Blogs from around the state

PolitiJax Florida Morning: Gaetz drops bombs on TaxWatch - House immigration agreement tentatively reached - Allen West to Fox News

Below is a brief look at today's Florida Morning. Here's the full version. 

@MDixon55

Don Gaetz goes postal on Florida TaxWatch

St. Petersburg Record funding flows to Florida’s cargo, cruise ports

Florida’s seaports are set to embark on a massive round of waterfront and transit upgrades as the cargo and cruise facilities are in line for a record-setting year of funding from the Legislature, reports Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida.

St. Petersburg Sunburn for 5/17 — A morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics

A morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.

PolitiJax Daniel Davis to head JAX Chamber

By Timothy J. Gibbons

JAX Chamber will name state Rep. Daniel Davis as its new president and chief executive officer Friday afternoon, according to sources familiar with the selection process.

The organization he will take over the leadership of is one of the biggest chambers in the nation, with a $7 million annual budget, about 3,000 members and 50 employees.

PolitiJax State: Nonprofit run by former Jacksonville Port Authority board member overbilled Medicaid nearly $1.4 million

By David Bauerlein

A nonprofit run by former Jacksonville Port Authority board member Reggie Gaffney overbilled Medicaid by almost $1.4 million, according to an audit by the state Agency for Health Care Administration.

The state is seeking to recoup the money from Community Rehabilitation Center and also assess a $111,000 fine.

St. Petersburg Amazon effort to build in Florida crumbles

A plan by Internet retailing giant Amazon.com to build at least one warehouse in Florida has been scrapped, with the company unable to reach an agreement on when it would have to start collecting state sales taxes, an official in Gov. Rick Scott’s office said Thursday, reports David Royse of the News Service of Florida. 

St. Petersburg Gov. Scott wants money-back pledges on budget items

With the deadline approaching to sign the new budget, Gov. Rick Scott wants several organizations to pledge a return of state funding if they fail to produce promised economic benefits, reports Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida.

Naked Politics Scott reappoints agency heads Senate failed to confirm

Gov. Rick Scott reappointed three agency heads to their posts today, and they'll get another shot at Senate confirmation next year. If that doesn't happen, Surgeon General John Armstrong, Corrections Secretary Michael Crews and Department of Economy Opportunity executive director Jesse Panuccio will be out of a job.

Naked Politics After Democrat brinksmanship, House group reaches immigration deal

@MarcACaputo& @FrancoOrdonez

St. Petersburg Appeals court rules against Harry Sargeant

A former partner of Florida Republican money man and oil billionaire Harry Sargeant III should get interest on a nearly $29 million court judgment, as well as the principal already awarded against Sargeant, a Florida appeals court ruled Wednesday.

St. Petersburg Florida TaxWatch’s Turkey list takes a bite out of leadership priorities

Legislative leadership, particularly on the Senate side, didn’t get a pass from a Tallahassee group that annually highlights pork-barrel spending in the state budget, reports Jim Turner of the News Service of Florida.

Yes, Florida TaxWatch’s annual “turkey” list, released Thursday, did not include a $50 million coast-to-coast bicycle and foot path backed by a central Florida senator who is in line to take the helm of the chamber in 2014.

St. Petersburg Tallahassee-based Anfield Consulting expands to Alabama and Georgia

Tallahassee-based public affairs firm Anfield Consulting today announced a merger with KCopeland, Inc., a governmental affairs, issue advocacy and strategic communications firm located in Vincent, Alabama.

St. Petersburg Women who head K-Street, other D.C. trade associations paid significantly less than male counterparts

A new review of salary data by Bloomberg finds that women who head up the top K Street trade associations earn about $600,000 less than their male peers on average.

St. Petersburg Florida crime rate down, yet murder up

Crime in Florida dropped 6.5 percent in 2012 from 2011, with violent crimes overall down 4.3 percent, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s annual Uniform Crime Report released Thursday. But while incidents of robbery and aggravated assault were down, according to the FDLE report, the numbers of murders and forcible sex offenses increased.

PolitiJax Bill Nelson calls for federal help for St. Johns County potato farmers

@MDixon55

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson is pushing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to help St. Johns County potato farms after recent severe weather “caused the loss of about two-thirds of the local potato crop.”

“These farmers in St. Johns County were hit by a hailstorm right at the outset of their biggest potato harvest month, which is May,” he wrote in a letter sent Thursday to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

Naked Politics Miami-Dade commissioners mull over extra Dolphins cash

@PatriciaMazzei

More than $1 million was left over from the nearly $4.8 million nonrefundable payment the Miami Dolphins made to Miami-Dade for a special election.

Now county commissioners must decide how to spend the cash.

Naked Politics Will Weatherford gets a Half True on his Medicaid claim

The Florida House did the nation a solid by refusing to expand subsidized health insurance to 1 million low-income Floridians, argues Speaker Will Weatherford.

Political Pulse Don Gaetz goes postal on Florida TaxWatch

TALLAHASSEE -- Senate President Don Gaetz is hardly a politician accused of mincing words.

Florida Politics Don Gaetz goes postal on Florida TaxWatch

TALLAHASSEE -- Senate President Don Gaetz is hardly a politician accused of mincing words.

Florida Politics Cannon's lobbying firm banks $755k in first full quarter

TALLAHASSEE -- Former House Speaker Dean Cannon appears to have landed on his feet quite comfortably in his return to the lobbying world.

Political Pulse Cannon's lobbying firm banks $755k in first full quarter

TALLAHASSEE -- Former House Speaker Dean Cannon appears to have landed on his feet quite comfortably in his return to the lobbying world.

Post on Politics Ouch! Senate Prez Gaetz TaxWatch smackdown

The ever-acerbic Senate President Don Gaetz spared no venom for Florida TaxWatch in a response to the business-backed group’s budget “turkey” list released earlier today.

Naked Politics Senate President Gaetz slams TaxWatch 'turkey' list in sharp-tongued missive

Even before TaxWatch published its annual list of budget items they consider "turkeys," Senate leaders had gone out of their way to defend their decision to fund projects that may not have been in state agencies' initial budget requests. Today the group released a list of $107 million in spending it believes Gov.

Naked Politics Former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina charged with tax evasion, secret payments

@jayhweaver

St. Petersburg “What else could aTurkey buy?” and related observations on opportunity cost

“What else could a turkey buy?”  If you are talking whole one for Thanksgiving, you could get 35 cans of cranberry sauce instead; or maybe even four pies.  But if you’re talking Florida’s state budget and the annual TaxWatch Turkey Watch list, them turkeys can buy a lot more.

In the just-released report, the nonprofit watchdog presents an opportunity cost approach, placing in context the $106.8 million in Turkeys it identified within the 2013 budget.

PolitiJax Ander Crenshaw's subcommittee to hold IRS hearing

@MDixon55

Jacksonville Republican Ander Crenshaw is joining the growing list of House Republicans planning hearings to investigate the Internal Revenue Service's acknowledged targeting of conservative groups seeking tax exempt status.

PolitiJax It's budget "turkey" day (A.K.A Joe Negron's least favorite day)

@Mdixon55

Business-backed Florida Tax Watch Thursday unveiled its annual budget “turkey” list.

This year’s release comes as the list is facing increased scrutiny from lawmakers who say it unfairly portrays the budget process.

“Just because something was added in conference or not requested by an agency… it was requested by us,” Senate Budget Chief Joe Negron, R-Stuart, said on the Senate floor May 3.

St. Petersburg Personnel note: Sandi Copes Poreda joins uber-smart firm, Taproot Creative

Taproot Creative today announced a new addition to its public relations strategy team. Sandi Copes Poreda joins the agency to focus on communications strategy, specifically crisis management. Poreda brings with her nearly a decade of communications experience with the state of Florida. 

St. Petersburg TaxWatch raises concern with Coast-to-Coast Connector but doesn’t call it a “Turkey”

For those who share the dream of waking up to an Atlantic sunrise and biking across the state to enjoy a Gulf Coast sunset, the funding and completion of Florida’s Coast to Coast Connector is highly anticipated. The multi-use Connector trail would stretch 275 miles from Titusville to St. Petersburg, filling in gaps between approximately 200 miles of existing stretches of trail.

St. Petersburg RNC seeks to counter Pantoja’s party-switch by pointing to job search

Pablo Pantoja made news recently by going from Republican Hispanic outreach director to Democrat. The GOP counters today (via BuzzFeed and the News Service of Florida) that he was very recently seeking a job at the RNC. Pantoja responds: “In this career and livelihood many of us in this process seek to grow and network for other jobs usually within the same circles.