Florida Democratic Senate Primary: Jeff Greene vs. Kendrick Meek

Kendrick Meek

TALLAHASSEE -- The Democratic U.S. Senate primary has been all over the news in recent months -- much of the publicity can be attributed to the public display of dislike both candidates exhibit toward each other. While they have very similar stances on most major issues, their campaigns have not been above smearing the character of their opponent.  

The attention can be attributed to the fact that the Democratic primary is the only competitive Senate primary race in Florida, since Marco Rubio is not facing any real competition for the Republican nomination and Gov. Charlie Crist is running as an independent.

U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, the Florida native in the race, is the son of one of the state's most prominent African-American leaders, former Congresswoman Carrie Meek. He is battling political newbie Jeff Greene, a billionaire investor in this controversial face-off.

Both candidates are pro-life, a stark contrast to Rubio’s fiercely anti-abortion stance and Gov Christ’s flexible one (he is personally opposed but holds no position on the issue).

Both candidates are against offshore drilling, while Crist has flip-flopped and Rubio refuses to rule it out. However on his campaign website Meek painted himself as ”the only candidate who has consistently been against expanded drilling.“ Greene said he has always been opposed and called pristine coasts Florida’s ”lifeline“ in a Miami Herald Interview.

While Meek’s stance has been predominately anti-drilling, he did sign a bill during the days of ”Drill Baby Drill“ that would have allowed drilling 50 miles offshore, but a 125-mile buffer was to be established around Florida.

The two agree that the Arizona immigration law was a mistake. They both want to invest in green energy (although Greene Drives an Escalade and Meek a Hybrid) and they both think the TARP (The Troubled Asset Relief Program that bailed out U.S. banks) is necessary, according to the St. Petersburg Times.

Both want to review relations with Cuba, Greene wanting to scrap the embargo altogether (perhaps because his yacht Summerwind has reportedly been spotted in Havana harbors). Meek wants to relax regulations, but not entirely do away with them.

While Meek was raised in Florida, Greene moved to the area two years ago -- barely enough to establish residency, though he says he got his driver's license in Florida and bussed tables in Ft. Lauderdale, while living there as a teen. In fact, the Senate is the only statewide political office he could run for, because he doesn’t meet residency requirements for the others. When he lived in California, he ran for Congress as a Republican and has neither succeeded or really even tried in winning the support of the Florida Democratic Establishment.

Their first debate was anything but boring. The two pointed fingers while making accusations across the table. Greene has been using his millions to fund his campaign -- vowing to not take money from special interests.

Jeff Greene

”Special interests are in the pockets of every politician. When I get elected I’m going to Washington and end earmarks forever,“ he said in the debate on Bay News 9. ”I will never take a penny of special interest money.“

”Jeff Greene, you are a special interest,“ said Meek in the same debate. ”It’s interesting how you come to Florida and play the advocate as a Wall Street insider. It’s like showing up at an intersection after a collision and saying we need a stop sign.“

Kendrick Meek calls Jeff Greene the ”king of credit default swaps." This statement has become the chief line of attack for his Democratic primary opponent. He also has publicly blamed his opponent for contributing to the housing crisis.

Meek says it was Greene's decision to get around real estate investments in 2006 and 2007 by investing in a complicated financial instrument called Credit Default Swaps. The investment essentially paid out when other people's mortgages went bust, or their properties fell into foreclosure. Sensing the housing collapse, Greene admits he made hundreds of millions of dollars betting that property owners wouldn't be able to make payments on risky mortgages and claimed ”he doesn’t regret doing it“ in the debate.

The investments, while perhaps unseemly, are legal. But that hasn't stopped Meek from making an issue of them.

”Those credit swaps were weapons of mass destruction when it comes to the economy,“ Meek said in the debate.

However, www.politifact.com found that while he was in fact one of the more successful cases stories and made about $500 million on credit swaps, the mortgage crisis was due to the fact that banks helped people get into homes they simply couldn't afford, and wrote risky mortgages that resulted in delinquent payments, defaults and eventually foreclosures.

”In our mind, Meek's statement (that Greene is the king of credit swaps) is an attempt to boil a very complex issue into a made-for-TV sound bite. The statement may be sexy, but it's more hyperbole than anything. We rate it 'Barely True',“ they said.

Greene has been using his billions to fund fliers which state that "Kendrick Meek was named one of the two most corrupt Democrats in Congress by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington."

The statement referred to Meek’s involvement with deceitful developer Dennis Stackhouse. Stackhouse reportedly promised to build a bio-tech park ”where multinational drug companies and prestigious universities would develop cutting-edge medical advances“ in a poverty stricken Miami neighborhood. The development would bring jobs and more importantly, money.

Politicians funneled millions in taxpayer dollars into the project – but got nothing.

Stackhouse was arrested in 2009, accused of stealing nearly $1 million from a county agency and a private Boston bank through double billings and fake invoices. He is awaiting trial.

Meek obtained a $72,750 earmark in the federal budget for the Stackhouse project, the Miami Herald reported. He also helped get a $1 million labor grant for 800 technicians and related workers for the bio-pharmaceutical park.

Stackhouse hired Meek's mother, former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek as a consultant and paid her $90,000 in addition to the (non-hybrid) Cadillac Escalade provided for transportation.

Stackhouse also gave  Meek's then-chief of staff in Miami, Anthony D. Williams, $13,000 for the down payment on his house.

Meek has said he didn’t know about his mother, reported the Miami Herald.

The analysts at www.politifact.com stated that ”Citizen’s for Responsibility and Ethics never labeled Meek one of the two most corrupt Democrats in Congress. It did include Meek on a list of so-called "crooked candidates," along with one other Democrat – later adding Greene himself to the same list.“

They rated the statement as "False."

The other accusations that are flying around are too numerous to list. According to www.realclearpolitics.com, Meek is ahead in the polls. With all the finger-pointing, slanderous mailers, heated debates and name calling, this primary is a quite a doozie. It will be up to Democratic voters to make an educated decision August 24. Good luck at the booth!