First Read for Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023

Good morning. It’s National Chicken Curry Day. The dish comes from India; Asian Indians make up Florida’s largest Asian Pacific-American group, with about 186,000 in the state.

FIRST UP

Forward Florida, the political action committee behind Andrew Gillum’s failed 2018 bid for Florida governor, is no more. Its treasurer, Yolanda Brown, filed a letter with the state Division of Elections to notify officials there that the committee was “disbanded effective immediately.” The letter was dated Dec. 29 and stamped as received on Jan. 3.  

The fundraising panel – which had amassed almost $39 million in total since its creation in early 2016 – had about $125,000 left, according to records reviewed online Wednesday night. Its status was “closed” but it wasn’t clear what would happen to the remaining funds. The committee essentially ceased raising money by early 2020 and its last major expenditure, $440,000, was in July to Gillum’s criminal defense team, Markus/Moss of Miami. 

Gillum, mayor of Tallahassee in 2014-18, was charged with conspiracy and wire fraud in a longstanding FBI probe into political corruption at Tallahassee City Hall. Gillum and former business partner (and now co-defendant) Sharon Lettman-Hicks were indicted last year on charges they illegally solicited and pocketed donations to his 2018 campaign, according to reporting by the Tallahassee Democrat. 

Gillum won an upset primary victory against former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham for the Democratic nomination but went on to lose to now-Gov. Ron DeSantis in a general election so close it triggered an automatic recount. More recently, he had been hosting a podcast, “Real Talk with Andrew Gillum,” on Quake Media. The company no longer lists it on its website. 

– Jim Rosica

FROM CITY & STATE

* Opinion: In an open letter to the Florida Democratic Party's state executive committee, veteran Democratic consultant Steve Schale says that when it comes to new leadership, the party can't think 'outside the box' until it rebuilds the box.

* Government pension plans in Florida and other states took a hit in 2022, as a downturn in financial markets caused investment losses, new reports show.

* A new report makes the case for why it's time for lawmakers and regulators to tighten up standards around state and local government finance, and it offers recommendations for how they can go about it.

THIS MONTH’S MAGAZINE

The Florida Women Power 100

* Who are the most influential women in Florida politics and government? City & State Florida's Women Power 100 identifies the most important government officials, high-powered lobbyists, leaders of the worlds of business, nonprofits, strategic messaging and social justice in the arena of Sunshine State politics and policy.

 ▶ Read This Month's Issue

NEW THIS MORNING

* Florida Republicans had a dominating 2022 midterm election, but that hasn’t stopped them from having a heated race to choose their next party chair heading into the 2024 presidential election cycle, Politico Florida reports.

* Moms for Libraries, launched in 2022 but recently driven into new gear, is part of the much larger and better-known national group Moms for Liberty, which started in Florida, The New Republic reports. 

* The Florida chapter of Moms for Liberty now wants state lawmakers to expand the state law that restricts classroom instruction about gender identity and sexual orientation in kindergarten through third grade, the Florida Phoenix reports. 

* Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz has said the boost in funding for more IRS agents was bad and that new IRS agents would end up being turned on the middle class, but in office, he voted against eliminating the funding, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports. 

* Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet next week will consider a series of proposed land deals that include preserving more than 12,000 acres in Northwest Florida and keeping three ranches from future development, the News Service of Florida reports. 

More news below …

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* New Orange County School Board member Alicia Farrant, part of the conservative Moms for Liberty group, has failed in her attempt to change district policy that allows transgender students to use bathrooms that matched their gender identity, the Orlando Sentinel reports. 

* Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s tenure as a Florida man may soon come to an end – he said he plans to return to Brazil sooner than his previously scheduled late January departure, Politico reports.

* The author of a play canceled last week at Jacksonville’s Douglas Anderson School of the Arts is condemning the choice as “a way to police the sexuality of their students” and stifle LGBTQ identity, the Florida Times-Union reports.

* The Palm Beach County Commission has a new face and a new political party majority as Michael Barnett, chair of the Palm Beach County Republican Party, was sworn into office after being appointed by DeSantis, the Palm Beach Post reports.

* Disgraced British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell is teaching etiquette in the Tallahassee women’s prison where she’s serving 20 years for her role as an accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein in a decades-spanning sex-trafficking ring, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.

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DESANTIS WATCH 

The governor on Wednesday had a meeting with General Counsel Ryan Newman, followed by one with incoming Florida National Guard Adjutant General John Haas, and then a call with Chief of Staff James Uthmeier, according to his official schedule. 

2024 ROUNDUP

* The revelation that potentially classified materials were discovered at think tank offices formerly used by President Joe Biden has prompted questions on how it compares to the similar situation at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, the Associated Press reports.

* If Trump’s classified document mishandling was ‘irresponsible,’ so is Biden’s, the Washington Post’s Marc Thiessen writes.

* A federal judge ruled that prosecutors can use video of Trump telling the far-right group the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” in the trial against several of the group’s leaders charged with seditious conspiracy, CNN reports. 

* A wide-ranging subpoena sent to Trump campaign officials last month shows new areas of investigative interest as part of the Justice Department’s extensive Jan. 6 criminal probe, the Washington Post reports. 

ANALYSIS & OPINION

* Numbers show that homelessness, which shortens lives everywhere, is twice as lethal in Broward as in Miami-Dade, the Florida Bulldog reports. 

* DeSantis is on the edge of dealing the state’s entire system of higher education a potentially mortal blow, one that could be swift and decisive, the Orlando Sentinel editorial board writes.

* In Tampa Bay, the new year started out like the old one ended: In a spasm of gun violence that is yet again posing serious questions for legislators, police and the public alike, the Tampa Bay Times editorial board writes.

* As the nation turned its attention to President Biden’s new immigration policy – a surprise mix of rules to deter unchecked entry plus creating pathways to immigrate legally – DeSantis stepped in, the Miami Herald’s Fabiola Santiago writes. 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: To Deputy Chief Financial Officer Frank Collins … to Victoria Langley Heller, senior director for communications and board relations at CareerSource Florida … to Barbara Petersen, executive director at the Florida Center for Government Accountability … to former (and future?) state Rep. Charlie Stone of Ocala. 

ON THE MOVE: Gov. DeSantis appointed Katherine “Kati” Cook of Cape Coral to Florida’s 20th Judicial Circuit Nominating Commission. Cook is an associate at the Boy Agnew Potanovic Miller law firm and is appointed for a term ending July 1, 2026.

CONGRATULATIONS: Aly Coleman Raschid marks two years at Tallahassee’s On 3 Public Relations. 

SAVE THE DATE: Authors Melissa Korn and Jennifer Levitz are the featured speakers for “A Supreme Evening 2023,” the annual fundraiser for the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society. They wrote “Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & the Making of the College Admissions Scandal,” covering what became known as “Operation Varsity Blues.” The event is Thursday, Jan. 26, in Tallahassee. For more information, go to FlCourtHistory.org/SupremeEvening2023.

Have a birthday, career change, birth, death or life event to announce? Email us: editor@cityandstatefl.com. 

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YOUR MESSAGE HERE: City & State First Read is the must-read morning roundup of Florida politics and government. Reaching thousands of subscribers each morning, it's the most effective and targeted digital ad venue to get your message in front of city and state elected officials, agency and industry leaders, and the staff, advocates, media and operatives who drive the issues of the day – all by 7 a.m. each weekday. For advertising information, please email: advertising@cityandstatefl.com

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KICKER

“I’ve had (parents) tell me their daughter has gone into the bathroom at their school … and they see a male student who is dressed as a female — so a trans whatever — and when they see the male student it makes them feel uncomfortable, and they turn around and then they hold their pee the rest of the day.”

– Orange County School Board member Alicia Farrant, via the Orlando Sentinel, on her now-failed attempt to require transgender students to use school restrooms that match their sex at birth.