In yet another setback for Gov. Charlie Crist’s (R-FL) Senate campaign, it turns out that his former adviser who Crist himself appointed to the Senate, Sen. George LeMieux (R-FL), says he would have voted against the stimulus — which Crist supported.
LeMieux said he would have voted against the plan, “now that we see how little of that money has stimulated the economy,” according to the St. Petersburg Times. LeMieux also said, though, that he could understand why some people had supported it: “You know hindsight is 20/20 … The sky was falling.”
Crist supported the stimulus, and even took the step of crossing party lines to campaign alongside President Obama for its passage. This has become a major weakness for him in the Republican Senate primary against former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, who has had a two-to-one lead in recent polls.
LeMieux also said that he agreed with Crist on taking stimulus funds as a governor. “Sen. Phil Gramm, who is about as fiscally conservative as anyone who has ever served here, said that if the U.S. Senate decided to build a cheese factory on the moon, he would have voted against it. But if it passed, he would sure make sure that the parts for it were built in Texas,” LeMieux said. “I believe the same thing.”
Crist’s campaign did not return our calls for comment.
