September 22, 2008

Garcia goes up on the air

Democrat Joe Garcia is up on the air with his first campaign ad, looking to cast Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart as a friend of oil companies -- and his own paycheck. "This ad reinforces that Washington has the wrong economic priorities and Diaz-Balart is part of the problem," said Garcia spokesman Andy Diaz.

The "pay raises" referred to in the ad are pay raises that are automatically awarded unless Congress votes to block them -- something the GOP-led Congress did routinely in the past.

Posted by Lesley Clark at 03:29 PM in Congress, Joe Garcia, Mario Diaz-Balart
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Obama vs. King Jr.

A Broward School Board member said Monday she is yanking one of her appointments to a school district committee because of comments he's made about Barack Obama.

John Labriola said he's offended by comparisons between Obama and Martin Luther King Jr., because of Obama's support of federal wiretapping, which was used on King.

Board member Phyllis Hope appointed Labriola to the District Advisory Council two years ago. Labriola has no children and is a Democratic Party precinct committeemen.

When he raised the motion at a meeting earlier this month, no one would second it. Chairwoman Jeanne Jusevic said even if it had, she would have ruled him out of order.

"I just got the message that this was a group that didn't want to discuss things seriously," Labriola said, and offered his resignation to Hope on Monday.

But Hope, who had received calls of complaint from several council members, didn't accept. Instead, she revoked her appointment.

"Everyone is entitled to their political views. This is not the place and the time to do that," she said. "I'll be looking for someone who can bring issues about our children and not their own political views for media attention."

                                                                               --NIRVI SHAH

Posted by Amy Sherman at 02:37 PM in Broward Politics
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GOP chief predicts South Florida victories bigger than "most of the prognosticators predict"

Oklahoma Republican Tom Cole, in charge of defending House GOP seats, told reporters today he expects South Florida's three GOP incumbents to hold on to their seats -- despite aggressive challenges by the Democrats.

He said he doesn't think Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, challenged by Annette Taddeo is "in any trouble at all," but said Reps. Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart have fights on their hands. Their challengers: Raul Martinez and Joe Garcia.

"We recognize it's competitive, but more importantly, they recognize it's competitive," Cole said. "At the end of the day we'll actually win more comfortably than most of the prognosticators predict."

He said the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee that he heads is going to be "heavily engaged" in the races and that the incumbents -- who backed John McCain from the start -- benefit from McCain's popularity in Florida.

Posted by Lesley Clark at 02:07 PM in Annette Taddeo, Congress, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Joe Garcia, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Mario Diaz-Balart, Raul Martinez
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Rosenberg's out

From a press statement:

"Chancellor Mark B. Rosenberg today announced that he intends to end his service to the Board of Governors of the State University System of Florida and return to Florida International University as a member of the faculty.

"Rosenberg said he would remain as Chancellor until February 2009."

Posted by Marc Caputo at 01:35 PM
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The Chicago Machine and Fannie's lobby

John McCain and Barack Obama are hitting each other's associates harder then ever.

McCain just released a spot, "Chicago Machine," tying Obama to his now-convicted supporter Tony Rezko and other Illinois political players. Missing: Bill Ayers of the Weathermen 1960s radical terror group, a name repeatedly mentioned in a conference call this morning by McCain camp honchos Steve Schmidt and Rick Davis. Schmidt complained that the media hasn't been hard enough on Obama and talked enough about Ayers. Davis said Chicago Machine would play on cable and in battleground states, such as Florida.

The Obama campaign made sure to note that Davis was the subject of this New York Times piece today showing that his lobbying firm was paid $1.5 million on behalf of a group set up by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the fended off calls for more regulations.

Davis said the Times "must have some type of Davis envy." And he pointed out that the group he lobbied for included 19 others, including the Urban League and La Raza.

“The only thing that we campaigned on, and that was to promote home ownership. I never lobbied a single day. And sure, I have relationships there. But you’ll also notice that John McCain’s track record, even whil I was involved in the Homeownership Alliance, he was actively pursuing attacks against the GSCs for not having enough regulation. So im not exactly sure what the tie in is," Davis said.

The Obama camp said the ad was "false" but didn't give specifics. It, meantime, is pressing McCain on healthcare (over this article Download mccain.pdf , saying he'll do for healthcare what Washington did for banking.

Posted by Marc Caputo at 12:49 PM in 2008 Presidential Election
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Taddeo, Solis talk bailout

Congressional hopeful Annette Taddeo got some love from Democratic Rep. Hilda Solis of California Monday, when the two held a press conference to speak about the government's proposed bank bailout plan.

Solis, who was first elected in 2000 and is running for reelection, compared South Florida to part of her district in East Los Angeles, saying both were suffering from foreclosures and higher-than-usual unemployment.

"The fundamentals of the economy, my friends, are not strong," she said, poking at Republican John McCain. "We are, in fact, in a recession."

Standing in front of the offices of the Foreclosure Relief System, which helps people try to hold on to their homes, Solis and Taddeo said they would support the administration's bailout but with some conditions, including more Congressional oversight and less pay to CEOs of the troubled financial institutions. They also said the package should include help for homeowners who are struggling.

"We as taxpayers we are being asked to provide a blank check," Taddeo said. "There need to be some strings attached."

Then Solis touted Taddeo's experience running LanguageSpeak, a translation business: "A businesswoman...can surely provide the leadership that we need."

Taddeo, who is challenging Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, tried to draw parallels between last week's financial troubles with what would happen if there was more deregulation in other sectors of the economy, like Social Security.

Solis made the political rounds in South Florida over the weekend, campaigning for Barack Obama in Homestead, West Kendall and Immokalee.

Posted by Patricia Mazzei at 12:04 PM in Annette Taddeo, Congress, Florida Politics, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
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Is Republican Lamberti courting the gay vote?

Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti will participate in a hate crimes forum at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Fort Lauderdale Wednesday night.

Lamberti, a Republican, needs thousands of Democrats to cross over and vote for him Nov. 4. His opponent, North Bay Village Police Chief Scott Israel, has the advantage of being a Democrat in a county dominated by Democrats. But some party activists aren't enamoured with Israel because he switched from Republican to Democrat last year.

The hate crimes forum is sponsored by several gay rights and political groups including the Dolphin Democrats and Log Cabin Republicans. Although the event is technically part of Lamberti's job as sheriff, it will give him exposure as he tries to pick up more votes.

Lamberti's office has reached out to the gay community through town halls. And one of his community involvement specialists, Adriane Reesey, is vice president of the Dolphin Democrats and plays an important role in the gay community outreach.

But some gay voters may want to know Lamberti's position on the Marriage Protection Amendment which would ban gay marriage in the constitution. Lamberti has said he is running a non-partisan campaign so it would be a surprise if he took a stance on that political issue.

Posted by Amy Sherman at 11:54 AM in Broward Politics
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Obama zaps McCain for diss against Spain

Talking Points Memo is reporting that Barack Obama has zapped John McCain for his remarks last week to a Miami radio station that were viewed as either a McCain gaffe or a slight to Spain.

In last week's interview McCain wouldn't say whether he'd meet with the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero. In an interview with the same station, Obama says he would.

"Spain is a NATO ally, and the fact that Senator McCain indicated that he might not meet with Zapatero I think indicates that he wants to continue the Cheney policies of trying to dictate American foreign policy instead of trying to build cooperation. I think that's a mistake."

For more about McCain's remarks click here.

Posted by Lesley Clark at 11:25 AM in 2008 Presidential Election, Barack Obama, John McCain
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Mel Martinez: "We are at the edge of a significant cliff"

Mel Martinez on CNBC this morning -- in what the program said was a first -- urged quick action on the administration's $700 billion bailout plan.

"We need to make sure we don't load it up, as is very usual for Congress to do," the Florida Republican said. "This is a time when we have to be disciplined and we have to be zeroed in on what the goal is."

Martinez, a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, cautioned against loading up the bill with extra items like an economic stimulus package that Democrats want.

"This is not a time when we need to be stimulating the economy by more consumer spending. We need to be saving the entire financial system," he said.

Asked about Americans who may resent spending money to bailout the financial industry, Martinez said "the magnitude is enormous, but I think what is at risk is also enormous. And so if you believe in the diagnosis, which we all, I think, have pretty well bought into, that this is, we are at the edge of a significant cliff, we need to act and we need to act swiftly regardless."

Posted by Lesley Clark at 11:07 AM in Congress, Mel Martinez
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Michelle and Jill, together in Tally

Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, who are taking their show on the road together for the first time this week, will campaign Saturday in Tallahassee.

The would-be First and Second Ladies will encourage students to register to vote.

Posted by Beth Reinhard at 09:37 AM in 2008 Presidential Election
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