There's a reason they call it the "Slantinel"

State Representative Chris Dorworth

Last fall, I wrote a post that started with this question:

How can you tell if Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell will be attacking State Representative Chris Dorworth? If it's a day ending in a "Y."

My friend Tom Tillison had an excellent post at Florida Political Press yesterday regarding Maxwell's latest tirade against  Chris Dorworth, and pointing out that Maxwell's presumptuous "advice" to Republicans should be taken with a grain of salt:

Florida Political Press | Scott Maxwell Continues Campaign Against Chris Dorworth

Now I must say, it is well known that I am not an apologist for the Republican Party.  In fact, I am often among the strongest critics of the party.  At the same time, I have learned firsthand that you can trust little, if anything, coming from the media.

As for Scott Maxwell...any pretense of moderation was effectively cast aside recently when the government mandated paid sick leave initiative was all the rage.

Consistent with the talking points other Sentinel reporters led with, Maxwell proved he was not above carrying water for the Far Left as he did his part to present the initiative as a “local citizen led” effort, despite clear evidence to the contrary showing it to be driven by national groups based in Washington, D.C. and  New York City.

Information that was never shared with Orlando Sentinel readers.  For that matter, neither was the fact that the Democrat Party was very much involved in what equated to little more than an attempt to create a turnout mechanism for the 2012 ballot...

Maxwell also showed that he has little appetite for entertaining a conservative point of view when he initiated an unsolicited verbal attack on yours truly when I commented on a FaceBook link he posted on the topic.

So, it is in this light that Republicans are to be taking advice from Scott Maxwell, who only has the best interest of the party at heart?  Really? 

The Maxwell column that Tom mentioned champions Representative Eric Fresen to take Dorworth's place as speaker, citing legislation that Fresen has sponsored, to show that Fresen is a more "serious" legislator. Well, I have no problem with Representative Fresen, but I did find it curious that Maxwell somehow managed to omit mention of any legislation that Dorworth had supported (for example, Dorworth was a co-sponsor of Representative Plakon's recent anti-stalking statute that I wrote about earlier this week). 

Tom zeroes in on the exact issues I discussed in my post last fall, that Maxwell makes vague accusations of improprieties but fails to disclose that Dorworth's financial disclosures were in full compliance with Florida law (actually, he disclosed more than the law requires, but facts are such pesky things):

[Maxwell] fails to share with his readers whether Dorworth’s actions as discussed are in violation of Florida law or if he has complied with all legal requirements.  Seems to be an important tidbit of information, does it not?

Having tried cooperating with reporters in the past on his finances only to feel he was burned, do you think Dorworth has any overriding desire to go down that path again?  To go out of his way to share anything with Scott Maxwell?

Considering Maxwell’s recent actions, another factor that very well could be at play here is something a member of the Florida House said recently when discussing Dorworth’s coming role as speaker;  “If you think Dean Cannon was conservative, wait until you see Chris Dorworth.”

Well said, Tom. 

[Read the entire post here.]

Further reading:

Sunshine State Sarah | The silly obsessions of Scott Maxwell