While the RNC met in Washington Friday to determine who would be its next leader and the RPOF convenes this weekend in Orlando to determine who will replace outgoing chairman Sen. John Thrasher of Jacksonville, former Gov. Jeb Bush kicked off the Hispanic Action Network to help the GOP reach out to those voters.
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, in the middle of a book tour and attempting to raise his profile before almost certainly launching a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, spoke at the event in Miami Freshman Rep. Lori Berman, D-Delray Beach, filed a bill on Thursday that would offer companies tax credits if they hired employees who live in temporary housing. Under Bermans bill, a company would receive $1,000 credits for hiring each of the more than 34,000 Floridians in temporary housing. Despite the Senate version being sponsored by a fellow Democrat, Sen. Jeremy Ring of Margate, Berman expressed confidence that her measure will pass both houses of the overwhelmingly Republican Legislature Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes is open to serving for a third term but has not made a definite decision yet if she will seek re-election in 2012
Three South Florida Republicans met with Honduran Democratic Union leaders on Thursday and pledged to back democratic reforms in that nation. Along with House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, the newly inaugurated U.S. Rep. David Rivera met with the Hondurans who stressed that leftist leaders in the region -- including Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez -- were looking to back some of their opponents While Mack is still pondering whether to run against Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, at least one of his potential Republican opponents is hitting the ground running. Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, has set up a website, which is ready to take donations for his own Senate bid Haridopolos is not alone in the Republican ranks in having a new website. The RPOF unveiled their new website on Thursday
Reports are out this week that newly installed Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith will choose Rep. Franklin Sands of Weston to head up efforts to rebuild the party in South Florida. Sands, who led Democrats in the House in 2009 and 2010, had expressed interest in running for party chairman but did not throw his name in the hat. Tallahassee City Commissioner Andrew Gillum had also expressed interest in moving up to serve as party chair but did not enter the race. Smith named Gillum to head up outreach to young voters Staffing changes aplenty at Florda TaxWatch. Kurt Wenner moved up from director for tax research to vice president of tax research. Robert Weissert also got a promotion, moving from director of communications to vice president of research and general counsel. Dan Krassner joins the group, having served at the Florida Chamber of Commerce. Hell be Florida TaxWatchs vice president of communications. Mike Brand joins as a research analyst Brian Hughes, who handled communications for Jeff Atwaters successful bid to become state CFO and led Meteoric Media Strategies, will be joining Gov. Rick Scotts team as deputy communication director
Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton kicked off the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend with a speech at a breakfast on Friday In the meantime, the race to replace Peyton is heating up. With the endorsement of the Northeast Florida Builders Association in his pocket last week, Republican candidate Mike Hogan qualified to make the ballot. So did fellow Republicans Audrey Moran and Rick Mullaney. On the Democratic side, Alvin Brown also qualified Rep. Dwight Bullard of Miami, the ranking Democrat on the House Education Committee, will be heading to the Homestead campus of Miami-Dade College on Monday to push a bill he introduced for immigrants to be offered in-state tuition rates for Florida universities and community colleges. For the immigrants to qualify, they must have attended a Florida high school for at least three years, graduated from a Florida high school or received their GED and registered or enrolled at classes at a university or community college in the state system. Bullard will be joined by members of Miami-Dade College, Florida International University, the Haitian Lawyers Association and the Mexican American Council.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com at (850) 727-0859.
