Florida Political News: March 12, 2010

by: Florida Politics

Fri Mar 12, 2010 at 10:11:32 AM EST

Gambling resorts coming to Florida?

"Is cash-strapped Florida ready to roll the dice on Las Vegas-style gambling resorts?"

With a gaming agreement between the state and the Seminole Tribe still under negotiation, a House committee is exploring another option: full-scale "integrated destination" resort casinos like those in Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Biloxi, Miss.

A select House committee is set to hear a presentation Thursday from the Las Vegas Sands Corp. The firm owns gambling resorts in Las Vegas and wants to bring casino-based vacation resorts to Florida.

The development comes as lawmakers, Gov. Charlie Crist and the Seminoles work on a compact that would expand the tribe' gambling offerings and pump a much-needed $150 million a year into the state's treasury.

It could all come to Florida — if the state wants to cash in on its image as a sun-soaked haven for tourists and authorize sprawling, Vegas-style casino resorts, gambling executives told lawmakers Thursday.

Executives from Las Vegas Sands, which operates the Venetian and Palazzo on the Vegas strip, flew to Tallahassee to pitch lawmakers on their vision: Four to six gambling destinations, each costing $2 billion or more to build, that would beckon gamblers from several continents.

Tally today

"In Tallahassee today, no meetings; In Jacksonville, Crist hosts town hall". See also "2010 Legislature summary".

Loopy, controversial, unwieldy, cheesy, and embarrassing

Tom Jackson: "Rarely at a loss for ideas about relieving the squeeze on ordinary Floridians' strapped budgets - hello, Progress Energy - Mike Fasano's latest arrives with the benefit of being loopy and controversial, not to mention unwieldy, cheesy, embarrassing and, probably, downright impossible." "Fasano plans bumper crop of advertising".

"One of last year's most outrageous bills"

The Orlando Sentinel editorial board: "A member of the clique that helped pass one of last year's most outrageous bills in Tallahassee wants to make amends. Give Eustis Sen. Carey Baker credit for wanting to fix the notorious Senate Bill 2080, which scrapped public hearings on water-withdrawal applications, leaving decisions on how much developers and others can take to bureaucrats running Florida's five water-management districts." "Right a grievous wrong".

What's wrong with Hillsborough?

The Saint Petersburg Times editorial board: "This week's County Commission meeting was one for the books. County Administrator Pat Bean handed out the results of a lie-detector test in an effort to save her job. The embattled county auditor, Jim Barnes, refused to resign. County Attorney Renee Lee showed up with her own attorney. The only thing missing from this ugly circus were the animals and a snow-cone machine." "Hillsborough can't function like this".

Daniel Ruth: "After all, for all the praying, all the breast-beating, all the Hallelujahs, what good has any of it accomplished? The Tampa City Council is still the Tampa City Council, which as miracles go is like turning water into water. " "City Council prays, but isn't transformed".

'Glades

"Crist's Big Sugar land buy survives -- for now."

The South Florida Water Management District governing board agreed Thursday to extend the deadline on a $536 million land deal with the U.S. Sugar Corp. -- only after getting assurances from its attorneys that there were no loopholes in an ``out'' clause that could still allow the district to back out of the deal later if it decides it can't afford it.

The 9-0 vote was a key victory for Crist, who has twice downsized the deal in an effort to keep it alive, and for supporters who consider the massive land purchase critical to providing the Everglades with clean and plentiful water. About two dozen environmentalists and other advocates urged the board to seize a ``singular opportunity'' to help restore the Everglades.

Playin' favorites?

"A review of more than 1,600 e-mails to and from Florida Highway Patrol shows that in the days after Tiger Woods' Nov. 27 crash outside his home at Isleworth, hundreds of people flooded the agency with concerns or complaints, accusing it of doing shoddy work and treating Woods more like a celebrity than a suspect." "Hate e-mail: Florida Highway Patrol hit hard after Tiger Woods crash".

GOPer "gamesmanship

"In a rapid display of gamesmanship, House Republicans vowed Thursday to ban all budget earmarks, a day after Democrats said they would not award them to for-profit companies."

But the reception from Florida's biggest earmarker — indeed, one of the country's top practitioners — was more subdued.

"The fact they are making it across the board, makes it far more acceptable," said Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Indian Shores, who has used earmarks to greatly boost the defense contractor industry in the Tampa Bay area.

"It was something that was going to happen eventually, so why not now?" Young said, alluding to efforts in the past several years to make the process more transparent.

Still, without saying he was disappointed, the veteran defense appropriator acknowledged election-year politics were at play and offered his long-stated defense of earmarks as good for national security and jobs. Earmarks are projects funded outside of the normal budget process that tend to benefit a member's home district.

Young, who recently announced he will run for a 21st term, has directed hundreds of millions of dollars to military contractors in addition to public construction projects and universities. Almost all lawmakers seek earmarks, but Young is among the most successful because he is a longtime member of the House defense appropriations committee.

This year, he secured $90.5 million for 41 solo earmarks — more than any other House member, according to an analysis by Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Young, 79, attributed Thursday's move to public sentiment toward government spending and news coverage of "terrible" earmarks like the "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska. Several other Florida Republicans issued endorsements of the one-year ban.

"Middle-class families and small businesses across Florida are making sacrifices when it comes to their own budgets, yet Washington continues to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars on bailouts and pet projects," Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, who has sought his own earmarks, said in a statement.

Young was among seven House members investigated and cleared by an ethics panel looking at a now-defunct lobbying firm, the earmarks it secured and the political contributions it made.

ES&S mess

The Miami Herald editors: "The acquisition of one company by another for the relatively small sum of $5 million doesn't usually set off alarms. But the September 2009 acquisition of Premier Diebold Solutions by Election Systems & Software means that one firm controls more than 70 percent of the voting machines used in the United States. No matter how well-intentioned this merger, it is not good for U.S. voters."

In Florida, voters use ES&S machines in 65 of 67 counties, meaning that around 92 percent of the state's 11.2 million ballots will be cast this year on ES&S equipment.

Monopolies and democracies do not make good bedfellows. Fortunately, this consolidation appears to be unraveling. The U.S. Justice Department should prevent such monopolistic control over voting resources in the future.

Spring cleaning

Paul Flemming: "What a day it was Wednesday for smaller government in the state of Florida. Despite House passage of bills that reduce the burden of loathsome laws, there were no celebratory gatherings of Tea Party members in the Capitol Plaza." "Statutes get their spring cleaning".

"This is how your lawmakers spend their time"

Scott Maxwell: "Tallahassee lawmakers seem obsessed with homosexuality."

The latest example? Three little words tucked into a bill that's supposed to be about job creation.

The legislation would offer millions of dollars in tax breaks to filmmakers who roll cameras in the Sunshine State. The hitch is that some of that money would be available only to movies that avoid featuring "nontraditional family values."

In other words: Lassie and Timmy could get extra tax dollars … unless Timmy has two mommies. Then he could kiss that 5 percent bonus goodbye.

This is how your lawmakers spend their time.

Runnin' gov'ment like a bidness

"Florida's workforce boards need more oversight, lawmakers say, after one board member quit following disclosures that stimulus money was spent on gourmet meals, hotels and a comedian." "Stricter oversight sought for Florida workforce boards".