Keith Fitzgerald disputes Vern Buchanan's claim that he is bipartisan (UPDATED)

For update, see below.

Keith Fitzgerald on Tuesday disputed Rep. Vern Buchanan's claims to be a bipartisan standard-bearer. Here is the news release from the Fitzgerald campaign:

To distract voters from his record of partisanship in the dysfunctional Tea Party Congress, the Buchanan campaign touted support from less than .001 percent of his district’s registered Democrats. 

Congressman Buchanan continues to claim he is a moderate in the extremely partisan Congress, but the facts show otherwise: 

-   Buchanan votes with his party 94% of the time - Congressional Quarterly Vote Study-   Buchanan votes with Tea Party leader Eric Cantor 89% of the time - OpenCongress.org-   Buchanan votes to the right of Tea Party hero Allen West – National Journal 

And in 2010, when incumbent Congressman Buchanan was running toward the right, he told a local Tea Party group “We pretty much agree on everything.” 

“Buchanan is part of the problem in Washington,” Keith Fitzgerald said. “Democrats and Republicans both know cleaning up our economy starts with cleaning out Congress.” 

Buchanan also touts his election (by his fellow Republicans) to co-chair the Florida Congressional delegation. But the Democratic co-chair, Congressman Alcee Hastings, was recently quoted by the Orlando Sentinel as having said, “It is apparent by their actions and inactions that our Republican colleagues have absolutely no interest in working together as a delegation.” 

Congressman Buchanan is masquerading as a moderate because his opponent Keith Fitzgerald has a proven record of working with Republicans and Democrats. More than 60 percent of the legislation Fitzgerald sponsored had a Republican cosponsor and he was recognized by the Sarasota Herald-Tribuneas a legislator who “grasped the practical aspects of politics and labored to build bipartisan coalitions while remaining true to his principles.”

UPDATED, 3:25 p.m. EDT --

The Buchanan campaign responds.

"As Nancy Pelosi's rubber stamp, Keith Fitzgerald is the last person in the world who should be talking about bipartisanship," said spokesman Max Goodman.  "He supports Pelosi's failed economic agenda including the wasteful stimulus, ObamaCare, the $700 billion raid on medicare, and amnesty -- even going so far as to say illegals often make better workers than Americans."