Hi, it's Ginny Brown-Waite. Just want to say this Web site stinks

U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite said today that she called a hotline for Recovery.org, the Web site that tracks stimulus spending, and lodged a complaint against the site itself.

"I’m startled by the amount of misinformation on the website and how much money is being wasted at the taxpayer’s expense," she said in her second news release on the subject in as many days. Republicans have jabbed at reports that nonexistent congressional districts have been listed on the site as putting stimulus money toward jobs.

The Obama administration, facing sliding public support for the stimulus, says no money has been misappropriated and that recipients merely inserted the wrong district. But the White House isn't helping things. Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, cited Vice President Joe Biden's appearance on The Daily Show:

GOP insurgent challenges Brown-Waite, cites her Scozzafava support

U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite's support for New York Republican Dede Scozzafava's doomed campaign is emerging as an issue in the Brooksville Republican's re-election.

Republican Jason Sager, a political neophyte from Brooksville, filed to run against Brown-Waite in 2010, telling the Times' Tony Marrero that he stands for conservatives concerned about a government that has strayed from the principles of the Founding Fathers.Sager said he was concerned about Brown-Waite's support for Scozzafava.

The congresswoman, an Albany, N.Y. native, refused to answer questions about why she went to New York to campaign for Scozzafava just days before the state lawmaker dropped from the race and endorsed the Democrat. But in an interview last week, Brown-Waite said Scozzafava was being unfairly attacked and had a solid Republican record.

Brown-Waite sees problem for women in bruising N.Y. congressional race

The withdraw of Dede Scozzafava from a Republican House race in upstate New York left many conservatives cheering but not Florida Congresswoman Ginny Brown-Waite.

The Brooksville Republican -- and Albany native -- was in New York recently to help Scozzafava raise money along with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

In an interview last week, Brown-Waite said Scozzafava was being unfairly maligned and had a solid Republican record. Scozzafava ran into troubles with her base -- including Sarah Palin -- for supporting gay rights and abortion rights and was perceived as not tough enough on fiscal issues. "I resented that here was a woman whose stand is so similar to John McHue's (who resigned the seat to become President Obama's Army Secretary), and yet she's being attacked."

"For a purely selfish reason I don't want to see females in the Republican Party saying, 'Wait a minute, they're going to destroy me, they're going to distort every vote I've ever taken,' and that's really why I felt so strongly about going up there."

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Winner and loser of the week

Winner of the week: Florida Power & Light. In the midst of a public relations crisis over its huge rate increase request, lavish spending on salaries and corporate jets, cozy socializing with regulators, Florida's largest utility received a giant hug from President Obama. Visiting FP&L's new solar power plant and hailing a $200-million stimulus grant to the company, Obama called it "a company that is doing well by doing good. I think it's a model for what we can do all across the country."

Loser(s) of the week: U.S. Reps. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, and Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville. Grayson's latest attention-grabbing stunt was to call a Federal Reserve adviser and former lobbyist a "K Street Whore." Brown-Waite's was insist Barack Obama seek Congressional approval before accepting the Nobel Peace Prize financial reward he intends to give to charity. Remember guys, Florida voters tend to prefer safe and dull politicians to those positioning themselves on the wingnut fringes.

Brown-Waite says Obama needs permission to accept Nobel Peace Prize

Florida Republican Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite (Brooksville) and Cliff Stearns (Ocala) have joined with Ron Paul of Texas in sending President Barack Obama a letter asking him to consult with Congress before accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.

Brown-Waite writes in a news release: "Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution clearly states: 'no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince or foreign state. I urge President Obama to affirm his devotion to our Constitution and seek the consent of Congress before accepting the award in Oslo, Norway, on Dec. 10.”

Obama has already said he would donate the prize money to charity.

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Some Florida Republicans vote for controversial defense bill containing hate crime protection

Six Florida Republicans joined Democrats in support of the House's $680 billion defense authorization bill, which contains a controversial hate crimes provision. Republicans sharply criticized Democrats for including the language in the must-pass bill and many voted against it on principle.

But Florida Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite, Mario Diaz-Balart, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Tom Rooney, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and C.W. Bill Young, all voted with the majority. More here.

"This is radical social policy that is being put on the defense authorization bill, on the backs of our soldiers, because they probably can't pass it on its own," House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio said.

Brown-Waite adds to ACORN outrage

U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, who joined most other House members yesterday in voting for a bill to cut off federal funding for ACORN:

“This vote was long over due. It is time that Democrats put their personal interests aside and took proper action to stop funding this organization which clearly supports illegal activities from voter fraud to tax evasion.  Time and again ACORN has shown disregard for the law.

“ACORN officials have been convicted of voter fraud. Acorn officials have been accused of voter fraud in my district and in districts across the country. It is unfortunate that is took a hidden camera investigation to finally shed light on the pervasive illegal on goings within this organization. My constituents are asking, ‘Where has our media been?’ The Governor needs to sever all ties between the State of Florida and this shady group.”

Recently eleven Florida-based ACORN employees were charged with falsifying information on hundreds of voter registration cards. A recent hidden camera investigation shows ACORN employees offering advice on tax evasion, prostitution, and fraud. Just last week, the U.S. Census Bureau ended its association with ACORN saying in a release, “it is clear that ACORN’s affiliation with the 2010 census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public."

House rebukes Joe 'You Lie' Wilson

The U.S. House of Representatives just voted on a resolution rebuking Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, for his outburst during President Obama's health care speech last week.

There was a voice vote on the "resolution of disapproval" but Republicans asked for a formal tally, which passed 240-179. Florida broke exactly on party lines.

"Joe is a good and honest man," Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, said in floor speech. "Just as it was wrong for my Democrat colleagues to boo former President Bush in this chamber, it was wrong for Joe Wilson to speak out of turn. The difference is that Joe Wilson apologized and the president very graciously accepted his apology. Every member in this chamber has uttered words they wish they could have said differently. I know Joe made this comment out of frustration because there seems to be a large gap between health care rhetoric and reality. What the president said did not match up with the bill that came before the House."

Brown-Waite punches back at AARP

The tiff between U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite and AARP continues. The Brooksville Republican responded today to an AARP letter that blasted her for spreading misinformation in the health care debate.

In her response (see letter here), she stands by her damning analysis of House Bill 3200, calling the 40-million-member advocacy group "a mouthpiece for this President at the expense of what is best for America's seniors."

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Brown-Waite is engaged; now R-Spring Hill?

A rumor floating for months in Hernando County political circles is now confirmed. U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, is engaged. The details are still unclear -- her office refused to return recent calls seeking comment -- but her fiance is apparently Anthony "Tony" Selvaggio of Spring Hill.

The engagement, which happened sometime this spring, came less than a year after the congresswoman's husband lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in August 2008.

Nick Morana, a Spring Hill gadfly, said he asked about the engagement Brown-Waite after he saw her wearing an diamond ring -- described by others as a "big rock" -- June 6 at an Oak Hill Hospital event. He said Brown-Waite was beaming. "I'm happy for her," he said.