McCain defends position on Florida measures

[June 06, 2008]  LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -- Republican John McCain was confronted Thursday about why he opposed an Everglades restoration measure that had broad support from Florida officials, including Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and GOP Sen. Mel Martinez.

McCain also drew criticism from Democratic rival Barack Obama for opposing another Florida priority, a national hurricane insurance fund.

Both issues are meaningful to Florida, a hotly contested state in presidential races because of its rich trove of electoral votes. In both instances, McCain sided against Florida officials and with President Bush, while Obama went the other way.

McCain said he couldn't support the Everglades measure because it was part of a massive, pork-barrel spending bill last year. The Arizona senator is a crusader against wasteful spending, a cause that helped push him to national prominence.

But he said he would have supported the measure on its own. He planned a boat tour Friday of the Everglades, the largest wetlands in North America and a fragile ecosystem with three dozen threatened or protected species. Its restoration is a politically charged issue in Florida.

"I am committed to saving the Everglades," McCain insisted to a convention of Florida newspaper editors. "I will do whatever is necessary to do so, and I have made that clear to the rest of the delegation."

The $2 billion restoration plan was backed by Crist and Martinez, key Republican supporters of McCain. Yet McCain sided with Bush, who vetoed the bill that included the Everglades funding along with hundreds of other local water projects, such as dams and beach restoration.

Nonetheless, the measure became law last November when the Democratic-controlled Congress overrode Bush's veto.

McCain faced the question at a town hall-style forum with the newspaper editors. He asked the questioner, Miami Herald managing editor Rick Hirsch, if the Everglades restoration bill was part of an overall or "omnibus" spending bill.

"It was," Hirsch said.

"So you just answered your own question," McCain said. "I am committed to the preservation of the Everglades. I do not, and will not, and am proud not to have, voted for omnibus spending bills."

He added: "I do oppose out-of-control spending, which would then mortgage our ability to care for the Everglades, the Grand Canyon and many other great national treasures."

McCain also faced criticism for opposing a national catastrophic insurance fund for hurricane-prone states. Democrats noted that Crist, who gave McCain a critical boost by endorsing him just before the Florida primary last January, had lobbied Congress for the fund. His predecessor as governor, Jeb Bush, also backed the fund.

Supporters argue it would spread risk across the country, strengthening insurance markets to help communities recover more quickly from hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said that McCain, "by choosing to stand with George Bush's failed policies, instead of standing with the families of Florida, he can't deliver the change the country needs and deserves."

McCain has said he would instead bring industry and government together to protect homeowners. His spokesman, Tucker Bounds, said Thursday that the government-run fund would ignore the need for reforms of the private insurance market to make sure everyone can get coverage.

[Associated Press; By LIBBY QUAID]

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