Obama White house offered Mel Martinez Cornhusker kickback like deal for Porkulus vote

lip-on-a-pig-obamaEx Florida Senator and RINO Charlie Crist supporter Mel Martinez (R-FL) was offered his own sort of “cornhusker kickback” if he voted for last year’s porkulus bill, but Martinez couldn’t find anything he wanted according to Hotline on Call.

During negotiations over the stimulus bill, Martinez said the WH asked him, “What do you have to have?”

“But I didn’t have to have anything,” he said he responded. “I didn’t want anything. I wanted a better bill.” Martinez said the talks were disillusioning when it came down to “how can we bribe you” for a vote. “So I walked away from the table,” he said, and added that it made him wonder, “What difference do I make?”

A spokesman for the WH acknowledged an inquiry but did not comment, as did a spokesman for Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid.

For his part, Martinez led a group of GOP senators early last year to draft an alternative to the majority’s stimulus proposal, and there were things that he did want to see both in and out of the bill in discussion.

The Miami Herald reported last February that Martinez lamented in a floor speech that FL Gov. Charlie Crist (R), who he is supporting in the race to replace him in the Senate, didn’t understand about the stimulus that “there will be nothing here to help with Florida’s housing economy, the number-one problem in Florida’s economic troubles that we have today are related to housing,” Martinez said.

No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this post)

February 23, 2010 · Filed Under Corruption, Porkulus


Comments