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Nancy Smith

'Been-Around' Bill Nelson: Senator Lost in Space

March 15, 2018 - 6:00am
Bill Nelson
Bill Nelson

Bill Nelson, the senator whose name fewer than 50 percent of Floridians know but who's been in or hanging around elected office since Richard Nixon was president, tells us he can still be fresh and new.

Anybody believe him?

A poll last fall concluded more than half of Florida’s voters -- 49 percent -- don’t know enough about the man who has been their U.S. senator for 17 years to form an opinion about the job he’s doing.

“I saw this number and I was flabbergasted,” said Michael Binder, faculty director of the Public Opinion Research Lab at the University of North Florida, which released the poll in October 2017.

Fresh and new? Even the left-leaning Miami New Times has lost patience with their man, calling him "the scarecrow-made-from-used-mulch that is Bill Nelson." That was after Nelson, 75, voted to reauthorize the federal government's massive, unconstitutional power to let the National Security Agency spy on Americans without a warrant. (He may just have been following Debbie Wasserman Schultz's lead, because the Weston Democrat voted the same way in the House.)

I Beg to Differ

Said the New Times, "Nelson -- Florida's most powerful Democrat -- voted to extend Section 702 of the federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for six years," meaning "Donald Trump and the pool of starved piranhas that work in his Cabinet will continue to have access to the most powerful government spying apparatus in human history." The bill passed 65-34, and the media reported Trump was gleefully rubbing his hands.

Ask yourself, do you know where you were in 1972? How much water flowed under the bridge in your life since 1972, when Nixon was still proclaiming his innocence in Watergate? Bill Nelson was feeding at the public trough then, he's feeding at it now and he fed at it most of the years in between.

Nelson, a lawyer who never practiced any law that I could find, served in Vietnam, then was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1972. He served three terms there; then served in the U.S. House in 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1988 and remained in the House until 1991. Only reason he didn't stay on is because he decided to run for governor. U.S. Sen. Lawton Chiles beat him, so he had to wait to for 1994 to find another election. 

He ran and won as state treasurer, insurance commissioner and fire marshal -- then a Cabinet post -- in 1994 and 1998. In 2000 he ran and won a U.S. Senate seat, won it again in 2006 and again in 2012. 

But in all that time ... all that time ... the only thing he's remembered for? The only thing? Not for any "Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal" (BHAG). Not for a single piece of legislation you've ever heard of. No. Bill Nelson, who grew up in Melbourne, was selected as one of only two members of Congress ever to orbit the Earth, was a payload specialist on space shuttle Columbia's STS-61-C mission from Jan. 12-18, 1986.

Astronaut Bill Nelson
Astronaut Bill Nelson

You would think, given that honor, he could have saved NASA as a true government entity for the Space Coast. Or tried. You would have thought he could rise to the occasion.

Yet, when Nelson had a chance to keep NASA in Florida and the Kennedy Space Center in President Obama's face, he wouldn't risk it. Anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 Florida jobs evaporated because we were no longer looking to set up science labs on the Moon, we were going to Mars. And Nelson knew by the time we got there, most of the jobs that send up the rockets would have gone to other states. As Obama said in 2009, Florida can't have it all, "everybody wants a piece of the action."

Now -- in a better economy -- NASA is rebuilding, if only slowly, thanks to international business and private-venture space projects.

But none of it is thanks to Sen. Bill Nelson. All that time in public office. All the opportunity to rise at the same rate Florida has risen. Nearly 50 years of opportunity and what do we have? Accomplishment invisible.

How does he have anything fresh and new to show us? He demonstrated his logic Wednesday.

Apparently either he forgot he is running for reelection or he doesn’t remember he’s not running to be the senator from New York. In an odd move during a committee hearing Wednesday morning, Nelson "advocated for massive tax increases in order to pay for infrastructure."

If this plan of raising taxes sounds familiar, it’s because liberal Sen. Chuck Schumer proposed the same plan last week. So, Nelson’s great idea for hardworking Floridians is to repeal the wildly successful tax cuts that have already led to economic growth, new jobs and massive investments in workers.

The man doesn't change: “Bill Nelson’s reelection strategy seems to be voting against bigger paychecks, bonuses and more jobs, and instead supporting higher taxes for Florida families,” said Katie Martin, communications director for the National Republican Senate Committee. 

“Polling has shown that a majority of voters can’t name a single Bill Nelson accomplishment in the Senate," but Martin feels dead certain, "His idea of raising taxes and taking away bonuses and higher pay will stick come this November.”

 

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith

 


READ MORE FROM SUNSHINE STATE NEWS

Rick Scott Besting Bill Nelson in New Poll

How Bill Nelson Is Souring the Milk of Human Kindness, or Trolling Grief for Campaign Cash

Comments

great man

Madam Editor; Welcome to the "conversation" I've been marshaling for over TEN years regarding "Zippy, the Ride-along-rocketeer" Nelson. He's been largely UNAVAILABLE to his constituents (unless you're a Lobbiest or Special interest group dispensing "Lagniappes" to politicians) which, incidentally, that's who "Zippy" thinks is going to hire him to guide them through the sub-basements & dungeons of the D.C. Capitol Building...at a 'large multiple' of "Zippy's" current Senatorial Salary. Although he does look young and handsome in his "photoOp" NASA coveralls uniform,.. (holding his toy "rocketship" souvenir to remind him of his lucid years ), he can still buy rather handsome coveralls in Walmart and shoulder patches to make him ANY "important personage" in his own mind, for as long as his mind remains relatively focused to his onset conditions... {REMEMBER FOLKS: This man voted to "cut" military pensions when Obama was HIS President... Just "take a moment" to consider "Zippy's VOTE" and the self-serving panderer he has ALWAYS been ... relative to a STATE, FLORIDA, ("Zippy's" State), that is ALWAYS "FULL UP" with a "military presence" (both Active & Retired) representative of THIS ENTIRE NATION's DEFENSE !) "Zippy Nenson" HAS TO GO !

Billy is a lying Punk...Ambulance Chaser on disasters & Killing of innocence people....He Sold out US Space Shuttle Workers with Obama ..Came & Told Direct Lie they were for Extending Space Program...Just to get OUR VOTE...then Bam once Elected they Turn Coat & Program Over & Defunded....On his Astronaut Training in 6 months When Young Astronauts Years in Training Got Bucked OFF LIST for HIM to Play Zippy RocketPunk...My Team worked in zippy,s training he was a Self centered I'm a senator Attitude.......Ha...you were Punk Then & Punk Now....

Always find it hilarious and ironic when a trump supporter is using lying as to settle an argument. When it is welldocumented that the dip shit pres is the most notorious liar to ever hold office.

Well , if Rick Scott runs ( and all appearances indicate that is his plan ) , the Nelson’s lucky streak of not drawing well known / well funded opponents might have ended . It will be two experienced, and well funded seasoned politicians squaring off against each other . Much will depend on whether the national political winds are blowing hard in one direction or the other . In relatively neutral national ‘wind’ , Scott may have a slight edge , as he has definitely run ( and won) much tougher and more hard fought races than Nelson , IMO .

Nelson flies in whenever disaster strikes and makes promises and takes a jab at Rick Scott but does nothing. I saw that in the algae crisis here on the Treasure Coast and then after the Stoneman Douglas shooting. Scott doesn't have to make nothing promises, he rolls up his sleeves, gets with good people to devise a plan and tries to find a real solution. Your poll question on these two is a no brainer.

I recall he was among the first and few to call for the use of Emminent Domain to acquire the lands necessary to clean up the very problem you mention. But don't get confused by details. Keep the stench, gut the SFWM research, ban your staff from even mentioning climate change. Eventually you'll come to realize the No. 1 driver of Florida's economy is tourism. If you don't protect the environment, Florida will collapse. In the meantime, close your windows and vote for big sugar, big oil and the NRA.

Nancy - You sound worried in your screed. You should be. Bill Nelson has stood up for the best interests of Florida and Floridians for a long time - and we know it.

HA !

you should be writing for the RNC or FoxNews, you've copied their talking points almost verbatim... Not really a fan of Bill Nelson, but from what I am told, he tries to help people, as opposed to money, special interests, which is primarily what motivates the current Gov and legislature. They have actually done a few things recently because of outrage and reelection, but just the bare minimum. The tax cuts amounted to an extra $38 in my paycheck, so unless your name is Scott or Trump, they are hardly wildly successful, especially with the trade deficit now at near record levels and wild market fluctuations... I am just an independent voter, but I would take people over special interests aka, money all day long...

HA !.. AGAIN..!

Bill is 75, and Rick Scott took the Fifth 75 times.

yuk, yuk, "comedy at its worst"!

I am glad that somebody in the media is finally figuring out that despite his aw shucks good ole boy rhetoric, Nelson is a reliable far left vote for the coastal liberal Democrat elite. That is who he represents, not the state of FL.

He needs to go, we need term limits in the swamp.

Yes, we need term limits and the only way we're going to get them is through a Convention of the States because Congress isn't going to vote to cut their time in office.

Comments are now closed.

nancy smith
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