Patrick Murphy Forgot What Putting Florida First Means

When Florida Republican Bill Posey introduces legislation, it's usually bad news for everyone concerned. After all, Posey is a very conservative Republican. His ProgressivePunch lifetime crucial vote score is 9.55 and he was extremely conservative in the Florida state House and when he was a member of the Florida state Senate. The bill he's best known for having authored is H.R. 1503-- a crazy birther bill-- which would require presidential candidates to provide a copy of their original with certificates. And Wednesday night was no different. Posey proposed an amendment to the Transportation Bill to kill off some crucial Florida infrastructure-- All Aboard Florida, train service from Miami to Orlando. It was defeated 163-260 with every Florida Democrat but one voting against it. The only Florida Democrat-- in fact the only Democrat from any state-- to vote with the GOP majority, as he so often does-- was reactionary New Dem, Patrick Murphy. Here wreath Florida votes:

• Gus Bilirakis (R)- yes
• Corrine Brown (D)- NO
• Vern Buchanan (R)- NO
• Kathy Castor (D)- NO
• Curt Clawson (R)- yes
• Ander Crenshaw (R)- NO
• Carlos Curbelo (R)- NO
• Ron DeSantis (R)- yes
• Mario Diaz-Balart (R)- NO
• Lois Frankel (D)- NO
• Gwen Graham (D)- NO
• Alan Grayson (D)- NO
• Alcee Hastings (D)- NO
• David Jolly (R)- NO
• John Mica (R)- NO
• Jeff Miller (R)- yes
• Patrick Murphy (D)- yes
• Richard Nugent (R)- yes
• Bill Posey (R)- yes
• Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R)- NO
• Dennis Ross (R)- NO
• Tom Rooney (R)- yes
• Dan Webster (R)- yes
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D)- NO
• Frederika Wilson (D)- NO
• Ted Yoho (R)- yes

So every Florida Democrat-- except Murphy-- voted against Posey's plan to kill All Aboard Florida, as did 8 Republicans. In March Murphy claimed he was running for the open Florida Senate seat as a "consensus builder," claiming, disingenuously, that "people are tired of the gridlock… They’re tired of the partisanship." So here's the chance to work in a bipartisan way for the good of Florida's citizens and Murphy immediately runs for cover under John Boehner's skirt. He claims to be "an independent voice" but keeps demonstrating over and over that he's a shill for the reactionary GOP agenda.

The last time I remember every Democrat voting one way and one Democrat voting alone it was Barbara Lee voting against the attack on Afghanistan, when she was the only Member from either party willing to take a principled stand against war. Murphy, on the other hand, just did what he usually does-- voted with the Republican majority. 162 Republicans voted for Posey's destructive amendment-- 163 if you count Murphy as a Republican... against a major transportation project for his own state!

The Palm Beach Post covered it as a major story in the Murphy vs Grayson Senate drama.

On Tuesday night, Murphy was the only Democrat in the House to vote for two amendments by Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, aimed at blocking funding for the train. One Posey amendment failed on a 260-173 vote and another failed on a 275-148 vote.

Grayson joined the rest of the Democratic caucus-- including Palm Beach County Reps. Lois Frankel, Ted Deutch and Alcee Hastings-- in opposing the Posey amendments.

Grayson sent out a press release saying he “rallied with Congresswoman Corrine Brown (FL-5) and nearly every other House Democrat Tuesday night” to oppose the “anti-transportation” amendments.

Grayson’s release also singles out Murphy as “the lone Democrat to side with Posey and the majority of Republicans who voted to hamper private financing for All Aboard Florida.”

Said Grayson: “All Aboard Florida will improve the lives of thousands of Floridians … Mr. Posey’s amendments will limit investment in projects like All Aboard Florida, and put us even farther behind the rest of the world when it comes to high-speed rail. We have an opportunity to improve the environment, get cars off the roads, and help the economies of both Miami and Orlando with this project. It makes zero sense to do anything that slows it down.”

Murphy, on Facebook, posted: “My colleague Rep. Bill Posey offered several amendments to the Transportation spending bill this week to prohibit funding for All Aboard Florida. I’m very disappointed to see that the House did not approve his amendments, but we’ll continue to work together to stop All Aboard Florida.”

Eric Johnson, some flunky who works for Murphy, seemed panic-stricken about Murphy's vote and the reaction from Florida Democrats. He whined to the media that it was "disappointing to see a member attack another member from his official office." Grayson, when questioned about why he singled out Murphy for voting against Florida infrastructure said, "I can’t remember the last time one Democrat out of 183 voted against an infrastructure improvement, especially one for his own state. People have a right to know how their representatives are voting on issues that have this much impact on their lives." Johnson has been telling intimates that Murphy is petrified to debate Grayson and that they can use Grayson being mean to Patrick over All Aboard Florida as an excuse for ducking the debates.