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Orlando Sentinel: Martinez for Senate
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Race
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| Contributor | Some say... |
| Last Edited | Some say... Oct 10, 2004 07:19pm |
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| Category | Endorsement |
| Media | Newspaper - Orlando Sentinel |
| News Date | Sunday, October 10, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Democrats and Republicans in Florida have nominated two worthy candidates for the U.S. Senate, but Republican Mel Martinez of Orlando is the best qualified by virtue of his broad experience and leadership ability.
Mr. Martinez has been a successful lawyer, Orange County chairman and a member of President George W. Bush's Cabinet. In each position, he has distinguished himself as a smart, hard-working and independent leader.
The Democratic nominee, Tampa's Betty Castor, can boast of stints as a county commissioner, state senator and state education commissioner. But she lacks the Washington, D.C., experience that Mr. Martinez gained as secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a federal agency with 9,000 employees and a $30 billion budget.
Thanks to his three years of service in the nation's capital -- as well as his quick mind -- Mr. Martinez is well grounded in the issues he would face as a U.S. senator. And he already knows the movers and shakers in Washington.
Besides running HUD, he earned enough trust from Mr. Bush to be tapped as a liaison for the administration to Hispanic groups and an envoy to Spain and Latin America. Mr. Martinez also gained valuable experience as a member of the president's Cabinet in the tumultuous days following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
But it's not just experience that makes him the better choice. He has proved himself a leader by his willingness to stand up to powerful special interests in the name of the greater public good. That's a crucial attribute for members of Congress, who are subjected to enormous lobbying pressure.
As county chairman, Mr. Martinez took on the formidable home-building industry. His "Martinez plan" forces the county to consider school crowding when evaluating rezonings for new subdivisions. His policy has become a model for other governments grappling with growth. This is the kind of visionary and courageous leadership that Floridians expect and deserve |
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