Mitch Perry
In his short year-and-a-half stint serving as a Congressman in Washington, David Jolly has on occasion voted against the majority of his party because of what he says is typical Washington dishonesty. While that attitude works in representing his moderate Pinellas County district, it’s a danger in running in a Republican primary election for Senate, something he appears to be keenly aware of.
Take for example, his vote last week against supporting a fourth committee in the House to investigate the practices of Planned Parenthood. Emphasizing his bona fides on how he is pro-life and was repulsed by the recent series of videos that had Planned Parenthood staff discussing fetal tissue procurement, Jolly said that it was absurd to have another committee look at the issue.
“I do want to see Planned Parenthood defunded, there’s no question about that,” he said.”But creating one more committee suggests to me, that we are a party that does not truly reflect less government, less bureaucracy but are simply willing to score political points.”
When asked if that was the case why then he supported the current House investigation on what happened in Benghazi – the 7th overall – he said he was originally leaning another committee, but said the Obama administration showed disdain for the process when it was discovered that they had produced “more information” to an outside organization that they had provided to previous congressional committees.
“We had an administration who was intentionally obstructing our interests in investigating what had happened, and that is why I was a yes on the Benghazi committee.”
Jolly spoke at the 2015 AP Florida Legislative Planning Session in Tallahassee, where he boasted about the fact that he’s in Washington to get things done, and boasted about several bills and/or amendments that he’s been able to get passed.
He said he’s about delivering results, and called out candidates who, “promise one thing, and do nothing to deliver.”
“I bet every single one of you has spoken with candidates for decades who say ‘Washington is broken,’ but when they have a chance to do something about it, they’re missing in action,” he said. “It’s too easy to give the speeches and not deliver the results. “
The Congressman continued his attack on the ways that Washington works – or doesn’t – by invoking his recently proposed legislation that would mandate that Congress work a full, 40-hour week, as opposed to the Tuesday thru Thursday schedule they seem to usually employ. He said such a schedule precludes debate from some of the most pressing issues of the day, such as immigration.
“Where’s Congress in this debate?” he asked. “Nowhere. It is a calculated decision by leadership and is the result of the intransigence of the caucus that can’t get along, but we are avoiding debate…because we are scared of what it means politically.”
Jolly says he’s more involved in policy than politics, and calls himself a “governing conservative.”
Although Jolly voted (and lost) on granting President Obama Fast Track Authority, he says he remains undecided on the upcoming Trans Pacific Partnership agreement, which has yet to be finalized. He condemned other members of Congress who have weighed in on it one way or another when nobody has seen the final product, and said that along with similar comments made about the Iranian nuclear deal before it was finalized, showed how intellectually dishonest those in Washington act.
Jolly’s three opponents in the Senate race: Todd Wilcox, Ron DeSantis and Carlos Lopez-Cantera, were also scheduled to speak before reporters on Wednesday.
