Marco Rubio A Moderate?

You might have already seen Marco Rubio, who is running for senate in Florida, flip-flop over the Arizona Immigration Law. At first he was against it then supposedly he was for it. But did you know that he also voted to bring a cap and trade bill to Florida while he was in the Florida congress?
To be completely honest I was for Rubio from the start as early blog post shows but my mind began to change once I saw him give a speech at a tea party event I attended. At first I say him underneath a canopy cutting up with friends or family, I don't really know but then he came on stage and his whole demeanor changed. He dodged questions with typical politician charm giving no straightforward answers just tea party feel good talk. Then as the months went by he began coming out on what I would call the wrong side of some very important issues then flip-flopping on them. I gave him the benefit of the doubt again, still planning on voting for him. But having found out that he supported and voted for a cap and trade scheme here in Florida was the last straw. I had finally seen Marco Rubio for what he was a moderate republican riding on the coattails of the tea party movement long enough to get elected senator. I urge everyone to look into Alexander Andrew Snitker the libertarian candidate for senator of Florida. Here is his website: http://snitker2010.com/

Also below is the article about Rubio's cap and trade votes with links provided. Either we are sick and tired of Politicians like Rubio or we are not and we get what we deserve. I am afraid this politician is a Crist wearing conservative clothing.


Florida Cap and Traders!
Submitted by letushope on Thu, 10/21/2010 - 11:48
in Current Events
http://dailypaul.com/node/147239


If you know someone who's on the fence with Rubio or Crist please share this with them.

Cap and Trade is coming to Florida (if we don’t stop it)! And you are likely to be sending one of the men who made that possible to our United State Senate seat. Yes I am talking about Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist.

If you’ve completely made up your mind on Rubio or Crist, there’s nothing I can say in this letter to change your mind. And that’s okay, but I hope you will read this anyway because there is still time to fight back the Florida Legislature that passed (nearly unanimously / both Republicans and Democrats) HB 7135.

If you’re still reading thank you. I’ve spent the last two weeks reading nearly a thousand pages of cumbersome Florida records and many Committee reports navigating my way to a deeper understanding of what we are facing.

The timeline begins in 2001 it’s a long and tiresome story, so I’m picking it up from 2006 when Florida Legislature passed (among other things) SB 888; which created the Florida Energy Commission. The Commission was authorized to shape Florida’s long term and near term energy issues. The following year (2007) the report identified 85 strategic goals that included a cap and trade system and a variety of grants, mandates and nudges towards a GREENER Florida.

That report can be read here:
http://www.floridapipeline.org/Documents/FECReport122007Final.pdf


Rubio’s vote FOR SB 888 can be seen here:
http://www.flsenate.gov/cgi-bin/view_page.pl?Tab=session&Submenu=1&FT=D&File=session/2006/Senate/bills/votes/html/hSB08880503061121.html

Interestingly enough… all but one person voted in favor of this Commission.

2008 brought about legislation that provides for nearly all of the Commission’s goals as outlined in the 2007 report. HB 7135 simply called Energy provided section 403.44 Florida Climate Protection Act and it’s just as sweet and rosy as what we’ve seen on the National stage. The full text of the Bill can be read here, the Climate Protection Act starts on page 142 (not 42):
http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2008/House/bills/billtext/pdf/h713503er.pdf


Rubio’s vote for HB 7135 can be seen here:
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/floorvote.aspx?VoteId=9068&BillId=39607&SessionId=57

Of course, Crist signed each of these Bills into Law, so they are both Cap and Traders!

This is cut and paste directly from the law and it’s just the first few sections…

403.44 Florida Climate Protection Act.--
(1) The Legislature finds it is in the best interest of
the state to document, to the greatest extent practicable, greenhouse gas emissions and to pursue a market-based emissions abatement program, such as cap and trade, to address greenhouse gas emissions reductions.
(2) As used in this section, the term:
(a) "Allowance" means a credit issued by the department through allotments or auction which represents an authorization to emit specific amounts of greenhouse gases, as further defined in department rule.
(b) "Cap and trade" or "emissions trading" means an administrative approach used to control pollution by providing a limit on total allowable emissions, providing for allowances to emit pollutants, and providing for the transfer of the allowances among pollutant sources as a means of compliance with emission limits.

This is a press release from The Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
On June 25, 2008, Governor Charlie Crist signed into law House Bill 7135, enacting several new energy and climate change policies. The policies include the Florida Climate Protection Act, which authorizes the Department of Environmental Protection to develop an electric-utility greenhouse gas (GHG) cap-and-trade program. Pending legislative approval of the final plan, the cap-and-trade program may begin operation as soon as January 1, 2010.
http://www.pewclimate.org/node/6020


This is another link that provides a detail of the impact of this legislation:
http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2008/House/bills/analysis/pdf/h7135.ENRC.pdf


I have not found where the 2010 Legislature has taken any further actions regarding Cap and Trade, I will continue to look. But I felt this information had to be shared. If I'm reading all of this right, the framework has been established, but not the actual law to madate this.