Armed with Mike Huckabee's endorsement, U.S. Senate candidate Mike Haridopolos travels to Bradenton Tuesday to speak to a tea party group. Heated members say he has some explaining to do.
Coming off a tumultuous state Senate session that disappointed conservatives, Haridopolos will need more than the religiously good wishes of Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential hopeful who hasn't always rung the tea party bell.
Citing the 2011 Legislature's modest budget reductions, tiny tax cuts and the failure to pass even a watered-down immigration bill, Manatee tea party officer Judith Hood said she will skip the Haridopolos event -- one in a series of "Meet the Candidate" gatherings.
"I wouldn't go if they paid me," Hood said disgustedly.
Others also are boycotting Haridopolos' visit, reports Janet Mixon, whose Mixon Fruit Farms is hosting the senator Tuesday evening. Still others say they will show up to ask tough questions, with video cameras in hand.
Tea Party Manatee could be a bellwether for Florida's tea movement. Sending a half-dozen members to Tallahassee to lobby during the legislative session, the Manatee club is among the state's more active and informed tea organizations.
Sensing a rough reception, Haridopolos' wife, Stephanie, recently e-mailed an explanation of her husband's stand on immigration.
"My husband did everything he could to pass the immigration bill with E-Verify. Unfortunately, he was four votes shy in the Senate," Mrs. Haridopolos wrote to a tea party member.
"As you know, he is the leader of the Senate and not a dictator. Ten Republican senators voted against it. The tea partiers should be upset with the Republican senators that voted against it."
Hood wasn't impressed with Haridopolos' performance in Tallahassee this year, and she told the Senate president so in a scathing letter. The April 20 letter bluntly challenged Haridopolos to marshal Republicans and deliver a strong immigration bill:
"The decision is yours: side with the illegal aliens funded by George Soros, and aligned with Florida Immigrant Coalition, ACORN, ACLU, SEIU, and other organizations that want to destroy our state and country, or respect the rule of law, protect Florida taxpayers and get legislation passed protecting legal workers. Which will it be?"
As the Merritt Island Republican squares off in a crowded field for the right to face Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, Hood says she's not been bowled over by any of the big-money GOP hopefuls.
"I'm supporting Mike McCalister," Hood said. "He's a true American, not a slimy little politician like the ones we deal with in Tallahassee."
Mixon, too, said she's leaning toward McCalister.
"He's an outsider, he ran a business, he's been in the military," she noted.
Across the state, tea partiers and like-minded conservatives are anxious about the GOP field's ability to knock out Nelson. While the two-term Democrat parrots his party's position on immigration reform, the top Republican candidates have yet to distinguish themselves on the issue, providing limp rhetoric and little bona fide conservatism.
Amid an apparent lack of tea party consensus -- or enthusiasm -- for Haridopolos and other high-profile hopefuls like George LeMieux and Adam Hasner, the campaigns have begun to crank out negative videos and opposition research dissing each other.
Soon after Mixon Farms cropped up on Haridopolos' itinerary, one of his opponents put out word that Mixon's owners had testified in favor of "comprehensive immigration reform" (aka amnesty) on Capitol Hill.
Checking out the story, Sunshine State News confirmed that Jerry Mixon did offer such testimony back in 2007. But Jerry Mixon now owns a separate company with no connection to Janet and Dean Mixon's operation.
Janet Mixon asserted that her company does not and will not hire illegal aliens.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (772) 801-5341 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
