FDP, the Sunshine Law & Rick Scott

The Florida Democratic Party is accusing Gov. Rick Scott of not abiding to Florida's Sunshine laws. Eric Jotkoff, of the FDP, requested documents relating to the redistricting. Jotkoff has failed to receive any requested documents. Attorney Mark Herron sent Gov. Scott this letter. Herron informs Scott that if Jotkoff doesn't receive the document by April's Fool Day (I kid you not), the FDP will take the governor to court.

The Honorable Rick Scott

Governor

PL 05, The Capitol

Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001


RE: FDP Public Records Request of January 27, 2011

Dear Governor Scott:

On January 27, 2011, Eric Jotkoff, on behalf of the Florida Democratic Party (FDP), made the following request for public records:

Pursuant to Florida Statute 119.01(1), Florida Statutes, as member of the general public I am requesting that the Office of the Governor and any agency or agent acting under the direction of the Office of the Governor, as well as from the Gubernatorial transition, comply with its duty to provide access to public agency records, as afforded by Florida law pertaining to any and all of the following records related to Amendments 5 & 6 (commonly known as the Fair Districts Amendments), from November 3, 2010 to today, including the following:

- All documents including but not limited to all memos, emails, and correspondence relating to Amendments 5 & 6 including but not limited to Governor Scott’s decision to withdraw the application for preclearance from the U.S. Department of Justice.

- All documents including but not limited to all memos, emails, and correspondence regarding the use of taxpayer money on efforts to obstruct, delay or prevent Amendments 5 & 6 from being implemented after nearly 63% of Floridians voted to enshrine these amendments in the Florida Constitution.

- All documents including but not limited to all memos, emails, and correspondence regarding the appointment of Secretary of State Kurt Browning including but not limited to how this appointment would affect the implementation of Amendments 5 & 6.

I request that the information I seek be provided in electronic format via an electronic file, in lieu of hard copies.

On February 15, 2011, this request for public records was also forwarded to the Department of State, in accordance with Mr. Jotkoff’s understanding of the policy of the Governor’s Office that he needed separately to request these documents from the Department of State.

As of this date, the requested public records have not been provided to Mr; Jotkoff as required by Article I, Section 24, Florida Constitution, and Chapter 119, Florida Statutes. This request for public records has been pending in your office for two months and has been pending in the Department of State for six weeks.

On behalf of Mr. Jotkoff, it is requested that these public records be made available to Mr. Jotkoff by the noon on Friday, April 1, 2011. In the event that your office and the Department of State fail to do, please be advised that the FDP will pursue legal action to obtain these public records as provided by law.

Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Mark Herron

Update: the documents will be released. The FDP won after threatening legal action.

CNN Calls Gov. Race For Rick Scott

My understanding is there are some counties the Alex Sink campaign wanted to count. What hurts Team Sink is CNN declaring Rick Scott the winner.

At 10:00 PM, Scott was ahead of Sink 55 perecent to 43 percent. I had a feeling Marco Rubio was going to bring out a lot of Republican voters. Republican turnout would help Scott, but a 12 point difference? I say that because polls had the race as a toss up and Scott's negatives are high. I am not questioning that the current political environment favors Republican candidates. It is just hard to believe Scott could win by over ten points. If he does then the Florida Democratic Party blew it with their star candidate.

Eric Jotkoff fired off this statement.

"The race is razor tight and over 1,200 precincts have not been reported. We are confident that once all the votes have been counted Alex Sink will be the next Governor of Florida," Eric Jotkoff, Florida Democratic Party spokesman said.

Let's make this very clear. Alex Sink has not conceded and wants all the votes counted. CNN wanted to declare a winner while people were still awake. I had questions about the numbers. I find it hard to believe Scott is beating Sink by 12 percent. After the votes are counted we will find out how good or bad Sink's night was.

Kendrick Meek Zombie Watch: Clinton Asked Meek to Drop Out

Bill Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna confirmed to Politico that the former President asked Kendrick Meek to drop out and endorse Charlie Crist. Clinton asked Meek to drop out during October 19 and 20. Another source told Politico that Meek agreed to drop out.

“It was a completely done deal,” one source said.

The Crist, Meek and Clinton camps even set a date for an endorsement rally: the following Tuesday, October 26. Meek was to give Crist his blessing and explain to his disappointed supporters – many of whom deeply distrust the governor, who was elected as a Republican – that their votes could save the Senate for the Democrats and save America from the rise of Rubio, who is viewed both as a hard-line conservative and a potential national figure.

Doug Band served as the intermediary between Meek and Crist, and Clinton. It seems Stephen Moore's Wall Street Journal article may have been closer to the truth than expected by many. (Including myself.) The date of Moore's article is 11 days before Clinton first asked Meek to drop out.Team Meek would not respond to Politico's request for an interview. That is a clear sign they do not want to go on-the-record refuting a story that is true.

Obviously, Meek changed his mind. What is interesting is Clinton's endorsement cleared the path for Meek nomination and thereby killing any chance of Democratics picking up the Senate seat. Even Clinton came to the conclusion that Meek's campaign was hopeless. I wish Clinton realized this before endorsing Meek.

Update: Crist Crist campaign spokesman Danny Kanner confirmed to Joy-Ann Reid that the Politico story is true.

“While this story is accurate, the Governor’s focus is on uniting common-sense Democrats, independents, and Republicans behind his campaign because he is the one candidate who can defeat Tea Party extremist Marco Rubio and deliver bipartisan results for Florida in Washington.”

Update: Eric Jotkoff of the Florida Democratic Party released this statement.

“Kendrick Meek is the only candidate who has fought for middle class families, he is the only candidate who stood up to George W. Bush’s attempts to privatize Social Security, and is the only one who has always showed up to defend our Democratic values by standing up to the extremist Republicans. Because Kendrick Meek is the leader we need in the U.S. Senate to fight for us, the Florida Democratic Party is proud to continue fighting to elect Kendrick Meek to the U.S. Senate so he can continue working for everyday Floridians and to bring jobs to the Sunshine State,” said Eric Jotkoff, Florida Democratic Party spokesman.

The press release doesn't mention the Politico article. It is pointless to do push back against factual statements. It appears the D.C. establishment is torpedoing Meek in the hopes of holding onto the Senate majority. The internal polling numbers must be horrible for the Senate races.

Update: RNC chairman Michael Steele is suddenly a Kendrick Meek fan.

"One can only imagine the response if GOP leadership tried to force out...a qualified black candidate like Kendrick Meek”

Steele will find out when the Republican establishment won't let him have a second term at the RNC.

Update: Dave Hoffman from the Meek campaign confirmed part of the Politico story. Hoffman contends that Meek never agreed to drop out. Hoffman does confirm Clinton brought up the subject of Meek dropping out.

Dave Hoffman said “that was discussed, yeah,” but Hoffman denied that Meek had ever agreed to drop out.

Hoffman said he could not characterize what Clinton said, but then said, “I think ’suggest’ is probably the best … not ’suggest’ … but that (getting out) was discussed yeah.”

Hoffman said the issue was raised as, “Hey, if you want to do this … That was more of the nature of the conversation.”

Hoffman said Meek “never agreed to drop out” and was committed to fighting through Election Day.

Update: Peter Schorsch tweeted this.

Kendrick Meek to hold, um, emergency press conference tonight at 9:30.

I am not a Charlie Crist fan. That being said, the best chance to keep Marco Rubio from gaining a Senate seat is for Meek to drop out. I'm not counting on it. Meek seems content on burning his bridges with the Democratic establishment. I have said this repeatedly and said by it. Meek does not have the support of the Democratic establishment and voters. The Politico leak was designed to force Meek out of the race. Democrats don't love Crist. They are terrified of Rubio becoming a major political star.

Update: Joy-Ann Reid blogs that Meek is denying Hoffman's confirmation that Clinton discussed dropping with him. McKenna and the Crist campaign have gone on-the-record on this. So has Meek's own campaign. Meek is denying conversations with Clinton that his campaign confirmed. If you want proof that the entire Meek campaign has been amateur hour then look no further than this. This shitty campaign's confusing message during the entire cycle can be blamed on a man who has no business running in a statewide race.

Update: Meek statement to CNN.

"The president came down to do an event for me in Orlando and St. Petersburg. We talk politics all the time. He said I heard this thing about you getting out. I said, 'I'm not getting out.' I said Charlie Crist needs to get out of the race. And that was that," Meek said.

That doesn't sound like an actual conversation. That sounds like Meek's increasingly passive aggressive campaign rhetoric. Remember Meek yelling during a debate that he is 6'4 and Senators would have to go through him in order to change Social Security. Is Meek going to challenge Chuck Grassley to a fight? The guy has a temper as bad as John McCain's.

Update: Campaign manager Abe Dyk is now walking back Hoffman's confirmation. This is like watch a car crash in slow motion.

"The article is not true. Kendrick Meek was never dropping out of this race, is never dropping out of this race, and will never drop out of this race. Kendrick Meek will always stand up for the middle class and will not leave Floridians a choice between two lifelong conservative Republicans who only stand with the special interests. Kendrick is the Democratic nominee so if anyone should drop out, it's Charlie Crist,” said Meek campaign manager Abe Dyk.

The problem for Dyk and the Meek campaign is two sources confirmed to Jake Tapper of ABC News that Clinton asked Meek to drop out. It is hard for Team Meek to do push back when people within the Democratic Party are telling the media the story is true.

From Beth Reinhard of the Miami Herald.

"I am running. The press report was inaccurate at best."

And he's losing in the polls.

Meek is already a zombie candidate. I didn't think it could get worse. Boy, was I wrong.

Quote of the Day

"Name 1 issue you're willing to meet 1/2 way? You say no Wall Street Reform, no on Jobs, no on HCR. Obstruction-you say yes”

Eric Jotkoff, Florida Democratic spokesman and internet coordinator.

Jotkoff took exception to a tweet by Sen. George Lemieux. The latter tweeted President Obama should meet the Republican Senate Caucus half-way on legislation.

Florida Democratic Party Statement on Health Care Protests

Eric Jotkoff of the Florida Democratic Party released a statement on last night's violent protest against the Kathy Castor health care townhall meeting.

Enough is enough! First Florida Republicans used riots to stop the recount and make George W. Bush President. Now they're trying to use the Republican mob rule tactics to stop efforts to reform our broken health insurance system and obstruct President Obama’s efforts to bring change to Washington. That’s why tonight we are saying, ‘Enough is enough!’

Not only do Florida’s Republican leaders such as Gov. Charlie Crist, AG Bill McCollum, and Rep. Bill Young need to immediately denounce their party’s tactics, but they also need to apologize for the violence that was witnessed today in Tampa. If they don't they will be equally as guiltily as the protesters starting these fights.

Two reported fist fights broke out at the event. Police were called in to maintain order. Many tea party protesters banged on windows and doors. The protesters failed to realize fire marshall rules will not let a venue by seated beyond capacity.

The event organizers left a door open. The idea was that people who could not get seats could hear Castor speak. At 1:40 in the video, a woman warns the protesters to either stop shouting down Castor or they would close the door. Notice the edit at the 2:06 mark. What is not shown is a man in a green shirt obstructing the organizers. The video only shows organizers pushing the man away from the door. The man resisted and had his shirt ripped. A police officer can be seen keeping another man away from the door. The second man has a more severely ripped shirt.



A vlogger confirms organizers had to remove a man from the doorway to close the doors. Check the video. Notice the tea baggers banging on the doors. How civil of them.

FDP Press Release On Crist's Leadership

Eric Jotkoff, of the Florida Democratic Party, sent out this press release.

While they might agree to put ideology above the needs of Floridians during these hard economic times, it is striking how little political capital that Charlie Crist has with the legislature.

Despite the fact that Crist continues with his signature tone-deaf optimism and his out-of-touch attitude, it is clear that Crist has failed Florida when our state desperately needs real leadership.

As the first week of the current Special Session wraps up, perhaps the most interesting development has been the fact that even embattled Speaker Ray Sansom seems to have more credibility than Crist among Republican Legislators, despite Sansom's ethical and legal woes.

Crist's fake optimism is getting boring. In 2006, I wrote a post about Crist's lack of understanding about Florida's tax revenue. We are now seeing how Crist's lack of seriousness about economic issues is hurting Florida.

The Florida legislature shot down Crist's budget and Seminole gambling deal. The base views Crist as too moderate. Jeb Bush makes thinly-veiled shots at Crist for being for being "Democrat-lite." The voters may love Crist. The GOP views Crist with utter disdain.

Crist is still a popular Governor. Win or lose, Crist's 2010 Democratic challenger will attack Crist's economic policies. That will hurt the party more than Crist. The party in power will be blamed for the budget deficit, unemployment, economic downturn and cuts to schools and social services. In the mean time, Crist will tell voter the future is so bright.