from The News Service of Florida
With a couple of veiled shots at gubernatorial contender Rick Scott, fellow Republican Sen. Alex Villalobos of Miami endorsed Democrat Alex Sink on Tuesday, saying the GOP primary exposed too many questions about the nominee.
Villalobos, a moderate who lost his Senate majority leader post after bucking former Gov. Jeb Bush on school voucher legislation, said he had a good working relationship with Sink. But Villalobos said his support was cemented by the hard-hitting attacks leveled at Scott by his losing primary rival, Bill McCollum.
“I don’t know Mr. Scott, I never met him,” Villalobos said. “But I think it looks bad for people to make such serious allegations and turn around two days later and say, `It doesn’t matter.’”
McCollum has refused to endorse Scott, who he accused of committing fraud at his former hospital chain, Columbia/HCA, which paid $1.7 billion in fines and settlements to resolve federal accusations of Medicaid and Medicare fraud three years after he quit the company. Sink, who also was endorsed Tuesday by Leon County Commissioner Bryan Desloge, a Republican, tried to paint the GOP backers as part of a rising trend.
“We must remember that 53 percent of the Republicans who voted in the primary did not support Rick Scott,” Sink pointed out. “Florida voters … have serious questions about Rick Scott, his honest, his integrity, and where he came from.”
Scott, who spent $50 million of his own family’s money during the primary, put another $1.1 million into his campaign against Sink earlier this month. Sink, who is eligible for public financing, has so far stayed away from accepting the taxpayer cash, which McCollum had accepted in his losing primary bid.
“I haven’t made a decision quite yet,” Sink said.