Over the weekend, voters in Pinellas’s State House District 68 received perhaps the most ostentatiously untrue robocall of this election year.
The call claimed that Representative Dwight Dudley, Florida’s leading voice for ratepayers against Duke’s nuclear cost recovery fee, “voted to let Duke collect those very fees” — a vote that took place six years before he was elected.
The call was paid for by Floridians for Economic Opportunity, a Republican group with wealthy special interest backers like AIF, the Florida Chamber, and Sheldon Adelson.
“Just like Rick Scott repeats his lie about Charlie Crist and Duke, Florida Republicans are following his example and claiming Dwight Dudley voted for a bill that passed more than half a decade before he was elected,” said Florida Democratic Party Executive Director Scott Arceneaux.
“It’s no coincidence that Duke Energy and their lobbyists have given more than $132,000 to organizations supporting Billy Young II. Pinellas County knows that Dwight has spent years fighting against Duke and their practice of ripping off ratepayers, and this absurd, patently false claim shows just how desperate Florida Republicans are to bail out the faltering campaign of Billy Young II.”
A recording of the robocall is here.