Well, there's three non-controversial topics.
Democratic congressional candidate Al Fox has released a statement on oil and Cuba in the wake of a St. Petersburg Times story on the subject. Fox has made more than 50 trips to the communist nation, and he has infuriated some in the Cuban community in Tampa by doing so. He trails Hillsborough County Commission Kathy Castor and state Sen. Les Miller in fundraising for the seat now held by Jim Davis, so he has to throw some long passes like this. (Fox also has some teaser billboards up throughout Tampa.)
He writes:
“As an expert in US-Cuba policy for the past eight years and the founder of the Alliance for Responsible Cuba Policy Foundation, I read with great interest Susan Taylor Martin’s article on Cuba’s oil drilling efforts. In the midst of all the hoopla and political posturing about drilling off Florida’s coastline, officials in Washington and Tallahassee have lost sight of two issues that are as equally urgent as the environment. First, any oil that is captured in the Gulf of Mexico only prolongs our dependence upon oil as our major source of energy. This is the issue that needs our urgent and immediate attention. Second, Cuban officials approached the US government several years ago urging us to partner with them in oil exploration. At the time, the Cubans were willing to drill for oil using our standards and our protocols. Yet, because of our intransigent Cuban policy, we now face the grim reality of having China partner with Cuba 70 miles from our coast!
