Pam Bondi, Attorney General of Florida, came to Roanoke last Saturday to visit the Roanoke Republican Victory Headquarters and stump for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.
The headquarters is located on Rt. 419 next to Tanglewood Mall. Bondi was the lead attorney general, along with 26 other states attorney’s general, in the lawsuit seeking to overturn Obamacare. She said that while the effort was not totally successful, the individual mandate provision has been declared a tax and she believes it violates the Constitution.
Her position as the lead attorney in the lawsuit has vaulted her into the spotlight with the Romney/Ryan campaign. Bondi became Florida’s first female Attorney General in 2010, defeating her Democratic opponent in a landslide in her first run for office, after serving 18 years as a front-line prosecutor in the State Attorney’s Office. She is also a frequent guest commentator on the FOX News Channel.
She stated that one of her goals, as she travels around the country, is to change the face of the debates between the candidates. She said Romney and Ryan are focusing on the “Great American Comeback,” and that they are keeping things on a positive level. She said that in contrast Obama, “has done nothing in three and a half years and makes petty, personal attacks. What matters is jobs, prosperity, bringing America back and repealing Obamacare.”
Bondi spoke of her travels with Romney and his family up and down the east coast during the last week. She was impressed by his commitment to women during the campaign and his plans to help women after he is elected. She has been setting up “Women for Mitt” phone banks, to get the word out that unemployment among women during the Obama administration is “up over 8% and the poverty rate for women is over 14.5%, – the highest in 17 years. Over 400,000 women have lost their jobs under Obama.”
Bondi stated that “Paul Ryan actually has a budget plan in place and Mitt turned around the Olympics. These are leaders who lead by example. Can you imagine what a runaway train we would have with four more years under Obama? There would be no accountability whatsoever. Think about that.”
She said Florida and Virginia face a lot of the same problems, but in a different way. Florida is suing the EPA over water standards and Virginia is suing the EPA over coal and off-shore drilling. “Obama banned drilling in Virginia until 2017. That is costing Virginia thousands of jobs. We need to have energy independence and Mitt Romney is committed to bringing jobs to Virginia and to make Virginia energy independent.”
Bondi also talked about Romney’s plan to protect and restore funding for Medicare,under which everyone 55 years old and older will be protected. That is why his “Day 1” objective is to begin the repeal of Obamacare.
She encouraged the crowd to volunteer for Romney and Ryan by making phone calls, going door to door, putting out yard signs and letting their friends know how important it is to get women to vote. Bondi will be a featured speaker at the Republican Convention in Tampa later this month. –
