ray tells us, some familiar faces are heading up the efforts.

Sand and sea oats laid way for former Governor Charlie Crist and CFO Alex Sink�s return to the state capitol. The two are joining forces to write an oil drilling ban into the state constitution.

�It�s important to not only protect the beach, but also an important industry called tourism,� said Crist.

Crist�s attempt at an oil ban in a July special session, drew a defiant gavel and go from lawmakers.

Now Crist and Sink are taking their case straight to the people; co-sponsoring a petition drive to put a ban on the 2012 ballot. The group is using the BP oil spill as its main argument for a constitutional ban.

The spill threatened the state�s 65 billion dollar tourism industry for five months last summer. It led legislative leaders to promise not to pass drilling, but if a case is made in the future that drilling is safe Governor Rick Scott may be onboard.

�Focus on everything, from all the alternative fuels, all those things, to the extent that they make sense, and also look at offshore drilling when we know we can do it safely,� said Scott.

But Scott�s former foe, Alex Sink, says drilling will never be safe enough for Florida.

�There�s always human error. We can�t afford any kind of human error within 10 miles of our beaches,� said Sink.

Crist was the first to sign the petition, and now the enormous task is underway to gather the nearly 700-thousand signatures needed to put the ban before voters. Democratic lawmakers are also trying to get a ban on the 2012 ballot. Legislation has been filed to allow voters to decide, but it�s not expected to make it out of committee.

Capitol News Service Feed
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Morrison Pardon on Track
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The pardon of deceased Doors rock icon Jim Morrison has been officially put on the agenda for a Thursday morning Clemency� meeting in Tallahassee. James Douglas Morrison shows up as item 29 on a lengthy agenda. As Mike Vasilinda tells us one of the more interesting items in the file being reviewed is a 1970 letter from Morrison�s father to parole officials.

In 1962, Jim Morrison was a clean cut college student appearing in this film promoting investment in Florida State and the University system. �We regret to inform you that we are unable to accept your application,� said the voice in the film.

A year later he was arrested in Tallahassee for being drunk and disorderly at a football game and, for stealing an umbrella and a helmet from a patrol car. The most severe charges were dropped and he paid a small fine.� His only other Florida arrest was in Miami in 1969. He was convicted of indecent exposure and open profanity. His case comes before the Clemency board on Thursday.

This is just one of two reports that the governor and cabinet will consider in the clemency process. In the file is a 1970 letter from Morrison�s father, an admiral who commanded the Pacific Fleet, telling the parole commission that he discouraged the Doors front man from joining the band because he just didn�t have talent. The two were never close again.

Governor Charlie Crist will initiate the pardon. He was 13 when Morrison was arrested in Miami. � And I was going to junior high school, trying to make good grades,� said Christ.

Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson is a yes vote.

CFO Alex Sink is still deciding, but she remembers the summer of 1969 very well. �At Columbia University, which had just been taken over by the students, the administration had,� CFO Sink said.

Attorney General Bill McCollum says he won�t reveal his intentions until Thursday.

A text message sent during last night�s debate is creating a stir in Florida�s governor�s race. Notes to candidates are banned, but during a commercial break a makeup artist showed Democrat Alex Sink a text message. As Whitney Ray tells us, it wasn�t the worst gaffe of the night.

Gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott watches his rival Alex Sink like a hawk during a commercial break in Monday�s debate. A makeup artist shows sink a text message, a violation of the debate rules.

The message was from an aide. Sink swears she didn�t read it. She fired the sender.

�When I learned what had happened and got to the bottom of it I took accountability and held the person responsible for the cheating accountable and he�s no longer with my campaign,� said Sink.

But the text may not have been the worst gaffe of the night. When asked by the moderator what Florida�s minimum wage is, both candidates got it wrong.�

Scott answered $7.55 cents. Sink agreed. It�s actually $7.25. The mistake makes both candidates look out of touch, but despite the gaffe, party support hasn�t waivered. Scott�s Primary rival Bill McCollum quietly endorsed him this weekend but still won�t vouch for Scott�s checkered past.

�No comments. Nothing I said during the campaign has changed as far as the comments that I made,� said McCollum.

And it�s that record Sink is trying to exploit as the race to the finish line begins its final leg. And of course Scott is trying to link questionable business practices at Bank of America to Sink while she headed up the Florida branch. He also blames her for the pension fund losing value, even though it was one of the top performing pension funds in the country.

Neither the judge who lobbied heavily for control of the construction of a new courthouse, nor the agency head who gave into demands of the court for an opulent new structure, are talking today. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, Linda South, the head of the agency that manages construction won�t resign as requested by the incoming Senate leadership.

Pieces of cement trim for the 49 million dollar court house, six miles east of the state Capitol, were still arriving Monday.� Landscapers tossed pine straw around the grounds, preparing for the building�s opening.

Dubbed the Taj Mahal for its opulence, which includes granite counter tops and large flat screen TV�s, the pricey structure cost almost twice as much to build as the new Department of Revenue building across the street. It was an issue CFO Alex Sink raised when discussing an audit of the building last week.

�What stands out to me is the appalling lack of leadership by the responsible parties throughout this entire process,” Sink said. “The fact that no one was standing up to say, �what about the taxpayers?��

When complete, this courthouse will be 112,000 square feet and will house only 120 people.

Staff in the agency responsible for the construction spent the weekend drafting a response to the audit. Agency Director Linda South says she will not resign as requested by the incoming Senate President.

Indeed, South says the blame lies at the feet of legislative leaders, who raided an injured workers trust fund to give the court the money it wanted.�

One of those leaders was then House Speaker Marco Rubio, who, according to an email between judges, was part of a highly successful meeting in 2008 that increased funding for the court.

In addition to opening the nearly 50 million dollar courthouse, the old courthouse will see 12 million in renovations before it is turned over to the law school at Florida State University.