FLORIDA REPUBLICANS RAISE BIG MONEY TO REPLACE DEMOCRAT CONGRESSMAN

The soon-to-be hotly-contested Republican primary race in Florida’s 18th congressional district will not mirror the God-awful and boring 2014 GOP primary race in this same district.

This will be a race to watch.

No one in the 2014 race was able to raise any money, except for former Rep. Carl Domino, who benefitted from the contributions he made to his campaign.

Domino went on to get clobbered by 

Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-FL)

10%

 (D) by 20 percentage points in a Republican swing year election.

The 2016 primary election cycle will be different, as Republicans have raised close to $1 million.

There are six announced Republican candidates in the race, including Domino, who are ready to make a strong push to replace the outgoing Murphy. Murphy is running for the U.S. Senate in 2016.

Democrats are already getting behind Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay, a mother of three and staunch liberal Democrat, who has raised $183,000, a lot of that money coming from the liberal ActBlue non-profit,

What about these Republicans? How much did they each raise?

Here is a breakdown and analysis of all the candidates:

Carl Domino—Career Politician and Candidate

$208,000 (Loaned himself this amount, no contributions)

Announced April 2014

Domino is coming off a big election night loss to Rep. Patrick Murhpy (D). He had to drop in a lot of his own money to be competitive and was only able to raise about $300k in the entire election cycle.

Domino ran in three straight election cycles and lost. Will the fourth time be the charm?

Paul Spain—Businessman

$635 (Loan)

Announced late June 2015

Spain ran in Florida’s 22th congressional district against 

Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL)

22%

 (D) and lost big because he wasn’t able to raise more than $10 (he raised a little bit more than that) for his congressional campaign. Spain loaned his campaign $125,000 in his 2014 losing effort.

Tod Mowery—St. Lucie County Commissioner

$85,000

Announced May 2015

Mowery’s FEC report is not out yet. But according to his campaign, Mowery raised about $85k. Considering that he is a sitting county commissioner, we expect Mowery to have used his bully pulpit to raise campaign dollars from local and state special interests and small businesses with interests in St. Lucie County.

This is how politics work.

Brian Mast—Combat Wounded Vet and Fox News Favorite

$70,270

Announced June 9, 2015

Mast, the political newbie with no fundraising base and who lost both of his legs in an IED blast in Afghanistan, announced his congressional campaign with an inspiring video that landed him two Fox News TV hits. In addition to Fox, it seem as if Mast’s story is resonating around the country, as the overwhelming bulk of his donations have come from individuals outside of the district.

Mast could pose a real threat in this congressional district that is heavy with military veterans. Even Democrats are saying that Mast could be the one that will face McKinlay in the general election.

Mast loaned his campaign $9,499.

Can Mast keep this up?

Rick Kozell—Attorney and Establishment Republican

$100,000

Announced June 9, 2015

Kozell, one of those young Palm Beach Republicans, who was groomed in party ways, jumped in the race the same day Mast did. In the same amount of time, Kozell was able to tap into his donor base of establishment Republicans. Attorneys and lobbyists from South Florida and Washington, D.C., chipped in cash, as did his family.

Kozell was able to raise money from Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart (his former employer), the firm former U.S. Senator and then-Charlie Crist Republican George LeMieux currently runs.

According to the FEC, Kozell received $10,800 from his family. Kozell has only loaned his campaign $100.

Rebecca Negron—State Sen. Joe Negron’s Wife and Martin County School Board Member.

$175,282

Announced May 2015

As expected, Negron has been able to use her husband’s bully pulpit in Tallahassee to raise money from major lobbyists and special interests beholden to her husband Sen. Joe Negron.

Senator Negron could be the next Senate president in the GOP-led state legislature, leaving many attorneys and lobbyist feeling compelled to donate to his wife.

Negron himself considered running for the U.S. Congress a few years ago, leaving many in south Florida to question if Rebecca is running as a mere place-holder for her husband.

Negron has not loaned her congressional campaign any money.

Who is really running for Congress, Joe Negron or his wife Rebecca?

Via: Breitbart

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2016 Presidential Candidates Raise Millions from Key States

Andrea Izzotti/Shutterstock

July 17, 2015 -- The reports are in. On July 15, the 2016 presidential candidates turned in their Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings disclosing how much their campaign committees have raised to date. California, New York, Florida, and Texas dominate the list of states from which candidates have received money for their campaigns.

The total cost of the 2016 presidential election is expected to reach an unprecedented $5 billion, with outside groups, like single-candidate super PACs, accounting for an increasingly larger portion of expenditures. Filings for outside groups are due to the FEC on July 31.

Data: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to the principal campaign committees of federal presidential candidates for the 2016 election cycle, from January 1, 2015 to June 30, 2015. Data Source: Federal Election Commission.

Methodology: MapLight analysis of campaign contributions to the principal campaign committees of federal presidential candidates for the 2016 election cycle, from January 1, 2015 to June 30, 2015. Total raised figures are based on candidates summaries compiled by the Federal Election Commission. State breakdowns for donors are based on itemized records of individual and candidate contributions. All numbers are based on latest data made available by the Federal Election Commission as of July 16, 2015.

MapLight is a 501c(3) organization that tracks money's influence on politics.

Via: Map Light

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Simple bill to help vets shows things in Congress aren’t so simple Measure from Florida Rep. Vern Buchanan would let veterans get new ID card

A bill that would create a uniform identification card for U.S. military veterans is in the final stages of its journey from idea to law, and is being seen both as a nice benefit for America’s fighting men and woman and an illustration of just how hard it can be to get anything through Congress.

Sponsored by U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Florida Republican who represents the Bradenton and Sarasota areas, the bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs to issue a veteran’s identification card. Such a card would allow veterans to prove their status without having to carry around military service records, such as the common form known as a “DD-214.”

Those forms, Buchanan said, contain sensitive personal information such as veterans’ Social Security numbers, leaving them at a higher risk for identify theft. The VA does offer some veterans – those in the VA health system, for example – ID cards. But there is a large population of veterans who served honorably yet have no easy way to prove their military service.

“On the surface it doesn’t sound like a gigantic thing,” said Buchanan. “But at the end of the day it’s a very big thing for veterans. ... We’re very excited about it.”

The “Veterans Identification Card Act of 2015” was introduced on the first day of the current session of Congress and eventually picked up 82 co-sponsors, roughly divided between the two parties.

It passed the U.S. House in May by a vote of 402-0 and the Senate last month by unanimous consent. The bill has been endorsed by veterans’ groups, while others took no position on it. The bill is expected to go for final action in the House on Tuesday, where differences between House and Senate versions are expected to be easily passed; then it will go to the president for his signature.

The Obama administration, however, isn’t so enthusiastic. In testimony before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs last month, a top VA official, Rajiv Jain, said that veterans in most U.S. states can get veteran status noted on their drivers’ licenses and that such options “can meet the intent of the legislation without creating within VA a new program that may not be cost-efficient.”

In his prepared statement, Jain also said a new VA-issued ID card could create confusion among veterans, since other cards are specifically designed to help them get health care and other benefits. “Having several VA-issued cards creates the potential for confusion on several levels,” said Jain, an assistant deputy under secretary for health.

Diane M. Zumatto, the national legislative director for the advocacy organization AMVETS, sees the bill as a simple, cost-effective way to help veterans. As for the state options, she said those often aren’t enough: “The service we performed was federal, so the card should be federal,” she said.

“I just don’t see any drawback to the bill,” she said. “I understand there are many more critical things that are on the agenda for Congress. But hey, gather up these no-brainers and pass ’em.”

That’s easier said than done – even on a piece of legislation with such bipartisan, unanimous support.

Despite the simple nature of the bill and the fact that it is intended to be cost-neutral – veterans would pay a fee for their cards – it’s taken a long time to get such a bill through Congress. Similar legislation was introduced in 2011 and 2013 but went nowhere.

And that’s the way it is in Congress, where 535 representatives and senators all have bills but face limited time, energy and political capital to do anything about them.

Via: McClatchy

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Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article26596969.html#storylink=cpy

[EDITORIAL] Editorial: A promising BP settlement

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Nearly eight months after the April 2010 BP oil spill, workers in Waveland, Miss., remove tar balls from along the Gulf Coast. Under a settlement Thursday, BP will pay $18.7 billion to resolve nearly all outstanding claims.

The settlement announced Thursday in the 2010 BP oil spill marks a major turning point for the federal-state effort to repair the Gulf of Mexico after the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. The $18.7 billion that BP has agreed to pay is substantial enough to help the gulf, punitive enough to send a message to the industry and affordable enough to keep a major player active in the vital energy sector. Florida fares well at first glance, but it will be up to regulators and the courts to ensure that this framework agreement actually fulfills its promise.

The settlement would resolve nearly all outstanding claims resulting from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which sank off the coast of Louisiana on April 20, 2010, killing 11 workers and causing millions of barrels of oil to spew into the Gulf of Mexico. BP would pay $18.7 billion in damages and fines, including $7.1 billion for environmental restoration, $5.9 billion for economic claims from the five gulf states and a record $5.5 billion in penalties under the Clean Water Act (80 percent of which will be directed to gulf restoration projects), plus other costs.

State and federal officials could have held out for more, and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said he would have liked to have seen larger damages. The federal court in New Orleans overseeing the case was expected to rule on damages any day, and BP lost its bid this week to have the U.S. Supreme Court consider its appeal on damages. But this deal is a reasonable effort to end years of litigation, provide certainty for all sides and bring serious money to the table for economic losses and restoration. And it's on top of $1 billion the company fronted early on for restoration projects (several of which are under way in Florida). BP also committed another $1 billion to resolve local government claims; Tampa announced Thursday it would receive $27 million. And BP will set aside an additional $600 million to cover any future environmental damage and any outstanding response costs.

Via: Tampa Bay Times

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Feds Charge More Than 200 People With Medicare Fraud

The West Miami drug store was called E-Z Pharmacy. A more apt name would have been “E-Z Money.”

The former owners — Eklis Almanza and husband Juan E. Diaz Gonzalez — pocketed $4.8 million from the taxpayer-funded Medicare program by submitting bogus claims for prescription drugs that none of their customers ever needed or received, according to a federal indictment.

In Little Havana, Enemisis Torres is accused of selling forged and altered prescriptions of Medicare patients at her rehabilitation clinic, Palmetto Comprehensive Healthcare, to a ring of Miami-Dade pharmacy owners. They in turn fraudulently billed the federal program $21.2 million, prosecutors say. Her clinic was raided early Thursday.

The defendants are among 73 South Florida suspects charged this week in Miami federal court with bilking Medicare, including dozens accused of defrauding the Part D prescription drug program that was implemented a decade ago during the Bush administration. The total amount of fraudulent claims in the regional sweep: $262 million.

“By stealing from Medicare ... they have robbed all of us,” U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer told reporters Thursday.

The South Florida arrests — carried out by armies of FBI and Health and Human Services agents — are part of this week’s nationwide take-down of 243 Medicare fraud offenders in states across the country, extending to Alaska. The tally of false claims in the nationwide crackdown: $712 million.

The Justice Department in Washington and U.S. attorney's office in Miami held back-to-back news conferences Thursday to spotlight the latest schemes to fleece the Medicare program, which continues to be plagued by billions of dollars in losses to fraud every year.

Ferrer called the latest healthcare fraud take-down the “largest ever” over the past decade, with Miami, the capital of Medicare fraud, accounting for one-third of all defendants charged this week. “It’s unacceptable, staggering and pretty shocking,” he said.

Via: Miami Herald

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Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article24842470.html#storylink=cpy

[VIDEO] 'He did nothing wrong': Florida principal ousted after defending Texas cop

A Florida high school principal, who defended the Texas police officer at the center of that infamous pool melee, has become the latest victim of radical speech police hell-bent on trying to silence public discourse.

Alberto Iber lost his job as the principal at North Miami Senior High School after he wrote a comment about the McKinney, Texas incident on the Miami Herald’s website.

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“He did nothing wrong,” Iber wrote. “He was afraid for his life. I commend him for his actions.”

Three sentences. Sixteen words. Sixty-two characters.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools released a statement on June 10 announcing that Mr. Iber had been removed from his position at the high school and reassigned to an administrative position.

The district said they require their employees to conduct themselves “in a manner that represents the school district’s core values.”

Superintendent Carvahlo sent a very chilling message to his employees – any opinion that is contrary to liberal ideology must be silenced. And those who dare to voice such an opinion in the public marketplace must be severely punished.

“Judgment is the currency of honesty,” Superintendent Alberto Carvalho wrote in a statement. “Insensitivity – intentional or perceived – is both unacceptable and inconsistent with our policies, but more importantly with our expectation of common sense behavior that elevates the dignity and humanity of all, beginning with children.”

Via: Fox News

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Let down by Obama, some black voters ask: Is it even worth backing Clinton?

Jacksonville, Fla. — During those two electric Novembers, the chance to elect a black president, and then keep him in office, seized Regenia Motley’s neighborhood.

Nightclubs were registering voters. Churches held fish fries after loading buses that ferried parishioners to the polls. A truck hoisted a big sign that said “Obama.” And residents waited in long lines at precincts across the community.

But as Motley and some friends sought shade recently under a mulberry tree and looked across the landscape of empty lots and abandoned houses that has persisted here, they wondered whether they would ever bother voting again.

“What was the point?” asked Motley, 23, a grocery store clerk. “We made history, but I don’t see change.”

On Jacksonville’s north side and in other struggling urban neighborhoods across the country, where Barack Obama mobilized large numbers of new African American voters who were inspired partly by the emotional draw of his biography, high hopes have turned to frustration: Even a black president was unable to heal places still gripped by violence, drugs and joblessness.

The dynamic, made prominent in recent months after unrest in Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo., sets up a stark challenge for Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner.

While supporting Obama became a cause for many here rather than a typical campaign, Clinton faces a higher bar in making a case that she, too, can be a transformative figure.

Via: Washington Post

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Rubio Pushes Back Against NYT Story Citing Financial Imprudence

The Rubio campaign has hit back at a New York Times story Tuesday claiming that the Florida senator's personal financial habits have been "imprudent" and at times extravagant. 

"First, The New York Times attacks Marco over traffic tickets, and now they think he doesn't have enough money," said Rubio spokesman Alex Conant, according to USA Today. "Of course, if he was worth millions, the Times would then attack him for being too rich, like they did to Mitt Romney." 

Tuesday's story by the Times, headlined, "Struggles with Finances Track Marco Rubio's Career" said that Rubio stands out not only for his youth and dramatic political rise but also for persistent doubts about his personal financial management.

"A review of the Rubio family's finances — including many new documents — reveals a series of decisions over the past 15 years that experts called imprudent: significant debts; a penchant to spend heavily on luxury items like the [$80,000 speed] boat and the lease of a $50,000 2015 Audi Q7; a strikingly low savings rate, even when Mr. Rubio was earning large sums; and inattentive accounting that led to years of unpaid local government fees," the Times said.

The Times also said that, separate to his personal spending patterns, there were instances in which he intermingled personal and political money. He used a state Republican Party credit card to pay for a paving project to his home and travel to a family reunion. He also put relatives on campaign payrolls.

Conant said that Rubio has the same financial challenges as many Americans do and that he is not motivated by wealth.

"His goal at this stage in his life is to provide his four children with a good home, a quality education, and a safe and happy upbringing," Conant said in a statement, according to USA Today. 

"As he wrote in his book, 'the mark I make in this world will not be decided by how much money I make or how many titles I attain. Rather, the greatest mark I can leave is the one I will make as a father and a husband.'"

A separate story by the Times last week detailed how Rubio was cited four times in 18 years for minor traffic violations while his wife received 13.  The report said that the Rubios received tickets for violations that include speeding, driving through red lights, and careless driving. 

Via: NewsMax

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The Supreme Court Could Transfer A Lot Of Political Power Away From Cities

This week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a lawsuit filed by conservative activists in Texas that could redefine the principle of “one person, one vote” as we know it. And if the Court sides with the plaintiffs, Republicans could stretch their already-historic majorities in the House and state legislatures even wider — the GOP would be helped just slightly in presidential elections.

Is Congress’s job to represent people, or just voters? Currently, all states are required to redraw their political boundaries based on the Census’s official count of total population every 10 years, which includes minors and noncitizen immigrants. But the Texas plaintiffs argue that states should be allowed to apportion seats based on where only U.S. citizens over 18 years of age live.

It seems like a minor detail, but it’s actually a major distinction. The decennial Census doesn’t track citizenship data, but the Census’s American Community Survey does. And although all 435 U.S. congressional districts have roughly equal total populations, the number of eligible voters and rates of actual participation can vary wildly from place to place.

For example, in Florida’s 11th District, home to the largely white retirement mecca of The Villages, 81 percent of all residents are adult citizens. But in California’s heavily Latino 34th District, anchored by downtown Los Angeles, only 41 percent of all residents are eligible to vote. The variations across districts in terms of actual turnout can be even more eye-popping. According to results compiled by Polidata for the Cook Political Report, Montana’s lone House district cast 483,932 votes for president in 2012, more than four times the tally in Texas’s 29th District, 114,901.

Via: FiveThirtyEightPolitics

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Nancy Pelosi Has Her Pick In Coveted FL Congressional Race

While the growing Republican field of congressional candidates continues to grow in Florida’s 18th congressional district-setting up what could be a very contentious primary race in 201-  the Democrat king-makers in Washington, D.C., who  seem hell-bent to avoid a potentially bloody primary race, may have already decided on a candidate to throw their support behind, Palm Beach County Commissioner Melissa McKinlay.

The Democrat establishment has already embraced Rep. Patrick Murphy, who announced he would not running for re-election in CD 18, as their Senate candidate to replace Senator Marco Rubio.

Now House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D) has settled on McKinlay, as have Florida Democrat state legislators, State Sens. Joe Abruzzo and Jeff Clemens.

McKinlay has just become the newest target for Republicans. I can only imagine the Pelosi-clone attack ads against her.

The Democrats may have decided on McKinlay perhaps because they feel that the young mother of three, who just won her county commission seat race in November 2014, could become the next Rep. Gwen Graham (D).

Graham won her 2014 congressional race against incumbent Rep. Steve Southerland by the closest of margins by running as moderate, when in fact she was significantly more liberal.

Can a woman like McKinlay bring on a second congressional lightning strike for Democrats in another one of Florida’s Republican-leaning congressional district?

If someone like McKinlay becomes the Democrat Party’s nominee in this congressional district, which some believe is almost assured with local and national Democrats backing her candidacy, which Republican from the ever-growing field of D.C. insiders, carpet-baggers, local no-name elected officials, and disabled military veterans will make it out of the Republican primary to challenge McKinlay?

Unlike Democrats, Republicans, for the most part, stay out of contested primary races like this one and allow the political process to run its course.

This has not always been the case. Anyone remember when the establishment Republicans in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. tried to crown then-Republican Governor Charlie Crist as the Republican nominee in the open Florida U.S. Senate seat in 2010?

The result of that ill-advised move by the Republican poobahs was then candidate-Marco Rubio eating both their lunch and dinner.

Via: Shark Tank

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Scott Walker: If I ran, I think we’d play anywhere — ‘other than maybe Florida’

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker suggested Tuesday that if he were to run for president, he could envision simply letting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio compete amongst themselves in the key state of Florida.

“If we get in as a candidate, we’re going to make a strong play in Iowa,” Mr. Walker said on conservative radio host Laura Ingraham’s show. “The neat thing about being around the country is if we chose to get in, I don’t think there’s a state out there we wouldn’t play in. I mean, other than maybe Florida where Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio are — listen, some of the polls [are] essentially tied, and they’re going to eat up a good amount of that financial advantage that Governor Bush is going to have.”

Mr. Walker was responding to a recorded comment from Mr. Bush that the former Florida governor “just [doesn’t] do straw polls.” Mr. Bush and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee have indicated that they plan to skip August’s Iowa straw poll, which has traditionally served as an unofficial kick-off to the Republican presidential nominating contest.

Mr. Walker said he hasn’t made any such commitments that would be required of a candidate. Mr. Bush, though he is laying the groundwork for a White House bid, likewise has not officially declared his candidacy. Mr. Huckabee announced earlier this month that he was running for president and Mr. Rubio announced last month he was running.

Mr. Walker also pointed out that Florida Gov. Rick Scott spent around $100 million in his 2014 re-election campaign.

“There won’t be that much, but a good chunk of that’ll be going after the Florida primary, but short of that, I think our message — common sense conservative reform, if we were to get in this election — could play just about anywhere out there,” Mr. Walker said in the interview, which was first noted by Time. “And I think if we ultimately ended up being a candidate, we’d be focused on the caucus in Iowa and the primaries in places like New Hampshire and South Carolina on down the line.”

Via: Washington TImes

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