Don Gaetz

TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $368 million in lawmaker pet projects Monday and blocked a 3 percent tuition hike for Florida colleges and universities. The tuition increase passed earlier this month was a small piece of the overall $74.1...

TALLAHASSEE – Florida TaxWatch, the business-backed group that calls itself a fiscal watchdog, has targeted $106.8 million worth of budget projects that it says Gov. Rick Scott should veto. Road projects, public safety initiatives and money for...

Gulf Coast State College gets top-turkey honors. The watchdog group Florida TaxWatch released its annual list of "turkeys" Thursday, naming 107 projects totaling $106.8 million, in the state budget, which, it says, didn't receive "proper opportunity for...

Gov. Rick Scott must soon sign the new state budget, and he's getting intense feedback on all sides: from lawmakers protecting hometown projects, hospitals worried about losing money and a business-backed group criticizing pork-barrel spending. Scott,...

John Legg, fresh (and remarkably energized, considering) from his debut in the Legislature's upper chamber, has returned to his two-county district feeling -- there is no other word for it -- triumphant. And why not? Following the hurly-burly that saw...

With the legislative session over and the dust of lawmakers departing Tallahassee barely settled, Gov. Rick Scott this week took to the campaign trail for a victory lap that was more a display of uninspired leadership than a cause for celebration....

In her dark-horse campaign to become Florida's next governor, former state Sen. Nan Rich likes to recall the stories of Democratic political legends Reubin Askew, Lawton Chiles and Bob Graham. Each was a little-known state senator when he launched his...

Turn to any page of Florida's 450-page budget and what's most striking is the missing detail. Yes, as page 421 points out, it's a $74.5 billion spending plan that pays for 114,480.5 positions. But specific descriptions about what the money actually pays...

TALLAHASSEE — With the 60-day lawmaking session complete, Florida legislators are wasting no time getting back to what they do the other 10 months of the year: raising copious amounts of cash from wealthy donors and companies. And thanks to a...

The Miami Dolphins brought their big guns to Tallahassee on Monday, hoping to persuade the fickle Florida Legislature to approve a taxpayer-supported stadium upgrade in the final days of this year's session. In meetings Monday with top state lawmakers,...

Senate President Don Gaetz often introduces House Speaker Will Weatherford, as the "taller, smarter, better-looking version of the Weatherford-Gaetz" duo. Weatherford, who at 33 is young enough to be Gaetz's son, calls the 65-year-old "a wonderful partner...

The U.S. Department of Justice has sued the hospice company founded by Florida Senate President Don Gaetz, accusing the company of engaging in Medicare fraud for more than 11 years, including during the time Gaetz was vice chairman. The lawsuit, filed...