Gov. Rick Scott has seemed to overcome his hesitations about funding Central Florida’s SunRail commuter train program and announced his approval of state funding for the program today. Scott’s first big decision in office was surprisingly killing a federally funded high-speed train project, a move that proved highly unpopular and…
There’s a cancerous strain of political outlook on both sides that views politics as nothing more than a game played by two sides. Somehow the conservative Sunshine State News Service managed to inject that outlook into the results of the Miami-Dade mayoral election, a non-partisan race that pitted two candidates…
Hours after the Hoedown in Hadley Park, Riptide caught up with Mayor Tomas Regalado in Little Haiti to press him on the $400,000 “bribe” Chief Miguel Exposito says he was offered to resign. This time Regalado argued the deal was a perfectly legal severance package — negotiated solely by ex-CFO…
A story that started yesterday with blogger Al Crespo posting a mysterious, voided city check for $200,000 ended with more ammo fed into the raging firefight between the Miami Police Department and City Hall when Chief Miguel Exposito admitted the check was part of a huge payout he was offered…
Bill Nelson is now Florida’s longest serving state-wide elected politician, and yet a surprising amount of Floridians don’t think much of him one way or another. The guy has sat in the Senate for 11 years, and mastered a brand of bland Democratic moderation that doesn’t piss off Republicans too…
By a surprisingly slim margin, Miami-Dade voters have picked Carlos Gimenez to serve as the county’s next mayor. Gimenez received just 51 percent of the vote in the special runoff election triggered by the recall of former mayor Carlos Alvarez. Opponent Julio Robaina has offered his concession.Though it was a…
We don’t believe a guy as politically ambitious as Charlie Crist would be happy for long at an ambulance-chasing law firm. Though, now that he’s left the Republican party there are few clear paths for him to get back into any office. Unless, of course, he becomes a full-fledged Democrat…
Rick Scott wants to be known as the job creation governor, but almost seven months into office he’s become more known for what he’s destroyed, or tried to. After killing Florida’s federally funded high-speed rail program, and reports that he attempted to do away with Citizens Property Insurance, a new…
In a miscalculated move to try and boast public support, Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s website asked his fervent supporters, all five of them, to sign their name to a pre-written letter and send them off to Florida’s newspapers letter to the editor section.Well, at least one fake conservative pundit is…
Concern over a looming budget gap and leadership turmoil has led Moody’s, the bond rating agency, to downgrade its outlook on the City of Miami’s $226 million in obligations from “stable” to “negative,” according to an investor’s report obtained by blogger Al Crespo. The agency also downgraded the city’s tax and…
Up in New York State they’ve finally passed a bill legalizing same sex marriage. Meanwhile, down in Miami-Dade we’ve got a mayoral candidate who can’t even decided if he’s for or against domestic partnership laws and seems to have wildly flip-flopped between stances. Julio Robaina says he believes in the…
So apparently Mike Huckabee reads Riptide, and apparently he thinks we’re just idiots. The former Arkansas Governor-turned-Fox News host had Rick Scott on his program this weekend, and the two discussed Scott’s dismal poll numbers. Huckabee decided to blame the press, and as evidence flashed a Riptide blog post headline…
There’s not many scenarios under which President Obama can win reelection in 2012 without winning Florida (especially considering we’ll have two more electoral votes this time around). New numbers from Public Policy Polling show that while Obama is leading all Republican candidates right now in Florida, he only surpasses the…
It’s worth noting that a man who doesn’t believe a woman has the right to chose what she does with her own body is being supported by a man who brought us such songs as “Dick Almighty” and “The Fuck Shop.” It’s also worth noting that neither Luther Campbell or…
The party that supposedly favors deregulation and keeping the government out of people’s lives passed a state law this year that barred doctors from asking patients about gun ownership. Republican Gov. Rick Scott signed the bill into law, but now a group of thousands of doctors and gun control groups…
Fresh off of its Republican primary poll yesterday, Public Policy Polling, a democratically-aligned polling firm, has released new numbers showing that large numbers of Florida voters are less likely to vote for a Republican presidential candidate in 2012 thanks to the actions of Rick Scott. The poll comes on the…
Social issues have not been a driving force in local Miami-Dade politics for some time, with most voters more concerned with pressing issues like property taxes and budget problems. Today, however, the Christian Family Coalition of South Florida injected a big dose of social conservatism into the race by endorsing…
Mitt Romney is the man to beat in Florida as the 2012 Republican primary horse race heats up. Romney holds a ten-point advantage over second place finishers Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin. Romney also benefits from incredibly low support for similar candidates like John Hunstman and Tim Pawlenty in the…
Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a bill that requires all people seeking welfare take mandatory drug tests. Interestingly, it turns out Scott has a younger brother who receives welfare and seems to have a history of drug charges…
Gov. Rick Scott delivered terrific news for the state’s horny and technologically advanced teenagers today. He’s signed a bill that lowers the penalties for minors sending pictures of their junk to each other. Used to be kids could get charged with big-time felonies like distribution of child pornography. Problem was…
When Tony Crapp Jr. walked away from the Miami city manager job on Monday — leaving unsolved a gaping $40 million budget gap and a troubled police force — he got a nice parting gift from Magic City taxpayers.Crapp left City Hall with a handsome $155,000 severance package, Riptide has…
Would you like to own a yacht that once hosted the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Mike Tyson? Would you like to to be the captain of a boat that was described as something like a Studio 54 of the seas for dorks complete with allegations of hosting “hired” party…
