This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

He’s out: The multi-millionaire developer who was convicted of funneling bribes to former Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox was sprung early from a federal prison camp in Alabama. “His release … means he served roughly half (his three-year) sentence behind bars,” the Tallahassee Democrat reported. That means J.T. Burnette can get back to work being a “prominent force in Tallahassee business and political circles.” We await learning of his post-pokey rebound.

Everything came up roses this week for Floridians Protecting Freedom, the political committee – chaired by Sara Latshaw – behind a proposed amendment to explicitly create a right to abortion in the state constitution. The committee raised over $4 million in cash in the third quarter of this year, and is almost halfway to getting the required number of signatures for ballot placement in 2024. One looming obstacle: Attorney General Ashley Moody is gonna fight this initiative like hell.

The Florida congressman had a good excuse for missing work this week: He “flew overnight to Israel to help rescue Americans stranded there,” he said in an exclusive phone call with The Floridian. Cory Mills, an Army veteran and defense contractor, told the news site “he was on the ground helping Israelis and evacuating Americans.” He previously helped American families leave Afghanistan in September 2021, USA TODAY added. Sure beats arguing over the next U.S. House speaker. 

Another South Florida man has been convicted for playing a role in the riot in and takeover of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Gilbert Fonticoba, a Hialeah man who was a member of the so-called “Vice City” chapter of the Proud Boys, was found guilty of civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding, the Herald reported. He’s looking at a maximum of 20 years in prison. It doesn’t sound like storming the Capitol is such a great idea now, does it, guys?

Sometimes it doesn’t work out when you blow the whistle on a registered sex offender who’s helping a city run its youth sports programs. Former Riviera Beach Assistant Parks and Recreation Director Aladia Franks told her bosses about former NFL player Abram Elam, serving as the city’s athletic director, Stet Media reported. For her trouble, she said she was stripped of duties and shunted to an office that had no desk, no phone and no computer.

Last month, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron ruled that the former president and the Trump Organization are liable for fraud. The Palm Beach Post asked: Does that mean it could lead to the “the sale or transfer of Donald Trump's Florida assets, like Mar-a-Lago and his Palm Beach County golf clubs?” The short answer is yes. Now, it may not happen, but ooooh what a slap in the face to No. 1 Florida Man.