Sunburn — The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics — 5.13.22

By Peter Schorsch

Good Friday morning.

On Thursday, the Florida Chamber of Commerce endorsed Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis for re-election.

“Jimmy fought side by side with the Florida Chamber of Commerce to help local businesses reopen quickly,” said Florida Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mark Wilson. “Through his leadership, he helped champion COVID-19 liability protections to protect businesses and health care providers when personal injury trial lawyers sought to use the pandemic for their own personal gain. Jimmy is committed to fiscal accountability as well as protecting Floridians from fraudulent activities that have contributed to rising home insurance rates.”

The Chamber noted that during Patronis’ time in the state House, he consistently earned “A” grades in its annual Legislative Report Cards. The endorsement also highlighted that the Panama City Republican has first-hand knowledge of business as a partner in his family’s restaurant, Captain Anderson’s.

“I’ve had the privilege of working alongside the Chamber as CFO and before that when I served in the Florida House. Together, we have implemented policies to protect consumers and grow the economy — even when other states’ businesses were shut down, and their people were locked down,” Patronis said.

“While other states froze in fear, we worked hand in hand to fight for common-sense COVID-19 liability protections and rallied throughout the state at local restaurants to open back up Florida’s small business. I am grateful for their endorsement and look forward to continuing to work with them to keep our taxes low, our state’s credit rating high and the job opportunities booming.”

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A new political action committee has launched to support Democratic Broward County Commissioner Jared Moskowitz’s run to succeed U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch in Congress.

Moving Broward Forward PAC is helmed by board members Elizabeth Rosenstein, Shirley Sharon and Jennifer May, while seasoned political operative Ashley Walker will serve as a general consultant.

“Jared Moskowitz is a champion for Broward County, who is fighting to guarantee access to the ballot box, to protect Social Security and Medicare, for real gun safety measures, and to defend our allies abroad,” Walker said. “He is the leader we need in Congress to move Broward forward.”

Moskowitz was first elected to public office at age 25 to the Parkland City Commission and became a state Representative before being appointed as the Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, a job that earned him the nickname of “Florida’s Master of Disaster.”

Since launching his campaign in Florida’s 23rd Congressional District, Moskowitz has received piles of endorsements from current and former elected officials. The latest wave included former CFO Alex Sink, Rep. Robin Bartleman, Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon, and Palm Beach County School Board member Alexandria Ayala.

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The Coronavirus War Room, a project from Protect Our Care, took to the skies to blast Gov. Ron DeSantis’ pandemic policies.

The organization hired a plane to fly over Amelie Arena ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning’s playoff game against the Toronto Maple Leafs Thursday evening. The flyover comes as the national death toll from COVID-19 approaches 1 million.

“As DeSantis is busy campaigning for re-election and what many think are his higher ambitions — the U.S. recently hit the awful milestone of over 1 million lives lost due to COVID-19,” a Coronavirus War Room news release reads.

According to The Associated Press, as of Thursday, the death toll stood at just under 1 million. In Florida, the virus has killed more than 74,000 people.

“The banner will remind Floridians of Gov. DeSantis’ reckless behavior, which contributed to the many lives lost in our state due to COVID-19,” the group wrote in the release.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

Tweet, tweet:

—@SenShelby: Today, I voted no on the reconfirmation of Jay Powell to be Chairman of the @federalreserve. American families are facing rampant inflation and historically high prices. Powell and the rest of the Fed have failed the American people. We should not reward failure.

Tweet, tweet:

—@BenjySarlin: There’s been a pretty rapid (Donald) Trump-era evolution from “Scandals won’t bring down candidates like they used to” to “If I run for office, I can move past my old scandal” to “My scandal is a positive thing that shows that I’ve been unfairly victimized by the right enemies.”

—@StephenM: There’d of course be no formula shortage if 45 were in office. But pretending there was: he’d have instantly issued EO, brought formula CEOs to Oval Office for public mtg, held Cab Mtg to break all logjams, told FDA head fix or be fired, made all staff work overtime till SOLVED.

—@ElonMusk: Even though I think a less divisive candidate would be better in 2024, I still think Trump should be restored to Twitter

—@AGAshleyMoody: I am proud to call Secretary Laurel Lee a dear friend, and I am grateful for her dedication to preserving and promoting our beautiful state as @FLSecofState. Job well done!

—@chris_minor10: Thank you, @GovRonDeSantis, for signing HB 195 – Juvenile Diversion Program Expunction into law! This is a big step for workforce development & public safety in affording over 26,000 kids a 2nd chance at success. Bittersweet moment today. Thank you to everyone on this journey

—@MDixon55: In doing unrelated research, am reminded how much money was poured into gaming ballot measures. This is list of top 30 biggest expenditures in Florida for the entire 2022 cycle. Nearly all of them are related to the gaming petition drives, neither of which will be on 2022 ballot.

Tweet, tweet:

Tweet, tweet: