by Javier Manjarres

There have been a recent spate of stories in the media regarding U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner’s position on Cap and Trade legislation, stories charging that Hasner has flipped-flopped on the issue subsequent to his support of legislation that addressed cap and trade in 2008.  But a closer look at Hasner’s record shows that he’s been pretty solid in opposition to any bona fide cap and trade measure.

Let’s not forget that this same criticism was leveled by those who tried to brand then candidate, and now Senator Marco Rubio as the same sort of cap and trade flip-flopper when he served as Speaker of the House in 2008. Back in 2008, Hasner and other Republicans in the state legislature thwarted Governor Charlie Crist from implementing a cap and trade plan.  Hasner co-sponsored a bill that is now being cited as proof that he did support a cap and trade plan, but at the time of its proposal, the bill was ripped by environmentalists who believed it would “weakens the system” that Crist wanted to impose.

While it’s not typical to brag about weaker legislation that you co-sponsor, Hasner was effectively neutering Crist’s far more coercive cap and trade scheme. Hasner has recently signed the Americans for Prosperity No Climate Tax Pledge and the Contract from America, both of which state opposition to cap and trade, and he has also signed a Pledge to Floridians vowing to oppose any cap and trade if elected to the U.S. Senate.