Make Oil the Issue

It is hard to believe how close Florida was to approving near-shore drilling before the BP disaster in the Gulf. Barely more than a year ago, the House passed a measure that would have allowed the Cabinet to lease out areas to drill as close as three miles from the beach. Lawmakers as recently as March seemed poised to pass such a measure next year.

So in the wake of the spill, it was no surprise to me when Scott Maddox, the lead Dem in the Agriculture Commissioner race, began challenging Republican Adam Putnam to sign a pledge not to allow drilling in state waters. At this point, this is pretty much the entire Maddox platform. That makes sense. This is undoubtedly the top issue on the mind of every Florida voter right now, and candidates for this less-than-sexy job have a lot of trouble getting press. I don't know how well this is polling because nobody polls the agriculture race five months out, but it has certainly changed the conversation.

So I was disappointed reading the site for Dave Aronberg, one of the Dems seeking the nod for Attorney General. There is no mention of his stance on drilling on the page, other than links to stories demanding BP pay more to clean the mess and get Florida a larger share. All that is fine, but a real concern for voters when they choose a new Attorney General should be how they might vote on the Cabinet regarding drilling off our beaches. Aronberg's positions appear no different than Jeff Kottkamp, the likely GOP nominee, which is that they don't state a firm position at all.

In contrast, Democrat Den Gelber is taking an aggressive stance when it comes to drilling, challenging legislative leaders to ban it outright through a statewide referendum. But he acknowledged that eventually, the Legislature will allow drilling and toss this to the Cabinet From his blog:

The legislature should be involved, but it is too political, too partisan, too cumbersome and too prone to regional favoritism to lead.

This should be a winning issue for Democrats. None of the significant Republicans running for statewide office have come out in favor of a drilling ban. To be fair, Bill McCollum and Jeff Atwater have both fought offshore drilling here for years, so this won't be as stronge a wedge in the Governor's race, though there are other issues, and the Chief Financial Officer race, which despite behind the only Cabinet post held by Dems now seems all but lost this year.

But in the AG race, where Kottkamp has kept a disturbing distance from statements on near-shore drilling, I don't know why every Dem hasn't made this a central issue to the campaign. And that makes me worry about Aronberg's strength as a candidate compared to Gelber.

The primary is still a couple months away, and things could change. I have always liked Dave Aronberg and I don't want to write him off yet. But if he continues to stay mum on how he would handle oil drilling as a member of the Cabinet, then my decision who to vote for in August gets a lot easier.