Is Gov. Rick Scott eyeing White House in 2012?

TALLAHASSEE -- — Gov. Rick Scott was about to dismantle a nearly $3 billion bullet train deal that state and local officials had spent a decade assembling.

But before he mentioned anything about “high-speed rail,” Scott blasted President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for “higher taxes” and creating the “largest budget deficit in our nation’s history.”

It was par for the course from Scott, who has taken his war on the federal government, and Obama in particular, from the campaign trail straight into the state’s most powerful political office.

And nearly four months after Election Day, Scott acknowledged he’s still in campaign mode.

“I’m still used to running for office,” he joked during a tour of the Florida Lottery on Thursday.

“I believe in the sovereignty of the great state of Florida,” Scott said. “We’ve got to defend the rights of Floridians as citizens of this great state.”

But his devotion to the tea party and his continued focus on federal issues — health insurance, unemployment benefits, immigration and now high-speed rail — has some asking if Scott wants to run for president.

“I wouldn’t be shocked to wake up one morning and see he has planned visits to Iowa and New Hampshire,” Florida Democratic Party spokesman Eric Jotkoff said.

Scott has denied interest in the White House, saying he wants to serve a second term.

But the signs are piling up.

He beefed up the Washington, D.C., extension of the governor’s office by hiring former health care lobbyist Brian McManus, an ally of Scott’s Conservatives for Patients’ Rights group. Spencer Geissinger, Scott’s external affairs director, is considering joining the D.C. office, too.

Frequent appearances on FOX News also feed speculation. Scott made his fourth appearance on the network in three weeks on Thursday, slamming high speed rail as a “federal boondoggle.”

Taking on the federal government can only help Scott in Florida, said Republican consultant Albert Martinez.

“Have you seen anything in the last two years from the federal government to make you believe you should be entering into a $2.4 billion contract with them?” Martinez said.

Scott’s opposition to the rail project had less to do with possible presidential aspirations, Martinez said, than it did maintaining credibility with his conservative base.

But it’s unclear how well his forceful anti-government message is playing with the rest of the state.

He’s the first modern governor to win office with fewer votes than any other winner on the statewide Republican ticket. Since the election, polls show nearly as many Floridians dislike him as like him; a Quinnipiac survey on Feb. 2 showed that 28 percent of registered voters view the new governor favorably, 24 percent have an unfavorable opinion, and another 45 percent don’t know enough about him to say one way or the other.

Scott has shown little interest in extending an olive branch to a list of opponents — teachers, environmentalists and even some fellow Republican lawmakers — that grows by the week.

Sometimes it seems he is more concerned with his competition nationally.

He insists he has the most fiscally conservative budget in the country and constantly says he wants to outperform Texas Gov. Rick Perry. He seemed to enjoy it when FOX hosts compared him to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday.

Rick Scott moves to delay redistrict planRidley Scott Plans User-Generated YouTube Documentary

House speaker “perplexed” by Scott’s budget proposal

ST. PETERSBURG -- — Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon embraces Gov. Rick Scott’s philosophy and work ethic, but he’s keeping some of Scott’s biggest proposals at arm’s length.

While calling the governor “gracious” and “smart” Friday during an hour meeting with the St. Petersburg Times editorial board, Cannon described Scott’s budget as an “unorthodox” plan that he’s “perplexed by.”

“I think, again, a lot of people including me, as you see the proposal and you roll it out in Eustis, it was a weird — no one knew quite what to make of it in many respects,” Cannon said.

“But I haven’t had any signal that he’s trying to pick a fight. I haven’t had any signal that he’s doing anything other than trying to make good on what he said he was going to do on the campaign trail.”

Cannon, R-Winter Park, raised questions about the chances and framework of prominent parts of the budget proposal by Scott, a former health care executive. For example, Cannon reiterated that tax cuts Scott seeks will be very difficult this year because of the state’s tight finances.

While Cannon backs Scott’s planned reorganization of economic development agencies, Cannon ruled little else out — or in.

Other issues where Cannon has questions:

•  Scott originally said education would be spared from cuts in his budget. But his proposal cuts per-pupil funding by $703 and Cannon said the spending plan needs scrutiny. “I think the notion of just not replacing the federal stimulus money is I think a bitter pill, I mean it’s too big a pill,” he said.

•  Scott also has proposed collapsing the Department of Community Affairs — the state’s growth management arm — and combining it with the Department of Environmental Protection. Cannon cautioned against the restructuring, though he said development decisions need to be made swifter. “I think that it’s more important that we look at the regulations themselves than we move agency deck chairs around. I would rather focus at leaving agencies intact” and rewriting regulations, Cannon said. “They approve 95 percent of the things that come to them, but they take 13 months to do it.”

•  Cannon left open the possibility of backing President Barack Obama’s offer to let the state delay paying back billions of dollars borrowed for jobless benefits. On Wednesday, Scott balked at it, but Cannon called it “intriguing.”

Cannon downplayed any hardening of his relationship with Scott, saying they have different roles in government. Staff members talk regularly, and Cannon said he believes in Scott’s “bona fides.” But Scott’s arrival as an outsider in Tallahassee has created questions about how their relationship will be going forward.

“That’s the question mark — he does have some people in that office who are familiar with the process. But I think most of them are from outside of Tallahassee, and that poses a challenge,” Cannon said.

David DeCamp can be reached at ddecamp@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8779.

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Sacramento contemplates soda tax to combat obesity

Would you be willing to pay a special tax on soda if the money went to keep kids healthy?

That's what a Sacramento city councilman wants to explore as the city continues to cut recreational programs as part of a persistent cycle of large budget deficits.

While the proposal by Councilman Kevin McCarty is still in the early stages, it is sure to be met with opposition from taxpayer groups and the soft drink industry lobbyists.

Any new tax on soda would almost certainly require voter approval.

The soda tax is part of a broader initiative McCarty is working on to combat child obesity in the city. Other elements of his plan include removing soda from vending machines at city facilities and developing more community gardens at city schools.

Read the complete story at sacbee.com

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Lawmaker wants bad laws banished

TALLAHASSEE -- — The boy couldn’t believe what his lawmaker dad said on the phone.

Was it really illegal in Florida to ride a bike with no hands?

Bailey, 9, had a confession: “Daddy, I break the law every day I go to school. It’s just for a second! Is that illegal?”

It is, said Rep. Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, and it’s ridiculous.

Workman is on a mission to obliterate such illegalities buried in state law — like smoking clove cigarettes, coasting down hills in neutral, and unmarried couples living in cohabitation or “open adultery” — even if he doesn’t believe in them.

What’s most important, he said, is restoring personal liberties chipped away by government.

“Now, I don’t advocate cohabitation, I will kill either of my kids if they try that. I also don’t advocate adultery, my wife would kill me if I advocated for that,” he said. “But it still shouldn’t be a law.”

It also helps to please your boss.

The second-term legislator’s repeal run started in November when House Speaker Dean Cannon told him he wanted to leave office with fewer laws on the books than when he started. Then Gov. Rick Scott made reducing state regulations a top priority.

Workman, a 37-year-old mortgage broker, took the hints. He asked the local Republican Liberty Caucus to mine the Florida Statutes — five books and an index — for targets. He whittled down the group’s suggestions to seven bills and also gave away a few to colleagues.

Rep. Jason Brodeur, R-Sanford, is trying to repeal a law requiring diners to order a salad or vegetable, entree, bread, and beverage to take home resealed wine. And Longwood Rep. Scott Plakon, a libertarian-leaning Republican like Workman, is proposing several of his own, including one that would repeal the unlawful roaming of sheep-killing dogs.

Workman presented four bills in committee meetings this week. An avid runner, Workman was so excited for one that he jogged to the lectern. He needed only six minutes to pass repeals on “arcane” rules for chauffeur’s licenses and coasting.

There were just a few questions, including one from Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg: “Why do we need to get rid of it if it’s not doing nothing?”

Said Workman: “Every law that we pass in some way takes a little piece of the liberties that we are supposed to protect for our citizens. ”

Another colleague pressed him on the original legislative intent of one of his targets: a provision that prohibits motor vehicles from coasting in neutral or with the clutch disengaged downhill.

“I think probably to take away liberties and freedoms of citizens,” Workman said.

That got laughs.

“Are there any safety concerns, seriously?” Rep. Richard Steinberg, R-Miami Beach, continued.

Workman apologized and explained the outdated law applied to technology “that probably came with the invention of the horseless carriage.” He was “just jesting” earlier, he said.

His business finished, Workman darted out of the meeting and into an elevator. As the doors closed, he told friends in the lobby, “I’m a pretty big deal. My Capitol office smells of mahogany and leather-bound books.”

He was joking again — refashioning a line from fictional newscaster Ron Burgundy in Anchorman.

Fla. senators cast votes along party lines in repealing federal health care law

Senate budget committee chairman refuses to cut correctional officers

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott’s plan to overhaul Florida’s prison system, in part by firing hundreds of correctional officers, hit a wall of resistance Thursday.

The chairman of the Senate budget committee that oversees prisons, Republican Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey, declared the idea “dead on arrival,” as he clashed with John Thrasher, a powerful colleague who endorsed the proposal.

Scott’s plan would save $135 million by firing 1,700 employees, increasing probation officers’ caseloads, cutting wardens’ pay by 5 percent and shifting up to 1,500 inmates from state-run prisons to private, for-profit lockups, which are required to operate at 7 percent less cost than state prisons.

The governor wants to use the savings to expand drug treatment, mental health, literacy and re-entry programs for inmates so they will be less likely to commit new crimes and return to prison.

Fasano expressed shock when Scott budget aide Bonnie Rogers defended putting more inmates in private prisons, so as to save $2.8 million by dismissing 619 prison guards, even though state prisons have thousands of unused beds.

“What the governor wants to do is put 619 families on the unemployment line so we can move prisoners from the public sector to the private sector,” Fasano said.

Rogers, former chief of staff in the Department of Corrections, said the seven private prisons can reconfigure their space to house up to 1,500 more inmates. The private prisons are paid per inmate housed — meaning potentially more profit for the private firms.

Fasano and Thrasher, former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, had an ugly exchange after Fasano badgered the prison system’s new No. 2 official, Dan Ronay, for not controlling overtime, even though he has been on the job four days.

A scathing audit of prison overtime costs said 25 medical workers collected $2 million in overtime last year — the equivalent of $90,000 per worker.

Ronay called that “atrocious,” but that did not placate Fasano, who as committee chairman dominated the questioning and continued to hammer away.

“That is not fair to him,” Thrasher told Fasano. Then Thrasher sought to pin the blame for prison woes on former Gov. Charlie Crist, a Fasano ally whom Thrasher actively opposed last fall after Crist bolted from the Republican Party.

When Thrasher mentioned “a governor who left us who ran for something else,” Fasano cut him off abruptly.

“Oh, Sen. Thrasher, we’re not going to get into politics today,” Fasano said.

“We’re not playing politics,” Thrasher said.

Democratic Sen. Arthenia Joyner of Tampa faulted Scott’s team for advocating the shutdown of a juvenile detention center in eastern Hillsborough County to save money. Rogers sought to mollify Joyner, saying: “It was certainly not a target to your district.”

PBA lobbyist Ken Kopczynski praised Fasano for grilling Scott’s team. “I think he held their feet to the fire,” he said.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos, asked whether Fasano can single-handedly thwart a major part of Scott’s agenda, said: “If he can sway 21 members that something is a bad idea, then he’ll get his agenda done,” Haridopolos said.

Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or (850) 224-7263.

Lawmakers demand Florida budget details from Gov. ScottRidley Scott Plans User-Generated YouTube Documentary

“Star” educator Michelle Rhee sparks debate in Florida

Florida’s lawmakers were starstruck.

Before them stood Michelle Rhee, the former Washington D.C. public schools chancellor recently featured on Oprah, on a Newsweek cover and in the documentary film Waiting for Superman.

“I am here today to ask you to keep being a leader,” Rhee said, urging members of two education committees to tackle one the few reforms that Florida has yet to achieve: a streamlined way to get “ineffective” teachers out of the classroom. “There is so much more to do.”

Senate Pre-K-12 committee chairman Steve Wise called her a movie star, and even Sen. Eleanor Sobel, a more skeptical Broward Democrat, gave a nod to Rhee for “bringing new energy to the education debate.”

But as he watched from the audience, the spokesman from Florida’s teacher’s union wondered why lawmakers were listening to her. “It’s a little difficult to understand why she is given rock star status,” said Mark Pudlow, of the Florida Education Association.

Sure, Rhee might have the ear of the governor and the praise of the president. Sure, Rhee has made national headlines pushing through controversial measures relating to teacher tenure, evaluations and salaries in D.C.

But Pudlow noted that Washington D.C. schools score at the bottom of the national Education Week Quality Counts ranking, while Florida rates close to the top. He observed that some of Rhee’s controversial efforts to fire “ineffective” teachers have been overturned by an arbitrator after the Washington Teachers Union fought the effort.

Valid concerns, said Rhee, an unpaid informal adviser to Florida Gov. Rick Scott. She suggested looking through a different lens for some perspective.

“Over the three years that I was there, we saw really record gains in academic achievement on the NAEP examination,” she said. “We went from being last in the entire nation to leading the entire nation in gains in both reading and math at both the fourth and eighth grade levels. And we were the only jurisdiction in the entire country in which every single subgroup of children improved their academic standing.”

The 75,000-student district still isn’t the best, she acknowledged. Far from it, in fact. But Rhee proposed that the gains that D.C. schools made might be replicated if other school systems adopt some of the “drastic changes” that she pushed through.

Her new national organization, Students First, seeks to get states to adopt similar changes. Rhee has made presentations to leaders in New Jersey and Indiana about these efforts, and she headed to Atlanta right after her Tallahassee stop to make a pitch to Georgia lawmakers.

But she sees Florida as the logical leader for altering the teacher contract landscape, she said, because of its history of adopting school accountability measures and the willingness of its leaders to take on the tough challenges that lie ahead. She credited former governor Jeb Bush – with whom she has met – for starting the ball rolling and current Gov. Scott for taking the next step.

Some of Rhee’s points to Florida lawmakers last week:

•  End the practice of relying on seniority to determine which teachers stay and go during layoffs.

Reduce the length of time low-performing teachers get to improve, so children’s education is not wasted.

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Scott’s meeting with lawmakers may be a violation

TALLAHASSEE -- - Three top Senate Republicans violated their chamber’s own open meeting requirement when they discussed the state budget at a private dinner with Gov. Rick Scott, a First Amendment attorney said Tuesday.

“The meeting was held in a location not open to the public,” said Jim Rhea, director of the Florida First Amendment Foundation. “And people who asked to attend were not permitted to come in.”

Senate President Mike Haridopolos’ spokesman, David Bishop, said, “We disagree,” but would not elaborate.

Haridopolos, who removed the door of his office last month to demonstrate his commitment to open government, was aware that his top budget writer, Sen. J.D. Alexander of Lake Wales, and two other senators were dining with Scott at the mansion on Monday, the day Scott unveiled his budget proposal.

A public notice about the dinner was posted on the Senate website on Monday.

But Senate rules also require meetings to be reasonably open to the public. Bishop did not respond to a question about how the meeting, inside the gated Governor’s Mansion, satisfied that rule.

Bishop was informed Monday that Scott’s spokesman, Brian Burgess, said the meeting was not open and denied a request from the Times/Herald on Monday to observe the dinner.

Scott scheduled the meeting as a “social dinner” with Alexander, Sen.

Don Gaetz of Niceville and Sen. Andy Gardiner of Orlando.

Scott’s guest list also included two reporters. But neither Senate rules nor the state Constitution stipulate that including selected media at an event absolves elected officials from opening meetings to the public.

One of the reporters at the event wrote on his personal blog that Scott’s pending budget proposal, along with other Legislative issues, were discussed at dinner.

Gary Fineout, who reports for the bill tracking service LobbyTools, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and other outlets, wrote on his blog, The Fine Print, that Alexander talked about Scott’s budget proposal and Scott urged him to “just pass it.”

Later in the dinner, one of Scott’s top aides told senators that the nation would be watching to see whether lawmakers pass Scott’s “fiscally conservative” budget.

Gaetz and Alexander also talked about whether to spend money on the Florida Housing Finance Corp., which helps build low-income housing.

Alexander noted the surplus of homes on real estate market and questioned the need for low-income housing. Scott responded that he didn’t ask for any new money for the group.

The lawmakers also talked about changes to the state-run property insurer, Citizens Property Insurance Corp.; weigh stations for trucks along state highways; attracting new Major League Baseball teams to Florida; and a bill being written by Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, that would ban the use of psychotropic drugs on foster children.

Asked about the meeting on Tuesday, Scott said, “I’m comfortable we comply with the law.”

Times/Herald writer Steve Bousquet contributed to this story. Michael C. Bender can be reached at mbender@sptimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelCBender.

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Lawmakers demand Florida budget details from Gov. Scott

Gov. Rick Scott’s bold budget plan wasn’t even 24 hours old Tuesday before state legislators started ripping it apart and leveling a familiar charge against the governor: He wasn’t forthcoming with details.

Whether it was his billions in cuts to Medicaid or to schools, legislators said they weren’t sure what Scott specifically wanted to do in his budget, which would further widen a $3.6 billion shortfall next year due to nearly $2.4 billion in proposed tax cuts.

The criticisms and tough questions weren’t limited to Democrats; Scott’s fellow Republicans were skeptical of what many thought were skimpy details in his $65.9 billion budget.

The bipartisan concerns underscored a growing sense in the Legislature that Scott’s proposal is rooted in unrealistic political calculations, not the subtle calculus it takes to run the nation’s fourth-most populous state. In the House K-12 budget committee on Tuesday morning, eyebrows arched and heads shook as lawmakers tried digesting Scott’s plan to slash state-paid per-student spending by 10 percent.

“A 10 percent reduction is a significant cut,” said committee Chairwoman Marti Coley, R-Marianna.

Coley and Rep. Janet Adkins scolded Scott’s office for trying to "have it both ways" with the education budget. Scott said he’s against the use of federal stimulus money, but his office tacitly encourages school districts to use the money to boost per-pupil spending.

“It’s imperative that you go back and you redo the numbers,” said Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach.

In the House health appropriations committee, Republicans and Democrats flummoxed another Scott aide who had difficulties explaining his plans to cut $3 billion from Medicaid over two years.

Rep. Jose Diaz, R-Miami, said he struggling with the idea of deeply cutting the Department of Children and Families and privatizing mental-health facilities.

“My math tells me that the 2,500 jobs that you’re getting rid of only leads to a 4 percent reduction in the budget,” Diaz said. “It’s only an $8 million savings in an almost $3 billion budget. That seems like a significant loss of jobs for a very small gain.”

Scott had avoided many specifics on the campaign trail, and though his budget gave more details than ever, legislators wanted more.

The tough questions in the House were a sign the lower chamber of the Legislature might be less inclined to go along with Scott than the Senate, where Senate President Mike Haridopolos is running in what could be a crowded Republican Senate primary. There, fired-up tea-party activists could play an outsized role.

Scott, elected with strong tea party support, hopes activists change legislators’ minds. Scott wants them to pressure lawmakers to pass his budget, which he unveiled at a tea party rally in the rural town of Eustis. The governor urged the crowd of roughly 1,000 on Monday to pressure lawmakers on his budget.

"What I hope from you is that you get very active in this whole campaign," Scott said Monday. He said the state can’t afford its government and that the Legislature needs to adopt his “jobs budget.”

Later, in a semi-private dinner with three top Senate Republicans at the Governor’s Mansion, Scott urged the lawmakers to “just pass it [the budget],” according to a report posted on the Fine Print blog, which also noted that Scott’s chief policy advisor told the lawmakers that the eyes of the nation will be looking at the Republican Legislature to see if it enacts Scott’s "fiscally conservative" budget.

Ridley Scott Plans User-Generated YouTube DocumentaryScott faces deepening statewide budget gap

Battle shaping up over pension proposal

Hal Krantz says it has been years since he brought home a pay raise. After 16 years of teaching, the married Coral Springs Middle School instructor with a daughter in college is struggling to stretch his salary while meeting the soaring costs of healthcare, food and other necessities.

Gov. Rick Scott's plan to compel public employees like Krantz to kick in as much as 5 percent of their paychecks into their pensions is causing quite a bit of angst. This is particularly true of teachers, who traditionally earn modest salaries offset by a broad benefits package, but also state workers, many of whom have not received pay raises in years.

The proposal is included in the budget that Scott will unveil Monday at a rally of tea party supporters in the Lake County community of Eustis.

Employees say the pension measure is the equivalent of a pay cut.

``We give up so much because we love this profession,'' said Krantz. `Now they are cutting even deeper into our pocket.''

Around the nation, governments are reeling from the poor economy and falling tax revenues. Supporters of Scott's plan, which would affect not just state workers but school employees and many municipal workers in the state retirement system, say it's imperative to change gears to keep the state and the pension fund solvent.

They note that for many in the private sector, salaries have fallen, jobs have grown scarce and traditional pensions have long since been replaced by 401(k) accounts that require workers to sock away money for their own retirement.

They point out that other states have already taken the step Scott is proposing. New York, for instance, requires employees to kick in 3 percent of their salary toward funding their pension for a period of 10 years.

Scott estimates it will save the state, which is facing a multibillion-dollar shortfall heading into the legislative session, $2.8 billion over two years.

``It's only fair that if you're going to have a pension plan, you're going to do just like the private sector does,'' Scott said.

Florida's pension system is currently funded by state and local governments contributing the equivalent of between 9 and 10 percent of an employee's income toward retirement. In the case of high-risk workers like police and firefighters, the percentage is higher.

Scott has talked of a 5 percent buy-in by employees -- basically splitting the difference with the state.

How generous is a state pension?

For most employees, after 30 years on the job, the annual stipend is equal to 48 percent of the average of that employee's highest five years of pay, according to the pension fund web site. The average recipient retires around age 60, at which point he or she can begin to collect.

There are currently 655,000 active members of the Florida Retirement System and another 304,000 retired workers receiving benefits. Up until now, those enrolled have not had to contribute any money to their plan.

``It's a pretty radical thing when you start talking about taxing state workers 5 percent of their salary in one year, when the majority of state workers haven't seen raises in five years,'' said Daniel Reynolds, national president of the National Federation of Public and Private Employees.

``While we are all reading and hearing about pension reform proposals with great interest, we don't know what is going to happen,'' BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal wrote in an e-mail. BSO employees are in the state system, as are Miami-Dade police.

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NY Rep. Lee resigns after shirtless photo story

CLARENCE, N.Y. -- Dismayed constituents of a married New York congressman accused of sending a shirtless photo of himself to a woman said his abrupt resignation and admission to "profound mistakes" seemed out of character for the attentive and committed lawmaker they'd come to know.

The gossip website Gawker reported Wednesday that Rep. Christopher Lee, a two-term Republican with a young son, had e-mailed the photo to a woman he met on the Craigslist classified-ads website.

"People in power do the darndest things," Clarence Center resident Bob Dickinson, 65, said as he cleaned up following a Town Board meeting in Lee's hometown Wednesday night. "I don't know if he was trying to prove something or what."

Lee said in an e-mailed statement that his resignation was effective immediately. The statement offered no confirmation or details of a Craigslist posting.

Mike Metzger figured someone was "playing games" at Lee's expense when he saw the picture he's accused of sending. It shows Lee apparently taking a cell phone picture in a mirror while flexing his right bicep in front of him.

"Chris Lee is too smart of a man to do something like this," Metzger, a Clarence civil engineer, said before hearing of the resignation. "Unfortunately, (resigning) so quickly seems to imply guilt."

Lee's resignation comes as the upscale Buffalo suburb is about to mark the two-year anniversary of the deadly crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 onto a house.

Lee has been a visible supporter of victims' families and the aviation safety reforms they've sought since the Feb. 12, 2009, crash. He appeared with several crash victims' families at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.

But the following day he posted the surprise announcement on his congressional website: "I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness."

Lee said the challenges faced in western New York, where he serves the 26th Congressional District, and across the country are "too serious for me to allow this distraction to continue, so I am announcing that I have resigned my seat in Congress effective immediately."

Lee's resignation comes almost a year after Democrat Eric Massa resigned his seat in western New York's 29th Congressional District amid an investigation into whether he sexually harassed male staffers. Massa gave contradictory explanations for his behavior, acknowledging he groped and tickled a staffer in a nonsexual way and wrestled with others at his 50th birthday party, but then denying any groping occurred.

In Lee's case, a woman described as a 34-year-old Maryland resident and government employee provided Gawker with e-mails she said were an exchange between her and Lee in response to an ad she placed last month in the "Women Seeking Men" section of Craigslist.

Gawker reported that Lee identified himself as a divorced lobbyist and sent a photo of himself. It said the woman eventually broke off the contact with Lee after becoming suspicious that he had misrepresented himself.

Lee served on the House Ways and Means Committee and was active on economic revitalization issues. He has a business background stemming from his family's manufacturing enterprises.

Scott Maurer, whose daughter was one of the 50 people killed in the 2009 crash, said Lee was "a hard worker and a good guy" who "loved and cared for" his community.

"He was 100 percent professional with us, 100 percent supportive and seriously was considerate and concerned with aviation safety, so to hear that he's resigned is a huge loss of support for our efforts," Maurer said.

Clarence Supervisor Scott Bylewski said Lee had represented the town effectively.

"I do wish him and his family the best as they deal with the matter that's before him," he said.

A state official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak on the issue told The Associated Press the congressman hadn't submitted his resignation to the New York secretary of state Wednesday evening. After he does, Gov. Andrew Cuomo could schedule a special election.

Cuomo, a Democrat, had no comment Wednesday night.

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Fla. senators cast votes along party lines in repealing federal health care law

Florida’s two senators voted along party lines Wednesday to repeal last year's health care law championed by President Obama. The failed to pass the Senate, 47-51.

Sen. Bill Nelson voted against the repeal; Marco Rubio - who campaigned against it - voted for it.

Nelson called for the Senate to send the law to the Supreme Court for a quick review arguing that it’s likely to end up there.

Last month, Nelson said the federal health care law could certainly be retooled but should not be repealed.

“I believe that no matter where people stand on certain specifics of this complex law, most of us can agree the current system can be unfair and too costly," Nelson said. "The system needs to be fixed. I don't think the health-care law is perfect - but, it certainly helps a lot of people especially senior citizens."

Said Rubio in a statement: “It’s important that we repeal and replace ObamaCare. The sooner we repeal it, the better because this law is holding back job creation and threatening current coverage plans that people are satisfied with.”

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Miami-Dade GOP payments lack details

In the final weeks before Election Day last fall, the Miami-Dade Republican Party paid $150,000 to a political consultant with close ties to the party's then-chairman, U.S. Rep. David Rivera.

But party officials cannot explain exactly what they got for the money.

The party made the payments in October and November to the firm of consultant Esther Nuhfer without any written contract, and the party does not have any detailed invoices of the expenses -- the party's largest expenses in at least six years, records show.

``I haven't seen detailed records like that,'' said Jose Alcaraz Jr., the party's treasurer.

Instead, the party has only a handful of brief invoices from Nuhfer's Coral Gables company, Communication Solutions, that the party's new chairman, state Rep. Erik Fresen of Miami, described as ``simplistic.''

``There's no contract, unlike what I'm going to do,'' said Fresen, who took over the party reins in December.

According to the party's campaign reports, at least $100,000 of the money paid to Nuhfer's firm was earmarked for ``media'' consulting.

The party's executive director, J.C. Hernandez, said that money was supposed to pay for air time on two Spanish-language radio stations in the weeks leading up to the election.

But the Miami-Dade GOP's air time on WAQI-710 AM, known as Radio Mambí, and its sister station, WQBA-1140 AM, cost just $34,500, records show. The Miami Herald surveyed five other Spanish language stations and found no other advertising purchased by the party.

Asked if he expected Communication Solutions to spend more than $34,500 on radio time, Hernandez said: ``Absolutely, yeah.''

Despite the discrepancy, Hernandez and Fresen said there is no reason to believe the money was spent inappropriately.

``We swept every race, so it's difficult to say the money wasn't spent properly,'' Fresen said.

Political parties must keep records of their expenses, but the law does not specify how detailed those records must be, said Eric Buermann, a former attorney for the Miami-Dade GOP and the Republican Party of Florida.

Nevertheless, the party should keep detailed records for auditors or potential inquiries by the Florida Elections Commission, he said.

``It's not, in my mind, normal business practice,'' Buermann said of the party's record-keeping.

Nuhfer is a lobbyist and political fundraiser who is close with Rivera. While working for the Miami-Dade GOP, her firm also was working on Rivera's congressional campaign, records show. Rivera was elected to Congress in November after serving eight years in the state Legislature.

Rivera is now the target of a criminal probe of his personal and campaign expenses, and investigators also are examining his relationship with Nuhfer, The Miami Herald has learned. Party officials said they have not been contacted by investigators.

Nuhfer did not respond to requests for an interview by phone and e-mail, and she did not answer written questions e-mailed to her last week.

In written responses to questions, Rivera's campaign said a written contract was not required with Nuhfer's firm or any other vendor, and that the party ``followed long-standing standard practice by ensuring that all expenditures to Communication Solutions were properly documented with invoices.''

Rivera's campaign said Rivera recused himself from day-to-day oversight and decision-making of the party -- also known as the Miami-Dade Republican Executive Committee -- once he won the GOP primary in August. He also withdrew his authority to sign checks from the party's bank accounts, the campaign said.

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Scott: Workers must pay own way for a pension

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott is proposing to overhaul the state's pension system for tens of thousands of teachers, police officers and other state and county workers by requiring them to contribute to their retirement accounts and by not offering the pension plan to new workers.

The proposal, which must be approved by the Legislature, would save the state $2.8 billion over the next two years. The state is facing a budget shortfall next year that could top $4 billion.

In announcing the plan on Tuesday, Scott said he wants current employees to pay 5 percent of their salaries into their retirement accounts. State employees currently do not pay for their retirement.

New employees would not receive a traditional defined benefit pension plan, but would be eligible for 401(k) retirement accounts typically offered in the private sector.

``We must bring Florida in line with the private sector and nearly every other state in the country by requiring government workers to contribute towards their own retirement,'' Scott said in a statement released by his office.

The governor is also calling for an end to the popular program -- known as the Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP). It encourages older workers to retire by allowing them to draw a pension check and return to work for the state. He also wants to end cost of living adjustments for retirement accounts.

The announcement was the second in a series of sneak previews Scott is making before he unveils his first budget at a rally of tea party supporters on Feb. 7.

But as with his proposal Monday to save $1 billion by folding the Department of Community Affairs into the Department of Environmental Protection, Scott released few details.

The governor's office would not disclose how it calculated the projected savings of $2.8 billion.

Legislative analysts estimate that requiring employees to contribute 5 percent of their salaries would save closer to $890 million a year -- with $500 million coming from school district personnel, $300 million from county workers and only about $90 million from state workers.

There are 655,000 active employees in the Florida Retirement System, including 91,000 in Miami-Dade County, 62,000 in Broward, and 3,700 in Monroe, 50,000 in Hillsborough, 30,000 in Pinellas and 19,000 in Pasco.

The state currently contributes about 9 percent of workers' salaries to their retirement accounts. But some workers, including sheriffs deputies, firefighters, paramedics and other high-risk officers get a higher percentage.

Scott's budget proposal ``is not a binding document'' and is viewed by legislators as a recommendation, said Sen. Jeremy Ring, D-Margate. But as chairman of the Senate committee that charged with implementing pension reforms, Ring said Scott's proposals are ``heading in the same direction'' as lawmakers.

`NO MAGICAL TREE'

``There's no magical tree growing money,'' Ring said. ``You can lay off a huge amount of workers, or you can adjust pay and benefits. There has to be a belief that we're all in this together and the reality of the situation demands adjustments and reforms.''

Because school districts make up half of the members in the retirement fund, the savings to school districts would be greatest.

Rep. Alan Williams, a Tallahassee Democrat who represents many state workers, called the governor's proposals ``a 5 percent tax on Florida Retirement System participants'' and warned it would hurt morale of employees who haven't had a pay raise since2006.

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Governor sued over delay

TALLAHASSEE -- The war over redrawing Florida's political maps returned to federal court Thursday as five Monroe County voters along with three advocacy groups sued Gov. Rick Scott to compel him to follow a federal law requiring the Justice Department review the new redistricting language approved by voters in November.

The law requires the state to get federal ``preclearance'' for any changes that affect the voting rights of citizens in five Florida counties that had a history of racial discrimination.

The lawsuit argues the changes became final on Nov. 16, when the State Canvassing Board certified that Amendments 5 and 6 had been approved by voters. The amendments imposed new criteria for legislators to follow when redrawing political maps for congressional and legislative districts.

Former Gov. Charlie Crist quietly sought the preclearance on Dec. 10 at the request of the amendment backers. Gov. Rick Scott quietly withdrew the request on Jan. 4, just two days into office, at the request of amendment opponents, including some legislative leaders.

Now the five voters from Monroe County, one of the affected counties, are asking a three-judge panel from the federal court in Miami to order the governor to act. They say his failure to do so ``will cause uncertainty, delay and confusion'' as legislators begin the redistricting process this year.

``The absence of preclearance for Amendments 5 and 6 jeopardizes the application of the new standards and renders the ongoing redistricting process legally uncertain, harming voters who intend to participate meaningfully in that process,'' the complaint says.

The lawsuit was filed by Fair Districts Now, the left-leaning political committee formed to pass the amendments. Joining the Monroe County residents: the Florida League of Women Voters, NAACP of Florida and the Hispanic civic organization and Democracia Ahora (Democracy Now).

Scott's attorney is reviewing the lawsuit, said Brian Hughes, the governor's deputy communications director, in a statement. But, he said, ``Gov. Scott is not delaying the process. Since the Legislature is months away from the start of the redistricting planning, it is premature for anything except a thoughtful consideration of the issue.''

Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville and chairman of the Senate's redistricting committee, called the lawsuit ``a sideshow'' and said the Legislature will seek federal review once maps are drawn.

``The preclearance that really matters is the preclearance of a redistricting plan that would occur following the district maps,'' he said. ``That's the real game, the real prize, the real mission.''

Under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, all redistricting maps and voting changes that affect the five Florida counties with a history of racial discrimination must be submitted to the Justice Department. Monroe, Hillsborough, Hardee, Hendry and Collier are the designated counties subject to the preclearance requirements in Section 5 of the act.

Also at play is a lawsuit brought by U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz Balart, R-Miami, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, alleging that Amendment 6 is unconstitutional. The House has joined in the lawsuit; the Senate has refrained.

Gaetz said he expects the Obama administration to approve the language ``in a heartbeat.''

``Our operating assumption in the Senate is that Amendments 5 and 6 are part of the [Florida] Constitution and part of the redistricting process until and unless a court somewhere tells us differently,'' he said.

The lawsuit also noted that Kurt Browning, Scott's appointee to head the secretary of state's office which oversees state elections laws, has a potential conflict. Browning served as chairman of Protect Your Vote, a political committee formed to defeat the amendments.

``It's time to stop stonewalling. Gov. Scott and Secretary Browning should not be abusing their power to frustrate the will of the 63 perfect who voted for these reforms,'' said Dan Gelber, counsel for FairDistricts Now and a former state senator from Miami Beach.

Mary Ellen Klas can be reached at meklas@MiamiHerald.com

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Rivera urged to explain finances to GOP

WASHINGTON -- Republicans in Washington and Miami are growing increasingly anxious about the ongoing state investigation into Rep. David Rivera, with some urging him to explain his finances while others are already talking of potential GOP successors to replace him.

House Republicans have said privately they're frustrated with the drumbeat of media attention surrounding the freshman lawmaker. This week, new House Speaker John Boehner was confronted with a question about Rivera at a Capitol Hill news conference, while a prominent Republican attorney in Miami called for Rivera to fully explain himself or ``step down.''

In a letter to The Miami Herald, Thomas Spencer, who is active in Miami-Dade and state Republican politics, said Rivera needs to ``fully and completely, without delay or obfuscation, disgorge and fully explain every single relevant fact and document -- or he needs to step down.

``Litigation will only erode the reputation of our community in the United States House of Representatives and impugn the good name of our Congressional delegation -- all of whom have brought pride for their service to their districts,'' said Spencer, who was a co-counsel for former President George W. Bush during the 2000 Florida recount.

Spencer, who said he has talked to a number of other Republicans, said he plans to call on top Republicans to ask Rivera to release more details about the investigation. ``It's time for us to step up to the bat and put pressure on him to get him to fork over every single document,'' he said Friday.

Rivera's congressional campaign said in a statement that he has ``reassured'' colleagues and congressional leaders and is ``confident he has not committed any wrongdoing whatsoever.''

The campaign included a copy of Rivera's 2010 federal financial disclosure, which had been submitted to the House days before his swearing in, calling it ``a testament to his pursuit of complete financial transparency and accountability.

The statement said Rivera will ``continue to focus his energies entirely on the issues that affect the residents of Florida's District 25, job creation and economic growth.

``He will certainly not be distracted by attacks which the public understands are politically motivated and based on unfounded allegations and speculation,'' the campaign said.

Rivera's office says he was recruited to be a leader of the House's Free Trade Caucus and is working with House leadership on Colombia, Panama and South Korea trade agreements. And he and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio are scheduled next month to host the county GOP's Lincoln Day dinner.

Prosecutors and detectives from several agencies -- the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, the Miami-Dade Police Department's public corruption squad and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement -- began investigating Rivera's finances before he was elected to Congress in November.

At the heart of the probe is Millennium Marketing, a company owned by Rivera's mother and godmother that received $510,000 from the Flagler Dog Track as part of a deal for Rivera to lead a pro-slots political campaign on behalf of the parimutuel.

Rivera, who had long denied receiving any money from the dog track, earlier this month admitted to receiving $132,000 in undisclosed loans from Millennium -- loans Rivera says he has since repaid.

Also under investigators' microscope: Rivera's campaign expenses, including $30,000 he paid to Millennium for consulting in 2006, and $75,000 he paid last year to a now-defunct consulting company owned by the daughter of a longtime aide. Rivera has denied any wrongdoing.

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Federal judge in Florida says healthcare law is unconstitutional

TALLAHASSEE -- The battle over federal healthcare reform continued its inevitable march toward the U.S. Supreme Court, with a U.S. District Court judge in Pensacola ruling Monday that the law is unconstitutional.

``Never before has Congress required that everyone buy a product from a private company,'' Judge Roger Vinson wrote in a 78-page ruling on the Florida-led lawsuit pitting 26 states against the federal government.

``I must reluctantly conclude that Congress exceeded the bounds of its authority in passing the Act with the individual mandate. Because the individual mandate is unconstitutional and not severable, the entire Act must be declared void.''

Although he did not issue an injunction, Vinson said he assumes the federal government will treat his ruling as the ``functional equivalent of an injunction.''

It was the second ruling against the individual mandate, with a Virginia judge deeming it unconstitutional in December. In that case, though, the judge decided on the provision separately, rather than using it to dismiss the entire act. Two other federal judges have upheld the law.

At issue is whether Congress, through its powers to regulate interstate commerce, can require individuals to buy health insurance or face a tax penalty.

Vinson said no.

His ruling was cause for celebration among Republicans nationwide, with Washington lawmakers calling on a repeal vote by the U.S. Senate to match a vote last month in the U.S. House.

Federal attorneys pledged to appeal the ruling to the 11th District Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

``We strongly disagree with the court's ruling today and continue to believe -- as other federal courts have found -- that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional,'' said U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler.

She said the department may seek a stay to keep the law moving forward while the case is on appeal.

Besides arguing in December against the so-called ``individual mandate,'' the Florida-led states also claimed the law is unconstitutional because it burdens them with a hugely expanded Medicaid program.

Vinson ruled against that part, concluding states have the option of not participating in Medicaid.

But given that Vinson deemed the entire act void, the point is moot.

Vinson said although many provisions of the act could exist without the individual mandate, that provision is necessary to meet the intent of the law, which he concluded is reform of the health insurance industry.

``The Act, like a defectively designed watch, needs to be redesigned and reconstructed by the watchmaker,'' Vinson said.

The White House tried to play down the significance of the ruling, calling it an ``outlier'' and noting that it was backed solely by Republican attorneys general and governors.

``Today's ruling . . . is a plain case of judicial overreaching,'' read a response posted on the White House blog.

``Twelve federal judges have already dismissed challenges to the constitutionality of the health reform law, and two judges -- in the Eastern District of Michigan and Western District of Virginia -- have upheld the law,'' the White House said.

U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, said families are already benefiting from the law, including provisions that prohibit health insurance companies from denying coverage because someone has preexisting conditions, and that allow children to stay on their parents' policies until age 26.

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