The Florida AFL-CIO on Sunday endorsed Congressman Kendrick Meek, the Democratic frontrunner for the U.S. Senate nomination, and rejected an appeal from Gov. Charlie Crists independent campaign for the office.
Meek now has the backing and organizational support from a group that represents more than 500,000 Floridians and more than 500 locals across the state.
Having already won the state AFL-CIO's endorsement for commissioner of agriculture, Scott Maddox could breathe a sigh of relief. So, with the heat off, the former Tallahassee mayor offered the union convention a high-octane speech Saturday, tearing full force into Florida Republicans.
Maddox had won the backing of the state AFL-CIO in March for the primary and general elections.
Theres only one statewide candidate whos been endorsed, said Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams. Thats how good a friend Scott Maddox is.
Trailing badly in the polls behind Republican candidate Marco Rubio and newly independent Gov. Charlie Crist, Congressman Kendrick Meek spoke to the AFL-CIO convention in Jacksonville on Saturday morning, desperately seeking their endorsement.
The NAACP and the League of Women Voters filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to have Amendment 7, a legislatively-drafted redistricting proposal, tossed from the November ballot, saying it is dishonest.
We feel that this is a trick amendment and a blatant effort to fool the voters, said League of Women Voters President Deirdre Macnab. Other plaintiffs include former Comptroller Bob Milligan and former environmental official Nathaniel Reed, both Republicans.
A century-old provision of the Florida Constitution may soon be dusted-off for the first time before the state Supreme Court, with the fate of millions of dollars in state funding to religious organizations hanging in the balance.
The states First District Court of Appeal is asking justices to decide whether Florida has violated its constitutional ban on state money going to any church, sect, or religious denomination, or in aid of any sectarian institution.
Florida's tourism industry has yet to receive the $25 million in emergency cash it needs to immediately advertise that Floridas beaches are open and unsullied by oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon spill, and there is still no word of when or how the industry will receive the money promised by BP earlier this week.
The anticipation building Friday at the Florida AFL-CIO's meeting in Jacksonville was as thick as confetti on election night, as high-profile political candidates with high hopes began passionately courting labor leaders during the union's 2010 endorsement convention.
The U.S. Senate spent a precious five weeks of floor time debating the financial reform bill and passed the bill Thursday night by a vote of 59 to 39 before leaving for the week.
