Sunburn – The Morning Read Of What’s Hot In Florida Politics – 9.6.22

 Good Tuesday morning.

How ’bout them Noles?

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Longtime federal and state legislative senior staffer Omar Raschid is joining the team at lobbying firm Johnston & Stewart Government Strategies.

Raschid joins Jeff Johnston, Amanda Stewart and Anita Berry at the Tampa-headquartered firm, though he will be based in Tallahassee to expand the firm’s year-round presence in the Capital City.

“Omar’s relationships and understanding of the inner workings of the highest levels of government will be invaluable to our firm. He spent nearly a decade in Washington, D.C. government where he specialized in international affairs, and almost another decade in the Florida Legislature, where his focus was external affairs,” Johnston said. “In the latter, he worked hand in hand with Gov. (Ron) DeSantis’ office, our state agencies, and the U.S. Congress, not to mention his extensive work over the years with our state legislators and staff. He’s got it all.”

Raschid comes to the firm from the Office of House Speaker Chris Sprowls, where he served as Deputy Chief of Staff for External Affairs. Before moving to Tallahassee, Raschid worked nine years in Washington, where he served in a variety of roles, including as Legislative Director to U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross and Chief of Staff to U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho.

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The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida has named Tiffani Lennon as the organization’s new Executive Director.

Lennon brings more than 25 years of experience in nonprofit and executive management to the ACLU of Florida. Lennon joins the organization as it continues to challenge recent legislation it claims attacks the rights of free speech, voting, abortion and LGBTQ individuals.

“I am honored to join the ACLU at this pivotal time in our history,” Lennon said in a statement. “We will work to bring about the change that Florida and our country desperately need. My family and I look forward to calling Florida home.”

Lennon most recently served as the executive director of the Colorado Center for Law and Policy (CCLP). Her educational background includes a Master of Laws in international finance and economic law from the University of London Birkbeck College of Law, juris doctor from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and a bachelor’s in education and psychology from Rider University.

Lennon will become Executive Director on Sept. 12. She will replace Amy Turkel, who has served as interim executive director since January.
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The Red Hills Strategies team has expanded to five members with the recent hire of Abigail Mainor as project coordinator.

“Strategic communications requires strong skills, a wide range of capabilities and the capacity to deliver high-quality work in a timely manner. In bringing on Abigail Mainor, we’re adding more talent and greater bandwidth to the Red Hills Strategies team so we can continue to design and deliver effective campaigns,” said Amanda Bevis, who founded the communications firm four years ago.

In her new role as project coordinator, Mainor will write on behalf of clients, track and report media coverage and analyze social content.

Before joining Red Hills Strategies, Mainor interned for elected officials in Florida and in Washington, including former state Rep. Mel Ponder and U.S. Rep. Daniel Webster.

Mainor joins Bevis, along with Brittany Morgan Clark, Julie Fazekas and Madison Dorval.

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— People bet on everything from horse races to death pools, but elections are a no-go. That may change soon if federal regulators approve a proposal from Kalshi Inc., which already operates prediction markets on things such as climate change and moon landings.

— Recent upset elections in Alaska and New York show a red wave isn’t guaranteed. The odds are still in their favor, according to Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, but the possibility of an “asterisk election” is growing … especially if Donald Trump remains front and center.

— Here’s another reason for Republicans to worry: Women are fired up to vote. It’s been a few months since Roe v. Wade was overturned, and Tom Bonier writes that women are still registering to vote in record numbers nationwide. So much so that he recommends throwing “old political assumptions out of the window.”

— COVID-19 is still lingering, but another fall surge isn’t likely according to Joel Achenbach and Lena Sun of The Washington Post. Still, a new variant could mix things up and lead to another wave of infections in the ongoing pandemic.

— There are many crazy conspiracy theories about the 2020 Election. Where are they coming from? A new research paper in the Journal of Online Trust & Safety doesn’t directly answer the question, but it found that users with election doubts were more likely to be directed to conspiratorial content on social networks and on YouTube.

— SITUATIONAL AWARENESS —

—@GovRonDeSantis: This Labor Day, I am glad Florida protected the right of all Floridians to earn a living when many other states did not. Florida has more people employed than prior to the pandemic!

—@MarcACaputo: Just got a second source here: DeSantis not only is confirmed for @CBS12’s debate, he did it BEFORE today. So, if you’re trusting any blogger tweeting today about DeSantis ducking debates, you got played

—@BrianBeutler: Not a stretch to say history turned on reporters pretending to believe people like (Marco) Rubio when they pretended to be mad about storage of unclassified info. Now, in a full 180, he pretends *not* to care about storage of HIGHLY classified docs, and the sordid past goes unmentioned.

—@DaveTrotter101: It’s coming to a point where Blue MAGA (in a sense) is true. It seems as if any form of mild criticism of (Joe) Biden is met with a cult-like rejection. Dems are starting to form a ‘Dear Leader’ syndrome around the man. Independent thought in Democratic politics is dying.

—@MichelleObama: Congrats on an amazing career, @SerenaWilliams! How lucky were we to be able to watch a young girl from Compton grow up to become one of the greatest athletes of all time. I’m proud of you, my friend — and I can’t wait to see the lives you continue to transform with your talents.

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

The post Sunburn — The morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics — 9.6.22 appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..