George P. Bush informed the press last week that he is encouraging his father, former Gov. Jeb Bush, to enter the Republican presidential primaries. Despite his sons pleas, the former governor continues to shoot down calls to run in 2012. But he has left the door open to running in the future ... Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, continues to build his team in Florida. On Friday, the Romney camp announced that Republican activist Bertica Cabrera-Morris, who is also a lobbyist, will be joining on as a senior adviser. Jay Demetree, a homebuilder on the First Coast who has been helping out on former House Majority Leader Adam Hasners U.S. Senate bid, will be a finance co-chair for the Romney campaign ... Less than two weeks into his bid for the Republican nomination to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, Craig Miller is on the attack. Miller bashed Nelson on Friday for voting against the proposed cut, cap and balance plan and tried to link the incumbent to other Washington Democrats and blasted him for double-talk. Miller also hit Nelson for being a 40-year career politician. Expect more of that line of attack from Miller, a businessman who served as CEO of Ruths Chris Steak House ...
Its official. Rep. Daphne Campbell, D-Miami, has a primary challenger. More than a few Democrats would like to see Campbell, who spoke against abortion on the House floor and who engaged in a spat with Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, get knocked off. Political activist Matthew Tisdol had hinted that he would run against Campbell and now has filed to run in the primary. Tisdol won some impressive endorsements when he ran in 2010 for another seat, but he stumbled in the Democratic primary, garnering 10 percent and coming in last in the five-candidate race which was won by John Patrick Julien ... Speaking of Randolph, he will see a familiar face in 2012 as Lawanna Gelzer is back for a rematch. She ran against Randolph with no party affiliation in 2010 and is now running against him in a Democratic primary come 2012 ... Things are starting to get crowded in the Democratic primary for the special election to take Tony Hills seat in the state Senate. While John Strifler, who was running with no party affiliation for the First Coast seat, pulled out of the race, Alonzo Wright, chairman and CEO of the Wright Way Community Outreach & Research Institute, entered the race earlier in the month and so has security specialist Leandrew Mills. They are running for the Democratic nomination, joining two very established First Coast political leaders --former Rep. Terry Fields and former Rep. Audrey Gibson -- in what will be an interesting primary battle ...
Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, had an unimpressive quarter of fundraising, bringing in slightly more than $1,600 in the second quarter of 2011 and spending more than $2,400. Mayfield, who currently represents parts of Brevard, Indian River and St. Lucie counties, has drawn a primary challenger in Kory Ivey from Vero Beach. Ivey jumped in the race earlier in the month ... Lewis Laricchia is back. After getting five write-in votes when he ran against Rep. Rachel Burgin, R-Tampa, in 2010, he is now running again, this time with no party affiliation -- if he makes the ballot ... The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) has named Chase as the corporate chair for its annual convention at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach from Sept. 18-21. Former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, who is now with Chase, will represent the company at the convention ...
The U.S. House voted late last week to cut its own budget (and other legislative items) by 6.4 percent from where it was last year and more than 12 percent from the initial request. This is a big victory for U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, the First Coast Republican who was in charge of that cut. Crenshaw chairs the Legislation Branch Appropriations Subcommittee and had steered the measure through committees and, eventually, to passage ... Gov. Rick Scott named Carlos Mendoza to the 7th Judicial Circuit Court on Thursday. Mendoza has been assistant city attorney in St. Augustine since 2009 and also was an assistant state attorney in the 7th Judicial Circuit ... Staying with legal matters on the First Coast, Mark Hulsey Jr. and Ernst Mueller both passed away this week. Hulsey had led both the Florida Bar and the Jacksonville Bar Association. Mueller had been deputy general counsel for Jacksonvlle and an assistant U.S. attorney working on the First Coast. Mueller helped lead the prosecution of drug kingpin Carlos Lehder.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
