Conexion Miami / Curbelo’s client list

The District 26 congressional race between Joe Garcia and Carlos Curbelo may come down to this: who of the two will be able to better resolve what dogs each the most. In the case of Garcia, his former chief of staff pleaded guilty last year to breaking Florida elections law. He served time and paid his due. As for Curbelo, there’s still the question of his media and public relations firm, Capitol Gains. Curbelo refuses to reveal who his client list is. Not a big deal… unless you consider that as a former school board member some of those clients might have done business with the public school district.  

Dangerously hot

A sarcastically scary ditty from Eye on Miami on the Turkey Point (in South Miami-Dade) nuclear reactors: “You don’t have to go searching around for a hot spring anymore. Just opened: the posh Turkey Point Springs (actually the Turkey Point cooling canals for two nuclear reactors). Forget about all those other hot springs, this one has the added rejuvenating powers of having gone through nuclear reactors. What could be better for your health then a cauldron of… lets face it – who knows what. It was reported [that] the cooling canals over there are even hotter, sometimes 102 degrees…too hot to cool the reactors.”

Bill Clinton will visit

Political season has begun. And if there is still any doubts that Florida – and especially the Miami area – is drawing national attention, check out who’s visited or planning to visit. On the republican side we’ve mentioned former presidential candidate Mitt Romney and former governor Jeb Bush among a host of others working to get Rick Scott reelected and Carlos Curbelo elected. But Charlie Crist may unveil the biggest drawing card of them all this week when Bill Clinton comes to town. The Clinton rally for Crist is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. at the J.W. Marriott Marquis in downtown Miami.

Undecided will decide in Florida

According to experts, the Florida governor’s race will be a $100 million battle for the 8 percent who is undecided. Crist is tapping into the state’s public campaign financing program which requires him to cap spending at $25 million. Scott’s campaign has already spent that much in attack ads on Crist and could raise as much as $100 million by November. Polls indicate the race is a dead heat.

Florida legislator turns down award

Ideology has taken over American politics to the point that a Florida legislator won’t accept an award from a group because the association was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last week seeking to have Florida’s biggest private-school voucher program declared unconstitutional. Last month, the Florida School Boards Association notified state Sen. John Legg, R-Lutz, that he had been named the organization’s 2014 Legislator of the Year. Legg said no thanks.

Every 2 votes count

Every vote counts, we are told. We’re not sure of every vote, but there’s recent proof that every two votes do count. In a Jacksonville area primary battle for Florida House District 15, where most of the voters did not participate, Jay Fant beat Paul Renner by such a close margin that votes were recounted. The final tally: 5,962 votes to 5,960 votes. Fant beat Renner by two votes.

Most people did not vote

Florida recorded its worst voter turnout in the last 16 years in last week’s primary election. Only 17.5 percent of the state’s 11.8 million voters made it to the polls. It was the lowest turnout since 16.6 percent of the voters participated in the 1998 primary election. Miami-Dade came in at a paltry 14.4% turnout. Immediately north of Miami, Broward was second worst statewide at 10.76%. The top sport went to rural Glades County, which reported a turnout of 9.3 percent.

Peace out with pot

Toke now, or forever hold your piece, says a photograph of a recently married couple. A new study by researchers at the University of Buffalofinds a significantly lower incidence of domestic violence among married couples who smoke pot. “Couples in which both spouses used marijuana frequently reported the least frequent IPV [intimate partner violence] perpetration,” the study concludes.

Jackson sued for making it difficult on the needy

Jackson Hospital is Miami’s public hospital – if you’re broke and can’t get medical help, here’s where you go for relief. But Florida Legal Services and the National Health Law Program, nonprofit groups that provide civil legal help to the indigent, are suing, alleging that Jackson fails to meet new requirements for nonprofit hospitals under the Affordable Care Act and other laws. Demanding onerous paperwork from low-income applicants is just one way that Jackson has barred eligible Miami-Dade residents from accessing the charity care program.

Florida health care crisis

Florida legislators refused to expand Medicaid or work with the federal government to offer subsidized insurance plans. As a quick fix they allocated $900,000 to help Floridians find affordable health care through a new state-backed website. Six months after the launch of the state’s effort, called Florida Health Choices, just 30 people have signed up. Another seven plans were canceled either because consumers changed their minds or didn’t pay for services. These numbers are dwarfed by the nearly 764,000 Floridians who are too poor to afford subsidized plans, yet can’t qualify for Medicaid under Florida’s stringent standards – the target market for Health Choices.

Fight continues for gay rights in Florida

Four state court judges and one federal judge have overturned Florida’s ban on gay marriages. These ruling have been put on hold while Florida anti anything gay Attorney General Pam Bondi appeals. So a state appellate court took the unusual step of asking the high court to decide a case involving same sex marriage without issuing its own decision first. Those in the know say that because the U.S. Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of the U.S. Constitution, the last word on the topic likely will be spoken in Washington, D.C., not in Tallahassee.

Latina to head ICE

President Obama nominated current U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Sarah R. Saldaña, to serve as Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Department of Homeland Security. If a majority of U.S. Senators vote to support her confirmation, she’ll become the first Latina to lead ICE – the government’s second biggest investigative agency and an agency that will be critical to whatever executive action the President may call for in terms of immigration reform.

Thrown out for not praying

Winter Garden Mayor John Rees, a nonpartisan official leading an Orlando suburb of about 37,000, was caught on video demanding that Joseph Richardson, a citizen attending the meeting, stand for a prayer, which thanked God for “allowing us to live in a country where we’re free to believe, think, and pray.” Richardson responded, “I don’t believe I have to do that, thank you.” City police enforced the mayor’s demand and Richardson had to leave the meeting.