Best and Brightest?
by llipman@coxnews.com | June 15th, 2006Sen. Mel Martinez has been chosen for a “Best and Brightest Award” from the American Conservative Union for his votes on 25 issues in 2005 selected by the conservative lobbying organization. Martinez and Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, were the only Florida delegation members to score 100 percent.
Rep. Katherine Harris came in with a 92 percent rating. She parted ways with the union on two issues. One was an amendment that would have lifted the ban on natural gas drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf; Harris voted against lifting the ban, the union wanted it lifted. The other was to set higher vehicle mileage standards. Harris supported the effort; the union opposed it. House members and senators were not rated on the same items because some were only considered in one chamber or the other.
Sen. Bill Nelson scored a 20, which was a substantial shift to the right from his score of 4 for 2004. Among other local lawmakers: E. Clay Shaw Jr., scored 71; Mark Foley scored 63; Alcee Hastings scored 4 and Robert Wexler scored zero.
Tags: Bill Nelson, Mark Foley, Robert Wexler
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June 15th, 2006 at 4:02 pm
Whoopsy-Daisey! There’s been a mistake: this “Best and the Brightest” list has obviously been skewed upside-down.
June 16th, 2006 at 9:40 am
Its laughable to suggest that these people are the best and brightest for supporting these supposed conservative views.To the contrary would these be considered consevative though.As a true concervative in every sense of the word you would be very hesitant to disturb our delicate eco-system, which also brings us a wealth of tourism dollars .To gamble with that would be dare I say quite LIBERAL.Furthermore would it also be conservative to say that vehicles should get less mileage per gallon ,instead of supporting action that would increase the mileage per gallon therefore lessoning our depedence on foriegn oil.Nope, that doesnt sound conservative to me, not one bit.Its my opinion they should have called that award “THE BIGGEST SELLOUTS TO CORPARATE PRESSURE AND SPECIAL INTREST”.Yeah , that sounds a bit more accurate of what they really are.