Scott vs McCollum Race in Fla. - A Friend's Commentary

A man I have grown to respect more and more as I got to know him wrote this email blast. There are other well-reasoned and well-documented thoughts he has shared recently, but I felt his words needed repeating. (His comments are in quotes at the end of this article.)

We are coming down to the wire in this Primary for Governor in Fla. I have observed that all the national Republican voices (Gingrich, Hannity, NewsMax -who recently received a visit from perhaps their new hero Bill Clinton) and the usual suspects.) have gotten on the McCollum bandwagon. Normally, I would have been glad about that, but something is not right about how this primary campaign has been waged by the McCollum people and other supporters. The career pols have circled their wagons and are vigorously attempting to exclude someone not of their career politician group from the governorship.

Often I will get behind someone I know something about, but this time I have learned more than perhaps I wanted to know about McCollum. I now regard him as the dirtiest pol in Florida, even dirtier than Charley Crist, and that is saying something. This primary campaign has solidified my attitude against the State and National Republican party, and some of the so-called conservative voices nationally who have thrown their support behind McCollum. FoxNews has also unwittingly been featuring McCollum, and not Scott at all (to my knowledge). The McCollum campaign has been run on an agenda of dirty tricks and innuendo, using Florida Republican Party funds - in a PRIMARY race. My friend points out that unseemly support from a group who takes party contributions from all Republicans and is not supposed to get involved in  backing one primary candidate over another. That is an unforgivable betrayal of those who contributed to that fund.
I think on that point alone they have probably broken their trust with the party loyalists who have hitherto supported it. They Florida Republican Party leadership need to be held to account.

Unfortunately, this is a hard lesson, regardless of which way the race goes. Never trust a career politician, nor the party of career politicians that feed off of the continued election of these types. We have been betrayed on several levels already, and it might mean some more years of betrayal politics in Fla until the business of the state can be set right again.

Here are the comments from George Blumel, my friend whom I trust.

Title of the email: "Win or lose, we must learn this lesson..."

"The lesson here is never give money to the Republican Party directly –it can and will be used against you and your choices. Maybe you like their choice this time but next time they’ll give to the other guy. They have their own agenda. That applies to the RNC, The NRSC, the NRCC and your State Party, in Florida, the RPOF. In Florida’s primary race for governor, Rick Scott, the clean-government, self-financing outsider, is being vilified by the leadership and they are interfering with the primary election in favor of their career politician.

It takes more than money to win an election but at least Scott is spending his own money. "McCollum has raised just $7.7 million in hard money — but benefited from $3.9 million in help from the state Republican Party (RPOF) and another $9 million in special-interest money from Walt Disney, U.S. Sugar, Florida Power & Light, Publix Supermarkets and other companies, used to buy ads. In total, McCollum and his corporate backers hurled $21 million into his primary." That quote from the Orlando Sentinel doesn't even mention the taxpayer money McCollum has taken directly from the State. The special interests are buying their candidate as usual, but the big contributor that bothers me the most is the $millions from the RPOF. This is money contributed by Repubs for promoting the party and our candidates in the general election, NOT for taking sides in the Primary! OUTRAGEOUS!

The lesson here is NEVER CONTRIBUTE TO THE PARTY --these are the professional political establishment types that have given us corruption and bad government. They are scared to death that an outsider successful businessman will run the State efficiently with regard to taxes, regulations and even-handedness which largely leaves them out of their control. They lose their clout, their perks, their favors, their "importance."

Give to the candidate you favor directly or the funds will be used against your choice for the benefit of the insiders and business as usual. Jim Greer, Charlie Crist and the other crooks in our party have done that and continue to do it. Scott is our one chance to reverse that trend here in Florida –McCollum will happily continue his lifelong feeding at the government trough as he honors not his oath but his commitments to those who put him in office –Sugar, Disney, the utilities he is supposed to regulate, and all the others. "

All I can say is "Amen."