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Florida teens and adults will likely see a resumption of anti smoking ads after voters approved amendment four yesterday. Edgy ads were credited with dramatically lowering teen smoking until lawmakers slashed funding. Voters though, had the last word, deciding using tobacco settlement money to prevent smoking was a good idea.

Hear it here: vasilinda-package.mp3

17-year-old Derawynn Worthington says he just started smoking

“Why?”
”Cuz there don’t be nothin’ else to do.”

It’s illegal for tobacco companies to target under age teens, but most, like those in line outside a convenience store, see a billion dollars worth of advertising every year anyway. High School Junior Danielle Spisso says she doesn’t pay attention.

“I don’t smoke or anything I don’t really know anybody that does smoke. So I’m just kind of used to seeing ads and stuff like that around. I just ignore them now.”

Teen smoking dropped dramatically when Florida began spending millions on hip anti smoking ads

But the ads ended when lawmakers gutted the budget.

Now that voters have said yes to Amendment Four, the state will be required to spend about 57 million next year on prevention and that amount will change each year, based on how much money the state gets from the tobacco settlement.

Says Brenda Olsen of the Florida lung Association “ We anticipate that the legislature will require that the money be spent on programs we know that are very effective in preventing youth from smoking.”

The money for prevention won’t start flowing until July of next year, so it will be at least fall before any ads start reappearing and other programs are up and running.
Amendment Four passed with just over 60 percent of the vote. There was no organized opposition.

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Florida Democrats didn’t do as well as the national party… but they did score some unexpected wins on Tuesday. Luis Navarro… the executive director of the state party… says they captured seven additional seats in the House of Representatives and the office of Chief Financial Officer on the state cabinet.

“Yesterday was a huge day for us. I mean, it’s the first state cabinet position that we’ve won since 1998. First time a non-incumbent has won a state cabinet position since 1990. The reelection of Bill Nelson, obviously. Picking up two, possibly three congressional seats… we’re now engaged in a recount in district 13. That on top of the seven house seats. Obviously, it was a good day for Florida democrats.”

Democrats are still outnumbered in the house, the senate and the state cabinet, but Navarro says they’re starting to make some inroads into a state government that has been ruled by the GOP for eight years.

“I think it sends a message that, you know, voters want to see greater accountability in Tallahassee, you know. Alex Sink and these seven house members are going to be very instrumental in making sure that lower insurance rates and a reformed education policy… a reformed FCAT… are high priorities in Tallahassee.”

Tuesday’s election was important for the House Democrats because they now have one third of the seats in the house… which is enough to block GOP leaders on procedural votes. For the past four years, the GOP had so many votes in the house that they could ignore the Democrats.

After years of watching the legislature gut the budget for anti-tobacco programs, Floridians decide it’s time to reverse course. Amendment Four… approved by almost 61 percent of the voters… will force the legislature to spend 57 million dollars next year on education campaigns designed to keep kids away from tobacco, says Florida Lung Association spokesperson Brenda Olsen.

<>“The legislature will pass implementing legislation in the 2007 session, so in July of 2007 the money should come available. We anticipate that the legislature will require that the money be spent on programs we know that are very effective in preventing youth from smoking and also in assisting adults who have already become addicted to tobacco to quit.”

The money from the anti-tobacco programs will come from the tobacco industry… which pays the state hundreds of millions of dollars every year as a result of a legal settlement that was reached almost a decade ago. ________________________________________

Officials at the state elections office are breathing a sigh of relief now that the voting is through. Spokesman Sterling Ivey says less than half of the registered voters turnout out for Tuesday’s election… but that was a vast improvement over the September primary.

“We felt voter turnout probably is going to end up being in the 40 percent range across the state, which is pretty low, but very remarkable in that we had a 19 percent turnout in the primary up to a 40% turnout in the general election. Everything went very smooth and we’re very proud of how Floridians participated in the process and supervisors managed their elections.

Final urnout was 46 percent. There were some minor glitches at precincts around the state, but for the most part the voting went off without a hitch. Each of the county election supervisors will be submitting their vote tallies to the state this weekend, but it won’t be official until the state canvassing board has signed off on the totals.

Officials at the state Democratic Party say something suspicious is going on in the 13^th Congressional district because there were as many as 18 thousand fewer votes for the congressional seat compared to other races on the very same ballot. Luis Navarro is the executive director of the Florida Democratic Party and he’s wondering it there were any problems with the new voting machines.

“There has to be a level of expectation that machines will work properly, that votes will be registered properly. That votes will be recorded in an appropriate fashion. So whether this is simply a situation where someone transposed the final outcome numbers from a number of machines or whether this is a bigger problem relative to the use of technology I think that has yet to be determined.”

The state says it did get calls regarding the machines used in the District 13 election, but spokesman Sterling Ivey says the problem is most likely voters who didn’t cast ballots.

“Well, there could be a number of explanations for that. Either people just did not vote for a particular congressional race… the votes that were canvassed in Sarasota County and the other counties will be gone through with a fine tooth comb as the canvassing boards make their certification of those results.”

The vote in the 13^th… Katherine Harris’s old district… is close enough to trigger an automatic recount. It may be several days before we know who won the race.

Hear it here: vasilinda-story.mp3

Common Cause Florida has fielded hundreds of calls from voters having problems today. Most complaints were minor, and the state says there will be no embarrassing repeat of the 2000 election debacle.

All but a handful of the state’s 68 hundred and 35 precincts opened on time.

NAT SOT “We’re open. Know which direction you’re going?

Secretary of State Sue Cobb says there were few if any problems. “We have seen no major issues and we’ve had no calls from supervisors saying ‘oh, we’ve got a problem’.”

Rain soaked much of the state, dampening what was already predicted to be a low turnout. Four years ago, the governor’s race brought out 55 percent of those registered. This year turnout could be as low as 35 or 40 percent.

By mid afternoon, Ben Wilcox of Common Cause Florida says his group had registered hundreds of complaints from voters. “Problems, you know, filling out paper ballot to polls not being open to poorly trained poll workers… the whole gamut.” says Wilcox.

But most voters, like Lela Buttery, had no trouble at all.

“It went pretty well. I just filled it out and put the ballot in the slot.”
“First time voter?” “No. Its my third time voting. I feel pretty good, like I did my civic duty.” says Buttery.

Buttery is one of 10 point four million Floridians registered to vote in this election. If you had trouble voting today, you can report it to the Common Cause hotline. Their toll-free number is 1-866-MY-VOTE1 (1-866-698-6831

sign-wavers.mp3

The speeches have all been given, the television spots purchased. And now there’s only one thing left to do, so candidates across the state will be on street corners doing it until the end.

Candidates and their supporters will be out in force on every major street corner in the state until the polls close. Anthony Viegbesie hopes his sign waving will persuade a last minute undecided voter.

“It does make a difference to some voters… but not to all voters.”

For candidates like Debbie Lightsey, the street presence is instant feedback.

“We get the V for Victory. Occasionally, we get one of these (thumbs down) but it’s all very personal.”

And one Lightsey campaign worker got more feedback than she expected.

“One of my volunteers was mooned. That’s the funniest thing that happened. I missed it of course. You’d think it was the 70’s again.”

For many candidates, waving a sign is just a last act of desperation. But experts like Lance Dehaven Smith from Florida State University say that waving… along with yard signs… can really make a difference.

“Research has demonstrated that as the election approaches, people are actually looking to see who they think is going to win. They don’t want to back a loser. And so, if they see a lot of signs being held for somebody or people walking the streets to encourage people to vote for them, they’re inclined to think this person might win and that makes them more likely to vote for them.”

So honk if you know the candidate, but it’s probably a good idea to keep your drawers on if you don’t like them.

The Department of Transportation prohibits the posting of campaign signs on state property along public roads and highways… but that rule doesn’t apply if there’s a live person holding the sign.

More business lobbyists are coming to the aid of Charlie Crist, the Republican candidate for governor. Associated Industries… which represents some of the largest corporations in the state… called a news conference in Tallahassee Wednesday to attack the property insurance reform plan from Democratic candidate Jim Davis. Associated Industries President Barney Bishop says Davis is wrong is promise a savings of 40 percent on your insurance bill.

“We own an insurance company,” said Bishop.  “We know how rates are made. We understand how insurance companies operate. And to promise a 40% is not fair to the people of Florida ‘cause he can’t produce. It’s gonna be a hidden tax on Florida families and somebody’s got to stand up and say this isn’t truthful… it isn’t correct.”

Associated Industries is not an impartial observer: they operate an insurance company, the group has already endorsed Crist and many members of A-I-F have raised money for the republican candidate. A spokesman for the Davis campaign says Wednesday’s big business press conference is one more example of how special interests in Tallahassee are trying to protect their influence. Last week, another group of business lobbyists came out for Crist… saying they feared Davis would upset the status quo at the state capitol.

My wife’s eldest daughter,Catherine Grace is 21 today. Catherine attends the Film School at Florida State University. As fate would have it, she is showing her F3 documentary at 3 pm today.—Mike Vasilinda

Jeb Bush says a state representative who has repeatedly used the “n-word” should step down. Hialeah Republican Ralph Arza left a profanity and racial-epithet-laced voice mail for another lawmaker over the weekend. He was accused of using similar language during the legislative session last spring to describe Miami’s school superintendent. Democrats and Republican leaders in the House have urged Arza to step down, and now Jeb Bush is adding his name to the growing chorus.

“Yes, I think he should,” Bush said. “I think he should resign because he’s going to be expelled, for starters. He might as well do it gracefully. It’s heartbreaking. I know another Ralph Arza. The one who’s passionate about education reform and fun-loving. I’ve not seen the dark side of Ralph Arza. And I just don’t sees how he gets beyond where he is right now without resigning and dealing with these issues in a less public setting.”

If Arza steps down before the election, a Republican committee will be able to appoint a replacement to run in the election. Arza’s only opponent is a write-in candidate.

Jeb Bush is defending the state’s decision to appeal a decision barring elections supervisors from putting up signs explaining that a vote for Mark Foley is not a vote for Mark Foley. The ex-Florida congressman resigned last month over sexually explicit emails and instant messages to teenage congressional pages. Now state Rep. Joe Negron has been appointed to replace Foley as the Republican candidate for his seat. But Foley’s name is still on the ballot. The governor thinks elections officials should have a right to post notices explaining the situation.. Late Friday afternoon, the First District Court of Appeals agreed with the Governor. Poll workers will be allowed to hand out information saying a vote for Foley is a vote for Negron.

“I think it’s education,” Bush said. “I’m not a judge and I’m not a lawyer. I try to apply common sense to these things and the fact of the matter is Mark Foley is not running for Congress. He’s a disgraced congressman. Our laws require that his name stay on the ballot. There’s someone else running. To be able to provide information without gearing a candidate one way or another, or a voter one way or another to a candidate seems to make sense but we’ll let an appellate court make that decision. That’s why it was appealed, because at the Circuit level the decision didn’t make common sense.”

Jeb Bush says look for a special session on insurance reform in December.  The task force chaired by Lieutenant Governor Toni Jennings looking into Florida’s insurance crisis is due to present a report to the governor by November 15^th.  He says he’d like to see a session the following month.

“Yes, I hope,” Bush said.  “We’ll see after the election but we’ll have the recommendations by then.”

Among other recommendations, the reform panel would like to see the state make another effort to put uniform building codes in place, and allow insurers to write a broader variety of policies, including higher deductibles and less coverage, in order to bring down costs.   

Voters are being asked to decide this election whether Florida needs a new legislative task force to plan out the future use of your tax dollars.  Jeb Bush says Amendment 1 would put an important long-range outlook for state spending into Florida’s constitution.  But even supporters have some concerns about whether we really need another task force.Jeb Bush won’t be in office next spring when lawmakers craft what will likely be about an 80-billion dollar state budget.  But he’s a big supporter of a proposed Constitutional Amendment to limit the amount of one-time money the legislature can use for ongoing state costs.

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