Tag Archives: politics

Kurly’s Kommentary: Arrested political development and forgiveness in Delray Beach

Editors Note: Each Thursday the Florida Squeeze will feature the latest from Steven Kurlander an accomplished writer and political operative. Kurlander’s perspective is different than the other writers at our site as much of his political work has been with Republicans and he currently resides in New York. Kurlander’s columns were until recently featured in […]

Zest of the Day: Zero Job Growth In Florida Among Small Firms

Despite the continued talk of a recovery in Florida and the claims by the GOP Legislative leadership that they are creating small business jobs, growth numbers remain stagnant in Florida according to the Sun Sentinel. This is coupled with the continued failure of Republican legislators to attract large companies that stimulate economic growth to the […]

Session 2013: Will The Center Hold in the Florida Senate?

By Kartik Krishnaiyer Term limits have had a devastating consequence. The Florida Legislature has gotten worse and worse as we have gotten deeper into the term limits era.  Last year five moderate GOP Senators were term limited and  despite three huge Democratic primary victories for liberals (electing Geraldine Thompson, Jeff Clemens and Dwight Bullard over […]

AIF Legislative Priorities Largely Dangerous But Contain Some Nice Surprises

Through the years Associated Industries of Florida has become an extreme organization, more or less advocating unfettered free enterprise in the state and tort reform as the solution for just about every situation that may involve a degree of liability. While AIF has the usual list of dangerous tax breaks in this year’s agenda (which […]

Pam Bondi: The Partisan Attorney General Conservatives Long Dreamed About

This week Attorney General Pam Bondi furthered her right-wing credentials by attacking Governor Scott’s willingness to enroll Florida in Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. Bondi’s action continues a long standing pattern of partisan and ideological purity which may not serve the best interest of Floridians but has the most reactionary conservatives all over […]

Speaker Weatherford Invited to Speak at CPAC: Rising Star For Sure

The national news has been filled with headlines about who has NOT been invited to CPAC (aka Chris Christie whose record as NJ Governor is actually quite conservative) but it is noteworthy for us here in that Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford has been selected to speak. Weatherford who portrays a less threatening and more […]

School “Choice” Part II: Democrats About Face

Editors Note: Today we continue our three part series on School “Choice” legislation with part II. Part I can be found here. The legacy of Bob Graham, Reuben Askew and most recently Lawton Chiles in fighting extreme right wing efforts to hijack our public schools was effectively undone not only by Jeb Bush and his […]

Marco Rubio Earns Highest Senate Score From Conservative Tax Group

“Americans for Prosperity” a right-wing, anti-tax, anti-government group has given one A+ score for 2012 in the US Senate. That score was earned by Florida Senator and Republican rock star Marco Rubio. Recall last year, Rubio was one of only five Senators to get a perfect 100% score from the American Conservative Union who have […]

Editorial: Rick Scott Played The Tea Party Like A Fiddle

Political outsiders and those involved in reform movements almost universally become disillusioned and disappointed with those whom they helped get elected. Thus the Tea Party’s denunciation of Rick Scott’s recent move towards the conservative positions formerly held by Florida Republicans (as contrasted with the hard right reactionary positions of the 2008-2012 time period) is not […]

When Blind Ideology Trumps Realism Southeast Florida Pays

Bubby Nevins, longtime Broward County political watcher and former Sun Sentinel political maestro has taken issue with a recent vote of Rep. George Moratis (R-Fort Lauderdale).  Republican legislators voting against both the wishes of the constituencies they serve and against the wishes of local elected officials is nothing new. This has been happening since the […]