SENATE CANDIDATE CORCORAN: BOUGHT AND PAID FOR!

An Opinion By Jan Bergemann
President, Cyber Citizens For Justice, Inc.

Published May 15, 2007

If there ever was a candidate bought and paid for by special interests, it's Richard Corcoran, candidate for Senate seat District 3. Formerly, we consumers had a great advocate in this District -- Nancy Argenziano! She was known for not beating around the "bush" and for making her opinion known.

It seems that special interests don't want to see another senator with a mind of his/her own in that seat -- they need somebody following their agenda, not being a spokesperson for the constituents!

The perfect candidate to promote the agenda of special interest is Richard Corcoran -- according to the

Campaign Finance Report published on the website of the Division of Elections. He is already bought and paid for by special interest. The list of his donors sounds like the Who’s Who of people with a very specific interest!

In case you have any doubts where Richard Corcoran comes from: He was part of the totally overpaid staff hired by Speaker Marco Rubio at taxpayers’ expense. The chief-of-staff of the Speaker making a salary of $175,000 -- more than $40,000 more than our Governor makes?

Their excuse: "Corcoran could be earning much more in the private sector." Then why isn't he working in the private sector? He sure doesn't look like the person who would take a pay-cut in order to "serve the public”!

Speaker Marco Rubio and his First Lieutenant David Rivera are strongly backing this candidate, and we have seen during the legislative session that their agenda is surely not favoring the welfare of Florida 's citizens! See: FLORIDA'S HOUSE OF SHAME!

They are saying one thing -- to grab the headlines – but they are doing the opposite behind closed doors! Their arrogance and unwillingness to compromise killed the talks about much-needed property tax solutions. And when they realized that their plan wouldn't work, they acted like kids in kindergarten: "Since you took my toy away, I'm not playing with you any longer!"

Richard Corcoran, as Rubio's chief-of-staff, was part of the team pushing for the property-tax/sales-tax swap. Now, realizing that they came up with an idea that grabbed headlines but no takers, Corcoran distances himself from the idea and was quoted as saying that he "opposes any new taxes whatsoever, and that includes the sales tax."

Typical politician -- even without being elected yet! And he hopefully never will be elected! The voters in Senate District 3 should realize who they are voting for if they cast their vote for:

Richard Corcoran = SPECIAL INTEREST!

Don't forget: The more fancy the ads and TV spots for the candidate, the more money was "donated" by special interest!

We citizens just don't have the big bucks to donate to the candidates. Many of us are fighting for financial survival. And we need elected officials that are in our corner, not in the corner of special interest. We really can't afford elected state officials that are bought and paid for by the folks that just want our money!

BE CAREFUL WHO YOU VOTE FOR -- DON'T VOTE AGAINST YOUR OWN WALLET!