Florida Watchdog
FL: Obama campaign workers silent in face of voter fraud
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG – Organizing for America campaign workers encouraged and tacitly supported a voter who announced her intention to vote in both Florida and Minnesota, despite the fact that doing so is a crime, newly released video purports to show. Watchdog.org obtained the video produced by Project Veritas, the nonprofit investigative journalism group headed by James O’Keefe. The two-part video features…
FL: Vote fraud denier Ted Deutch calls for investigation into voter fraud
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — It was just a few months ago that Democratic U.S. Rep.Ted Deutch, of District 19, was ridiculing claims of voter fraud in Florida elections, accusing Republicans and ballot integrity groups of succumbing to the “voter fraud bogeyman.” “The story they tell is one of rampant voter fraud that threatens the integrity of our…
FL: South Florida lawmakers keep tight control on Cuban-American policy
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 state’s nearly 700,000 Jewish voters,…
FL: Public pensions in hot water long before 2008 financial collapse
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 message of Florida State University’s Leroy Collins…
FL: Partisan forces strike hot in merit retention fight
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 Party of Florida on Friday which,…
FL: Millionaire Grayson continues his caustic push against the ‘rich’
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 a level of wealth which…
FL: Nelson, Mack join forces to halt military sequestration and delay federal budget cuts
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 14, and Democratic U.S. Sen.…
FL: Bill Young’s change of heart signals Afghan war shift for GOP
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, directly responsible for allocating trillions…
FL: Ryan’s critique of Federal Reserve could be new populist pitch
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — Always willing to take on President Barack Obama‘s fiscal policies, Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan explored the other side of the economic coin by criticizing the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve.The Wisconsin U.S. representative portrayed the latest move from the nation’s central bank, a $40 billion per month mortgage bond…
FL: Despite budget cutbacks, Nelson still dropping big bucks into NASA
By Yaël Ossowski | Florida Watchdog ST. PETERSBURG — As one of only three lawmakers to fly in space, U.S. Sen.Bill Nelson is the first to admit he has a special relationship with the government’s space program. In 1986, Nelson joined the crew ofColumbia as a payload specialist and has been a stern advocate of the space shuttle…