OUTRAGE ALERT!!! FROM CONNIE MACK'S CAMPAIGN!!! Again.

OH MY GOD! ANOTHER OUTRAGE! SENATE CANDIDATE GEORGE LEMIEUX USED "PRESSURE" ON FORMER GOV. CHARLIE CRIST TO GET AN INTERIM SENATE APPOINTMENT!!!!

THIS MIGHT BE A CRIME!!!!

Pardon the ALL CAPS craziness, but Republican Rep. Connie Mack's Senate campaign has once again notched it up to 11. It actually is calling for a federal investigation into LeMieux's appointment, saying it smacks of "extortion" or "bribery"

But there's no real evidence of any attempt to extort or bribe Crist by LeMieux.

Who says? The guys who spilled the story about LeMieux's manuevers: Former Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer (who's under indictment in what appears to be an ever-weakening fraud case that he bilked the GOP).

"No, I don’t believe he committed a crime. I don’t believe he committed one," Greer said. "If a guy comes in and says hey I want an appointment remind him of all the things I’ve done for him – some he’d like to forget, some he’d remember – is that a crime? I don’t know...

"George had very strong points –all the things he had done for the governor. He felt confident if he got an interview with the governor, he was confident he’d get the appointment. He got the interview. And he got the appointment."

Here's Kottkamp when asked if he believed anything illegal happened: “I doubt it. I doubt it…. I don’t know what they talked about.”

PIP reform legislation full of errors, lawmaker says

The law that reforms the no-fault car insurance system doesn't go into effect for six more weeks, but that hasn't quieted down critics who say a technical error in the bill could create legal headaches for medical providers.

Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, is the latest to add his voice to the topic, penning a letter to Gov. Rick Scott pointing out the "numerous errors" in HB 119. Much of Kriseman's letter discusses a technical glitch in the bill's language that gives two separate dates for when certain provisions regarding medical clinics covered under PIP goes into effect.

Download Kriseman letter to Gov Scott on PIP reform

Critics say the result of this glitch is that for six months, from July 1 to Dec. 31, many hospitals and medical clinics won't be legally able to submit claims under PIP. As a result, insurers could use the gap as justification to deny claims, they say.

The Agency for Health Care Administration issued a memo this month in hopes of clarifying the topic and reassuring both medical providers and policyholders. Meanwhile, insurers have said they won't use the technical glitch to their advantage.

Cue the cacophony: FL Dems mock Marco Rubio-Jim DeMint connection in Peggy March remake

Sometimes something is so bad it's good. Such is the case with the Florida Democratic Party's off-key music video rendition of the 1963 Peggy March hit "I will follow him" that seeks to make Republican Sen. Marco Rubio into South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint's cartoon-headed boy.

A sample of the lyrics: "I'll serve him, I'll serve him. And where he goes I'll follow... I will follow Jim..."

As if the the 1963 classic wasn't bad enough....

South Florida lawmakers vow to overturn Citizens’ uncapped rate plan next year

Two South Florida lawmakers have put up a preliminary roadblock to a plan by Citizens Insurance to remove the 10-percent cap on rates for new policyholders.

Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami and Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, R-Miami, have both said they would file legislation next year to overturn the plan if Citizens’ board opts to approve it.

In a Sunday op-ed in the Miami Herald, Flores called the plan “nothing short of immoral,” claiming that it would hurt homeowners.

The plan, which is still being ironed out and debated, could cause the cost of joining Citizens Insurance to increase significantly in some parts of the state. Currently there is a 10-percent cap on rate increases, but Citizens believes that cap only applies to existing customers. Citizens says the plan is one of several options being considered to help the insurer prepare financially for a major storm, which could lead to "hurricane taxes" if the insurer runs out of money.

Local governments spend millions on Tallahassee lobbyists

Although the economic downturn has caused local government agencies to make tough budget decisions, many are still carving out room for lobbyists.

In total, millions of dollars in public funds are spent statewide to influence decisionmakers in Tallahassee. A Times/Herald analysis of lobbyist compensation reports for the first three months of 2012 shows that spending by local agencies will fall somewhere between $3.1 million and $9.2 million. (Lobbyists are required to provide only ranges of their compensation.)

That amount doesn't include salaries paid to in-house governmental relations staff or the additional dollars paid for memberships to trade associations, which also have Tallahassee lobbyists.

Miami-Dade County contracts with eight lobbying firms. The school system, clerk of courts, transportation agencies, Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and 21 municipalities have lobbyists, too. All told, government agencies in the county spent between $620,000 and $1.2 million during the first three months of the year.

At least $210,000 was spent on lobbying by Tri-Rail, the commuter train system that runs from Palm Beach County to Miami, though some of that money will stretch the entire year. Government affairs manager Vicki Wooldridge said she relies on lobbyists from a handful of firms to assist her at state, federal and local levels.

"The easy answer is, I can't be everywhere all the time," Wooldridge said, noting she doesn't have other in-house staff.

Read more here.