August 23, 2014
Karen Effrem
The Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) is once again taking sides in contested Republican primaries. After
intervening in the special congressional election primary in CD 19 trying to hide behind multiple donations and many super PACs to make sure that Senator Benacquisto received at least $300,000, now they have
openly donated another $130,000 to her senate campaign.
Benacquisto is running against Dr. Michael Dreikorn, a conservative veteran and aerospace engineer, who also was in the congressional primary. That congressional primary was notable for the high level of negative campaigning by super PACs tied to Benacquisto and another candidate, Dr. Paige Kreegel. Ultimately,
Curt Clawson went on to win both the primary and the congressional seat in large part due to his sincere articulate position on Common Core, his dedication to the Constitution, his outsider status, and likely as well, as a backlash to the negative campaigning and interference from outside groups in this race.
Former Congressman Gary Lee, who is now serving as committeeman for the Republican Party of Florida expressed concerns about the situation by saying, "If you're doing something that has the perception of not being fair to all candidates then that needs to be addressed in my opinion." Neither Benacquisto nor the RPOF commented on the donations.
If the congressional primary is any indication, this kind of behavior on the part of the RPOF, with its strong ties to
Jeb Bush, may backfire on the RPOF and Benacquisto. It is imperative that everyone in all the races for school board and state legislature do their homework on this critical issue and support the candidates that have answered the
four important questions on Common Core to your satisfaction.
Florida Stop Common Core Coalition, Inc.
Florida Stop Common Core Coalition, Inc.
Posted in Political Aspects of Common Core. Tagged as Curt Clawson, Gary Lee, Lizbeth Benacquisto, Michael Dreikorn, RPOF.