 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Rival's fliers spear Sen. Cowin's votesBy JIM ROSS © St. Petersburg Times, published November 4, 2000 INVERNESS -- An incumbent's voting record is fair game in political campaigns. Leslie Scales is taking full advantage. Scales, a Democrat, is challenging state Sen. Anna Cowin, R-Leesburg, for the right to represent District 11. That district includes east Citrus. Scales' campaign issued one-page zingers to reporters throughout October, each one highlighting an "Anna Cowin Stand of the Day." The sarcastic copy ridicules Cowin and accuses her of hypocrisy and extremism. "We thought justice was blind," one of the statements begins. "Maybe Cowin doesn't want it that way." It goes on to complain that Cowin sponsored legislation that would eliminate the requirement that at least one member of judicial nominating commissions be a woman or a racial or ethnic minority. Another statement chides Cowin for voting to provide a tax break for the builders of the World Bowling Village in Osceola County. "Spare us," the pun-filled copy reads. Other versions of the "Anna Cowin Stand of the Day" are more stark. "If Cowin had her way, our jails would be full of pregnant, law-abiding women," one statement reads. It goes on to chastise Cowin for voting in favor of arresting and prosecuting women who have late-term abortions. Cowin hasn't failed to respond to the written assaults on her record. Her campaign staff has issued detailed responses to some of the "stands of the day" releases. The abortion question concerns only so-called partial birth abortion, not late-term abortions, as Scales' news release said, according to the Cowin campaign. Cowin also said that the bill in question is one that she sponsored. It specifically said that only the person who performed the partial-birth abortion, not the mother, would face a penalty. Democrats introduced amendments to the bill, one of which said that a patient who undergoes a partial-birth abortion may not be prosecuted. Cowin voted against that amendment because there was nothing in the bill's original language to say that the mother ever would be prosecuted, she said. Cowin and other Republicans viewed the amendment as a political ploy designed by people who opposed the ban. As for the nominating commissions, Cowin said that, in July 1995, a federal court ruled the requirement that commissions must have at least one woman or minority was unconstitutional. Given that ruling, Cowin said, she tried to salvage the spirit of the provision, and thus added language encouraging diversity on the commissions. Cowin wrote a letter to Scales and asked her to stop misrepresenting facts. Cowin's campaign has said the charges should be reported as being false. Scales said she stood by the material.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
Citrus Times |
