It’s been widely reported today that the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the shadowy corporate front group that unites state lawmakers with corporations to pass state laws favorable to corporate interests, helped pass the law that might allow Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, to escape prosecution. Florida’s “Stand Your Ground,” the law that might help Zimmerman to claim self-defense (despite evidence to the contrary) is just one of many state laws that is nearly identical to ALEC’s model Castle Doctrine Act. The Florida senator who introduced the law, Durell Peadon, was also a member of ALEC. The law passed in …
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has developed a reputation for being cozy with lobbyists, naming them to all sorts of different positions. In January, he even named a former lobbyist to Florida’s Secretary of State.
Yesterday, Scott named Peter Antonacci as the State Attorney for Palm Beach County, and he will serve until January 7th, 2013. Antonacci does have some history of public service. He is a former state Deputy Attorney General and Statewide Prosecutor. Yet as local blogger Bob Norman points out, he ended his life in government 15 years ago to become a super-lobbyist, representing all sorts …
The Huffington Post’s Dave Jamieson reports on the case of a powerful lobby pushing to actually lower the minimum wage for a group of workers in Florida. The state senate’s tourism and commerce committee has written a bill, SPB 7210, that would allow restaurants to pay servers as low as $2.13 rather than the current required rate of $4.65 — a reduction of $2.52.
Jamieson explains that, in addition to the state’s main restaurant lobby, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, OSI Restaurant Partners, which owns Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, and other restaurant chains, is a
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