Friday marked the deadline for federal candidates to make the November ballot. While there are some competitive races, most of the congressional incumbents appear safe. Some of them have not even drawn an opponent from the other major party.
So this is the way the legislative session ends: not with a bang but a whimper.
A controversial push by Florida utilities to raise consumer rates to recoup the cost of renewable energy projects suddenly lost power in the final hours of the 2010 Legislature.
The Legislature Friday settled on a $70.4 billion state budget and sent it to Gov. Charlie Crist before calling an end to the 2010 Legislature and heading off for home. The final figure increased the cost of state government by more than 5 percent over last year.
It is the most expensive state spending plan ever, the result of weeks of open haggling.
We did it in the most open and transparent process in the history of budget transactions, said Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, the chief budget negotiator for the House.
The party may have been over this week for Gov. Charlie Crist and the Republican Party of Florida, but an unpredictable three-way race for the U.S Senate between Crist, Republican Marco Rubio and likely Democratic nominee Kendrick Meek was just beginning.
This week the Senate spent most of its time deciding whether the financial reform bill was ready for prime time on the Senate floor. The Senate GOP made several demands for concessions to alter or drop some large provisions contained in thebill.
The House just passed the final budget on a 77-43 vote. The vote reflected party lines save for one lone Democrat. Nope, it wasnt Debbie Boyd or Leonard Bembry or Joseph Abruzzo. It was Darryl Rouson from St. Petersburg. The $70.4 billion budget now heads to the Senate.
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Talk about rapid response!
Jeff Greene's campaign team responded quickly to Kendrick Meek's attack on their candidate.
"Another smear by another career politician," said Paul Blank, a spokesman for Greene's campaign. Noting that Greene had taken on Wall Street over his career in business, Blank said, "The fact is that Kendrick Meek's statement is a complete and utter smear."
Blank stressed that Greene was an outsider, not a career politician like the other leading candidates in the race, even offering insight into Greene's past.
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Looks like U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, the favorite to win the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination, is ready to mix it up with Jeff Greene, the billionaire businessman who jumped into the race earlier today. Meek came out blasting Greene's record in making money off failed mortgages.
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Voters will be asked in November whether to support a Legislature-proposed plan for congressional and legislative redistricting.
In a 25-14 decision, senators added to the ballot the choice of supporting a new constitutional amendment that supporters said will ensure Florida does not break any laws or disenfranchise minority voters.
The ballot choice, supported by Republicans and some Democrats, is a response to ballot amendments 5 and 6, which were proposed by Fair Districts Florida.
