Candidates for governor and senator who have become viable in polling without the backing of the major political parties in Florida campaigned for support Wednesday at a gathering of transportation officials in Orlando.
Democratic Senate candidate Jeff Greene, who has surged in that party’s primary against U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, and no-party gubernatorial candidate Lawton “Bud” Chiles, who has polled close to presumptive Democratic nominee Alex Sink on the strength of his famous last name, addressed the 2010 Floridians for Better Transportation Summit at Disney World Resort.
The pair delivered their now-standard stump speeches about bringing new and different perspectives to Tallahassee and Washington, D.C., even as they tackled a familiar task of campaigning: appeasing an interest group.
“A lot of people are telling me now over the last several weeks about what my dad wouldn’t do, particularly about my candidacy, particularly Democrats,” Chiles said at the beginning of his speech. “I can tell you from the heart that the reason that I’m in this race because of the genes that I have. He would be against this political system that has developed in the state of Florida, this pay-to-play system that really has Floridians on the sidelines.”
Each man paid special attention to the issue that gathered their audience Wednesday near Orlando: transportation.
“We as a country are in an economic world war. It’s not a scrimmage,” Greene said. “The only way we’re going to be able to remain competitive… is we must have the best infrastructure. We can’t have second rate infrastructure and compete in a first rate world. Our roads, bridges and rails (and) highways play a valuable role in the lives and livelihoods of all Floridians and all Americans. Transportation spending creates jobs.”
Similarly, Chiles promised to protect the State Transportation Trust Fund, which was used by lawmakers this year to balance the $70 billion state budget, though the raid was vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist.
“What does it mean to have trust in a fund when it’s used as a piggy bank?” Chiles asked. “I can tell you how I felt when the Lawton Chiles Endowment, when $2 billion was completely raided…How do you feel when $3 billion over the last 10 years is diverted from transportation trust funds? What kind of trust is that? What kind of system do we have?”
After their speeches, the candidates took questions from members on a host of issues, including the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and immigration.
On immigration, Chiles said that the state should not try to deal with the immigration issue through legislation, as Arizona recently did by passing a controversial law that is being challenged in court by the U.S. Department of Justice.
“The reality Floridians need to recognize – and Arizonians do too – is that as governor, I don’t have a coast guard and I don’t have a border patrol, so I have as governor to depend on the federal government to protect our border,” he said. “But any governor has to demand that the federal government fulfill the law and protect our border and pay for whatever costs that are incurred. I don’t believe we can have 50 different laws for a national problem.”
On federal taxes, Greene said that the tax cuts passed by former President George W. Bush that are set to expire this year should be allowed to expire, which President Barack Obama has indicated he will allow to happen.
“I’m a businessman myself and I have a lot of friends who are businessmen and we talk about these tax cuts,” he said. “I don’t know anybody when I say to them if you have a great investment to make in your business, if you only got to keep 75 cents instead of 85 cents, would you do it? I think the Bush tax cuts have to expire because you can see what happened. Since they’ve been in, we haven’t created jobs, we’ve lost jobs.”
Another U.S. Senate candidate without the backing of establishment Democrats, Maurice Ferre, has neither the money of Greene nor the name recognition of Chiles, but told the transportation conference-goers to ignore that.
“Don’t vote for anybody that lies,” he said. “Don’t vote for anybody that cheats. Don’t vote for anybody that doesn’t have a clean record in the past and don’t vote for anybody who flip-flops. You’re going to say, ‘Well, who does that leave?’ That’s the problem.”
Ferre touted his previous service on the Florida High Speed Rail Authority and the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority.
“In my 25 years as a public servant – 12 years as mayor of Miami, as a state legislator, and a county commissioner – I have always stressed the importance of transportation to local governments,” he said.
Attorney General Bill McCollum is scheduled to address the transportation summit Thursday morning. Gov. Charlie Crist and Republican candidate Rick Scott were invited to speak as well, but organizers said neither candidate confirmed their attendance.
