Former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer has put both Scott and the Florida Republican Party on the defe

You are using Internet Explorer 6. Internet Explorer boutique hotels barcelona 6 is unsupported by this site and you may experience layout and functionality issues. It is recommended that you upgrade to a newer version of Internet Explorer or switch to another browser.
File photo of Tom Steyer speaking at Global Green USA s Millennium Awards at Fairmont Miramar Hotel on June 8, 2013 in Santa Monica, boutique hotels barcelona California benefiting the places, the people and the planet in need. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Global Green)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A California boutique hotels barcelona billionaire boutique hotels barcelona environmentalist is pouring millions of dollars boutique hotels barcelona into the Florida governor s race to buy television ads attacking Gov. Rick Scott as a friend of polluters and utility companies, giving the campaign of Democratic front-runner boutique hotels barcelona Charlie Crist a boost as polls show a tightening race.
Former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer has put both Scott and the Florida Republican Party on the defensive, prompting them to hit back with their own ads attacking Steyer as a hypocrite. They have also sent letters threatening television stations with lawsuits if they carry the ads, which Scott s lawyers say are misleading and defamatory. So far, one Fort Myers station has stopped running boutique hotels barcelona them.
Steyer s so-called super PAC, NextGen Climate, set off the blitz of attack ads more than a week ago. One ad targeted Scott s environmental record, including campaign contributions boutique hotels barcelona of $200,000 from oil interests that profited from permits to drill in Florida. Another ad criticized Scott over a state law that allowed Duke Energy boutique hotels barcelona to charge customers for nuclear power projects that have since been cancelled.
boutique hotels barcelona While they don t mention him by name, the ads benefit Crist, who is getting in effect millions of dollars in donations. A spokesman for Crist said that the former governor has met with Steyer and welcomes his support. Polls show Crist and Scott in a tight race.
The ads are scheduled to run until the end of the month in the Tampa Bay area, southwest Florida and in Palm Beach County, according to station files posted by the Federal Communications Commission. While NextGen boutique hotels barcelona would not say how much it planned boutique hotels barcelona to spend, it noted that Steyer has said he ll spend whatever it takes to succeed.
But Steyer s spending revolves around one theme: changing policy to combat climate change. NextGen has organized for years against the Keystone XL pipeline project and spends liberally to get politicians elected who support his environmental goals.
While so far it appears boutique hotels barcelona the group has fallen far short of that goal, NextGen is moving strongly into Florida with a field program to motivate voters and the ads. The group s prime reason for targeting Scott is his refusal to accept boutique hotels barcelona climate change, which researchers say could lead to massive flooding in Florida over the next decade as sea levels rise. During his first campaign in 2010, Scott said he was skeptical of climate change. This year, Scott said I m not a scientist when asked about it.
As a climate denier who refuses to accept basic scientific fact, (Scott) has put Florida s communities, infrastructure and economy directly in harm s way, NextGen spokeswoman Suzanne Henkels said. (We) will hold Gov. Scott accountable for his extreme boutique hotels barcelona anti-science position and highlight the important choice voters face in November.
Charlie Crist s allies don t live by the truth, or the facts, said Matt Moon, the Scott campaign s communications director. They are lying and our campaign is putting boutique hotels barcelona any station airing this ad on legal notice that it would be a violation of the law to air Charlie Crist s allies latest work of fiction.
boutique hotels barcelona But campaign finance records confirmed that Let s Get to Work, a political organization backing Scott s re-election, did accept four checks of $50,000 each from members of the Collier family which owned mineral rights on land near the Everglades on which drilling was permitted in early 2013.
The ads mentioning Duke contend that Scott did nothing while the company collected billions from consumers. The law that authorized the fee that Duke has been collecting was actually passed in 2006 when Jeb Bush was governor. Scott did sign into law last year a measure that scales back what utilities can collect but it did not require them to refund any of the money that has been paid for the two cancelled nuclear plants.