Clay Shaw "Sweet Deal"
Politics, I Hate You
There’s a commercial that I want you to see.
The whole ad is completely ridiculous. Of course, that’s not unusual for political ads, but this one particularly irritates me. It centers around BIG SUGAR giving Ron Klein $16,500, over the last four years.
This raises two points. First, I don’t find BIG SUGAR to be at all intimidating. Second, am I the only one that finds four grand per year to be a tiny, tiny amount of money?
Consider that this is a House race. According to Open Secrets, Klein has raised $2.8 million, and Shaw has raised $3.4 million for this election. Sixteen grand is a drop in the bucket.
Consider also a counter-point. Based on this data for the same period, we can say:
- Clay Shaw took $7,500 from Florida Citrus. Florida doesn’t need more groves; he’s caved to BIG CITRUS!
- Clay Shaw took $19,000 from Pfizer. Clearly, he faces a conflict of interest when addressing the rising cost of prescription medications.
- Clay Shaw took $20,500 from Wal-Mart. He must support oppressive wage structures.
Are any of these representative of reality? Clay Shaw’s commercial would have us believe so.
And what about the League of Conservation Voters’ “death sentence for the everglades” comment? According to the Sun-Sentinel, Klein “said he has the endorsement of the League of Conservation Voters and was a co-sponsor of the original Everglades cleanup bill in 2000. ... ‘I find him to be quite a hypocrite in talking about the environment when he has such a horrible record,’ Klein said of Shaw.” Seems that the League of Conservation Voters agrees with this assessment, giving Shaw ratings ranging from 13% to 28%.
And those quotes from the Miami Herald about appeasing Big Sugar? That’s from the May 2, 2003 edition—specifically, an editorial on page 6B, headlined “Veto the Glades Bill: Governor Must Protect State Investment”. Partial text:
Members of Congress, scientists and every Floridian concerned about the fate of the Everglades should strongly press Gov. Jeb Bush to veto the Everglades bill approved this week by the Legislature. If the governor heeds their pleas and kills this bill, he might actually thank them someday. After all, Mr. Bush wouldn’t want a tax named after him. And that could well be the consequences if this misguided legislation meant to appease Big Sugar becomes law.
The article doesn’t even mention Klein.
I hate politics.
If you want to complain, feel free to call the Friends of Clay Shaw campaign at 561-417-2529. They actually ran the ad… however, Clay Shaw approved it, so you might also try his Ft Lauderdale office at 954-522-1800, his West Palm Beach office at 561-832-3007, and his DC office at 202-225-3026.
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Wow, I never thought I’d see the day that Will would cave in to BIG SUGAR .
BIG SUGAR is so big it’s got to be spelled with all caps.