<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=4Lkwq1_0wHHCHm000" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=4Lkwq1_0wHHCHm000" width="1024" height="738" ><figcaption>State Rep. Carolina Amesty, R-Windermere, left the Orange County jail on Aug. 29 after being indicted on four felony charges and is now running for re-election with dwindling support. Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel/TNS</figcaption></figure> With two weeks until the election, we’re going to check in on several campaigns. That includes a freshman legislator who’s running while under indictment, a Brevard County legislator recently ordered by a judge to attend anger management classes, multiple lawmakers running malarkey-filled ads about insurance “reform” and details about the teeny-tiny print you’re seeing on your sample ballots. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> Let’s start with Carolina Amesty , the freshman GOP rep from Windermere who’s struggling to run for re-election after <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/08/29/carolina-amesty-indicted-on-forgery-charges/" rel="nofollow"> being indicted </a> by a grand jury. Her campaign contributions have dried up and, as the Orlando Sentinel <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/10/19/gop-support-for-indicted-rep-amesty-may-be-waning-in-tight-orlando-area-race/" rel="nofollow"> reported </a> , the Republican Party of Florida seems to have largely abandoned her. (Note the lack of TV ads.) The starkest statistic: Since Sept. 1, the “ <a href="https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/committees/ComDetail.asp?account=80281" rel="nofollow"> Friends of Carolina Amesty </a> ” political committee’s donation total is negative $12,500. Yes, she actually had to return more donations than she took in. Quite the “Friends.” <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/10/19/gop-support-for-indicted-rep-amesty-may-be-waning-in-tight-orlando-area-race/" rel="nofollow"> GOP support for indicted Rep. Amesty may be waning in tight Orlando-area race </a> The most ridiculous thing about Amesty’s campaign is that she’s still in it. Republicans should’ve offered up a better, alternative candidate long ago.&nbsp;After all, the Sentinel has been chronicling her scandals and mishaps for more than a year: <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> Her family’s <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/08/08/rep-amesty-leaves-trail-of-falsehoods-unpaid-taxes-and-bills-records-show/" rel="nofollow"> unpaid taxes </a> . Questionable activity at their for-profit “university.” A <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/10/27/carolina-amesty-lobbyist-key-biscayne-funding/" rel="nofollow"> shady appropriations request </a> for millions of tax dollars. And accusations of forgery that resulted in the governor’s own hand-picked prosecutor indicting her on <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/08/29/carolina-amesty-indicted-on-forgery-charges/" rel="nofollow"> four felony charges </a> with the help of a grand jury. <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/08/08/rep-amesty-leaves-trail-of-falsehoods-unpaid-taxes-and-bills-records-show/" rel="nofollow"> Rep. Amesty leaves trail of falsehoods, unpaid taxes and bills, records show </a> Yet it’s interesting how many deep-pocketed interests kept giving to Amesty even after they knew about most of this stuff. For example, the <a href="https://thesoutherngroup.com/team/" rel="nofollow"> Southern Group </a> — a lobbying shop whose Orlando office is tight with Mayor Buddy Dyer — cut Amesty a $500 check just two weeks after the <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/05/16/state-probes-whether-rep-carolina-amesty-broke-notary-laws/" rel="nofollow"> Sentinel reported </a> that the state was investigating her. Other donors happy to give cash to a politician under active investigation include trial lawyer Dan Newlin ($10,000), Fun Spot founder John Arie ($12,500) and the state’s biggest gambling interest, the Seminole Tribe of Florida ($2,500). I suppose there’s still a chance that Amesty will win re-election and defeat Democrat Leonard Spencer , a former Disney exec who now works for Amazon. Florida Politics <a href="https://floridapolitics.com/archives/702702-gop-mailers-attack-ex-disney-exec-leonard-spencer-for-employers-polices-but-censor-disney-name/" rel="nofollow"> reported </a> that the Republican Party did pay for some last-minute mailers that attack Spencer’s former “employer” without naming Disney. And Florida has certainly elected (and re-elected) trainwrecks before. But it looks like most donors who care about their reputations decided to get off the tracks. <h4> Not so Fine </h4> Speaking of trainwrecks, let’s talk about Randy Fine . The Brevard County politician may be the one local legislator who has made more <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2022/04/26/florida-rep-randy-fine-calls-school-leader-whore-threatens-special-olympics-commentary/" rel="nofollow"> humiliating headlines </a> than Amesty — for everything from calling one of his female political enemies “a whore” to threatening funding for the Special Olympics after he wasn’t invited to a party at a local Chick-fil-A. <a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2022/04/26/florida-rep-randy-fine-calls-school-leader-whore-threatens-special-olympics-commentary/" rel="nofollow"> Florida Rep. Randy Fine calls school leader ‘whore,’ threatens Special Olympics | Commentary </a> Well, this train keeps on wrecking. On Monday, a circuit court judge <a href="https://www.myflcourtaccess.com/nefdocuments/document.nefdd?nai=EISccIYx68sIITTbbsmrBU1JKO5U8SNa&amp;ds=1" rel="nofollow"> finalized an order </a> that requires Fine to complete an eight-hour anger-management course. Why? For acting like a teenage brat. The judge ruled that a “preponderance of the evidence” showed that, during a video hearing, Fine flipped the camera the middle finger, used his fingers to make an L-is-for-”Loser” sign and mouthed obscenities for “at least thirty-three (33) minutes.” The judge’s conclusion: “Mr. Fine’s behavior violated that basic requirement of civility, respect and sanity to the judicial process.” Ladies and gentlemen, the court presents to you the distinguished gentleman from Brevard … whom the distinguished residents of Brevard will probably vote to keep in office. <h4> Tiny letters </h4> Quite a few readers have remarked that the font size on their sample ballots is so tiny, they had trouble reading the words. So are you going to need a magnifying glass in the voting booth as well? Hopefully not. Both Seminole elections chief Chris Anderson and a spokesman for Orange elections chief Glen Gilzean say they shrunk down the size of the print to fit the slew of races and constitutional amendments on one page but that the font will be larger on the actual ballot, as required by state law. <h4> Insurance poppycock </h4> There are more malarkey-filled campaign ads running these days than anyone has time to vet. But you should be especially skeptical of any incumbent legislator vowing to take on the insurance industry. Take, for example, State Rep. Susan Plasencia , an Orlando Republican who is running an ad that says: “I’ll take on Big Insurance to make Florida more affordable.” That sounds good … except she absolutely did not. To the contrary, Plasencia <a href="https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/837/Vote/HouseVote_h00837e1036.PDF" rel="nofollow"> voted </a> for <a href="https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2023/837/?Tab=VoteHistory" rel="nofollow"> HB 837 </a> last year — a bill that was essentially one big gift to the insurance industry that, among other things, makes it harder for you to sue your insurance company if it denies you benefits to which you’re entitled. Don’t take it from me. Take it from Donald Trump , who <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2023/03/16/trump-desantis-florida-insurance-premiums-bailout/" rel="nofollow"> called the bill </a> “the biggest insurance company BAILOUT to Globalist Insurance Companies, IN HISTORY.” And most all GOP incumbents voted for the bill, including those now vowing to be warriors. <h4> S before M? </h4> Finally, several readers have asked — as they do every election cycle — why Republican candidates like Rick Scott have their names listed first, even though their names don’t come first alphabetically. (Scott before Mucarsel-Powell.) That’s because the system was rigged years ago — by Democrats. Back in the 1940s, when Democrats controlled most of Florida, they passed a law that says the party that won the last governor’s race gets to have their party’s candidates’ names listed first, something that studies have shown can provide an advantage of up to <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/08/being-the-first-name-on-the-ballot-has-a-huge-effect/" rel="nofollow"> 2 percentage points </a> . Democrats thought that seemed like a swell idea when they were the party in power. But that hasn’t been the case for nearly three decades now, providing a solid reminder: What goes around, comes around. <a href="mailto:smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com" rel="nofollow"> smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com </a><a href="https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2018/10/03/republicans-are-listed-first-on-florida-ballots-its-the-law/" rel="nofollow"> Republicans are listed first on Florida ballots. It’s the law </a><footer style="font-size: 0.67em">For more stories,<a href="http://join.orlandosentinel.com">Subscribe to Orlando Sentinel.</a>©2024 Orlando Sentinel. Visit orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</footer></div></body>

Mountain View, CA

With two weeks until the election, we’re going to check in on several campaigns. That includes a freshman legislator who’s running while under indictment, a Brevard County legislator recently ordered by a judge to attend anger management classes, multiple lawmakers running malarkey-filled ads about insurance “reform” and details about the teeny-tiny print you’re seeing on your sample ballots. ...