GOP’s Haridopolos — Fiscally Conservative Except When It Involves His Wallet
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Democrats should be overjoyed. A Republican U. S. Senate candidate is already being ripped apart 20 months before the 2012 election.
Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos, an announced candidate for U. S. Senate next year, was the target of an Associated Press report this week. It stated he received $152,000 from Brevard Community College to write one copy of a book.
The book was a 175-page tome titled Florida Legislative History and Processes.
The AP reported that the book wasn’t “publishable, textbook-quality, but the school paid him anyway.
Is there any doubt that the potential GOP opponent of Haridopolos U. S. Rep. Connie Mack and former U. S. Sen. George LeMieux are LOLROF* after the AP report?
Democatic U. S. Sen. Bill Nelson should be overjoyed, too. This early dirt thrown on Haridopolos can only help him. His hope for victory next year hinges on the Republicans savaging themselves in the GOP primary.
I wonder if anybody tipped AP about the book? Nelson is from Melbourne and so is Haridopolos. Isn’t Melbourne in Brevard County, home to the state college that paid Haridopolos?
Hmmmmm.
Haridopolos is quickly learning that running a statewide campaign is like sticking your head into a buzz saw.
The Senate President told the St. Pete Times this week that he fulfilled all the obligations of his contract with the school.
I guess Haridopolis is fiscally conservativeexcept when it comes to filling his own wallet.
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*LOLROF: An Internet term meaning Laughing Out Loud Rolling On the Floor.
March 1st, 2011 at 11:29 pm
I agree with Buddy. This is not a Republican fiscally conservative move. He should give the money back.
March 2nd, 2011 at 6:37 am
You misunderstand . . . when a Republican states that he or she is a fiscal conservative, they mean in terms of providing services to the middle and lower classes.
There is no evidence that they are frugal when it comes to themselves or the wealthy. Kinda like all these social conservatives who wind up in the news for banging their staff assistants.
FROM BUDDY: I called that hypocrisy.
March 2nd, 2011 at 7:34 am
Give it to Hari, at least he wrote a leaflet for his cash, instead of just having it stuffed in a golf or doggie bag
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:41 am
I call someone who is fiscally conservative as someone who doesn’t overextend themselves, pays their bills timely with adequate revenues available, and provides a good service for what the people demand and what government needs to provide.
For many republicans, its means providing the least service in the cheapest way so that government is small and taxes low.
Unfortunately that also means that required government services are done on the cheap, if at all, and not very good. So everyone suffers but the rich.
PS At least his hair looks good. Lately, a lot of politicans have been sporting really nice hair.
FROM BUDDY: I call Haridopolos a phony and a hypocrite for stuffing cash in his bank account while cutting money to the students at the same college that is paying him.
March 2nd, 2011 at 9:58 am
What’s next? A government contract to Newt to write a manual on how to weather the many crises of married life?
March 2nd, 2011 at 10:07 am
On reflection, I think that if I was Haridopolos or the President of Brevard Community College, I would be worried about an indictment. $150,000+ is way, WAY over market rate for what an author would receive for a work such as this.
Other than best selling authors, the writer of a book might get a royality of 10 percent of the wholesale price of the book. So in this case let’s assume that the book actually sold 2,000 copies (more than the average book published in the U.S.); it would have to wholesale for $750 a copy.
Now, no sane person would reasonably expect a book on the Florida Legislature to either retail 2,000 copies or to wholesale for $750.
I don’t know him, but there is a FAU political science professor, Eric Prier, who wrote a book on the Florida Legislature several years ago. For comparison, it would interesting to see how much money he has been paid for that work (published by the University Press of Florida), or how many have been sold.
I think someone has a lot of ‘splaining to do.
March 2nd, 2011 at 3:47 pm
Some good advice to State Sen Haridoplos: quietly drop out of US Senate race. You’re not going to get the Repub nod. Be thankful you don’t get indicted. Worse comes to worse invoke the fifth amendment 75 times like Gov Rick Scott. There is a reason they call our State Flor-i-duh.
March 3rd, 2011 at 6:06 am
Good advice Broward Politico. What a hypocrite.
March 3rd, 2011 at 11:17 am
It really is a shame that you are so Anti GOP. If you check the facts he was paid a fee for a service he complied with the contract and now your knickers are in a knot because only in your warped world are people with a letter d after there name allowed to make money….Ever hear of what Clinton is paid for a speech or what he wife? was paid for a book or what Obama was paid 4 times for a book full of dribble? get your facts straight before you zap another person hate-monger
March 3rd, 2011 at 5:29 pm
@Other side: Quit grasping at straws — neither Clinton’s nor Obama’s books were paid for by a government agency while they were in office. The money Clinton and Obama made from their books was based on royalties (percentage of sales).
Had Haridopolos been paid in that manner at a reasonable rate, few would care. The fact that he was paid an exorbitant fee for what allegedly turned out to be an inferior product, makes the whole thing fishy.
Moreover, here’s a guy who advocates a lean, if not stingy, government and he’s getting a sweetheart deal from a public institution.