Florida's two senators say they are "on the same page" when it comes to doing what's best for the state.
By WES ALLISON
Published November 18, 2004
WASHINGTON - As their respective leaders sniped just across the street, Florida's veteran senator and newest senator swore to remain friends and could well have been confused as allies.
Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, welcomed his new Republican counterpart, senator-elect Mel Martinez, to the Capitol on Wednesday, as the two men renewed an old friendship and vowed to cooperate for the good of the state.
Nelson, who was elected in 2000, and Martinez, who narrowly defeated Democrat Betty Castor in a bitter election this month, met for about 40 minutes in Nelson's office across the street from the Capitol.
They pledged to collaborate on a wide range of Florida issues, from securing funding for NASA to continuing the Everglades cleanup to maintaining the ban on oil drilling off Florida's Gulf Coast.
Both said they favored protecting Florida's citrus and sugar industries in U.S. trade agreements. Both said they backed President Bush's tightened restrictions on trade and travel with Cuba.
"There's not a piece of daylight between us," Nelson said as Martinez nodded. "You go down all the issues that are important to Florida, and Mel and I are completely on the same page."
Nelson and Martinez told reporters their families have been friends for 25 years, and Martinez knocked on doors as a campaign volunteer for Nelson when Nelson ran for Congress in 1978.
Nelson, in turn, introduced Martinez to the Senate Banking Committee when President Bush nominated him to serve as housing secretary. Martinez left the Cabinet to run for Senate.
Although they didn't detail how often they would talk, Nelson did invite Martinez to attend the regular coffee klatches he holds with visiting constituents each Wednesday morning.
"Too often, people view the political process as a case where people from different political parties can't be friends," Martinez said. "Nothing could be further from the truth."
Newly elected members of Congress take office in January, but this week they've met with their respective party leaders and attended an orientation program.
Martinez, the first Cuban-American elected to the Senate, replaces retiring Democratic Sen. Bob Graham. He and Nelson said their model is the strong and often productive partnership that Graham and former Republican Sen. Connie Mack enjoyed throughout the 1990s.
While it can be difficult to buck one's party leadership, Graham and Mack's teamwork was responsible for the appointment of qualified federal judges in Florida, for launching the Everglades restoration and for keeping several military bases in the state at a time of mass closures.
With Republicans now holding a sizable majority in the U.S. Senate, 55 seats to the Democrats' 44, it could benefit Nelson to have an ally on the other side.
Their pledge of friendship comes as Congressional Democrats and Republicans alike, are promising a new civility, but neither side is doing much about it.
Wednesday, Republican leaders said they hoped a larger GOP majority would stop Democratic "obstruction." Top Democrats, meanwhile, said House Republicans "sold their soul" by passing a rule that allows House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to stay in power even if he's indicted in an ongoing ethics investigation.
