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Coral Springs Mayor Scott J. Brook has begun his race for Florida House District 96, getting an early start on the 2012 cycle. He is not running against Rep. Ari Porth, who will be running for his final term this Fall before running up against term limits. Scott is finishing his final term on the Coral Springs City Commission, with a new Mayor to be elected this Fall.

To follow Scott’s campaign, please volunteer or sign up for his email list at www.electscottjbrook.com.

District 96 includes Coral Springs, Tamarac, and parts of Sunrise, Lauderhill, and North Lauderdale.

Reposting this message from Congressman Klein. He turned it into a fundraising appeal, which is perfectly legitimate when you consider how important it is to counter this kind of a dangerous opponent.

Olbermann Calls out Allen West on Threats

Dear Friend,

Yesterday, I wrote to tell you about the outrageous behavior of our tea party radical opponent who issued a threat by telling his supporters ‘You’ve got to make the fellow scared to come out of his house’.

His outrageous behavior is drawing national attention. Last week, Sarah Palin endorsed him and last night Keith Olbermann made note in his special comment of his despicable threats regarding his threatening behavior.

The national Republicans, the media and the political pundits are watching our fundraising totals in the next few days in order to gage West’s chances against me in November. We cannot let the spewing of hate, intimidation and violence get the last word.

We set a goal of raising $10,000 more for our urgent rapid response funds before Friday. We are close to hitting our goal but it’s clear we are going to need additional support.

We must show our strength.

Check out Keith Olbermann’s special comment on this and contribute $20, $35 or even a generous gift of $100 to send Sarah Palin and her friends a message – we stand united and strong!

You can count on me to stand strong in the face of whatever dirty tricks or shameful attacks that Sarah Palin and her tea party friends want to throw at us. But, I will need resources to make sure that I can continue to make sure to set the record straight.

I wouldn’t ask this of you if it weren’t so important that we have these resources to fight back.Keith Olbermann said it best when he said there is no room in our democracy for threats and intimidation. I couldn’t agree more.

Check out Keith Olbermann’s special comment on this and contribute $20, $35 or even a generous gift of $100 to send Sarah Palin and her friends a message – we stand united and strong!

Thank you for always standing with me.

Onward to victory,

Rep. Ron Klein

If you can assist the Senate Campaign of Congressman Kendrick Meek by providing housing for one or more staffers who have been brought in to help with the campaign, please call Joe at 561-249-9654 or write joe@kendrickmeek.com

The campaign currently has two people who need to find volunteer-supported housing.

Thank you.

Endorsement: Pick Deutch for U.S. House

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/editorials/endorsement-pick-deutch-for-u-s-house-514472.html

In the Florida Legislature, Ted Deutch has shown he can work across the aisle to get things done. But the Democratic state senator from Boca Raton also knows when to take a stand on principle. Sen. Deutch is the best choice to fill the U.S. House District 19 seat in the April 13 special election. Early voting starts tomorrow. The seat will be up for election again in November.

Democrats are badly outnumbered in the Florida Senate and House. But last year Sen. Deutch persuaded the fervently anti-tax Republicans to support a $1 per pack tax on cigarettes. The revenue has been important to the state this year, even if Sen. Deutch’s primary goal was to discourage smoking.

Given that he’s running in an overwhelmingly Democratic district to replace Rep. Robert Wexler, who resigned to run a Middle East think tank in Washington, it’s no surprise that Sen. Deutch is reliably liberal. It’s also no surprise he frequently has been on the losing side in the Legislature. When the Florida Senate approved SB 6, a heavy-handed attempt to impose FCAT-based merit pay on teachers, Sen. Deutch voted against it and said, “Let’s be clear about one thing. Testing is not teaching.” He was one of only two senators who also stood up to the gun lobby to vote against a bill to keep adoption agencies from asking prospective parents about gun ownership.

Mr. Deutch will fit in better in the U.S. House, which is controlled, at least until the November election, by Democrats. There, he will be a supporter of President Obama’s recently passed health care legislation, particularly covering existing conditions and closing the doughnut hole.

Sen. Deutch also supports Mr. Obama’s policy of sending more troops to Afghanistan. To justify the U.S. commitment, however, Afghanistan has to assume increasing responsibility. Keeping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and threatening the United States and Israel is another top foreign policy concern. He has said such issues outweigh any momentary U.S.-Israeli disagreements, such as Israel’s announcement of housing construction in East Jerusalem during Vice President Biden’s recent trip.

Domestically, he wants to ensure that stimulus dollars are disbursed as quickly as possible and that future spending is focused on helping small businesses. Helping homeowners facing foreclosure is another priority.

He faces two opponents, Republican Edward Lynch and Jim McCormick, a former Republican with no party affiliation. Neither has supported key domestic objectives of the Obama administration. Mr. Lynch’s record features a number of financial disputes. Most recently, his homeowners’ association filed a lien against him for unpaid maintenance assessments. Both opponents are long shots in the district. Both deserve to be, and not just because it is a Democratic stronghold.