Atwater Hates the Truth, Loves Big Insurance

NEWS FROM THE FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

For Immediate Release: September 25, 2008
Contact: Eric Jotkoff, 850.222.3411

JEFF ATWATER LIES ABOUT INSURANCE TIES IN HIS NEW CAMPAIGN AD

Campaign Contributions Show He Hasn't Changed

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - In response to the website SenatorJoke.com which parodies his own campaign site, presumed incoming Senate President Jeff Atwater (R-North Palm Beach) has launched an advertisement where he apologizes for his past support of the big insurance industry's agenda, but claims that it was nothing more than a youthful indiscretion. Atwater claims that he's changed. Unfortunately, the facts don't support this claim. (See Atwater's ad at http://vimeo.com/1804802.)

Jeff Atwater does not dispute that he's accepted excessive amounts in campaign contributions from the insurance industry. In fact, the most recent reporting period which posted last Friday now puts Atwater's grand total of insurance money at $284,076. But Jeff Atwater implies that this money was for past campaigns. NOT TRUE.

A detailed review of Atwater's current contributions shows that he has accepted over $90,000 for his current campaign from insurance interests - $61,450 to his 2008 reelection account and $29,381 to his PAC, Preserve the American Dream.

"It's a lie, and he's a liar," said Linda Bird, reacting to Atwater's latest campaign commercial. "This is the kind of political doubletalk that prompted me to run for the Florida Senate. While Jeff Atwater has been taking thousands of dollars in contributions from insurance companies, Florida's homeowners are stuck in a financial crunch from higher insurance rates and higher property taxes. When I'm elected to the Florida Senate, I will succeed where Jeff Atwater has failed."

This past year, Jeff Atwater engaged in harsh rhetoric against the insurance industry, but his demagoguery can't hide his long record of supporting those same big insurance companies. In 2005, Atwater voted to make it easier for insurance companies to deny claims to homeowners. (SB 1486, 2005) But the most infamous example of towing the insurance line was Atwater's vote in 2006 to raise homeowner's insurance rates by 71.5%. (SB 1980, 2006)

"Jeff Atwater claims to have had an insurance epiphany and has renounced his sins, but voters aren't buying this mea culpa," said Linda Bird. "Families are paying two or three times what they paid a few years ago, while the insurance companies that are slipping thousands in Atwater's pockets are making huge profits. I will take on the big insurance companies, and not just in election years. We can, and we must, make a change for Florida's future."

"Florida deserves better than this," said Eric Jotkoff, Florida Democratic Party Communications Director. "Now that he is lying about his support from big insurance, Atwater is proving once again that he is the Best Insurance Hypocrite. The only place where Jeff Atwater deserves to be senate president is in the State of Denial."

New Site Tracking Atwater

Senator Joke has a particular focus on incoming Senate President Jeff Atwater and his ties to the insurance industry.