Welcome to The Dean's List -- an Ed Dean-style look at who Florida's political achievers were (and weren't) in the last seven days. What you see here is strictly my opinion, not necessarily the editor's or the rest of the staff at Sunshine State News.
THOSE WHO MADE THE LIST
Gov. Rick Scott. While he didn’t get all he wanted, Scott still signed $430 million of tax cuts into law and carved $460 million from the budget with his line-item vetoes. Not a bad week for fiscal conservatives.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush. Conservatives have more than their share of problems with this Republican presidential hopeful -- but gun control isn’t one of them. In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Charleston, S.C., Bush said stricter gun control laws are not the answer. Noting not a single one of Obama’s federal gun-control proposals would have stopped the killings, Bush said that gun laws should be a state issue.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. When the Supreme Court came down with its decision on same-sex marriage, too many Republican presidential candidates called for a constitutional amendment to define marriage. Rubio -- and Bush and Dr. Ben Carson -- avoided that trap. While disagreeing on how the court ruled, Rubio says the issue should be left to the states and voters to decide.
Palm Beach County Commission. On a 5-1 vote, the commission supported tougher rules on banning panhandlers. The new law bans people from standing in the street asking for money and and handing out campaign literature. Still, there is a down side since Palm Beach County firefighters won‘t be able to continue the “Fill the Boot” campaign which collects money each Labor Day weekend for muscular dystrophy.
THOSE WHO DIDN’T MAKE THE LIST.
The Florida Democratic Party. May and June have not been kind to the Florida Democratic Party. After losing the Jacksonville mayor's race and recently rehashing the “Task Force Report” showing of how poorly local Democratic candidates fared in 2014, things keep piling on the party. The New Republic’s Suzy Khimm points out that the Florida Dems may have some tough challenges ahead in 2016. Khimm notes that unless Democrats find better ways to turn out new voters and win back more of the white vote, the FDP will continue to lose the governors’ mansion and the state House. Her article also notes Democrats have suffered from the decline of their most reliable organized ally -- labor unions -- and new groups like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter have not filled the vacuum. “Demographic trends in Florida suggest a state that Democrats should, put simply, own,” Khimm insisted.
Florida Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando. The Central Florida Republican is sounding a lot like an Obama Democrat. After the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an important part of Obamcare last week, Gardiner called it ''welcome news for the 1.3 million Floridians who currently receive subsidies on the federal exchange."
Former North Miami Councilman Jean Marcellus. The Florida Elections Commission investigation into Marcellus concluded he bounced campaign checks in his unsuccessful mayoral bid in 2013. The checks that were bounced ranged from his qualifying fee to office rental space for the campaign. Marcellus was fined $6,800. He blamed campaign contributors' bounced checks for the insufficient funds.
Ed Dean, a senior editor with SSN whose talk-show can be heard on radio stations across Florida, can be reached at ed@sunshinestatenews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @eddeanradio.
