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For Florida State Senate District 27, GOP primary: Merchant |
By
The
Palm
Beach
Post
Eight
years
ago,
the
Republican
Party
leadership
blocked
Sharon
Merchant's
bid
for
the
District
27
Senate
seat.
Elements
in
the
leadership
want
to
do
so
again,
for
a
reason
that
makes
Ms.
Merchant
a
good
candidate:
She
will
buck
the
increasingly
rigid
party
leadership.
Ms.
Merchant's
clash
with
the
GOP
elites
dates
to
her
2000
challenge
of
Ken
Pruitt,
then
a
state
representative
running
for
the
Senate.
Mr.
Pruitt
defeated
then-Rep.
Merchant
and
recruited
a
Republican
to
defeat
her
in
2002,
even
though
the
move
helped
a
Democrat,
Dave
Aronberg,
win
the
seat.
Now,
Mr.
Pruitt,
who
rose
to
Senate
president,
and
the
current
Senate
president,
Jeff
Atwater,
are
supporting
Ms.
Merchant's
opponent,
Lizbeth
Benacquisto,
who
served
for
eight
years
on
the
Wellington
Village
Council.
Ms.
Benacquisto
says
that
she
is
not
"a
bridge-burner,"
an
obvious
but
unfair
reference
to
Ms.
Merchant,
and
would
vote
her
mind.
But
Ms.
Merchant
has
a
record
on
this
subject,
not
just
a
promise.
Like
most
Republican
candidates,
Ms.
Merchant
says
her
opposition
to
the
federal
health
care
law
is
to
keep
Washington
from
encroaching
on
personal
freedoms.
But
unlike
most
Republican
legislators,
she
sees
the
hypocrisy
if
the
state
forced
unnecessary
ultrasounds
on
women
seeking
abortions.
Ms.
Benacquisto
supports
the
ultrasound
requirement,
which
Gov.
Crist
vetoed.
With
the
leadership's
help,
Ms.
Benacquisto
has
raised
$288,000,
about
twice
as
much
as
Ms.
Merchant.
She
criticizes
Ms.
Merchant's
work
as
a
lobbyist
for
an
engineering
firm
working
for
the
county's
Solid
Waste
Authority.
While
Ms.
Benacquisto
says
Ms.
Merchant
was
pushing
a
landfill
on
the
western
communities,
Ms.
Merchant,
who
also
runs
her
family's
construction
rental
business,
says
she
was
providing
information,
not
a
preference.
With
Mike
Lameyer,
all
three
GOP
candidates
are
from
Palm
Beach
County,
where
most
voters
in
this
four-county,
cross-state
district
live.
With
Ms.
Merchant,
Republicans
would
get
a
senator
voting
for
her
constituents,
not
party
leaders.
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