AP: Voter purge controversy turns into MoveOn.org campaign ad against Romney

The Associated Press reports that the folks at MoveOn.org have produced a new Spanish-language television ad bashing Mitt Romney over Florida's voter purge plan. The ad begins airing on Thursday.

AP story

 

David Rivera to Romney: More details on immigration or "no Hispanic outreach efforts"

Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami., tells BuzzFeed that until Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney clarifies his approach to immigration reform, he won't act on his behalf as a surrogate to Hispanic voters.

"I'm not willing to participate in any Hispanic outreach efforts without seeing more details on a permanent solution for these kids," he told BuzzFeed.

So far, Obama is winning the battle for Hispanic voters because Romney hasn't offered those voters anything they can support, Rivera told BuzzFeed: "Right now, his Hispanic supporters and Hispanic surrogates don't have the ammunition to combat the Obama attacks on him," Rivera said of Romney, former governor of Massachusetts.

BuzzFeed also notes that criminal investigations into Rivera's finances "have prompted national Republicans, including Romney, to keep their distance from the South Florida congressman, and explain why he's the only Hispanic Republican in the House who isn't tied to the Romney campaign."

Advocates calls for federal action to restore ex-felons' voting rights

From the News Service of Florida:

Hundreds of thousands of Florida ex-felons who have completed their sentences still can't vote, a prohibition that is hindering their re-entry into society, a group of voting rights advocates said Tuesday as they urged Congress to step in.

Changes made last year in Florida have stopped restoration efforts for ex-felons who have served their prison sentences or completed probation, a shift in policy that came four years after former Gov. Charlie Crist and the Cabinet voted to join most other states and automatically restore the rights of felons who had paid their debt to society.

Hampered in efforts to change state law, Mark Schlakman, a Democratic candidate for Congress and Walter McNeil, former Department of Corrections secretary, on Tuesday urged Florida's congressional delegation to push for federal law changes to require automatic restoration of civil rights for federal elections.

The practical result, said Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho, would be that state election officials would follow suit because a dual registration system for state and federal elections would not work.

Judge declines to rule on prison health care dispute

The state's circuit court will not rule on whether legislators broke the law in their push for what would have been the country's most sweeping overhaul of the prison healthcare system, leaving the year-long dispute unresolved.

Circuit Judge Kevin Carroll declined to give an opinion Monday on whether lawmakers violated the constitution by using fine-print budget language--called proviso-- to issue a massive outsourcing of inmate health care.

Lawmakers hoped the change would cut prison health care costs by 7 percent. But two employee unions sued the state for tucking such a massive change into the budget rather than vetting it through the Legislature's long-standing committee structure.

Carroll's order says any court opinion would be moot because the 2011 budget, which contains the language on prison health privatization, expired Saturday. There is no provision in the 2012 budget that calls for privatization of inmate health services.

Plaintiffs also asked the court to forbid the Department of Corrections from future outsourcing of prison health services, but Carroll refused the request.

"The law is clear in Florida that the circuit court cannot give advisory opinions," the ruling states.

Twitter: Britt_alana

Scott stops using misleading talking points in criticizing 'Obamacare'

Gov. Rick Scott is continuing his media blitz, appearing on at least one national radio program Tuesday to criticize the health care law. But one day after having several statements labeled as "False" or "Pants on fire" by PolitiFact, the governor has changed his tune in some ways.

In previous speeches and interviews, Scott talked about a Dairy Queen owner with about 20 employees who said he couldn't bear the costs of the health care law's requirement that businesses offer workers health insurance. PolitiFact looked into Scott's statements and rated them "Pants on fire" because the provision only applies to businesses with more than 50 employees.

A Tallahassee Dairy Queen owner told the Times/Herald Monday that he was misinformed about the law and did not know he was exempt since he only has 16 employees.

When America's Radio News Network host Lori Lundin asked Scott to respond to the PolitiFact ruling, he cast his statements in a new light and said the story about the business owner demonstrates how the health care law prohibits growth. (Scott's interview comes about halfway through the Podcast.)

"The focus is on many small employers," he said. "Their cost of health care is going up so they won’t be able to afford to hire the people they’ll need to provide the services to keep their business going.”

Michelle Obama to visit Miami next week

First Lady Michelle Obama will be in Orlando and Miami next week, campaigning on her husband's behalf. It's one of many trips to Florida recently by either the First Lady, the president or the vice president. Michelle Obama will be back on Tuesday.

The women in President Barack Obama's life have a big role, and that includes his daughters. He and Michelle Obama fiercely protect the private lives of their daughters, Sasha and Malia. But the girls – ages 13 and 11 – increasingly are making public appearances: starring in remarks by their father, appearing in a campaign video celebrating Father’s Day and now in a campaign ad that's airing in seven battleground states.

They've been used to "personalize his image and his thinking on a range of public policy issues, from explaining why he placed a phone call to a college student assailed by radio talker Rush Limbaugh to his decision to support gay marriage," writes McClatchy's Lesley Clark.