Gainesville Sun Editorial

Gainesville.com
Article published Feb 15, 2007
Feb 15, 2007

Hot buttons issues
When the Florida Republican Party poured $300,000 into an anti-gay marriage constitutional initiative two years ago, it was less out of a sense of moral conviction than a tactic to put Democrats on the spot over a hot-button issue. Even then-Gov. Jeb Bush said at the time that the initiative was unnecessary.

But the GOP's funding of Florida4Marriage.org had everything to do with politics and very little to do with marriage.

Now comes Gov. Charlie Crist, like his predecessor, a Republican. And to his credit, Crist has spoken out against GOP's funding a gay marriage ban campaign in next year's election. "I think people care about issues like insurance premiums, they care about property taxes, they care about public safety," Crist said this week. "And I think it's important that not only those of us in government but the party focus on those issues too."

Presumably, Crist's opinion carries weight with those who will decide how to spend his party's money. Imagine a political campaign focused on public policy issues "people care about," rather than on polarizing scare tactics that are intended to demonize opponents and divide the electorate.

We commend Gov. Crist for urging his party to "prioritize what we put our energy into."