William "Windy" March has an interesting story on the website of the Tampa Tribune this morning. It's regarding a letter that Orlando attorney John Stemberger wrote recently slamming Florida GOP Attorney General Pam Bondi for the fact that she's not married, among other so called faults.
Stemberger, one of the leading Christian conservatives in Florida, is supporting one of Bondi's opponents in the race, Lieutenant Governor Jeff Kottkamp.
In the letter, Stemberger appears hurt that he was snubbed by Bondi's camp, writing that both Kottkamp and Holly Benson, the other candidate in the race, appeared at Stemberger's Florida Family Planning Council annual dinner, but the former Hillsborough County Assistant Prosecutor did not:
Bondi on the other hand, has very strangely not reached out to me or any other major pro family leaders in the state knowing full well she was in a three way Republican primary. Even after I personally reached out to Bondi by e-mailing her campaign manager, my good friend Brett Doster, I was told there were other things more important she was working on and she would get with me later.… Weeks went by. No calls. No e-mails. No visit.
Stemberger then goes on to compare the three candidates, and writes that Bondi's religion is "unknown", that she's been divorced twice, and currently lives with a "boyfriend" (parenthesis are Stemberger's). Oh, and that she has been equivocal on gay adoption.
As a recent poll showed the 3 way race to be extremely close, it's not surprising that some of the candidates in Florida primaries are racing to the right, and thus Stemberger's letter might have some influence with some GOP voters.
Obviously, Bill McCollum wants to get on their good side, as he told CL yesterday about his intentions to fight not only the state's gay ban adoption (where Florida stands by itself nationally in that dubious honor), but he wants to go further, banning gays from being foster parents.
Republicans in Florida revere Jeb Bush, and nationally, Ronald Reagan. Yet during a campaign, it appears sometimes they like the image more than the reality of what those two leaders represented.
Take Jeb Bush and his feelings on one of the hottest topics in this Florida GOP gubernatorial race, illegal immigration. Let's just say the former Governor is slightly more moderate on the subject than the two men who want to share the honor with him in having what he called yesterday, "the coolest job in the world."
At a news conference in Temple Terrace yesterday as Bush (along with incoming GOP leaders Mike Haridopolos and Dean Cannon)stumped with McCollum the former Governor, as close to a living legend amongst Florida Republicans, said explicitly in a question asked by this reporter that he clearly does not see illegal immigration as being close to one of the top issues that plague Florida this year.
" I think the number one issue is how do you create a climate where thousands upon thousands of jobs need to be created for Florida to progress," the former Governor said. "The second issue would be how you continue to see rising student achievement…the third issue would be Medicaid reform. You go down the list before you get to Arizona immigration being a Florida issue."
Bush said that it was fine that he and McCollum disagreed on the matter, saying it didn't matter, "I'm not voting for someone to be a clone of me. God forbid if someone actually had all my views. That would be a little scary."
Obviously, Bush feels McCollum is far more qualified than Scott to run Florida, even though they're not on the same page on that particular issue. But what does Bush see that McCollum and Scott miss? Does anyone dare say that Jeb Bush is not a hard line conservative because he doesn't believe that illegal immigration is the worst issue facing Floridians?
It's sort of along the lines of Republicans who trot out Ronald Reagan as their patron saint, especially when it comes to (not) raising taxes. Of course, Reagan was pragmatic, not purely ideological, which is why he raised taxes several times as President.
But that was then. Nationally Republicans, who insist that the federal deficit is now the#1 issue that our country faces, want to increase the deficit by nearly $700 billion by insisting on maintaining tax cuts for the richest 2% of the country. Would Reagan have approved? Who knows? But in the closing weeks of a fierce primary battle, don't expect to hear any "moderation" on any of these topics a la Jeb Bush from our GOP gubernatorial candidates.
This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2010.