Crist's wife?

Presumably this caption from Bloomberg is premature: "Charlie Crist, governor of Florida, and his wife arrive for an afterparty hosted by Bloomberg LP following the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, April 26, 2008."

UPDATE From the Washington Post's Reliable Source gossip column: "Florida Gov. Charlie Crist hit on Morgan Fairchild at Tammy Haddad's Saturday brunch: "So, do you ever get to Florida?" Worst pickup line ever? "

Water wars talks extended

Florida, Alabama and Georgia couldn't figure out a water deal by the Feb. 15th deadline, so they're going to keep talking. Read Gov. Charlie Crist's letter about it here.

Gonzales leaves little to chance at UF speech

Controversial former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is getting paid $40,000 to speak for one hour Nov. 19 on the topic "Living Legal History: Working with the White House, Department of Justice and Supreme Court," according to the contract reviewed today by Gradebook.

Gonzales is requiring that his talk and the Q and A session to follow be taped "to avoid the possibility of misquotations or contextually misleading quoted remarks" -- protection against the pesky press, we presume?

He originally sought to exclude any press that didn't have written permission from the Greater talent Network, which negotiated his appearance, but UF nixed that, insisting on "reasonable access by the press."

UF brings in former AG Alberto Gonzales

UF administrators earlier this fall postponed the campus-funded speech by assisted suicide advocate "Dr. Death" Kevorkian until early next year, hoping to work out their police officers' 'issues' with Tasers. But in just a couple of weeks, they'll welcome an even more high-profile, potentially controversial speaker: just-resigned U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

UF's student government is paying Gonzales $40,000 in student fees to give a speech on campus Nov. 19. A Houston attorney in the 1980s, he served as then-Gov. George W. Bush's general counsel and eventually became Texas' secretary of state.

Congress smacks down Bush veto on Glades money

Congress this week sent President George W. Bush the most stinging rebuke of his administration so far, as some of his most loyal partisans joined in voting to override his veto of a massive water and environment bill that directs billions of dollars toward the restoration of the Everglades as well as continued recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

The Senate voted Thursday to override the veto, 79-14, far more than the two-thirds majority needed to overturn Bush’s veto. That followed a resounding 361 to 54 vote in the U.S. House Wednesday. Together the two votes turned the $23.2-billion Water Resources Development Act into law, despite Bush’s objections to the cost.

The bill, which has been in the works for six years, directs $1.8-billion toward the Everglades restoration project, which has stumbled because of the lack of promised federal funds. Florida members of Congress -- including some Republicans who had never before bucked a Bush veto -- praised the bill’s passage as a key to getting the massive environmental reengineering project back on track.

“It took Congress six years to pass it and a misguided president one day to try to kill it,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.  “Fortunately, common sense prevailed.  Everglades restoration now will receive a much needed boost.”

--Wes Allison and Craig Pittman

Nelson wants firing over Everglades

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson plans to convene federal hearings into why Everglades National Park was taken off a United Nations environmental "danger" list at a time when restoration of the River of Grass has faltered. More here.

Another Jeb alum for Thompson

Looks like Randy Enwright isn't the only prominent Bush family loyalist helping out Fred Thompson's likely presidential campaign. Buried in the newly released expenditure reports is a $4,838 expense for one Reginald Brown, a DC lawyer who happens to have been a former deputy general counsel to Jeb Bush and a former staffer in Alberto Gonzales' White House counsel office.

"Very impressive sleuthing,'' said Brown, who declined to say what he was/is doing for the Thompson effort. "I'm happy to confirm that 'I'm With Fred' if he decides to run.  He's a long-time conservative who shares a lot of the same values as Jeb and most Southerners.  Randy Enwright and George P. Bush are supporting Fred as well, so I feel like I'm in good company."

Bush singles out Martinez on immigration

While in Georgia touting immigration reform yesterday, President Bush singled out U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez who was traveling with him:

"I don't know if you know his story, but his mother and father put him on an airplane to come to the United States of America to be raised by total strangers because they didn't want their son to grow up under a tyrant named Fidel Castro."

"He used to sit in the Cabinet of the president of the United States. Now he sits in the United States Senate. What a wonderful country it is, where people can come to live in a country based upon liberty and realize the great blessings of our country."

FL's targeted U.S. Attorney

In November, U.S. Attorney Greg Miller flew from his home in Tallahassee to Washington to accept a prestigious award from the U.S. Justice Department. A few days later, his name appeared on a list with eight other U.S. attorneys who were candidates to be fired, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post.

Miller was shocked and at a loss to speculate why: "We had no ongoing investigation of government corruption," he said. "We always have sensitive investigations, and we never know when someone is upset." More here.

Fighting over the war-fighters

If a freshman member of Congress wants to challenge his president at a time of war, this is probably as good a reason as any: In explaining President Bush's opposition to the defense bill that passed the U.S. House on Thursday, the White House took direct aim at a provision first pushed by Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor, to give U.S. troops a 3.5-percent raise, instead of the 3-percent raise favored by the administration.

Bilirakis, a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, first proposed the 3.5-percent pay raise in a stand-alone bill in January. Congressional leaders rolled the heart of his bill into the annual defense bill, which passed the House overwhelmingly Thursday -- and which the president opposes.

The White House directly criticized the pay raise, among other things, in explaining its opposition. "The additional 0.5 percent increase above the President’s proposed 3.0 percent across-the-board pay increase is unnecessary," the administration's statement of policy says. "When combined with the overall military benefit package, the President’s proposal provides a good quality of life for service-members and their families."

That extra 0.5-percent will cost the government an extra $7.3-billion over the next five years, the White House said.

But Bilirakis contends the government should do more to address the disparity of pay between the military and the private sector. Top congressional Democrats also have taken the offensive on the matter, sending Bush a letter Friday urging him not to block the pay increase. You can read the full Statement of Administration Policy on the defense bill here.

"This small step is the least we can do, especially during wartime, to ensure that our uniformed men and women are being properly compensated for their sacrifices," Bilirakis said.

Martinez defends role during primary fight

U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, new chairman of the Republican National Committee, told the Buzz on Wednesday that he warned the Legislature and Gov. Charlie Crist what the consequences would be for Florida if the state moved its primary up.

Florida officials chose to move it to Jan. 29 anyway -- violating Republican party rules.

"Once I made sure they knew they couldn't come to me and say 'Gee, Mel but you're the chairman'...then that's all I did,'' Martinez said."The party's rules are inflexible but the party also understands that the states are free to do what they will. They just need to know the consequences of what they do."

Martinez predicts other states will want to move up their primaries now too. "It is probably going to be a free for all. For the future we may need to think about how we control the process better and we may need to think about a national primary day or something like that. "

Heckuva job Albertie

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite is unimpressed with the way President Bush is standing by embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in the controversy surrounding fired U.S. attorneys. "I see this as another, "Good job, Brownie,' " said the Brooksville Republican, referring to former Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown, in a taped interview for an upcoming Political Connections on Bay News 9. "It's almost like the president has an intense loyalty to the people he appoints. In this case, though, I think it's misdirected. ... I would like to see Mr. Gonzales admit his mistakes and/or step down."

Also Newt Gingrich balks at national cat fund idea. More of today's print Buzz is here.