The battle is on in the close gubernatorial contest to define each candidate -- and on Monday new websites were unveiled to portray state CFO Alex Sink, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, and Republican rival Rick Scott in an unflattering light.
On Monday afternoon the Florida Democratic Party announced it is running a new site attacking Scott.
As we all know, Rick Scott has not been honest with Floridians about his scandalous background, wrote Scott Arceneaux, the executive director of the party, in an e-mail to supporters. Pleading the Fifth 75 times in a single deposition may have helped Scott hide from the law, but it can't hide his record from Florida voters.
Arceneaux accused Scott of hiding from the media and of refusing to reveal his financial holdings. Arceneaux even brought up attacks made against Scott by his chief opponent in the Republican primary.
As Attorney General Bill McCollum pointed out on his website only days ago, Rick Scott refuses to release a deposition taken only days before he announced his candidacy for governor, he wrote. McCollum still has not endorsed Scott out of concerns over Scott's character.
The Rick Scott record is one of secrecy and lies, insisted Arceneaux. This site will help Floridians connect the dots on Scott's pattern of cover-ups because Floridians deserve to know: What Is Rick Scott hiding?
The Scott campaign countered later on Monday by unveiling a site attacking Sink as a supporter of big government whose views on economics mirror those of President Barack Obama.
Alex Sink will try to run from her record, but she can't hide from her liberal stances and support for Barack Obama's policies that have failed Florida, said Trey Stapleton, a spokesman for Scott, on Monday. Go to www.AlexSinkingFlorida.com to see the real Alex Sink the one who supported Obamacare and thinks the stimulus is working.
The Scott campaign insisted that the new site contains information that Sink is backing Obamas economic policies and trumpeted a video where Sink praises the president.
Scott also attempted to link Sink with Obama in a statement he made on Monday in response to a mailer sent by the AFL-CIO attacking him for not backing Obama on the federal stimulus program.
Obama liberal Alex Sink is sending her union allies to attack me for opposing the failed stimulus program, but it just shows voters what is at stake in this election, said Scott. Our country has lost 3.29 million jobs since President Obama flushed away a trillion dollars -- and Alex Sink said she supports President Obama's policies to fix our economy. The Democrats promised that after spending all that money, the unemployment rate wouldnt reach over 8 percent; it is now 11.6 percent in Florida and 9.6 percent nationally. Sink and her liberal allies have saddled our children and grandchildren with debt and created no jobs. I have a plan to cut taxes and regulations to turn Florida around and create 700,000 private-sector jobs in this state.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
