Sayfie Review Roundup - May 30, 2015
Florida's top headlines that attracted the most
readers on Sayfie Review this week
Mike Salinero - Tampa Tribune - May 26, 2015
...Valrico businessman and Republican kingmaker Sam Rashid has never been known to pull his punches. But the outspoken Rashid managed to go a rant too far in a Facebook posting last week, referring to three unnamed Hillsborough County Circuit Judges as "dumbasses."
Though he later edited the statement - replacing the word with "dumb mothers" - the posting cost Rashid a U.S. senatorial appointment to the Florida Federal Judicial Nominating Commission. The commission nominates candidates for federal judgeships, U.S. Attorneys and U.S. Marshals.
The posting also could prove an embarrassment to the presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a longtime friend of Rashid who appointed him to the commission.
After accepting Rubio's appointment on Friday, Rashid had to formally decline it a day later.
Gary Fineout - The Fine Print - May 26, 2015
...There are four deputy chiefs of staff reporting to Melissa Sellers, Scott's chief of staff and campaign manager for his re-election. None of them have their emails included in Sunburst. Nor does Scott's current cabinet affairs director - an area that has been the source of consternation in recent months since the forced dismissal of Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey.
Emails going into an account for Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera appear to have stopped going into Sunburst this past January.
There is still traffic in Sellers account - but it mainly consists of her schedule and emails she receives. She appears to have adopted the same policy as her predecessor and refrains from using her state account to send anything out.
25 proposals and counting for amendments on 2016 ballot
James L. Rosica - Tampa Tribune/Naples Daily News Capital Bureau - May 25, 2015
...With almost a year and a half till the next election on Nov. 8, 2016, there are 25 proposed amendments vying for a slot on the ballot. Only a few amendments may get before voters, but that doesn't mean backers won't try. In 2012, there were 11 ballot questions; last year there were only three.
John Morgan, the Orlando trial lawyer behind last year's failed medical marijuana amendment, refiled a new one this January for the 2016 election. And two more appeared just last Wednesday on the state Division of Elections website. One would require Florida companies with five or more employees to offer paid sick time, and another would set the state's minimum wage at no less than $10 an hour.
