AG Candidates at Forum Clash Over Bill McCollum's Challenge to Obamacare

On Tuesday night, with less than three weeks until the primary elections, four of the six candidates running to be Floridas next attorney general spoke at a candidates forum sponsored by the Tallahassee Bar Association.

Both of the Democratic candidates in the race, Sen. Dan Gelber of Miami Beach and Sen. Dave Aronberg of Greenacres, attended the event. So did former Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Holly Benson who is running for the Republican nomination. Former Assistant State Attorney Jim Lewis, who is running as an independent, was also in attendance.

Bensons two rivals for the Republican nod, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and former Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi, did not attend. Bondi sent Allison DeFoor in her stead, a former vice chairman of the Republican Party of Florida who ran for lieutenant governor under Bob Martinez in 1990. With no representative for the Kottkamp campaign in attendance, an empty chair was set up for the lieutenant governor.

Backing Attorney General Bill McCollums constitutional challenge to new federal health-care laws backed by President Barack Obama, Benson called the new measures the slippery slope toward socialized medicine and said she would continue the fight against it. Benson said she was proud to call herself a conservative, adding she was part of a generation of young Republicans including U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio and U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, who is running for commissioner of agriculture and consumer services.

We are truly at a crossroads in American history, said Benson. Will we take the path of more government or more freedom?

In their closing remarks, the candidates mixed it up a little, though Gelber and Aronberg --whose race has grown more acrimonious in recent weeks --remained cordial.

Instead of focusing on his Democratic rival, Gelber turned his fire to Bensons remarks and attacked McCollums lawsuit.

This is a frivolous lawsuit being used to advance a candidate for governor and not the interests of the people of this state, said Gelber.

Aronberg said he opposed McCollum's lawsuit, calling it a political stunt.

Benson countered by arguing that the new health-care laws would cripple Floridas Medicaid system, adding 1.7 million Floridians to the program. She also said that the laws would only increase the states 12 percent unemployment which is above the national average.