Florida Democratic Party News Clips u2014 February 7, 2012

**BRINGING IT BACK** In light of yesterday’s ethics investigation news, we’re re-circulating this hilarious web video mocking Vern Buchanan’s used car dealership. “Let’s circle up, today’s employee skills enhancement session is going to focus on…ethics!” Watch it again (or for the first time) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up10wCMbRJU

BUCHANAN ETHICS FIRESTORM IGNITES

The Hill – Ethics panel examining Rep. Buchanan over financial disclosures [2/6/12]
Roll Call -House Ethics Panel Continues Investigation of Buchanan Disclosures [2/6/12]
Politico – Ethics panel punts on Vern Buchanan [2/6/12]
Washington Post – Congressional investigators find ‘reason to believe’ Buchanan broke ethics laws [2/6/12]
Florida Independent – Ethics committee releases details of Buchanan financial disclosure investigation [2/6/12]
Sarasota Tribune Herald – House Ethics Committee continues Buchanan investigation [2/6/12]
TPM – Office Of Congressional Ethics Found Vern Buchanan Failed To Disclose 17 Corporate Positions [2/6/12]
Florida Independent — Ethics committee releases details of Buchanan financial disclosure investigation [2/6/12]
DailyKos/SaintPetersBlog — Three Key Points [2/6/12]

BIDEN IN TOWN — “GM IS HIRING AND BIN LADEN IS DEAD”

Chairman Smith introduces VP Biden [Tallahassee Democrat] “Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith introduced Biden at the Challenger Center fundraising event…’GM is hiring and Bin Laden is dead'”

VP Biden: Keep college tuition low [Miami Herald] “Vice President Joe Biden was on his way to a prom years ago when he saw his father pacing outside.Had something happened to Mom? Was something wrong? His father, it turned out, had just returned from the bank, where he was turned down for a loan to pay for Biden’s education at the University of Delaware. ‘I’m so ashamed,’ Biden recalled him saying. The anecdote, delivered in a speech Monday to students at Florida State University, was used to promote President Barack Obama’s new college affordability plan — which would reward states for keeping costs low.”

PRIVATIZING PRISONS FACES MORE SCRUTINY

No evidence to support privatizing state prisons [Palm Beach Post editorial] “How fitting that dissent among the Florida Senate’s rank-and-file Republicans is threatening to head off the push to privatize 26 South Florida prisons and work camps. After all, the groundswell is due in part to legislative leaders’ attempts to ram this massive privatization through their colleagues with as little debate or study as possible…given the tactics of the plan’s supporters there is no reason to believe any of their claims.”

Correction experts doubt prison savings [WMFE] “Dr. Roberto Hugh Potter, Director of Research and Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida, has studied prison privatization. 90.7’s Tom Parkinson asked him if the change would actually save the state millions of dollars as proponents suggest.”

More doubt that privatizing prisons will save money [Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald] “‘You can make something look like a savings on paper,’ says Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland. ‘We’re not saving money. Absolutely not.'”

IN OTHER NEWS

Should be obvious: Floridians Don’t Like Medicaid Cuts [Orlando Sentinel] “A poll conducted by Hill+Knowlton Strategies on behalf of SafetyNet Hospitals says that 71 percent of Floridians believe that Medicaid must be maintained by the state.”

Shared Sacrifice? [Gainesville Sun editorial] “It takes nerve for legislators ladle out benefits for themselves, while demanding that other Floridians tighten their belts. This despite Gov. Rick Scott’s recommendation that all state employees and officials pay the same, higher insurance premiums.”