Of all the many names Charlie Crist considered for the Senate appointment, he decided to stay close to home. From the St. Petersberg Times:
Gov. Charlie Crist entered the hushed and historic Senate chamber of the Old Capitol at 11:36 a.m. to introduce longtime confidante George LeMieux as Florida’s new junior U.S. senator. The room erupted in a standing ovation as the pair reached the front of the room in full view of the crowd. “Are you surprised?” Crist asked as he walked past.
Crist said he made his decision Thursday night, and summoned LeMieux to the Governor’s Mansion to tell him at about 10 p.m.
[…] The choice is not a major surprise, and it will focus new questions about LeMieux’s advocacy on issues such as gambling and his law firm’s legal work for the state. The selection also signals that Crist is not worried about a major backlash from the GOP’s right flank: LeMieux is a moderate who shares Crist’s populist views, especially as they relate to utility companies and other corporate interests.
Indeed, while LeMieux, who has never served in elected office, doesn’t have a paper trail of votes to pick apart, he did run for the state House once, and conservatives can’t be too thrilled with what he said on the campaign trail a decade ago:
But it’s some of the stances LeMieux took on gay adoption and gay benefits way back in 1998 when he ran unsuccessfully for the state House that could really rankle the conservative base.
In 1998, when LeMieux was challenging Democratic state Rep. Tracy Stafford for a Broward Congressional seat, he sought to siphon off votes from the district’s gay community in Fort Lauderdale and Wilton Manor.
LeMieux told Steve Bousquet (back then of the Herald, now of the Times/Herald) in September 1998 that gay couples in Florida should be allowed to adopt children. He also said he favored domestic partnership laws to extend health care and other benefits enjoyed by married couples. He said unmarried partners should be permitted to be listed as beneficiaries on insurance policies.
Of course, there are also issues regarding the conflict of interest involving LeMieux’s firm and state contracts, but that sort of thing is not exactly a hot-button issue with the base.
I can’t tell whether this is a big FU from Crist to the base or just cronyism. Hell, maybe he wants to be really “bipartisan” and do a deal on healthcare.
This is a hell of a move that will cause the conservatives to be up in arms. I can’t help but respect Crist for tapping this dude. It sounds like to me that the GOP moderate faction has grown by one with this appointment (i.e. went from about 4 to 5).
Crist was screwed with whomever he picked. At least the Floridians might get a glimpse of how Crist would perform as a US Senator. In a way, this appointment gives the proverbial finger to Rubio.
I must have seen ten names mentioned including several who turned Crist down and LeMieux was not one of them. Not Bill Young, not Diaz-Balart, not Clay Shaw, not one of the current US Representatives (some would be rivals). Not a blast from the past that makes you ask is he/she still alive (Claude Kirk and Paula Hawkins are both still alive according to Wikipedia). Not some looney toon designed to appeal to “the base” for a year and siphon votes from Rubio.
I wonder about Rubio. Tom Feeney who had a similar profile was not such a hot retail politician. McCollum is bad at the state wide level. I suspect that Rubio would be toast.
The Anticrist did not help himself against Rubio.
1) Picking a pro-gay rights crony alienates social cons and breathes more life into rumors.
2) Picking a guy heavily involved with the Seminole gambling deal alienates both fundies in interior counties who object on moral grounds and the country clubbers on the coasts who dislike gambling on more aesthetic grounds.
3) Picking a crony and wheeler dealer insider runs counter to the populist rage in the base reinforcing the notion that Charlie is just another of the straw-in-the-wind, no-core-values twits who already cost the GOP the House, Senate and White House.
4)Frenchie being a warming believer and apt to support cap and trade will likely hang a vote and already is a reminder that Chuckles has positions opposed by an overwhelming majority of his primary electorate.
5)Frenchie played a big role in ramrodding constitutional loopholes to allow counties to get around spending restrictions, effectively gutting anti-tax and spending initiatives passed in GOP counties.
Just a mind-blowingly stupid pick. Going to PO social cons, econ cons and country clubbers. The only folks pleased will be the CofC lobbyists in Tallahassee who can pick up some easy money lobbying Frenchie in DC.
Says a lot that Crist, even when picking a placeholder, looks for someone who could never pose a challenge down the line. A cipher, a hack who couldn’t even win a Fl House election ten years ago is now a US Senator based on his superemely effective job of pressing his lips to The Anticrist’s buttocks and smooching.
So insecure (and probably justly so) he jabbed a thumb in the right’s eye needlessly rather than hand someone who could possibly win some race down the line some temp work or give some fading star a nice late-life CV entry.
While the selection of Ted Kaufman to fill Vice President Biden’s vacant seat was unexpected, I think it makes more sense than George LeMieux’s appointment as Kaufman had a wealth of experience with the legislative process as he had served as Biden’s chief of staff. LeMieux has never served as a legislator and all his experience is with state politics.