Last week we discussed Rep. Jason Altmire as a possible “No-to-Yes” flip vote on ObamaCare. The other two names listed were Bart Gordon (TN 06), who has announced his retirement, and Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (FL 24). Let us now turn to the latter.
How important is her vote? Obama set aside 15-20 minutes to personally pitch ObamaCare to her last week.
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas
According to her campaign website, “Suzanne has utilized her experience as a former small business owner to become a leading advocate for small business issues. She has introduced or sponsored legislation to ease the burden of health care costs for small businesses, to institute a payroll tax holiday, and to cut taxes for entrepreneurs.”
Hmmm, since ObamaCare would force many small businesses to provide insurance or pay penalties, I fail to see how you could vote for it and still be considered pro-small business.
She voted against Obama’s 2009 budget in April 2009, one of only 20 Democrats to do so, which might indicate either that she has some fiscal conservatives leanings, or perhaps only that she lives in a very competitive district and was given leave to vote No by Pelosi as political cover since she didn’t need Kosmas’ vote.
She voted No on ObamaCare last time, and explained her reasons thus (including worries about the staggering cost), but her website makes her sound like she would be willing to flip to a Yes vote.
Her District
In central Florida, District 24 sprawls from NASA to Disney World. (Insert your own Mickey Mouse joke here.) McCain edged Obama 51% to 49%, indication that it’s very much an evenly divided swing district, and very possible to flip Republican, especially if ObamaCare passes.
In 2008 she beat Republican Tom Feeney, largely on the basis of his ties with lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Kosmas herself is no stranger to tainted money; it was only two weeks ago that she decided to give the U.S. Treasury the $14,000 she got from Rep. Charlie Rangel, despite the fact that his problems paying his taxes came up well over a year ago.
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas’s $17,000 Friend
This time around, she’s attracted a well-funded political outsider as a Republican challenger: Craig Miller, the former CEO of Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.
Miller is more likely to prove a formidable opponent than one Larry Sinclair, whose claim to fame (such as it is) is writing a book alleging that he “engaged in homosexual acts with then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama [in 1999], who during these trysts not only procured cocaine for the author, but also smoked crack cocaine while being fellated.”
Her Backers
The Sunlight Foundation noted that Kosmas (along with Altmire, Frank Kratovil, Scott Murphy, Glenn Nye, Michael McMahon and Betsy Markey) as “as potential vote-flippers on the health care reform bill [heavily] reliant on campaign funds from party leadership and online progressive activists,” as all seven list “Leadership PACs (political action committees) in the top three career industry donors.”
Other than Rangel, her backers include Michael G. Helton, the President of NASCAR (if I had to guess, I would estimate that the overwhelming majority of NASCAR enthusiasts are opposed to ObamaCare), who gave $2,400, as did two members of private equity fund The Tavistock Group. She seems to be favored by lawyers and real estate interests, as well as liberal feminist PAC EMILY’s List (she voted against the Stupak Amendment). She has less-obvious health care industry ties than Altmire, but Peter J. Licari, the president of Complete HealthCare Resources, gave her $1,000.
Also among her donors is a John W. Holloway, who gave her $2,400 and listed his occupation as “self-employed/poet.” Since the number of people who make even $2,400 a year off poetry is probably vanishingly small, I think we can safely assume that Mr. Holloway’s money comes from being the son of ABC Fine Wine & Spirits founder John D. “Jack” Holloway.
Contact Information
Here’s her main contact form.
Here’s a meeting request form.
Here’s here office contact information from her website.
Congresswoman Suzanne M. Kosmas
Washington D.C. Office
238 Cannon HOB
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2706
Fax: (202) 226-6299
Local Office
Congresswoman Suzanne M. Kosmas
1000 City Center Circle, 2nd Floor
Port Orange, FL 32129
Phone: (386) 756-9798
Fax: (386) 756-9903
Congresswoman Suzanne M. Kosmas
12424 Research Parkway, Ste 135
Orlando, FL 32826
Phone: (407)-208-1106
Fax: (407)-208-1108
Toll free number: 1-877-9-KOSMAS (1-877-956-7627)
Here’s a page to request a speaking engagement from Rep. Kosmas.
I would suggest trying to contact her through her reelection campaign website, but that page unhelpfully states “You cannot send more than 3 messages per hour. Please try again later,” despite my not having sent a single message. Methinks that many people unhappy with ObamaCare may have tried that route already…
Conclusion
Kosmas is probably more likely to flip to a Yes than Altmire who, since my post last week, has sounded more like he’s leaning toward the No camp. Kosmas, not being in the Stupak group, is going to be a harder sell to keep a No. However, should she cave-in on ObamaCare, Republicans should have an excellent chance of flipping her seat in November.