Friday, August 27, 2010

Four Words: Why Republicans must rally behind Rick Scott

I have supported Bill McCollum for years, as I know many of you have, especially my Central Florida readers.  I endorsed him and voted for him on Tuesday.  I sympathize with the feelings of many of our local Republicans, who are not yet enthusiastic about Rick Scott.

I felt comfortable enough with my support of McCollum that, honest disclosure, I did not take the time to analyze Scott's platform and ideas in detail.  I am making up for that now, and I am liking what I am seeing.  I'll do a more detailed write-up of Rick Scott later, but here are four words why all conservatives need to join me on the Rick Scott bandwagon and support our Republican nominee:

Appointments
Redistricting
Veto Power

These four words are all powers that the Governor holds or has a great deal of control over, and powers that we would be granting to a Democrat if we fail to support Scott.  

The Governor makes literally thousands of appointments every year, everything from judges (local all the way to the Florida Supreme Court), to heads of agencies, to filling vacancies, as Crist did recently appointing Lui Damiani to Mildred Fernandez's Orange County Commission seat.  The Damiani appointment was stressful enough, considering Crist's current status as an independent Senate candidate; many people, including myself, were wondering if he would appoint a Democrat like Scott Randolph in an effort to court Democrat votes.  If Alex Sink is governor, the question won't be will she appoint a Democrat, but how liberal will that Democrat be? 

Redistricting is a highly complex and politically-charged process.  The Governor has the power to control the selection of some of the people who will be the decision makers and other ways to influence the process.  I honestly think legitimate arguments can be made for reforming the process in a way that removes some of the politics, but electing a Democrat Governor is not the way to do it...that would not do a darn thing to reduce political influences, it would just give the Democrats control over part of the process, and make it a more bitterly fought partisan battle.

The power of the Governor's veto pen is self-explanatory - overriding that veto requires additional votes, and therefore concessions to Democratic positions.  As Attorney General, Bill McCollum is leading the fight in court against Obamacare, and Rick Scott has been a loud and dedicated opponent to government takeover of our healthcare system for years.  We can be comfortable that Scott would continue to fight for the rights of Floridians to control their own healthcare, but Sink has expressed support for Obamacare.  What happens to the health care litigation if she is elected?

I truly believe that once a few more days pass to alleviate the pain from Tuesday's loss, McCollum himself will realize that he is not helping the party he has faithfully served for decades by withholding his support for Scott.  Republicans are doing Bill McCollum no favors by voting for Alex Sink; it does not show him any special loyalty or help him in any future political goals.  I would argue that electing a Democrat Governor is a betrayal of McCollum, because it would allow the Democrats to unravel many of the conservative initiatives for which McCollum has worked so hard.

Join me on the Rick Scott bandwagon: 

Official campaign website
Scott for Florida Facebook Page
Scott for Florida on Twitter
Scott for Florida on YouTube

Republicans, please remember these four words: appointments, redistricting, veto power, and vote for Rick Scott on November 2nd.
 

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