Crowley Political Report

60 Minutes report on Florida's homeless children

If you missed this segment on 60 minutes, you should watch it. These homeless children are in Seminole County, Florida. 

Two of the children in this report, Austin and Arielle Metzger, live in a truck with their father. These are two amazing kids. 

And the story begs the question - should this be an issue in the 2012 election?

 

 

UPDATE: Here is a link to the Seminole County School District with information about how to donate to help homeless children.

Can Herman Cain be the next Bill Clinton?

Women love Bill Clinton. Even after Clinton wagged his finger at the television camera and angrily said, "I did not have sex with that woman."

Even after they watched Chelsea walk between her parents as they headed toward Marine One, the presidential helicopter.

When it was all over, Clinton made a trip to Miami. After his speech, women rushed the rope line to shake his hand and be close to him.

Why? Crowley Political Report has asked that question of many women over the years. They smile. They agree what Clinton did was wrong. 

But they like him and they are willing to ignore his sexual transgressions.

So far, Herman Cain has not been accused of anything nearly as severe as the misconduct of Bill Clinton.

Cain has steadfastedly denied doing anything wrong.  The women who have come forward have, at this point, largely accused Cain of the kind of boorish behavior often committed by a 14-year old.

Two of the women,  Karen Kraushaar and Sharon Bialek, are preparing to have a joint press conference to talk more about their allegations. Other women may join them.

Cain says they are liars.

Someone is lying.

The fact is, that while Cain denies the accusations and supporters defend him, the questions will linger - even if he becomes the GOP nominee. Even if he becomes the next president.

What his campaign must calculate now, is whether Cain will be granted the same political immunity that was given to Bill Clinton.

Will women voters feel the same way about Cain as they did Clinton?

And do women voters need to hear from Cain's wife, before they make a decision about Cain?

What would Bill do?

Of course there is one major difference between Bill and Herman.  Clinton was accused of consensual relations with other women.  Cain is being accused of unwanted behavior.

 

 

Marco Rubio fibs, the media goes bonkers and does it really matter

Who do we blame for the current controversy about Florida Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio?

By now you know the story. The St. Petersburg Times published a story last week about nut-case birthers questioning whether Rubio could legally become vice president or president.

A day later, The Washington Post ran a story suggesting that Rubio lied about his family history by claiming that his parents had fled Fidel Castro's Cuba when in fact they did not.

Rubio easily dismissed the birther question. But he has been in full campaign mode trying to explain why his statements over the years about his parents have been, at best, muddled.

Thousands of words have been written. Prominent Republicans have jumped to Rubio's defense. There has been quibbling over the word "exile." And of course it is all a plot by the evil, liberal media.

All the noise drowns out a very simple fact - at times, Rubio fibbed about his parents. They did not come to the United State after Castro took over Cuba on New Year's Day 1959.  Rubio's parents came here in 1956.

Fibbed. Crowley Political Report uses the word very deliberately.  A fib is defined as a "small or trivial lie; a minor falsehood."

Adam Hasner: Occupy members are anarchists and extremists

Well perhaps it takes one to know one. Republican Adam Hasner who warns against the continuing threat of Sharia Law and Agenda 21 would like you to know that the Occupy folks are just another bunch of extremists.

In an email received moments ago by Crowley Political Report, the GOP Florida U.S. Senate candidate writes of his concerns about Occupy.

President Obama and the Democrats have chosen sides.
 
Instead of standing with the millions of middle class Americans who work hard, play by the rules, and want government to get off their backs and out of their way - President Obama is siding with a collection of left-wing activists, anarchists, and extremists who are occupying cities from New York to Miami.

(Image from Hasner campaign)

This is who our President supports? Thugs tackling police officers?
 
The front lines of President Obama and the Democrats' new supposedly anti-capitalist army is manned by kids decked out in the latest designer logoed clothes and sporting the latest high-tech toys from some of the world's most successful corporations. They're joined by born-again communists and ranting anti-Semites who want to destroy Israel.
 

Florida official says journalists are lobbyists

Crowley Political Report continues to be baffled by what some elected officials are dreaming up these days. While this is not as bad as firing squads or tossing inmates off bridges, we now have a Broward County mayor who thinks reporters are lobbyists.

No, really.

Lauderhill Mayor Richard Kaplan has informed the Sun Sentinel that Broward's new Code of Ethics means that reporters are lobbyists because their newspaper editorial boards try to influence public opinion.

There is an interesting exchange of emails between Kaplan and Sun Sentinel reporter Brittany Wallman that you should read.

Let's hope Kaplan's silliness doesn't spread.

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Florida Republican says lets have firing squads - or toss them off a bridge

Sometimes Crowley Political Report worries that Florida is becoming the nation's largest lunatic-fringe state. Now, we have a Republican legislator who is introducing legislation to use firing squads to execute death row inmates.

This story was first reported by The Florida Current and you should click on over and give it a read.

State Rep. Brad Drake of Eucheeanna is frustrated with legal maneuvers over lethal injection. So Drake would like to replace lethal injections with firing squads of electrocution. Somebody is going to have to find Old Sparky.

"There shouldn't be anything controversial about a .45-caliber bullet. If it were up to me we would just throw them off the Sunshine Skyway bridge and be done with it," Drake told The Current.

Crowley Political Report would like to congratulate the voters of Brad Drake's district - you should be proud.

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Mitt Romney, Florida's Mormon U.S. Senator and other facts about Mormons

Crowley Political Report is packing a lot of infomation about Florida Mormons and Mitt Romney in today's edition of CPR.  But first, let's start with this observaton, Rick Perry's little friend, Robert Jeffress, is a moron.

The pastor of the Dallas First Baptist Church is clearly a religous bigot. He is fond of accusing other religions of being cults - and not just Mormons.

Jeffress also believes that John F. Kennedy belonged to a cult - Catholicism.

Crowley Political Report tracked down this little sermon Jeffress gave about Catholicsim which he believes is a religion of Satan.  This will not help Perry with Catholic voters. An excerpt fron his sermon about Catholics:

"This is the Babylonian mystery religion that spread like a cult throughout the entire world. . ."

...

"You say, pastor how can you say such a thing that is such an indictment of the Catholic Church, after all, the Catholic Church talks about God and the Bible and Jesus and the blood of Christ and salvation. Isn't that the genius of Satan?

"You know if you want to counterfeit a dollar bill you don't do it with purple paper and red ink. You're not going to full anybody with that. If you want to counterfeit money you make it look as closely related to the real thing as possible.

"And that's what satan does with counterfeit religion. He uses, he steals, he appropriates all of the symbols of true biblical Christianity and he changes it just enough in order to cause people to miss eternal life."

Hear it for yourself here.

In 2007, Romney was shouted down during a visit to The Villages, a mandatory Florida campaign stop for Republcian candidates, by an angry man who accused him of pretending to be a Christian. The man refused to accept the idea that a Mormon could be a Christian.

That outburst, led to the following 2007 story about Florida Mormons - a story that is even more important today as Romney leads in most polls.

By Brian E. Crowley - Palm Beach Post Politcal Editor

There are always questions.

Some are merely curious: Why do Mormons avoid coffee and tea? Shun tobacco?

Others are more pointed: Are you polygamists? Are you Christians? Are you a cult?

None of this is new to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But what is new is the presidential campaign of Republican former Massachusetts governor and devout Mormon.

Romney has made Florida a key state in his bid to win the GOP nomination, bringing with him a spotlight on his religion and the 125,000 Mormons who live and worship in the Sunshine State.

Members, including more than 15,000 in South Florida, also must deal with this sobering fact: A USA Today/Gallup poll in February found that 24 percent of those asked said they would not vote for a well-qualified Mormon to be president. Among Republicans the number was 30 percent.

"You, sir, are a pretender. You do not know the Lord. You are a Mormon," a man yelled at Romney during a campaign stop last month at The Villages, a retirement community near Ocala.

The man was shouted down by the crowd of more than 800, but he offered a view of the church that is not uncommon. The Southern Baptist Convention describes Latter-day Saints as a cult.

Jacob Weisberg, editor of the online magazine Slate, wrote in December that the religion is based on "a transparent and recent fraud," which is why he would not vote for Romney.

GrapeMan defends BananaMan against the SchoolMan

Ordinarily this would not be fodder for Crowley Political Report but the case of the BananaMan has been making the rounds. And now GrapeMan has come to his defense.

What pray-tell, does this have to do about politics? 

Well, everything really. See if you agree.

 

Claude Kirk and his lost hat

By Brian E. Crowley

I ran into former Gov. Claude Kirk at a green market in West Palm Beach. I would bump in to him from time-to-time and he always seemed pleased, especially if there were folks nearby, when I called him Gov. Kirk.

He started to tell me about his lost hat.  But more on that in a bit.

Gov. Kirk's  death this week, at the age of 85, marks the passing of one of Florida's most flamboyant and underrated governors. In some ways, he was ahead of his time. He arrived in Tallahassee to take the oath of office n 1967 and the next four years were turbulent ones.

Gov. Kirk arrived determined to shake things up. He also dearly wanted to advance his own political career and took deep pleasure in being in the spotlight.

I didn't get to know Gov. Kirk until many years later. The early history of his governorship was harsh. But as time passed, historians and governors who succeed him began to recognize that Kirk had accomplished quite a bit during his four years in office.

He created the FDLE helping to break the hold of county sheriff's who sometimes abused their power. He helped usher in the new 1968 state Constitution - which had been penned by others - but would have had more difficult time without Kirk's help.  Few today understand just how sweeping the 1968 constitution was in changing how Floridians are governed today.

  Gov. Kirk created the first statewide environment effort and helped bring the 1968 Republican National Convention to Miami Beach where he dearly hoped Richard Nixon would pick him to be vice president.

Gov. Kirk opposed school busing at a time when such opposition was considered racist. When Florida teachers went on a statewide strike in 1968 he helped break the strike and more than 40 years later the teacher unions have still not fully recovered.

Gov. Kirk, because of the 1968 constitution, was the first governor eligible to run for a second consecutive term. But voters had enough and the first modern Republican to be elected governor lost to Democrat Reubin Askew.

Gov. Kirk would run again, even as a Democrat, but the campaigns were more about getting attention than winning.

 In 2006, Gov. Kirk and former governors, Askew, Bob Graham and the soon-to-leave office, Jeb Bush, got together at the University of Central Florida to talk to the students.

Jeb Bush Jr. endorses Jon Huntsman

The son also rises. Jeb Bush Jr. has become increasingly active in Florida politics suggesting that the second son of former Gov. Jeb Bush is on his way to becoming a candidate for public office in the not too distant future.

In a blog post, Bush the younger writes:

Today at 11:15 a.m. at Scotty's Landing in Miami, I will join Gov. Huntsman to formally endorse his candidacy, and accept a role as National Chairman of GenH – the campaign's youth and young professionals outreach program.

...

I am confident that Jon's vision will appeal to young voters, who are concerned about the trillions of dollars in debt being piled on their backs, and who desperately seek jobs and economic opportunity.

...

As more Americans get to know Jon and his record, I'm confident his support will continue to grow. Two years ago, I jumped on board Marco Rubio's campaign when he was polling at 3 percent, and we made history. With Jon, I can't wait to make history again.

The entire post is here.

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Rick Scott, Hamster Rage and the Chicago Artist

 
Let's begin with Crowley Political Report taking pride in the above artwork featuring Florida Gov. Rick Scott.

Mike Bender of the St. Petersburg Times was part of a gaggle in Scott's office Monday when he noticed a copy of the drawing on the wall of Scott's new chief-of-staff, Steve McNamara. The drawing was done by Chicago-based artist and graphic designer Brian J. Crowley.

The younger version of the editor of Crowley Political Report is a highly talented artist as his drawing of Scott demonstrates.  He is also the author of Hamster Rage, a web comic with a rapidly growing audience. Learn more about the artist here.

We're told Scott's wife likes the drawing because it captures his eyes.

Indeed. Well if the Scotts would like to pay for a print - I think the artist would be interested.

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Dead People's Stuff and Washington Gridlock

Crowley Political Report should have stopped and taken a picture.

On Highway 17, somewhere outside of Savannah, Ga., was this sign outside of a shop - "Dead People's Stuff For Sale."

On this long, deliberately slow road trip, my traveling buddy wonders if the "Gates to the Federal City" will be open by the time we arrive in D.C.

It seems a fair question.

No matter what side of the debate you are on, watching what is happening in Washington is - well - unsettling.

Some argue that this is the most divisive time in the nation's history. If you are one of those, you probably received an "F" in your American History class.

While it may not be the most divisive time, it may be one of  the most clueless times in Washington.

A young lady behind a bar in Charleston, talked about her big move back to the city. She had lived in Florida. A few things went wrong and some years back she said she needed to start over so she returned to Charleston.

She seemed happy.

In 2010, voters told Washington they wanted the Federal City to start over. Is the spectacle of the last few weeks what voters had in mind?

Hardly.

Whether you have "Dead People's Stuff For Sale" or you're tending bar, folks just want Washington to work - so they can work.

Sure there are differences about what that means, but you can be fairly certain it doesn't include gridlock. And it's probably fair to say that nearly everyone is going to be cranky if Washington makes the economy worse.

With the preening and the prancing on Capitol Hill - with their $175,000 a year paychecks and taxpayer funded gyms - the dwellers of the Federal City often seem to forget the guy just trying to make a living.

And Americans work a lot harder at it than the average worker on Capitol Hill.

Like the guy with this sign somewhere near the Georgia/South Carolina border - "Chinese Take-Out, New York Style."

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Tea Party says don't blame Tea Party for debt crisis

 
In another Dear Patriots email, the South Florida Tea Party says it "will not be a pawn for Republicans or Democrats."

"We are experiencing an epic level of failure of leadership on all levels and political parties. Fewer than 10 years ago, America was on track to have a budget surplus. Unfortunately, President George W. Bush ran up the deficit by more than $400 million per year, but President Obama managed to spend more than $1 trillion and called it “savings.”

Everett Wilkinson, leader of the South Florida Tea Party, goes on to write:

". . .Now, Washington, D.C., wants to blame the Tea Party for the debt crisis. Senator John McCain even derided us by calling us 'tea party hobbits' in debt ceiling fight. I remember the the famous line from the movie "Josey Wales. "Senator - Don't go pissing down my back and tell me it's raining." I am tired of the excuses. Do your job!" (emphasis is Wilkinson's not Crowley Political Report).

Wilkinson urges Tea Party members to go to DontPissOnMeMcCain.com where one will find several unflattering photos of the Arizona senator who dared to disagree with the Tea Party.

It is one thing for McCain to buck the Tea Party, but can other GOP members of the House and Senate do it without risking loosing their seats next year?

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Art by Chicago artist Brian J. Crowley

FreedomWorks making a profit off fear

FreedomWorks and FreedomWorks Foundation offers itself as watchdogs of the public purse. They are largely credited with helping the Tea Party find a national voice. The organization is led by former Congressman Dick Armey, Boyden Gray and Steve Forbes.

It appears to be a very profitable enterprise.

FreedomWorks also does a pretty good job of taking care of its own purse by charging hefty fees to speak out and campaign on issues.

Here's an example from a FreedomWorks "overview of tools and tactics."

If you are willing to pay from $15,000 to $75,000 "per D.C. or state capitol lobbying trip" FreedomWorks will work for you.

For $25,000 to $35,000, FreedomWorks will "engage an earned media campaign on a certain issue, depending on the intensity of the campaign and Chairman Armey's involvement.

Of course the price of freedom is not cheap. If you want Armey or another FreedomWorks principal to have "formal and informal meetings and phone calls" with top policy makers that ranges from $10,000 to $65,000 "for principal to principal outreach."

Need expert testimony from Armey - $15,000 to $35,000.

Would you like a two-page Capitol Comment or a 10 page Issue Analysis? That will cost you from $15,000 to $50,000.

None of this is unique to FreedomWorks. Other organizations on both sides have similar operations.

Which raises a serious question - is FreedomWorks stoking controversy because that is how they make money? After all, there's no cash when there's no outrage.

FreedomWorks claims 564,000 online activists. That's a lot of people to get fired up. And those folks don't get paid.

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Rick Scott's folks defend handling of public records

On Monday, Crowley Political Report told readers how the state of Alaska charged $725.97 for 24,000 pages of former Gov. Sarah Palin's email record while Florida Gov. Rick Scott's administration charged $784.84 for just 1,100 email records belonging to communications director Brian Burgess.

Our report has spawned a gread deal of reaction including this story today by New York Times Regional reporter Lloyd Dunkelberger. Crowley Political Report is quoted at length in the story questioning the administration's public records policy.

Since our report, Burgess has sent numerous emails telling Crowley Political Report that the administration is complying with the law.

Here's a sense of the administration's position as quoted in Dunkelberger's story:

Scott's aides said the more stringent public records policies are a response to the flood of public records requests that have hit the governor's office in its first six months.

And they said most requests are being handled in a timely manner.

"Since January, we've fulfilled 669 public record requests with an additional 74 in the process of being completed," said Scott spokeswoman Amy Graham. "This is more than any other administration after just six months in office, proving that we not only comply with public record laws, we exceed them."

....

Graham called the comparison of Palin's emails to those from Brian Burgess, Scott's communications director, unfair, because Palin's records were more accessible since they were segregated in a special email account.

In contrast, many of Burgess' government-related emails end up in his long-established private email account and the cost comes from having to sort out the public records from his personal messages, Graham said.

Sarah Palin's emails less valuable than Florida's

Please keep these numbers in mind as you continue reading - State of Florida: 1,100, $784.84.

State of Alaska: 24,000, $725.97.

You should be outraged. These are the prices each state charged recently for public records. To be precise, the Great State of Alaska charged $725.27 for 24,000 pages of emails by former Gov. Sarah Palin. The emails came in five boxes. Each box weighed 55 pounds.

Meanwhile, Florida charged $784.84 for 1,100 emails (not pages). And these precious emails were not those of Gov. Rick Scott. No, these were the public records of his communications director, Brian Burgess.

Let's repeat - Palin, 24,000 pages $725.97. Burgess, 1,100 emails $784.84.

Crowley Political Report would like to think that Burgess emails are more fascinating than Palin emails but we suspect not.

 

Teachers sue Florida, Cops want to help

 
Well this is gonna be ugly.

The Florida Education Association is telling Gov. Rick Scott and the Legislature that they are breaking the law by forcing teachers to contribute 3 percent of their pay to pay for their pensions.

So, of course, the FEA is going to court to stop what it calls an illegal "pay cut" for Florida's teachers.

Whether it is a "contribution" to their future pensions, or a "paycut," many teachers are unhappy. And they are not alone, the Florida Police Benevolent Association filed a motion to join the teacher suit.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott and GOP legislative leaders believe that the state is doing the right thing by requiring state employees to contribute to their pension fund.

Most Florida voters agree. They see little reason why public employees should not pay something for their own retirement plans.

Sean Hannity asks Mark Foley if he should have gone to jail

(Note: Mark Foley was a 2010 client for ImMEDIAcy Public Relations Inc. Brian Crowley is a principal of ImMEDIAcy).

Crowley Political Report has never been a fan of Sean Hannity but he gave Mark Foley a far tougher interview that one might expect.

Foley appeared on Hannity's FOX show tonight - his first appearance on national television since leaving Congress in 2006 following revelations that he was exchanging explicit computer messages with House pages.

Much of what Foley told Hannity has been revealed previously - he talked about being sexually abused by a Catholic priest when he was 11-years old, how much pain he brought to himself and his family, and he repeatedly took the blame for his actions.

But Hannity was determined not to let Foley off the hook that easily.

Hannity questioned how Foley, as an adult, could send sex messages to teenage boys.  With a look of disgust on his face, Hannity asked Foley how he could square being the leader of the Committee for Exploited Children while at the same time secretly exploiting children

 "There seems to be a missing connection here," Hannity said.

Foley would not say directly whether he thought Weiner should resign instead he said "whatever it is that is troubling him....he is not going to get better going back into that building (Congress).

A few minutes later Hannity asked Foley about punishing people for what Foley had done.

"Should people go to jail for that?" he asked Foley.

"No," said Foley. 

"Should they be arrested>"

"No."

"H0w do they trust them around kids?...."

"....Should I have gone to jail no, absolutely not."

It was not clear whether Hannity agreed.

Exclusive: Mark Foley talks about tonight's appearance with Sean Hannity

(Note: Mark Foley was a 2010 client for ImMEDIAcy Public Relations Inc. Brian Crowley is a principal of ImMEDIAcy).

Former Republican Florida Congressman Mark Foley will make his first national television appearance, since leaving the House in disgrace in 2006, tonight on the Sean Hannity show.

Hannity will be talking to Foley about Capitol Hill's latest sex scandal involving Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner.

Since leaving office in 2006, Foley has been frequently courted by the national media. One of the most persistent was Oprah Winfrey who was eager to have Foley for her final season. Matt Lauer of NBC's Today show and many others also tried to get Foley on the air.

Hannity, until now, like everyone else had been unsuccessful despite many entreaties to Foley.

Why the reluctance? Foley, who spoke to Crowley Political Report frequently about these encounters, always concluded that it simply was not worth it to him or his family to dredge up the past.

Foley, who has his own radio show, said he will not be calling for Weiner to resign.

"I know what he is going through. I know how he and his family are hurting. I know the humiliation you feel when you end your career by pulling the rug out from under yourself," Foley told Crowley Political Report. "He needs to decide for himself what is the right thing to do."

George LeMieux deals with Agenda 21 conspiracy

Florida Republican U.S. Senate candidate George LeMieux was on the Lisa Macci radio show recently when a woman caller had an urgent notice for the former interim senator.

"The main thing I wanted to bring to your attention is what they call the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives,  local governments for sustainability,  and it's not," she says breathlessly. "It's Agenda 21 doing an end run around our states, senator and if Florida isn't careful the state legislators are going to become irrelevant."

"Yeah, I'm familiar with it," says LeMieux, "I've talked to a lot of groups here in Florida , some of the Tea party groups are really on to this issue. We need to make sure that government is run by the people that we elect and that they are making decisions which are based on the best interest of each of these communities and not tied into some international agenda. Something to be watchful for."

Really?