Republican U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis is taking aim at the Obama administration, sending letters to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson this week. Bilirakis asked about two ATF operations which the congressman maintains are sending firearms to criminal organizations. Bilirakis noted that a Border Patrol agent was killed by weapons traced to one of the projects while the other was sending weapons to MS-13, a gang based in Honduras ... Bilirakis is not the only Florida Republican in Congress focusing on the Obama administration. From his perch as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committees Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns is hammering the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approving loan guarantees through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to Solynda, a California company that has failed to live up to the obligations of the loans. Stearns had harsh words for the DOE this week, accusing them of failing to provide his committee with documents and evidence, and going out of their way not to testify before it ... Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey is continuing his push to name a post office in Cocoa after civil rights leaders Harry and Harriette Moore. Poseys bill has earned the support of the entire Florida congressional delegation and the North Brevard chapter of the NAACP ...
This week, veteran Republican leader and fundraiser Brian Ballard was named a state finance co-chairman for Mitt Romneys presidential campaign. Ballard served as chief of staff for Gov. Bob Martinez and helped lead fundraising efforts for John McCains presidential campaign. Romney also named Ballard as part of his national leadership team ... More presidential campaign comings and goings that impact the Sunshine State. Earlier in the year, Spencer Geissinger jumped from Gov. Rick Scotts team to join the presidential campaign of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. This week, Geissinger left the Huntsman team due to a family emergency. Geissinger had been in charge of operations for Huntsmans campaign ... Former state Transportation Secretary Mark Kaplan will resign from the state Board of Education effective July 20. Kaplan also served as chief of staff under Gov. Jeb Bush and Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings ...
If the Democrats want to take back the U.S. House in 2012, they need to pick up seats in Florida. Looking at the political map, Kyle Kondik, a political analyst at the University of Virginias Center for Politics, argued in an essay released this week that the Democrats need to carry some seats in the Sunshine State if they want to wrest the gavel from John Boehner. Leaving the two new seats Florida gets from redistricting on the sidelines, Kondik listed four Florida Republicans as vulnerable.He thought Allen Wests seat was currently a tossup while David Riveras seat was lean Republican. The seats held by Sandy Adams and Dan Webster were likely Republican ... While his team had been open to running in a special election later this yearfor the state Senate that had been held by Tony Hill, open-carry advocate John Strifler has decided to skip it while leaving the door open to running in the regular election in 2012.Strifler, who has vowed to help pass Caylees Law, until the campaign was planning to run for the First Coast seat with no party affiliation ... The Florida Developmental Disabilities Council (FDDC) presentedtheir 2011 Outstanding Legislator Awards" this week. The FDDC selected Rep. Matt Hudson, R-Naples, for his work in the House, and Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, for his efforts in the Senate ...
Two Florida Democrats will be joining members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus as part of the "Speakout for Good Jobs Now" tour on Saturday. U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch and Frederica Wilson will join Democratic colleagues Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Raul Grijalva of Arizona at Miami-Dade Colleges North Campus ...Two Florida Republicans in Congress -- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and David Rivera -- sent a letter to President Barack Obama on Thursday asking for him to meet with Reina Loina Tamayo, the mother of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a leading opponent of the Castro regime in Cuba who died after a hunger strike earlier in the year ... U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will be in Orlando on Monday for the signing of the SunRail Full Funding Grant Agreement. Signing the agreement will be state Transportation Secretary Ananth Prasad and Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-085.
