At this afternoon’s Tiger Bay debate between the GOP aspirants for Attorney General, candidate Pam Bondi was asked directly by political consultant Dave Zachem about how she voted in January 2008 on the much-discussed Amendment 1 ballot initiative (which doubled the homestead exemption for almost all Florida homeowners).
This initiative was championed by Governor Charlie Crist, who promised property taxes would “drop like a rock.” With all of the money spent in support of Amendment 1, you would have had to been living under a rock to not know what the issue was all about.
Yet, Bondi seemed to have no clue today what Zachem was asking about (video forthcoming), although her opponents Holly Benson and Jeff Kottkamp provided detailed, lucid responses to the same question. Bondi’s response to Zachem’s question left many in attendance at today’s debate wondering how a candidate for statewide office could have such little familiarity with such an important issue.
But now I know why Bondi was confused about Amendment 1.
According to my research, Bondi failed to vote on this issue in 2008, missing Florida’s presidential primary in January 2008. Here is a screen shot of her voter file:
Notice Bondi failed to vote in the 2008 GOP primary either. Not voting in two out of the last three elections certainly is not the standard one would expect from a candidate for statewide office.
Developing…
Update: The Buzz confirms:
At today’s Suncoast Tiger Bay forum, Republican AG candidate Pam Bondi had difficulty answering a question about whether or not she voted for Amendment 1, the tax relief package offered by Republicans and Crist in 2008.
After asking what Amendment 1 was, she quickly turned the discussion to property insurance.
Turns out, she was having trouble how she voted because she didn’t vote, Hillsborough County voting records show.
