News, Politics, Opinions and Views that make you think

Commissioner Gene Valentino has turned over his personal computer to the state attorney’s office which is investigating a complaint by atty. Greg Smith that the commissioner had not released all his emails regarding a bingo casino on Perdido Key.

We discovered that Valentino no longer had his computer yesterday when we were told a record request which we had regarding the commissioner would not be fulfilled until his computer was released by the SAO.

Valentino has his version of why he had so much difficulty complying with Smith’s request—which took over two months—in the daily newspaper.

Emails can be deleted from laptops. The SAO needs to check if Collector Solutions (Valentino’s company) has a backup system on its server that stores all of the commissioner’s emails.

This email was forwarded to me by Rhette Anderson, the newest PEDC member:

From: Rhettean
To: blandrum@amstaff.com, ttait@whitneybank.com, fdonovansr@baskervilledonovan.com
CC: eemerson@pensacolachamber.com, cwood@pensacolachamber.com, sasarisi@osullivancreel.com
Sent: 7/1/2009 12:50:01 P.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: PEDC

I would like to thank each of you for your interest in Pensacola and the Region! It is through a combined effort, coupled with the leadership of individuals, such as yourselves, that we can have a positive impact on our future.

The PEDC had their meeting today, and if you have not already heard, we endorsed, or favored the “Mort O’Sullivan” Plan, and suggested that the governing bodies consider its adoption. With all due respect to Mort, I think we need to refer to it as the Greater Escambia Plan, or the Escambia Greater Plan, or the Escambia Citizens’ Plan, because more people than Mort contributed to the proposal. That does not take away from the effort of Mort, but describes it as a more general plan for our greater good, not tied to one individual.

I think as time proceeds, we should seek ways to include components of Commissioner Valentino’s program, but the adoption of the Greater Escambia Plan will allow immediate action as the components are in place.

I would like to thank the PYP representative and Jane Birdwell for their comments at today’s meeting.

Continue to be involved…make your feelings known in all areas…and let’s work together to improve our Great Community!

W. Rhette Anderson

The Judicial Nominating Commission for the First Judicial Circuit has submitted five names to Gov. Charlie Crist to fill the Escambia County Court vacancy resulting from the retirement of Judge G.J. Roark, III:

Tom Dannheisser (Santa Rosa County Attorney)
Michelle A. Inere
Fred T. Ratchford, Jr.
David Rimmer (Asst. State Attorney)
John Simon

The meeting was heavily attended. All PEDC members were present: Gene Valentino, Sam Hall, Century Mayor Freddie McCall, Comm. Kevin White, Councilwoman Maren DeWeese, Mort O’Sullivan, Collier Merrill, and Rhette Anderson. Blaise Adams participated over a speaker phone.

The meeting was held in the training room on the fourth floor of the Escambia County Office Complex. It was standing room only. In the audience were City Manager Al Coby, County Administrator Bob McLaughlin, Chamber Pres. Evon Emerson, Pensacola Mayor Mike Wiggins, Comm. Wilson Robertson, PNJ: Kevin Doyle, Dick Schneider and Jamie Page, Jim Reeves, Joe Gilchrist, John Griffing, Jane Birdwell, Bo Johnson, Nancy Fetterman, John Panyko, Dick Baker, Neal Nash, Janice Kilgore, George Touart, Justin Beck, Charles Wood, Meredith Robinson, Ed Schroeder and others that I couldn’t see clearly from my seat.

Both Valentino and Hall opened the meeting with remarks about Sunshine Law. Gene read a prepared statement from his attorney that made it clear the PEDC has no authority to approve or disapprove the ED plans and that the sole authority to do so lies with the BOCC and the Pensacola City Council.

Hall admitted that he may have unintentionally violated Sunshine laws in discussions with Comm. Valentino and Mort O’Sullivan. I asked O’Sullivan after the meeting what was Hall talking about. O’Sullivan said that he had discussions with Hall about the Chamber plan back in March, but never had any reason to believe that the County Commission would ever send the plans to the PEDC for discussion.

“It wasn’t until two weeks ago when Wilson (Commissioner Wilson Robinson) made the motion for Gene and I to discuss the plans at the next PEDC meeting that the PEDC was ever in the picture,” O’Sullivan said.

After that, the discussion was awkward between Mort and Gene. It was as if they were speaking two different languages and Gene wasn’t really listening. Even when the Chamber plan was passed, Gene didn’t really seem to understand that his plan was off the table.

All the buzz words were being used that we’ve heard before–elastic, transparency, visibility, accountability, cooperation and consensus–but nothing had really changed in either plan.

Valentino didn’t propose a different PEDA structure as I had been told that he might. Mort asked him if he had made any changes to his plan since he first presented it in May. Valentino said that the only difference was that he wanted to emphasize the private investment more.

At the BOCC workshop last month, Valentino had given his commissioners the impression that he had modified his plan based on public input.

As I listened, it became apparent that Gene wanted a public board (PEDA) setting policy for economic development but a professional staff that didn’t operate in the Sunshine. Mort wanted a board (Greater Pensacola Partnership) that was more actively involved in the economic development work that operated outside of the Sunshine so that two or three board members could get on a plane and visit a hot prospect.

Mort felt the public and Sunshine should be involved in the granting of incentive funds. Gene wanted the PEDA to do it and may even eventually replace the PEDC.

The compromise–although Gene might not see as that- was to have the Economic Development board and staff operate outside of the Sunshine to recruit and negotiate with prospects and have the PEDC board be the public/Sunshine entity to handle the incentive dollars. This is what the PEDC recommended for the BOCC to consider.

Gene didn’t see the value in the board members being involved with prospects—he never said this directly, but kept skipping over this point. He really didn’t have role of the business community in recruiting prospects.

Mort was adamant that the business leaders want to meet with business leaders.

When Mort tried to point that one of the examples for economic development success that Gene likes to use –Mobile– has the very structure that the Chamber is proposing, Gene started to raise his voice and said that he had never cited Mobile as an example and the only reason that Mobile County Commissioner Steve Nodine sat at his side at the June BOCC workshop was to tell the BOCC about different funding mechanisms they have in Mobile (few of which are available for use in our county). Gene did regain his composure.

Matt Fiebig, who chairs the Economic Development committee for the Pensacola Young Professionals, spoke during the public input segment to say the PYP did not feel that it had a fair chance to have a voice in the process (even though two of its members served on the Chamber study committee, Justin Beck and Lumon May) and that PYP wanted more detail and more public input. He expressed concern over the lack of a unified vision.

These comments were in sync with similar statements by Gene on the need to reach out to the outlining community. He said the people have hesitated to invest in economic development because they didn’t believe that they would have a say.

The battle of the Economic Development plans is over. Councilman Sam Hall made a motion today at the PEDC meeting for the body to let both the Escambia County Commission and the Pensacola City Council the PEDC’s preference for the plan proposed by the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce. The motion passed 8-0, with Comm. Gene Valentino abstaining.

The Chamber plan establishes new economic development organization, Greater Pensacola Partnership. The Chamber will have a separate board and executive director. It will be a subsidiary of that GPP.

In making his motion, Hall pointed out that the PEDC meeting had been going for about 52 minutes and “we are not moving the ball forward at all.” He stated that he was excited about the Chamber plan when Mort O’Sullivan first presented it. Hall said that he sought out from Comm. Valentino specifics on his proposal and never got it. He left the joint city-county meeting in which Valentino made his presentation and was just as puzzled.

Hall said that he like the Chamber plan because it was ready to go. He looked at Comm. Valentino and said, “I am confident that you know what your plan is, but I’m confident that anybody else does.”

Hall suggested that the Chamber be given two years to implement its new plan and see what happens.

Mort O’Sullivan made motion that the board inform the BOCC and Council of its willingness to be the public body that approves and vets the incentive funds. That motion passed 7-1. Rhette Anderson voted No. Valentino abstained.

Mort O’Sullivan made one more motion that the PEDC suggest to the BOCC and Council that the two governmental boards considered using the incremental increases in utility franchise fees to found the incentives. It was passed 8-0. Valentino abstained.

Although it seemed to take awhile for Comm. Valentino to realize that his PEDA plan had been rejected, the meeting ended on a positive note. The Commissioner had some concerns about how PEDC might have to be restructure to accommodate its new enhanced role. However, it did become clear that PEDC will not drive the economic development effort, just be the watchdog over the incentive pool of $4-$6 million.

Commissioner Gene Valentino may offer a new structure for his proposed Pensacola Economic Development Authority when he appears before the PEDC this morning.

We received a copy of the new structure which calls for PEDA board nominations to be made by various groups: Pensacola, County, Century, DIB, CRA, UWF, PJC, PSA, PYP, Area Chambers, Public and others.

A Selection Committee then chooses 15 board members that will represent the following interests: Military, Education, Minority, Tourism and private sector interests such as hospitality, healthcare, real estate, wholesalers.distributors, technology, insurance, banking/finance and the others.

Who is on the selection committee? I don’t know. We may learn that today.

Among likely GOP voters, Rubio has a name recognition problem with nearly half for them not knowing who the former House Speaker is.
Recognize Favorably: Charlie Crist 49% Marco Rubio 24%
Unfavorably: Crist 22%, Rubio 5%
Neutral: Crist 29%, Rubio 23%
Don’t recognize name: Crist 0%, Rubio 48%

If the GOP Senate primary was held today, 51% would vote for Crist. However, among those that know both Crist and Rubio (52% of those polled), the vote was tighter: Crist 33%, Rubio 31% and Undecided 36%.

On the Democrat side, slightly more than half of the likely primary voters don’t know Kendrick Meek or his possible challenger Corrine Brown. Of those that do recognize either name, Meek si seen favorably by 22%, Brown 9%.

If the Democratic primary was held today, Meek 27%, Brown 12% and Undecided 61%. This race is still wide open.

Overall the likely voters were asked: if the 2010 election for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat were held today, for whom would you vote if the candidates were Kendrick Meek, the Democrat, and Charlie Crist, the Republican? Crist 48%, Meek 26%, Undecided 26%.

Read poll

Press Release:

Pensapedia ( http://www.pensapedia.com ), a wiki-style online encyclopedia for the Pensacola area, has reached a major milestone with the creation of its 2,000th article, “Henry C. Mustin.”

The article was created on June 25 and includes information about Henry Croskey Mustin, an early Naval Aviator who helped establish the Naval Aeronautic Station, predecessor of the modern Naval Air Station Pensacola. He was part of a detachment sent in January 1914 to establish a flight school at the defunct Navy Yard (later serving as its commandant) and participated in early Naval Aviation operations and experiments, including an historic catapult launch from a ship anchored in Pensacola Bay. Mustin Beach and the Mustin Beach Officers Club are named for him.

Pensapedia is a non-profit collaborative encyclopedia documenting the Pensacola area and its history. Built with the same software as the popular Wikipedia project, it was founded in late 2006 by Joseph Vinson and joined shortly thereafter by Derek Cosson. There are now nearly 200 registered users and dozens of unregistered patrons who have contributed to articles. Anyone with an Internet connection is free to view, contribute and improve information throughout the website. Article topics range from Pensacola’s earliest history to current events and everything in between.

Pensapedia may be found on the web at http://www.pensapedia.com . The project may also be followed on the social websites Facebook and Twitter.

Councilwoman Maren DeWeese has released her goals for the upcoming City Council workshop:

Establish an Education Funding Committee to evaluate scholarships through Pensacola Promise that will be used as an economic development tool.

Improve Quality of Life through neighborhood partnerships and our existing parks system also focusing on pedestrian/bicycle connectivity throughout the city.

Create opportunities and locations for Mixed Income/Mixed-Use housing in our Urban Core.

Create a multi-use plan for the Port of Pensacola and transition to a Renewable Port Focused Business Plan

Create opportunities to internally consolidate, outsource and re-task City departments and staff for better efficiency and improved communication with our citizens furthering our cost savings.

The Studer Group and Landrum Human Resource Companies, Inc. have been named among the “Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America” by The Great Place to Work Institute, Inc. and the Society for Human Resource Management. Studer is ranked No. 11 and Landrum is No. 18.

We made a record request of the Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce to find out how it spends the money it receives from the County. We received their Form 990 Tax Return for the fiscal year that ended 9/30/08 and the expense reports for the Visitor Information Center, Military Development and Economic Development. We received the information late yesterday.

The total gross receipts for the Chamber were $4,337,642. Of that, $2,342,136 came from the County–54 percent – which breaks down to Tourism/Bed taxes $1,790,136 (41%), $150,000 for PEDC (3%) and $402,000 (9%) for Economic Development/Foundations for the Future.

TOURISM - The County contracts with the Chamber to run the Visitor Information Center and Convention Bureau – which has been recognized as the best in 2008 by Southeast Tourism Society. Its budget is approved by a board appointed by the BOCC.

Bed Tax contribution:
Tourism 3rd Cent: $1,190,136.00
Tourism 4th Cent: $600,000.00
Total: $1,790,136.00

Expenditures:
VIC: $1,448,488.00
Convention Sales: $248,559.00
Public Relations: $98,416.00
TACC: $29,437.00
Celebrity Chef Program: $2,892.00
Film Commission : $23,004.00
State Coop Adv: $10,000.00
Consignment Sales: $3,109.00
Southcoast USA Membership: $5,000.00
Total operating expenses$1,868,905.00
Overhead Allocation: $102,413.00

Total expenses: $1,971,318
Budget shortfall covered by other income: ($181,182)

PEDC and Economic Development contributions by the General funds of the City and County partially fund the Economic Development and Military Development efforts the Chamber is contracted to do for the County and City. PEDC is chaired by Comm. Gene Valentino and gets $300K of the funds ($150K each from City and County).

Public Sector (from city & county budgets):
County: $150,000+$402,000=$552,000
City: $150,000+$90,000=$240,000
ESP/Airport=$75,000
Total city/county: $867,000 PEDC: $300,000, ED:$567,000

Expenditures:
Military Development: $257,909
Economic Development: $618,160
Performance Enhancement Plan: $11,673
Dues & Subscriptions: $2,755
Inner City Visit: $164,784
Total operating expenses: $1,055,281–PEDC portion of expenses: $272,640, ED portion:$782,641
Overhead allocation: $137,626
PEDC surplus returned to PEDC fund: $30,786
Total expenses:$1,223,693– PEDC: $303,426, ED: $920,267

ED Shortfall covered by private sector contributions and other revenue sources: ($356,693).

Note: County covers 50 percent of the PEDC and 44 percent of the ED. City General Fund contributes 50 percent of PEDC and only 10 percent of the ED efforts. ESP/Airport contribute 6 percent of ED efforts.

The Bed Tax dollars distort the picture of the County’s contributions to the chamber. Those dollars are for purposes as defined by state statutes and are approved by a BOCC board. So let’s not show the entire $1.8 million and only show the VIC/Tourism overhead allocation in the gross receipts:

Gross Receipts
VIC/CVB overhead allocation: $102,413 (4.0%)
City PEDC/ED General Fund: $240,000 (9.0%)
County General Fund: $552,000 (20.8%)
Airport/ESP: $75,000 (2.8%)
Private investors in ED: $341,408 (12.9%)
Chamber Memberships: $552,929 (20.9%)
State Defense Grant: $72,518 (2.7%)
Other: $713,651 (26.9%)
Total: $2,649,919

BTW: I have asked for a ruling on whether this breaks the ED Free Week pledge. Since it is not about either of the two ED plans and more on the Chamber finances, the judges say we can post this.

Our Congressman, Jeff Miller, has endorsed Marco Polo Rubio who is running for the GOP nomination for the US Senate against Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. Some local Republicans are scratching their heads at why Miller would step out so soon.

Crist is not getting many endorsements from Conservative Republicans around the state. The biggest has been State Sen. Don Gaetz. The Crist camp isn’t too worried. Miller and other GOP conservatives backed Tom Gallagher in the 2006 governor’s race and weren’t successful in derailing the Crist campaign.

Who else will step into the State Senate District 1 and the State House District 2 races? Durell Peaden is terming out of the state senate seat. Greg Evers and Dave Murzin are the top contenders. Mike Hill is also in the race, but it may not be the best time for a State Farm insurance agent to run. However, will another candidate file from Escambia County?

Local Republican Clay Ingram has filed to fill Murzin’s House seat, but it is still early. One possibility is Megan Pratt, who would lose her city council at-large seat if the new charter is passed.

State Attorney Willie Meggs’ office accidentally released Ray Sansom’s testimony to the Tallahassee grand jury to three media outlets, St. Pete Times, Palm Beach Post and the Bay Beacon in Niceville, late last week. For a short while, the St. Pete Times had it posted on its website, but later pulled it down.

Both Meggs and the St. Pete Times could be in trouble. It is a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000. Disclosing or disseminating grand jury testimony also constitutes criminal contempt of court.

Florida Statute 905.27 states it is “knowingly publish, broadcast, disclose, or communicate to any other person, or permit to be published, broadcast, disclosed divulged or communicated to any other person, in any manner whatsoever, any testimony of a witness examined before the grand jury.”

Join us today at The Fish House Deck for our 10th Anniversary Party from 5:30-7 p.m.

Spoke with Lisa Bernau, Chief Deputy for Escambia County Clerk of Courts/Comptroller Ernie Lee Magaha, about the change in funding for the Clerk that will go into effect July 1. Other clerks around the state are announcing huge layoffs because of the change which will place their funding under the state judicial administration. Currently the clerks have based funding on the collections for services provided.

Bernau says that they don’t anticipate any more cuts than the 50 employees who were laid off earlier in the year.

“Mr. Magaha began planning for this in January as he saw the decline in revenue collections due to the downturn in the economy. He stressed pre-planning and preparation so we don’t anticipate any more layoffs.”

The Pensacola City Council has a goal-setting session on Tuesday, June 30 at 9 a.m. Sam Hall and Larry Johnson have shared their five goals:

Larry Johnson
~ Green Community
Encouraging green buildings. Our city leading by example with all future buildings at least silver LEEDS certified
Improving recycling efforts by recycling glass
Protecting our natural resources and environment
Adding beautification to our city’s gateways. Beautifying our city. Planting more trees.

~ Increase Effort for Economic Development
Attracting the creative class to our community and keeping them here
JOBS – JOBS – JOBS

~ Making Port Profitable and mixed uses for our Port

~ Attracting Southwest Airlines to Pensacola

~ Adding More Mixed Residential Homes
Especially affordable housing.
Increasing our city’s population which should include annexation

Sam Hall
1. Have all of Pensacola’s public waterfront (sans Port of Pensacola) accessible to public by 2015.

2. Expand Pensacola’s population by 6,000 by 2013 through aggressive/creative annexation….close all “holes” in the city’s boundary in District’s One and Two.

3. Reduce City’s inventory of vacant property by more than 50%

4. Incentivize property owners to reduce hardscape…particularly with new construction.

5. Land at least one major employer in Pensacola proper by 2012.

Innisfree Hotels, Inc., in partnership with Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, announces plans to build a 127-room Hyatt Place® hotel in Pensacola, Fla. that connects directly to the Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport. Expected to break ground early next year, the hotel combines state-of-the-art amenities and modern design to create an atmosphere of casual hospitality.

The franchise agreement for the development and operation of the Hyatt Place hotel was executed between Leading Edge Hotels, LLC and Hyatt Place Franchising, L.L.C. Leading Edge Hotels, LLC will hire Innisfree Hotels, Inc. to operate the hotel.

Here is a story that we will follow up on today. The Orlando Sentinel reports that Gov. Charlie Crist signed a bill that changes how Florida funds its 67 clerks’ offices, putting them on the same budget process as judges, public defenders and state attorneys. The paper predicts it will force court clerks statewide to cut millions of dollars from their budgets and layoff hundreds of workers. We will try to find out what it means for Escambia County.

Read more.

Press Release:

Escambia Patrol Deputies in conjunction with Escambia Deputies working the Community Redevelopment Agency Grant, teamed up to make 16 arrests in and around the Brownsville area last evening.

Included in the arrests were (10) Solicitation for Prostitution, (5) Procure for Prostitution (offer), and (1) warrant service. Of those arrests, (2) subjects faced additional charges of possession of marijuana with one of the subjects being a juvenile. The other suspect was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor by having the juvenile, also arrested for solicitation, with him during the encounter with Undercover Deputies. One suspect faced an addition charge of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription (Xanax bars).

One vehicle was seized along with the Xanax and 57 Grams of Marijuana.

No one was injured during the operation which began Monday evening around 6:00 P.M and ended at around 1:00 A.M this morning. Mug shots will be available soon along with the charges listed on each suspect. One suspect was a juvenile and no photo will be released on him

See photos: Prostitution Arrests 06-22-09

Press release:
Venues Today, an entertainment industry publication, has named the Pensacola Civic Center among its “Top Stops” in the U.S. for the sixth month in a row. The June “Top Stops” list puts the SMG managed facility at #12 in the U.S. for the time period of April 16th to May 15th 2009. The building falls in the category of 5,000 to 10,000 seats and ranked at #11 in January, #12 in February, #8 in March, #12 in April, and #7 in May. A three-day weekend of Disney on Ice Worlds of Fantasy was the catalyst for the latest award, with 6 shows and over 17,000 attendees.

The famous San Diego Chicken will be at Pelican Park tonight. This is his last season. He (a.k.a. Ted Giannoulas) will be retiring at the end of the year. We interviewed him for the IN (read more). Game starts at 6:35 p.m.

The Deal Magazine analyzes the debt obligations of Gannett, owner of the Pensacola News Journal. The company must raise $400 million between now and 2011 in a market where many bondholders would refer default. Moody’s has lowered Gannett bond rating to junk. “Gannett as we know it will be lucky to last through June 2011.” Read more.

Rick’s Blog is having an Economic Development Free Week. No posts will be made on Economic Development, various ED plans or political antics regarding ED. We have also set up an ED Free Week pledge for readers if they wish to join us. The madness has to stop and it might as well stop here.

Economic Development Free Pledge
Period: June 21-June 27, 2009

1. I will not use or watch any PowerPoint presentations.
2. I will not use the words “game changing.”
3. I will not use f-bombs in conversation or my emails or write that I want to have sexual relations with any county commissioner.
4. I will not try to get anyone to run against Commissioner Grover Robinson.
5. I will not talk with Sam Hall.

Please print and sign this pledge. Post it somewhere prominent to remind you of your oath.

There are three big items up for discussion during today’s committee meetings of the Pensacola City Council: billing non-profits for parades, compensation and benefit study, and amending the inter-local agreement with ECUA over demolishing the Main St. sewage plant.

The last item has attracted the ire of Council member Maren DeWeese. On her blog, DeWeese remind us that: “In 2007, the CRA entered into an agreement with ECUA to provide $19.5 million over a number of years to fund the portion of the wastewater treatment plant within the CRA. In his memo to Council, then City Manager Tom Bonfield expressly stated that under the agreement the City had no obligation to pay any amounts toward this agreement. The 2007 agreement stated that if CRA TIF funds were insufficient to cover the annual ECUA obligation (AFTER PAYMENT OF THE MARITIME PARK BONDS) then the amount due in that year would merely roll over to a year that additional TIF funds were available.”

City Finance Director Dick Barker wants to modify these provisions and instead use general fund dollars to pay the debt, if CRA funds aren’t sufficient.

Why? In lean budget times, the Council should be happy that the prior council reached such an agreement that delays any payment until the CRA has the funds.

DeWeese believes the staff is trying to obligate funds so that her Pensacola Promise plan won’t get serious consideration.

Read her blog.

Collier Merrill hosted a party and book signing for Joe Scarborough,host of “Morning Joe,” our former Congressman and one-time publisher and editor of our paper. Joe’s book, “The Last Best Hope”, is a bestseller that focuses how true conservatism can regain its national prominence.

Speaking at the event that was held on The Fish House Deck, Joe said that Republicans need to stop being shrill. He reminded the crowd of about 125-150 that Ronald Reagan wasn’t a hater. Politics was not a blood sport to Reagan. Joe admitted that he was a firebrand during his first two years in Congress and a vocal opponent of the Democrats. “However, I learned you could only make so many Pickett charges up the hill before you realize that you aren’t getting anywhere.”

Joe appeared with his co-host Mika Brzezinski. He joked that the crowds on his 10-day book tour have been mostly excited about meeting Mika. He said that the crowds on the tour have been evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. “We have less Balkanization today. Democrats and Republicans are looking for answers and trying to figure things out.”

Joe did say that the Democratic Party really isn’t doing that much better than the Republican Party. “If Obama went off to join the pro bowling tour, the Democrats would be left with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Dick Cheney has a higher approval rating than Pelosi.”

Joe also remarked that Internet is changing the political scene. Candidates like Barack Obama and Ron Paul have run, raised money and reached voters without the support of their party’s power brokers. “Obama beat a Democratic Party machine that was all lined up to make Hilary Clinton the nominee.”

Joe and Mika spoke for about 20 minutes and took questions from the audience for another 10. Then they both signed books for the next 90 minutes.

In crowd, Dick & Carolyn Appleyard, Mayor Mike and Mary Ellen Wiggins, State Sen. Don Gaetz, Quint Studer, Supervisor of Election David Stafford, Commissioner Grover Robinson, PNJ Publisher Kevin Doyle, Carl Werneicke, Dan Thomas, Jay Massey, Dr. Wayne Campbell, Dr. Joe Saiter, Ashton Hayward, Fred & Brenda Vigodsky, Evon Emerson, George Scarborough and his family, Joe’s parents, Lewis & Belle Bear, Doug & Nancy Halford, Ann Reagan, Judge Roger Vinson, Bobby & Jane Switzer, Lane & Jill Harper, Betty Gail Peters, Rob & Jan Mackey, Diane Appleyard, Mike Robertson, Will Merrill, Miek & Debbie Wein, Taris Savell and others that I will probably remember later.

Miami Herald is reporting that South Florida conservatives aren’t happy Gov. Charlie Crist being described as ”GOP’s Barack Obama” and “the man who might be the answer to the GOP’s problems.” The GOP right wing wants someone more conservative to replace Bob Martinez in the U.S. Senate. That someone is former House speaker Marco Rubio.

Rubio has picked up the endorsement of U.S. Sen. James DeMint of South Carolina, “one of the most conservative members of Congress.” He also won a straw poll of the Pasco County GOP.

Read more.

The St. Pete Times reports that the FBI is investigating the dealings of State Rep. Ray Sansom, former NWFS College Pres. Bob Richburg and developer Jay Odom. The trio is facing felony charges over allegedly securing $6 million in state funds for a college building that Odom may have planned to use for his corporate jet business.

The paper doesn’t know what the FBI is investigating, only that an agent has become collecting information. Odom is a big GOP contribution and has given nearly $1 million to Florida Republicans — including about $122,000 to Sansom and a political committee he controlled.

Read more.

Until Commissioner Gene Valentino or the Chamber releases any new or modified plans for economic development, we’re taking a break. The pro GV side wants to focus on attacking the Chamber or individuals. No one seems to want to give any concrete reasons for supporting the elements of the GV plan that are different from the Chamber proposal. No one from the GV camp has offered any evidence or documentation to support the PEDA structure as presented. No revisions were offered at the BOCC workshop on Tuesday. None of the spreadsheets that Commissioner Valentino mentioned at the workshop have been released either.

Maybe Commissioner Valentino is working a new revised plan. We will wait and see. The PEDC meeting is July 1. Whatever happens, we will report on it.

The Board of Adjustments wasn’t canceled as I reported earlier. According to sources, Beth Barrios of Key Development (Bingo Casino and GV supporter) called the Perdido Key Chamber to let them know that the meeting had been canceled. Valentino’s aide, Dean Kirschner, mistakenly confirmed cancellation as well.

On Wednesday morning, attorney Greg Smith, who represents the Perdido Key residents appealing the bingo casino, called Drew Homer at the Board of Adjustments to verify the cancellation (since he hadn’t been notified) and was told the hearing was still on for that very morning.

Perdido Key residents rushed to the meeting and got their late. Fortunately Charlie Wiggins, attorney of the bingo casino group, agreed that the hearing needed to be postponed due to improper notice. The county did provide notice to the PNJ to be posted, but somehow it didn’t get published on time. After all attorneys hashed out the possible dates, the hearing will be resumed at 1 p.m. on July 8.