By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG – In visiting the diverse political strongholds across this swing state, candidates never shy from articulating views on foreign policy to appeal to certain constituencies. The nation of Israel, an ally of the United States, gets a lot of attention, due to the…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — Huge gaping holes in public pension funding didn’t arise from the abyss of the recent economic crisis, but instead have been growing larger and larger over time and threaten the budgetary health of every city in the Sunshine State. That was the…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — Three Florida Supreme Court justices will have their fates decided by voters this fall, and it is drawing the ire of a growing number of political forces in the Sunshine State. Attention to the issue was first peaked by the involvement of the Republican…
More from my contribution to this week’s Human Events magazine: FLORIDA Video leak turns debate from Medicare and entitlement to taxes and foreign policy What began as a battle over who could best uphold Medicare and tackle entitlement issues in the Sunshine State has now turned full steam into a debate…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — A quick glance at former Democratic U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson’s professional record and one would guess he’d hold fiscally conservative sympathies. As a former private-sector economist and telecommunications executive, Grayson made millions of dollars providing goods and services and creating jobs, accumulating…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — Renewed by the efforts of Democratic activists and a leading progressive publication, the national discourse has turned once more to the essential philosophical issue of taxation, a citizen’s most direct, albeit unpleasant, interaction with the government. At issue is the dividing…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — Even in the heat of the campaign season, Florida’s top candidates for U.S. Senate find themselves in agreement about not cutting federal spending — for the military, at least. In the latest bout between Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, of District…
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — As a lawmaker who has been in federal office since the Vietnam War, U.S. Rep. Bill Young has never shied away from advocating American intervention and military power abroad. At the peak of his 41 year career, he chaired — from 1999-2005 — the powerful Appropriations Committee,…
I made it into Human Events, the magazine and online publication, for the first time. This is part of the Swing State Report. Florida Campaigns speed through Sunshine State in race for its 29 electoral votes The U.S. Justice Department decided to drop its lawsuit over Florida’s early voting reductions–reducing…