RPOF thrashes Keith Fitzgerald

State Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, bashed former House member Keith Fitzgerald Friday for voting on statewide budget bills without filing conflict-of-interest forms to disclose that he was an employee at New College.

But, while criticizing Fitzgerald, Thrasher didn't mention that at least five current lawmakers, including his Republican allies, voted on similar bills while working for universities.

That includes Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, a University of Florida professor who voted on several appropriations bills in 2012 but didn't file a single conflict-of-interest form.

Retailers offer new settlement offer in FPL rate case

The Florida Retail Federation, after publicly rejecting a settlement offered this week by Florida Power & Light, on Friday proposed its own suggestion for the company's $690 million rate case.

The Retail Federation, which represents about 7,000 retailers throughout the state, said the Public Service Commission should delay by six months FPL's rate increase -- thereby assuring most customers lower bills for the first part of next year as lower fuel prices kick in -- but allow the company a partial rate increase beginning in June 2013.

“While FPL would not get the immediate rate increase it had been seeking, the company will continue to enjoy a generous profit and more than enough revenue to continue providing the safe and reliable service we expect,” said Rick McAllister, president and CEO of the Florida Retail Federation.

The state consumer advocate, J.R. Kelly, director of the Office of Public Counsel, said he was still reviewing the offer but believed "it will be much better received than what FPL has filed."

ACLU claims Rick Scott is not telling some ex-felons they can vote

Florida has faced heat for how it handles restoring the rights of felons -- an issue with partisan and racial undertones. A disproportionate number of felons are black and blacks lean Democratic. Who has a right to vote is a pressing concern a few months before the Nov. 6 presidential election.  

The ACLU of Florida sent an email to supporters Aug. 3 sounding alarm bells and suggesting that thousands of ex-felons have been disenfranchised due to "suppression tactics" by the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott. The headline of the email stated: "13,000 Floridians are able to vote -- but their governor won’t tell them." PolitiFact checks the ACLU's claim

Citizens Insurance to offer reinspections of its reinspections

Citizens Property Insurance Corp. announced Friday it is making significant changes to its home reinspection program following an outcry from consumers and recent media coverage over a staggering $137 million in premium increases tied to the initial program.

Under its new plans, homeowners who lose insurance discounts due to a reinspection can receive a second inspection free of charge and will have new tools to dispute first inspectors' findings.

"In response to policyholder and agent feedback, Citizens is implementing changes to its inspection program to address concerns about the implementation and quality of the program as well as provide better education on the importance of protecting homes against storm damage," said Citizens board chairman Carlos Lacasa.

Citizens is still deciding whether to apply the changes retroactively. That decision could impact more than 175,000 property owners, who have lost an average of $800 in credits after their inspections.

The announcement comes less than a week after the Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau published a series of stories documenting how hundreds of thousands of Floridians have seen premiums soar as the state-run insurer intensifies its plans to raise rates through reinspections and reduce coverage.

Read more here: 

@ToluseO 

 

Romney camp again trashes Florida (and Scott's) unemployment numbers

Here we go again.

Just four days after Rick Scott stumped briefly with Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney in Florida, and talked about the need to replace Barack Obama in the White House, we get another message-clashing missive from the Romney campaign about the .2 percentage point rise in unemployment numbers in July.

Note they're not mentioning the Gov. Rick Scott Talking Points, which emphasize that unemployment has been dropping pretty steadily in Florida since he took office. They make a cryptic mention of "pro-growth leaders in Florida" but carefully don't name the governor.

Admittedly the latest report is a blip upward, so the governor's message is now a bit mixed. But Scott spokesman Brian Burgess see no conflicting message. (See charts below for illustration.)

"Romney’s message is that the economy should be in much better shape that it is,'' Burgess said in an email. "Gov. Scott has said the same thing.  But Gov. Scott also makes the case that things have improved under his leadership here in Florida – and at a faster clip than the national economy has improved."

For emphasis, he added: "There is no conflicting message coming from the two camps – this is a narrative whipped to life by people who are willfully ignoring the obvious – which is that there is a substantial headwind coming out of DC, and while Florida is on the right track, that track could be moving a lot faster if we had a president that knows how to create jobs instead of a president that is working against Governor Scott’s efforts to create jobs."

Here Romney's take on the Florida economy by Florida spokesman Jeff Bechdel, followed by Scott's very contrasting appraisal: