Vern Buchanan Hates Rule of Law, Ethics, Honesty

Apparently, Republican Congressman Vern Buchanan will hire anybody. His personal attorney is Daryl J. Brown, one of the few lawyers in the entire state who have been suspended twice by the Florida Bar. In fact, Brown isn't eligible to practice law in Florida right now. Brown's first suspension was for a campaign finance scandal involving Riscorp, a massive insurance company, where 875 illegal contributions were recorded. I wonder what party they went to? Not only was Brown involved, he lied to media about his involvement.

That didn't stop Buchanan from hiring him. In fact, Brown was involved in Buchanan's lawsuit against the developers of the Ritz-Carlton, something he did while under suspension. He later lied about his occupation on a campaign donation to Buchanan.

If this is the type of judgment Buchanan has when it comes to hiring his personal lawyer, how can he be trusted to represent Floridians ethically and fairly in Washington. He can't.

Vern Hates the Environment

The League of Conservation Voters recently released scorecards for Congress. How did Vern do? Poorly:

Vern Buchanan (REP), 25%

Not only did all of the Democrats do better than all of the Republicans, With one exception, all of the Democrats did more than twice as good as all the Republicans. And most of the Democrats voted in favor of the environment more than four times as frequently as most of the Republicans.

I wonder how many of these Republicans own property that will be beachfront property when most of Florida is under water because of global warming? I'm just saying...

What Is This Money Going To?

From the Bradenton Herald:

Buchanan outspent Jennings last year, $1.01 million to $175,000. Most of the campaign spending was for consultants, campaign staff and office and travel expenses.

A year before the election, Vern has already spent a million dollars. What could he possibly be buying with that much money this early on? He's trying to buy the election? Are we going to let him do it? (Again?)

Buchanan Hates Workers

This line in a recent article jumped out at me:

Political action committees gave $55,405 to Buchanan and $20,558 to Jennings in last year's final quarter. Most of Buchanan's PAC contributors represented business interests, while Jennings' primarily represented unions.

Unions fight for the people and accountability in the free market system of the U.S. The business interests that give to people like Buchanan fight for their own profits at the expense of workers, consumers and the environment. Buchanan is bought and paid for and we know who has the receipt.

Vern Better Watch His Back

Christine Jennings is raising more money than she did last time -- when she beat Vern. And while it is true that Vern is raising more money than he did last time, he's already past the point of diminishing returns and it's pretty clear from all kinds of recent political events that one doesn't need to outspend to win, one just needs to be competitive. This is a competitive race.