In the News
ICYMI: Tampa Leaders Hold Press Conference To Call Out Marco Rubio For Not Showing Up For Work
After a report in the Orlando Sentinel revealed that Marco Rubio has missed at least 14 committee hearings in recent weeks, leaders from Tampa held a press conference today to highlight Rubio’s record of failing to show up for work and demand he start doing the job Floridians elected him to do.
See below for highlights from the press conference, and watch a full recording here:
“I used to be an elected official and there is nothing more important than showing up for votes and hearings and doing what you told people you would do when you ran for office…People want you to do what you were sent there to do. They don’t send you there to raise money. They don’t send you there to run for President. They sent you there to be the United States Senator for the state of Florida…There is nothing on your schedule that trumps doing the work of the people. All the other things are secondary. But unfortunately it appears for Senator Rubio that what’s coming in secondary is the thing that he got hired to do,” said Sean Shaw, former state representative and Democratic nominee for attorney general.
“As an electrician…if we don’t show up for work, we get fired…Our apprentices have to abide by state standards. If our apprentices miss three apprenticeship classes, they get terminated from the program. Everybody has standards that they have to abide by, so I don’t understand why Senator Rubio doesn’t have standards himself. He should be held to the highest of standards…Senator Rubio, it’s time to get back to work like the rest of us hardworking Floridians,” said IBEW leader and president of the West Central Florida Labor Council Shawn McDonnell.
“Let’s be clear, this is a complete failure to do the most basic part of his job: showing up for work. And Floridians who must show up for work to feed their families, sometimes under dangerous conditions, won’t stand for it…Rubio is doing what he’s always done: using his position to serve his political ambitions and trying to score points at the expense of everyday Floridians,” said Pinellas County Democratic Party Chair Lucinda Johnston.
The report showed that Rubio had missed committee hearings covering vital issues to Floridians – from discussions of how to protect senior citizens, to the work of the Small Business Committee, to hearings on key national security issues that included the nomination of the ambassador to China. The recent news is part of Rubio’s long history of failing to show up for work. Rubio had previously skipped critical national security briefings to attend fundraisers for his failed presidential campaign. In 2016 he earned the worst missed vote record of any sitting Senator at the time.