Bill McCollum's inconsistency on Scott Rothstein

Three days ago we asked the Bill McCollum gubernatorial campaign if he intended to call on the Republican Governor's Association to return the $200,000 contribution it received Nov. 17, 2008 from Scott Rothstein. McCollum, after all, was quick to call for both the state GOP and Alex Sink to return all money connected to Rothstein. But team McCollum has been nearly-silent on the RGA donation besides the suggestion that maybe it wasn't part of the current election cycle, (though the '08 election was over when Rothstein wrote that check). We're still awaiting a response.

A couple thoughts come to mind about this:

1. Bill McCollum sees the state GOP under Jim Greer as doing zero to help his campaign. He has no reluctance to throw Greer and Co. under the Rothstein bus, but maybe not the RGA that could be helpful.

Tom Slade endorses Paula Dockery for governor

State Sen. Paula Dockery of Lakeland, who recently stepped up to challenge Attorney General Bill McCollum for the Republican nomination for governor, announced a name-brand endorsement today: Former Republican Party of Florida Chairman Tom Slade.

Slade, who lives in Jacksonville and headed the state party during the 1990s, is known as a straight-talking maverick -- a perfect fit for Dockery's antiestablishment campaign.

"McCollum is a nice guy, but I think he would be better in the U.S. Senate, where I think his skills are better suited,'' Slade says in a press release. "But I think Paula would do a better job of being governor. She's got the kind of tenacity you need, and she's got the knowledge."

He added: "Paula would be better position to win the general election than her opponent. She has a delightful personality and a pleasantness that is rare in most politicians."

Dockery remains a longshot, but this endorsement has got to bug the McCollum camp, coming one day before he addresses the Republican Governors Association's annual conference in Texas. McCollum, who is trailing Sink in fundraising, could use the heft of a group like the RGA behind him.

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Paula Dockery on cynicism, education funding and Jim Greer's 'divisive effect'

Here's a clip from Republican gubernatorial candidate Paula Dockery's appearance on Political Connections on Bay News 9. The full interview is available on Ch. 342, Bay News 9 on Demand. Best viewed on Firefox:

McCollum shows support for effort to stop EPA

AG Bill McCollum is indicating support for a big business, anti-tax effort to stop the federal Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing water quality standards in the Florida's waterways.

In letter (download here) asking DEP Secretary Michael Sole to brief the Cabinet, McCollum embraces many of the talking points espoused at a press conference Thursday. The political calculation is not surprising -- any Republican likes to stab at the Democratic administration in Washington -- and it is sure to draw a distinction between his GOP primary opponent Paula Dockery, whose is likely to campaign on her environmental credentials. What is more surprising: the letter came to us from Ron Sachs' PR firm, which is behind the donttaxflorida.com effort, not from McCollum's office.

Update: McCollum spokeswoman Sandi Copes said the attorney general's office has been working on the letter "for more than a week now'' and they "didn't know anything about the talking points. We had our water attorney draft the letter." She acknowledged "it could become a political issue in the future. We're not there yet."  

Florida GOP awash in primaries

LAKELAND — Florida Republican leaders worked hard to thwart any costly and potentially divisive primaries in this busy election cycle. They could not have failed more and looked less disciplined if they were Democrats.

State Sen. Paula Dockery became the latest to thumb her nose at the party establishment, formally announcing her campaign for governor Tuesday night, five months after a battalion of party leaders gathered alongside Attorney General Bill McCollum in Orlando to anoint him as their gubernatorial standard-bearer. ... With the economy and the multitude of open statewide races making raising money harder than ever, state GOP leaders see an array of potentially tough primaries that could drain campaign accounts by the general election.

"My original hope was that we would be able to focus on the Democrats and the general election, and conserve as much of our financial resources as possible, but that doesn't always happen the way you would like,'' said state Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer, who provoked a grass roots firestorm when he tried to invoke an obscure party rule allowing the state party to unite behind Gov. Charlie Crist for the U.S. Senate.

Look at almost every statewide race, and you'll see contests for the Republican nomination.

 (STORY HERE)

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Dockery declares herself the reform candidate

At least 150 people turned out in the drizzle tonight to see Paula Dockery formally jump into the governor's race and declare herself the candidate of reform and true conservative values.
 “Florida needs a common sense conservative leader it can count on to do the right thing,” Dockery, 47,   cited several top Republican fundraisers facing criminal investigations, indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom, and dubious spending by Republican leaders.

"Conside the message our state party's sending out: credit card abuse, free trips to Europe on the dime of donors, and a refusal to let Republiucan voters decide their own nominees,'' Dockery said. "People are tired of it. They're beyond cynical and moving toward angry...They want a choice a choice in the Republican primary."

Good speech. Not sure about the wisdom of her thanking controversial Republican operative Doug Guetzloe for helping draft her. "You got me into this,'' she said of Guetzloe.

Winner and loser of the week

Winner of the week: Bill McCollum. The Republican gubernatorial candidate doesn’t seem to realize it yet, but a primary challenge from state Sen. Paula Dockery could be just what he needs to spark interest in his contest and in his campaign. Nothing like a solid primary win to make you look like a winner when its time to face Democratic rival Alex Sink -- who could find herself invisible amid all the attention on McCollum vs. Dockery and Crist vs. Rubio. Runner up: Paula Dockery, whose entry into the governor’s race was greeted with a mass e-mail from the NRA to its members: “ALERT Paula Dockery, A+ NRA rated Senator enters FL Governor’s Race.” It's a sign McCollum still has work to do with the base.

Loser of the week: Karen Thurman. The Florida Democratic Chairwoman made a big show of the party jumping into St. Petersburg’s officially non-partisan election to help elect Kathleen Ford mayor of Florida’s fourth largest city. Despite Democrats having a hefty voter registration advantage in St. Pete and the state GOP doing zilch to help Bill Foster, Ford  fell well short, Thurman gets to own that that loss. Runners up: Ken Welch and Rick Kriseman, either of whom would likely be St Pete mayor-elect today if they'd had the guts to run.