Weekly Roundup: As Trump stumps, courts take care of business

By JIM TURNER
THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, October 14, 2016.......... Just a little while to go and the long national nightmare that is the Chicago Cubs' World Series drought may be over.

Or not. It is the Cubs.

And the same goes for the current election cycle.

As Florida dried out from the second hurricane of the season, it once again found itself this week in the center of the election universe as Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump stumped from Panama City Beach to West Palm Beach in a defiant manner amid scandals engulfing his campaign.

Meanwhile, courts were busy in Tallahassee, extending the voter-registration deadline and finding part of a new death-penalty law unconstitutional.

TRUMPING THE NEWS

As accusations of sexual assault emerged that would typically torpedo the political prospects of lesser candidates, part-time Florida man Trump denounced the charges as “outright lies,” expanded his targets to include establishment Republicans and ratcheted up his attacks on the media and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

And Floridians got a front row seat, with Trump speaking to faithful throngs in Panama City Beach, Ocala, Lakeland and West Palm Beach.

Addressing thousands of cheering supporters at Aaron Bessant Park in Panama City Beach on Tuesday, Trump painted Clinton as a pawn of a global establishment that would usher in the destruction of the nation. He also opined on a variety of issues in Florida, including whether the management of Lake Okeechobee has caused droughts in the state.

Trump's three-day swing through Florida came as polls show him slipping behind Clinton in the state. It is highly unlikely that Trump can win the White House without Florida's 29 electoral votes.

The Panama City area is part of a Northwest Florida stronghold for Republicans in statewide races. State Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Fort Walton Beach Republican running for a seat in Congress, referred to the importance of the region while talking to the Trump crowd about former Vice President Al Gore's visit to South Florida with Clinton earlier Tuesday.

"In 2000, we made sure Al Gore was never going to be the president of the United States," Gaetz said.

During remarks in Miami Beach, Gore alluded to the state's 2000 recount, which cleared the way for the presidency of George W. Bush, as he stressed the importance of every vote.

"You can consider me as an Exhibit A of that truth," Gore said, according to a transcript released by the Clinton campaign.

But it was the release late last week of a video that showed Trump talking about kissing and groping women without consent that put other politicians on the spot this week.

Gov. Rick Scott, who chairs a super PAC backing the Republican nominee, called Trump's comments "wrong" but stopped short of condemning the Republican presidential hopeful.

On Tuesday, as Democrats tried to use the video as a way to tie GOP candidates to Trump, Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio reaffirmed support for the party's nominee.

Rubio, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP presidential nomination this year, issued a statement that rejected Trump's “offensive rhetoric” but expressed a bigger aversion to Clinton becoming president.

"I ran against Donald Trump. And while I respect that voters chose him as the GOP nominee, I have never hesitated to oppose his policies I disagree with," Rubio said in a statement. "And I have consistently rejected his offensive rhetoric and behavior. I disagree with him on many things, but I disagree with his opponent on virtually everything.

"I wish we had better choices for president. But I do not want Hillary Clinton to be our next president. And therefore my position has not changed."

COURT REQUIRES UNANIMOUS JURIES IN DEATH CASES

Nine months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Florida's death-penalty system gave too much power to judges, instead of juries, the state Supreme Court followed up Friday with another major decision that said part of the system is unconstitutional.

The Florida court, in a 5-2 ruling, said juries are required to be unanimous in recommending death sentences. That invalidated part of a law passed early this year that would have allowed 10-2 jury recommendations for defendants to be sent to Death Row.

Friday's ruling also vacated the death sentence of Timothy Lee Hurst, who was sentenced to death for the 1998 killing of a fast-food worker in Pensacola.

Hurst was the plaintiff in an appeal that resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January that Florida's system of allowing judges --- and not juries --- to decide whether defendants should face death equates to an unconstitutional violation of the Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury.

During the spring legislative session, lawmakers and Scott quickly passed a measure to try to address the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. As part of that, the Senate pushed to require unanimous jury recommendations for the death penalty.

But the House balked, and Attorney General Pam Bondi and state prosecutors also opposed the proposal. In a compromise, the two chambers settled on requiring 10 jurors to vote for the death penalty. The Florida Supreme Court on Friday said that part of the new law was unconstitutional.

“The act, however, is unconstitutional because it requires that only 10 jurors recommend death as opposed to the constitutionally required unanimous, 12-member jury,” the court majority ruled.

JUDGE GIVES MORE TIME FOR VOTER REGISTRATION

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker on Wednesday approved a request by the Florida Democratic Party to extend the deadline for voter registration because Hurricane Matthew forced people to flee the East Coast last week. Walker set the new deadline for Tuesday.

"While we wish it had not taken a lawsuit to get the Scott administration to do the right thing, today's ruling is a major victory for all Floridians and for the democratic process in the Sunshine State,” Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Allison Tant said in a statement.

Scott initially balked at idea of extending the deadline, saying "(e)verybody has had a lot of time to register.”

But Scott's office sent out a statement before the Wednesday court hearing suggesting that the Legislature consider changes to the state's voter registration law during the 2017 session. Florida has one of the earliest registration deadlines in the nation, and the law has no provision for what happens if a disaster strikes near the deadline.

Lawyers for Scott and Secretary of State Ken Detzner voiced no opposition to the extension during the hearing.
 
STORY OF THE WEEK: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump tried to rally voters across Florida this week amid a furor about his campaign.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: --- "When you're taking money out of the masses' pockets and then giving it literally --- to the Democrats' argument --- to the top 1 percent, to the detriment of everybody else, that is de facto socialism." --- Incoming Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran during a panel discussion on economic business incentives in Texas.