And Rod Smith spoke...

[FD Bro']

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog...n-dixie-county

Alex Sink's running mate Rod Smith: 'We're going to win Dixie County'

Where's Rod Smith these days?

Ask Alex Sink's running mate, a former state Senator and long-time prosecutor, and he'll rattle off the name of rural Florida towns most down-state residents have never heard of.

"We've been in Macclenny, Starke and Live Oak. We had a big crowd in Chiefland the other day," Smith during an interview after a Jacksonville appearance.

Those small towns don't have media outlets that award Smith widespread coverage like that afforded to state Rep. Jennifer Carroll, the other candidate for lieutenant governor, who has campaigned in some of the state's largest media markets. But they are Smith country.

He served as the state attorney for Florida's Eighth Judicial Circuit, a district whose most populous city is the college town of Gainesville. He's well known there, mostly for his prosecution of Danny Rolling, the serial killer convicted of first-degree murder in the slaying of five students at the University of Florida.

He later ran for state Senate, serving six years in the Legislature as one of the few Democrats in a region dominated by Republicans. In 2006, he failed in a bid for governor, losing in the Democratic primary to former U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, who went on to lose to Gov. Charlie Crist.

These days, he's drawing on the connections he made over the years, persuading Sheriffs to sign on with the Sink campaign, a difficult task in counties that have shifted to the Republican party over the last few decades.

"My good friend [Baker County Sheriff] Joey Dobson publicly endorsed us today. So did [Union County Sheriff] Jerry Whitehead and [Bradford County Sheriff] Gordon Smith," Smith said. "They're all Republicans."

And that's what Smith brings to the Sink ticket - an appeal to rural North Florida voters who haven't been targeted by Democratic candidates since the days of Walkin' Lawton Chiles, the former Democratic governor who died in 1998.

Name a rural North Florida town and Smith will regale you with his knowledge of it, just as he did when I mentioned my home town of Williston.

Rattling off the names of dairy farmers near my parents old farm, Sink assured me the campaign had picked up the endorsement of Levy County Sheriff Johnny Smith and Gerald Heathcoat, the Mayor of Williston.

Smith hasn't hesitated to draw on his reputation as a hard-nosed prosecutor to cast doubt on the integrity of Sink's opponent, Republican Rick Scott.

"The only reason you would take the Fifth [Amendment] is if you believe the testimony you gave will lead to criminal prosecution," Smith told a Jacksonville crowd. "That's [Scott's] constitutional right, but you can't do that and be governor of Florida."

Smith said he's drawn on his record as a prosecutor to secure support for the Sink/Smith ticket, but he said there's also concerns about Scott's plan to cut spending on prisons, a large employer in North Florida.

Tomorrow, Smith said he'll head off to the Florida Panhandle for five days, drumming up votes in a region typically friendly to Republicans. But he's not deterred.

"We're going county to county to compete," Smith said. "We're going to win Dixie County."



FD Bro'

Sink will lie to your face to get elected. If she were to win the job, you can expect:
1) increased taxes and fees
2) no increased pay for LEO's
3) increases in social welfare transfer payments
4) A RAID OF THE PENSION FUNDS
5) overrides of her vetoes by the legislation
6) she will make no more sense when she speaks than when she campaigns.

THE PBA WAS STUPID TO ENDORSE SINK BECAUSE SHE IS AN OBAMA LOVING LIBERAL WHO WILL SCREW THE CITIZENS AND EMPLOYEES OF FLORIDA FOR HER OWN PERSONAL AGENDA. :twisted: :twisted:

VOTE FOR SCOTT.
:idea: :idea:

Sink will lie to your face to get elected. If she were to win the job, you can expect:
1) increased taxes and fees
2) no increased pay for LEO's
3) increases in social welfare transfer payments
4) A RAID OF THE PENSION FUNDS
5) overrides of her vetoes by the legislation
6) she will make no more sense when she speaks than when she campaigns.

THE PBA WAS STUPID TO ENDORSE SINK BECAUSE SHE IS AN OBAMA LOVING LIBERAL WHO WILL SCREW THE CITIZENS AND EMPLOYEES OF FLORIDA FOR HER OWN PERSONAL AGENDA. :twisted: :twisted:

VOTE FOR SCOTT.
:idea: :idea:

Can't believe anyone would vote for a democrat or liberal these days. Obummer, pelosi and reid have turned them into marxist/commies. the democratic party no longer exists in its old form. Makes me want out of pba ops:

Do you wash your white robe with your uniform?

You keep your hate, I'll vote for progress: Sink and Smith, a prosecutor with a proven record over decades of aggressiving pursuing criminals.....like Rick Scott.

The only shield Scott has used is the 5th amendment against self-incrimination. Scott can't defend himself on his record, so how can he defend our state? He has to use the 5th amendment and to this day, refuses to come clean on his involvement.

Scott will not even provide a copy of his answers because the people would easily see what all the LEOs and prosecutors who are endorsing Sink and Smith know well: Scott is a liar, a weasel who skirted the law and made millions.