The $1.4 million in raises for law-enforcement agents in the state's Fish and Wildlife division may smack of a political payoff to a friendly labor union, but other unions say there are bigger forces at work.

"Yeah, they were able to slip (the raise) in. Our people aren't happy," said Doug Martin of AFSCME Council 79, which represents 55,000 state workers.

But, he added, "The raise is legitimate when 25 percent of your employees are leaving."

Business groups say the Legislature's latest raid on the state Transportation Trust Fund will put a screeching halt to new road projects and throw 11,000 workers off the job.

To help balance the budget, lawmakers pulled $160 million from the Florida Department of Transportation's trust fund. But contractors say that's just a down payment on a bigger problem down the road.

"That equals $450 million in projects," said Bill Burleson of the Florida Transportation Builders Association. "There's a lot at stake here."

Everyone knows that Gov. Charlie Crist's call for a special session on offshore oil drilling is pure politics. The issue gives Crist and lawmakers a high-profile platform to grandstand on an issue that inspires little debate.

"Exclusivity" could bust Florida's Seminole gaming compact, say critics who vow to challenge the agreement at the U.S. Supreme Court.

As more political skeletons emerge from Gov. Charlie Crist's closet, one remains buried -- and fully employed -- in the Broward County Sheriff's Office.

Nearly five months after Sheriff Al Lamberti was presented pictorial evidence of his undersheriff, Tom Wheeler, kibitzing with Ponzi king Scott Rothstein, an internal investigation has yet to reach a conclusion about misconduct.

A top staffer in Gov. Charlie Crist's office and Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein were flying high in 2008.

Just win, baby. That's Gov. Charlie Crist's tune, and the Democratic Party may be humming along with him.

An unconfirmed report from Washington says that Crist and Democrats are engaged in conversations about the party supporting the former Republican's independent U.S. Senate bid.

That would mean the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee quietly pulling, or withholding, resources from the party's nominee in favor of Crist.

Handing Florida Hometown Democracy a potentially potent political weapon, the state House refused to re-enact the Department of Community Affairs.

The agency that reviews growth plans in Florida was up for sunset review this session, and its prospects looked good after the Senate voted 38-0 to renew the DCA.

But in the waning hours, the House decided not to hear the bill.

Gov. Charlie Crist -- like his buddy, Arizona "Maverick" John McCain -- is a media confection. He has been the kind of Republican the NAACP and St. Pete Times editorial board get equally tingly about.

Blaming "past decisions to end the Space Shuttle program," President Barack Obama followed through with his pledge to create a task force to bolster Florida's sagging Space Coast.

The White House's announcement was alternately welcomed and derided by the region's congressional delegation.