Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Graham disputes attack ad, explains pipeline vote
Democratic governor candidate Gwen Graham said Wednesday she voted for a controversial oil pipeline despised by environmentalists because it was the best option for the environment and protecting Florida from rising sea levels.
Graham is under a television advertising attack — financed by a super political action committee supporting one of the three other Democratic candidates — portraying her as too conservative and disloyal to progressive principles. The ad is having an effect — at least in the form of inspiring some of the questions posed to Graham at a Democratic lunch in Fort Lauderdale.
Graham was asked about her support for the Keystone XL pipeline, designed to move oil from Canada through the U.S. to Gulf Coast oil refineries. It was championed by Republicans, business groups and labor unions, and opposed by most Democrats and environmentalists.
As a member of Congress in 2015 and 2016, Graham voted for the pipeline. She explained Wednesday that she concluded that the oil was going to be drilled no matter what. At that point, the issue was what method of transporting it would be best for the environment.
Moving the oil by truck, barge or rail created far more climate-damaging carbon emissions, Graham said, so she voted for the pipeline as the most environmentally friendly alternative. “Ultimately, at the end of the day, I made the decision that I needed to vote for the transportation option that would decrease the carbon emissions because Florida is ground zero for rising sea levels, and we have to do whatever we can to cut carbon emissions,” she said.
“I am an environmentalist. I was born an environmentalist. I will die an environmentalist. I love everything that Florida provides in its natural resources,” she said. She sought to turn the criticism into a plus. “It wasn’t easy and I knew I would take a political backlash. But you know what? I think you have to have political courage to do what you think is right.”
Graham was sharply critical of the attacks against her in an ad from a super PAC called “The Collective,” that is supporting Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum for governor and charges she “is not the progressive she claims to be.” The Collective said last week it was spending $700,000 over four weeks on the advertising campaign, part of a $1.5 million effort to help Gillum.
“It is really disappointing to me that we have a situation where a fellow Democrat is attacking me,” she said.
She didn’t criticize Gillum by name while speaking to about 50 people at the Democratic Professionals Network in Fort Lauderdale. She singled out Gillum in a post-luncheon interview and called the ad a “lie.”
The advertising started days after May 8 poll from the Florida Atlantic University Business and Economics Polling Initiative, showed Graham in a first place-tie among Democratic primary voters with 15 percent to 16 percent for former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine.