Politics
GOP Takes Aim at Obama and Bill Nelson on Florida Unemployment Rate
Around the State
Sen. Bill Nelson and Adam Hasner | Credit: Flickr - Bill Ingalls | Gage Skidmore
With news breaking on Friday that the unemployment rate in Florida dropped to 10.6 percent, Republicans and conservatives at the state and national levels looked to blame President Barack Obama and Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, who is up for a third term in 2012, for the Sunshine State continuing to lag behind the rest of the nation in job recovery.
Soon after Gov. Rick Scott announced that the unemployment rate dropped from 10.7 percent in Florida in August to 10.6 percent in September -- the first time it fell in four months -- former state House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, now in a crowded Republican primary for the U.S. Senate election in 2012, took aim at Obama and Nelson.
"It's always good news when jobs are added, but the truth behind Florida's over 10 percent unemployment rate is that President Obama and Senator Nelson's policies just aren't working,” Hasner said in a statement. “Despite what the president and his liberal allies believe, bailouts of bloated state and local governments won't solve the economic challenges we face. Americans are looking for strong and decisive leadership from their president, not election year legislation designed to save his own job, rather than actually putting Americans back to work.
"To make matters worse, Senator Nelson continues to put his loyalty to President Obama over the concerns and well-being of Floridians,” Hasner added. “In fact, just last night he maintained his 98 percent record of support for Obama administration policies by voting for legislation that raises taxes on business owners and job creators. Florida is in desperate need of leaders who understand the common-sense, conservative principles that will turn our economy around. After voting to raise taxes over 140 times, it's safe to say that Senator Nelson doesn't understand."
American Crossroads, a conservative political organization with ties to many prominent Republican leaders including legendary strategist Karl Rove, also looked to link Obama and Nelson to Florida’s continuing high unemployment rate. The group sent out a news release, noting that the unemployment rate in Florida had been 3.9 percent when Nelson first took his Senate seat back in January 2001, contrasting that to the current rate and noting that Obama’s stimulus packages, which Nelson supported, have not worked.
“Today’s disappointing jobs report unmistakably demonstrates Bill Nelson’s support for the Obama agenda is failing Florida workers,” said Steven Law, a veteran Republican operative who serves as the president and CEO of American Crossroads, on Friday. “The Obama-Nelson scheme -- a wasteful, jobless stimulus package now followed by another round of identical stimulus spending -- is an unsuccessful one-two punch which will not get Floridians back to work. As Bill Nelson continues to embrace Obama’s failed policies, voters in Florida are ready to hold the Obama-Nelson team accountable next year at the ballot box.”
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
Comments (11)
They are responsible for granting LEGISLATIVE AMNESTY TO ILLEGALS.
For several decades our senior senator, Bill "lerftist in Washington, 'moderate' in Florida," has been selling himself to the state as "middle of the road." Nothing could be further from the truth! His lifefime Senate voting record is to the LEFT of the late Teddy Kennedy. He's an "Obama clone" voting the Democrat-socialist party line in lock step with the other leftists in Washington.
He is extremely vulnerable next year in an election that will be, largely, a "referendum" on the failed socialist Obama administration. He CAN be beaten, but ONLY by a GENUINE CONSERVATIVE. That leaves OUT George "Crist number two" LeMieux. Adam Hasner will be our next US Senator.
The Florida economy is getting better because Rick Scott and the Republican legislature reduced regulations and took steps to make sure that the state will be able to pay for the benefits promised to it's workers in florida... as the Dems and unions squealed about having to pay a lousy 3% into their own pension funds was a pay cut...
Even now Obama and his side-kick, Nelson continue to allow the EPA to over-regulate every county and municiple government in FL , which forces even more state, county and city workers to be cut in order to balance their budgets... while they raise our taxes at the local level. Unfortunately the State, County and City governments MUST balance their budgets, unlike the Dems in Congress who have gone over 900 days without even presenting a budget to the public. And it's not just the EPA, it's every single czar that is writing regulation as fast as they can because of Obama and his enabler, Nelson. The both have to go if this economy is to grow...
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