Our mild-mannered billionaire mayor-recaller now thinks he’s king. Auto magnate Norman Braman, riding on his successful campaign to recall Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, is lightly hinting at more recalls of sitting county commissioners unless they follow his reform agenda. However, county commissioners are now saying they won’t be so easily…
To talk about respected, legendary Florida politicians is to talk about Bob Graham. The former Governor and Senator was one of the few politicians to manage sustained cross-party popularity and still looms large over the state as an occasional source of wisdom. Yesterday, the retired moderate Democrat turned to the…
Rick Scott really is a big fan of having people pee in cups. He plans to start mandatory drug testing for both welfare recipients and state employees, but not everyone is on board with the plan. A group of Key West citizen calling themselves Committee for the Positive Insistence on…
A Federal Judge has ruled that Florida should have approved the request of a group looking to honor a group of rebels who waged war against the United States in the name of slavery. U.S. District Judge John Antoon II ruled the state’s specialty license plate law unconstitutional because by…
First Republicans were upset that a Democratic lawmaker displayed his passport so openly in public, and now they’re upset that another Democrat dared to say the word uterus on the Florida House floor. Rep. Scott Randolph (D-Orlando) cracked a one-liner including the word while arguing about Republicans’ peculiar stance on…
Bill Nelson has done a pretty decent job of upholding the tradition of being Florida’s sort of boring, painfully moderate, generally congenial Democratic Senator. His approval/disapproval numbers right now are a somewhat worrying 38/34, but when he’s placed head to head against all the possible Republicans who could challenge him…
Your grandma probably has an email address, even if it is only to forward you weird chain letters. Everyone uses email these days. Everyone but Rick Scott, apparently. The man has asked constituents not to email him because he gets “embarrassed” by the form of communication. For a governor who has…
Marco Rubio wishes he could have this moment for life. He’s a young superstar senator, the likes of which D.C. hasn’t quite seen, diverging politics aside, since President Obama. ABC’s Nightline scored what it calls “the first national television interview” with Rubio since he took office, and got a behind-the-scenes…
Ever since Miami Beach officials were caught trying to strong-arm tickets from the New World Symphony, public patience has worn thin for politicos taking comped gifts. Last week, via crusading blogger Al Crespo we brought you the tale of Tomas Regalado’s gratis box seats at Heat games (and his photos…
The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature is moving forward this session with a number of restrictive anti-abortion bills, the newest of which would require doctors to discuss research on the possibility of fetal pain caused by the termination of pregnancy. Though, there’s little conclusive evidence as to when a fetus can start…
After just a few months in office, Floridians have decided they aren’t big fans of Rick Scott and his Tea Party-style politics. A new poll shows that 55 percent dislike the new governor, while only 32 percent like him. While Scott has never been Mr. Popular, those number have only…
Governor Rick Scott has had his well-known tiffs with the Florida press pool, but at least he’s not locking them in closets. Vice President Joe Biden was in the Orlando area last week headlining a private fundraiser for Democratic Senator Bill Nelson. Journalist Scott Powers of The Orlando Sentinel was…
Florida is likely to adopt a slightly dulled-down version of Arizona’s controversial immigration laws, and even with significant changes critics still think that the law will lead to racial profiling and requiring even legal citizens and immigrants to carry papers on them at all times. Rep. Luis Garcia (D-Miami Beach)…
We’re really surprised it took this long for The Daily Show to sink its teeth into Florida Gov. Rick Scott. There’s certainly ample material. The guy’s political career is like a bad satire that somehow became real. Last night, Scott got the ire of Jon Stewart in a roundup of…
This isn’t Texas, and no one really expects our governor to tramp around in cowboy boots. Maybe wearing the “official” Florida shoe, the flip-flop, would be appropriate, but cowboy boots? Well, it turns out Rick Scott has a thing for boots that might rival Rep. Frederica Wilson’s fetish for hats…
Back in January Gov. Rick Scott tried to connect with the people of Florida through Twitter. He, of course, got called a “jackass” and decided to sign off shortly after. Now he’s giving this whole interwebs thing another try and will be hosting a Facebook Townhall tonight…
When Norman Braman launched his campaign to oust Mayor Carlos Alvarez, he made it clear that charter reform — including term limits — was his real goal. Braman inched a step closer to making that happen today as three of the front-runners to replace Alvarez all promised to back his…
It’s with much trepidation that we once again visit the strange, twisted world of former SNL star, Miami native, and Tea Party sideshow Victoria Jackson. When she’s not busy singing about how “there’s a communist in the White House,” she’s cackling about how evil the Muslims and the gays are…
In Miami Beach, a storm is brewing over accusations that city officials strong-armed the New World Symphony to give them free tickets to concerts. But Beach leaders aren’t the only politicians accepting free seats.Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and city commissioners have accepted thousands of dollars worth of tix to Miami…
After Tuesday’s unambiguous recall of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Commissioner Natacha Seijas, could you even imagine what would happen if county commissioners decided to exercise the option to appoint a new mayor themselves? If not a full-out voter revolt and more recalls, at least certainly pain for those commissioners…
State agencies close every year on Veteran’s Day, yet schools remain open. Some Florida lawmakers want to change that with the altruistic day that kids will spend the day visiting veterans and watching parades. Note to politicians: kids who get the day off from school just play Wii and watch…
The 29th floor of County Hall had all the ambiance of a funeral procession on Wednesday afternoon. Staffers with puffy eyes hid in cubicles, and an uncomfortable silence reigned until County Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Manager George Burgess walked into a room packed with reporters.The day after getting overwhelmingly recalled…
