TEA Party Having a Major Impact in Florida

Some have said that the TEA Party is dead. Well the Broward County Teachers Union (BTU) knows differently.

A BTU letter to its members states, “Over the course of the last several years there has been a coordinated attack on the Florida Supreme Court by ideological partisans who want to remake the court to reflect their own political perspective. In 2010, four justices were up for retention. Two were singled out for attack by a Tea Party-related organization with only an online campaign. The group was successful in reducing the YES vote for these two justices. They received 10% fewer votes than the two that were not attacked and 10% less than justices get on average.” [Emphasis mine]

“The opposition, closely tied with the Tea Party in Florida, Restore Justice‘s online presence has grown much more sophisticated in the current election cycle. But Restore Justice is joined this year by national forces. American Crossroads (Karl Rove), and Americans for Prosperity (Koch Brothers) have reserved millions of dollars of media time for the final weeks of the campaign. Their efforts nation-wide were emboldened by the ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court justices in 2010 during a campaign focused on a same-sex marriage ruling. Those justices didn’t raise any campaign funds to defend themselves,” the BTU states.

Restore Justice 2012 produced a score card and the below video about the Florida Supreme Court Judge retention on the November 6th ballot:

Restore Justice 2012 has issued a voter guide on each Florida Supreme Court Judge up for retention. The voter guide may be viewed here.