Bondi
Olens
TAMPA, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is among a group of headliners who will address the Republican National Convention later this month.
Committee Chairman Reince Priebus made the announcement Wednesday.
He said Bondi, Florida's first female attorney general, will be speaking at the convention, which will be held in Tampa Aug. 27-30.
Priebus said of Bondi and four other speakers, "These five remarkable individuals will bring a diversity of experiences and perspectives to the convention stage in Tampa, where they will voice their support for Gov. Mitt Romney.
"They have each served the public in their own impressive ways, and they all share a dedication to the Republican principles of individual opportunity, responsible government and personal liberty."
In an accompanying statement, Bondi said government takeovers "have to stop."
"As an attorney general, we are constantly fighting the federal government back from overreaching and over-regulating -- from the EPA to health care. We want to help businesses create jobs for our people, not regulate and tax them into bankruptcy," she said.
"Mitt Romney will fight for our job-creators, and I am honored to be a part of his nomination to be the next president later this month in the great state of Florida."
The four other headliners announced Wednesday were Texas Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ted Cruz, also the state's former solicitor general; Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno, the first Republican elected governor of Puerto Rico since 1969; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; and Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens.
"We can do better as a country. We must empower Americans to make their own choices across the board. The jobs-killing, unconstitutional policies coming out of Washington, D.C., must be undone," Olens said in a statement Wednesday.
"Elections do have consequences and we will start to put our country back on track at the Republican National Convention when we nominate Mitt Romney."
Bondi, in particular, has been vocal in her opposition to President Barack Obama.
Last month, she spent most of a weekend stumping for Romney.
At one stop, in particular, she criticized Obama for not meeting with his Jobs Council and, instead, playing too many rounds of golf.
She also was the lead attorney general in the lawsuit to overturn his health care law.
More than two years after the president's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that most of it is constitutional.
In its highly-anticipated ruling in June, the Court said the controversial provision of the health care reform requiring individuals to purchase insurance or face a financial penalty is a constitutional tax.
In addition, the Court said if a state does not comply with new eligibility requirements for Medicaid, the states can only lose new funds available instead of all of their funding.
Speculation has surfaced that Bondi might be on Romney's shortlist of running mates, given her recent appearances in support of the former Massachusetts governor.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.