Don Gaetz

TALLAHASSEE – The Florida House of Representatives embarrassed itself this week by ramming through a tax-cut that turns one of Gov. Rick Scott's top legislative priorities into potential litigation fodder. The last thing the governor and...

Dear Sen. Chris L. Smith: It was a long shot at best. Your attempt to tweak Florida's infamous Stand Your Ground law had about as much chance in the Florida Legislature as expanding Medicaid, imposing new taxes or paying teachers their true worth....

TALLAHASSEE – Florida policymakers are facing a multibillion-dollar dice-roll over whether to capitulate to President Barack Obama and dramatically swell the size of the Medicaid health-care program. But they'll be in a unique position this...

If you've lived in Florida for any length of time — like prior to noon yesterday — you probably know that our state is an ethical cesspool. Special interests funnel money to legislators. Legislators write the laws the way the interests ask....

TALLAHASSEE – There's an obvious reason why Florida politicos spend so much time talking about the cleansing effect of transparency without ever hopping in the tub. Whether in war, business or politics, informational advantages are powerful forces...

TALLAHASSEE — Front Porch America could learn a lot from watching Washington work, or not work. For our political system's inability to solve its fiscal and economic problems can be traced back to the politically militarized and polarized home...

Today we're talking about party-switchers, salary-raisers, teacher-trashers and more. We start with Democrats, who are titillated at the prospect of Change-up Charlie Crist running for governor. The former Republican-turned-independent says he now...

Dear Mr. Lenny Curry, I don't want to play the cynic here, but your friends over at the Capitol made one heck of a mess last November. As chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, I hope you can help them out. Gov. Rick Scott, the rest of the Cabinet...

TALLAHASSEE — Drink up, wayward partisans. Florida lawmakers may be striking a bipartisan tone as of late, but there are too many points of ideological contention for this camaraderie to survive intact beyond the holidays. Democrats are clamoring...

TALLAHASSEE – It's the season for fattening up, and Florida politics is fueling the expansion of some well-placed operatives' wallets. Although the Florida Legislature may tackle campaign-finance reform in the 2013 session, these dollars aren't...

Florida is back in a familiar place – the national laughingstock. This time Florida's votes didn't count. President Obama easily won re-election and was well on the way to brokering deals on the fiscal cliff, the Middle East crisis and perhaps...

TALLAHASSEE – Florida's economic-development strategy for years has been a taxpayer-financed piggy bank handing out big bucks to companies that made grand job-creation promises and were seldom held accountable for their flops. That's been...