In 2002, Gov. Jeb Bush vetoed a bill to mandate booster seats for children too large to ride in a car seat but too small to wear an adult seat belt safely. ...more

November 28, 2009

We've given Gov. Charlie Crist grief for pledging during the 2006 Republican gubernatorial primary that he would govern along the conservative lines of the man he was seeking to replace, Jeb Bush, and then lurching to the left after he was elected. His enthusiastic backing of the Legislature's decision to have the state, in effect, take over the property insurance industry in Florida was one example of un-Jeb-ish behavior. Another was the governor's backing of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus program. The media has been referring to that support for months without a peep of protest from Crist - until Wednesday. ...more

November 7, 2009

Republican state Sen. Paula Dockery jumped into the governor's race Tuesday, saying she's used to the role of underdog and winning. ...more

November 4, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - In the ebb and flow of politics, few qualities approach inevitability for power and influence. Whether wielded on behalf of a cause or a candidate, inevitability is the mother of all pre-emptive strikes. ...more

November 1, 2009

Gambling is getting easier for Floridians. That's because the Florida Lottery is rolling out the first of 1,000 instant ticket vending machines this week, starting in Tampa and Fort Myers. ...more

August 19, 2009

Prosecutors have dropped a case against a woman accused of stealing three large drawings from Mark Lunsford, the father of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford who was kidnapped and killed in 200 ...more

June 7, 2009

A forward-thinking bill meant to defend Florida's military bases from indiscriminate budget cuts is progressing in the Legislature. And that should be good for the nation's defense and Florida's economy. ...more

March 31, 2009

It's clear some of our legislators are using bad economic times as an excuse to dismantle state entities that they don't like. In state Rep. Denise Grimsley's case, that's the Department of Community Affairs. ...more

March 27, 2009

Jim Polatty has fought for decades with the Department of Community Affairs. But Highlands County's chief planner doesn't want the state agency dismembered. ...more

March 27, 2009

As an attorney who worked for a number of years at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in Tallahassee, I strongly disagree with attorney Keith W. Bricklemyer's assertions ("Other Views," March 21) that Hillsborough County's wetlands division is a "duplication" and that we can get environmental protection from the FDEP, the Southwest Florida Water Management District or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. ...more

March 25, 2009