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Naked Politics (10 unread)

• Lobbyist urged governor to veto mental health bill

  Gov. Rick Scott's veto of a mental health bill this week not only surprised the Florida Legislature, which passed it unanimously, it contradicted the efforts of his own agency, the Department of Children and Families.

  The bill, which would have shortened from five years to three years the time frame [...]

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• Scott's veto of mental health bill

  Gov. Rick Scott's veto of a mental health bill this week not only surprised the Florida Legislature, which passed it unanimously, it contradicted the efforts of his own agency, the Department of Children and Families.

  The bill, which would have shortened from five years to three years the time frame [...]

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• "Chicken Charlie" Crist draws fire in gun-control web video

  @MarcACaputo

  As former Gov. Charlie Crist appears ready to announce a bid for his old job, the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat has a target on his back for his old positions.

  Especially guns.

  Once A-rated by the NRA, Crist no longer will be. The gun lobby will back Gov. Rick Scott. But Crist also appears [...]

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• Norquist touts taxless income in tweet to Tallahassee

  Washington anti-tax lobbyist Grover Norquist has gained fame for holding conservative elected officials to a no-new-taxes pledge. He's so powerful that his stamp of approval is a coup for any conservative wanting to prove himself to a wider national audience.

  So on Friday afternoon, it was paydirt for Florida House Republicans [...]

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• One month after session, still little hope of Medicaid deal

  Two House Republicans unwittingly revived hopes this month that lawmakers could compromise on a proposal to expand Medicaid.

  "Lawmakers say Medicaid expansion not dead," read the headline in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, highlighting comments from Manatee County Reps. Greg Steube and Jim Boyd.

  But the reality is no different today than it was [...]

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• "5 minutes?" Democrat Nan Rich fundraises off Florida Democratic Party snub

  @MarcACaputo

  From an email:

  Dear Marc,

  As you may know, I haven’t been invited to speak at the Florida Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson fundraiser tomorrow night.  It seems to me that the Jefferson-Jackson fundraiser is exactly the kind of event where the Party would want to feature a Gubernatorial candidate who has been actively [...]

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• Is Amazon deal a flip-flop for Scott?

  For Gov. Rick Scott, Thursday’s announcement boosts his claim that he’s a “jobs governor.”

  Upon getting elected in 2010, Scott promised to create 700,000 new jobs on top of the average growth of 1 million jobs by 2017. About 302,500 jobs have been created since he took office. Thursday's Amazon [...]

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• Scott's advisors knew about Citizens' $52 million insurance deal with Heritage

  From The Associated Press:

  Florida Gov. Rick Scott - and other top state officials - quickly distanced themselves last month from a controversial deal approved by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. to shift thousands of homeowner policies to a start-up insurance company.

  But emails show that the Scott administration and other officials [...]

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• Florida receives final permission to privatize Medicaid

  It's just a formality since the deal was announced months ago, but today Florida officially received the waiver it needs to privatize Medicaid. Gov. Rick Scott first announced in February that the state had received conditional approval from the federal government to allow private companies to administer the Medicaid program [...]

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• Scott announces deal to bring Amazon jobs -- and online taxes -- to Florida

  Gov. Rick Scott on Thursday announced a deal with online retail giant Amazon to bring 3,000 jobs to Florida by the end of 2016.

  The company is prepared to spend more than $300 million on new warehouses, The Associated Press reported. Earlier, Scott had nixed a deal to bring Amazon to [...]

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