For those of you unfamiliar with me, I am Mayor Bob Hackworthand I am running for representative of Florida's 10th District. As a Mayor of a coastal town and candidate for congress representing a coastal district, I have stood firm against offshore drilling. Although Barack Obama appears to be entertaining the idea of allowing such drilling and Nancy Pelosi has granted democratic candidates for congress "permission" to support drilling offshore, I will not waiver on my stance against it.
My town, Dunedin, is home of the number one beach in America. Dunedin was also named one of Florida's "green" cities, a title I can say I did help to obtain. While not every city has a beach, every city can aspire to be green. Being green is more than a slogan, its a way of life. It means not only ensuring our future through reduction of our consumption of natural resources but by safeguarding the environment as it exists now. One way to do that is to keep oil companies from exploiting those resources in the name of "progress".
John McCain, in a dramatic reversal from his previous position, has become a proponent of offshore drilling, tauting its benefits and downplaying its negatives. Even as McCain made his way to an offshore drilling rig several weeks ago, almost 400,000 gallons of heavy industrial oil was spilled off the coast of Louisiana. Clean up efforts continue today as a sheen of oil coated the Mississippi River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Oil companies are reaping windfall profits from the gas price crisis that has struck the U.S. and congressman like my potential opponent, C.W. "Bill" Young, think the way to help the American people is to give further tax breaks to those oil companies and to encourage them to drill off of America's coasts. John McCain and Bill Young say offshore drilling can be done safely and the oil companies deserve tax breaks to help stimulate the economy. They want us to trust the OIL COMPANIES with our hard earned money and to protect our coasts? What has big oil done to earn that trust? How long until the beauty of beaches like Caladesi Island and St. Pete Beach are sacrificed because of republican politics? As Mayor of America's number one beach and a green city, entrusted with the safety and protection of its citizens, I'll put my faith in history and science and not in big oil and the republicans who are in their pockets.
Barack Obama has recently said he may support limited drilling under certain circumstances and Speaker Pelosi has granted democratic candidates permission to support offshore drilling. While I understand the political implications of their decisions, I cannot in good conscience wager the health and welfare of my constituents and the pristine beauty of Florida beaches in order to win an election. I stand firm in my belief that encouraging offshore drilling is encouraging the embrace of short-sighted energy policies that got us in this mess in the first place. Only when Americans are forced to face a future with no oil will we truly embrace the alternative energy sources such as wind and solar. As a congressman representing Florida's 10th, I promise to never waiver on my decision to not gamble my constituent's future on policies dreamed up by Bush republicans, which is more than I can say for my potential opponent, C.W. Young.