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Politics

By Attacking Scott Instead of Bondi, Sheldon Waves a White Flag in AG Bid

October 8, 2014 - 6:00pm
By turning his guns on Rick Scott and away from incumbent Pam Bondi, George Sheldon has essentially ended his bid to be Floridas attorney general. He is now part of his party's all-out offensive to put a Democrat in the governor's office -- even if that Democrat was a Republican for all but four years of a long political career.

The writing was on the wall for Sheldon. Despite his many months on the campaign trail and his decades in public life, Sheldon never caught fire against Bondi, trailing badly in the polls and in fundraising.

Sheldon might have gotten an inkling of where things stood on Monday during his debate with Bondi and Libertarian Bill Wohlsifer. Instead of going on the attack against Bondi or defending Sheldon during the debate, the Florida Democrats used the occasion of the attorney general candidates' debate to hit Scott.

Bondi said it was not appropriate to describe Scotts administration as corrupt. That prompted Allison Tant to send out a statement on behalf of the Florida Democrats.

Pam Bondis claim that criticizing Rick Scott for corruption is not appropriate is as laughable as it is hypocritical, Tant said. Rick Scott made his millions defrauding seniors at Columbia HCA and ended up paying the largest fine for Medicare fraud in American history. His administration has been run in the same manner as it has lurched from one corruption scandal to another over the last four years. Be it his previous chief of staff, who was forced to resign after being caught driving no-bid contracts to his friends, or his current chief of staff who killed high-speed rail to pave the way for a program that would enrich his former employers, Rick Scott and corruption go hand in hand.

Considering how many taxpayer dollars Rick Scott has given to his wealthy campaign contributors, I would say there are millions of reasons why Rick Scott is corrupt, Tant added. And if Pam Bondi still requires more proof, she need only think back to when she had Rick Scott reschedule an execution so she could hold a fundraiser for her re-election.

Its telling that, during an attorney general candidates' debate, Tant kept Scott in her sights, largely ignored taking shots at Bondi until the end and ignored her partys candidate completely. All that matters at the state level for Florida Democrats at this point is Charlie Crist beating Scott. Sheldons campaign is tertiary at best.

Sheldon decided to accelerate his march to political irrelevancy on Wednesday when he sued Scott over financial disclosures. In doing so, Sheldon was clearly marching in line to Tants drum. With his own campaign against Bondi going nowhere, Sheldon turned all his efforts against Scott.

http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/attorney-general-hopeful-sues-ric...

It might be strange that Sheldons political career ends as a hatchet man for his old rival Crist, but it is also somewhat fitting. Sheldon has been on the political stage for decades but always in another mans shadow. From his days as an aide to Reubin Askew to being Bob Butterworths deputy to being Crists attack dog, Sheldon has been, at best, an understudy for far brighter political stars.

Crist and Sheldon clashed in the 2000 elections when they were both running to be education commissioner. Unlike the presidential election in Florida that year, the contest wasnt particularly close as Crist went on to beat Sheldon by 7 percent in the general election. Crist, then a Republican, bombarded Sheldon with attack ads back in 2000, hitting the Democrat on everything from being soft on drugs and for a drunk driving incident from years before.

They could have clashed again two years later. That time out, Crist set his eyes on being attorney general and went on to win the Republican nomination. Despite being Bob Butterworths deputy attorney general, Sheldon never gained much traction in 2002 when he ran for his bosss job. Sheldon came in last in the three-man Democratic primary, finishing behind Buddy Dyer, who went on to lose to Crist, and Scott Maddox.

As the years went by and Crist moved on to being governor, Sheldon resurfaced -- this time, surprisingly enough, as a member of his old rivals administration. Crist named Butterworth to head up the Department of Children and Families. Sheldon tagged along for his old boss as his deputy once again. When Butterworth left DCF, Sheldon moved up to fill the vacant position.

Despite their previous acrimony, Sheldon proved a loyal trooper for Crist and he used the position to head to Washington. Sheldon was a member of the Obama administration as acting assistant secretary for children and families in the federal department of Health and Human Services and left last fall to run against Bondi.

Having held Askews and Butterworths coats for much of his career, Sheldon now does the same for Crist despite their previous battles. This election looks like the end of the electoral line for Sheldon, but he could resurface in a Crist administration as an appointed official. With three and a half weeks left, Sheldons already more concerned with the gubernatorial race than his own election: a fitting finale for a perpetual understudy who, despite his many years of public service, will be a mere footnote in Florida history.

Tallahassee political writer Jeff Henderson wrote this analysis exclusively for Sunshine State News.

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