About those four Republicans on Crist’s schedule
by Michael C. Bender | December 7th, 2009Updating the news from this morning that Republican Gov. Charlie Crist wanted to meet in his office with the four Republican swing votes on the special session bill…
Turns out he could only get three, including Dennis Jones of Seminole who says he initiated the meeting to talk about some local college appointments. That means the fourth Republican either declined to meet with the governor or refused to clear his or her schedule.
Meanwhile, Crist got good news from at least two of the lawmakers: Jones says he’ll change his vote from ‘No’ to ‘Yes’ if leaders can show there are no general revenue dollars in the proposal and that the rail lines will benefit the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority.
Nancy Detert of Sarasota told Crist she’s already planning to change from ‘No’ to ‘Yes’.
“If it’s part of a huge rail piece where we can access federal dollars and use that money to put people back to work, and to put rail all across the state as we’ve always wanted to do but couldn’t afford then I am a ‘Yes,’” Detert said.
“If we cannot access federal funds then it changes the game.”
The third Republican, Durell Peaden of Crestview, said he was firmly against it, noting that it would be difficult for him to run for any Panhandle office if he supported the bill.
“The people in my area think we need more asphalt,” he said.
Tags: High-speed rail, stimulus, SunRail, Tri-Rail
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