The Florida Renewable Energy Producers Association will be holding a forum in Orlando on July 14 and 15 and have invited the major candidates for governor, the U.S. Senate and agriculture and consumer services commissioner. The Orange County League of Women Voters will moderate the forums for the candidates. Invitations have been sent out to gubernatorial candidates Rick Scott, Attorney General Bill McCollum, state CFO Alex Sink and Bud Chiles; U.S. Senate candidates Gov. Charlie Crist, former House Speaker Marco Rubio, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene; and agriculture candidates U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam and former Tallahassee Mayor Scott Maddox Speaking of Putnam, the Republican nominee to be commissioner of agriculture and consumer services will be speaking to the Young Patriots Foundation in Bartow on July 2...
Looking to jump-start his bid for the Republican nomination to take on U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, former House Speaker Daniel Webster continues to gain endorsements for his campaign. U.S. Sen. George LeMieux announced he was backing Webster who faces a crowded Republican primary battle While he may be retiring from Congress, U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart is remaining vocal in his opposition to the Castro regime in Cuba. Diaz-Balart penned an editorial in the Miami Herald calling for the U.S. to stay the course in its current policy toward Communist Cuba Some changes in U.S. Rep. Connie Macks staff. Macks chief of staff Francis Gibbs, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, is heading into the private sector. Hans Klinger, who had been a campaign aide on U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchisons unsuccessful campaign to be governor of Texas, will be taking Gibbs place. Klinger also served as communications director for the Republican Party of Texas, serving as the GOPs spokesman in the Lone Star State
Democratic leaders in the Legislature are once again demanding that Crist hold a special session during the summer to tackle the problems resulting from the oil spill in the Gulf. On Tuesday, Sen. Dan Gelber, D-Miami Beach, Rep. Keith Fitzgerald, D-Sarasota, and Rep. Rick Kriseman, R-St. Petersburg, sent a letter to the governor urging him to convene the Legislature. Both Gelber, a candidate for attorney general, and Fitzgerald are being considered by likely Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink to have as a running mate With conservatives starting to grumble about Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton being open to raising taxes to make up for continuing budget deficits, the Republican mayor is bashing city employee unions and claiming that the Jacksonville City Council has never stood up to them With professional boxing having returned to Miami Beach, there was a large number of former boxers in the crowd recently at the Deauville Beach Hotel, along with celebrities like Matt Damon, members of the Jersey Shore cast -- and Sen. Dave Aronberg, D-Greenacres. Aronberg is taking Gelber on in the Democratic attorney general primary
Former Gov. Jeb Bush is remaining active on education issues. Hell be speaking to Utah Gov. Gary Herberts Education Excellence Commission in August about assessing schools by student performance Sarasota Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan filed the Oil Spill Protection Act in Congress on Tuesday to hold oil companies more accountable if a spill like the one impacting the Gulf ever happens again Former U.S. Sen. George McGovern is becoming involved with the St. Johns County Democratic Party, speaking at a recent meeting. While the former Democratic presidential candidate resides in South Dakota, he spends his winters in St. Augustine.
