Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics — 10.28.22

 Good Friday morning.

Boutique lobbying firm PinPoint Results is adding Jason Maine to its advocacy team.

Maine joins the growing PinPoint Advocacy Team as a partner. Maine has served in the legal departments of multiple state agencies and previously worked as a prosecutor in Florida’s 2nd Judicial Circuit.

“We are so pleased to have Jason join our team. Jason brings extensive experience and knowledge of government to the table having served under the Scott Administration in various senior roles including as General Counsel for the Department of Business and Professional Regulation and the Department of Elder Affairs,” founder and managing partner Tanya Jackson said.

Firm President Robert Beck added, “Jason is a problem solver, a collaborator, and a gentleman with deep relationships in state government. With the addition of Jason to our team, we are strengthening our ability to meet the needs of our clients in various regulatory and contractual arenas. He knows how to help ‘business do business’ with government.”

Maine holds a bachelor’s degree from Saint Leo University, a law degree from Florida State University, and served 10 years in the U.S. Air Force.

He joins a lobbying team that includes Jackson, Beck, former House Speaker Pro-Tempore Marti Coley, Bryan Cherry and Andrea Gheen.

___

Other items on my radar:

— Neither party deserves to govern: A majority of likely voters believe neither major political party has made the case for their right to govern after the November election. That’s despite findings that Americans are largely split when it comes to which party they’ll vote for this Midterm Election. An Ipsos KnowledgePanel poll found that 51% of Democrats hadn’t earned another two years controlling the federal government while only 39% said they had, according to FiveThirtyEight. Meanwhile, 55% of respondents said Republicans don’t deserve to be given control in the next Congress, while only 35% said they did. While it looks a little less grim for Democrats based on those numbers alone, that may not be the case. The same poll had similar results when it came to voters’ top concern, which is the economy and inflation, an area where Republicans historically have performed better than Democrats.

— Donald Trump isn’t waiting for 2024 to snub Ron DeSantis: The former President is planning to rally Florida Republicans just two days before the Nov. 8 General Election. Sen. Marco Rubio will be there. DeSantis won’t. That is by design, CNN analyst Chris Cillizza speculates. Instead, “it’s the latest in a series of verbal snubs that Trump has directed” at DeSantis ahead of a potential matchup between the two in 2024. Trump has made little secret on his thoughts of DeSantis’ rise to fame as “America’s Governor,” frequently reminding voters that he “made” DeSantis when he endorsed him in the Governor’s race four years ago and, in media interviews, that “I’d beat him like I would beat everyone else.” Cillizza’s analysis also points to Trump’s comment that DeSantis’ help with Colorado Republican Senate nominee Joe O’Dea, who Trump does not support, was a “BIG MISTAKE.” The takeaway: “Trump is very well aware of the threat that DeSantis poses.”

— The legal system is working better on Trump than you might think: Think the former President gets away with too much and might again? Think again. Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin argues in her latest piece that “even the Supreme Court, which has gone off the rails to achieve right-wing partisan ends, has not bailed out the former President.” She lists myriad cases involving Trumpworld, including the more than 880 people arrested in connection with Jan. 6, attempts to compel members of Trump’s inner circle to talk and denied efforts to block subpoenas, among others. That “no one has decided to halt the investigations (into Trump) simply because Trump is a former President … should give Americans confidence in prosecutors and the courts.” The bottom line, she writes, “we might still be a nation of laws.”

— The Jan. 6 rioters next door: Florida is home to more people charged for various offenses related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, and 29 of them live or lived in the Tampa Bay area. A Tampa Bay Times investigation into the 29 individuals found the “most striking feature may be the sheer ordinariness of its members.” Business owner. Parents. First-time voters. Homeowners. Some are in jail or prison. Some are awaiting legal proceedings. Some have served their time. “They all chased some version of the American Dream.” Read more here.

— By removing the death penalty, Florida failed to adequately denounce Nikolas Cruz: As time has passed since a jury, unable to reach unanimous consent, failed to impose the death penalty on the Parkland shooter, outrage has quieted. But that doesn’t mean it has gone away. As guest columnist Robert Blecker, a professor emeritus at New York Law School and self-proclaimed retributivist, explains, the Parkland victims’ families aren’t the only ones who feel wronged by his life sentence in lieu of death. Retribution is not simply revenge, Blecker writes; rather “it demands that punishment must be limited and proportional. As his headline questions, if not for Cruz and his monstrous crimes, who is the death penalty for? Blecker makes the case for the death penalty to uphold justice for the worst of the worst and rejects the notion that life in prison is worse than death by illustrating points from Cruz’s phone log in prison in which he looked forward to a healthier lifestyle. Read more here.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

Tweet, tweet:

T-12 Days:
Florida Voter Turnout Update (Oct. 27)
2.19M votes cast.
GOP: 902k / Dem: 875k / Other: 415k
GOP leads by 26,866 ballots
Highest GOP turnout: Sumter (30.9%)
Highest Dem turnout: Sumter (38.4%)
Highest overall turnout: Sumter (31.1%)@FloridaGOP @SumterFLDems pic.twitter.com/QwPGPFfolp

— Fresh Take Florida (@FreshTakeFla) October 27, 2022

Tweet, tweet:

Election Night Prediction for Florida. https://t.co/NCo0CW0ZAc pic.twitter.com/ncq1QMm2QZ

— Bill Helmich (@Billhelmich) October 27, 2022

—@RonFilipkowski: When I signed in to vote yesterday in FL, they rejected my first signature because it wasn’t close enough to my driver’s license signature. I signed again and they accepted it. Had that been a mail-in ballot, my vote would have been rejected.

Tweet, tweet:

“He is endorsed by our president, Donald Trump,” Barnett said.

The crowd roared.

— Stephany Matat (@stephanymatat) October 27, 2022

—@Teri_Kanefield: It seems to me that the point of this story is that even with everything we know about Trump, the Republican Party still bows to him and hails him as the leader. Theory: They like him BECAUSE he’s a lawbreaker and insurrectionist. That’s the appeal.

Tweet, tweet:

Ron DeSantis is the leading anti-Trump candidate for 2024. pic.twitter.com/elIcuX2RYo

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) October 27, 2022

—@fineout: So here’s some local political intrigue. @FlaDems chair Manny Diaz taking sides in TLH mayoral battle, supporting @MayorOfTLH John Dailey. Meanwhile, local GOP is telling its members to vote against (Kristin) Dozier

—@dcherring: How’s Kanye’s funding for the Parler deal holdin’ up?

Tweet, tweet:

Today was magical!????

We were privileged today to flyover the Magic Kingdom Park @disneyparks, not just once, but twice! In celebration of the Air Force’s 75th birthday, and Disney’s 50th our two organizations were able to come together to inspire so many to chase their dreams. pic.twitter.com/o8dsf0taYF

— Thunderbirds (@AFThunderbirds) October 27, 2022

— DAYS UNTIL —

2022 General Election — 11; ‘The Crown’ Season 5 returns — 12; ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ premieres — 14; FITCon 2022 begins — 20; ‘The Flash’ premieres — 20; The World Cup kicks off in Qatar — 24; The U.S. World Cup Soccer Team begins play — 27; Florida TaxWatch’s Annual Meeting begins — 36; ‘Willow’ premieres on Disney+ — 36; 2022 Florida Chamber Annual Insurance Summit — 38; Cormac McCarthy’s ‘Stella Maris’ releases — 39; ‘Avatar 2’ premieres — 49; final Broadway performance of ‘The Music Man’ with Hugh Jackman — 65; Bruce Springsteen launches his 2023 tour in Tampa — 96; ‘Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ premieres — 112; final performance of ‘Phantom of the Opera’ on Broadway — 113; 2023 Legislative Session convenes — 130; ‘John Wick: Chapter 4′ premieres — 148; American Association of Political Consultants Pollies ’23 conference begins — 172; 2023 Session Sine Die — 189; ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ premieres — 189; ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ premieres — 217; Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ premieres — 266; ‘‘Captain Marvel 2′ premieres — 273; Dune: Part Two’ premieres — 371; ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ Part 2 premieres — 518; ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ premieres — 574; Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games — 637; ‘Thunderbolts’ premieres — 637; ‘Blade’ reboot premieres — 679; ‘Deadpool 3’ premieres — 742; ‘Fantastic Four’ reboot premieres — 840; ‘Avengers: The Kang Dynasty’ premieres — 917. ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’ premieres — 1,106.

Sunburn is authored and assembled by Peter Schorsch, Phil Ammann, Daniel Dean, Renzo Downey, Jacob Ogles, and Drew Wilson.

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