Reply #3: Both are Republicans.

[seafan]

Another clip:

Barreiro and Arza -- both Republicans -- have maintained an at-times testy relationship for several years, and are aligned with different leadership camps at the state Capitol.

Barreiro is supporting the gubernatorial candidacy of Attorney General Charlie Crist, while Arza is an ally of incoming House Speaker Marco Rubio, a Miami Republican, who is expected to challenge Crist for prominence within the party.

The investigation -- and Arza's acknowledgement of drinking and anger problems -- could seriously jeopardize Arza's ambitions both within the Legislature and his own political party. He was widely viewed as on a trajectory to leadership in the House, partly because of his close ties to Rubio.

Also of note about Barreiro: He was behind a push to insert the teachings of Scientology into Florida law that would have permitted funding for state prisons to utilize the teachings.

From May 26, 2005, This is not a joke.

TALLAHASSEE - A $500,000 program that uses some teachings of Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to help prison inmates likely will be vetoed by the governor today, the bill's sponsor says.

The program, known as Criminon, was quietly added to the state budget by one powerful legislator: Rep. Gus Barreiro, a Miami Beach Republican. He heads the House subcommittee overseeing billions of dollars in criminal justice spending.

Barreiro said he supported a pilot project using Criminon as a faith-based program that has worked in other states. He said he did not know whether Scientology's teachings were part of the program, and the Legislature's staff did not analyze whether Criminon was effective at rehabilitating prisoners.

snip

Bush will sign the $63-billion budget today and will disclose which projects he has vetoed. Spokeswoman Alia Faraj declined to say whether the Criminon money would be vetoed.

snip

Barreiro criticized the news media's coverage of the Church of Scientology.

"There's more emphasis put on discrediting the Church of Scientology than helping kids or empowering parents," Barreiro said. "The emphasis is on helping."