Rick Scott, now the official Republican nominee for Governor, has made Arizona-style immigration laws a main issue in the election. The controversial laws are none-too-popular amongst Hispanic voters (in fact, some are theorizing that Bill McCollum's hard right flip-flop in favor of them may have cost him the election), so it's not really a surprise that GOP Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart is going on Spanish-language television and flat-out lying about Democratic Governor nominee Alex Sink's stance on the issue.
Speaking before last night's primary election, Diaz-Balart went on Univision to say that Rick Scott, Bill McCollum and Alex Sink all support bringing Arizona-style immigration laws to Florida. As South Florida Daily Blog points out, this is a rampantly irresponsible and ignorant representation of Sink's views. Here's her take from her own website:
The law passed in Arizona does not meet Florida's needs. Our state and local police officers should not be forced to do the Federal Government's job of protecting our borders from illegal immigrants. Illegal immigration is a threat to our security and Florida must work with the federal government to fully secure Florida's coasts and borders to not only prevent illegal immigration, but to prevent drug trafficking and human smuggling. Florida's law enforcement officers should be focused on protecting Floridians from violent crime and enforcing state and local laws...Though Diaz-Balart states, "There's no difference between the three when it comes to come's to Arizona's laws." He continually stresses that Sink supports the same thing as Scott and McCollum, which is simply not true.
One has to wonder if this is an intentional campaign of misinformation on Diaz-Balart's part to scare away Hispanics who are opposed to the laws from voting Democratic in the general election.
Interestingly, the clip above starts out with Republican Senate nominee Marco Rubio's stance on the issue, which is much closer to Sink's than Scott's.
[Think Progress: Steele, Rubio, And Diaz-Balart Soften GOP's Immigration Rhetoric On Spanish Language Television via SFDB]
