Don Gaetz

TALLAHASSEE --Gov. Rick Scott took a knife to lawmakers' $74 billion-plus budget this week, blocking some $368 million in hometown projects. But the collective response from legislative leadership was a yawn. “While many will disagree with...

TALLAHASSEE – A divided appeals court ruled Wednesday that Florida legislators should not be questioned under oath about whether they "intended" to gain partisan advantage when they re-drew congressional maps last year. Two sets of groups have...

TALLAHASSEE – A divided appeals court ruled Wednesday that Florida legislators may not be questioned under oath about whether they "intended" to gain partisan advantage when they re-drew congressional maps last year. The ruling came in one of two...

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $368 million in lawmaker pet projects Monday and blocked a 3 percent tuition hike for Florida colleges and universities. The tuition increase passed earlier this month was a small piece of the overall $74.1...

TALLAHASSEE – Florida TaxWatch, the business-backed group that calls itself a fiscal watchdog, has targeted $106.8 million worth of budget projects that it says Gov. Rick Scott should veto. Road projects, public safety initiatives and money for...

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott promised on the campaign trail that he would build "world-class universities" as part of his plan to jump-start the state's stagnant economy and bring new jobs to the Sunshine State. He pledged higher levels of state...

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott was following a well-read playbook when he campaigned in 2010 to kick-start the economy in part with deep property-tax cuts. It just didn't come off as scripted. Capping out-of-control property-tax spikes was once a...

In her dark-horse campaign to become Florida's next governor, former state Sen. Nan Rich likes to recall the stories of Democratic political legends Reubin Askew, Lawton Chiles and Bob Graham. Each was a little-known state senator when he launched his...

TALLAHASSEE — With the 60-day lawmaking session complete, Florida legislators are wasting no time getting back to what they do the other 10 months of the year: raising copious amounts of cash from wealthy donors and companies. And thanks to a...

With the legislative session over and the dust of lawmakers departing Tallahassee barely settled, Gov. Rick Scott this week took to the campaign trail for a victory lap that was more a display of uninspired leadership than a cause for celebration....

Florida lawmakers crowed last week, with some justification, about passing a "historic" package of ethics reforms. But they squandered a historic chance to deliver true campaign finance reform in another package they sent to Gov. Rick Scott's desk....

TALLAHASSEE – The Florida Legislature ended its 2013 session Friday by passing an elections do-over and the largest budget in state history, but without delivering tax subsidies to the Miami Dolphins, Orlando soccer boosters and a cadre of other...