TU: PolitiJax: State lawmakers defend Mayport carrier

[Patricia M. McBride]

This is something people will need to get behind.  Our problem has always been a very strong Virginia congressional contingent who want to keep all the carriers for their state.  Allowing the families to be moved into Virginia for the last carrier was a huge mistake since it is so costly to move these folks again.  Our congressmen and especially Crenshaw needs to get smarter about this.  The carrier was targeted for Mayport originally, and the families should have been moved here from the get go!  We need someone representing our district who isn't going to roll over to the Virginia reps and who will fight as hard or harder to make that happen (and it isn't at this point).

 

Weeks after members of the Virginia congressional delegation sent a letter to a Navy official asking that they reconsider bringing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to Mayport, members of the Florida delegation hit back with their own letter Wednesday.

“You may hear from a few persistent critics of the project, but as you know the decision to disperse the East Coast carrier fleet has been examined and re-examined by the Navy, Department of Defense, and Government Accountability Office (GAO),” read the letter, sent by U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, a Republican, Bill Nelson, a Democrat, and Republican U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw.

“Every study affirmed and reaffirmed, as in the case of the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review, what the Navy has maintained all along — that dispersing our capital ships is in our best national security interest.”

In their letter, the Virginia lawmakers — Democratic Sens. Jim Webb and Mark Warner, Republican Reps. Randy Forbes, Rob Wittman, Scott Rigell and Democrat Robert “Bobby” Scott — argued that a move to Mayport would be too expensive.

Latest Bondi targets: Pills and timeshares
Attorney General Pam Bondi added to her legislative priorities for the upcoming session Wednesday by unveiling legislation that would create a task force to look at the impact of prescription pill abuse on newborns.

“I have seen firsthand the most vulnerable victims of prescription drug abuse, and we must do everything we can to protect these newborns,” Bondi said.

The bill is being sponsored by Joe Negron, R-Stuart, in the Senate, and Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, in the House.

On Tuesday, Bondi rolled out another priority bill that aims to crack down on timeshare fraud. Specifically, the bill would crack down on the practice of resale agents saying they have a buyer when none exists, and when resale agents misrepresent their success rate. She said that since January, her office has received nearly 6,863 complaints. In 2010 the state received more than 12,000 complaints about timeshare resale fraud — more than the next four highest complaint categories combined.

That bill is sponsored by Majority Leader Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, in the Senate, and Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando in the House.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-10-06/story/politijax-state...