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Escambia, Santa Rosa Vote Totals

Here are the complete, but unofficial, vote totals from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties:

Escambia County

(90 of 90 precincts reporting)

UNITED STATES SENATOR (REP)
William Escoffery III	2,158	7.62%
William Billy Kogut	2,548	8.99%
Marco Rubio	23,629	83.39%
GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (REP)
Mike McCalister	3,191	10.97%
Bill McCollum	13,092	45.01%
Rick Scott	12,806	44.02%
ATTORNEY GENERAL (REP)
Holly Benson	17,740	61.47%
Pam Bondi	5,125	17.76%
Jeff Kottkamp	5,994	20.77%
STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 2 (REP)
Greg Evers	12,338	72.02%
Mike Hill	4,793	27.98%
STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 1 (REP)
Greg Brown	1,062	28.28%
Doug Broxson	1,996	53.16%
Ricky G. Perritt	132	3.52%
Ferd Salomon	565	15.05%
STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 2 (REP)
Clay Ingram	8,895	61.30%
David Karasek	5,615	38.70%
COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 2 (REP)
Dave Murzin	1,192	22.77%
Karen Sindel	1,650	31.52%
George Touart	589	11.25%
Gene M. Valentino	1,804	34.46%
COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 4 (REP)
Dennis Green	2,067	24.63%
Grover C. Robinson	6,324	75.37%
ECUA DISTRICT 2 (REP)
Lois Benson	3,298	65.97%
Stephen Burand	544	10.88%
James Kirkland	1,157	23.14%
ECUA DISTRICT 4 (REP)
Stuart H. Brown	693	9.14%
Ryan M. Fendt	479	6.32%
Dale Perkins	5,584	73.69%
Ronald Ward	822	10.85%
UNITED STATES SENATOR (DEM)
Glenn A. Burkett	1,113	6.64%
Maurice A. Ferre	450	2.68%
Jeff Greene	6,823	40.70%
Kendrick B. Meek	8,378	49.98%
GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (DEM)
Brian P. Moore	4,649	31.03%
Alex Sink	10,333	68.97%
ATTORNEY GENERAL (DEM)
Dave Aronberg	6,737	46.22%
Dan Gelber	7,840	53.78%
CIRCUIT JUDGE, 1ST CIRCUIT
Kenneth L. Brooks Jr.	4,915	11.32%
Clint Davis	6,516	15.00%
Michael A. Flowers	12,002	27.63%
Mike Lawson	5,281	12.16%
Alishia W. McDonald	10,653	24.53%
Robert E. McGill III	4,066	9.36%
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER DISTRICT 1
Jeff Bergosh	6,143	66.30%
Luke Keller	2,199	23.73%
D. Hosea Pittman	608	10.55%
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER DISTRICT 2
Gerald W. Boone	4,081	54.92%
Virginia R. White	3,350	45.08%
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER DISTRICT 3
Linda F. Moultrie	3,427	52.91%
Charlie Nichols	3,050	47.09%
MAYOR PENSACOLA
Charles Bare	1,755	13.65%
Ashton Hayward	4,306	33.48%
Diane Mack	2,041	15.87%
Mike Wiggins	4,759	37.00%

Santa Rosa County

(41 of 41 precincts reporting; totals include early votes and initial absentee votes.)

UNITED STATES SENATOR (REP)
William Escoffery III	1,535	8.42%
William Billy Kogut	1,975	10.83%
Marco Rubio	14,730	80.76%
GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (REP)
Mike McCalister	2,326	12.37%
Bill McCollum	7,137	37.95%
Rick Scott	9,341	49.68%
ATTORNEY GENERAL (REP)
Holly Benson	10,535	57.53%
Pam Bondi	3,541	19.41%
Jeff Kottkamp	4,237	23.14%
STATE SENATOR DISTRICT 2 (REP)
Greg Evers	8,230	73.73%
Mike Hill	2,933	26.27%
STATE REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 1 (REP)
Greg Brown	4,005	28.80%
Doug Broxson	5,712	41.08%
Ricky G. Perritt	595	4.28%
Ferd Salomon	3,594	25.84%
COUNTY COMMISSION DISTRICT 2
Bob Cole	6,760	38.69%
Claude Duvall	5,073	29.03%
Ron Scott	3,855	22.06%
Clifton Wheeler	1,785	10.22%
COUNTY COMMISSION DISTRICT 4
Ruth Dupont Esser	4,274	18.28%
Mark A. Goode	2,747	11.75%
Gordon Goodin	7,473	31.96%
Jim Melvin	8,891	38.02%
UNITED STATES SENATOR (DEM)
Glenn A. Burkett	529	10.84%
Maurice A. Ferre	189	3.87%
Jeff Greene	2,657	55.45%
Kendrick B. Meek	1,505	30.84%
GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (DEM)
Brian P. Moore	1,663	36.09%
Alex Sink	2,945	63.91%
ATTORNEY GENERAL (DEM)
Dave Aronberg	1,951	44.86%
Dan Gelber	2,398	55.14%
CIRCUIT JUDGE CIRCUIT 1 GROUP 3
Kenneth L. Brooks Jr.	4,885	21.55%
Clint Davis	4,290	18.92%
Michael A. Flowers	5,230	23.07%
Mike Lawson	3,073	13.55%
Alishia W. McDonald	3,094	13.65%
Robert E. McGill III	2,099	9.26%
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER DISTRICT 1
Dale Anderson	9,194	39.66%
Shepherd Iverson	2,149	9.27%
Diane Scott	11,837	51.07%
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER DISTRICT 3
Carol Boston	10,362	45.65%
Diane Coleman	12,337	54.35%
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER DISTRICT 5
Tom Naile	10,573	47.11%
Scott Thomas Peden	11.872	52.89%
MILTON CITY COUNCIL WARD 3
Grady Hester	608	50.50%
Alan Lowery	596	49.50%
TOWN OF JAY MAYOR
Ben Jerry Hudson	71	50.35%
Kurvin K. Qualls	72	49.55%
JAY TOWN COUNCIL
Jackie Stewart-Ard	67	29.26%
Charles “Chubby” Haveard	77	33.62%
Shon O. Owens	85	37.12%

Pictured above: The precinct located at Century City Hall. NorthEscambia.com photo, click to enlarge.

‘Granny, Give Me All Your Money’ — More Details Released On Cantonment Home Invasion

More details have been released about a home invasion robbery reported early Sunday morning in Cantonment, and authorities are continuing to look for a suspect.

The incident happened about 5:15 a.m. in the 900 block of River Annex Road, but was not reported for nearly half an hour.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, no one had been arrested for the crime, according to Sena Maddison, spokesperson for the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

The 59-year old victim told deputies that she awoke from a sound sleep about 5:15 a.m. to a man holding her at gunpoint. She described the suspect as a while male, about 6-feet tall, heavy built, wearing a red hoodie that was pulled over his face. She said the suspect appeared to be disguising his voice and was pointing a .22 caliber revolver at her.

“Granny, give me all your money,” is what the victim told deputies the man said. The victim told the man that she did not have any money, and she argued back and forth with him, according to the Sheriff’s Office report on the incident. The suspect left the bedroom and fled through a side door. The victim told investigators that she watched the man, still with the hoodie over face, walk calmly and not in any hurry toward River Annex Road.

The victim told deputies that she believed that the suspect knew her because the suspect tried to disguise his voice and because she is called “granny” by some of her grandson’s friends.

After the incident, the victim said she woke up her husband, who is hard of hearing and sleeps in a different room. They then drove around the neighborhood in an attempt to locate the suspect, according to the Sheriff’s Office report. When they could not locate the bandit, they returned home and called deputies — nearly a half hour after the incident.

The victim told authorities that she believed the handgun belonged to her and her husband, and that it was taken from a truck outside. She reported that the gun was missing from the truck, which did not appear to be ransacked.

The victim said both the home and truck are normally unlocked, and deputies reported that it appeared the suspect had entered through the front door of the home. In addition to the gun, the victim reported that a purple Sony Ericsson cell phone was missing from her bedside.

An Escambia County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit followed a possible suspect track to another home on River Annex Road, but deputies were unable to make contact with anyone at the house. According to the Sheriff’s Office report, one resident at the home matches the physical description given by the victim and is familiar with her residence.

If you have any information on this home invasion, contact Gulf Coast Crime Stoppers at (850) 433-STOP.

Century Considers $130K Water Meter Purchase To Improve Billing, Revenue

The Town of Century is considering the $130,799 purchase of 941 new automated water meters to eliminate billing problems and lost revenue.

“We were doing the best we could do,” Mayor Freddie McCall said of the town’s current automated water meters, “but what we ended up doing was throwing Band-Aids on a situation that required more.”

The current automated meters have been plagued by misreads, billing mishaps and continual customers complaints.

“We have been fighting this for years now,” McCall said Tuesday night. He said that the current system will correctly run only about one of every 10-15 billing profiles. A billing profile is essentially a long-term account history. “It’s a headache.”

“The problems with that product start snowballing and it becomes very inaccurate,” Dan Devane, regional sales manager for meter equipment Datamatic, Ltd., said at a special council workshop Tuesday night. Datamatic manufactured the current, problematic meters, which were installed about five years ago. They also manufacture the new “Mosaic Firefly” equipment the town may purchase.

In trading in the old system for the new, Datamatic will provide the town about $140,000 in discounts.

With the new Mosaic Firefly system, the town’s meter reader will never leave his vehicle. He will simply drive block to block as the meters automatically report their readings. For an estimated $30,000 in upgrades at a later date, the new system wold be capable of automatically reporting water meter readings from across the town without human intervention.

With the completely automated “mesh” system, each meter would communicate with neighboring meters, eventually relaying a report from each meter back to city hall. That method, Devane said, is much more cost effective that sending out a human meter reader. In addition, daily reports could pinpoint customers with leaks, backflows, usage on inactive accounts and fraud.

Datamatic also manufactured the current gas meter reading system for the Town of Century. McCall said there is no plan to replace that equipment at this point, but it would eventually be phased out for a newer system like that proposed for the water meters.

The new water meters would have a 10 year guarantee, including an internal battery. Each meter would store hourly information for 320 days. The new meters will also be lead-free, a standard required of new meters in Florida by 2012.

The $130,799 purchase, if approved by the council, would pay for itself in less than two years, according to estimates by Devane. He estimated the town would realize an additional $83,125 in additional billings due to increased meter efficiency and about $2,200 per year in labor savings.

Pictured top: Datamatic Regional Sales Manager Dan Devane describes a new water meter system Tuesday night as Century Mayor Freddie McCall and Council President Ann Brooks look on. Pictured below: This PowerPoint slide details the no cost items the Datamatic company promises to provide to the Town of Century with a water meter system upgrade. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.

Boy Bitten By Dog While Walking To Bus Stop

A 12-year old boy on his way to a school bus stop was attacked by a dog Tuesday morning in Cantonment.

The incident happened about a mile from Tate High School on Pinedale Lane, just off West Roberts Road. The victim and another boy were reportedly walking to a school bus stop when an Alaskan Malamute and another dog escaped from a yard. The boys ran from the dogs, and the Alaskan Malamute attacked the 12-year old student.

A construction worker and the dog’s owner pulled the dog off the boy, according to deputies.

The boy was transported to Sacred Heart Hospital, reportedly with puncture wounds and muscle injuries to his arms. The construction worker was also bitten by the dog; he was transported to West Florida Hospital.

Both dogs were taken to the Escambia County animal shelter where they were quarantined. The owner has signed both dogs over to the animal shelter, and officials say the Alaskan Malmute will likely be put down.

Brothers Charged In Church Copper Theft

Two Alabama brothers have been charged in connection with the theft of copper from a church near Flomaton.

Charles Brown, 25, and James E. Brown, 27, both of Riverview, Ala., have been charged with criminal mischief, criminal trespassing, theft of property and burglary in connection with the theft at the Friendship Freewill Baptist Church.

Three air conditioning units at Friendship Freewill Baptist Church on Friendship Road were dismantled, with the bandits cleaning out the copper coils. Church members said the theft occurred sometime between 5 p.m. Tuesday, August 10 and 9:45  the following Wednesday morning. Two of the units were used to cool the church’s main sanctuary, while one was used to cool their fellowship hall.

The stolen copper was located at a scrapyard, leading to the arrests.

The Brown brothers are also accused of stealing food from inside the church; authorities said they previously did work at the church and knew the location of a spare key.

Authorities said the brothers have also been implicated in a similar incident in Conecuh County, Ala.

Pictured: An estimated $15,000 in damage was done in a copper theft from the air conditioners at the Friendship Freewill Baptist Church. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Former Sheriff’s Employee Gets 15 Years In Prison For $1.4 Million Theft

A former Escambia County Sheriff’s Office employee was sentenced Tuesday afternoon to 15 years in prison for stealing $1.43 million from the department.

Cathy Lister, 58, was also ordered to pay the money back, and she will remain on probation for 10 years once she is released from prison. Sentencing guidelines called for Lister to spend a minimum of 30 years behind bars, but Judge Paul Rasmussen ordered the lighter sentence because Lister cooperated with authorities and admitted the theft.

Lister, a former accountant who allegedly stole the funds over a long career with the Sheriff’s Office, was found guilty in July on one count of aggravated white collar crime and 11 counts of money laundering.

Lister was first charged in February with stealing $130,000 from the sheriff’s office, but further investigation determined that well over $1 million more was missing. The money was taken over a 10 year period from monies seized as part of investigations that was placed in the department’s Evidence Trust Fund. She testified in court that she paid bills and sometimes supported other family members with the money.

Lister was a 32-year employee of the department who retired from the finance division just six days before her arrest.

Meek Wins Democratic Senate Primary

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek will be the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in November, easily winning a race with real estate mogul Jeff Greene that had been tight most of the summer.

Meek, who became the first candidate to jump into the Senate race when former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez announced he wouldn’t run for re-election in January 2009, had been the preferred candidate of state and national Democrats.

He called his victory “a clear message” that voters want a Democrat in the U.S. Senate, saying that he would overcome the odds in the coming three-way race with Republican nominee Marco Rubio and independent candidate Gov. Charlie Crist this fall as he did in beating Greene Tuesday.

“I made the case that I am the real Democrat in this race. I also made the case that I have the will and desire and energy to pull a double shift to get people back to work, get them health care and protect our environment,” Meek told supporters during an energetic rally in Hollywood. “We made history because the state of Florida was not for sale.”

Meek quickly turned his sights to three-way race with Rubio and Crist, which he sought to frame as a choice between two Republicans and a fighter for the middle-class, casting himself as the lone unabashed supporter of President Barack Obama, whose approval ratings in Florida have dipped but remain near 50 percent. He acknowledged, however, that he starts that race as a decided underdog.

“If this primary showed anything, it showed that this campaign has the strength, integrity and will to win in November,” he continued. “I may not be the Goliath on Nov. 2, but until Nov. 2, I’m going to comfortable playing David.”

Leading up to Tuesday’s vote, there had been rumors that national Democrats would quietly support Crist in the fall if Meek had lost the party’s primary – or fails to gain traction in the general election. Meek blunted the speculation with campaign visits from Obama and former President Bill Clinton in the closing days of the primary, which coincided with Meek stepping up his statewide television presence to counter the $23 million Greene spent out of pocket.

The money allowed Greene to go from being a virtual unknown to being tied with Meek – and leading him in some polls – by mid-summer. But the state Democratic Party, which had long been mutually standoffish with Greene, trumpeted Tuesday’s results, pointing out that Meek was outspent in the race 7-to-1.

“Kendrick is the strong nominee our party needs in November,” Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman said. “He is the only Real Democrat in this race against not one, but two lifelong conservatives who have consistently stood against the middle class. We congratulate him on (tonight’s) victory, and look forward to helping
him win in November.”

With Republicans originally locked in a high-profile and contentious primary for the Republican nomination between Gov. Charlie Crist, who has since left the GOP, and former House Speaker Marco Rubio, Meek once had the Democratic field to himself. For more than a year, he focused on building a ground game and raising money for what was presumed to be an expensive fall campaign, locking up the support of the state and national party establishments early. He qualified for office by petition, quietly building a statewide ground operation for the fall campaign.

The primary field was not as clear as he thought, however. On the final day of qualifying Greene, a billionaire with a checkered past, entered the primary and quickly began flooding the airwaves with television commercials, pushing Meek even further off the political radar.

Former Miami Mayor Ferre – who is well-known in South Florida but never polled well or raised much money – also got in the race. A forth candidate, Burkett, was also in the race, but he gained even less traction than Ferre.

It was Greene’s money and brash accusations that Meek was essentially corrupt that defined the contest. Greene spent $23 million of his own money to make the case against the veteran Miami Congressman, and appeared for a time to be succeeding.

Meek fought back, however, digging into the war chest he had wanted to save for the fall to spend $4.7 million, arguing in television commercials that Greene made his money betting on homeowners defaulting on their mortgages. Greene was also dogged by articles about reported raunchy parties on his yacht, Summerwind, and his associations with figures such as Mike Tyson, who was the best man at his wedding.

The race turned ugly, with Meek calling Greene “a bad man” and Greene calling Meek “corrupt.” Meek also accused Greene of attacking his family for raising allegations his mother got a job and a car from a Liberty City developer who planned a project Meek pushed, which never came to fruition. The would-be developer has since been arrested, and Greene said he was criticizing Meek, not his mother, former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, who remains a beloved icon in the South Florida African-American community.

Meek entered the final day of voting confident enough to issue a campaign schedule for Wednesday, planning to thank supporters in Miami, Boca Raton, Orlando, St. Petersburg and Fort Myers. By contrast, Greene campaigned Tuesday in Democratic-vote-rich Broward County, visiting condominiums in Pembroke Pines, Tamarac, and Coconut Creek, but his campaign made no mention of Wednesday events.

In national interviews before Tuesday’s vote, Meek said he was not worried that he will enter the general election weakened by the brutal primary. The general election, a two-month sprint that begins in earnest Wednesday, will be shorter than the primary, he said.

“We’ll have the resources,” Meek said on MSNBC Monday. “We have general election dollars in holding. We’re close enough to the November election where folks will start voting early on.”

Meek also brushed off polls showing both him far behind Meek and Rubio at the start of general election. In Quinnipiac’s Aug. 19 poll, Crist led Rubio 39-32 percent, with Meek garnering 16 percent.

Greene did not fare any better in that hypothetical match-up, with Crist getting 40 percent to Rubio’s 32 percent and his 15.

Crist’s early lead in the three-way race is buoyed by a stunning level of support from Democratic voters. In the Quinnipiac poll, Crist pulled more support among Democrats – 45 percent – than either Meek or Greene, who drew 36 and 31 percent respectively.

Shortly after the race was called for Meek, Crist made a clear play to maintain that Democratic support as the general election gets underway.

“Washington is broken. It’s a swamp of partisan bickering, finger-pointing, and destructive political games,” he said in an E-mail to supporters. “We have huge problems in this country and in this state, but instead of working together to fix them, the gridlock is worse than ever.”

“I am running for the United States as an independent to change that. I will take the best ideas – whether they come from Democrats or Republicans – to get results for the people of Florida, because the only way to craft common sense solutions to our problems is to reach across party lines – to listen and work together,” Crist continued. “Now that the primaries are over, it is clear that I am the only candidate in this race who can do that, who has a track record of doing it, and if I win, will have the mandate from the people to do it.”

It remains to be seen if Meek and Greene make efforts to heal rifts created by their primary, which could be crucial to Meek staunching the bleeding of Democratic voters to Crist going forward. Meek had most of the establishment support, but refused until the final day of voting to say he would endorse Greene if he had lost Tuesday’s vote. Meek called himself the “Real Democrat” in the race and repeatedly pointed out that Greene ran for office in the early 1980’s as Republican in California.

Greene tried to make unsuccessfully to make hay of Meek’s refusal to say he would endorse him if he won the Democratic nomination, but with polls show him faltering against Meek, the charge never resonated.

By Keith Laning
The News Service Florida

Scott Defeats McCollum For Republic Gubernatorial Nomination

Powered by a $50 million, self-financed campaign, Rick Scott upended the Florida Republican establishment Tuesday, defeating Attorney General Bill McCollum for the GOP gubernatorial nomination following the most expensive and one of the most bitter primary battles in state history.

Scott emerges as a candidate who effectively is a party of one – having run against the GOP leadership and even airing hard-hitting TV ads which tarred McCollum’s ties to indicted former Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer.

McCollum was slow to concede, after the Associated Press and major TV networks had called the race, and even after the Republican Governors Association in a statement said, “Rick Scott is the nominee.” A spokeswoman said late Tuesday, however, that McCollum would concede, likely around midnight.

“With a deep sense of humility, I’m here tonight to accept the Republican nomination for the office of governor of our great state of Florida,” Scott said. “The people of Florida have spoken, and I like what they’ve said.”

For many, it’s hard to imagine the party patching up its differences with Scott before the November general election against Democrat Alex Sink, who easily captured her party’s nomination Tuesday.

“I think it’s all up to Rick Scott,” said Al Cardenas, a former Florida Republican Party chairman. “We’ve had hard primaries before. But the winner has been magnanimous. We’ll see this time.”

Lew Oliver, the Orange County Republican chairman, said the party is eager to join with Scott.

“I’ll cry for Bill McCollum for 60 seconds, but then we’ll move on,” Oliver said. “It’s what we do. There’s too much at stake in this race for bad feelings to last.”

Scott said the party would unify – despite the fact that a unity rally that had been planned for Wednesday was cancelled for “logistical” reasons.

“The Republican Party will come together” Scott said, because of a “shared devotion to values that make America great.”

But then Scott quickly returned to maverick outsider message, saying that Republican insiders were upset – and he didn’t care. He also promised to continue to fight against political insiders as he moves on to the general election.

“Today’s vote rocked the political establishment,” the Naples businessman told supporters. “Voters have a mind of their own, they found out tonight. It’s sobering news for the special interests. They know I don’t owe them anything.”

Scott predicted that some of the same business groups that backed McCollum in the primary could get behind Democratic nominee Alex Sink, a former banker with strong ties to the state’s business community.

“They like my Democratic opponent,” he said of the independent groups that funneled money to McCollum as the primary grew expensive. “She plays by their rules. So we know what’s next. One group (of political committees) spent millions attacking me. Tomorrow a new gang starts.”

The fierce Republican contest ended Tuesday with Scott and McCollum making last-minute appeals to voters on statewide tours punctuated by heavy rain and continued bad feelings.

As Republicans cancelled their plans to hold the party unity rally Wednesday in Tampa, it wasn’t clear whether McCollum would back Scott.

Hard-feelings among Republican voters may have forced them to the third man in the race – virtual unknown, retired Army colonel Mike McCalister, who was drawing roughly 10 percent of the vote in the bruising primary after having spent less than $8,000 on his campaign. McCalister’s suddent prominence was seen by most as a protest vote.

“Who’s Mike McCalister?” said Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, after attempting to assure the small, subdued crowd gathered at McCollum’s election party.

But it’s Scott – who jumped into the race in April and largely paid his own way to victory – Florida Republicans now must get used to. While McCollum ran strongly in his home Central Florida, he was outpaced by Scott in the Jacksonville area and the populous Tampa Bay area. McCollum ran stronger in South Florida, but both Republican contenders may have been hurt by the anti-illegal immigration theme they endorsed.

Although the race ended with statewide flyarounds, the Republican campaign has mostly been a TV war. Scott and his wife, Ann, have poured $50 million of the couple’s own money into the race – much of it buying dozens of hard-hitting ads that dismissed McCollum as a career politician.

McCollum, while far outspent, still managed to pump $23 million into the campaign, helped by 527 spending committees which have drawn cash from some of Florida’s biggest corporations and party leaders.

House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, and Haridopolos combined to spend more than $1.1 million on McCollum’s behalf through political committees they control. It proved a bad bet.

The two leaders were among a crowd of party insiders joining McCollum at his election night party in Altamonte Springs, part of the Central Florida congressional district he served more than 20 years before two unsuccessful runs for U.S. Senate. McCollum was elected attorney general in 2006.

House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala, served as m.c. of the event. But with election returns showing Scott holding a narrow lead for most of the night, the 100 or so supporters gathered at a suburban hotel remained subdued.

“It’s going to be a great night,” Agriculture Commisssioner Charlie Bronson said, although he sounded less-than-convinced. “It may be a little bit longer night because the numbers aren’t coming in as fast as we thought they would. But that’s politics.”

Cretul called McCollum a “rock-solid conservative.” Bronson cast him as a “very principled Republican.”

Tom Gallagher, who lost the 2006 Republican primary to Gov. Charlie Crist, said the McCollum-Scott race had set a new standard for nasty campaign advertising. Whoever the winner, Gallagher said, would face a tough time retooling for a general election contest with Democrat Alex Sink, who easily won her party’s nominee Tuesday.

“I thought I’d had everything thrown at me in my career,” Gallagher said. “But this one has set a new level of mean.”

Scott’s election night event was being held at a Fort Lauderdale hotel. Scott has run his campaign against a headwind of hostility from the state’s Republican establishment – with the former health-care executive worth a reported $218 million even being confronted by a heckler Tuesday afternoon as he cast his ballot near his Naples home.

Shortly after Scott told reporters, “I’m convinced that we’re going to win,” a man self-identified as “Dr. Dave” who has been following the campaign for days called on Scott to “release the deposition,” a reference to a sealed statement the candidate has given in a lawsuit against his company, Solantic, Inc.

The heckler, outfitted in scrubs, has been following the campaign in a car also bearing the statement demanding that Scott make public the deposition. Scott’s campaign says the stunt is likely financed by one of the 527s backing McCollum.

These political committees have far outstripped the $7 million McCollum raised for his own campaign – benefiting from such cash injections at $500,000 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and millions of dollars from builders, transportation companies and medical organizations around the state, which have used the committees to skirt the state’s $500 individual contribution limit to a candidate.

By John Kennedy
The News Service Florida

Sink Sets Sights On Scott

Having easily claimed the Democratic gubernatorial nomination Tuesday, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink wasted little time turning her attention to Naples businessman Rick Scott, who claimed victory Tuesday evening in a close race with Attorney General Bill McCollum.

In a video emailed to supporters , Sink said Scott, who only referred to Sink in his remarks Tuesday as “my Democratic opponent,” would run a harshly negative campaign against him similar to the bruising GOP primary. The video is at the bottom of this page.

“The election has barely been called, but Rick Scott is picking up right where he left off in his negative campaign against Bill McCollum, as though a negative campaign of personal attacks is the only kind of campaign Rick Scott knows how to run,” Sink said in the video. “But you and I know we need a governor who attacks Florida’s challenges, not someone who just attacks other people.”

But just as quickly, she raised similar questions as McCollum about Scott’s past as CEO of Columbia/HCA Healthcare, which paid $1.7 million in fines and civil settlements after Scott left due to allegations of fraud.

“We know there are many troubling and unanswered questions about Rick Scott’s background and business practices, things he clearly doesn’t want to talk about,” she said. “And let’s not forget only moved to Florida seven years ago.”

In his victory speech Tuesday, Scott predicted that some of the independent business groups that backed McCollum would support Sink, a former bank with strong ties to the Florida business community. “They like my Democratic opponent,” Scott said of the independent groups that funneled money to McCollum as the primary grew expensive. “She plays by their rules. So we know what’s next. One group (of political committees) spent millions attacking me. Tomorrow a new gang starts.”

Florida Awarded $700 Million In Education ‘Race To The Top’

Florida is set to collect $700 million for its schools, the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday, naming the Sunshine State one of 10 winners in the second round of its $4.35 billion Race to the Top competition.

The funds will help shore up education spending in a down economy and set the stage for lawmakers and the state Department of Education to push for reforms in public schools that could include instituting a merit pay system for teachers, which was the subject of a nasty political fight this past spring.

“We are very, very thrilled to be one of those that will receive an award in round two,”said state Education Commissioner Eric Smith. “I think that this round is a true example of what can happen when a state collaborates, works together, pulls together.”

Race to the Top is part of President Barack Obama’s $800-billion stimulus plan that passed in 2009. Money is doled out through a competitive two-round grant application process. Florida was widely rumored to be a frontrunner in the first round, but finished fourth and out of contention for federal dollars. Only Delaware and Tennessee took home money when the first round winners were announced in late March.

Federal school officials cited problems with the state’s initial application for the money, mainly the lack of support from teacher unions across the state. The Florida Education Association, the statewide lobbying arm for the individual unions, said they hadn’t been included or listened to during many initial conversations about the state’s grant application and voiced concerns about the proposals, particularly ones enforcing a merit pay system for teachers based on student test scores.

The revamped application, which did win union approval, still focuses on merit pay for teachers. But it would not be imposed on districts where an agreement could not be reached via the local collective bargaining process.

Smith, Gov. Charlie Crist and a delegation of Florida educators pitched the state’s overhauled proposal to federal education officials earlier this month. It also presented the overall goals of doubling the number of students who graduate high school and take college credits, narrowing the achievement gap in reading and math and increasing the number of students who read above the proficiency level.

“We’re heartened that Florida became a recipient of the Race to the Top grant in the second phase of the federal program,” FEA President Andy Ford said in a statement. “Our state was unsuccessful in the first phase because the scope of Florida’s application was imposed by the state. When the governor appointed a working group that included superintendents, school boards, teachers, parents, FEA and other groups, differences were quickly worked out.”

The other states that will receive federal funds are the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Massachusetts Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island. And the U.S. Department of Education has asked Congress for another $1.35 billion to continue the program so more states can receive funding.

In both rounds combined, 46 states and the District of Columbia applied for the grant money.

The next step is for local school boards to develop a plan of how they will implement reforms and use the federal money. The local boards have 90 days, starting today, to develop those plans, but they will not include full blown contract negotiations, Smith said. Schools who do not participate in the reforms will not receive any money.

Smith also said he does not anticipate that the department will need any legislative action to implement reforms.

By Kathleen Haughney
The News Service Florida

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