While he may be an icon among Florida Democrats, former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham blasted the Obama administration on Wednesday for agreeing to expand offshore drilling in March, before the oil spill in the Gulf. Currently serving as co-chairman of the National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, Graham said the president should have consulted with federal environmental officials before agreeing to expand drilling
On Tuesday, as Rick Scott defeated Attorney General Bill McCollum in the Republican gubernatorial primary, one of McCollums most prominent backers was in Utah, pushing education reform. Former Gov. Jeb Bush, who had joined McCollum across the state for a day of campaigning earlier in the month, was speaking in Utah, maintaining that class-size limits don't add up to an easy solution for solving problems in education While McCollum did not immediately endorse Scott, defeated candidates in the other statewide Republican primary on Tuesday quickly jumped behind the winners. Defeated attorney general candidates Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and former Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Holly Benson rallied behind GOP attorney nominee Pam Bondi, praising her for pledging to continue the challenge McCollum launched against new federal health-care laws
Joe Scarborough 2012? Perhaps not, but the former congressman from the Panhandle who currently hosts Morning Joe on MSNBC is starting to turn some heads -- leading to talk about a presidential bid either in 2012 or, more likely, down the road in 2016. National pundits ranging from Christopher Buckley and Marc Ambrinder are calling Scarborough the perfect vehicle for conservatives turned off by the current direction of the GOP. Scarborough said he was not interested at the moment on making a stab at the presidency On Thursday, the Cabinet unanimously confirmed Bob Milligan to head the Veteran Affairs Department and Mimi Drew to lead the state Environmental Protection Department for the remainder of the year Former Gov. Bob Martinez joined five other men who served as national drug czar in campaigning against Proposition 19, a measure which would regulate the sale of cannabis, in California
Former House Speaker Marco Rubio, the Republican candidate in the U.S. Senate election, will be hitting Central Florida on Friday. He will be opening a new campaign office in Apopka and will be speaking to the Florida Nursery, Growers and Landscape Association about agricultural issues before heading to Orlando that night to speak to the Florida Realtors Democrats clearly think that they have a chance of picking up the U.S. House seat currently held by Mario Diaz-Balart. They launched a new website hammering Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, who is the Republican nominee for that open seat Troy Stanley, who is taking on Republican U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw in November without party affiliation, is calling on his opponent to return $2,000 received from indicted lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti and his son
Gov. Charlie Crist announced the Annual Florida Governors Conference on Tourism will be held from Sept. 26-28 in Orlando. The event will have a number of impressive speakers including Terry Jones, who founded Travelocity, and Alan Moss, who handles online sales for Google With Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach defeating Sen. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres for the Democratic attorney general nomination, the Florida AFL-CIO quickly moved to endorse Gelber. The AFL-CIO had praised both candidates but had not endorsed one over the other in the primary Negotiations between the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and Mayor John Peyton over salaries and benefits continue to show no promise -- with the FOP taking Peyton to court for trying to go around the union Rodney Colson, a longtime educator and a fixture on the Hillsborough County Commission during the 1980s, passed away last week at the age of 85. Colson was one of two county commissioners not caught up in a bribery scandal in 1983 that led to drastic reforms of county government.
Reach Kevin Derby at derby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
