Almost anyone close to a candidate can cause problems for the campaign with an unguarded comment -- staffers, family members, friends.
Even a boss.
So when John Morgan, Orlando lawyer, backer of a constitutional amendment to legalize medical marijuana and staunch supporter of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, went on something of a rant at a recent event, it was almost inevitable that someone opposed to Crist would use the YouTube clip in a political ad of some sort.
Enter the Republican Governors Association, which put together a Web video featuring some of Morgan's greatest hits from the rant, including "We're not just gonna do it -- we're gonna f-----g do it," and, "Once I get outside the borders of Polk County ... I might smoke a lot of grass." In the intro to Morgan's time on stage, the video floats the potential for the lawyer to become "Florida's next Supreme Court Justice."
The origins of the video are still a bit unclear. Morgan is on a stage and says he's gotten "f----d up." The No on 2 campaign -- which opposes Morgan's ballot initiative to legalize medical marijuana -- said the clip was from a "get out the vote" rally. The Republican Governors Association wasn't bothered by any possible distinction between the pot fight and Crist's campaign.
"If these are the political allies Crist keeps and would be willing to elevate to positions of authority, his judgment needs a serious course correction," Gail Gitcho of the RGA said in a statement about the video. "Florida deserves better than that."
It's not the first time Republicans have tried to make Morgan, who hired Crist to join his law firm after Crist's first turn as governor, into an issue for the Democratic nominee. Among the Morgan-related lines of attack coming from the Republican Party of Florida and the campaign of Gov. Rick Scott:
-- Questioning how much Crist made working for Morgan
-- Highlighting alleged contradictions between Morgan and Crist's statements on President Obama's signature health-care law
-- Trumpeting Morgan's comments to the Miami Herald that Democratic National Committee Chairwoman and Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz "should just become a bridesmaid for Pam Bondis next wedding." Bondi, of course, is the state's Republican attorney general. (Wasserman Schultz had issued a statement in which she seemed hesitant about the marijuana amendment.)
Crist has also had an opportunity to benefit through his work for Morgan & Morgan, keeping his face on billboards and in TV commercials for the law firm during the four years he's been out of office. The RPOF has also tried to make an issue of whether all those ads were taken down quickly enough once Crist started running for governor; Morgan has said he ordered all the ads to come down, but some billboard companies left them up, and a TV ad ran again in Tallahassee, reportedly by mistake.
It's not clear if voters will change their minds about Crist based on an appearance by his former boss. But Republicans certainly look like they're willing to find out.
MISSING FROM MISSING CHILDREN'S EVENT:
Missing Children's Day is usually one of the year's most-somber events at the Capitol, with state leaders personally expressing sympathy to families who have lost children.
But when a crowd gathered Monday morning, Scott and other members of the Florida Cabinet were nowhere to be found.
Scott and Lt. Gov. Carlos Lopez-Cantera were at a campaign stop in Winter Park, part of the governor's ongoing tax-cut tour. The campaign even emailed out a photo of the pair while both events were happening.
First lady Ann Scott was at the Capitol representing the governor's office at the event.
"Is the first lady not good enough?" campaign spokeswoman Jackie Schutz replied in an email when asked why the decision was made for the governor to remain on the campaign trail instead of attending the Missing Children's Day event.
Spokespeople for Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, were equally quick to point out that surrogates were at the event but did not say where those elected officials were Monday morning.
Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater's spokesman, Chris Cate, simply noted, "The CFO is not in Tallahassee."
TWEET OF THE WEEK: "I'm SURE the NFL has a crisis PR firm costing them 50k/month. Fire them. Hire political hacks. We do this." -- Rick Wilson (?@TheRickWilson), following reports that the NFL had been sent a copy of a video related to a domestic violence incident involving player Ray Rice. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had denied the league had seen the video before it became public this week.
