5 Florida RINOs Joined Democrats in Supporting In-State Tuition for Illegals

Call them Florida DREAMers. Will they still be senators after the 2012 election?

In a little-noted vote during the 2011 Legislature, five Republican senators supported a bill that would have awarded in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens.

Voting for SB 318: John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville; Anitere Flores, R-Miami; David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs; Garrett Richter, R-Naples; and Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale.

The measure, hatched by Democratic Sen. Gary Siplin in Flores' Judiciary Committee, was a Florida version of the proposed federal DREAM Act -- a controversial in-state tuition bill almost universally opposed by Republicans on Capitol Hill.

The RINO revolt in Judiciary was blocked at the Higher Education Committee, but with immigration activists managing to lure five GOP prominent senators to their side, the push will surely be back on next year.

Meantime, tea party groups and conservative activists say these five lawmakers have some explaining to do in advance of the 2012 election, when all legislative seats are up for grabs, due to redistricting.

Footnote: Flores, Bogdanoff and Richter also voted to water down the Senate's E-Verify bill that died in the House.