Florida PIRG Praises Jeff Atwater for being Open on the Budget

Senate President Jeff Atwater, the Republican candidate for state CFO, is getting praise from an unlikely source.

Atwater sent out an e-mail to supporters invoking Brad Ashewell, an advocate for the Florida Public Interest Research Group, an organization not exactly known for being friendly to conservatives or Republicans, that praised Atwater for pushing transparency on the budget.

In case you missed it, Florida Public Interest Research Group -- a statewide, nonpartisan public-policy group -- recently acknowledged my record of fighting to bring accountability and transparency to Florida's budget, wrote Atwater. Last month, Florida PIRG's Advocate Brad Ashwell published an article touting the success that online transparency tools can play in reducing waste and empowering people to hold government accountable.

Now, before the Legislature can vote to spend any tax dollar, citizens have an opportunity to review the proposal and offer their opinion on its merits, continued Atwater. This provides unprecedented public input and review, and it helps make Floridas budget process more open and accountable.

UPDATE:

The Atwater letter led the campaign of former Rep. Loranne Ausley, the Democratic CFO candidate, to take aim at the Senate president.

"If Jeff Atwater wanted to be open and transparent about his spending habits as Senate president, he should have built an even bigger glass dome on top of his $48 million 'Tallahassee Taj Mahal,' that way everyone would have a chance to see the 60-inch flat screen TVs and granite counter tops we are paying for," said Kevin Cate, a spokesman for Ausley.