Monthly Archives: April 2017
How conservative was Gwen Graham in Congress? Not very according to a leading conservative group
As I have mentioned many times through the years on this site, a hobby of mine for over two decades has been to study interest group ratings based on the voting record of members of Congress. The American Conservative Union (ACU) who host the annual CPAC Conference has been rating Congress for 45 years since […]
What we are reading: The battle over recess – Corcoran blames Scott in Tweet
Recess policy has been one of the underlying issues of tension during the course of this legislative session. The recess issue has been a foremost concern this session among education advocates, parent groups and other stakeholders. The legislature has to this point stalled on the issue with some conservatives in the claiming a legislative mandate […]
What we are reading: The best congressional scorecard on Trump’s first 100 days
From Five Thirty Eight comes this scorecard which is more detailed and arguably more useful than the ratings we tend to get from media outlets and even some interest groups. WARNING – you could get so lost on this page that you won’t come up for air until tomorrow! Link from Five Thirty Eight.
Southwest applies for service to Turks and Caicos (from Fort Lauderdale)
Southwest Airlines this week has filed an application with the DOT to serve the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory with nonstop service from Fort Lauderdale to Providenciales beginning in November. If approved Southwest would become the third airline serving the islands from Florida joining American’s service from Miami and JetBlue’s from Fort […]
Poll: Should Governor Scott veto the budget?
Governor Scott has aggressively used his “Let’s Get to Work” political committee to attack Republican lawmakers the last several weeks on spending priorities. The deal reached yesterday between the House and Senate was a compromise between an extremely ideologically-charged anti-government budget that came out of the House and a more reasonable one that came out […]
Flashback Friday: The Pork Chop Gang led by Charley Johns fights integration and disgraces Florida
Senator Charley Johns (D-Starke) is one of the best known figures in the political history of this state for multiple dubious reasons. The leader of the infamous “Pork Chop Gang,” Johns became Governor in 1953 after Governor Dan McCarty the first Governor elected from southern Florida died just months after taking office. Prior to 1968, […]
“YES” vote on Tuesday referendum helps but still doesn’t ensure MLS in St Pete
The Tampa Bay Rowdies want to move from the second division USL to first division MLS. Tuesday’s city of St Petersburg referendum which will allow the city the flexibility to give the Rowdies a long-term lease for prime waterfront property is certainly low-risk for local voters as the Tampa Bay Times outlines (at least at this point […]
What we are reading: NY Times calls out Florida Legislature’s continued derailment of democracy
It may be difficult for those who don’t follow state politics or didn’t grow up in Florida to understand. This state has become a one-party bastion with dangerous overreaches from the governing Republicans that you might have even found in the Soviet Union or Germany under National Socialism. Time and again going back to the […]
What we are reading: Four of the five deadliest roads in the country are in Florida
If you think that driving in Florida is more dangerous and challenging than in other parts of the country, empirical evidence backs you up. The Sun Sentinel reports that a study by Geotab finds that US 1 in Florida is the deadliest highway in the country with three other US highways’ portions in Florida (US […]
What we are reading: Budget talks collapse
No surprise but still confirmation from the Tampa Bay Times/ Miami Herald that budget talks between the House and Senate have indeed collapsed. The budget impasse means a Special Session or the extension of session is almost now a certainty and with the ideologically driven House Speaker Richard Corcoran giving no quarter to what he perceives […]
The Florida Squeeze 