JUICE - Florida's Juicy Political Read - 12.3.19 - DeSantis' Teacher Pay Raise In Doubt? - Wasserman Schultz Pushes Back Against Abortion Bill - Progressives vs. Democrats

JUICE - Florida's Juicy Political Read - 12.3.19 - DeSantis' Teacher Pay Raise In Doubt? - Wasserman Schultz Pushes Back Against Abortion Bill - Progressives vs. Democrats

Javier Manjarres
Javier Manjarres
|
December 3, 2019

 

 

Ron DeSantis
Ron DeSantis/ The Floridian

Show Us The Money

When Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced in October that he was seeking a whopping $600 million pay raise for public school teachers, ears perked up and questions about how the popular governor was going to pay for the proposal arose.

“We are experiencing a teacher shortage in Florida,” said Governor DeSantis. “With a strong economy and plenty of jobs available in other fields, unfortunately too many college graduates are unwilling to enter the teaching profession. My proposal to increase the minimum salary for teachers to $47,500 will help alleviate this shortage and elevate the teaching profession to the level of appreciation it deserves. This is long overdue, and I look forward to working with the legislature to make this a reality.”

But even though DeSantis has many allies and like-minded amigos in the Republican-led Florida legislature, it appears as if the money just won’t be there, yet. 

According to one influential politico, who we will name “Sam,” who has knowledge of how the measure would work, told The Floridian that the cash won’t all be there. 

Where will all that money come from? 

There is only so much money that can be pulled from other programs. One option that "Sam” believes would make sense is breaking up the teacher pay raise in two.

Meaning, give DeSantis a small victory in 2020, and when his 2022 re-election campaign rolls around, give him the rest of the pie.

Makes sense, right? More of this to come… The 2020 legislative session is right around the corner. Stay tuned. All eyes will be on Senate President Bill Galvano (R) and House Speaker Jose Oliva (R).

“DeSantis proposes $600 million teacher pay raise,” by The Floridian’s Javier Manjarres – Under Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R), Floridians keep winning, and Democrats like Andrew Gillum keep scratching their heads in frustration.

Thus far, DeSantis’ job approval transcends across political lines, and now that he has announced a massive minimum pay raise for more than 101,000 teachers statewide, Democrats will have a higher mountain to climb in their effort to defeat him in 2022.

Visit The Floridian

 

“Scott says UN has ‘no respect for human rights’” By The Floridian’s Daniel Molina – Last week, Florida Senator Rick Scott (R) called for the U.S. media to cut ties with China Daily, which is a communist Chinese publication that “collaborates with leading global media organizations” and publishes “a supplement along with major U.S. newspapers, including The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.” The letter was directed to David Chavern, the President and CEO of News Media Alliance and American Press Institute. This week, Senator Scott commented on the news that the United Nations’ standards for video monitoring, facial recognition, and city and vehicle surveillance are actively shaped by Chinese tech groups. In his statement, Scott argued that “by putting Nicolas Maduro on its human rights council, the UN proved that it has no respect for human rights.”

Cut the Tape

State Rep. Anthony Sabatini (R) co-sponsored the Red Tape Reduction bill (HB 729). According to Sabatini, the measure would reduce the Florida Administrative Code by "35% by getting rid of regulations that are duplicative and harm small businesses. Every time an agency wants to pass a rule, it will first have to cut two rules.

“New proposal may affect free or reduced lunch for kids in Florida” By ABC Action News’s Darren Botelho – Around 200,000 kids across Florida may not automatically qualify for free lunch in the next school year, because a Trump administration proposal may limit some families from getting food stamps. "I would really hope that everything is really not taken lightly,” parent Megan Evans said. She knows all too well the heavy burden for some families who struggle to make ends meet. She is a single mother who gets help paying for her son's meals at school. "By the end of the year, when you look back and you see how much parents are actually paying for a lunch; it can add up," Evans said. Megan Sexton, of the Pasco County School District, said more than 40,000 of their students are eligible for free or reduced lunch and about 600 of those kids may be affected by the new proposal.

Dumbest Roadway Decision in Miami May Be Scrapped

Someone's idea to raise roadway money on the Palmetto Expressway obviously did not speak nor understand, let alone live in the boogie down of Miami-Dade County.

Sen. Manny Diaz and Rep. Bryan Avila filed a measure to scrap the $8 million initiative that put paid express lanes on the Palmetto in hopes to raise more coin for the state.

All this dumb idea did was create traffic headaches for commuters as the fast lanes only created more traffic.

DeSantis needs to sign this bill if and when it arrives on his desk.

“Florida agency to begin rejecting licenses for nursing homes without emergency power plans” By Click Orlando’s Adrianna Iwasinski – Florida nursing homes and assisted living facilities without emergency power plans and equipment are being put on notice by the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration. The agency will begin rejecting licenses to facilities that have not met the legally required safeguards. “I have communicated strongly with the nursing homes, with the assisting living facilities, that I will be reluctant to grant variances beyond the end of this year,” AHCA Sec. Mary Mayhew said. “We absolutely will take action against their license if we can demonstrate that they have failed to make good faith efforts to come into compliance with this law.” By law, nursing homes and assisted living facilities are required to have backup generators and enough fuel to keep a common area cool for 4 days.

“Forward Florida’s new voter registration claims under question” By WCTV’s Jake Stofan – After losing his bid for governor by just over 30,000 last year, former Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum launched a voter registration campaign, setting a goal of registering one million voters. Gillum’s Forward Florida Action campaign claims to have registered 106,000 voters between April and October. GOP strategist Mac Stipanovich is skeptical. “I believe that the number is inflated,” said Stipanovich. Numbers put out by the Florida Division of Elections show by the end of September, third-party voter registration organizations had totaled less than 27,000 registrations. Forward Florida told us people who were already registered, but were at risk of being removed from the roles because of outdated addresses or inactive status are also included in its 100,000 figure. The campaign said getting those voters' information corrected has prevented them from joining the 371,000 that have been removed from the roles in 2019.

You Have Been Warned

CFO Jimmy Patronis and AG Commissioner Nikki Fried have offered up (5) tips to help Floridians keep themselves from being scammed this holiday season:

  1. Ask questions. Most online donation campaigns have a comment section, use this tool to ask questions about how the money will be distributed, who the money will go to, and even how much goes directly to support efforts.
  2. Watch out for similar charity names. Scammers sometimes create fake charity names that are similar to the actual name of the organization with the hopes of creating confusion among consumers.
  3. Pause before donating. Don’t feel pressured into giving an immediate donation. Always take your time to research the organization to ensure you are making the right decision.
  4. Use safe forms of payment. Never donate to charities by gift card, wire transfer or fast cash apps such as CashApp or Venmo. Consider paying by credit card for better security.
  5. Verify on Check-A-Charity. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) provides a service called Check-A-Charity, which is a website that provides the financial information reported to the department from charitable organizations.

“DeSantis wants to delay health insurance changes” By Ocala Star Banner – Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to put on hold for another year an overhaul of the health insurance program that provides benefits to more than 366,000 state employees and family members across Florida. A proposed budget released last week by the Republican governor would maintain the same type of coverage that state employees have now, despite a 2017 law that required the program to be revamped effective in January 2020. The Legislature signed off on the overhaul, which was pushed by House Republicans, as part of contentious budget negotiations in 2017. State Rep. Loranne Ausley, D-Tallahassee, called the governor’s health-insurance recommendation “good news,” as it came at the same time DeSantis did not recommend pay raises or cost-of-living adjustments for state employees in the $91.4 billion budget proposal.

AG Commissioner Nikki Fried (D) continues pushing back against her Republican counterparts when she refrained from voting to appoint David Weintraub to be the new Commissioner of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR).

“I’m disappointed that it’s been over 200 days that the Office of Financial Regulation has been without leadership. The agency has suffered due to the lack of an Interim Commissioner — there are crucial vacancies that have needed to be filled for some time."- Nikki Fried

She wasn't smoking what he is pushing neither...

“Nikki Fried, Florida’s lone statewide Democrat, sparks up state’s hemp industry” By Orlando Sentinel’s Gray Rohrer – If you’ve pumped gas in Florida during the last year, you’ve seen her face. But she’s probably one of the least known politicians in the state. Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only Democrat to hold statewide elected office in Tallahassee since 2011, is forging a different path at the head of her department than her GOP predecessors. Since taking office in January, she’s overhauled the division for checking concealed weapons permits, pushed for new rules to restore rights to ex-felons, and tussled with fellow Cabinet members to bring more oversight to Cabinet agency hires. But it’s hemp and medical marijuana where Fried has placed much of her focus. A former medical marijuana lobbyist from Broward County, Fried is hyping hemp as the crop of the future for Florida farmers beset by citrus greening, hurricanes and trade wars in recent years.

Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith (D) is showing a lot of love for fellow Rep. Shevrin Jones (D), hosting a fundraiser for him in Orlando. Both men are openly gay, and Rep. Smith is pointed out that if Jones wins the seat, he will be the "1st LGBTQ member of the FL Senate!"

 

“Pelosi questioned by Progressive for holding up Muslim ban bill” By The Floridian’s Javier Manjarres – Just as House Democrats press forward with their impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, and complain that Senate Republican leadership is not putting up bills to a vote in that chamber, it appears as if Speaker Nancy Pelosi is holding up the NO Ban Act, a bill that is co-sponsored by 204 House Democrats. The NO BAN Act was penned to roll back President’s Donald Trump “Muslim Ban” where he temporarily suspended visas to Muslims from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, all countries with extensive radical Islamic activity at the time. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D), the progressive firebrand member of “The Squad,’ is questioning why leadership has not put the measure to a vote, adding that the bill to counter the “racist policies of this Administration” doesn’t look like it “will be voted out of the House.” President Trump and House Republicans have labeled House Democrats that “Do nothing Democrats” for focusing on impeachment and not passing bipartisan legislation.

“Top Democratic lawmaker being targeted by Progressives, again” By The Floridian’s Javier Manjarres – Every two years in South Florida, a few Republican congressional candidates decide that they are the “chosen” ones to defeat Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D), and every two years, all of these so-called Messianic Republicans go home with their tails tucked firmly between their tuckus (tushy in Yiddish). Rep. Wasserman Schultz has been able to easily smackdown all of her recent Republican opponents, and never had a real primary opponent until college professor Tim Canova burst onto the political scene in 2016. Canova gave Wasserman Schultz a run for her money but in the end lost by 10-points. Canova is running against Wasserman Schultz for the third time, but this time he has company. Canova is considered a Bernie Sanders socialist Democrat, as is attorney Jen Perelman, who like Canova, is taking Wasserman Schultz to task over her voting history.

“Wasserman Schultz calls new abortion bill misogynistic” By The Floridian’s Javier Manjarres – Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) is one of the biggest proponents of “women’s reproductive rights” or abortion rights as pro-Life advocates like to call them. Like many Americans, Rep. Wasserman Schultz has taken issue with the recently passed Ohio bill that would mandate doctors to take “all possible steps to preserve the life” of a baby and try to “reimplant an ectopic pregnancy into the uterus. Wasserman Schultz called the bill misogynistic and medically impossible. While the jury is still out about the bill being misogynistic, reimplanting an ectopic embryo is “impossible” and has never been performed before, at least not on this planet.

“Supreme Court hears gun control case that inspired court-packing threat from Dems” By Fox News’s Ronn Blitzer and Guerin Hays – The Supreme Court took up its first major gun control case in nearly a decade on Monday, hearing arguments in a dispute between a gun advocacy group and New York over a statute that restricted the transportation of firearms outside city limits -- even when licensed, locked and unloaded. The city's statute was later amended but the court heard arguments over the original measure anyway, in a case that could have ramifications for local gun laws. The fact the high court even considered the case -- New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. City of New York -- prompted a stunning complaint earlier this year from Democratic senators, who filed a brief essentially threatening to pack the court absent changes. The warning underscored what could be at stake in Monday's case. The Supreme Court has not issued a significant gun rights decision since 2008’s District of Columbia v. Heller. Since then the court applied Heller – which recognized the right to possess a firearm for purposes such as home protection – to states via the 14th Amendment in 2010’s McDonald v. City of Chicago. A 2016 ruling in Caetano v. Massachusetts, which dealt with a state ban on stun guns, did not focus on traditional firearms but acknowledged that the Second Amendment extends to other weapons as well.

“Senate confirms Trump’s pick to replace Rick Perry as energy secretary” By Associated Press’s Ellen Knickmeyer – President Donald Trump's pick to succeed Rick Perry as energy secretary won easy Senate confirmation Monday, despite a Democratic senator's objections that the nominee hadn't fully answered questions related to the Trump impeachment investigation. Several other Democrats joined Republicans in approving Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette's promotion, 70-15. Confirmation of Brouillette, who'd been responsible for day-to-day operations at the Energy Department for two years under Perry, came a day after Perry's resignation became effective. Perry has said his departure had nothing to do with his energy work in Ukraine for the Trump administration and that he was focused on longstanding U.S. policy to lessen that country's dependence on Russia for fuel. A House impeachment panel is scrutinizing Trump's push for Ukraine to investigate a company employing a son of rival Joe Biden. Perry has refused to testify before the panel. Some other administration officials who have appeared before impeachment investigators described Perry as one of what the Trump White House allegedly called the "three amigos" — administration figures who consulted with Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, one of the main focuses of the impeachment probe, on Ukraine issues.

“Trump campaign says it will no longer credential Bloomberg News reporters over outlet's 2020 policy” By CNN’s Oliver Darcy – President Trump's 2020 campaign announced Monday that it will no longer credential Bloomberg News reporters for its events after the outlet said it would not conduct investigations into the Democratic presidential candidates, but would continue to probe the Trump administration. "The decision by Bloomberg News to formalize preferential reporting policies is troubling and wrong," Brad Parscale, Trump's 2020 campaign manager, said in a statement.

Bloomberg News announced last month that it would not investigate the Democratic presidential candidates after its owner, Mike Bloomberg, jumped into the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. The outlet has long avoided probing its owner and said it would continue to do so as he seeks the nomination. To level the playing field, Bloomberg News said it would also not investigate the other Democratic presidential candidates. But, the outlet said it would continue to investigate the Trump administration "as the government of the day." That decision prompted the protest from the Trump campaign on Monday.

“IRS whistleblower declines to appear for transcribed interview” By CNN’s Lauren Fox – An IRS employee who is raising concerns about potential political interference in the presidential audit program is declining to voluntarily appear for a transcribed interview with the Senate Finance Committee, according to a source familiar with discussions. After raising concerns over the summer, the whistleblower met in November with Republican and Democratic staffers on the committee but has declined an invitation to appear for a follow-up, according to the person familiar. This same person said the whistleblower declined the transcribed interview after an official informed the whistleblower that it could be considered a violation of IRS code to provide the committee with any information related to an individual taxpayer. Under IRS code 6103, IRS employees can be fired, fined or even jailed for disclosing taxpayer information. The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to request for comment. Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, invited the whistleblower to appear for a follow-up and transcribed interview.

@realDonaldTrump - “Mini Mike Bloomberg has instructed his third rate news organization not to investigate him or any Democrat, but to go after President Trump, only. The Failing New York Times thinks that is O.K., because their hatred & bias is so great they can’t even see straight. It’s not O.K.!

Alyssa Milano @Alyssa_Milano - I just had to chase my 8 year old son out of the room while the news was playing the Trump “Lisa” speech. It’s f*cking upsetting that I can’t allow my son to listen to our President because our President is inappropriate, misogynistic and unpresidential. So unfair to parents.

“Bayside High School Teacher Charged With Child Molestation,” by The Brevard Times – Palm BAY, Florida – Jason Thomas Maynor, a teacher and girls’ tennis coach at Bayside High School in Palm Bay, Florida, was arrested and charged with eight felonies related to lewd or lascivious battery on a student under the age of 16. According to the arrest affidavit, Maynor engaged in sexual activity with the student from October 2018 to May 2019. The teacher also allegedly had the student perform oral sex on him every single school day in his classroom from January 2019 to April 2019. According to the student, the teacher was almost caught during the act one time by another school employee who entered the dark classroom. But Maynor ran across the classroom and pretended to be looking at something as the other school employee entered the classroom. The teacher also allegedly engaged in sexual activity with the student off-campus. During the sexual relationship, Maynor bought the student gifts, including a wedding ring set. Palm Bay police recorded a controlled Facetime chat between the student and Maynor wherein Maynor acknowledged the sexual relationship..

  CONTACT US

 

Related Posts

Javier Manjarres

Javier Manjarres

Javier Manjarres is a nationally renowned award-winning political journalist and Publisher of Floridianpress.com, Hispolitica.com, shark-tank.com, and Texaspolitics.com He enjoys traveling, playing soccer, mixed martial arts, weight-lifting, swimming, and biking. Javier is also a political consultant and has also authored "BROWN PEOPLE," which is a book about Hispanic Politics. Follow on Twitter: @JavManjarres Email him at Diversenewmedia@gmail.com

Subscribe to the newsletter everyone in Florida is reading.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Sign up for BREAKING NEWS ALERTS

Thank you for your interest in receiving the The Floridian newsletter. To subscribe, please submit your email address below.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.