A push to regulate the use of confidential informants cleared an important hurdle on Wednesday, but only after the heart-wrenching pleas of a grieving father left some lawmakers wondering whether “Rachel’s Law” goes far enough.

The bill is named after 23-year-old Rachel Hoffman, a recent FSU graduate who was slain last year after she was recruited to serve as a confidential informant for the Tallahassee Police Department.

Already serving in a court-ordered treatment program when police found drugs in her apartment, Hoffman agreed on May 7 to wear a wire and take $13,000 on a drug buy that also included the purchase of a gun from two suspected dealers. Her body was found in the woods in Taylor County 36 hours later.

Pausing frequently to choke back tears, Irv Hoffman pleaded with lawmakers to provide greater protections for young people like his daughter, who get in trouble with the law and are willing to, “do anything to escape prosecution.”

“Sending her out there to these two dangerous individuals was like feeding a lamb to the wolves,” Hoffman said.

Rachel’s parents initially wanted to force police to tell potential informants of their rights to an attorney before recruiting them, to ban the use of informants who are in drug treatment and to ban nonviolent informants from participating in stings that involve violent suspects.

The state’s most powerful law-enforcement groups, including the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Florida Police Chiefs Association, balked. The compromise, (SB 604) by Sen. Mike Fasano, instead forces departments to adopt uniform standards that take into account an informant’s age, maturity level and substance-abuse history.

After hearing Hoffman’s testimony, some members of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee thought the compromise was too weak. Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, wanted to know why police shouldn’t be forced to read a suspect his rights before sending him undercover.

Michael Ramage, general counsel for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said potential informants are often sent back on the streets within hours of being detained. Holding them until they can meet with an attorney would risk letting their arrest leak out and destroy their value as informants, he said.

“It will bring the use of confidential informants to a screeching halt in most cases,” Ramage said.

The committee split 4-3 on an initial vote, but the bill cleared the committee unanimously after Fasano promised to add more protections at the next committee hearing.

“We all agree that protecting life is of primary importance,” Fasano said.

–Jim Ash

Read more…

A poll released this morning shows Crist’s approval ratings at a stratospheric 73 percent.

The poll was conducted for the Florida Chamber of Commerce’s Political Institute by Public Insight Research, an arm of Cherry Communications. The survey of 610 likely voters was conducted from Jan. 30 through Feb. 1 and has a 4 percent margin of error.

Here’s what respondents were asked: “Do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Charlie Crist is doing as governor?”

The results:

• Strongly Approve, 19 percent
• Somewhat Approve, 54 percent
• Somewhat Disapprove, 13 percent
• Strongly Disapprove 7 percent

“Governor Charlie Crist’s approval rating is again rising, up from 68 percent in the November Florida Chamber of Commerce poll,” said Marian Johnson, vice president of Political Affairs for the Florida Chamber of Commerce. “Clearly Florida voters appreciate the governor fighting to put people back to work during the past few months, and this rising approval rating reflects that.”

A Quinnipiac Universty poll released Jan. 21 pegged Crist’s approval rating at 65 percent.

–Jim Ash

Crist and his wife, Carole, visited a senior citizens center a few blocks from the Governor’s Mansion. He was asked about dipping into the Lawton Chiles Endowment for $600 million and gambling on quick ratification of his Seminole Tribe casino compact for another $135 million, which were pieces of the plan Crist sent to lawmakers late Tuesday.

Crist said the Chiles money will be repaid promptly. The late governor’s family has threatened legal action if the state includes the health-care fund among its sources of borrowing, and may ask that the Chiles name be removed from the endowment if it is treated like a regular revenue source.

More here: Crist seeks to ‘protect the most vulnerable’ with budget plan

Governor Charlie Crist

Gov. Charlie Crist has proposed spending cuts, sweeping trust funds for extra money, using Seminole gambling money and borrowing to build prisons to meet a projected $2.3 billion shortfall in the state’s spending plan.

The Legislature is set to meet in special session starting Jan. 5 to fix the budget. An economy in recession and a burst housing bubble has continued to drain tax revenue.

Crist’s proposal, released this afternoon, includes $561.5 million in spending cuts.

It pulls extra money from a variety of sources. The biggest is $600 million from the Lawton Chiles Endowment Trust Fund, set up with a portion of proceeds from the state’s settlement in tobacco litigation.

Read the rest of the post here: Crist proposes cuts, sweeps to make up $2.3 billion gap