Two Florida Lawmakers, One Record Opposing Workers’ Interests

by James Parks, Oct 26, 2006

Florida union members hear the details of state Rep. Gus Bilirakis’ anti-worker record.

U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw and state Rep. Gus Bilirakis, both Republicans in Florida, share one thing in common: a long record of opposing almost anything that would help working families.

Shaw, who has represented Florida’s 22nd District for more than a quarter of a century, has voted against working families 88 percent of the time he’s been in office. He helped write the flawed Medicare prescription drug bill that penalizes seniors and gives billions to the health care industry, the same industry that has given $210,486 in campaign contributions to Shaw.

In his eight years in the Florida Legislature, Bilirakis, who is running for an open seat in the 9th District, voted against workers practically every time. He received a “zero” score from the Florida AFL-CIO in 2005—a “perfect” record of voting against the best interests of workers and their families. The United Labor Lobby (ULL) ranked him as one of the worst legislators in Florida each of the past four years. The ULL is a coalition of the Florida AFL-CIO and affiliated unions that lobbies for statewide workers’ issues.

Today, union members and leaders in Florida are releasing report cards to union members on Shaw’s and Bilirakis’ records and discussing the performance of the “do-nothing” Congress on workers’ issues. The AFL-CIO is compiling report cards on some members of Congress to highlight their votes on jobs and wages, retirement security, health care, tax fairness and education, among other issues.

Shaw, who voted with President Bush 91.01 percent of the time, voted for a plan that would lead to higher health care premiums for the majority of small business employees. In February, Shaw also voted for Medicaid cuts that will lead to higher co-payments for 13 million people by 2015 and to lower benefits for 1.6 million people. Currently there are 3.7 million uninsured people in Florida and 46.6 million nationwide.

But Shaw didn’t stop there in taking away benefits from seniors. He says he has a plan to privatize Social Security—a scheme he acknowledges will add more than $3 trillion to the national debt.

The AFL-CIO has endorsed Shaw’s opponent, state Sen. Ron Klein, who believes the
Medicare drug plan is a payoff to pharmaceutical companies and denies benefits to thousands of seniors, and he opposes privatizing Social Security.

The record of Bilirakis includes a vote against the Fair Share Health Care Act, which would have provided health insurance for thousands of Floridians without coverage. He voted to privatize the Medicaid system, a move that would have jeopardized the health care of 2.2 million of Florida’s most vulnerable children and seniors.

He voted against smaller class sizes while supporting the privatization of the Florida school system through the expansion of taxpayer-funded private school vouchers.

In contrast, Phyllis Busansky, Bilirakis’ opponent, who has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, is a leader in the fight to provide quality universal health care. The Indigent
Health Care Plan, which she developed as chairwoman of the Hillsborough County Commission, provides the indigent and working poor with affordable health care and saved taxpayers $100 million in four years.

The AFL-CIO released three other report cards this month on the records of Reps. Charles Taylor (R-N.C.), Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) and Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.). Taylor voted with President Bush 90.91 percent of the time—and only 15 percent with working families. Wilson voted with President Bush 86.36 percent of the time. Johnson, who has close ties to the pharmaceutical industry, voted with President Bush 67.05 percent of the time, cast votes against working people 73 percent of the time during the 109th Congress.

You can check out how often your members of Congress voted with President Bush here and check the AFL-CIO’s Congressional Voting Record site to see how your representative and senators voted on working family issues.

And don’t forget to check out the AFL-CIO Political Action Center at www.votenov7.org, where you can register to vote, learn about working family issues and download candidate comparison fliers.

This portion of this website is paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Political Contributions Committee, 815 16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006, with voluntary contributions from union members and their families, and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

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