Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — who has been criticized for apposing mask mandates and vaccine passports — is now touting a COVID-19 antibody treatment in which a top donor's company has invested millions of dollars. more
Florida GOP State Rep. Richard Corcoran, speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, has endorsed Aakash Patel for Hillsborough County Commission. here
Consider the Republican candidates for governor and their priorities.
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Adam Putnam: A proud NRA sellout and pledged he would sign a so-called “heartbeat bill, legislation that would make abortion illegal after a doctor can hear a fetus’ heartbeat. WTF! What about the victim of gun violence heartbeat?
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Ron DeSantis: Trump's choice. Rather than campaign in Florida, DeSantis campaigns almost exclusively on Fox News. For weeks, he’s practically had a casting couch on Sean Hannity’s TV and radio shows.
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Richard Corcoran: For the last two years he has championed legislation that undercuts traditional public education and helps charter schools that educate only 10 percent of Florida students. Corcoran congratulated himself for the post-Douglas school safety bill that will add no new money for academics and leave school districts short as they comply with new rules on police officers.
Manny Diaz, the Hialeah Republican who collects a six-figure salary as chief operating officer of the charter Doral College and sits on the Education Committee and the K-12 Appropriations Subcommittee.
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Richard Corcoran, the Land O’Lakes Republican whose wife founded a charter school in Pasco County that stands to benefit from legislation.
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Michael Bileca, the Miami Republican who hairs the House Education Committee and is listed as executive director of the foundation that funds True North Classical Academy, attended by the children of another legislator. Bileca is also a school founder.
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These three legislators were chief architects in the passage of a $419 million education bill that takes away millions of dollars from public schools to expand the charter-school industry in Florida at taxpayer expense. They crafted the most important parts of education bill HB 7069 in secret.Source
Corcoran is more ethically challenged than Charles Dickens’ Fagin, as he presides over Tallahassee’s Artful Sammy Glicks in the endless pursuit of power and money. But the Daddy Warbucks of the capital doesn’t come cheap.
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Benefiting from the Republican Party of Florida’s accounts as well as his political committee, Watchdog PAC (really, that’s its name, stop laughing).
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Corcoran has blown through $11,000 for dinners at the chi-chi Morton’s steakhouses, another $15,000 at Ruth’s Chris steakhouse and (belch) $29,000 at Tampa’s Capital Grille, not to mention $8,000 dropped on a single supper at the hotsy-totsy French Laundry eatery in California. Did that include an after-dinner mint? And what have we learned? Apparently the speaker likes steak, with a side order of hubris.
Legislators who profit from the charter-school industry in private life and have been actively involved in pushing — and successfully passing — legislation to fund for-profit private schools at the expense of public education.here
The Walt Disney Co. is betting big on Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. Since 2015, Disney has given $400,648 to Florida Grown, a committee supporting Putnam, but has also donated $70,000 to a committee run by state Sen. Jack Latvala and $35,000 to a new committee set up by House Speaker Richard Corcoran. U.S. Sugar Corp. and Duke Energy have given to Putnam, Corcoran and Latvala’s committees, as well.
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Disney’s donation to Corcoran could be considered surprising since the speaker led a blistering battle against the state paying their advertising bill.
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Disney and other companies haven’t given anything to the three major Democratic candidates already in the race.
"When allocations come down, it has to be recognized - again - the masterful play by @RichardCorcoran," Peter Schorsch, gushed on Twitter the same day Corcoran made the payment.
After the session finally ended, Schorsch crowned Corcoran the biggest winner:
"He’s the master of the House. No, make that the Capitol....Light up another Montecristo: This ride is just gettin’ started."
------------------ Mr. Corcoran do the right thing and we will call you a winner for free. We are NOT part of Florida's Culture Of Corruption! To help us?
Blurring the lines between his role as an up-and-coming Republican legislator and his job as an attorney, the law firm of House Speaker Richard Corcoran once charged the state for a meeting with Corcoran in his capacity as a lawmaker.here
Florida’s public-sector labor unions which represent thousands of workers ranging from school teachers to public utility linemen would have to convince their members to pay up or else risk being shut down, under a controversial plan by House Republicans that is now headed to the floor despite little chance at becoming law. here
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HB 11 is a priority of House Speaker Richard Corcoran of Land O’Lakes.
Florida GOP Steve Crisafulli and Richard Corcoran attack the Florida Supreme Court’s 5-2 decision to suspend the state’s 24-hour waiting period for an abortion.
Crisafulli: “In my opinion, this has been one of the most activist and overreaching state Supreme Courts in recent memory. I believe our government works best when all sides respect the balance of power. It appears that several of our Justices seem to believe it is their job to invalidate any action of the Legislature, regardless of the law and constitution.”
Corcoran:“Apparently, abortion activists, and their liberal allies on the Supreme Court, are no longer content just for abortion to be legal; their goal seems to be to ensure that the maximum number of abortions are performed each year in Florida. How else would you explain opposition to a law that simply protects women from being pressured or bullied into making a life-altering decision?”
Of course that’s pure bunk. It’s part of the effort by a GOP that’s increasingly out of touch on social issues to attack the authority of any court that Republicans haven’t stacked. Their strategy is to undermine courts until they can rig them to overturn any progressive legislation that might be passed in the future.here
On the eve of a fiery speech in which he urged members to “build an absolute firewall between our private lives and the influence of special interests,” House Speaker-designate Richard Corcoran held a party at a posh Capital City hotel bar for upward of 400 lobbyists.here