TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Rick Scott, one of the most vocal critics of the federal health care overhaul, is dropping his staunch opposition to the law.

Scott said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press that he now wants to negotiate with the federal government. He said it's time for Republicans to offer solutions to help families after they lost their bid to defeat President Barack Obama.

"The election is over and President Obama won," Scott said. "I'm responsible for the families of Florida … If I can get to yes, I want to get to yes."

Scott had previously stated that he would not go along with any parts of the health care overhaul that the state controls.

But his newfound willingness to have a "conversation" about putting it in place in Florida comes at a critical time.

States have until Friday to notify federal authorities whether they plan to set up health insurance exchanges, a marketplace where individuals and smalls businesses can shop for the most affordable coverage and where many will get help from the government to pay their premiums.

Florida so far has taken no steps to set up its own exchange.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced an extension last week. She still wants to hear if states will be setting up health insurance markets under the law. But governors can now take another month, until mid-December, to submit detailed blueprints.

Most states have been on the fence awaiting the election outcome. They now have three options: running their own exchanges, operating an exchange in partnership with the federal health officials, or letting the feds handle everything.

Scott said he still has concerns about the exchanges, including the cost of running one and whether it would increase the cost of health care for families. But he said he's sure federal officials want to find ways to provide affordable health care to people.

"I don't think anyone involved in trying to improve health care should say 'No, no, no,'" said Scott "Let's have a conversation."

Scott's willingness to discuss the issue with federal officials in Washington aligns him closer to some other Republican leaders in Florida.

Incoming Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, for example, said the state may be willing to set up an exchange if it gets some better answers from Washington about how they will work.

Weatherford said that in the short term the state may have to default to the federal government but he is leaving open the possibility that could change.

"To me, Florida should control its own future," Weatherford said.

Scott made his fortune as a health care executive and once ran the nation's largest hospital chain. He made his first foray into politics by forming a group called Conservatives for Patients' Rights that ran TV ads criticizing health care reform before it was adopted by Congress.

Florida led the legal battle to stop the health care overhaul and shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law Scott said that the state would not implement the exchanges or expand its Medicaid program to enroll more people in the program.

Florida had the nation's third-highest rate of residents without health insurance during the past three years, according to Census data released last year.

But the state also has some of the most stringent eligibility requirements in the country for Medicaid.

A family of three with income of $11,000 a year makes too much and single residents are not covered. The Obama administration wants those requirements loosened so that an estimated 2 million uninsured Floridians could be covered by Medicaid. But experts don't believe all those eligible will participate. Feds will pick up 100 percent of the tab for the first three years and at least 90 percent after, along with extra funding for technology costs.

Florida's Medicaid program currently costs more than $21 billion a year, with the federal government picking up roughly half the tab. It covers nearly 3 million people — about half are children — and consumes about 30 percent of the state budget.

Advocates who favor expanding the Medicaid rolls say it will save money in the long run by deterring people from emergency rooms — the most expensive, least effective place to treat people.

The issue has been predictably polarizing with conservative groups urging states to dig in their heels and fight federal implementation.

"Governors should join the growing chorus in sending a strong message to Washington that their states will not implement these flawed health insurance exchanges" said Nicole Kaeding of Americans for Prosperity. "Exchanges raise prices on consumers and increase taxes on hardworking families."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Governor wants to talk health care

CRESTVIEW — Lines stretched out of the library lobby, across the portico and down the sidewalk Saturday morning as several area residents took a sunny fall day to vote on the early voting period’s last day.

Of Okaloosa County’s 129,578 registered voters, 32,811 cast ballots during the Oct. 27-Nov. 3 early voting week. Of those, 10,588 voted at the two north county polling places, including more than 7,600 at the Crestview Public Library and almost 3,000 at the Supervisor of Elections office on Wilson Street.

Among those exiting the library’s main meeting room was Carmine Harrell, who had just exercised his right to vote for the first time. Carmine, a Crestview High School senior, turned 18 Saturday.

“It was the first thing he wanted to do,” Lee Harrell, his mother, said. “He feels empowered. He was very excited. It was the first thing he said this morning: ‘I get to vote today!’ He’s been talking about it all week.”

Seizing the opportunity to vote for his local and national civic leaders was a great feeling, he said.

“It was good. It was easy,” Carmine said after voting. “I feel more American today.”

Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux said, at times, the large turnout of voters like Carmine overwhelmed early voting places. While voters at the Crestview library waited in line for often more than 15 minutes Saturday morning, the wait in Shalimar sometimes reached 40 minutes, Lux said. The two legal-sized, two-sided-page ballots kept printers humming. But sometimes the machines got overworked.

“There’s always the occasional problem when you put that kind of stress on a computerized system,” Lux said. “There will always be some technical hiccups.”

Lux said that given the amount of interest in tomorrow’s presidential election, he expects a high turnout at the polls on Election Day. However, he said, even with a slate of constitutional amendments, local and national offices, some voters wouldn’t bother to vote.

“I always like to tell people I would like to be pleasantly proved wrong by having everybody come out to vote,” Lux said.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Early voters turn out in droves

SHALIMAR —  Incumbent Wayne Harris will face challenger Ron Connor on Nov. 6 in the race for the District 1 seat on the Okaloosa County Commission.

Harris, a Republican, was elected in 2008. Connor, a Democrat, lost to Harris that year.

Harris, executive director of the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce, said he wants more time on the board to reach some of his goals.

"There are some things I wanted to do, but I haven’t completed them yet, and I want to see them through," he said.

Among his top priorities are paving Okaloosa Lane and more of the dirt roads in the north county.

"I’ve got one ultimate goal, and that’s to get the road into Bob Sikes Airport to open that whole industrial park," Harris said. "I want to see that done in the next four years."

Connor, a former Navy commander, said he’s running for the seat because he hasn’t been pleased with Harris’ performance.

Connor said he is most concerned about what he calls the county’s high-paid "czars" supervising various departments such as the airport and library.

"It’s just a layer of bureaucracy that’s not needed," he said.

Connor also has spending and safety concerns about Bob Sikes Airport. The industrial park has too many buildings located too close to taxiways and runways, he said.

He said he also is concerned about the September arrest of former County Commissioner James Campbell on perjury and official misconduct charges.

"That was money laundering, plain and simple," Connor said. "I think they’re kind of washing over it."

Harris, who spent 27 years in the Air Force, said he’s had many questions from residents who are upset about the most recent financial scandal to rock the tourism development department. He said the county needs strong leaders in the coming months to navigate the aftermath.

"I think I am one of those strong leaders," Harris said.

Contact Daily News Staff Writer Kari Barlow at 850-315-4438 or kbarlow@nwfdailynews.com. Follow her on Twitter @KariBnwfdn.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Connor challenges Harris for Okaloosa commission seat

CRESTVIEW — A long-time resident’s lengthy service and contributions received recognition Oct. 22.

“This evening’s a very special time because each year we honor one of our finest,” Mayor David Cadle said during Monday’s city council meeting. “He has been selected as (Firefighter) of the Year. I have the greatest admiration for these men and women because they serve our people so well.”

Cadle and Traylor introduced Battalion Chief Tony Holland, a long-time member of the city’s fire brigade.

“Tony came to us right out of high school and was the first official firefighter I hired,” Traylor said. “He went from rookie, going to firefighting school with the chief (and) up through the ranks.”

Holland supervises the department’s communications and handles computer expertise.

“He was instrumental in implementing our tablet program, the first in its kind in Northwest Florida,” Traylor said. Each fire battalion uses tablet computers to map incidents and communicate among members.

Holland also is the company chaplain.

 Contact News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at 850-682-6524 or brianh@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Life-long Crestview resident named Firefighter of the Year

CRESTVIEW — On Thursday, Okaloosa County Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux stated in a press release there are three ways residents can vote in the November election: Vote Early, Vote by Mail, or Vote at the Polls on election day.

Early voting is from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 27 through Nov. 3 at the Crestview Public  Library, 1445 Commerce Drive, Crestview; Supervisor of Elections Office, 302 N. Wilson St., Suite 102, Crestview; Niceville City Hall, 208 N. Partin Drive, Niceville; and the Shalimar Annex, 1250 N. Eglin Parkway, Shalimar. (Early voting is no longer offered at the University of Florida Research and Engineering Education Facility by Eglin Air Force Base.)

Voters can request absentee ballots early by telephone, email, mail, in person or at www.govote-okaloosa.com. The ballots must be returned to the Supervisor of Elections office by 7 p.m. on Election Day to be counted. Third-party pick-up by a designated immediate family member is allowed four days before election day. The deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail is Oct. 31.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on election day. You must vote in the precinct in which you live. Florida Statute 101.043 requires you to show photo and signature identification when you vote in person, whether early or at the polls.

For details call 689-5600.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Early voting starts Saturday

CRESTVIEW — Forget New York City’s Times Square ball-drop. If Community Redevelopment Agency board member Robyn Helt’s proposal becomes a reality, historic Main Street could become the next hot spot for welcoming a new year.

The board voted unanimously Monday to form a committee to consider having a First Night in Crestview celebration.

However, it is too late to organize a committee and plan a major event for this New Year’s Eve, Helt said. Board President Ben Iannucci supported her proposal.

“I think it’s an excellent idea,” he said. “The way Main Street is set up, it’s a perfect location. The businesses could really prosper if we draw more people into town.”

Board member Charles Baugh Jr. said that if the celebration kicks off in 2014, “it could also form as a sort of dry run for the 100th birthday celebration of the city.”

Helt envisioned an activity-filled “First Night” New Year’s Eve downtown street festival similar to events such as the Music and Arts on Main Street, First Friday and other downtown festivals.

“A lot of our citizens make plans to leave town for New Year’s (Eve),” Helt said. “They go to Fort Walton (Beach), they go to Mobile, Ala. We have Main Street, which is a perfect place to hold something like this.

“Fred Astaire (the Crestview dance studio franchise) could have dancing; restaurants could offer catering or a buffet,” she said. “It could be as elaborate or as small as we have the vision to do. The idea is to encourage the people from Crestview to celebrate here at home instead of going to other cities, and maybe even bring people from other cities to Crestview to celebrate New Year’s Eve.”

When CRA board member Tim Grandberry noted that several local churches present New Year’s Eve celebrations, Helt said they could incorporate their events in a community-wide celebration.

“Perhaps some of the churches would want to pull together and be part of a larger event,” she said.

Though some community organizations have set events for the holiday, that shouldn’t stop the CRA from organizing a community celebration, board member Thomas Gordon said.

“There’s always competition,” he said. “I certainly support this type of activity.”

In other matters, the CRA board:

• Unanimously approved $18,000 in façade-improvement grant requests for Stewart Law Firm’s buildings at 213 and 215 N. Main St.

• Received a report from Main Street Crestview Association president Ellis Conner, during which he recommended forming a committee to suggest design criteria for restoring downtown buildings.

Conner also said funding is still needed for a full-time Main Street manager position.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: CRA mulls potential Main Street ‘First Night’ celebration

FORT WALTON BEACH — Before the $710,000 yacht and the $747,000 home in Destin, former Okaloosa County TDC director Mark Bellinger had a Porsche.

View invoices in this PDF

It was a gray 2008 Porsche Cayman, paid for with a $48,000 check The Zimmerman Agency sent out Aug. 20, 2010 — just three months after Bellinger took the job.

He drove the car to work and told acquaintances he’d bought with his brother. He liked to take people to lunch in the two-seat sports car, and often offered to let them drive.

The Porsche, Zimmerman Agency owner Curtis Zimmerman said, showed Bellinger how easily he could steal from the county.

“In my opinion, that’s where Mark figured out he could go around the system,” Zimmerman said.

He said Bellinger came to him and told him he’d gotten a real good deal on a vehicle and he wanted to build a TDC promotion around it.

“I asked Mark what kind of vehicle he’d gotten and he said ‘a Porsche,’ ” Zimmerman said. “I said, ‘That makes no sense. A Porsche doesn’t fit the profile of our target audience, and a foreign-made vehicle won’t go over well in a military community.’ ”

Zimmerman also told Bellinger he wasn’t following proper purchasing procedures.

“We negotiate (a purchase) ahead of time,” Zimmerman said he told him.

Zimmerman said he was able to persuade Bellinger to rethink the promotion using the Porsche. Instead, a “World’s Greatest Soccer Mom” promotion in which a minivan was given away turned out to be a resounding success.

“He told us not to worry about the Porsche, that he was going to return the Porsche, get the money back and apply the money to the van,” Zimmerman said.

But Bellinger didn’t return the Porsche and get the money back.

What he did, eventually, was trade in the Porsche for a 2011 Subaru he drove right up until he killed himself May 4 in Alabama as the extent of his thefts from the county began to be uncovered.

Rick Brinkman, sales manager at Lee Subaru in Fort Walton Beach, remembered the Porsche-for-Subaru transaction, he said, “because the Sheriff’s Office was in here doing an investigation,” following Bellinger’s death.

Brinkman confirmed that Bellinger received cash back on his trade-in.

Documents obtained by the Daily News and validated through county records indicate Zimmerman wrote a check for $48,000 to Bill Dube Hyundai in Wilmington, Mass.

A bill of sale indicates the car actually was purchased Sept. 10, 2010.

An invoice with Bellinger’s name on it dated Aug. 31, 2010, indicates a $48,000 expenditure for a “prize for 2010-2011 Internet/Viral Video Contest” and contains the name Bill Dube beneath the description.

Okaloosa County Finance Director Gary Stanford provided a county invoice listing nearly identical to the one obtained by the newspaper.

Zimmerman said he thinks the ease with which Bellinger was able to slip his Porsche purchase past anyone with oversight emboldened him to continue stealing from the county.

His crimes were discovered in May after his purchase of a $710,000 yacht was questioned by county commissioners. Further investigation revealed he’d also used county funds to buy, among other things, his $747,000 home.“(Previous TDC director) Darrel Jones watched every penny. He was extremely cautious,” Zimmerman said. “I think the system the county had in place was set up for people like Darrel Jones, with ethics.

“Now you get a consummate liar, and he’s able to manipulate the system,” Zimmerman added. “The Porsche was when Mark figured out he could do."

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Former TDC director bought car with county funds

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CRESTVIEW — After more than three years of effort to create a revised city charter and bring it before voters, a public records request to City Clerk Betsy Roy’s office has revealed an administrative error that necessitated the city council voting to repeal the ordinance that placed the proposed charter on the November ballot.

Faced with the potential for the new charter to be challenged should voters have passed it on Nov. 6, the council reluctantly voted unanimously to repeal the ordinance.

Roy announced the mistake at Monday evening’s council meeting after conferring Friday with city attorney Jerry Miller.

“It has come to the attention of this office that there may be a problem with the advertisement and timing of the public hearing for the charter Ordinance 1474,” Roy stated in an email to Miller.

The ordinance hearing was advertised for March 26 of this year, however the actual meeting wasn’t held until April 9.

“The public hearing was not held on the night noticed in the public notice,” Miller stated in his email reply to Roy. “The requirements for adoption of Ordinance 1474 were not met. The method available for correction of the error is repeal of the ordinance and readopting by the city council.”

Because of a state five-year statute of limitations, Miller said that if voters had approved the new charter on Nov. 6, it could be challenged at any time for the next five years because of the error.

“Ordinance 1474 will have to be repealed and re-submitted in order to get in the charter revision on the March ballot,” Roy stated in an agenda memo to the council.

Councilwoman Robyn Helt, who before being elected to the council had served on the charter review committee that proposed most of the new charter provisions, was furious and said the incident illustrates why the proposed change to a city administrator form of government was needed.

“I’d say this is a case in point where the city could benefit from having a city administrator,” she said.

Miller said neither he nor former city attorney Ben Holley could have prevented the error.

“In your system, neither of us could have protected you from this situation,” Miller said. “We’re not part of the review process to reconcile notices and agenda. That’s done administratively in your Administrative Services Department.”

After the council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance repealing the April 9 ordinance, Helt then proposed holding a forensic audit of all ordinances passed over the last five years to assure they were properly advertised.

“I need to make sure the issue was isolated to one particular item,” Helt said. “The purpose of that is to make sure this is not an isolated incident about a matter that is not popular to everybody but is popular to some.”

She then moved to direct city staff “to review and match up with publications the ordinances the council has passed in the last five years,” later amending her motion to have the audit stretch back just four years with a provision that if errors were found, the fifth year of the statute of limitations be examined as well. Helt’s motion passed unanimously.

By its first motion on the matter, the council effectively rendered moot the vote on the new charter, which is the last item on Crestview’s voters’ ballots.

“It will not come off the ballot” because the ballots have already been printed, Miller said. “It will just be an irrelevant ballot item, but it will have no effect.”

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Proposed charter vote is moot

CRESTVIEW — The North Okaloosa Fire Department board of commissioners on Thursday again tabled a decision to remove Fire Chief Ed Cutler. The decision came after the board discussed making changes to the department’s disciplinary policy.

 “We did have a disciplinary policy in place, but it did not address anyone other than staff that was under the chief,” board Chairperson Franklin Sauls said.

Sauls — who presented commissioners with a “tweaked” version of the policy — said his revision would give the board administrative authority. Under Saul’s revision, the chairperson would decide disciplinary action for a fire chief. The board treasurer would handle disciplinary action for those under the treasurer in the administrative level.

“(Discipline) of any other personnel would be handled by the chief,” Sauls said.

Commissioners Dan Bowers Jr., Craig Shaw and Sam Anderson discussed making other revisions to the policy. Commissioner Bill Terrell suggested contacting the attorney general's office for their input.

“I’m going to suggest that we refer this draft from the chairman to the lawyer (Jonathan Holloway) and have him come back with a draft next month that encompasses all of the concerns,” Anderson said.

Bowers, Shaw and Anderson discussed the policy thoroughly; however, after much discussion, the board tabled the matter until the next meeting. In addition, commissioners voted unanimously to table the chief’s removal until the disciplinary policy was finalized. 

During the Sept. 20 meeting, several commissioners and Cutler agreed that communication between them needed to improve.

Gene Wright, a former commissioner, suggested seeking outside advice.

“In the history of North Okaloosa, we try to recreate the wheel all by ourselves,” Wright said. He suggested asking other fire stations how they handle disciplinary actions.

Commissioners decided to move next month’s meeting to Nov. 13, when Holloway will submit a revised version of the disciplinary policy to the board for approval. Holloway also said he plans to contact the attorney general input.

Next meeting’s agenda will include welcoming new commissioners. Sauls’ and Anderson's terms are up after next month's meeting, according to the NOFD website, nofdfire.com. Anderson will retire; Paul Skarzynski and Rollin E. Rathbun III are running for his post on the Nov. 6 election ballot. Sauls will run against Todd L. McGirr.

Discussion of removing Cutler as fire chief followed talk of a firefighter’s gun accidentally being discharged in the firehouse last year with nobody reporting the incident. Cutler’s supporters defended his record during last month’s meeting.

After the meeting adjourned, Cutler said he had no comment toward the meeting's outcome.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: NOFD commissioners table chief's removal, discuss policy