TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Sen. Storms Scolded For Obama Insult

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: March 13, 2009

TALLAHASSEE - The debate over Florida's public campaign financing program turned ugly Thursday when Republican Sen. Ronda Storms mocked President Barack Obama as "The Messiah" and a Democratic colleague made a vulgar retort.

It didn't escalate beyond that, and they agreed that voters should be able to decide whether to get rid of the program that gave statewide candidates more than $11 million in taxpayer money during 2006 elections.

The Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Committee unanimously approved putting a proposal to repeal the public campaign financing program on the 2010 ballot.

The debate may have been sleep-inducing in most circumstances, but Republicans snickered when the discussion turned to federal campaign financing. Obama initially said he would accept public money, but then declined it on his way to shattering fundraising records. Had he accepted the money, he would have been limited in how much he could raise and spend. Republican John McCain accepted public money and was outspent by hundreds of millions of dollars.

At one point, Democratic Sen. Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale tried to end the discussion, impatiently pointing out that they were voting on a state issue, not the federal program. Storms, from Valrico, then defended the debate.

"People in Florida also voted for the president, who said he would stick with public financing and then failed to keep his word and didn't honor his word, and the public then yawned about it and said, 'It's not a big issue,'" Storms said.

She then took a swipe at Democrats and Obama.

"They don't want to talk about The Messiah having a flaw, but actually it was a flaw," she said.

Sen. Mike Fasano, a New Port Richey Republican who is chairman of the committee, told Storms, "Please be respectful of the president. ... He is the president of this country."

Then Smith had his say.

"My concerns weren't that we debate President Obama or things that he's doing. I could care less. We have four years to do that," Smith said. "My concern is always doing the people's business and the business before us."

His next remark angered Fasano and caused loud murmurs in the room.

"Don't piss on me and tell me it's raining. I know what you were doing, and I called you on it."

Fasano immediately scolded Smith.

"I think you're way out of line," Fasano said.

"Join the club," Smith responded.

Smith and Storms both voted for putting the proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot. Smith said he didn't like the idea of repealing public financing but agreed that voters should have the choice. After the vote, he apologized to Fasano.

"The choice of language was unbecoming of a senator," said Smith, who is a freshman senator after serving eight years in the House. "I promise not to use that type of language anymore."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT