UPDATE: Atwater punches back in CFO wars
by Dara Kam | September 29th, 2010UPDATE: It took just minutes for Loranne Ausley’s campaign to respond to opponent Jeff Atwater’s latest lob.
“It’s nice to welcome Jeff Atwater to the campaign, if only to defend his refusal to follow the law and audit lobbyists. Now if only he had a platform, or a defense of his $2 billion in tax hikes, or his vote for the $48 million Taj Mahal, or the $110 million private prison to nowhere, or his RPOF AmEx card. I’m sure this will all be explained in detail at the debate that he refuses to have with the real fiscal watchdog in the campaign, Loranne Ausley,” Ausley’s campaign spokesman Kevin Cate wrote in an e-mail.
After weeks of getting hammered by Democrat Loranne Ausley, Senate President Jeff Atwater has gone on the offensive in the chief financial officer battle.
Atwater’s campaign issued a press release reminding voters that his opponent Ausley sponsored a measure two years ago that would have weakened (slightly) the state’s lobbying ban prohibiting lawmakers from accepting gifts from lobbyists.
Ausley, a former state representative from Tallahassee, sponsored a bill that would have allowed lawmakers to take food or drinks worth $20 or less at government-related functions and some other affairs.
“Whether a demonstration of unrivaled hypocrisy or a severe case of amnesia, Loranne Ausley’s record is clear: she wants free lunch and she wants big-money lobbyists to pick up the check,” Atwater’s campaign spokesman Brian Hughes said in an e-mail.
Ausley’s latest shot at Atwater blamed him for failing to hire a firm to audit the lobbyist reports as state law requires.
She’s gone after Atwater for a variety of big-ticket spending items during his tenure as senate president, including a controversial appeals court, dubbed the “Taj Mahal,” that is now the subject of a grand jury investigation.
Tags: 2010 campaigns, 2010 elections, Jeff Atwater, Loranne Ausley
September 29th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Finally. Ausley is so full of herself it is amazing. Every “issue” she has raised, reflects on her and her family. Banking issues, who is on the board and a major shareholder in Capital City Bank? Daddy. Lobbyists? Daddy’s entire firm, husband and his former firms. I can’t wait to see all the things she voted for over her term as a legislator. Bottom line, she has not qualifications for the office.
September 29th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Is that all Atwater has? Food or drinks worth $20 or less? How pathetic. This guy is the very definition of a career politican. He is the mirror image of Bill McCollum.
September 29th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
weakest return punch ever
September 29th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
Vote for Jethro Atwater who has never had a real job in his entire life, who has traded on his name in his little hick town, who had a no show job for years at a bank he always claimed he ran until it went down in flames! Yaaay vote for Jethro!!!!
September 29th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Atwater forgets that we voters are nit really interested in legislators getting some water or soft drinks for under $20, we are interested in the legislators who are bought and paid for by special interest — like Atwater! How about addressing this — Senate President Atwater, who sold Florida’s condo owners to the banks by killing the bills that would have required banks and mortgage companies to pay the unpaid dues from units in foreclosure?
September 29th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
If North Palm Beach is a hick town then what are the boonies of Tallahassee?
September 29th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Mahler country
September 29th, 2010 at 1:49 pm
AUSLEY IS GOOD…TOO BAD THE GROUP SHE IS HANGING WITH SUCKS….SINK SUCKS
I can’t believe she is running for Governor.
She is damn lucky she is running against the creepy dude otherwise she would have NO NO NO shot.
Dumb Democrats
September 29th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
It is about time we put the RINO into retirement. I can’t think of the last time I voted for a Democrat but I know when the next time will be. Maybe he can move into Happy Valley with his crazy Mom.
September 30th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
What Would Joe Friday Do? Answer: Arrest “THE Florida Cabal”
http://www.practicalstate.com/?p=2657
Cheers