Bill McCollum Was Against MLK Day Before He Was for It

Before those two failed Senate runs and his stint as attorney general, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum was a congressman for 20 years. During his freshman term in the House, a young McCollum had a dream. A dream that one day, there would never be a national holiday celebrating the...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

January 18, 2010

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Before those two failed Senate runs and his stint as attorney general, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum was a congressman for 20 years. During his freshman term in the House, a young McCollum had a dream. A dream that one day, there would never be a national holiday celebrating the life and work of civil rights legend Martin Luther King Jr. So he voted against the resolution that made his birthday a national holiday.

Luckily, like most of McCollum's other dreams, it failed horribly, and today we are of course observing Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

McCollum sent out a statement celebrating the holiday late this afternoon and attended a prayer breakfast this morning in occasion of the event at a Central Florida YMCA.

"You were part of a very small, almost 'fringe' group of congresspeople who voted against the MLK holiday. Why did you oppose it? And if you regret it today, isn't that merely because you're running for governor now -- and you didn't have to worry about winning African-American votes back when you served in Congress?" read a statement from Florida's Democratic Party.

[Orlando Sentinel: Democratic Oppo Flashback: McCollum voted against MLK Day ]

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