Bill McCollum — who may be seeing the Republican gubernatorial primary in Florida finally shifting his way after months running behind Rick Scott — appears to ready to try and ride his way to victory on the back of an immigration enforcement proposal he himself calls “tougher” than Arizona’s controversial 1070 law.
The details of McCollum’s plan, as reported by the Miami Herald: “The proposed law would require immigrants to carry valid documentation or face up to 20 days in jail and would allow judges to hand down stiffer penalties to illegal immigrations who commit the same crimes as legal residents.”
“Arizona is going to want this law,” McCollum told reporters. “We’re better, we’re stronger, we’re tougher and we’re fairer.”
The proposed law is already creating the expected headlines: “Is Florida the New Arizona?” Time wondered. But in a state where prominent Republicans like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio publicly frowned on key provisions of Arizona’s law, the answer to that question is probably no.
So, what’s behind the shift? Simple politics, Democrats say. McCollum is proving himself willing to swing way out to the right to beat Scott — who has been hammering McCollum as too moderate — leaving the the Democrats potentially facing a nominee who could be on the wrong side of Florida’s large immigrant population.
The Latino groups that McCollum would theoretically court in a general election are already ripping his immigration proposal.
“(Arizona) is losing money. The business community is losing money. Why bring that to the state of Florida?” Ft. Meyers Hispanic-American Business Alliance president Leonardo Garcia told the Southwest Florida News-Press. Garcia said the Arizona law — and the national protest, boycotts and negative press that’s gone with it — has been a disaster for business in that state and he questioned why McCollum would want take Florida’s tourist economy down that road now.
“It would be a disaster for businesses,” Garcia told the paper. “This is not what the United States of America is about.”
Florida’s current governor, Independent Charlie Crist, is also wary of McCollum’s proposal — which is already under preliminary debate in the legislature. That’s not a real surprise — though he used to be a Republican, Crist is running as the Senate race’s de facto Dem these days, and has been loathe to take any position that angers his new centrist Democratic base.
“I don’t like the Arizona law,” Crist told CNN yesterday. “I don’t think it’s the right way to go.”
As for Scott, McCollum’s opponent for the Republican nomination to replace Crist — he’s already dismissing McCollum’s proposal as a political stunt. Immigration was one of the issues he’s beat McCollum over the head with for quite a while now, and it seems that’s not going to stop just because McCollum’s now running to out-Jan Brewer Jan Brewer. Check out this web ad the Scott camp launched yesterday:
For their part, Democrats agree with Scott’s take — McCollum’s push is the desperate cry of an establishment politican who’s now in the fight of his political life.
“The attorney general’s proposal is a clear political stunt, which raises questions as to his true motivation for delving into the issues surrounding immigration,” Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
“And why now?” he told the paper. “Why add fat to the fire?”
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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