Democrat gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, or as some call him, “Tan Man Charlie,” was all about the those sunrays he seems to be always basking in, when he attended campaign rally in support of solar power and renewable energy at the Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida.
Miami Herald–“In Tallahassee, it’s pay to play right now – the ones that are controlling the money are controlling the power,’’ said Stephen A. Smith, director of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, a solar industry-backed group which advocates for the development of alternatives to fossil fuels.
The group funded an Integrity Florida report that found that the state’s four top electric companies have spent $18 million since 2002 on state and legislative campaigns.
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Smith said that Florida has the third largest potential for rooftop solar generation in the nation but ranks 18th in solar installation because, he said, the utility industry fears the market threat of allowing homeowners and businesses to generate their own electricity.
He said they invited the Republican governor to attend the rally, but he didn’t come. That prompted Smith to declare a new rule: “You can’t be governor of the Sunshine State if you do not support solar power.” He begin a call-and-response with the crowd of about 150 activists wearing t-shirts and sunglasses.“Rich Scott,’’ they shouted. “MIA today. Gone tomorrow.”
In other words, if you are a politician or elected official, and you decide to not appease special interests groups like the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, then you can expect to be called out and attacked.
So why are these solar energy folks all upset at Rick Scott about?
It seems as if it stems back to 2011, when Scott “opposed a proposal proposal by Florida’s five major utilities that would have allowed them to charge customers as much as $1.5 billion over four years to produce more renewable energy.”While Scott is preventing Floridians from flipping the bill for renewable energy in the state, Crist is always content in pandering to special interests.
Crist hypocritically says that Scott bows to special interests, yet here he is pandering to them, just as he did when he was Governor.
Solar Charlie has always been “open and airy” about “green energy.”
Crist signed three executive orders in July 2007 after the Republican-led Legislature refused to adopt his clean-energy initiatives. The pre-recession orders set statewide greenhouse gas emissions targets, called for increased energy efficiency, increased the use of clean, renewable energy sources and removed market barriers for renewable energy technologies such as solar and wind energy. He also proposed spending $200 million on green technologies.-Miami Herald
Rick Scott’s re-election campaign offered this quote regarding Crist’s rally.
Expect Solar Charlie to be coming to a beach or tanning bed near you to campaign for renewable energies.“It’s too bad Crist can’t channel all of his hot air into wind energy to fuel his campaign.”-Rick Scott Campaign
