Category: Legislature
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Trouble at the Statehouse: secrecy, questionable ethics and conflicts of interest
By Nicholas Kusnetz
Center for Public Integrity
Loopholes are a common part of statehouse culture nationwide, according to the 2015 State Integrity Investigation. The comprehensive probe found that in state after state, open records laws are laced with exemptions and part-time legislators and agency officials engage in glaring conflicts of interests and cozy relationships with lobbyists. -
Gov. Rick Scott won’t release 2014 tax return or info about his blind trust
By Dan Christensen
FloridaBulldog.org
Amid news of Gov. Rick Scott’s investment in a company that’s seeking to build a controversial, $3-billion natural gas pipeline in north Florida, he won’t make public his 2014 federal income tax return. -
Florida gives $3.8 million to Lauren’s Kids charity after questionable poll on sex abuse
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
Before Florida gave it another $3.8 million this month, the politically-connected charity Lauren’s Kids published the results of an alarming online survey about child abuse whose trustworthiness can’t be verified. -
Tallahassee jackpot: Politicians send millions to charity of lobbyist’s daughter
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
Over the last four years, Lauren’s Kids, a non-profit founded by the daughter of top Tallahassee lobbyist Ron Book has become one the legislature’s favorite charities, raking in nearly $7 million in taxpayer funds. If and when legislators reconvene to pass a budget, that total is slated to rise to $10.8 million. -
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Senate push to expand lobbyist registration to special districts like Broward Health
By Dan Christensen
FloridaBulldog.org
A bill to broaden water management district lobbyist registration rules to apply to hospital districts, expressway and port authorities, children’s services districts and other special taxing districts with budgets in excess of $5 million is moving through the Florida Senate. -
U.S. Sugar seeks OK for huge development after news it paid for GOP leaders’ trips
By Dan Christensen
BrowardBulldog.org
Weeks after news that Gov. Rick Scott and Florida GOP leaders took secret hunting trips to Texas financed by Florida’s sugar industry, U.S. Sugar and Hilliard Brothers are pushing plans for a massive new development in rural Hendry County near the northwest edge of the Everglades. The Sugar Hill Sector Plan envisions turning more than 67 square miles of sugar cane fields, citrus groves and pasture lands into a planned community.
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