The reviews are coming in from some of the Florida Republican party establishment on Governor Charlie Crist's call for a special session to discuss placing a constitutional amendment banning off shore drilling, and they're all negative.
Marco Rubio says this isn't leadership:
“The Obama/Crist response to the oil spill has been a total failure and Florida families and businesses are suffering because of it. This special session is nothing more than a political sideshow that will do nothing to help Panhandle businesses, keep oil off our beaches, or prevent future spills. In fact, Charlie Crist seeks to ban something that is already illegal under state law. We don’t need more photo ops and finger pointing. We need leadership.
“Every available clean-up skimmer in the world should be along our Gulf coast right now. After two months, there is no reason we don’t have containment boom and barriers protecting every vulnerable beach. We need strong leadership that will challenge government to do more before it’s too late. Instead, Charlie Crist seems more focused on releasing birds than releasing skimmers."
Florida GOP gubernatorial aspirant and the state's top cop, Attorney General Bill McCollum, is the latest to weigh in.
"The most pressing issue currently facing Florida's leaders is the
catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its impacts on our
state’s struggling economy and sensitive environment. Unfortunately,
Governor Crist's call for a special session fails to address the real
actions we must take to help Floridians and Florida businesses in
critical, immediate need.
"While I remain opposed to near shore drilling, it is unnecessary to amend
our Constitution given the current ban in place on drilling off Florida’s
coast."
Albert Martinez, Republican consultant:
Poll comes out this AM showing Crist’s approval rating dropping 7 pts in past month, and Crist suddenly calls special session. Coincidence?
