After 10 Glorious Years, Sunshine State News and I Are Passing the Baton

Al Cardenas, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF), was named on Wednesday to head up the American Conservative Union (ACU), succeeding conservative icon David Keene who led the group for more than 25 years. Cardenas, who had served as the ACUs treasurer was elected as chairman without opposition despite grumblings from some social conservatives who maintained he did not share their commitment to traditional values.

Gov. Rick Scott's plan to reform Florida's pension program got a boost from the LeRoy Collins Institute Wednesday in a report descriptively titled, "Trouble Ahead: Florida Local Governments and Retirement Obligations." Reporting that local government employee retirement obligations are "a bigger, more complex ticking time bomb than previously recognized," the Collins study found that public pension costs are climbing quickly. At the county level alone, publicly funded pension contributions averaged more than $21 million, up $12 million from just six years ago.

While South Floridians went to the polls on Tuesday to vote in special elections for two legislative seats, both races were very close and the House election could be headed for a recount. Turnout was extremely light with only 6 percent of the registered voters in the districts in Miami-Dade County showing up at the polls and a paltry 1.6 percent of the eligible voters in Broward County casting ballots in the House race.

From his perch as chairman of the U.S. House Emergency Preparedness, Response and Communications Subcommittee, Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis is charged with, among other things, congressional oversight of FEMA. After visits to emergency management specialists in Pasco and Pinellas counties last week, Bilirakis met with FEMA chief Craig Fugate on Tuesday to build better communications between national responders and those in the Sunshine State.