Yearly Archives: 2014
Latest Charlie Crist Ad: Again
Excellent spot from Governor Crist on Health Care. Well done and on message both about the issue and about Governor Scott.
Legislative courtesy and the House Democratic leadership
We’ve discussed at length the floor debate on two bills related to firearms from last Thursday. As we discussed Democratic Leader Perry Thurston offered a repeal to Stand Your Ground as an amendment to one of the bills, HB 89 on the floor. Historically even if members of the minority party plan to support a […]
Join Kartik Krishnaiyer For His Reddit AMA On Tuesday 3/25 at 9:30pm ET
Florida Squeeze Editor-in-Chief and World Soccer Talk Senior Writer Kartik Krishnaiyer will be on Reddit on Tuesday night at 9:30pm ET for a Reddit AMA (ask me anything). The rest is from World Soccer Talk: This is an ideal opportunity to ask Kartik any questions that have been on your mind. Just hours after the […]
Governor Charlie Crist’s interview with Local 10 (Miami/Fort Lauderedale)
Local 10’s Michael Putney had a comprehensive interview with Governor Charlie Crist where issues such as the Affordable Care Act and school “choice” were discussed. On Obamacare, Crist refused to repeat the mistakes of Alex Sink and dug in supporting the program. Regarding school vouchers, Crist was wishy washy and evasive. The whole interview can […]
Democrats fail again on guns while ignoring political realities … Explanations needed
As my colleague Ryan Ray demonstrated again on Friday, the Democrats in the Florida House of Representatives failed on the gun issue once again. The gun lobby year after year finds new creative ways to chip away at any restrictions on ownership or use of firearms in this state, and year after year they find […]
While CNN sleeps Putin moves
Often times in the past I’ve found fault with Florida pols during Legislative Session who have no idea what is going on abroad when US interest at stake. During the 1999 Legislative Session when the US and NATO went to war in Kosovo, I found fellow legislative staff and legislators themselves mostly unaware that we […]
Flashback Friday: Racial Backlash among Democrats and 1968 Presidential and US Senate Election in Florida
In 1968, Alabama’s Democratic former Governor George Wallace who had become a national figure with his “stand in the schoolhouse door” ran for President on the ticket of the “American Independent Party.” The candidacy despite coded words like “crime,” “law breakers,” and “patriotism” was about one thing- race. Wallace had been a populist earlier in […]
Democratic Unity Essential on Gun Legislation
The extremist Tallahassee gun lobby is now several years into kicking the dead horse of liberalizing our gun laws. Unified Sportsmen of Florida Executive Director/NRA spirit animal Marion P. Hammer and her legislative surrogates in the Republican majority have ensured that gun control is off the table since the Jeb Bush administration, if not before. […]
Despite legislative progress public school advocates can never rest easy
The school “choice” movement suffered a significant setback in the Florida Senate yesterday when the companion bill to HB 7099 was withdrawn by its sponsor Senator Bill Galvano (R-Bradenton). We have devoted much of our space in recent weeks to galvanizing progressive opinion against HB 7099. Much like the initial “A+ plan” pushed by Governor […]
Tracking gun legislation in Florida
I must admit that we see so much unnecessary pro-gun legislation in front of the Florida House these days that when a prominent Democratic State Representative contacted me this morning about the two gun bills on the floor today, I was more interested in speaking about vouchers, gambling and immigrant tuition. Our views on guns […]
The Florida Squeeze 