An interesting article in the Miami Herald today reported that Bill McCollum has dropped the ball when it comes to cracking down on Medicaid fraud. As Attorney General, McCollum has done such a poor job that he even admitted today that "there is room for improvement" and one of his fellow Republicans said McCollum "needs to get his butt in gear."
So, what does Bill McCollum's failure on Medicaid fraud mean for you? It means that he has failed to effectively recover our tax dollars defrauded from Medicaid that could reach up to $3.2 billion in taxpayer money defrauded from the state's Medicaid budget.
Yes, you are reading that right. Criminals stole up to $3,200,000,000 from Florida taxpayers--and Bill McCollum dropped the ball.
That is a lot more zeros than I am used to seeing. So, I started thinking, if he had recovered it all, what could we do with it? What should we do with it? I wanted to ask Floridians what they think and let Bill McCollum know.
Join me in voting for what you think should Florida have done with the $3.2 billion in Medicaid fraud if Bill McCollum more aggressively tackled the problem.
His Medicaid fraud unit is the second largest of its kind in the country, but was ranked 25th for fraud recovery and 39th in convictions. Their team deserves a new leader.
In times like these, there is no excuse for not cracking down on waste, fraud and abuse.
After talking with a few people and doing some research, I've found just a few ways we could used the money if Bill McCollum had recovered it. We could:

• Erase Florida's budget shortfall and put the state on solid financial footing
• Build 168 Miles of light rail construction and create 100,408 jobs
• Build 21 Solar power plants providing clean energy for 63,000 homes
• Offer a Brand new Mac laptop for every child in Florida's K-12 public schools
• Lay 640 miles of highways, and create 128,000 jobs as a result

Yes, that's right. If Bill McCollum would do his job, we could be creating jobs for Floridians, while investing in our state's future.
Join me in telling Bill McCollum how you would like to see your tax dollars spent, if he worked harder to recover that $3.2 Billion.
Thank you for offering your thoughts -- and we'll share what you and everyone else says next week.
Thanks,
Eric Jotkoff
Communications Director
Florida Democratic Party

Special Election Scheduled for April 13 in Florida House District 4

The Qualifying period to be nominated ends at noon March 8.

This tight campaign time schedule presents an excellent opportunity for a Democrat to be elected to fill the vacancy due to the resignation by disgraced Ray Sansom.  Democratic Parties of Okaloosa and Santa Rosa Counties are ready and able to turn out the vote for a qualified Democrat candidate.  Voters are fed up with the self serving Republican clique that controls local politics.  The only thing Democrats need, is a candidate.

Might you be the Candidate?

Being elected to the Florida House means you will be a decider on important issues like school funding, property insurance, property taxes, oil drilling, fishing regulations, health care and highway funding -- just to name a few of pending challenges.  This part-time position of public service pays $29,687 per year.

This District includes all of Navarre plus Precincts 41 & 23 in Santa Rosa  and parts of Okaloosa Counties.

If you are interested in knowing more about running as a Democrat for this office, send a reply to this email or contact Seegar Swanson Jr 936-8704 or Jerry Mallory 499-4585.

Force out Blanche Lincoln – One of the Worst Democrats in Congress. With friends like her, who needs enemies ?

For the past year, a small handful of conservative Democrats in Congress has obstructed progress at every turn—but starting today, we've got a huge opportunity to stop one of the worst of them.

That's because just this morning Arkansas Lieutenant Governor Bill Halter announced that he's challenging Senator Blanche Lincoln in the Democratic primary there.¹

Sen. Lincoln stood with insurance companies to kill the public option, with coal companies to roll back the Clean Air Act, and with big banks to kill legislation that would have helped families stay in their homes.²

If we can replace her with progressive Bill Halter, it'll put every conservative Democrat in Washington on notice that siding with corporate interests has a heavy political price.

But Halter needs to quickly raise enough money to compete with Lincoln, who has over $5 million in the bank, much of it raised from corporate interests.³

So a major coalition of progressive groups has set a goal of raising $500,000 for Bill Halter this week. That'd make headlines, but it'll take 3 donations from Gulf Breeze to meet the goal—can you chip in $85?

https://pol.moveon.org/give/halter_announce.html?id=19160-3974904-hGjmukx&t=3

Just how bad is Blanche Lincoln?

She promised to filibuster any health care bill that included a public option after taking more than $866,000 from insurance and HMO interests.⁴ More...

In the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC opening the floodgates for corporate spending in elections, our campaign to restore Government By the People continues to grow.

Tens of thousands of people have signed our petition calling for a constitutional amendment to ensure the government's authority to limit corporate influence in elections.

Dozens of national, state and local organizations have signed on to endorse our coalition's resolution in support of an amendment (and we expect this number to get into the hundreds very soon).

And today, People For the American Way released the results of a new poll we commissioned that shows broad support, across the political and ideological spectrum, for "fixing" Citizens United -- including support for a constitutional amendment.

The numbers don't lie. And they show that elected officials who were quick to praise the Roberts Court's judicial activism in Citizens United are woefully out of touch with Americans.

• 78% believe that corporations should be limited in how much they can spend to influence elections, and 70% believe they already have too much influence over elections.
• 73% believe Congress should be able to impose such limits, and 61% believe Congress has done too little in the past to limit corporate influence over elections.
• Of the over 60% of Americans who have an opinion on a constitutional amendment to fix Citizens United, support runs greater than 2 to 1.
• 82% support limits on electioneering by government contractors, and 87% support limits on bailout recipients.
• 85% support a complete ban on electioneering by foreign corporations.
• 75% believe that a publicly traded company should get shareholder approval before spending money in an election.
• 69% think that the President, in the event of a Supreme Court vacancy, should nominate a Justice who supports limits on corporate spending in elections.

Our poll of 1,200 Americans is the largest of its kind so far, but other polls conducted in recent weeks corroborate our findings. More...

An Alert from Campaign for America’s Future http://melaniesmarch.com/

From : Karen Thurman Florida Democratic Party

Over the last couple weeks, serious and disturbing revelations have come to light over the management of the Republican Party's budget. It's an issue that strikes at the core of the leadership of our state government and the will of Republican elected officials to do their job and investigate.
Newspapers from across Florida have reported about the excessive payments to Republican Party officials, politicians using party funds for their own benefit, and schemes to hide these dealings from public scrutiny.

However, Florida's chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Bill McCollum, has refused to investigate the alleged criminal activity within the Republican Party. Like the career politician that he is, McCollum recently paid lip service to cleaning up corruption by setting up a hotline for taxpayers to call and report alleged corruption so it could be investigated.

So it's time for you to take action by picking up your phone and calling that hotline.
Let Attorney General Bill McCollum know that Floridians believe he needs to investigate the RPOF AmEx slush fund now. It'll just take a minute for you to leave your message and let him know you feel he should do his job and investigate.
Call the hotline now at 1 (800) 646-0444, right now. Then click on this link to let us know you did so we can follow up and let you know the outcome.
Last week, State Senators Dave Aronberg and Dan Gelber joined together to send a letter to Attorney General Bill McCollum calling for him to stop delaying and open an investigation:
"As Florida's chief law enforcement officer, it is incumbent on you to formally request an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into the possible criminal activity and public corruption surrounding the RPOF's secret contracts and credit cards."
Even the Republican Party's own former General Counsel Robert Sechen was paraphrased as saying these secret dealings "might also run afoul of a state law governing Florida political parties that makes it a third-degree felony for a chairman or treasurer to knowingly make 'a false or improper accounting for' political money."
We need to let Attorney General Bill McCollum know that the people of Florida want to hold politicians, including McCollum's cronies, accountable by demanding an investigation.
Please, take minute to make a call and let Attorney General Bill McCollum know that he's waited long enough, Floridians expect action, and that means an investigation.
Call the corruption hotline now at 1 (800) 646-0444 and let them know they should investigate. Then click on this link to let us know you did so we can follow up and let you know the outcome.
This is not just a political scandal. There is a serious issue that that reaches the highest level of our state government.
Sadly, the way the Republican Party has managed their own budget isn't too different from how they have managed the state's budget: private slush funds, secret contracts and pay offs for friends. But it's not their money; it's the people's money.
Former Speaker Ray Sansom's scandal has revealed how the Republicans treated the budget as a personal business plan and now the Republican Party's scandal has revealed that literally dozens of GOP legislators treated themselves to private partisan slush funds.
We can't sit by while this lack of leadership continues to be the norm from the Republican political elites of our state. We need to make the call and let Bill McCollum know it has to stop now.
This needs to stop - it's time for you to make a call.
Take a minute to call the corruption hotline now at 1 (800) 646-0444 and let them know they should investigate. Then click on this link to let us know you did so we can follow up and let you know the outcome.
Thank you for standing up and making a call today. With your help, we can make sure that the people know the truth.
Sincerely, Karen L. Thurman

This came in from MoveOn.org I thought I’d pass it along.

Last month, the Obama administration announced a new tax on the biggest banks to get our bailout money back.

It's a relatively small fee, but Wall Street lobbyists are already railing against it. They're claiming that if banks have even slightly lower profits, they'll stop loaning money to small businesses.¹

That claim's pretty hard to swallow—especially since the banks just paid out billions in bonuses.² But a new report shows that the banks are funneling millions in campaign contributions to Republicans, who they hope will protect them from any new rules.³

Can you call Rep. Miller's district office nearest you? Ask him if he is in favor of the Obama administration's efforts to make banks pay taxpayers back for the bailout. If not, tell him you're disappointed with him for siding with banks over working people.

Representative Jeff Miller District Offices: 
    Fort Walton Beach: 850-664-1266
    Pensacola: 850-479-1183

Then, please report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FHFL_01&cp_id=1256&id=18873-3974904-8JK5cvx&t=3

When Wall Street was in crisis, taxpayers stepped in, bailing out big banks out with $700 billion. Some of that money has already been repaid, but we won't get an estimated $120 billion back.

The president has said that the biggest banks—the ones most responsible for the financial crisis—should pay back the remaining money. But now that they're out of immediate danger, the banks think they can return to their old ways and never look back. They don't think they have any responsibility to repay taxpayers.

As outrageous as that sounds, Wall Street gives millions in campaign contributions each year, so whoever does a better job shielding the banks from accountability has a lot to gain. And some lawmakers are already siding with the banks.⁴ That's why it's so important that Rep. Miller knows that his constituents want accountability for Wall Street.

Can you call him now and ask if he's in favor of the tax that will get taxpayers' money back from the banks?

Representative Jeff Miller
District Offices:
    Fort Walton Beach: 850-664-1266
    Pensacola: 850-479-1183

Then, please report your call by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FHFL_01&cp_id=1256&id=18873-3974904-8JK5cvx&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Kat, Eli, Laura, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Banks may fight Obama fee," Politico, January 14, 2010
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31496.html

2. "Banks Prepare for Big Bonuses, and Public Wrath," The New York Times, January 9, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/10pay.html

3. "In a Message to Democrats, Wall St. Sends Cash to G.O.P.," The New York Times, February 7, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/08/us/politics/08lobby.html

4. "Republicans siding with Wall Street on Obama bank fee," Raw Story, January 15, 2010
http://rawstory.com/2010/01/gop-sides-with-wall-street/

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 5 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

Ask Rep. Oberstar to get a bill out of committee

Can you believe that Congress still hasn't restored Clean Water Act protections?
Click here if you think it's an outrage that the bill to restore protections to 1/3 of our drinking water supply is still tied up.

Like us, you probably thought it would be a no-brainer to make sure that our estuaries, waterways, and wetland areas would remain safe from polluters and environmental degradation.

But, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has yet to vote this bill out of committee. They haven't even given it a name!

Ask Chairman Oberstar to get this bill back on track.

These waters are where countless birds, fish and mammals make their homes, not to mention where many of us get our tap water from.

Sign the petition to Chairman Oberstar, letting him know you're counting on his leadership.