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Fresh Squeezed Politics - March On Politics Blog

Updated: Kottkamp stands up the disabilities community

Posted Mar 16, 2010 by Catherine Whittenburg, Tallahassee bureau

Updated Mar 16, 2010 at 03:07 PM

It’s Developmental Disabilities Awareness Day, and hundreds of people with disabilities, their family members the providers who serve them are here at the Capitol.

Who’s not at the Capitol: Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp, who was scheduled today to headline the group’s press conference at 10:30 a.m.

Kottkamp is in Washington, D.C. lobbying Congress today with Gov. Charlie Crist in an effort “to bring back some much needed money for Florida,” House Minority Leader Franklin Sands explained to the crowd. “It’s my pleasure to extend their best wishes,” said Sands, D-Weston, who wound up reading aloud Crist’s proclamation declaring March 16 as Developmental Disabilities Awareness Day.

Behind the scenes, the sentiment wasn’t so warm. Advocates for the DD community said they didn’t know until shortly before the press conference that Kottkamp had left the state, leaving them scrambling to cobble together the event without him. It also left them scrambling to find a lectern and microphone since—with Kottkamp being a no-show—his office initially declined to provide the equipment. (That decision was eventually reversed; Sands and others ultimately did wind up addressing the crowd from the lieutenant governor’s lectern.) One of the organizers of the event, which wound up starting late, described it as a public relations “nightmare.”

Here’s the explanation for all the trouble, which we received from the governor’s office via spokesman Sterling Ivey:

“The Lt. Governor’s schedule for today changed late yesterday afternoon, around 5:00 so that he could be in Washington DC today to meet with the Florida Congressional Delegation and NASA Administrator about funding for NASA and the country’s space program. As chair of Space Florida, his insight, presence and outreach will be instrumental in advocating for space related money in Washington.

“The Lt. Governor’s scheduling office contacted representatives last night to inform them that the Lt. Governor would not be at today’s presser. However, given the lateness of the scheduling change, it appears that the message was not received by the main point of contact for the group. Likewise, when the Lt. Governor’s schedule changed, our staff who set up the sound and podium did not realize it was still needed. Unfortunately, that caused a significant delay in the group being able to begin their presser on time. We apologize for any confusion caused by our office this morning.”

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