May 14th, 2010
It’s rare to see an editorial filled with so much righteous anger, but this one really takes the prize:
Attorney General Bill McCollum and George Rekers have this in common: They were both happy to hire sleazy services, and they knew what they were getting for the money. Now both are having trouble explaining themselves.
That’s the opening gambit. The editorial board slams McCollum, who is now the GOP candidate for Florida governor, over his hiring Rekers as an “expert” witness” for the state’s defense of the gay adoption ban. McCollum ended up paying Rekers more than $120,000 for Rekers’ “expertise.” McCollum protested that he performed a thorough search for expert witnesses who would testify in support of the ban and that Rekers was the best he could find because “there wasn’t a whole lot of choice.” The paper retorted, “There was not a whole lot of choice because legitimate mental health professionals don’t share Rekers’ homophobic views, and Florida is the only state that bans adoptions by gay residents.”
Also, the paper points out that McCollumn’s search wasn’t all that thorough. Three years earlier, Rekers was blasted by an Arkansas court as “extremely suspect” and that he “was there to primarily to promote his own personal ideology.” Rekers tried to bilk Arkansas $200,000 for his services, but Arkansas paid “only” $60,000. As the Times concluded, Florida deserves a refund. “This is not the sort of sloppy staff work a Republican candidate for governor can easily defend,” they said.
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Paul in Canada
May 14th, 2010
Glad to see the ‘heat’ is still on. Any word on a fraud charge/suit?
Lindoro Almaviva
May 14th, 2010
And I hope the democratic candidate rides this all the way to the governor’s office.
Mark F.
May 14th, 2010
I resent the comparison between a consenting adult hiring a prostitute and the Florida governor hiring a phony expert with tax money! Why are prostitutes demonized?
Soren456
May 14th, 2010
@Mark F.:
It makes a nice opening sentence for the editorial. But I agree with you; I’d say only McCollum was doing the sleaze.
BTW, the reader comments after the editorial were unexpectedly caustic about McCollum.
CLS
May 14th, 2010
I agree with Mark F (San Francisco??)
Personally the next time a prostitute is caught with someone like Rekers I want to see them hold a press conference and apologize to their family and customers and explain they had no idea they were involved with someone so sleazy. In almost any exchange between a prostitute and a politician the prostitute is the more moral of the two.
A prostitute only screws you if you ask them to. And, when they do, you usually like it. I can’t say the same about politicians.
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