Sen. Lauren Book is continuing to mine for the public support the Plantation Democrat hopes will pressure Gov. Ron DeSantis into launching an independent investigation into how the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office handled sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
While the Republican governor mulls her request, Book’s taken to Twitter to solicit signatures demanding the independent probe.
Senate leaders from both sides of the aisle disputed former Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher’s contention she wouldn’t receive a fair hearing in the Republican-dominated Senate if she challenged her removal from office.
On Wednesday, Senate President Bill Galvano said hearings by his chamber on suspensions handed down by Gov. Ron DeSantis are a check between the legislative and executive branches.
Florida’s nursing another election-related black eye, after Broward and Palm Beach county election officials were unable to meet deadlines to submit election results to the state.
The missed deadlines were among a number of problems in the heavily Democratic regions, exposed by slim margins in statewide races for governor, U.S. Senate and agriculture commissioner.
Each time Florida has suffered an election embarrassment, including after the protracted 2000 presidential recount, state lawmakers have tweaked statutes in the hopes of avoiding another spectacle.
While Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum was managing the city’s response to a hurricane of historic proportions, his supporters were engaged in a separate storm because of a negative campaign ad lobbed by backers of the Democrat’s gubernatorial opponent, Ron DeSantis.
Responses to President Donald Trump’s choice of U.S. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court broke predictably along party lines among Florida politicians and activists, garnering laurels from Republicans and darts from Democrats.
The voices from Florida that matter the most in the pending summer drama --- U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio --- echoed their respective party mantras but remained somewhat non-committal.
Rubio, a Republican, called Kavanaugh “a qualified, mainstream jurist,” but wouldn’t say how he’ll vote in the Senate confirmation.
For the record, (fill in the blank) declared victory Wednesday in this year’s first televised Democratic gubernatorial debate.
Gov. Rick Scott wasn’t tipping his hand this week when it came to a school-safety bill that has dominated the Capitol.
Legislative leaders maintain there isn’t anything there, a nothing burger in current parlance, when asked about a story in The New Yorker describing National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer’s influence throughout the Capitol, particularly her sway in helping write and dictate language in bills.
But the story has Rep. David Richardson, D-Miami Beach, prepared to undertake a one-man investigation, if necessary, to determine how much Hammer’s influence reaches into the staff ranks.
Florida's Republican Party says it is staying out of an effort by one of its attorney-general candidates to paint a competitor as a “Clinton liberal.”
National Rifle Association lobbyist Marion Hammer launched a campaign this week to purge Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente from a case that could have far-reaching implications for the makeup of the court.
Hammer, long an influential figure in Tallahassee and a former president of the national gun-rights group, sent an email alert Wednesday morning to NRA and Unified Sportsmen of Florida “members and friends” urging them to tell Chief Justice Jorge Labarga and Pariente that “she must recuse or resign” from her post.
