BP CLAIMS WORK GROUP OK'S RECOMMENDATIONS
The head of the House work group overseeing the government claims process says it's too early to hold a special session on the BP oil spill because lost revenue data from the cities and counties won't be available for a while.
It's simply too early to crunch the numbers dealing with the government costs of the unprecedented spill, said Rep. Matt Hudson, R-Naples, and chairman of the work group looking into how state and local governments get reimbursed for spill-related costs."It's premature," Hudson told members of the work group during a brief conference call Monday to ratify the list of recommendations. Unlike private claims that will be handled through a third party headed by Ken Feinberg, cities, counties and the state must work with BP to be reimbursed. Neither the company nor government officials has a template on how exactly that is supposed to work. Revenue data is also lagging behind. Revenue figures for July have yet to be collected and analyzed. The work group also cautions lawmakers to be wary of the BP claims process so as not to eliminate future recourse if such action is needed.
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SCOTT, GOP LEADERS ON UNITY TOUR
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott may have run largely against his own partys establishment, but hes welcoming them to his campaign effort now. Scott had appearances set Monday in Tampa and Orlando with incoming Senate President Mike Haridopolos and incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon, both of whom supported Bill McCollum in the Republican primary. Also joining Scott today was former Gov. Bob Martinez. Scott ran outside the party structure, spending his own money to beat McCollum and taking repeated jabs at the established insiders for not solving problems. Since winning last weeks primary, he has also met with state Republican Chairman John Thrasher, and the two said theyd work together.
DOCKERY: NOT SCOTTS RUNNING MATE
Republican gubernatorial nominee Rick Scott has until Thursday to name a running mate. State Sen. Paula Dockery said Monday that it wont be her. My husband and I came to a conclusion a while back that were not going to relocate to Tallahassee, Dockery told the News Service of Florida. When I was running for governor, that was different. But Im not interested in lieutenant governor. Dockery said she had dinner Sunday evening in Tampa with Scott and his wife, Ann, with the topic of lieutenant governor discussed. Dockery has been long speculated as possibly teaming with Scott, since both share an outsiders reputation in Tallahassee. And Dockery, as a Senate veteran, would have at least brought some Capitol cred to Scotts team. Instead, Dockery said she plans to play an active role in a future Scott administration. But she declined to specify. Ill play a role in the transition, Dockery said. And I look forward to being very involved in the Rick Scott administration.
PRIMARY TURNOUT 21.9 PERCENT
More than one in five registered voters cast ballots in the recently concluded party primaries and local nonparty elections, according to final vote totals received by the Florida Division of Elections. Liberty County led the state in voter participation, with 51.5 percent of registered voters turning out at the polls or using absentee ballots. Osceola County, which experienced terrible weather on Election Day, had the lowest percentage turnout with 14.1 percent voting. Overall, 21.9 percent of voters cast ballots in the midterm election, the highest turnout since 2004.
THURMAN UNWORRIED ABOUT WEAK DEMOCRATIC TURNOUT
More Republicans than Democrats went to the polls during last weeks primary contests, but state Democratic Chair Karen Thurman denied Monday that the results point to a lack of enthusiasm among party faithful. Instead, Thurman attributed the difference to money. Seventy million dollars spent on the Republican side, just to get out their vote just in the governors race, Thurman said. Go down, almost every open seat for the Senate and for the House had Republican primaries, and lots of money was spent getting that vote out. Thurman concluded, There was a lot of money being spent because they had lots of races. More than 1.2 million Republicans voted in the Rick Scott-Bill McCollum contest, while 912,000 Democrats cast ballots in the U.S. Senate primary between Kendrick Meek and Jeff Greene. Republican U.S. Senate contender Marco Rubio drew more than 1 million votes while running against a largely unknown rival topping the Democratic turnout in the big money Meek-Greene race. Florida Division of Elections records released Monday show Republican turnout topping Democrats in most counties. In Broward County, a Democratic stronghold, 20 percent of registered Republicans voted, compared to 17 percent for Democrats. Across the vote-rich Interstate 4 region, Republican turnout far outpaced that of Democrats. Orange County, once a GOP hotbed now home to a Democratic plurality of registered voters, Republican turnout exceeded Democrats by a 2-1 margin. I think were going to be just fine, Thurman said.
