Florida would be crazy to lose Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate. I mean really crazy.
Electing Patrick Murphy to take his place would be like trading in a Tesla Model S for a Kia Sportage.
Why would you give up Rubio for a crossover noted for "poor ride quality and an interior that leaves something to be desired ..."?
But, forgive that outburst. What I really want to do here is tell you why I'm for Marco Rubio, rather than why I'm against his Democratic opponent.
Let's first recognize that, yes, Rubio has been guilty of poor attendance in the Senate and he has failed to show up for big meetings back home. But you can slice that data all kinds of ways.
For instance, between March 5, 2015 and March 3, 2016, Rubio missed 41 percent of his Senate votes. But the majority of the votes and for that matter meetings he skipped in Florida, came after he announced his candidacy for president and before he dropped out of the race. According to Politifact, historically, "(Rubio's) record is largely in line with other presidential candidates from the U.S. Senate."
Plus, Rubio’s absentee rate has changed dramatically since then. From April to September this year, he missed only three of 113 votes, or 2.7 percent.
Here's what you have to consider, and why Rubio, frankly, is so important for Florida: He is a giant among his peers. Plain and simple.
Rubio came into the Senate in 2011 already a force of nature. He had proven himself on the West Miami City Commission and then in the Florida House of Representatives, rising to speaker in 2006.
Marco Rubio knows Florida as well as any citizen I know.
You might not remember this, but I do: As speaker, he launched an ambitious campaign to generate ways to reform state government. He held a series of meetings around the state to hear and collect ideas from Florida residents. Pulling from these suggestions, Rubio put together "100 Innovative Ideas for Florida's Future." It was an incredibly ambitious program. With the help of Senate President Ken Pruitt, he presented it to the Legislature and more than half of these ideas became law.
My point here is, Rubio knows what makes Florida tick and most of all, he's proven he gets things done. He is always willing to fight on the battlefield of ideas. He plain commands attention -- the man enters a room, you know it.
Granted, he's ambitious. But his ambition ultimately is in Florida's best interest. It's part of the whole package, and why when he wants something in the Senate, he knows how to get it.
I'll give you the best example I know. In March, Rubio pulled off an incredible feat in a single day for Lake Okeechobee and the algae-oppressed people of the Treasure Coast and Lee County -- and for disintegrating Florida Bay.
As reported in The Miami Herald, Rubio convinced Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., powerful chairman of the Environmental and Public Works Committee, to back a suite of Everglades restoration projects expected to cost about $1.9 billion and aimed at stopping the kind of crisis that gripped South Florida over the winter when El Niño dropped record rain.
Inhofe, by the way, has consistently treated Everglades restoration as a humbug. He was the only vote against the master plan to fix the Everglades in 2000. Somehow, some way, Rubio convinced him to revisit the ailing River of Grass. Here's what happened in Inhofe's own words:
“Marco showed me this (Comprehensive Everglades Planning Process) was different. And I wouldn’t have gotten into it if Marco hadn’t talked to me. When Marco said one out of three Floridians are affected, I thought that wasn’t right.”
Inhofe supported it, CEPP funding passed in committee and from there in September, it moved on in the Senate. Nearly $2 billion for Florida. I know of no other senator in Washington who could have accomplished it.
I like his positions on the issues, and apparently so did the six newspapers of the USA Today group. In an editorial board meeting a week ago, they jointly endorsed him for re-election giving these reasons:
-- He has proposed a gun bill that would keep anyone not only on a terrorist list, but also anyone investigated or connected to terrorist activity from buying guns. It would allow for the FBI to be notified for further investigation.
-- He wants federal funding for water projects going first to obligations in the Central Everglades Restoration Plan. He said he couldn't ask for money on top of that to buy land for storage, treatment and flow south of the lake. But he said he would pursue money to buy storage land that would "limit harmful discharges flowing from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries."
-- He wants to trim regulations brought on by big banks since the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Those regulations handcuff entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to start up a small business.
-- He will push to reinvest in the space program, once one of the most important industries in Florida.
-- He is already trying to offer parents monthly child tax credits as a way to help families cope with immediate financial needs.
-- He wants to steer the higher education model away from standard four-year liberal arts degrees, concentrating on vocational, career training and certifications.
Marco Rubio is a solid conservative. He is not a liberal. He is not a RINO. Yes, he screwed up with the Gang of 8, but no politician is perfect. I'm telling you, what he is right now is exactly what Florida needs in Washington.
Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith
