Kottkamp to back McCollum for governor, likely run for attorney general himself

By Bill Cotterell

Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp said today he will probably run for attorney general, not governor, as dominoes continue falling across Florida’s 2010 political landscape.

That means Attorney General Bill McCollum, who won’t say officially that he’s running for governor, will probably go for the top prize next week. Kottkamp said he plans to be with McCollum for the announcement of McCollum’s gubernatorial candidacy expected next week in Central Florida.

Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson, who is term-limited out of his Cabinet seat next year, is still considering a bid for governor. Like McCollum, he has said he will announce his plans next week.

Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, who has been working for the past few months to have as few GOP primaries as possible, said Thursday his efforts are making progress. Gov. Charlie Crist’s long-expected announcement that he is running for the U.S. Senate Tuesday touched off the political chain reaction in GOP circles, as Democrats united around Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

“I anticipate being there on Monday to support this party,” Kottkamp said of McCollum’s plans. “I’ve been by the governor’s side for the last two and a half years and I’ve seen what it takes on a day-to-day basis to be governor, and I think Bill McCollum is capable of doing that.”

Senators: Does ‘Rachel’s Law’ compromise go far enough

Irv Hoffman and Margie Weiss are the parents of Rachel Hoffman, who was killed last year while working as a confidential informant for the Tallahassee Police Department, appeared Wednesday before the Senate Criminal Justice Committee

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.

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Crist: Stimulus plan a boon to Florida

By Jim Ash

Tallahassee – Gov. Charlie Crist, President Barack Obama’s favorite Republican cheerleader, said Monday the state can expect to rake in more than $12.2 billion over the next three years from the federal stimulus package just passed by Congress.

“It passed with great gratitude from Florida,” Crist said.

 It’s still not clear whether Florida will have to ask for special permission from the federal government to claim $3.6 billion in education dollars. A feature of the federal plan denies education money to states like Florida that have slashed their school budgets.
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Crist seeks to ‘protect the most vulnerable’ with budget plan

Gov. Charlie Crist said today he tried to make budget cuts as painless as possible in laying out his plans for plugging a $2.3 billion state-revenue shortage in next month’s special session.

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

Crist gives state workers two days off; Dec. 26 and Jan. 2

As a holiday thank-you to state employees, Gov. Charlie Crist today announced that Florida government will shut down on the Fridays after Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Since the holidays fall on Thursdays, the governor said, a lot of employees use a vacation day for a long weekend. But with the state budget tightening, excluding any pay raises or other improvements in benefits over the past few legislative sessions, Crist said he wanted to show appreciation for state workers.

He also paid tribue to state Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, who suggested the paid time off. She joined Crist at a news conference and said she’d tried for a week or two, but was glad to get employees the two days.

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