FSU Faculty Senate Rejects John Thrasher

The Florida State University’s Faculty Senate voted 2 to 1 against John Thrasher's candidacy for presidency.

“Be it resolved that we, the members of the Florida State University Faculty Senate, call upon the Presidential Search Advisory Committee not to recommend Senator Thrasher as a candidate for President of FSU. We further call upon the Board of Trustees not to hire Senator Thrasher as the next President of FSU. Senator Thrasher lacks the stated qualifications required for the position, whereas the other three finalists meet those qualifications. We encourage all faculty members to participate fully in the interview process and to submit comments.”

Thrasher's history of bringing pork to Florida State as a member of the legislature made it appear the job was his to lose. Other potential candidates didn't bother applying.

Search consultant Bill Funk told advisory committee members to give Thrasher a prompt “up or down” vote. Rumors that a powerhouse Republican lawmaker with deep ties to FSU is a shoo-in have deterred “premium potential candidates” from applying.

“We are not endorsing John for the role,” Funk said. “But we are saying that John is casting a long shadow. It’s limiting our opportunity to put together the kind of pool that this committee and that this university deserves.”

Thrasher is ethically challenged. Thrasher was reprimanded by the Florida House for lobbying on the floor for the Florida Board of Medicine. Thrasher had a clear conflict of interest as an elected representative and as a lobbyist.

This old post of mine details how Thrasher puts profit above education.

John Thrasher fought against the Florida Hometown Democracy amendment at the behest of developers. In the Florida Senate, Thrasher sponsored an education bill that required year end assessment tests. Thrasher's lobbying firm Southern Strategy was paid by testing firms to get more testing in k-12 education.

Thrasher is the wrong choice for FSU.

Justin Snyder on St. Pete Polls and Peter Schorsch

Justin Snyder wrote a piece on the connection between St. Pete Polls and political consultant/blogger Peter Schorsch. Snyder questions if St. Pete Polls is truly unbiased.

Republican Congressman Bill Young on October 18th of last year. Yesterday, St Pete Polls released a poll that the folks over at Daily Kos Elections had a field day with. It’s comically skewed towards Republicans (naturally) and prominent blogger Peter Schorsch (whom by the way has written scripts for St Pete Polls in the past, and currently has his own fights in the ethics department as reported in the Tampa Bay Times), covered the release of the poll with a soft piece that (naturally) DID NOT mention the gleaming disparity in the sample: the number of Republicans and Democrats that were actually polled.

The Voter Registration numbers in Florida’s 13th Congressional District per the Florida Division of Elections, tell us that the district is in fact 37 percent Republican, 35 percent Democratic, and 24 percent independent. However, St Pete Polls’ OWN WEBSITE tells us that the poll was conducted with a 47-35 bias in favor of Republicans. Yeah, let that sink in. I’m calling shenanigans.

Daily Kos notes that St. Pete Polls was off the mark on the last congressional elections. St. Pete Polls predicted victories for Allen West and David Rivera.

FL-02: St. Pete: Southerland (R) 47-47; actual: Southerland (R) 53-47; error: +6 D

FL-09: St. Pete: Grayson (D) 45-40; actual: Grayson (D) 63-37; error: +21 R

FL-10: St. Pete: Webster (R) 50-42; actual: Webster (R) 52-48; error: +4 R

FL-13: St. Pete: Young (R) 54-37; actual: Young (R) 58-42; error: +1 R

FL-16: St. Pete: Buchanan (R) 55-38; actual: Buchanan (R) 54-46; error: +9 R

FL-18: St. Pete: West (R) 51-42; actual: Murphy (D) 50.3-49.7; error: +9.6 R

FL-22: St. Pete: Frankel (D) 48-45; actual: Frankel (D) 55-45; error: +7 R

FL-26: St. Pete: Rivera (R) 46-43; actual: Garcia (D) 54-43; error: +14 R

Schorsch has used St. Pete Polls to write a very flattering piece about how David Jolly is ahead of Democratic opponent Alex Sink. Jolly also happens to be currently running an ad on St. Petersblog. Schorsch's former client Frank Farkas accused Schorsch of offering positive coverage in exchange for blog ad revenue.

Around October 2012, then-state House candidate Farkas said Schorsch called him. The blogger told him he would carefully screen what content related to Farkas appeared on his site if the politician signed an ad contract. "We didn't sign and I got what I expected: one-sided, slanted," Farkas said. "He stabs so many people in the back, and he continues to get away with it."

Conservative blogger Javier Manjarres noted that Schorsch wrote extremely positive posts about Southern Group Strategy after they bought an ad on a website owned by Schorsch. Southern Strategy Group has been accused of manipulating their earnings to increase their stock price. Schorsch has written about the Christmas card Southern Strategy Group sent out but made no mention of the controversy surrounding the lobbying firm.

Take St. Pete Polls and what Schorsch writes about his clients with skepticism.