CRIST, COMMITTEE BRING IN $1.04M IN DECEMBER
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist and an affiliated committee collected about $1.04 million in December, bring their combined overall totals to slightly more than $4 million, according to campaign-finance reports filed Friday. Crist and the committee, known as “Charlie Crist for Florida,” have raised the money since the former governor formally entered the race in November. The political committee raised $732,700 in December, bringing its total to $2,931,700. Crist raised $307,284 for his personal campaign account, boosting its total to $1,085,209. The new numbers reiterate the huge financial advantage Republican Gov. Rick Scott will have as he tries to block a Crist comeback this year. The “Let’s Get to Work” committee, which is closely tied to Scott’s campaign, reported Thursday that it had raised $3.6 million in December and that it had collected a total of $22.9 million in 2013. Scott did not raise any money for his personal campaign account in December, according to the new reports.
GOP LEAVES DEMOCRATS BEHIND IN MONEY CHASE
The Republican Party of Florida raised nearly $6.3 million during the final three months of 2013, six times as much as the Florida Democratic Party collected in the same period, according to campaign-finance reports filed Friday. The Democratic Party reported raising $1.046 million between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31. For all of 2013, the GOP raised $20.3 million, while Democrats raised an overall total of nearly $4.6 million.
SCOTT SETS ELECTION DATES TO REPLACE PRECOURT IN HOUSE
Voters in western Orange County may have to wait until after the halfway point of the 2014 legislative session to select a replacement for former Rep. Steve Precourt. Gov. Rick Scott announced Friday that a primary election, if needed for the House District 44 seat, would be held March 11, a week after the 60-day session begins. That would put the special general election on April 8. If no primary is needed, the special election would be held on March 11. Former Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, who had already opened a campaign account to run for Precourt’s seat this fall, has announced he would run in a special election. Two Democrats have filed to run in November for the seat, Shaun Raja of Orlando and Lee Douglas of Winter Garden. Raja had raised $1,500 as of Dec. 31. Douglas, who Precourt defeated by nearly 20 percentage points in 2010, has loaned his own campaign $850. Candidates must qualify between 8 a.m. Jan. 28 and noon, Jan. 29. Precourt, an Orlando Republican who was in his final House term, submitted his resignation Thursday, two days after being offered the position of executive director of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority.
UP TO 45,000 POLICIES COULD LEAVE CITIZENS IN MARCH
Insurance regulators have given approval for three companies to collectively acquire up to 45,000 residential policies from the state-backed Citizens Property Insurance Corp. The March 18 “takeout” would provide up to 10,000 homeowners’ policies for Avatar Property & Casualty Insurance, up to 20,000 for Heritage Property & Casualty Insurance, and up to 15,000 for SafePoint Insurance. The approvals bring the number of policies that could be taken off the Citizens rolls to 249,341 this year. However, the number of policies that will actually change hands is expected to be far below that number. “Historically, about 30-35 percent of folks decline,” Citizens spokesman Michael Peltier said in an email. Past takeouts have resulted in fewer policies being shifted than anticipated because companies seek to acquire many of the same lower-risk policies now held by Citizens. Still, the takeouts should push Citizens below the 1 million policy mark for the first time since mid-2006. Citizens ended 2013 with 1,021,694 policies. Reducing the number of polices, thus the potential exposure to the state, has been a focus of government officials for several years. The number of policies stood at 1.5 million in August 2012. Citizens President and CEO Barry Gilway has projected the state-backed insurer should be down to 925,000 policies by the start of the 2014 hurricane season and around 725,000 policies by the end of 2015. A clearinghouse that is expected to further reduce the number of homeowners’ policies in Citizens remains on schedule to begin Jan. 27. Through the clearinghouse, all new applications to Citizens will be shopped to private firms. If coverage is found within 15 percent of Citizens’ premium, the policy would go to the private carrier. For Citizens customers, renewals will have to go to the private market if comparable coverage is found at or below the state-backed insurer’s rates. The inclusion of Citizens policy renewals into the clearinghouse remains on schedule to begin July 1.
JUDGE DENIES EFFORT TO REVOKE BOND IN WARNING SHOT CASE
Duval County Circuit Judge James Daniel on Friday denied a motion by State Attorney Angela Corey’s office to revoke bond or tighten restrictions on Marissa Alexander, a woman Daniel initially sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a gun in a 2010 dispute with her husband. Assistant State Attorney Rich Mantei argued that Alexander had violated the terms of her bond, which permit her to leave home only for court appearances, medical emergencies and to satisfy any requirements of her pretrial services programs. Alexander had gone shopping and ran errands with permission from a counselor at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. The prosecutors’ motion argued that “[t]he counselor from whom (Alexander) sought her ‘permission’ is not a lawyer, not an attorney, and most importantly, not a circuit judge … Defendant’s seeking approval only from her civilian monitor evinces a deliberate attempt to prevent her actions from being discovered by others.” The Florida Times-Union reported that Daniel was displeased with the sheriff’s employee, but allowed Alexander to remain free, saying, “This was not a willful violation. It was a mistake, and mistakes happen.” Last year the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that Daniel had erred in his instructions to the jury that Alexander had to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that she feared an aggravated assault at the hands of her husband, Rico Gray. The jury convicted her of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which carries a mandatory sentence of 20 years under Florida’s 10-20-Life law. Her new trial is scheduled for March 31. The case has drawn widespread attention and has helped spur lawmakers to consider a proposal that would grant immunity to Floridians who show guns or fire warning shots in self-defense.
–source: The News Service of Florida