Mitch Perry
It’s no secret that Republican David Jolly and Democrat Patrick Murphy are friendly colleagues in the Florida congressional delegation.
“I think we approach Congress and governing the same way, there’s a natural affinity there, “Jolly told the National Journal last month. “He is a dear friend of mine.”
“David and I are friends,” Murphy has affirmed. “It’s helpful to have folks like David on the other side to talk to.” Their friendship transcends the political divide in Washington, as the Jupiter-based representative has signed on as a co-sponsor for a number of Jolly proposed bills during the past year.
Will the two friends be able to muster up the the partisanship generally called for in something like a contested U.S. Senate race next year? That’s one of a number of possible scenarios that could play out as the two congressmen compete for their opposing parties’ nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by Marco Rubio next year.
Public-opinion polls show that none of the six major candidates for both parties have that strong of name ID, making it anyone’s bet on who could be the nominees next year.
However, the Democratic Party establishment in Washington, led by the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, is firmly behind Murphy, believing the centrist-leaning Democrat has a better chance of winning the open seat next year than his most significant party opponent, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson.
Yet Jolly rarely if ever mentions Murphy when he does interviews or gives speeches on the campaign trail. He regularly criticizes Grayson, though.
That prompted FloridaPolitics.com to ask Jolly whether he has a nonaggression pact with Murphy.
“If you look at the other side of the aisle, the area of greatest disagreement is clearly with Alan Grayson,” Jolly said Monday, laughing at the question. That disagreement revolves around Jolly’s advocacy for his “Freedom Card” legislation that would remove regional and provider restrictions on where veterans can get health care and allow them to use federal benefits for private care. Although it opens a door for the privatization of VA services, Jolly insists that’s not the intent, saying that nearly all the veterans he has spoken with want to keep the Department of Veterans Affairs as vital and robust as it is.
“Alan Grayson has chosen to attack me for trying to shut down the VA, which I have said I do not support,” Jolly said. “Alan Grayson is now suggesting he doesn’t trust veterans with true choice.”
In a recent fundraising email to supporters, Grayson wrote that “My GOP opponent David Jolly has a plan to gut the Veterans Administration, but he doesn’t want you to know it. And he sure doesn’t want me to tell you about it.” Grayson also characterizes Jolly’s bill as legislation that “privatizes the Veterans Administration’s healthcare system, forcing taxpayers to pay for healthcare outside that system.”
“Why would Alan Grayson come out against my proposal to give veterans a true choice of where they receive health care?” Jolly said. “Unless he is taking the statist, progressive mentality of putting the bureaucracy and the government before the veterans, and so I am calling him out on that,” he said this week.
“I’m going to continue to hammer him on it,” Jolly said, adding that he won’t stop until Grayson comes around on his bill and/or distances himself from a comment that Hillary Clinton made last month on Rachel Maddow‘s MSNBC show suggesting that the VA scandal was slightly overblown. Clinton has since appeared to back away from that statement, and on Veterans Day last week unveiled a proposal that allows for the government to contract with the private sector for surgical, mental health and substance abuse services, and for times when the VA is unable to offer timely care.
“In other words, Jolly and Murphy have agreed not criticize each other,” said Kevin Franck, a spokesman for Grayson’s senate campaign. “David Jolly has admitted that he has a ‘natural affinity’ for former Republican Patrick Murphy and that he and Murphy have the same approach to governing. While Rep. Grayson has spoken out about David Jolly’s dangerous plan to privatize the VA, Patrick Murphy has been silent. I guess dismantling the VA is just another example of an issue on which Patrick Murphy and David Jolly agree. ”
The Murphy campaign did not respond to our request for comment.
