Sunburn for 5.27.16 - The Libertarians are coming to town
Sunburn – The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics.
By Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster, Mitch Perry, Ryan Ray and Jim Rosica.
THE LIBERTARIANS ARE COMING TO TOWN
If all goes as expected this weekend at their national convention in Orlando, Libertarians could head into the presidential campaign with two respected former governors leading their ticket. If not, Libertarians could give Republicans and Democrats a run for their craziness.
The Libertarian Party has never been a stranger to odd fellows. Yet this year it holds the prospect of offering the least-hated, most-adult-looking ticket in a presidential election virtually begging for alternatives.
Former New Mexico Gov. and 2012 Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson is the front-runner. He wants former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld to be his running mate. Weld just joined the Libertarians earlier this month, just like thousands of others fleeing Donald Trump's Republican Party or Hillary Clinton's Democratic Party.
Conservatives who cannot stomach Republicans’ big, interventionist military or Christian-nation dogma come here. Liberals who cannot tolerate the Democrats’ big government, big taxes or trade treaties come here.
But still.
This is the Libertarian Party, where almost anything goes for the love of freedom.
Johnson’s platform includes conservative favorites, balanced budget and tax reform; and liberal favorites, supporting a woman’s right to chose abortion, and an end to domestic spying.
He is but one of 18 Libertarian candidates. Among the others: billionaire software mogul John McAfee, an international fugitive from a 2012 murder investigation in Belize who maintains that it was a frame-up because he refused to bribe Belize authorities. His motto is “disobedience,” he loves posing with big guns, and advocates wholesale decriminalization of drugs and prostitution.
The convention began Thursday. Friday and Saturday feature vice presidential and presidential candidates' and platform debates. On Sunday the 900-1,000 delegates will pick their ticket.
TODAY COULD ALSO BE "TAKE OUT THE TRASH DAY" -- If it's Friday before a three-day weekend, (in this case, Memorial Day) you know it's time in Tallahassee for the honored tradition of a news dump. We'll repeat the definition by The Washington Post’s Ed O’Keefe: When government agencies “release potentially embarrassing or politically tricky policy decisions and personnel changes on a day when reporters and the general public are less likely to notice or care.” Or, as “The West Wing” immortalized it, “Take Out the Trash Day.” (In the words of Josh Lyman, “Any stories we have to give the press that we’re not wild about, we give on Friday.”) What will it be this time?
AAA: HOLIDAY WEEKEND GAS PRICES SHOULD BE LOWEST SINCE 2005 via Ron Hurtibise of the South Florida Sun Sentinel – Gas prices increased again last week in South Florida and throughout the nation, but travelers should still enjoy the lowest Memorial Day weekend prices since 2005, travel club AAA said. In Broward County, the average price per gallon was $2.33, up 7 cents compared with the previous week. The average per-gallon price in Miami-Dade was $2.34, up 6 cents, while motorists in Palm Beach County were paying $2.37, up about 6 cents. Statewide, the average price was $2.21, about 3 cents higher than the previous week. South Florida gas prices tend to run higher than the state average because of higher taxes.
AUDUBON, FLORIDA FWC WARN BOATERS TO WATCH FOR WILDLIFE THIS MEMORIAL DAY via Florida Politics – "Memorial Day is always a fun time to be around or on the water, but we're not the only ones who think so," Audubon Florida Deputy Executive Director Julie Wraithmell said. "The end of May is a critical time for some of Florida's most iconic coastal birds and their fluffy chicks. Roseate spoonbills, black skimmers, snowy plovers, American oystercatchers, least terns and more are using Florida's beaches and islands right now to raise their young." As part of their conservation effort, some FWC officials and Audubon volunteers will spend the weekend as “bird stewards” by chaperoning nesting bird colonies and educating beach visitors. Among the recommendations are reminders to give colonies a wide birth, avoid disturbing groups of birds by getting too close or launching fireworks, and to refrain from bringing pets near nesting areas, even on a leash.
TROPICAL SYSTEM IN ATLANTIC EXPECTED TO DEVELOP via Harold Bubil of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune – … A brewing storm northeast of the Bahamas … Dr. Jeff Masters of Weather Underground doesn’t expect this disturbance to amount to much more than a rainmaker. Although it has developed some “pronounced spin” near the surface, the water beneath it is about 80 degrees, “only marginally warm enough to support formation of a tropical storm,” Masters wrote in his online blog. It is just a jumble of clouds on the satellite image … but the National Hurricane Center says the low-pressure system has a 70 percent chance of developing into a tropical storm in the next five days … the low-pressure area is “centered between Bermuda and the Bahamas and has elongated circulation” that is common to tropical systems. “Shower activity has been increasing during the past 24 hours.”
PROGRAMMING NOTE: Sunburn will be off Monday to celebrate Memorial Day. It will be back in your in-box Tuesday.
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DAYS UNTIL: Federal candidate qualifying papers accepted – 9; Federal qualifying closes – 27; State candidate qualifying closes – 27; Domestic absentee ballots go out in primary – 59; Primary elections – 94; Deadline to register to vote in Primary Election – 65; Deadline to register to vote in General Election – 136; Absentees sent in General Election – 155; General Election – 165.
DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN CHAIR: WE’LL PICK A WHITE MAN FOR VP. ANYTHING ELSE WOULD BE “PANDERING.” via Dara Lind of Vox – Trump campaign chair and chief strategist Paul Manafort told the Huffington Post's Howard Fineman … The campaign probably won’t choose a woman or a member of a minority group, he said. "In fact, that would be viewed as pandering, I think." Manafort — at least as presented in the Huffington Post article — isn't saying, We won't pick a VP nominee just because she checks the right boxes on race and gender. He's saying: Because we're not trying to check boxes on race and gender, we'll end up picking a vice president who's a white man. That's a very different thing! That certainly implies that, to Manafort, the only reason you might end up picking a VP who happened to not be male or white would be because of her race or gender, not because of her qualifications. In other words, that if you rounded up all the people who are qualified in their own right to serve as President Trump's right-hand man, they would all be, well, white-handed men.
TWEET OF THE DAY: @realDonaldTrump: Poll data shows that @marcorubio does by far the best in holding onto his Senate seat in Florida. Important to keep the MAJORITY. Run Marco!
MARCO RUBIO ON DONALD TRUMP: ‘I’M GOING TO VOTE FOR HIM’ via Patricia Mazzei of the Miami Herald – "I'm going to support him. I'm going to vote for him," he said. In a separate interview, Rubio told CNN's Jake Tapper he'd be willing to speak on Trump's behalf at the GOP nominating convention in Cleveland … he has more faith in Trump than Clinton on a variety of issues, from overturning the Affordable Care Act to opposing abortion to appointing strict constructionists to the Supreme Court. "Donald Trump won. Donald Trump was not a default choice," said Rubio … "He won, and he won for a reason." (Rubio noted that he "finished third, I guess, in the delegate count.") How can he justify backing Trump after having criticized him so harshly? "Because the one other choice is someone who I believe is corrupt," Rubio said. "I'm not supporting her, and I'm not going to abstain from voting."
RUBIO: I’M NOT JUMPING BACK INTO SENATE RACE via Steven Lemongello of the Orlando Sentinel – "My answer is what I said before," Rubio said in a conference call. "I want to make sure we have the right candidate in place to win. I understand the argument and understand the people coming forward asking me to reconsider ... [But] I have a really good friend running who I think is a good candidate." Rubio was talking about [Carlos] Lopez-Cantera, "a personal friend, not [just] a political ally." Asked if he was formally endorsing Lopez-Cantera, Rubio held off and said he would "do those things at the appropriate time." As to what would happen if Lopez-Cantera dropped out, Rubio said "I don't do hypotheticals."
SHOT: @learyreports: @marcorubio says he's honored to serve in Senate but says he will not seek re-election. Mentions friend CLC.
CHASER: @amy_hollyfield: The @marcorubio situation is reminding me of the @SpeakerRyan one before he had that actual handle
ALAN GRAYSON DELAYS FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE FILING via Jeremy Wallace of the Tampa Bay Times – Members of Congress must file annual financial disclosure reports by mid-May each year. However, the Committee on Ethics allows them to file for an extension for 30 days, 60 days or 90 days without offering any reason. Grayson's request for 90 days was granted earlier this month according to the House Committee on Ethics. That allows him to wait until Aug. 14 to file his annual report. "The reason is that his financial disclosure is lengthy, so additional time is required,” said David Damron, a spokesman for Grayson's campaign. Grayson's extension comes after his handwritten 2014 report was flagged by the Office of Congressional Ethics earlier this year for having "omitted required information from his annual financial disclosure statements related to reportable assets, income, agreements and positions.” That report was 36-pages. The OCE report came as part of a larger inquiry into Grayson’s management of a hedge fund and other business interests that may have improperly overlapped with his congressional duties.
REPUBLICAN U.S. SENATE CANDIDATES CALL FOR VA SECRETARY’S RESIGNATION via Michael Auslen of the Tampa Bay Times – Four of the five Republican Senate candidates have called for [Robert] McDonald to lose his job. "The VA utterly and systematically fails our veterans," Carlos Beruff … said in a statement … "The fact that VA Secretary McDonald is now comparing VA medical centers to a family vacation destination is disgusting." Initially supportive after McDonald was appointed in 2014, Ron DeSantis now says that the secretary should resign in light of this week's Disney comments, as well as the slow crawl of reforms. Defense contractor Todd Wilcox said he was enraged by the comments … Carlos Lopez-Cantera said there has been a lack of accountability in the VA. Just one Republican Senate candidate said firing McDonald would be going too far … David Jolly [said] the comments were "disgraceful" and "insulting to those who lost their lives as a result of the wait times." McDonald's apology took too long, jolly said, but he disagreed that the secretary should lose his job. Neither of the two chief Democrats running for the Senate has called for McDonald, who was appointed by Obama, to resign.
U.S. SENATE TRACKER: Wilcox will be in Orlando.
FREEDOMWORKS ENDORSES MARY THOMAS IN CD 2 via Ryan Ray of Florida Politics – Thomas picked up the endorsement of Koch-backed FreedomWorks … “Florida’s 2nd District is a great pickup opportunity for conservatives. Mary Thomas is the true conservative running in this race. She realizes that heavy tax and regulatory burdens hurt the economy and limit opportunities for businesses and workers. She will work to advance free market policies and constitutional principles,” said FreedomWorks PAC Chairman Adam Brandon. “We need conservatives like Mary Thomas in Washington to fight for limited government and economic freedom.”
JOHN RUTHERFORD UP BY 30 POINTS IN CD 4 RACE, INTERNAL POLL SHOTS via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics – The numbers we’re hearing: Rutherford at 42 percent, [Lake] Ray at 11 percent, then [Hans] Tanzler at 6 percent and Bill McClure at 5 percent … Whether there is meaningful attrition in the numbers of Rutherford and Ray probably can’t be said, given methodological differences between the polls. What can be said, however, is that after five weeks, the race to replace Ander Crenshaw in CD 4 looks like Rutherford’s to lose. And he’s not losing.
HAPPENING THIS WEEKEND: Former Congressman Joe Garcia will open his campaign headquarters in Palmetto Bay Saturday, where the village’s old town hall used to be. The Miami Democrat will speak to volunteers and supporters at the grand opening, beginning 1 p.m. at 9845 E Fern Street (just off U.S. 1 and 175th Street).
-- “Jeff Clemens announces raft of local endorsements” via Ryan Ray of Florida Politics
-- “Big get: Will Weatherford backs Rebecca Smith in HD 60” via Florida Politics
-- “Kathy Castor is backing Ben Diamond over Eric Lynn in HD 68 race” via Mitch Perry of Florida Politics
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FLORIDA LEADERS HOPE TO KEEP GRADUATES IN SUNSHINE STATE via Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster of Florida Politics – The push to keep Florida graduates in the Sunshine State was a constant theme during the 2016 Degrees to Jobs Summit at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando. The two-day summit wrapped up with a series of panels focused on keeping graduates in Florida. “When I graduated from University of Florida, so many of my classmates left Florida. They went to Austin, they went to Boston, they went to Charlotte, they went to Atlanta,” said Adam Putnam. “We can reverse that flow, and we must reverse that flow.” Experts said there were plenty of ways to do that, including boosting partnerships with colleges and universities, creating more internships, and maintaining a statewide clearinghouse to connect new graduates with prospective employers. “We want to make sure all the employers here are really connected to the graduates, because then you can keep them in the state and they can be productive citizens, and we can keep our economy growing,” said Cissy Proctor, the executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.
IF FOOTBALL COACHES RAN HIGHER EDUCATION: TRUST, MENTORING, ‘CHOMP! CHOMP!’ via Scott Powers of Florida Politics – If Florida’s top college football coaches actually ran Florida’s universities, life mentoring would begin the moment a student arrived and not end for years after he left. “They see at the end of the tunnel that there is truly a network of people helping them navigate, how to do it,” said University of Miami Head Coach Mark Richt. “A lot of it is [students] just being exposed to things they have never been exposed to before.” Richt was on hand for what might have been a singular event, a teaming of four of the most public and powerful leaders in Florida: Gov. Scott, Florida State Head Coach Jimbo Fisher, Florida Head Coach Jim McElwain, and Richt. They each had stories of student-athletes, or themselves, needing help to understand college life, to understand who to trust, and how to trust, to find someone who cares, to understand life and understand how they can fit in. “To me, at the end of the day, that’s what coaching is, it’s mentoring,” Fisher said.
TWEET, TWEET:
@Jenna_Buzzacco: In the @FLDEO panel about recruiting graduates, fair number of Q’s about how to recruit women, minorities into STEM fields. #FlaPol
@JohnKennedyReports: Are you ready for some fuh'bawl at @FLGovScott's ed/jobs summit? UF, FSU and Miami coaches quizzed by gov.
@JessicaBakeman: FSU football coach Jimbo Fisher says players ask him to treat them like men. He tells them, "act like a man." #degrees2jobs
@JessicaBakeman: U of Miami football coach Mark Richt: Players are thinking about 1) the NFL, 2) "chicks," 3) "probably school" — but not jobs #degrees2jobs
@FLCollegeSystem: In 2014-15, 85% of FCS grads who applied to a State University System school were accepted @MadyMIA #degrees2jobs
@ArekSarkissian: Of lack of faculty at education summit @FLGovScott points to football coaches "they're faculty."
@MSynnan: Jimbo Fisher on scrutiny for today's college athletes: "I couldn't play the way things are today" #Fox35
AG. DEPARTMENT SAYS PETA TRIGGERED PUBLIC RECORDS FIGHT via Jim Rosica of Florida Politics – The state’s Department of Agriculture is asking a court to speed up its handling of a public records lawsuit involving an animal research lab. The department filed its answer in Leon County circuit civil court … the case “was triggered by a public records request by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)” … Primate Products, Inc. wants a court order to prevent the department from releasing records it says contain “trade secrets.” The department says it’s caught between a rock and a hard place, “faced on one hand by the possibility of facing attorney’s fees and costs for ‘unlawfully’ refusing to provide the records … and on the other hand by possible third-degree felony charges … for divulging trade secrets.”
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT SAYS WEB-BASED FLORIST MUST PAY TAXES via The Associated Press – The Florida Supreme Court ruled that the state can impose a sales tax on a web-based florist for flowers sold to out-of-state customers and delivered outside of Florida. The Court overturned an appeals court decision that said the Department of Revenue couldn't collect taxes from American Business USA Corp.'s out-of-state sales … the Palm Beach County-based business has a physical presence in the state and does business within Florida and that's enough of a tie to the state to make all its sales taxable, regardless if they originated outside of Florida. The company argued that it shouldn't be responsible for sales tax on orders from out-of-state customers for flowers that were grown and delivered outside of Florida.
NRA LEADER MARION HAMMER MOBILIZES ‘ACTIVIST CORE’ TO OPPOSE CHARLES MCBURNEY JUDGESHIP via Tia Mitchell of the Florida Times-Union – More than 5,400 emails and counting have been received by Scott’s office with the all-capitals subject line, “CHARLES MCBURNEY IS UNFIT TO BE A JUDGE.” They are the result of an opposition campaign linked to a conversation in March at which McBurney told NRA Florida head Hammer that he disagreed with a legislative proposal that would have changed Florida’s “stand your ground” law. The House companion to Senate Bill 344 had already been defeated in a different committee, but the Senate bill was kept alive and sent to the House Judiciary Committee that McBurney chairs. It would never come up for a vote … In an email to what she calls her “activist core,” Hammer provided specific instructions on what people should say in correspondence to Scott about McBurney. Marion wouldn’t say how many people received Saturday’s email, but they are members and supporters who have specifically signed up to receive and respond to periodic calls to action. The information is also posted on the NRA website. “You must help keep Charles McBurney off the bench,” she told Them. “He has proven himself to be unfit.”
ADAM PUTNAM TALKS ABOUT TRAPS FOR MOSQUITOES TO TEST FOR ZIKA VIRUS via Larry Griffin of Florida Politics – Putnam’s fear … was that a mosquito could bite an infected person and spread the virus from there … he then displayed a trap intended to capture mosquitoes and test them for Zika. It’s mostly a proactive measure, he said — to have early warning devices around the state. “It’s important to have the traps,” he said. “So that if we see Zika virus enter the local population, we would know about it, as soon as possible, and then be able to fashion a response as quickly as possible.” Putnam said [the Bronson Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory] purchased over 300 traps. The traps will be set up in 56 of the 67 counties in Florida, Putnam said, with more traps set up depending on where the highest numbers of Zika cases are reported. A scent in the traps will lure in specific species of mosquitoes that can carry the Zika virus … The lab has three machines for analyzing samples, which allows for a quick turnaround time. The process takes about three hours total.
NATIONWIDE BACKLOG OF TRAPS TO DETECT ZIKA VIRUS via Mike Schneider of The Associated Press – Florida has received less than half of the special traps it has ordered to help detect the Zika virus in mosquitoes, and nationwide the only U.S. distributor of the traps has a backlog of almost 1,950 orders from governments and private businesses … State workers ordered more than 300 of the traps but so far have gotten only about 120 traps. The remaining 190 traps are on back order … Adam Putnam said while touring a state lab in Kissimmee … Putnam said he's not concerned yet because state workers placed the order for the BG-Sentinel traps months ago, and Florida is at the top of the list of recipients. The cost of the traps and the lab testing is around $150,000. "It's kind of like when you order plywood and ice when a hurricane is on the way," Putnam said. "We anticipated there would be a demand for these so we got on the list early."
FOR ZIKA INFECTED PREGNANCIES, MICROCEPHALY RISK MAY BE AS HIGH AS 13% via Lena Sun of The Washington Post – Pregnant women infected with the Zika virus during their first trimester face as high as a 13 percent chance that their fetus will develop … microcephaly … an abnormally small head and often incomplete brain development. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health identified the sharply higher risk after analyzing data from one of the hardest hit areas in Brazil, the epicenter of the rapidly evolving Zika outbreak. Typically, microcephaly occurs in 0.02 percent to 0.12 percent of all U.S. births. The prevalence of even more common congenital conditions, such as Down syndrome, is often less than 1 percent. By contrast, the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found the estimated risk for microcephaly with Zika infections in the first trimester of pregnancy ranged from 1 percent to 13 percent. The analysis is the first to quantify such risk in pregnant women infected during the current outbreak, which has seen the mosquito-borne virus spread to more than 40 countries and territories in the Americas and beyond. Recent testing showed the same strain is now on the African archipelago of Cape Verde.
YOUR SPARE COMPUTING POWER COULD HELP FIGHT ZIKA via Adrienne LaFrance of the Atlantic magazine – To begin to figure out how to fight an emerging virus … biomedical researchers first must understand the structure of the disease on a microscopic level. They must figure out the mechanisms that make it transmissible, then screen countless chemical compounds to determine how to fight it. Each of these steps requires difficult and meticulous work—the screening process alone can drag on for years … Before there were computers, all this work was simply done by hand. But even with machines, there’s only so much work that a single computer—or a lab full of computers, or even a supercomputer—can do over a certain amount of time. That’s why, for more than a decade, an IBM-run initiative has helped scientists tap into the computing power of millions of machines across the planet as a way to speed up research into deadly diseases and other public health problems. The World Community Grid is an open-source lab that runs on the power of idle computers across the globe. Anyone can sign up to donate their machine’s untapped power. How it works: The grid leverages the connectivity of the web by dividing otherwise enormous processing tasks—like checking a library of 100 million chemical compounds to see how each individually reacts to a model of Zika proteins— into manageable chunks that are then delegated to computers across the network. That computational data are then sent back to the grid, cleaned up and checked for errors, and finally delivered back to scientists for evaluation. This is how researchers already identified a possible treatment for neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer. And it’s how today, while your computer is idle, you could help run computations to fight the Zika virus.
NEW LOBBYING REGISTRATIONS
James Daughton, Warren Husband, Gregory Black, Patricia Greene, Aimee Lyon, Andrew Palmer, Mark Pinto, Metz Husband & Daughton: Nokia Corporation
Marty Fiorentino, Thomas Griffin, Joseph Mobley, The Fiorentino Group: Flagler Hospital
Jim Magill, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney: Government Services Group
PERSONNEL NOTE: REBECCA ROMAN HEADS TO ADAMS ST. ADVOCATES via Florida Politics – A former aide to state Rep. Jimmie Smith … Roman will focus on health care, technology and environmental issues. Roman grew up in Clearwater, where she worked in her father’s law office from the age of 14. She also managed a Starbucks before graduating from college. She attended Florida State University, where she got degrees in philosophy and in political science. Roman also minored in French. She presided over the Society for Practical Ethics at FSU and was part of a national medical ethics debate team, which made it to the final round in both 2015 and 2016.
AFP APPLAUDS SARASOTA FOR REJECTING INCENTIVES TO LURE NATIONAL ROOFING COMPANY TO RELOCATE via Mitch Perry of Florida Politics – Americans For Prosperity Florida is praising the Sarasota County Commission for rejecting a financial incentive to help lure an out of town private company to relocate their business in the county. “We’re thrilled to see Sarasota County reject the calls from special interests to take taxpayer dollars and give it away to a private company,” said state director, Chris Hudson. “These local businesses have every right to be upset that their tax dollars are being used to bring their competitors in from other states and compete against them. It’s not governments place to pick winners and losers, the other 66 counties should take Sarasota’s lead and do away with these failed corporate welfare handouts.” Sarasota Commissioners voted 4-1 against providing $720,000 in local tax refunds and grants to an undisclosed national roofing company that would compel them to move to the county. The state had pledged another $864,000 in incentive money to help Sarasota County land the headquarters. The vote is being decried by economic development officials who say that such incentives are absolutely required to attract companies to relocate to their region. Local contractors lobbied heavily against the commission granting the incentives.
‘NOT FINISHED YET’: MORE ARRESTS LIKELY IN DAN MARKEL CASE via Karl Effers of the Tallahassee Democrat – The day after a Miami Beach man was arrested in connection with the slaying of Florida State University law professor Dan Markel, police continue to investigate his killing as a murder for hire, sources close to the investigation say. Other sources say more arrests are expected. Tallahassee Police remain tight-lipped about details of the arrest of 34-year-old Sigfredo Garcia, who has been charged with first-degree murder in Markel’s nearly two-year-old killing. TPD officials during a news conference at department headquarters declined to elaborate on a possible motive in the killing of the renowned legal scholar or whether other suspects are being considered. A probable cause affidavit that would provide details on Garcia's arrest was sealed at the request of police by Second Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Jonathan Sjostrom.
WEEKEND TV
Black Almanac with Dr. Ed James on WWSB, ABC 7 in Sarasota: Suncoast Christian youth band YTA.
Facing South Florida with Jim DeFede on CBS Miami: U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.
Florida This Week on Tampa Bay’s WEDU: Steve Bousquet of the Tampa Bay Times, Noah Pransky of 10 News WTSP, Florida Federation of Republican Women Vice President Deborah Tamargo, and political consultant Barry Edwards.
Political Connections on CF 13 in Orlando: Former Sen. Gary Siplin on his 2016 race and Mayor Buddy Dyer on passage of a marijuana liberalization ordinance. Plus Alex Sink and Chris Ingram on food stamps and PolitiFact rates a Donald Trump claim about refugees in Germany.
The Usual Suspects on WCTV-Tallahassee/Thomasville (CBS) and WJHG-Panama City (NBC): Steve Vancore, Sean Pittman, and Mary Ellen Klas of the Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau.
This Week in Jacksonville with Kent Justice on Channel 4 WJXT: Attorneys John Phillips, Dexter Van Davis, Richard Brown, and Rhonda Peoples-Waters on recent police abuse allegations with analyst and former office Gil Smith. Plus an interview with Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Stafford Jones and Christian Ziegler. Celebrating on Saturday is our friend Clark Smith, as well as Richard DeNapoli, Tammy Perdue, and Craig Waters.