Carlos Lopez-Cantera named Florida's lieutenant governor [Hispanic Republican]

Tampa Bay Times ^ | 1/14/14

[SoFloFreeper]

Carlos Lopez-Cantera, introduced Tuesday morning as Florida Gov. Rick Scott's new lieutenant governor, said in an interview with the Times/Herald that he wanted the job "to get back in the game" of Tallahassee politics.

"I feel excited. This is great. It's a great opportunity," said Lopez-Cantera, a seasoned lawmaker and deal-maker who has been the Miami-Dade property appraiser since 2012.

[SoFloFreeper]

From Miami Dade, and the Democrats hate him. Sounds like a good pick.

[IbJensen]

I dunno:

Lopez-Cantera, a seasoned lawmaker and deal-maker

[Blackyce]

Is he a Republican or a conservative?

[Mouton]

Scott is in a tough fight here. The former lt gov was a disaster and the dems are pouring huge funds into the state to take him out in favor of Crist. Yesterday Scott was touting increasing funding for Fl Ports and other infrastructure projects which are related to helping unemployment in lure business here. Of course the press notes no plans to increase entitlements. On top of that, whenever Scott touts Fl lower unemployment rate, the press dutifly notes that is so due to the number who left the workforce. Whenever obozo’s rate of unemployment is mentioned, that is never brought up.

Hopefully this works out for Scott whom on balance has been OK once one gets past the St. Skittles fiasco and the medicaid flip. One thing the press never mentions, he is not taking his pay to be governor. Lastly, I think his appointee’s wife works at the Miami Herald.

[Mouton]

I would say somewhere between the two.

[ZULU]

Check THIS out.

He looks like a conservative to me. Castillian, born in Madrid:

http://votesmart.org/candidate/30976/carlos-lopez-cantera

[ZULU]

Check out the link I posted. Looks like a solid conservative to me.

[Mouton]

I was talking about Scott. Sorry did not so note.

[Theodore R.]

FL politicians are most uninspiring; one might even think the people there are clueless in their candidate selection. Just a few exceptions like Allen West

[SeminoleCounty]

You are correct...Floridians tend not to make the best choices on candidates...though national media has been helping the stupidity...notably Amnesty Liberal Anti American Marco Rubio

I do not trust Hispanic surnames in FL GOP...that always means someone who is pro-Amnesty and Hispano Racist. And, Rick Scott is no conservative, either...note his supporting Black KKK lynching Zimmerman...and Scott admin handing out Food Stamps EBT like it was candy...

[Impy]

Despite being bore in Spain he is in fact a Cuban-American (with a Jewish mother).

Boy the office has been vacant a while, Scott sure took his sweet time.

In other FL news, David Jolly a former high level staffer to the late Bill Young easily won the 3 way primary for the CD 13 special and will face rat Alex Stink.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I believe Scott and his people have been hunting for months. The problem was that they couldn’t seem to find anyone who really wanted the position. Presumably, Lopez-Cantera probably thought he had nothing to lose by agreeing to accept (assuming he’ll remain Scott’s running mate, that will be a mouthful of a name to put on campaign buttons — unless they just go with “Rick and Carlos”).

Lieutenant Governor hasn’t been a good launching pad for the top job (since the office was reactivated in 1969). None have ever won it in the modern era, and the only two that occupied it (Wayne Mixson and Buddy MacKay) only did so because the occupant either resigned early (Bob Graham to take his Senate seat) or died (Chiles).

As for Jolly, he may have been the preference of the widow Young and the establishment, but polling data indicated he was trailing Sink by a fair margin. It will be curious to see how much party resources are put into the race, since they did get their guy.

[Politico2isBack]

CLC is a solid conservative. He received high marks from the FL Chamber of Commerce (100 in 2012, 96 in 2011, 88 in 2010, 100 in 2009, 98 in 2008 and 95 in 2007).

- He voted for public school choice (2012);
- He voted for drug testing of state employees (2012);
- He voted for student-led prayer in schools (2012);
- He voted for repealing cap-and-trade (2012);
- He voted against abortions in the 3rd trimester (2012);
- He voted for exemptions from Obamacare (2011);
- He voted against public funding of abortions (2011);
- He voted against insurance coverage of abortion (2011);
- He voted for drug testing of welfare recipients (2011);
- He voted for requirement of pre-abortion ultrasounds (2010);
- He voted to prohibit individual health care mandate (2010);
- He voted to permit offshore drilling (2009);
- He voted for a cap on property taxes (2007, 2008);
- He voted for property tax reduction amendment (2007)

As property appraiser, he he successfully fought to change the process of challenging an appraisal by placing the initial burden of proof on the Property Appraiser, rather than the property owner.

He sponsored and passed a proposed Amendment to the Florida Constitution that provided low income seniors with a higher homestead exemption, which was later approved by voters by a 3 to 1 margin.

He also passed legislation that tightened the definition of highest and best use, which required that all government approvals and permits be in place before a higher value can be assessed on tax bills.

He is a business owner who understands the burdens of overtaxation and overregulation on job creation and business success.

[Impy]

Looks like things have changed in the 13th since the OSAMACARE rollout.

St Pete Polls, which as I recall had Stink way out in front in December, now has David Jolly leading her 47-43! With 4% for a Libertarian spoiler.

[fieldmarshaldj]

I saw that poll on Politics1 just a short time ago. We’ll see if that lead holds or is an outlier.