FORMER YOUNG AIDE JOLLY WINS GOP PRIMARY IN CD 13
David Jolly secured the GOP nomination Tuesday to succeed longtime Pinellas County Congressman C.W. Bill Young, setting up what is likely to be a brutal contest against former state Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink in the Congressional District 13 special election. Jolly, a lobbyist and former aide to Young, received nearly 45 percent of the vote in a three-way primary against state Rep. Kathleen Peters, R-South Pasadena, and Mark Bircher, a Navy veteran and commercial airline pilot. As of 8 p.m., Peters had about 31 percent of the vote, while Bircher was at about 24 percent, according to the state Division of Elections website. Republican Party of Florida Chairman Lenny Curry congratulated Jolly in a statement Tuesday evening. “Jolly is a strong candidate, who will carry on the legacy of Bill Young by fighting every day for the citizens of Pinellas County. While Alex Sink owns a record of failure as CFO and supports the failed policies of the Obama Administration, including Obamacare, David Jolly will fight for small businesses and the middle class while bringing common sense to Washington.” The race to replace Young, who died in October, is among the most-watched in the nation. Republicans still hold a slight registration edge over Democrats, but independents make up nearly a quarter of the voters in the Pinellas County district. “This is a district that Republicans have held for decades and they will undoubtedly go to the mat to keep it,” Alixandria Lapp, executive director of the Democrats’ House Majority PAC, said in a statement. “The choice for voters in Pinellas County couldn’t be more clear: Alex Sink, a business leader and common sense problem solver, and David Jolly, a Washington, D.C., lobbyist who worked as a shill for the highest-bidding special interest.” The special general election is March 11. Sink did not face a Democratic primary opponent.
NEGOTIATIONS A FINAL TRY AT ENDING TRAUMA FIGHT
After more than two years of legal battling and an effort to rewrite rules, state Surgeon General John Armstrong said Tuesday a negotiating session next week will be a final attempt to reach agreement on a plan for allowing new trauma centers across Florida. Armstrong told the Senate Health Policy Committee that the results of the public negotiating session “will speak for themselves” and, if unsuccessful, could lead to an impasse. If that happens, he indicated the Florida Department of Health, which he leads, could look to the Legislature to help resolve the hospital-industry battle. The Jan. 23 negotiating session will include representatives of various parties in the debate, which started in 2011 when hospitals in the Tampa Bay and Jacksonville areas challenged attempts by HCA-affiliated hospitals to open trauma centers. An administrative law judge and an appeals court sided with the Tampa Bay and Jacksonville-area hospitals in ruling that the Department of Health was using an invalid rule in approving new trauma centers. That has led to further legal wrangling about whether Blake Medical Center in Manatee County, Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point in Pasco County and Ocala Regional Medical Center — all HCA hospitals — should be allowed to continue operating trauma centers. The Department of Health last year released a draft revised rule, but the divisions in the industry remained.
SENATE PREZ: GAMBLING PROPOSAL MAY ROPE IN BARREL RACING
Controversial barrel races at a North Florida horse track will likely be addressed in the Senate’s overhaul of gambling regulations, Senate President Don Gaetz said Tuesday. State regulators approved the barrel races — the first time the rodeo-style races were ever considered a pari-mutuel activity by any state in the country — in 2011. An administrative law judge ruled that the Department of Business and Professional Regulation erred when it granted a quarter-horse permit for barrel racing to Gretna Racing in Gadsden County, and the 1st District Court of Appeal heard oral arguments in the case on Tuesday. Gaetz, R-Niceville, said he used to live in the upper Midwest where “I actually have seen a lot of barrel racing that’s really barrel racing as opposed to a front porch for gaming.” Gaetz said the Senate Gaming Committee should include the issue in its “clean-up” of gambling laws and regulations. “My expectation is…this is going to be addressed,” he said. “If you’ve got an issue that’s so contentious that there are lawsuits about what is and isn’t lawful, then perhaps we need to have a little bit of clarification.”
SCOTT: INCREASE LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING BUDGET
Gov. Rick Scott plans to devote $3.2 million of his proposed budget to a plan to train law enforcement officers, he announced Tuesday. Under the proposal, the money will be plowed into a trust fund and boost spending on training from $40 an officer to $67 an officer. “Florida’s law enforcement officers deserve to have the tools they need to keep Florida families and communities safe,” Scott said. “Florida’s 43-year low in crime is due in large part to the quality and training of our officers.” According to Scott’s office, funding for the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Trust Fund has slumped in recent years because of a decline in revenue from court fees.
–Source: The News Service of Florida