By Kevin McCauley
Florida High Speed Rail LLC has hired Cardenas Partners in an uphill fight to get a proposed Tampa to Orlando link back on track.
Governor Rick Scott (R) has rejected $2.4B in federal money for the project, saying the railroad would be a boondoggle and saddle the Sunshine State with a bill for untold millions to operate the system.
CP is led by Al Cardenas, who had headed the Republican party in Florida and currently serves as chairman of the American Conservative Union.
Cardenas, a political opponent of Scott, supported Bill McCollum for governor in the GOP primary last year. Businessman Scott beat Democratic politico Alex Sink in the 2010 election.
CP’s Florida rail team includes aides to two Florida Republican Congressmen, Emily Zammi (Mario Diaz Balart) and John Hooker (Adam Putnam-now Agricultural Commissioner), plus Carl Chidlow ( ex-aide to Democratic Sens. John Kerry and Patty Murray).
Kerry is among those who have asked Dept. of Transportation to re-direct Florida’s rail money to the northeast corridor.
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