Jeb Bush punishes incumbent Villalobos for FL Senate, endorses opponent

[seafan]

This state Senate race in Florida's upcoming primary is probably the most bitterly fought and closely watched in the state. Alex Villalobos, a moderate Republican from Miami had the courage to vote against two of Governor Jeb Bush's *legacy issues*, namely the repeal of the class-size amendment and the much-touted school voucher system which would have funneled state money into private schools.

Villalobos states that he listened to his constituents and voted according to his conscience. He voted to uphold smaller class sizes and he voted against taking money out of our starving public school system to funnel it to the private school sector.


And now, Jeb Bush is trying to crush Villalobos for insubordination by publicly endorsing Villalobos' opponent, a little-known Miami-Dade County school board member. How dare a Republican think for himself, much less show responsiveness to his constituents!


Well, in case Jeb Bush ever forgets his place, elected officials are beholden to the voters who place them into office, and NOT THE LOYAL REPUBLICAN JUGGERNAUT.


Jeb may be *leaving office* in January due to term limits, hallelujah, but he won't be leaving his micromanagement style behind.




Governor opposes incumbent in GOP state senate primary

By Dara Kam
August 15, 2006

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday stepped into the fray in a bitter GOP state Senate primary by publicly endorsing Frank Bolanos, a Miami-Dade County School Board member who is challenging incumbent Sen. Alex Villalobos.
Bush lent his support in Spanish- and English-language radio ads in which he touts Bolanos as the only candidate who "can be trusted to fight for our conservative beliefs and defend our Republican principles in Tallahassee."

Villalobos, who has run unopposed since he was first elected to the legislature 14 years ago, earned Bush's wrath this spring when he voted against two of the governor's highest priorities — a watering down of class-size restrictions and an effort to reinstate and broaden school vouchers after the state Supreme Court struck them down as unconstitutional.

Villalobos' votes effectively ended his tenure as majority leader and threw his future Senate presidency into limbo after a cadre of his GOP colleagues staged a coup to replace him with Sen. Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, for 2008-10.
The split resulted in a fractured Republican caucus and two Cuban-Americans running in a Miami-Dade Senate race highlighted by malicious campaign mailers, including one in which Villalobos is tied to serial killer Ted Bundy.

snip

Sen. Nancy Argenziano, R-Dunnellon, said that Bush is punishing Villalobos "because he didn't go lock step with some of those people who have hijacked the Republican Party."

She and two other senators wrote a column in which they chastised Republican Senate leaders for not supporting the incumbent.

"The blind obedience demanded of Villalobos is not a trait of a democracy, but of a dictatorship," she wrote.

[seafan]

1. Jeb:"Bolaños is the only candidate we can trust to uphold our GOP values."

''Frank Bolaños is the only candidate we can trust to uphold our Republican values,'' Bush said in a statement issued by the campaign today. ``Frank is not afraid to stand up to the liberal special interests and do what is right for students, parents and all Floridians.''

The Bolaños camp, which enjoys the special-interest help of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, says Bush's endorsement will appear in Miami-area radio ads today.

At issue for Bush, who once spoke highly of Villalobos: class size and publicly funded vouchers for private-school students, two Bush legacy issues that Villalobos helped scuttle in the Legislature, earning him the support of another special-interest, the teachers union.

Key up the Law and Order dramatic percussion

[Cha]

2. "gop values"? Would that be greed, oil, and

and pollution? Of course, it would. Would jarhead have it any other way?

[seafan]

3. Or... greed, oppression and piracy n/t

[Cha]

4. We could go on an on..

about the g-o-p "values"..it always begins with greed, though. Greed, Obsfucating Prurience.