Category: Florida

Anyone shockedby the Debbie Wasserman Schultz-John Morgan feud shouldn’t be.

But not because the “For The People,” Democratic barrister doesn’t pull any rhetorical punches when it comes to his gut issue of medical marijuana. It’s mainly because U.S. Rep. Wasserman-Schultz, D-Weston, and chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, is notorious for cherry-picking issues that keep her in the good graces of key South Florida conservatives. As a result, political blow-back from within her own party inevitably lurks.

She is a transplanted, Long Island liberal who only goes off the ideological reservation to self-servingly appease hardliners on Cuba and now opponents of medical marijuana. Last year she analogized medical-marijuana dispensaries to prescription-drug “pill mills.” She sounded like Pam Bondi.

The Wasserman Schultz-Morgan dust-up is yet another reminder of the dysfunctional state of Florida Democrats. Further underscoring that reality is that Wasserman Schultz is considered a likely U.S. Senate candidate if Marco Rubio actually decides to go all in on a 2016 presidential bid. Better the Dems should look into a Bob Graham comeback.

Gov. Rick Scott, as we know, has recently added Pennsylvania to his list of targetable states for a Florida-relo sales pitch. Any state known for high taxes, serious union activity and a personal income tax should be vulnerable.

A couple of caveats, however, when Team Poach approaches a quintessential rust-belt target such as the Keystone State:

*Hope they don’t ask about infrastructure.

*Hope they weren’t expecting a siren-song pitch instead of a presentation featuring a point person who is the most awkward man in American politics.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieriis one of the more quotable sheriffs in the state. It comes with being the legislative chairman of the Florida Sheriff’s Association. And it comes with being opinionated.

Recent prime examples involve Rep. Jeff  Brandes’ (R-St. Petersburg) legalization-of-medical- marijuana bill and Rep. Darryl Rouson’s (D-St. Petersburg) bill to outlaw backyard shooting ranges. For the record, he’s against both bills.

Re: Medical marijuana. “The devil is in the details. You don’t smoke medicine.”

Re: Residential shooting ranges. “I’m not sure a one-size-fits-all approach is the way to go.”

Bottom line: Gualtierri can’t support a bill that prohibits people from building and using a backyard gun range in a residential neighborhood?  Sheriff Bob, what the hell are you smoking?

Can’t we get through a Legislative session these days without guns being on the agenda? Yes, that’s a rhetorical question.

Here’s a Tallahassee rule of thumb: If Marion Hammer is being quoted, the start of a Legislative session is near. Indeed, after five weeks of committee meetings, the 60-day legislative session begins March 3, and the Hammer bully pulpit is already operational.

Both the Senate and the House have proposals that would allow people with concealed firearms licenses to carry guns at state colleges and universities. However, there’s also a House bill that would outlaw homemade, residential shooting ranges, although it has no companion measure in the Senate. So it could be worse.

For the record, the university system–the Board of Governors, campus police chiefs and the 12 public universities–think more guns on campus is less than a good idea. The laws of unintended consequences have too many precedents. In fact, the university system said in a statement that it thinks it’s downright “contrary to the values we embrace and could create new challenges in our ability to provide a safe and secure learning environment.”

NRA lobbyist Hammer: “The plain truth is that campuses are not safe. They are gun-free zones where murderers, rapists, terrorists, crazies may commit crime without fear of being harmed by their victims.” So there.

The shooting-range bill that would prohibit target practice inside and outside one’s place of residence–imagine, needing to actually say that!–was filed by Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg. Its passage, alas, is likely a long shot in a Republican-controlled Legislature.

According to NRA icon Hammer, passing Rouson’s proposal “will have a negative impact on homeowners and gun owners by turning the responsible and safe discharge of a firearm into a crime.” You betcha.

And not that we need to be reminded, Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, is still pushing a bill to allow Floridians to carry concealed weapons without licenses during emergency evacuations and, oh yeah, Stand Your Ground is still standing.

“The buck stops here, and that means I take responsibility.”–Gov. Rick Scott, Feb. 5, 2015, Florida State Fair.

Somehow those “buck stops here” sentiments resonated a lot more when President Harry Truman uttered them back in the day.

And if memory serves, “Give ’em Hell” Harry didn’t follow up with something akin to: “Yeah, I could have handled it better. Now let’s move this along. Melissa (Sellers) just told me that Rick Swearingen is double-parked and waiting for me next to the dunk tank.”

Anyone else think it’s totally appropriate that this political petting zoo of a Cabinet should meet at the Florida State Fair?

And, BTW, anyone surprised that Leon County State Attorney Willie Meggs delved into the FDLE scandal about as thoroughly as he scrutinized the notorious Jameis Winston case?

Can we take a break from “Flori-duh?”

From “hanging chads” to Stand Your Ground to “FanGate,” it’s been relentless. And it’s not all Jon Stewart’s and Steven Colbert’s fault. They have the material.

The latest to hit the national media: The dyslexic “In Dog We Trust” rug over at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, the “without cause” firing of the Hillsborough County school system’s “Superintendent of the Year” and now the revelation that it’s absolutely legal to assemble–and use–a makeshift gun range in the back yard of a residential (St. Pete) neighborhood.

No, you can’t make this stuff up. You’re welcome, Jon.

The bandwagon for medical marijuana that eponymous attorney John Morgan and United for Care Executive Director Ben Pollara were steering last year has been picking up eclectic–and politically pragmatic–ridership. Last week Republican state Sen. Jeff Brandes filed a major “medical grade” cannabis bill. The 60-day legislative session begins next month.

Brandes’ bill was given a qualified endorsement by Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, an opponent of last year’s medical marijuana constitutional amendment that won nearly 58 percent of the vote.

Now add in the American Academy of Pediatrics. It doesn’t directly involve itself in the pot politics of states, including the 23 where it’s already medically legal, but it keeps the pressure on related issues. It says marijuana should be available on a compassionate-use basis for children with debilitating or life-threatening diseases. It has also recommended that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency reclassify marijuana and remove it from the DEA’s Schedule 1 listing for controlled substances.

Frankly, it’s inexplicable that marijuana still shares such a list with heroin and LSD. It’s the stuff of “Reefer Madness.” It’s also the medical counterpart of American foreign policy that still groups Cuba with Sudan and Syria on the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.

Maybe we should be calling it “StaffGate”: The purported scenario that the scandal surrounding the ouster of FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey was really the product of a staffing cabal.

If that’s the case–and why would anyone not believe Attorney General Pam Bondi–then this is the worst example of a clueless CEO since HCA minions engaged in all that Medicare fraud on Rick Scott’s private-sector watch.

Once Bondi and fellow Florida Cabinet members–none of whom are without further political ambition–were publicly embarrassed by being outted as window dressing, they began asking questions. And now they know how the media feels–when it gets auto-pilot, non-sequitur answers to probing queries.

Here’s hoping that they show some real fortitude and demand an independent investigation to see if Scott and his “Louisiana mafia” violated state law or the Florida Constitution. In fact, it seems all too fitting that the Cabinet is meeting this week at the Florida State Fair. How appropriate that this Cabinet clown car should be doing business near the midway amid racing pigs, tan exotic petting zoo and the dunk tank.