Subject: Bill McCollum

• Florida Student Loan Subpoenas

  August 10, 2007

• Please Believe That Grouper is Grouper

  September 3, 2008

• Time To Revoke to the Gay Adoption Ban

  September 10, 2008

• Toy Stores: Now with Less Lead Paint and Fewer Bratz

  If you're toy-giant Mattel, you win some and you lose some. After winning a legal battle that might see those icky little Bratz dolls (Barbie's number one competitor) permanently removed from toy-store shelves, the company and its subsidiary Fischer-Price are being fined for selling Chinese-made toys that exceeded acceptable levels of lead content in their paint.

  December 15, 2008

• News Roundup

  Two Miami Beach men who used to work at Lehman Brothers are being charged with insider trading. [Herald]Attorney General Bill McCollum would very much like to see the Seminole Tribe stop offering blackjack and other illegal card games at their casinos. [SunSent]60% of Floridians view Jeb Bush favorably, including 46% of Democrats. Of course that is a far way away from Charlie Crist's 74% approval rating. We just like everyone in this state! [Buzz]Charlie Crist is going to fill our hole, our budg

  December 19, 2008

• McCollum or Boyd Won't Be Your Next Senator

  Both sides of the Senate 2010 fray just lost significant rumored candidates. Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum and Democratic Congressmen Allen Boyd have both said they won't seek the open seat. McCollum has sought a Senate seat twice before. He claimed his party's nomination in 2000, but lost to Democrat Bill Nelson. He tried his luck again in 2004, but lost in the primary to Mel Martinez and got called "the new darling of the homosexual extremists" as a parting gift. Instead McCollum w

  January 28, 2009

• News Roundup

  LocalsThis was a depressing weekend full of sad news and pure evil. Like this guy who killed his estranged wife and three others at a party, and then himself. [Herald]Donte Stallworth, an NFL player, hit and killed a construction worker on 195. [AP] Got an exotic pet laying around you don't need anymore. Call for our free kit, then mail the animal back to us in our special envelope. We'll send you a check for cash in days. Er....wait, just give it to the Metrozoo. They'll take it no questions as

  March 16, 2009

• Bill McCollum is a Pig in Lipstick Who Listens to Right Said Fred

  The current political scandal involving a Republican spending money on things involves Bill McCollum's anti-pedophile PSAs. Apparently the Attorney General spent $550 on makeup for the ad! Gasp! Here (via the Buzz) is "yuk yuk yuk"  YouTube video driving the point home. Men in makeup for the purposes of lighting! That sounds vaguely homosexual! Let's ban it in the constitution!Anyway, tomorrow we'll give our take on the whole "controversy," but in the meantime please enjoy this video. 

  March 25, 2009

• Exclusive: Marlins Construction Group Gave Thousands to Commish Who Approved No-Bid Deal

  Joe Martinez seems a forthright and resolute guy. He was the first Hispanic elected by his peers to be county commission chairman. He publicly supported the highly unpopular John McCain for president. And he pushed to strip Jose Canseco's name from a stretch of SW 16th Street after the slugger admitted to juicing. So it was exceedingly odd when, on March 23, he voted against the new $636 million ballpark for the Florida Marlins and then minutes later cast a ballot to award a no-bid stadium cons

  April 7, 2009

• Fishy Business

  April 9, 2009

• DNA privacy keeps Aventura cops from solving the city's only murder

  March 12, 2009

• Dilema de ADN

  March 12, 2009

• Marijuana Goes Upstate

  November 8, 2007

• The Untold Story

  November 30, 2000

• Riptide

  April 22, 1999

• Charlie Crist Expected To Announce Senate Bid Tomorrow

  In the past month the idea that Charlie Crist would run for Senate has gone from hot political rumor to almost foregone conclusion, and news broke this weekend that it is indeed fact. Republican Party of Florida chairman Jim Greer told the Pensacola News Journal last night that Crist will announce his candidacy on Tuesday in a low-key event in Tallahassee. The announcement will come with an immediate, and enviable batch of endorsements from state and national Republican officials. 

  May 11, 2009

• Crist Cruising Competition, McCollum Favored Over Sink

  via azwaldo's flickrPolls are very, very meaningful and exciting. The picture of the 2010 races aren't even in perfect focus yet, but that doesn't mean it's too early for a poll. Mason-Dixon unleashed their first poll post-Crist-for-Senate announcement, and things don't look too good for the Democrats. In the Senate race Charlie Crist (with a 49% favorable rating) crushes his primary competition Marco Rubio 53%-18% amongst likely primary voters. Kendrick Meek leads

  May 20, 2009

• Gay Rights Leader Announced as Chair of McCollum Finance Committee; also includes Huizenga, Braman and Fanjul

  The Buzz has the full list of members on the Bill McCollum for governor finance committee. It is a massive thing full of the state's top Republican business men, lawyers, lobbyists and other assorted movers and shakers. Then again, what do you expect on a finance committee? Though, you might not expect who's chairing the thing.  Jonathan Kislak is the man on top of the committee. He also lad the Florida Red & Blue PAC that spearheaded the fight against Amendment Two

  May 20, 2009

• Is Bill McCollum Too Boring to be Governor?

  Not exactly Mr. Charisma. If politics really does come down to which candidate you'd rather have a beer with, then Bill McCollum's candidacy might as well be dead on arrival. The guy has never really screamed excitement or personality, but that hasn't stopped him from seeking stat-wide elected office in Florida now for four time (loosing two, winning one, running in the fourth). Daniel Ruth of the St. Pete Times ponders in his column today if McCollum is, well, just

  May 22, 2009

• Will McCollum Get a Primary Challenge from the Right Too?

  'Tis the season for former speakers of the state house to run to the right of front runners in Republican primaries it seems. Marco Rubio is already in an uphill battle in the senate primary against Charlie Crist, and now March on Politics reports that former speaker and state Senator Dan Webster is considering entering the governor's race. Their source says Webster is about 60% sure he'll enter the race against Attorney General Bill McCollum. Webster, a Baptist, represented a western

  May 22, 2009

• The Week That Was: We All Really Deserve a Three Day Weekend

  We are trying not to give up at 6:00pm on a Friday afternoon, but sorry this is the picture. A bunch of cats are being killed down there in South-Dade, but luckily are own Magic City Kitty has escaped the murder's open legs. John Wall went to Kentucky, while Robert Marve picked purdue. Adam Lambert is a secret chonga, which maybe explains why he did so well in Florida. Not well enough to win, but oh well. It was not a very good week for magazine: University of Miami banned an

  May 22, 2009

• Man on Gas Pumps Will Not Run For Gov

  via Joakim Lind's flickrFlorida Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson will not run for Governor. Not that any one is that surprised, since the state party and major fundraisers were already congealing around Attorney General Bill McCollum. Bronson had earlier claimed that since his name was displayed on every gas pump in the state it would help with his name recognition. So sad we will never get to use the nick name "Governor Gas Pumps." Bronson will instead serve out the rema

  May 21, 2009

• Paula Dockery Looking into Governor's Race

  So much for the state Party's efforts to playdown the importance of primaries during the 2010 election cycle. Attorney General Bill McCollum is the establishment favor to take the Republican's nomination for the Governors race. So much so that it seems Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson was pressured out of the race, but the grass roots and others in the party aren't so happy with the heavyweights crowning their favorites with out a challenge. Coming off news last week

  May 26, 2009

• Alex Sink Wants to Give You Balls for Her Birthday

  Happy Birthday to CFO and gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink. She is 61 years young today. What kind of birthday present do you get a politician? Why a campaign donation of course, but Alex's party has gift bags. Anyone who donated $20.10 (get it?) by he end of the weekend gets this colorful Alex Sink for Governor beach ball. But wait! There's more!If you donate $65 today Sink will personally autograph the ball for you. But as an extra bonus the Sink campaign is offering one heart warming ch

  June 5, 2009

• Hot Poll Action: Sink Leads McCollum

  Quinnipiac released a new poll! You know what that means? It's time for us to pluck out interesting bits and pieces. Until now, every poll we've seen on the Florida governor's race gives Republican Bill McCollum the advantage, but according to Q Democrat, Alex Sink has 38 percent and McCollum 34. Down here in South Florida, Sink is trouncing McCollum and already has reached the magic 50 percent. There are still, of course, months and months to change that, and 25 percent of the voters remain

  June 9, 2009

• News Roundup

  LocalOnce-great writer visits once-great newsroom. [Herald]The death of two infants in March at Miami Children's Hospital is being blamed on bad plumbing that spread a virus. [NBCMiami]More poll numbers confirm what everyone knows: There is a snowball's chance in Hell that Marco Rubio is going to win the primary. [NakedPolitics]$15K is being offered to anyone who has information about a Florida panther shooting that happened in April. [CBS4]Well, this is nice. Mayor Manny Diaz gets to be on a 16

  June 10, 2009

• Anitere Flores in the Mix as Potential Lt. Gov.

  via AnitereFlores.orgFlores with a voter. We figured the best solution to the Marco Rubio "situation" was for the GOP to tack him on as Bill McCollum's running mate to quell any anger amongst the conservative wing for the party bending over backwards for Charlie Crist in the senate primary. Well, Naked Politics reports another young Cuban American is actually being discussed as a potential Lt. Gov. Candidate for the Republicans: Rep. Anitere Flores. Only 32 years old, she represen

  June 10, 2009

• McCollum Has Eight-Point Advantage Over Sink; Crist Still on Top

  Last time we checked in on the polling digits, Quinnipiac claimed Democratic CFO Alex Sink had a four-point lead over Republican AG Bill McCollum, but the latest poll from Rasmussen shows quite a different race. Its numbers show McCollum leading Sink 42-34 percent, with 18 percent still undecided. McCollum is beloved by men, polling 51 to Sink's 36 percent. While women are evenly divided. McCollum also leads independent voters 38 to 22 percent. Over in the Senate ra

  June 25, 2009

• Hey, Here's Another Poll: McCollum Still Leading

  Ron Sachs Communication commissioned Mason-Dixon to do another one of those polls y'all love. Nothing all that exciting, so let's deal it out down and dirty: Gov: Bill McCollum is still leading Alex Sink 41%-35%. At this point, the advantage might be owed to the fact that McCollum, thanks to his three previous statewide campaigns, has 87% name recognition compared to Sink's 61%. 24% remain undecided. McCollum also makes quick work of his possible primary rival, state Sen. Paula Dockery. In a

  June 30, 2009

• Attorney General McCollum Works About 22 Hours a Week

  The Palm Beach Post decided to check the time sheets of Governor candidates and current cabinet members Republican Bill McCollum and Democrat Alex Sink. Turns out, in the past two months neither has been working that hard. McCollum averages about 22 hours of work a week as attorney general -- a job he's paid $131,000 a year for. CFO Sink gets in about 33 hours of work a week. Not exactly a workaholic in the traditional sense, but still a bit more dedicated it seems than McCol

  June 30, 2009

• Anti-Alex Sink Ad Fails to Mention McCollum's Similar Indiscretions

  A new anti-Alex Sink political group -- cleverly named Don't Bank on Sink -- has hired the worst Robin Leach impersonator for a new YouTube ad that hits the state's CFO and Democratic candidate for governor for her questionable private plane use. The only thing funny about the ad: It fails to mention that similar private plane accusations have ensnared her Republican competitor, Attorney General Bill McCollum, as well as Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp. It also uses some video shot by the Times/He

  July 6, 2009

• News Roundup

  Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez might have to increase property taxes to bolster the county's budget. [CBS4]Swine flu claimed a sixth life in Miami-Dade, a 53-year-old woman. There are now 716 confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus in the county. [NBCMiami]Jim DeFede is none too pleased with Cindy Lederman's demotion. [CBS4]It is wonderful that people with HIV can now worry about going bald. It is pretty terrible that a hair transplant clinic is refusing to treat them. [NBCMiami]The man killed by pol

  July 15, 2009

• Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp Finally Announces Run for Attorney General

  Mustached Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp will file paperwork today to kick off his bid for attorney general, becoming the first high-profile Republican to do so. It seems likely, like many of the state races in 2010, the Republican establishment will rally around him, giving him a clear path through the primaries. The conservative wing would have little room to complain if that happened this time either, because Kottkamp is generally seen as more to the right than Gov. Charlie Crist. This also makes

  July 20, 2009

• News Roundup

  Attorney General Bill McCollum thinks this idea of sex offenders living under a bridge is just a horrible thing that he'd like to change. [Herald]Doctors who've defected from Cuba seem to be filling the primary-care void in Miami. [WSJ]If you are a true Florida patriot, you will eat an iguana. [NBCMiami]A Miami woman fell asleep with a cigarette in her hand and, whoops, burned down her apartment. [CBS4]Some post offices in South Florida might close. This will not affect your ability to send emai

  August 4, 2009

• Who Will Charlie Crist Appoint to Replace Mel Martinez?

  Charlie Crist has the power​As long as I live, I don't think Florida will see a more chaotic election cycle than 2010. Now, Mel Martinez has thrown in another twist by resigning early, leaving the decision to pick his appointment to Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running to replace Martinez himself. Let's take a look at some of the names being floated around complete with our odds, which we calculated through the magic of "picking numbers at random that sounded sensible." Himself: I

  August 7, 2009

• News Roundup

  The woman who set herself on fire died from her injuries. [AP]Pitbull is getting the key to the City of Miami. [Herald]Alex Sink is trailing Bill McCollum by four points in the latest Q poll. [Herald]Hurricane Bill is a Category 4; thankfully it'll probably just wander around in the ocean before fizzling out somewhere near Canada. [CBS4]Charlie Crist was in Miami yesterday and had a wonderful chat with a possible Senate placeholder, attorney Bobby Martinez. [Herald]

  August 19, 2009

• LeMieux Is the New Darling of the Homosexual Extremists

  I didn't want to put up another pix of LeMieux's face, so in its place is the greatest picture of all time. ​Remember when Mel Martinez deemed his primary opponent Bill McCollum as the "new darling of the homosexual extremists?" Well, now he's being replaced by the new new darling of the homosexual extremists. The combined forces of the Times/Herald are trying to stir up some controversy by dragging out quotes George LeMieux made 11 years ago that give the impression he doesn't totally ha

  August 28, 2009

• News Roundup

  A county program that helped low-income people pay their utility bills will be shut down because the county was overwhelmed by the amount of applications that came in. [CBS4]Whiney Fidel Castro says America is infecting Cuba with swine flu, but not intentionally. [CBS4]For the 21st time this year, a slaughtered horse was found in South Florida. [Herald]Gas prices in South Florida have hit a high for 2009. The average is now $2.72 a gallon. [CBS4]PoliticsOnly 22 percent of Republicans would vote

  November 2, 2009

• Who is Paula Dockery and Why is She Running for Governor?

  After a few months of publicly flirting with the idea, Republican State Senator Paula Dockery of Lakeland officially announced today that she will run for Governor, and challenge Attorney General Bill McCollum in the Republican Primary. So, who is this lady and why is she doing it? She says she's had constitutents practically begging her to run to "offer voters the opportunity to have a different choice."The fact that she has a very rich husband doesn't hurt either. Hubby C.C

  November 3, 2009

• Random Kennedy Clan Member Reportedly Eyeing Governor Race

  via Best Buddies​A Kennedy cousin is apparently mulling the idea of entering the family business by making a bid for Florida's Governor's mansion and challenging Florida CFO Alex Sink in the Democratic primary, according to Naked Politics. Anthony Shriver -- son of VP candidate Sergeant Shriver, brother of California first lady Maria Shriver and Santa Monica City Councilman Bobby Shriver, grandson of Ambassador Joe Kennedy, nephew of President JFK, Attorney General Bobby, Senator Teddy, a

  November 3, 2009