Dennis Ross

Lakeland, FL – Dennis Ross, Republican Candidate for Congress in District 12, today called on Lori Edwards to publicly disavow or explain her connection to a push poll being conducted across district 12, by notorious push pollster, Sun Surveys.  Beyond engaging in deceptive questioning, the poll conducted a head to head ballot test of Lori Edwards v. Dennis Ross.  Either someone is conducting a poll for Lori Edwards or the Edwards campaign is.  Dennis Ross released the following statement after hearing of this push poll:

“This is the kind of thing voters are tired of.  If they are not outright lying about someone they are failing to do their homework.  In this case, it is both.  Lori Edwards should publicly disavow any knowledge of this poll or explain her connection to it and why she is conducting it.  Instead of asking the voters outrageous questions, Lori Edwards should answer questions about health care, cap and tax, card check, deficit spending, bailouts, and other statist legislation her leadership is proposing in Congress.”

After receiving information about the push poll, Polk County Republican Executive Committee Chairman, Gene Roberts, personally issued the following statement,

“As chairman of the Polk Republican Executive Committee, I was disappointed to learn that the Democrats, and especially U.S. House of Representatives candidate Lori Edwards, are engaging in inaccurate and incorrect accusations against Dennis Ross, Republican candidate for U.S. House of Representatives.  I have always believed that as a candidate you should run on your own merits such as character, integrity, previous record and stand on issues.  Once you start attacking your opponent by using negative and deceptive ‘push polling’ it shows that the candidate is desperate and afraid of losing the election.”

The “push” question, corroborated by several voters who received the call, asserted that Dennis Ross accepted a trip to Bermuda, paid for by a lobbyist.  This assertion is demonstrably false.

In 2006, then Representative Dennis Ross was invited to speak to a Reinsurance conference in Bermuda.  The trip was not paid for by a lobbyist, as asserted falsely by the push pollster, but was paid for by Dennis Ross himself.  Dennis paid for his own travel and expenses to attend the conference.  The only item not paid for by Dennis Ross was a conference dinner after the panel.  Dennis, however, made sure to check with the House of Representative General Counsel to make sure that it was within the ethics rules to participate in the dinner with other attendees and speakers at the conference. (Letter attached)  In addition, the people putting on the conference were not lobbyists, nor registered to lobby in the State of Florida.

The purpose of then Rep. Ross making the trip was to warn the industry that if they did not lower their rates, the State of Florida would get involved in their industry.  Unfortunately, they did not listen to Dennis and the State of Florida is now in the Reinsurance business and the taxpayers are on the hook for the over $4 billion of debt in the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund.  If that was not bad enough, taxpayers are also responsible for the billions of dollars in debt of the government owned Citizens Property Insurance Company.  In other words, Dennis warned against Florida’s “public option” years before Congress tried it nationally.

The push poll, according to representations made by the callers, was conducted by Sun Surveys, a notorious push pollster.  Sun Surveys is based in Miami, Fla., and has an “F” rating from the Southeast Florida Better Business Bureau. An “F” rating means, “We strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as that they have failed to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the company’s industry is known for its fraudulent business practices.” (http://www.seflorida.bbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Business/CompanyReportPage_Expository.aspx?CompanyID=11011932)

After receiving calls about the poll, Ross Campaign Manager, Fred Piccolo said, “While it is unfortunate that Lori Edwards and her controllers in Washington feel they have to falsely attack someone to boost their poll numbers, the Ross campaign will continue to present a forward looking, positive agenda.  This agenda will include balancing our federal budget, paying down our debt, introducing real market reforms in health care, the economy, and education to put American citizens back to work, securing our borders, and empowering families to make the best choices for themselves.  But if Dennis is falsely accused of anything, rest assured, we will respond vigorously.”