One of the things I have enjoyed about being a part of my county GOP Executive Committee is the opportunity to hear various candidates. Over the past several months we have heard from three of the leading candidates running for the Senate seat held by Bill Nelson.

We heard from Col. Mike McAlister, Sen. George LeMieux, and last night from former Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner.

Each of the candidates were interesting to listen to, and all of them would be a vast improvement over Nelson. In addition to hearing from them at the PCREC meetings I have read about them, and what others have said about them.

Based on that research, I am proud to announce the I am endorsing Adam Hasner for Senate. Granted, the bRight & Early / Jim Lynch endorsement isn’t the most high profile one he will get, I am excited to support his Senate run. If you are a Florida voter I invite you to take a look as well.

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I wrote about it, researched it, and carried through with the plan. As of about two hours ago, I am the newest member of my county Republican Executive Committee.

I write this blog because I enjoy it, and because I’m foolish enough to believe that I have something worthwhile to share with the people who stumble in here. Becoming involved in local politics follows the same theme. I believe in the importance of getting involved locally, and I’m foolish enough to believe that I have something worthwhile to contribute to the political discussion in my neighborhood, county, and state.

A bit about tonight’s meeting. In addition to the important business of getting me on board, the guest speaker was former Senator George LeMieux. For those of you who don’t follow Florida politics, LeMieux was appointed to the Senate seat vacated by Mel Martinez. He kept his word and didn’t run for the seat in 2010 and it is now held by Marco Rubio. Now he is running for Bill Nelson’s seat. I have no doubt that he would be much better that Nelson, but he isn’t the only candidate. In the mean time, I was glad to have the opportunity to listen to his positions and learn more about him.

I encourage you to explore the opportunities you have to get involved locally. It’s great to talk about the issues, and I will continue to do so, but action is imperative.

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A while back I posted about the importance of local politics. Well, I’ve taken my own words to heart. I did a bit of research and found out about my county Republican Party, and it’s structure. My precinct is allocated 4 committeemen and 4 committewomen. There is one slot filled.

So, while I once served as the County party chairman in SC years ago, tonight I’ll be taking my first step into Florida party politics. Why don’t you join me? Find out about your local political structure and get involved.

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I remember a comic from years ago that took a humorous look at some of life’s sillier inequities called “There Oughta Be A Law”. It’s funny in the papers, but over the years I’ve wondered why government at all levels from local to national is so married to the idea that we need more and more laws and regulations. Shouldn’t there come a time when all the “law” we need has been written?

One type of law that all levels of government love is regulation. This time last year Doug Ross posted a study by the Competitive Enterprise Institute showing that government regulation cost $1.187 trillion to meet compliance requirements. That is a huge hit on businesses of every size and the cost, of course, is paid by every consumer.

Yet, some businesses, or business groups, welcome and encourage these regulations. Why? As always, follow the money. Bob Ewing posted a story about the Florida Interior Design Cartel last week at Big Government.

The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) represents less than 3 percent of all designers, but its members have designated themselves as spokespeople for the entire industry. ASID has spent over 30 years and millions of dollars lobbying from coast to coast for interior design licensing schemes. Not surprisingly, the schemes they propose would force all interior designers to have the exact same credentials as required for membership in ASID.

Now when I think about regulation it’s more along the lines of my doctor having a license, not if my couch clashes with the paint in the living room. Left to my own devices (and hue blindness) there’s no telling what ghastly faux pas might be hoisted on society. Take a look at this video produced by the Institute for Justice, debunking three of the cartel’s key myths:

Since Ewing’s post the Florida House passed the bill to deregulate Interior Designers and more than a dozen other businesses.

The bill reverses regulation of travel agents, motor vehicle repair shops, intrastate movers, interior designers and many others.

Those regulations include licensure fees, rules, and education and testing requirements. The education requirements the bill eliminates range from the 12-hour course required of body wrappers to four-year interior design degrees.

Loss of fees will cost the state money, but supporters said that getting rid of the burdensome rules will free up entrepreneurs and energize the economy.

Taxes get the spotlight when we’re talking about job creation, but fixing over-burdensome regulation is at least as important. Businesses can’t afford them, and in many cases we just don’t need them. It’s a discussion we need to have. The design cartel can go feng shui themselves if they think otherwise.

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Larry Thornberry at The American Spectator has taken a look at the new political landscape here in Florida.

Rick Scott, Florida’s new chief executive, entered office last week with a top-to-bottom conservative agenda. The Naples businessman, a wealthy former hospital entrepreneur and political novice who financed his own campaign, says his main missions are to create private sector jobs and make Florida’s government more efficient, svelte, and less expensive.

To accomplish these goals Scott has promised to right-size the state work force, use vouchers to improve education by lowering government school enrollment, and do away with unnecessary state regulations, perhaps even unnecessary state agencies. He wants to cut Florida’s corporate income tax and property taxes.

Florida is near the national lead in categories you don’t want to be leading, like unemployment and foreclosures. It now falls to Scott to make good on campaign promises to use his business skills to lead the state recovery. Newly elected conservative cabinet members, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Agriculture Secretary Adam Putnam, and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater, will make that job easier. Easier, not easy. Just how serious will the Republican controlled legislature be, especially addressing popular, yet costly, government programs? Only time will tell.

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As happy as I am about the results across the nation in Tuesday’s elections, I am thrilled with the outcome here in Florida! Nineteen of the twenty five U.S. House seats are now held by Republicans. Floridians flipped four, including some really outstanding pick ups.

Steve Southerland over Allen Boyd in district two, and Sandra Adams’ defeat of Suzanne Kosmas in Fl-24 were two great wins. But the other two seats flipped by the Republicans really stand out.

The election of retired Lt. Colonel Allen West in House district 22 over Ron Klein was a big win for conservatives. What has impressed me as I watched his campaign, was his no nonsense, clear vision commitment to core conservative values. I get the impression that this man has a very low BS tolerance. His win has already helped him to (symbolically) keep his campaign promise to get Nancy Pelosi to “Give me that damn gavel“.

The other flipped seat may be the most gratifying. All Floridians should be thrilled that the win by Daniel Webster in House district 8 removed the embarrassment that is Alan Grayson from representing us in Congress. While his comment that the Republican’s health care plan amounted to getting the sick to “die quickly” endeared him to the hard-core left, it did not sit well with Floridians and the voters in his district. Former Florida House Speaker Webster will be a much better representative for the state. I expect that he will advocate the same themes he championed as Speaker, smaller government and tax cuts, when he gets to Washington.

The most exciting win of the night was Marco Rubio defeating soon to be former Governor Charlie “which way is the wind blowing” Crist for Senate. Rubio, and his clear conservative vision, is going to be an excellent addition to the U.S. Senate. His compelling story, his outstanding ability to articulate his values and positions, and his natural leadership qualities are going to be a huge asset to Florida and the country. And don’t think that the nation hasn’t noticed. Rubio has attracted attention far beyond the borders of the Sunshine State. I’m convinced that his career in Washington will only increase that notice. Even as a freshman Senator, I expect his abilities to garner national attention.

That’s it for now. More thoughts later.

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The Florida primary is just a few days away and it is drawing attention beyond the Sunshine State. Here, for what it’s worth, is my look at things.

One of the races getting national attention is the US Senate race. William Escoffery III, William “Billy” Kogut, and Marco Rubio make up the Republican side of the ballot. Regular readers will know that I have been excited about Marco Rubio since May of 2009. That support has only gotten stronger as the campaign has played out.

In the beginning it was about Rubio versus Governor Charlie Crist for the Republican nomination. Once Marco Rubio gained enough attention, which he did by clearly expressing his conservative principles, Crist proclaimed himself a moderate, took a sharp left, and decided to run as an Independent. While that has cleared the way for Rubio in the primary, it has turned the election in to a three ring circus. The latest Rasmussen poll has Rubio out in front by five points — if Kendrick Meek is the Democratic candidate, but he trails Crist by one if Jeff Greene gets the primary win.

Here, in one minute, is the reason I am supporting Marco Rubio:

The other Florida race getting national attention is for Governor. On the Republican side Rick Scott and Bill McCollum are getting all the attention, while Mike McCalister is getting good reviews from conservatives and TEA Party groups, but little else. McCalister is just a blip in the polls and his fund raising is mere pennies on the dollar compared to either Scott or McCollum. It is unfortunate that his lack of money and recognition have created a very lackluster campaign. His About page on his website is nothing more than a pdf file of his CV. McCalister is arguably the most conservative candidate, but the shortcomings of his campaign make it tough to support him.

The choice, as I see it, is to support McCalister in the primary and then support the winning candidate in November, or to vote for one of the other candidates now to get the one I really want in the November race. It’s a dilemma. I know the arguments. If McCalister is the best candidate, and I don’t vote for him, how can I expect anyone else to do so? On the other hand, is it throwing my vote away on a candidate that has no chance of winning? And if I don’t vote for McCalister, who do I vote for? Ask me today and I would probably tell you I’m leaning towards Scott about 51-49. Tomorrow that could easily be reversed. The reason it’s so close in my mind is that I have equal parts support and doubt for each candidate. Convince me in the comments.

I live in Congressional district 12. The seat is currently held by Adam Putnam, but he is leaving the seat to run for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture. John Lindsey Jr. and Dennis Ross are the Republican candidates, while Randy Wilkinson is the TEA Party candidate. In this race my support goes to Dennis Ross, at least through the primary.

That’s it for now. Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Today Governor Charlie Crist gets to choose how to lose his bid for the U.S. Senate. At a news conference scheduled this afternoon Crist is expected to announce that he will run with No Party Affiliation.

A year after it seemed he was the man to beat for the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate and a virtual shoo-in in the general election, Crist has seen his poll numbers nose-dive and speculation has run rampant about his chances of surviving a primary against tea-party favorite Marco Rubio, the state’s former House speaker. The 53-year-old governor has scheduled a Thursday evening event in his hometown where he will reveal his plans, though three confidants have said he’s already decided to abandon his long-shot GOP primary bid and run as an independent.

As much as Crist will try to spin this decision as a principled stand, it’s hard to see it as anything more than a desperate move by someone who knew they were about to lose big time.

Crist will have quite a few hurdles to jump by pulling out of the GOP Primary, not the least of which is his frequent and recent claims that he wouldn’t run as an Independent.

Asked five times last month by Chris Wallace whether he would run as an independent for the U.S. Senate seat in Florida, Gov. Charlie Crist responded “no” five separate times.

Whoops.

Mark Noonan quotes a FOX News blog post by Kimberly Schwandt

Crist has said that under no circumstance would he drop out of the race, saying he will do what is best for the voters of Florida. The governor says Republicans in Washington want him to stay in the Republican party but voters in Florida have told him they want him to run as an independent.

Noonan’s response is exactly right.

No, Charlies, what the voters of Florida have told you is that they don’t want you in the United States Senate. But, you are an opportunist and a political climber, so you can’t imagine yourself not being in high office…clearly losing your Senate bid, you seem to be settling on a desperate bid for even the slightest chance of staying in public office.

But let’s back up just a minute. There is a sentence in the Schwandt quote that really gets to the core of not only this race, but much of the grass root sentiment that is key to this year’s elections, “The governor says Republicans in Washington want him to stay in the Republican party but voters in Florida have told him they want him to run as an independent.”

He’s correct only in the first part, Washington Republicans want him to stay in the party, but the people in Florida and many, many other places around the country are making it clear that they don’t want wishy-washy hopey-changey Washington-knows-best politicians representing them.

I was going to finish this by saying that shortly after five o’clock we’ll know, but really, that’s only going to make it official.

UPDATE: Another good read.

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Governor Charlie Crist has until noon Friday to decide if he will run as an independent.

Crist spent Thursday and Friday of last week meeting with key Republican strategists and donors that had come into his political orbit over the last decade, testing them on the idea of whether or not he should run as an independent, according to one senior Florida GOPer.

Most Republican sources in Florida and Washington seem to believe that a Crist switch is a foregone conclusion — there is even speculation about when this week he might choose to announce it — but, as almost always in these sorts of delicate political situations, there are very few people who know the real deal and they are not talking much.

Put me in the camp thinking he will pull out of the Republican primary. I’m leaning (about 70/30) to him running as an Independent rather than just sitting this one out. I think the key adviser he is listening closest to is Charlie Crist. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but I have a feeling that his major consideration is his personal political aspirations over a desire to serve the people who would elect him.

Should he run as an Independent expect Marco Rubio and Kendrick Meek (the likely Democrat nominee) to make the most of his political expediency. Framing his run as a principled decision will be an uphill battle.

We’ll know the answer by noon Friday.

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Lieutenant Colonel Allen West, running for Congress in Florida district 22, really does get it. Watch, as he answers a marine’s question.

Dealing with a threat requires understanding the threat. Is there any doubt that Colonel West understands? I didn’t think so.

(h/t Rick at Wizbang)

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