Al Cardenas is one of Miami’s top political insiders. He’s a former two-term chair of the state GOP, and a former member of the nation-wide Executive Committee of the Republican Party. The guy even gave Marco Rubio his first break in politics. The Cuban-American has just been named the president…
With investigations ongoing and more shady ethics charges mounting up, freshman Republican Rep. David Rivera might not even make it until 2012, let alone run for election. If he does, he’s in for one hell of a hard campaign. Politico has ranked the top ten most contentious house races for…
State Senator Rene Garcia is our new hero. The Hialeah Republican has introduced a bill in the state legislature that would effectively ban the use of red light cameras and has called them a “big-brother initiative.” It’s probably one of the few times when a Republican from Hialeah and the…
Despite that whole separation of church and state thing and calls to tone down partisan political rhetoric, Rick Scott introduced his first budget as governor today at a Tea Party rally in a church in small town Eustis, Florida. The rally took on a defiantly partisan affair as Tea Partiers…
When lawyers for Miami Voice — the group that organized a successful recall effort against County Commissioner Natacha Seijas — got her to sit down for a video deposition yesterday, they asked Herald reporter Matthew Haggman to come and watch. It’s not that unusual a move. Depositions aren’t open by…
Senior Democratic Senator Bill Nelson may be the most popular state-wide elected politician in Florida right now, but considering all the others are newly elected, that’s not exactly surprising or necessarily an indication that his reelection bid in 2012 is in the best shape. His approval ratings may be better…
Governor Rick Scott and the press corp that covers him are now in a full out war, according to Politico. The press isn’t happy at the perception that Scott is trying to limit their access to a state Government, that in principal at least, has traditionally tried to be transparent…
Rick Scott hasn’t even been in office a month and he hasn’t exactly endeared himself to the Florida populace yet. Most Floridians barely know enough about the guy to decide if they like him or not, and voters here in South Florida don’t particularly like him at all. Though, a…
With Republicans now back in control of the US House of Representatives one of their first orders of business seems to be a drastic legal redefinition of rape. The proposal has been met with outrage by many anti-rape activists, including South Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz who says she “consider[s]…
Name recognition and family connections seems to go along in politics. Salon’s Steve Kornacki points out that “there have been 15 presidential elections since 1952, and in all but two — 1964 and 2008 — the Republican ticket has included someone named ‘Nixon,’ ‘Dole,’ or ‘Bush,'” and wonders if we’re headed to…
Judge Roger Vinson, a Republican-appointed Federal judge from the North Florida District, has ruled a portion of the recent Democratic penned health care overhaul unconstitutional. In particular Vinson has ruled that the provision the mandates all Americans be covered by health insurance by 2014 or face paying a fine is…
Last year Marco Rubio delivered the keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Headlining perhaps one of the most important centralized Conservative events in the country officially made Rubio a right wing superstar. In fact, his picture is prominently displayed on graphics promoting this year’s CPAC shindig, and yet…
Funny how though Tallahassee has been in the death grip of complete Republican control for more than a decade, the state still finds itself year after year with billion dollar budget holes to close. In order to shore up this year’s $3.6 billion shortfall Gov. Rick Scott, several Republican politicians,…
Doral, that place out there to the west with the fancy golf resort, some strip malls, and some other stuff, probably, has a mayor. His name is J.C. Bermudez and he wants to be your next county mayor. Bermudez announced his entrance into the crowded field of contestants jockeying to replace Carlos…
Newly elected Rep. David Rivera’s ethics troubles continue to be a source of shame for both his Republican party and his Miami-Dade constituency. The Associated Press has added more charges to his ever-growing list of suspicious dealings with money. The news wire reports that over the eight years he spent…
Amanda Ros, the mother of U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, has passed away today at the age 84 following a fight with Alzheimer’s disease. Ros-Lehtinen, who represents a district that stretches from South Beach to Key West, is currently the longest serving female Republican member of the House, and has recently…
Something doesn’t smell right about the actions of The Mosaic Co., a leading Florida fertilizer company. OK, nothing ever smells good about the fertilizer business, but in this sense we mean it smells politically funny. The company ended up shelling out $10,000 at a fair auction for a cake baked…
One of the oldest ideals of this country is freedom of the press, an idea taken even further here in Florida thanks to the Sunshine Law. However, newly elected Governor Rick Scott seems to have some trouble fully grasping the idea of a free press and apparently wants to hand…
Governor Rick Scott remains steadfast in bringing Arizona-style immigration laws to Florida even as members of the state GOP remain wary of the idea. Today, State Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, held the first hearing on his bill that would bring such new laws to Florida…
If you’ve been withholding your support for Miami Beach Mayor Matti Herrera Bower for all these years because you suspect she doesn’t shoot nearly enough tequila and wavers in her commitment to fight aliens, don’t worry: There’s now a candidate for you.Steve Berke, a stand-up comedian and former reality show…
President Obama will deliver his second annual State of the Union address tonight. Ah yes, the State of the Union address — Washington’s most annoying and pompous tradition. Along with the seemingly never ending applause, the traditional opposition party response ranks right up there as the single most annoying feature…
Way to go Miami. We’ve elected a guy to congress who is so ethically shady that he even makes career D.C. politicians nervous. As the ethics scandal involving freshman Republican Rep. David Rivera grows, GOP leaders are said to be quietly making plans to replace him if need be. In…
