Editorial: Bilirakis mimics Trump, colleagues in misleading voters

U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis wants voters to believe he is different than his Republican colleagues in Congress and President Donald Trump. The Palm Harbor Republican says he pays more attention to local issues than to the president, claims he doesn't look at his campaign contributions and suggests he is above the lying and partisanship that plague Washington. The reality is Bilirakis is no different at all.

Facing his strongest challenger since he was first elected a dozen years ago, Bilirakis takes credit in a new campaign ad for a law he had no role in writing. As the Tampa Bay Times' Tracey McManus reported, Bilirakis was neither a sponsor nor one of 18 co-sponsors of legislation that Trump signed into law in January that provides money and equipment to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for detecting imported fentanyl. Yet the ad shows text promoting the "Bilirakis INTERDICT ACT." That's taking credit where credit isn't due.

READ MORE: Bilirakis takes credit for law he did not craft in new ad touting fight on opioids

To compound the misrepresentation, the Bilirakis campaign spokesman defended the lie by saying the legislation "went through his committee." That was another inaccuracy, and spokesman Towson Fraser later acknowledged he was wrong. Caught red-handed, Bilirakis responded with the familiar tactic used by the president he claims he isn't anything like.

A fund-raising email sent late Friday that was signed by Bilirakis screamed, "The liberal Fake News Tampa Bay Times is printing false accusations about my record to support our opponent's Obama-backed radical agenda." That hit the Trump trifecta: Fake news. Obama. Radical agenda. Bilirakis knows better than this.

Resorting to labeling accurate news stories that politicians simply don't like as "fake news" is a danger to democracy, and it misleads voters. Is this the same Bilirakis who is one of 11 original co-sponsors of bipartisan legislation aimed at suspending tariffs against newsprint that have financially harmed the Tampa Bay Times and other newspapers? Is this the same Bilirakis the Times editorial board recommended for re-election when he had an opponent in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2016?

There also is nothing radical about Bilirakis' opponent, Chris Hunter, who has been recommended this year by the Times editorial board. The Democrat is a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor who is more mainstream than Bilirakis on access to health care, protecting the environment and other issues important to voters in this district, which covers north Pinellas, all of Pasco County and a sliver of northwest Hillsborough County. But Bilirakis is unaccustomed to defending his record, which includes opposing the Affordable Care Act that has brought health coverage to thousands of his constituents, receiving low scores from environmental groups and acting duplicitous on the opioid crisis that plagues Pasco.

Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco, a Bilirakis supporter, says someone in the county died from an overdose of opioids once every three days in 2017. The county has joined a lawsuit against manufacturers and distributors of opioid medications. Attorney General Pam Bondi has filed a similar suit in Pasco County. Yet in 2016, Bilirakis was one of six co-sponsors of legislation that gutted a long-standing policy that allowed the Drug Enforcement Administration to halt shipments of drugs that posed "an imminent danger" to the public. Is it a coincidence that Bilirakis received $80,000 from the pharmaceutical/health products industry in campaign contributions in the 2016 election cycle? Or that he has received $40,000 in campaign contributions since 2014 from the same companies Bondi is now suing in Pasco County?

Bilirakis says he did not know about issues with the provision in the 2016 law that hurt DEA's efforts, and he filed legislation last month aimed at fixing it. He says he doesn't pay attention to the source of his campaign contributions. He promises voters he is doing everything he can to fight the opioid crisis and claims he has secured billions for recovery and treatment efforts.

The facts are in the congressional record and his federal campaign reports. The facts show Bilirakis is misleading voters about his record in his latest campaign advertisement in a desperate attempt to shore up his vulnerability on the opioid crisis. The reality is that facing his toughest campaign challenge, Bilirakis resorts to the same deceptions and diatribes used by his colleagues in Congress and by the president. It's beneath him, and it's time for voters to make a change.