Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, ready for the Senate and on a roll

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. (Photo: Author)

April 7, 2024 by David Silverberg

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is on a roll.

The 53-year old Democratic candidate for the US Senate seat now held by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), 71, had a compelling case to make when she announced her candidacy last August. A former representative from the Miami area, she was a credible candidate but faced a long, difficult path ahead.

However, when the Florida state Supreme Court issued its decisions on April 1 to both permit a six-week abortion ban to go into effect on May 1 and at the same time allow a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women’s right to choose to appear on the ballot in November it was, as Mucarsel-Powell put it, “a game changer.”

With the abortion issue front and center, Florida is now in play, in the view of President Joe Biden’s presidential campaign.

But that doesn’t surprise Mucarsel-Powell at all.

In her campaign travels she says she discovered a secret.

“I’ve learned that Florida is not a red state,” she said. “It remains a purple state, a diverse state, an independent state, a state where there are more things that bring us together than not.”

And by bringing people together she just may become Florida’s next senator.

An immigrant success story

In late March, Mucarsel-Powell (or DMP, as her staff refers to her) sat down with The Paradise Progressive for an extensive interview. It took place at Acopio Coffee, a newly-opened shop in Naples specializing in Columbian coffee.

Mucarsel-Powell was relaxed and right at home there, switching easily between English and Spanish as she spoke to the Columbian owners. A pleasant, accomplished and articulate woman, she grows intense and emphatic when discussing issues close to her heart—and there are many.

Debbie (her birth name) was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and immigrated to the United States at the age of 14 with her mother and three older sisters. At first they lived in a one-room apartment. She attended Pomona Catholic High School in Pomona, Calif., where she graduated in 1988 and then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Pitzer College in 1992 and a Master of Arts in international political economy from Claremont Graduate University, both in Claremont, California, in 1996.

She started working in a doughnut shop to help support the family when she arrived in the United States. She continued working throughout her education.

She pursued an academic career, rising to associate dean of Florida International University (FIU), a Miami-based school founded in 1965 that serves a heavily immigrant and professional student body. From 2003 to 2007 she served as its director of development and beginning in 2007 as vice president for advancement at its college of medicine.

She married lawyer Robert Powell and had three children; Willow, Jude and Siena.

She was also very active in numerous non-profit institutions and causes. Among them, she volunteered in the presidential campaigns of John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008.

Political awakening

It was an encounter with pure, petty partisan politics that propelled her into electoral politics, she recalled.

Part of her job at FIU was raising funds for scholarships and healthcare programs. In 2016 the university had a program to send doctors and health providers into underserved communities to provide care.

But funding for the program was blocked both in Tallahassee and Washington, DC for reasons that had nothing to do with the program or its goals—or the people it helped.

“It just made no sense,” she recalled. “I was so upset. You follow certain policies but when you start understanding the situation and who is blocking it and why, that’s what prompted me to get involved. They were showing me all these reasons [for the obstruction] and I was like, ‘wait!’”

To make a difference, that year she ran against Republican Anitere Flores for a Florida Senate seat and lost.

However, in 2018 she ran against Rep. Carlos Curbelo in what was then the 26th Congressional District covering Homestead and the Florida Keys (which has since been redrawn to include much of eastern Collier County). She defeated him and served a term in Congress, during which she wrote a bill to expand Medicare Advantage coverage, worked to support families and small businesses and secured $200 million for Everglades restoration. She also voted to impeach President Donald Trump in his first trial in 2019.

In 2020 she faced Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Giménez and lost in a close election, 51 percent to 48 percent.

During her time in Congress, she said, “the most frustrating thing was always trying to make things better for the people living here.” Most of the reason for the difficulty in doing that is “that you have extremists like Rick Scott who are blocking any sort of progress and making it much harder for people to get ahead.”

As the 2024 election approached, Mucarsel-Powell saw an opportunity to address that problem again. As senator, Scott not only stood in the way of progress for working people and families, he had also failed on a variety of political fronts and pursued extreme policies.

“So I was in Congress and while I was writing a bill that would expand Medicare coverage, Rick Scott was writing a plan to sunset Medicare, Social Security, and raise taxes on middle class families,” she recalled.

But the problem with Scott was not just in the past. “He supports repealing the Affordable Care Act. Living in a state like Florida you understand how critical our environment is, but Rick Scott has denied that climate change exists. When he was governor, he voted against any sort of green energy here in our state. I’ve done work with fishermen in the Florida Keys who understand that if we don’t have a healthy environment, it’s not just about clean water in our own lives but it’s also about our economy.”

The situation was enough to make her get back in electoral politics and run for Scott’s Senate seat.

Given the Scott record, “I think people across the state understand” why she’s running, she said. “I’ve been having those conversations. I have them every day.”

Protecting seniors

Mucarsel-Powell’s positions on most issues are largely centrist and oriented toward working families and everyday Floridians: bringing down the cost of living and insurance; reducing healthcare and medication costs; keeping people safe and protecting water purity and the environment.

But some issues stand out, and in these Mucarsel-Powell draws a sharp contrast between herself and Scott.

Extremely relevant to Southwest Florida with its large senior population is her absolute commitment to protecting Social Security and Medicare, programs that Scott has specifically targeted for elimination.

Mucarsel-Powell’s mother, Imelda, lives with her in Miami and the candidate knows how critical Medicare is for her mother’s health and Social Security for her livelihood.

“And it’s not just about my mother,” she points out. “We have the largest population of seniors who rely on these benefits to make sure they have access to healthcare. These are benefits that they they’ve paid into their entire lives.”

Knowing gun violence

Another issue that has a personal connection to Mucarsel-Powell is gun violence.

In 1995 her father, Guido, was shot and killed on the steps of the family home in Ecuador. To this day the circumstances are murky. It may have been a case of random violence. There has never been an arrest or prosecution.

“I was in the States. It was violence,” she recalled, referring to the situation in Ecuador. “It was someone on a motorcycle. I don’t have a lot of information. They were killing people for a lot of different reasons. It was devastating.”

She was 24 years old at the time.

Having experienced this kind of loss, Mucarsel-Powell is now a forceful advocate of background checks and closing gun purchasing loopholes—and she sees an international dimension to the problem.

“The reality is that if you have a violent criminal background you should not be able to purchase a weapon,” she said emphatically. “The universal background check is the simplest, most common-sense piece of legislation that we passed when I was in Congress. We should pass it again. I want to lead on that and there are a couple of senators who want to work on that and I think the majority of people agree, not just here in Florida but across the country.”

She especially dismisses the assertion that background checks are made at gun shows, an argument of pro-gun activists.

“I know for a fact that people can go into a gun show and walk out with a firearm. And then they trade them and sell them in the parking lot, by the way. And then what happens? Then we have gangs, drug-trafficking gangs that come to Florida because we have such relaxed gun laws. They purchase these weapons, get these weapons and then they take them to Haiti, they take them to Venezuela, they take them to Mexico. So if we want to talk about crime, let’s lead with that. Why are we allowing criminals to get weapons so easily in this country?”

This ties in with the need reform the immigration system and secure the border, an issue Republicans are using to hammer Democrats.

“Of course we have to secure our border,” she says. “That’s common sense. I voted for border security when I was in Congress but it’s going to get worse if we don’t do something to support the fight for democracy in these countries.”

Mucarsel-Powell was an advisor for the 2022 Summit of the Americas, a periodic gathering of North and South American leaders to discuss common concerns.

“We need to provide the support that we can so that we somehow make Latin America, Central America, the Caribbean places where people can remain,” she argues. “No family leaves on their own will. They have to. Many of them are desperate; they don’t have food for their children.”

That was one of the topics at the Summit of the Americas and she saw progress. “There was a migration agreement for Panama and other countries to help and to retain the migrants that are going through other countries. That is a possible solution for that problem. Mexico, the same thing.”

The right to choose

But looming over all other issues is the question of a woman’s right to choose. This issue and the question of whether to pass an abortion amendment to the state constitution is likely to propel the political debate all the way to November—and Mucarsel-Powell has a unique perspective.

“A woman’s right to choose is on the line right now and as a Latin American woman—I was born in Ecuador, I was raised Catholic—but the majority of women regardless of religion, regardless of background, understand that government should not interfere in that private decision between a mother or a woman, her doctor, her family, her faith and so this is going to be a critical issue in November.”

She continued: “They’re trying to suppress women by taking away their most fundamental right and that is privacy and the right for them to make their own decision about when and how to start a family. It’s also a safety issue for the mother and young women. What message are we sending to our daughters? So I think that’s going to be a critical issue in November and something that as a woman I will make sure to protect that right.”

Mucarsel-Powell welcomed the state Supreme Court’s decision to allow Amendment 4 on the November ballot. But it also provided her the opportunity to highlight Scott’s extreme positions on abortion and his support for a total abortion ban.

When the Supreme Court announced that in addition to allowing the amendment it would also uphold the state’s current six-week abortion ban, Mucarsel-Powell called it “outrageous and dangerous.” She pointed out that “Rick Scott proudly stated he would have signed this ban – a ban with hardly any exceptions – into law if he were governor.” She thinks that this kind of extremism will turn Floridians against Scott and in her favor.

Against extremism

Indeed, Mucarsel-Powell thinks that Floridians are tired of all the political extremism that has dominated the state.

“Unfortunately, because of the extremists who are trying to take over and have all the power in the state, people have felt targeted and intimidated,” she explained. “When a company, when a municipality, when an elected official has spoken against the extremists in Tallahassee there’s been forceful retaliation. What I’ve realized is that a lot of the people in this state have been living in fear and I think so many, regardless of political affiliation, are done with that. And they are organizing, they’re mobilizing, they’re energized.”

She continued: “Every event I go to, there is one Republican at the very least that comes and says, ‘I wanted to come, I wanted to hear you speak, I can’t stand what’s going on, I want to support you, would you speak to more of us?’

“As I travel the state I’m prouder and prouder and prouder of being a Floridian,” she said. “I’ve never been prouder because it’s been tough; for universities, for students, for teachers, for municipalities, for businesses, for the LGBTQ community, for immigrants—you name the group. For seniors, for parents, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’ve somehow been affected by the horrible policies that have been coming out in Tallahassee that Scott has proudly announced that he supports and he’s doing the same thing in DC.

“And so I think we have a really unique opportunity to make sure that we get our state back on track.”

Democracy on the line

It’s a fight, not only about issues and fundamental rights but about the future of democracy and she knows that some hard times lie ahead.

Rick Scott and the rest of her opposition “want to control and take power. They want to take over government to make money from government, so they’re going to do and say whatever they need to say, they’re going to delegitimize the opposition, target the opposition, silence the opposition and intimidate the opposition.

“As a Latin American I know it’s exactly what they do under dictatorships. It’s exactly what Russia does. You can see it. They’re doing everything in their power to target, to intimidate, to harass, to attack—it’s the same tactics.”

But Mucarsel-Powell is undeterred and sees a path to victory in November.

“This is a top pick up opportunity. If we don’t win Florida it’ll be very difficult to keep a Senate majority and we also know that Scott is eyeing leadership. He has expressed that. So it’s more critical than ever. The man will push a national abortion ban. He will sunset Medicare and Social Security. If anyone has any doubt they don’t know who this guy is.”

Her strategy, she says, is simple: “I think the most important strategy is making sure that voters across the state know who I am and what I stand for when they come out to vote. That’s the key to making sure that I win in November.”

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and her extended family. Her husband, Robert, is third from left. She, her mother Imelda, and children are at center. (Photo: Campaign)

Liberty lives in light

Kari Lerner: The courage and conviction to serve in Congress

Kari Lerner (center) explains her positions to voters following a parade in Fort Myers. (Photo: Campaign)

March 3, 2024 by David Silverberg

It takes great courage to run for Congress as a Democrat in Florida’s 19th Congressional District, the coastal area from Cape Coral to Marco Island.

But Kari Lerner, chair of the Lee County Democratic Party, has that courage. And she’s facing a formidable incumbent in Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.).

“There was no way Byron Donalds would run unopposed on my watch,” she said in an interview with The Paradise Progressive. “I will tell you, in all sincerity, that I believe that a victory is improbable—but far from impossible.”

With that in mind, Lerner is collecting signatures to put herself on the ballot. She has until April 26 to turn in 5,491 signatures. Alternatively, she can pay a $10,440 fee to register as a candidate.

Her petition drive is well under way.

Ambition and vulnerability

Donalds, 45, has made a name for himself for the past four years as a very ambitious, very extreme Make America Great Again (MAGA) Trumper who is now hoping for a slot as former president Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate.

And that makes him vulnerable, in Lerner’s view.

“Byron Donalds is not well-liked,” she said. “He’s not done the job. He’s not brought resources to the majority of his constituents; he’s more interested in building his career than he is in serving and doing the job. I think it’s horrible.”

Indeed, in recent weeks, as the prospect of a Trump vice presidential pick has loomed, a stampede has been under way among Republican politicians to prove themselves ever more fanatical, ever more loyal and ever more fawning to gain his favor.

Donalds has been no slouch in this department, sending out reams of X messages (formerly tweets) and fundraising solicitations using ever more extreme rhetoric. Among many other appearances, he appeared on the mainstream NBC program Meet the Press on Feb. 25 to justify Trump remarks that many people found insulting to the black community.

But in his rush to curry Trump’s favor, Donalds has overlooked the district’s needs and issues and neglected to advance any legislation he introduced in Congress. It’s a pattern that has held throughout his two terms in office.

By contrast, Lerner, 64, has experience representing a district—and a Republican one at that.

From south to north

It was a journey to get to that point. She was raised in Cape Coral, where she graduated from Caloosa Middle School and Cypress Lake High School in Fort Myers. In an act of personal climate change, she then travelled to New Hampshire where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (summa cum laude) from Southern New Hampshire University.

In Chester, NH, she was elected Town Chair of the town’s Democrats and was active in local politics, which were even more heavily Republican than in Southwest Florida. She found a Democratic Party consisting of six people meeting in a public library and keeping the Party treasury in a shoebox. She built the local organization and increased attendance at meetings.

When a position opened up for state representative for District 4 she ran in a special election, won and then won the seat in a regular election. It was a milestone—she was only the second Democrat in 120 years to represent the district.

“I was able to represent the entire district, not just the special interests,” she said proudly.

She gained some legislative chops from the experience, co-sponsoring a landmark bill protecting children from underage marriage, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support.

After stints in a variety of jobs, including nine years as a substitute mathematics teacher in middle and high school, she moved back to Southwest Florida in 2019 to be with family and work as a realtor.

She also remained politically active, becoming chair of the Lee County Democratic Party.

In that capacity she began seeking people willing to run for the congressional seat but hit a surprising roadblock.

“It was my job to recruit candidates and I beat the bushes for a year and a half,” she recalled. “Most of the people I reached out to were attorneys. Most were concerned about their practices but not for the reasons you would think. They were concerned because the judges are all MAGA judges now and they’re concerned that their clients might not get fair trials. To a person that was the concern.”

What was more, they were concerned for the safety of their families. By contrast, “I don’t have children in the school system to be harassed and threatened,” Lerner noted. Her three adult children are pursuing their own careers.

Given that she was not going to allow Donalds to run unopposed, on Jan. 20 she announced her own candidacy.

But she was driven by more than just the need to oppose Donalds; there were important principles at stake.

“I’ve never been arrested or convicted of any crime,” she said, in pointed contrast to Donalds. “I believe in the rule of law. And I believe that we are more than the R or the D that is stamped on our foreheads, I believe that we are Americans first, and this divisiveness is weakening our country. Division is weakness, unity is strength and the world is watching as our house bickers relentlessly—about everything.”

She continued: “I will not refer to fellow Americans as vermin. Even those I disagree with, I am not going to call traitors.”

That said, her travels and interactions with voters have revealed some glaring deficiencies in Donalds’ representation of the district.

“The support of the voters has been overwhelming,” she recalled of the reactions to her own candidacy. “When I tell people I’m running against Byron Donalds the first response is always ‘someone needs to!’ I’m surprised at how many people who are not Democrats feel that way.”

She continued, “He envisions himself as the next governor of Florida. He’s not. We’re a stepping stone for him in his illustrious career. I think the people of Southwest Florida deserve more than to be a stepping stone. I think they deserve more than to be stepped upon.”

That was especially apparent in Donalds’ response to Hurricane Ian in 2022.

“That was when it became apparent that he does not understand the job,” she said. “When you’re a member of Congress, you do not need to be the one standing there handing out water for a photo op. You need to be in DC getting us the resources that we need. We needed gasoline, we needed propane, we needed communications, we needed that Ian disaster declaration that finally came through. Why weren’t they writing that the day after the storm? Why weren’t they looking to get us the resources that we needed?”

She recalled one woman on Fort Myers Beach who told her that Donalds appeared on her doorstep, apologized that she had been victimized by the storm, posed for a photograph to be published and then disappeared. Moreover, “That’s a common theme I hear from people.”

The experience has made her angry. “It’s the job of the representative to be the liaison between the district and the federal government” she emphasized. “Your number one priority is your district—it’s got to be the people in your district.”

Fighting for fundamentals

When it comes to issues, Lerner starts with fundamentals: a belief in putting the needs of people over that of personal ambition, acting independently for the sake of the district and upholding the rule of law and the Constitution.

She believes in personal autonomy in healthcare decisions, including the right to abortion. She’s a fierce defender of the right to vote and to give everyone eligible the opportunity to vote. Defense of the fundamental rights of freedom of worship, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly are cornerstones of her campaign.

She calls herself a woman of faith and is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, which she says drives her social and political impulse to do good, although she emphasizes that “I’m not here to shove any doctrine down anybody’s throat.”

There’s no doubt that she faces a long, hard struggle if she’s going to unseat Donalds.

Not only is the district 65 percent Republican based on voter registration, in the last quarter of 2023 the Federal Election Commission reported the Donalds campaign as having $2.3 million in receipts compared to just under $17,000 for Lerner. Donalds’ backers include political action committees representing big sugar, big oil and big finance, among many other industries.

Still, driven by her conscience, the needs of the district and the support of voters with whom she has talked, Lerner is undeterred.

She said that one of her strengths is the ability and determination to look ahead. “I think things through beyond what most people will,” she said. “I take things to their logical extreme, looking for unintended consequences, trying to understand origins. I think it’s important to think beyond the surface, to look beyond what’s easy because at the end of the day nothing is ever easy and if you go with what’s easy you don’t always get the best result.”

And there’s one other thing she brings to the table—what she calls her superpower. It has helped her throughout her life and brought her success in previous political battles.

And what might that be?

“My superpower,” she said with steely intensity, “is being underestimated.”

Liberty lives in light

On a personal note: The life, times and responses of Bibi Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embraces President Joe Biden during the latter’s trip to Israel on Oct. 18.

Benjamin Netanyahu was like a car with the brakes set—but with the pedal to the metal and the engine racing at 90 miles an hour.

He was in a chair in an office holding a sensible, civil conversation. He didn’t pace or raise his voice or become emotional.

But there was no doubting his intensity, his concentration, and his complete focus on what he was saying and thinking. I could see his mind was fully engaged, reflected in the uninterrupted, unaccented flow of his words. His gaze unwaveringly bore into my eyes as though he was trying to look through them and read something written on the back of my skull.

It was 1980 and I was sitting with the 31-year old Netanyahu in the offices of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the premier pro-Israel lobby in Washington, DC.

I was there to interview Netanyahu about a book he had compiled from his brother’s letters. At the time I was associate editor of The Baltimore Jewish Times. We discussed his brother, what he stood for, the background of the book and the challenge terrorism presented to Israel and the West.

I would encounter Netanyahu again from time to time in the years after that interview. But the whole world would get to know him well as he rose through Israeli politics to become the country’s prime minister six different times. It was hardly a smooth path or a pretty career.

“Bibi” Netanyahu, as he is universally known (and will be referred to in this article), is at the center of world history right now. On his shoulders rest questions of war and peace that reach far beyond Israel. President Joe Biden visited him to both show support and hold substantive talks. Biden has dealt with Bibi before and knows him well.

Tomorrow, Saturday, Shabbat, Oct. 21, is Netanyahu’s 74th birthday. Those 74 years were shaped by a reality and circumstances far from those experienced by Americans, whether in political leadership positions or in the street.

It might be helpful for Americans, whether in Southwest Florida or beyond, to know a few key things about the person leading Israel through one of its most trying moments—and whose decisions will affect America and the world.

Feeling terrorism’s toll

The author’s copy of Self-Portrait of a Hero.

Americans got a taste of the pain and loss inflicted by terrorism on Sept. 11, 2001. It was a big shock, it was hurtful and it was frightening—as terrorism intends to be.

But Netanyahu felt that loss much more directly and keenly long before then.

On June 27, 1976, terrorists of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked an Air France flight and flew it to Entebbe, Uganda where they held 106 passengers and crew, intending to exchange them for prisoners held by Israel. They were aided in this by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. On July 4, 1976, Israel flew commandos to Entebbe, tricked the Ugandan guards, killed all the terrorists and rescued the hostages.

Only one Israeli soldier was killed in action: the commander of the assault team, Col. Jonathan (Yonaton, in Hebrew) Netanyahu, Benjamin’s older brother.

Afterwards, Benjamin collected his brother’s letters and compiled them in a book titled Self-Portrait of a Hero, published in 1977.

It was this book that prompted me to head down to Washington and interview Netanyahu, at the suggestion of AIPAC’s director of information and research, Leonard “Lenny” Davis.

Our interview covered the facts of his brother’s death, the book and the importance of Jonathan’s memory and work. Benjamin made a particular point of emphasizing Jonathon’s fight against terrorism and the need for the world to be part of that fight.

But Bibi didn’t just honor his brother’s memory with a book. In 1978 he founded the Yonatan Netanyahu Anti-Terror Institute (later shortened to The Jonathan Institute) to study terrorism and promote a response to it. He evangelized the need to confront and defeat terrorism and understand its implications and he especially made the point that Israel’s fight against terrorism also represented the West’s fight for its democratic values and freedom.

Bibi headed the Institute from 1978 to 1980 but remained active on the anti-terrorism front, editing two books, International Terrorism: Challenge and Response and Terrorism: How the West Can Win and organizing two conferences, one in Jerusalem and one in Washington, DC in 1984.

I had the good fortune to cover the second conference when Bibi spoke, bringing his characteristic intensity to the topic. In the audience were high-level politicians, intellectuals and officials in the administration of President Ronald Reagan. They didn’t really need any urging to oppose terrorism and the extreme anti-Western movements of the Middle East. But the conference laid an intellectual framework for the counter-terrorism movement and the seeds Bibi planted would bear a second fruit in the American response after 9/11 in the administration of President George W. Bush.

The man now determined to destroy Hamas knows terrorism and terrorists and their movements very well. It’s not something that swam suddenly into focus from the periphery of his vision—for over 40 years it has been at the core of his being and consciousness. When it comes to terrorism and its antidote, he knows whereof he speaks and he is absolutely committed to the cause of defeating it.

Knowing combat

Netanyahu during his special operations service.

Bibi knows what Israeli ground forces will be facing when they enter the rubble, the alleys and the streets of Gaza. He’s a combat veteran and, as Israelis say, has looked the Angel of Death in the face many times.

His brother Jonathan served in the Sayeret Matkal, the Israeli general staff’s reconnaissance unit and the most elite of Israel’s special operations commando units. It was Sayeret Matkal that conducted the Entebbe raid.

Benjamin followed in his brother’s footsteps, also joining the unit and reportedly being involved in numerous operations on Israel’s borders and beyond, including the assault on a hijacked Sabena airliner, during which he was wounded in the shoulder.

“He was incredibly motivated, really in an extraordinary way,” Doron Salzberg, a former fellow commando recalled of Netanyahu to The Times of Israel in a 2012 article, “Saving Sergeant Netanyahu.”

“He was very strong, too, wouldn’t ever let anyone switch him when carrying the stretcher,” Salzberg added. Another teammate recalled him being “a bit of a nerd,” very straight-laced and uncompromising.

On his first operation in December 1969 Netanyahu nearly drowned in the Suez Canal when his unit was ambushed by Egyptian soldiers while crossing the waterway at night in assault rafts.

When the Egyptians opened fire, the commandos in Bibi’s boat retreated to the raft’s stern. The weight made the boat pitch upward, dumping them into the water. Bibi was loaded with ammunition and a heavy machine gun. He had a life jacket but it didn’t fully inflate.

Another commando, still in the boat, could only see the ripple where Bibi had gone under. He reached into the water, felt Bibi’s hair and pulled him to the surface, ultimately getting him back to shore. Once there the commandos were still under fire and Bibi was blown into the air by a nearby blast from a rocket-propelled grenade. But he made it out alive.

He went on to fight in Lebanon and participated in numerous operations. He was discharged in 1972 but went back on active duty during the Yom Kippur War of 1973, participating in a still-classified raid deep in Syria.

He knows combat and its hazards in a way virtually no other American politician shares.

Books and bullets

Bibi comes from a family that traces its roots back to the Sephardic Jewish community in Spain prior to the expulsion of 1492. He also claims descent from a famous Lithuanian rabbinic scholar, the Gaon of Vilna.

His paternal grandfather, Nathan Mileikowsky, was a rabbi, Zionist activist and writer in what is now Poland. Bibi’s father, Benzion (“son of Zion”) immigrated to Palestine with his family at the age of 10 and hebraicized his name to Netanyahu, which means “gift from God.”

Benzion was a scholar of the Spanish Inquisition’s persecution of the Jews, arguing both that the Inquisition was not unique to Spain and was the origin of all modern anti-Semitism, a very controversial premise in historical circles. His academic career took him to numerous schools, some in the United States.

Bibi was born in Tel Aviv a year after Israeli independence and received his primary schooling in Jerusalem. He traveled to the United States with his family when his father took a position at Dropsie College in Pennsylvania and he attended high school in Cheltenham Township, a suburb of Philadelphia.

In 1967 he returned to Israel to enlist in the IDF, trained, and served in Sayeret Matkal but after his service was over, he came back to the United States in 1972. He enrolled in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for a bachelor degree in architecture. Following that he pursued a master’s degree from MIT’s Sloan School of Management while also taking political science courses at Harvard University, where he completed a separate master’s degree in two and a half years. That degree would normally take four. He graduated near the top of his class at Sloan.

“He made it clear that he didn’t have four years to get an undergraduate degree,” Leon Groisser, his professor at the Architecture Department recalled in a 1996 interview. “He didn’t say it with bravado. He said it as fact. He proceeded to overload and he did very well.”

The professor continued: “”He did superbly. He was very bright. Organized. Strong. Powerful. He knew what he wanted to do and how to get it done.”

His academic achievements were even more remarkable given that his studies were interrupted by the Yom Kippur War, when he returned to active service in Israel.

Jonathan’s death in 1976 ended Bibi’s academic career. He briefly worked as a management consultant at the Boston Consulting Group, where he formed a friendship with another up and coming young consultant named Mitt Romney.

Stiff-necked politics

The Bible frequently refers to the Jews as a stubborn, “stiff-necked” people. Of those people Bibi is the most stiff-necked—and that’s really saying something.

I can remember Lenny Davis coming back to the offices of AIPAC from an evening’s discussion with Bibi, shaking his head. “I just wish he wasn’t so stubborn,” he’d say. At that point, Bibi was serving as the deputy chief of mission, the number two position at the Israeli embassy in Washington. (At that point too, I was working as assistant editor of Near East Report, the newsletter of AIPAC, which I joined in 1981.)

Bibi is an infuriating negotiator, according to all accounts, both personal and public. On top of what Henry Kissinger once referred to as the Israeli “Talmudic” style of negotiating, full of arcana and arguments, Bibi will remain incredibly fixed on the risks inherent in any deal to the exclusion of its possible benefits especially when some kind of leap of faith or trust is required. Put another way, he can read deeply into the downsides but only perceives upsides with difficulty. He can be budged but it’s almost superhumanly difficult.

Then, when negotiations seem to be wrapped up and a deal done, he’ll always come in with one more issue or demand, sometimes completely unrelated to the matter at hand that throws all progress into confusion.

Partially that’s just Bibi. But it’s also the result of the Israeli experience. Israeli politics is a sharp-elbowed, bruising battle in a league of its own. It plays out in an unforgiving and relentlessly pressured environment that makes American politics seem like an afternoon tea party.

And that’s just domestic politics—Israel is in a region full of murderous enemies who have repeatedly tried to destroy the state. In America if leaders make a decision and it doesn’t work out, they can try a “Plan B.” In Israel there’s no “Plan Bet.” There’s always the looming possibility that a bad decision won’t just be wrong, it will be fatal—for the politician, the country and the Jewish people.

As Biden recounted it during his speech on Oct. 10, in a 1973 meeting he had with then-Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. Biden said she told him: “’We have a secret weapon here in Israel’ — my word this is what she said — ‘We have no place else to go. We have no place else to go.’”

Those kinds of pressures make for a thick-hided, extremely determined, unforgiving and, yes, stiff-necked people. It has certainly reinforced Bibi’s sometimes seemingly intransigent and often unfruitful stubbornness.

But if Bibi sometimes can’t bring himself to make a leap of faith to seize an opportunity and he is eternally seeing the worst possibilities in any course of action, he also has some history on his side.

Some of this goes back to foundations of Likud, the political party he heads. In the 1930s its founder, writer and activist Zeev Jabotinsky, could see clearly where Nazism was headed and what it ultimately intended. He tried to warn other Jewish leaders and was dismissed as a kook and alarmist—but he was proven right.

Like Jabotinsky—and Winston Churchill, for that matter—who were both dismissed when they warned of the extreme dangers of their time, Bibi has warned of Hamas as a threat to Israel since its founding in 1987. In 1997 he approved a Mossad operation to assassinate a Hamas leader in Jordan, which failed. He opposed Israel’s withdrawal from occupation of the Gaza Strip in 2005. He opposed repeated cease-fires after clashes with Hamas and warned repeatedly that Hamas was using the truces to re-arm. If he sees an intractable, determined enemy in Hamas and other regional actors, it’s because they are indeed intractable, determined enemies bent on the destruction of Israel and Jewish extermination.

That is not to say that Bibi can’t bow to greater forces—after all, he’s had to relinquish the premiership five times in the face of Israeli elections—or that he cannot strike a deal. Not only has he formed ruling Israeli coalitions, he dealt directly with Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat, reaching an accommodation in 1996 and he signed the Hebron Protocol in 1997 with the Palestine Authority. In fact, he was attacked by the Israeli right for being too accommodating.

Then, though, Bibi wasn’t responding to an attack that slaughtered Israeli civilians and butchered Israeli babies. If Bibi and the Israelis seem deadly and relentless now, it’s because Hamas was deadly and relentless first.

Divisiveness

Bibi’s implacability in pursuing his goals and visions for Israel has led to extreme controversy and deep divisions in Israeli society.

On the eve of the Hamas attacks Bibi’s coalition of extreme right-wing and ultra-orthodox religious parties had fractured the country, to the point where even reservists were threatening to refuse service in protest. The coalition was seeking to reduce the authority of the country’s Supreme Court, causing concerns that they were trying to turn the country into a dictatorial theocracy with Bibi at its head.

The greatest hatred of Bibi that I ever saw personally came after a trip I made to Israel after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

Rabin was an Israeli hero, a brilliant general who planned the Six Day War and had led Israel through conflict and conciliation. He was promoting the Oslo peace accords at a rally in Tel Aviv on Nov. 4, 1995 when he was shot by an ultranationalist Israeli opposed to the deal.

When he died it was as great a shock to Israelis as the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln or John F. Kennedy were for Americans.

Bibi had led a personally vituperative campaign in opposition to the accords. Rabin was depicted in Nazi SS uniform and in a gun’s crosshairs. Anti-accord crowds chanted that Rabin was a murderer or a traitor and in July Bibi led a mock funeral procession with a coffin and hangman’s noose for Rabin (shades of the attempted lynching of US Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021!). Even when he was asked to moderate his rhetoric by the head of internal security, Bibi refused.

Leah Rabin, Yitzhak’s widow, publicly blamed Bibi for the ferocious atmosphere he whipped up against her husband. In letters she called Bibi a “nightmare” a “monstrosity,” and a “liar.”

During my visit, my host, a security and defense veteran, took me on a tour of the murder site and the route of the ambulance after Rabin was shot, analyzing the emergency and security failures that caused his death. I’ll never forget his bitterness and fury toward Bibi and his allies.

Right now Bibi and Israel are consumed by the needs and uncertainty of waging war and by the grief and anger caused by the attack. But when that moment passes—and it will—the questions about how it all happened and how the government, intelligence services and the army failed will rise to the top of the public agenda. The result will be ferocious and Bibi will be at the center of the storm once again.

What’s next?

By necessity, this essay barely scratches the surface of Bibi Netanyahu’s career and impact on Israeli politics. Unmentioned here are the investigations and prosecutions for alleged corruption and bribe-taking; the expansion of settlements despite international opposition; his relations with America and American presidents, particularly Donald Trump, and much, much more. After all, a lot happens in a 35-year political career in the public spotlight, especially in the Middle East.

Perhaps it’s most productive at this point to try to deduce what might happen next with Bibi in charge. What can we expect based on past performance?

A cease-fire is unlikely. In the past, Bibi has denounced cease-fires, specifically with Hamas, as when he said of one in 2008, “This is not a relaxation, it’s an Israeli agreement to the rearming of Hamas … What are we getting for this?”

World opinion is a factor but not a deciding one. Israel has always been criticized for any course of action it has taken. This time it will try to accommodate international conventions and respond to criticism but ultimately it will take whatever actions it deems necessary regardless of world reaction.

Israel is ready to make bold military moves. Remember that Bibi is a former commando, accustomed to taking big risks. The country’s military is already renowned for its daring. If Bibi feels that extreme measures are necessary he will authorize them, even very far from Israel’s borders.

Israelis are determined and never more so than now. As it is, Israelis are dogged in pursuit of a course of action once decided. Bibi is perhaps the most dogged and determined Israeli. The horrors of the Hamas attack and the Jewish historical experience inform the response this time and, as Bibi said in his war announcement, “We will exact a price that will be remembered by them and Israel’s enemies for decades to come.”

Bibi doesn’t trust and he will most certainly verify. Goodwill gestures, promises, pledges or any vague solution based on trust will not get very far. Any longer-lasting accommodation between Israel and its opponents will be exhaustively vetted and firmly verified. Bibi’s whole career has been based on skepticism of agreements and he—and other Israeli leaders—have often been proven right in their suspicions.

For Bibi and Israel, survival is at stake and they will act accordingly. For Israel, every military conflict holds within it the possibility of annihilation. In 1948, 1967, and 1973, the prospect of defeat brought the chance of extermination. The Oct. 7 onslaught revealed that Hamas’ rhetoric was serious about its stated intention to destroy Israel and kill Jews. This is an existential conflict—meaning that the losing party will cease to exist.

As Bibi enters his 75th year he is the leader of a country traumatized by the terrorism he has fought all his life. He and his country face immense dangers. He is facing hatred throughout the Middle East and it’s spreading. The anger and criticism he will face at home when the immediate crisis is over will likely end his political career.

Bibi has taken controversial actions all his life. He’s faced physical danger and political pressure that would have likely imploded an American politician. Even if his means and methods and goals have at times been divisive and damaging to himself and his country, his commitment to Israel and Jewish survival have never been questioned.

The current crisis is immense and the stakes are enormous. It will take every bit of the intensity and concentration that I saw in his eyes back in 1980 for him to get through this.

But as Golda Meir told President Biden, the Israelis have no place else to go and that is Israel’s—and Bibi’s—secret weapon.

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‘We conduct excellent elections’ — Q & A with Melissa Blazier, Collier County Supervisor of Elections

Collier County Supervisor of Elections Melissa Blazier. (Photo: Author)

July 3, 2023 by David Silverberg

This morning Melissa Blazier filed the paperwork to run for Collier County Supervisor of Elections in 2024.

Blazier is already serving as Collier County’s Supervisor. She was appointed to the position by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on May 19. This followed the retirement of her predecessor, Jennifer Edwards, who held the position for 22 years.

Until now, the position of county Supervisor of Elections position was a relatively non-controversial post, with straightforward duties, requirements and results, both in Collier County and around the country. But since the 2020 election, election supervisors have come under unprecedented scrutiny. Never has the clean and accurate counting of votes been more subject to challenge—or been more important.

Blazier has been working in the Elections Office for the past 17-and-a-half years and knows every aspect of election management. She was certified as an Elections/Registration Administrator by the National Association of Election Officials’ Election Center and is a Master Florida Certified Elections Professional through the Florida Supervisors of Elections.

Educationally, she has a magna cum laude Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Hodges University. In 2010 she graduated from the Associate Leadership Collier program spring class of 2010, the 2014 Leadership Collier class and the Leadership Marco class of 2019.

She’s active in a wide variety of civic and political groups including Kiwanis, where she’s president of the Naples chapter, the American Legion Auxiliary and the League of Women Voters. She’s a member of the Naples Republican Club, Republican Women of Southwest Florida Federated, and the Women’s Republican Club.

How does Blazier see her job and the challenges ahead? We sat down with her last Wednesday, June 28, for an interview. What follows is a verbatim question and answer transcript. Brackets [ ] denote summations or editor’s clarifications.

Q: What assurance can you give Collier County voters that we will have fair, accurately tabulated elections in the future, free of any interference or problems?

A: As you know, I was trained by the best, so for over 17 years I worked under Jennifer [Edwards] and I have no plans in changing the way that we conduct elections in Collier County, any of our voter registration, voter outreach, elections. Our goal is just to improve. How can we do things better?

Q: You are going to be up for election yourself in the August [20, 2024] Republican primary and then, of course, in the general [election]. How do you deal with counting the votes for your own election? What’s the process? Is there a recusal, or what happens?

A: It’s something that we’re going to have work through as we get closer to that primary. So, if the Supervisor of Elections is contested on the ballot then he or she can no longer serve on the Canvassing Board for that specific election.

What I will be able to do is serve on the Canvassing Board in an advisory capacity. I can be there to provide information, laws, updates, stuff like that. But I cannot vote on acceptance or rejection of any of the ballots that are brought to the Board. That’s something they will do on their own without my input.

Now, they can ask me questions and I can give feedback on the law and processes but not any kind of an opinion.

Q: And the Canvassing Board consists of?

A: It should consist of a county judge, the chair of the Board of County Commissioners and the Supervisor of Elections.

Now, there are different reasons in statute on why… . Let’s say, a county commissioner would not be able to serve on the Board if they’re actively participating in an election by endorsing. They can actually donate money to a campaign but by actively and verbally endorsing a candidate then they can no longer serve on the Canvassing Board. The same goes for the judge. The Supervisor of Elections positions don’t endorse.

Q: So, under this circumstance it would be a two-person Board?

A: What would happen then is that the chief judge would actually appoint someone to fill in the Supervisor of Elections role and that could potentially be another judge, it could be a county commissioner or it can be a member of the public.

So, for the City of Naples, for example, during their municipal elections, we don’t hold them in conjunction with the presidential preference primary. They typically have their mayor, their city clerk serves and then the City Council appoints one member of the public to serve on their Canvassing Board.

Q: And your primary doesn’t coincide with the Presidential Preference Primary, which is March 19. Yours is in August.

A: Right, so for the March election we’re good with me serving on the Canvassing Board. Once we get to August…and then, assuming that this race goes past August and goes on to the general [election in November] I won’t be able to serve on either of them.

Q: What improvements do you have in mind and are there any you can implement now, while you’re Supervisor, before the election?

A: Some of the things that we’ve already done we started when Jennifer was still here, but we’ve implemented a public records software. Really, I think [the software is] better for the requestor but it’s a lot better for the office in management of public records requests.

As you can imagine, our public records requests, the volume has increased dramatically over the past few years, so it turns into kind of a tracking nightmare for staff. You know: who’s working on what request? What information has been released? Where do we stand on certain requests?

So the software actually tracks the records requests as they’re incoming: who can be assigned to them, what responses? If an invoice needs to be sent, has it been paid, has the check been cashed, when can we close? And then, one of I think the best parts of it is that once a public records request has hit 12 months old, it can be archived so that we don’t keep a public records request as a public record for infinity.

So that’s a nice tool. We’re also going to launch TextMyGov [a texting service allowing voters to opt in to receive election alerts. It also has a keyword software technology allowing a user to type in a question and receive a quick answer. If an answer is not readily available, a staff member can text back. The technology is expected to be in use before the end of the year].

These are things that don’t seem hugely significant. To us they are but we can make these small changes as we go into 2024.

We typically try not to make huge changes in presidential election years. Voting is already confusing enough for people that we don’t want to give them additional things that they have to learn or do in a presidential year when we see the highest turnout. So, typically, if we would have implemented something big it would have been in 2022. But internal things, tools like this that helps the voters but also helps staff, those are things that we’ll try to get done before we get to March.

Q: Have certain kinds of public record requests shown up more than others? Are you getting a lot of challenges to results or anything like that?

A: Not necessarily challenges, but requests for pretty much any report we could possibly pull out of our election management software as well as our voter registration database.

So, people want full registration rolls, they want to know voter history for all of our voters, when we removed certain voters, we’ve updated their addresses, changed party affiliation.

Q: And this is private citizens making these requests or are these parties?

A: Mostly parties and different advocacy groups. It’s been a lot since 2020.

Q: Yes, I would expect. Now, speaking of the challenges: you haven’t had any challenges to the results of the 2022 elections so far, that I’ve heard of?

A: No.

Q: When I was here the last time, Alfie Oakes [Francis Alfred “Alfie” Oakes III, the farmer, grocer, conservative activist and Republican committeeman] was challenging the notion of electronic voting—he was at least the most outspoken person in favor of paper ballots. Jennifer said, “It’s not legal, it’s not the law.” Now that you’re supervisor, do you have a response to that?

A: The state of Florida is all paper. We all use paper ballots. His contention is with the scanners actually tabulating the results of those paper ballots. I believe that they would like us to—and it’s not just him, it’s the CCREC [the Collier County Republican Executive Committee]. They passed a resolution to hand count all ballots, I think it said, for all elections.

The impression I get is that they’re most interested in the top races on the ballot and not the others but I believe the resolution was shared with our legislative delegation and there it stays.

Q: Because making that change would have to be done at the state level?

A: Yes. It would have to be changed in law. That’s not something we can decide to do. And certainly not, given the deadlines we have to certify an election, it’s not possible to hand count—and I’m talking about one race. When you think about the general election ballot, we have over 30 contests on that ballot, with over a hundred different ballot styles that we would potentially have to hand count. I know that no one likes to hear this, but machines are more accurate than human beings are.

Q: Given the challenges—I don’t have to recount what happened in 2020—are you having any difficulty getting staff and volunteers for the 2024 election? Are you recruiting now? What’s the status?

A: We’re always recruiting election workers. The most difficulty we’ll have will be during the primary when almost half of our population in Collier Country goes north somewhere. So we always struggle to find workers in August. We typically don’t in March and November. We won’t use as many workers in March as we will in November but I think it’s a struggle in every county across the nation, really, to find election workers.

Q: Is there anything that you’re doing that’s new and different that’s unique to Collier County?

A: Right now, no.

Q: Are there any changes from past presidential elections that you’ll be implementing this year for the presidential election in ’24?

A: Voting-wise, for early voting we implemented two additional early voting locations in 2022. We didn’t do that in 2022 because we needed them for the 2022 general election but because we knew we were going to need them for the 2024 general election.

So, we’ve got 11 early voting locations instead of 9 now. Then, in the next couple of months, staff, we’re all working together for re-evaluating our precincts. Because we know that we’re going to have to change some boundaries. Growth is huge in [county] District 1 and in District 5. Some areas in District 3, now that the Board and the School Board agreed on pushing the District 3 boundaries out into the Golden Gate estates, we’re going to have to break some of those [precincts] up.

But we do that every odd-numbered year. We look at them and think: “Alright, if we’ve got 8,000 registered voters in one precinct and—Heaven forbid! —they all actually showed up on Election Day, this specific church isn’t going to be able to handle all of these people. So how can we break it up, what other locations can we use?” We lost two locations in 2022 because of the hurricane, that had water damage, so we should be able to move back into those locations for 2024.

But then, we have another couple of locations that have reached out and said, “Hey, we don’t want you to come back.” So we’ve got to find some new space. That happens every year with new leadership in different facilities.

So we always see some changes there. Some people really like to have elections on Election Day in their locations, some don’t. That’s OK, I understand. I mean, it’s not like we pay a thousand dollars to staff some place for a day. It’s $200. So, it’s not like these places are getting rich by letting us use their building for an entire day.

Q: You set the precincts, correct?

A: Yes. We identify the actual polling locations, we draw the precinct boundaries, but then, if a precinct boundary changes, we have to submit it to the Board of County Commissioners through an executive summary. It’s typically something that goes on consent agenda and really, what we’ll do for this one is some clean-up. But it all has to be finalized by them.

Q: Do you think you have things well in hand at this point?

A: Yes. There’s nothing—really, I just moved offices. I moved myself down the hall. I moved my lunch table down two doors. I’ve been in the office for a million years and, trust me, Jennifer and I talk every day. So, between text and e-mail and phone calls, I don’t think we’ve missed a beat there.

Nothing else has really changed. We’re going to go through a little bit of reorganization staff-wise in the office because, obviously, I moved out of my position, I moved someone else into my old position, so I’ve got to fill his old position so we’re going to kind of shake it up a little bit. And we need to do cross training with staff in the office so we’re going to work on that over the next six months going into 2024.

But the election side of it? The election side, we’ve got under control.

Now, is it going to be different not having a Supervisor of Elections actually not on the Canvassing Board for a primary? Yes, that’s going to be different. As long as I’ve been here, Jennifer never had opposition. So, it’s just something new and at the end of it we’re going to be able to check off the list and say, “Done that,” and hopefully we won’t have to do it again. It’s something that we’ll work through.

I think people aren’t going to see a change in what we’ve been doing. We conduct excellent elections and there should be no change to that.

Q: Subjectively, how does it feel to step into the shoes of someone who held the position 22 years before you?

A: It’s a little nerve-wracking. She said that as she was leaving. She said, “Just remember, it’s going to feel different because your name is on the door now,” and it definitely does. It makes you put on a different hat, you think about things differently from a staff perspective, to: “OK, my name is on the door now.”

So it’s a little nerve-wracking, a little more intimidating but I’ve been here long enough that I’ve seen 17-and-a-half years of changes. We’ve gone through multiple types of voting equipment, software changes, and all that since I’ve been with the office. That part of it I can handle pretty well. It’s the other stuff; you definitely think a little differently when your name’s all over the place.

Q: Tell me about your opposition.

A: There’s already someone who has filed to run for Supervisor of Elections. His name is Tim Guerrette. He filed back in March. He filed even before Jennifer announced that she was going to retire.

So, I have not filed yet. I do plan on filing soon. But I have not yet. At this point there is no rush for me to file.

Q: How are you going to handle gearing up a campaign, with all your duties in the office?

A: Yes, it would be nice if I didn’t have to have a full-time job during that, but I do. I did so much stuff before and after work; speaking to different groups and going to different functions so I don’t think a lot of that will change for me. It’s just going to be different when I’m wearing an office hat and when I’m wearing a campaign hat.

Q: Is there a point where you actually start a formal campaign or are you restricted from doing that?

A: You can start whenever you want. And quite honestly, I plan on filing next week. Because, why not? Because I can.

Q: Oh, because I was planning on posting this on Monday morning.

A: That day, Monday morning, July 3rd. The first Monday of the month, so I figured we would do it then, just to get organized over the summer.

Q: Are you anticipating a tough fight?

A: Yes.

Q: I assume you’re running as a Republican?

A: Yes, I am. And he is also a registered Republican. There’s going to be a primary and we’ll see if anyone else jumps into the race and whether there’ll be a general or not.

Q: The only primary is the August one, correct?

A: If there are two Republicans and no one jumps in the race it would be a universal primary, which means that all registered voters in August will be able to vote in this contest. Then it would be said and done in August.

If somebody else jumps into the race, which obviously there’s plenty of time for that, the filing deadline isn’t until June of next year, there could be 15 people in this race by June. Who knows? The more the merrier.

Q: I’m glad you look at it that way! That’ll make for a very interesting contest here in Collier County. Do you have any sense how much this is being replicated around the state and even the nation in terms of contested supervisors of elections?

A: A lot. Several other offices across the state already have that existing supervisor of elections has opposition.

And, we’ll see what happens when we come up to qualifying, how many more are going to retire. A lot have already announced that they have no intention of running again. I think it was just this week, in Politico, that Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections, initially she was planning on running and now she’s saying, no, she’s not going to run. I know the Orange County Supervisor of Elections has said he’s not planning on running. There’s a handful more, so you’ll see a big shift across the state.

Q: On a personal note, what got you interested in elections? What drove your interest in this?

A: My parents own Kelly’s Fish House, right across from Tin City. So I was there, and my son was 3 months old, it is his 24th birthday today, by the way. So my son’s 3 months old, my husband’s in trim carpentry, construction-type stuff. So he was working days, I was working part time at an oil company, Kunz Oil Company, doing accounting work for them and then I picked up a few evening shifts at my parents’ restaurant.

So I met this very nice couple, and became friends with them and he at that time was the chief deputy in the Supervisor of Elections office. And so a position became available, I had been friends with them for several years, for about seven years, and Jennifer’s executive assistant position opened up and he said, “I think you should apply for it.”

I said, “OK, now, my son’s old enough now, he’s in school now, so I don’t have to work nights any more,” I was pretty much working two jobs and I thought, “You know, I could work for the county. A government job? Everyone talks about the great health insurance. Why not?”

So I applied and interviewed with Jennifer and she gave me the job [in 2006] and 17-and-a-half years later, here I am. I never thought in a million years that in 17-and-a-half years I would be sitting where I am. That was definitely never my intention back then.

Melissa Blazier files the paperwork for her candidacy with David Carpenter, the county’s qualifying officer. (Photo: Supervisor’s Office)

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Rick Scott, already in a hole, digs deeper

Sen. Rick Scott. (Illustration: Donkey Hotey)

Feb. 13, 2023 by David Silverberg

There’s an old adage: “When you’re in a hole, stop digging.”

But Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), seems to have turned that wisdom on its head: already deep in a hole, he’s digging deeper.

Just where he’ll end up is anybody’s guess.

The hole

President Joe Biden reads from Sen. Rick Scott’s “American Rescue” plan during his visit to Tampa on Feb. 9. (Image: CSPAN)

What hole is Scott in? Consider the following:

In early 2022 Scott was explicitly told by his ostensible boss, Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), not to issue a Republican platform based on the 1994 “Contract With America.”

But as Scott would put it in a post-election letter to his fellow senators, “after travelling the country to support our candidates I believe voters want a plan. They are begging us to tell them what we will do when we are in charge.” McConnell wanted to keep the Republican platform vague.

Scott chose to deliberately defy him and on March 30, 2022 unveiled an 11-point (later 12-point) “Rescue America” plan in collaboration with former President Donald Trump. Among its points: “All federal legislation sunsets in 5 years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.” (More about that later.)

After being entrusted by his fellow Republican senators in 2020 to win the Senate for the Party, Scott oversaw the disappointing Republican 2022 returns, having boosted such fringe candidates as Herschel Walker in Georgia, Kari Lake in Arizona and Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, all of whom went down to embarrassing defeats. Democrats kept the Senate and gained a seat.

Even the famously taciturn McConnell was moved to comment: “I think there’s a probably a greater likelihood that the House flips than the Senate,” he said at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Kentucky in August. “Senate races are just different—they’re statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.” McConnell’s insight was proven correct.

Having now failed his Party, his colleagues and his boss, Scott turned on McConnell and ran against him for Party leader.

In a Nov. 15 letter to colleagues, Scott wrote: “I’m writing to you today because I believe it’s time for the Senate Republican Conference to be far more bold and resolute than we have been in the past.”

He brushed aside the criticism of his performance at the National Republican Senatorial Committee: “Despite what the armchair quarterbacks on TV will tell you, there is no one person responsible for our party’s performance across the country.”

He noted that he had heard voter requests for a Republican plan and stated: “Unfortunately, we have continued to elect leadership who refuses to do that and elicits attacks on anyone that does. That is clearly not working and it’s time for bold change”—clear criticism of McConnell.

Scott was endorsed by Trump, who even before the midterms called McConnell a “lousy leader.”

“I think Rick Scott is a likely candidate — he hates the guy,” Trump said of Scott’s attitude toward McConnell. “He’s tough — he’s tough, and I think he would probably go for it.” He later added that Scott was “underrated”—perhaps winning over some Trumpers.

But when the election for Senate minority leader came to pass, McConnell, a superb vote-counter announced, “I have the votes.” Indeed he did, crushing Scott by a vote of 37 to 10.

McConnell was gracious in victory. “I’m not in any way offended by having an opponent or by having a few votes in opposition,” he said in a not-so-subtle dig at Scott’s lack of support.

Still, McConnell was clearly disgusted with Scott and on Feb. 2 removed him from the prestigious Senate Commerce Committee. Scott told a reporter, “Well, he just kicked me off a committee. So that was pretty petty.”

On the home front, Scott didn’t do any favors for Florida, the state he ostensibly represents. In September he voted against the $1.7 trillion Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2023 (House Resolution 6833) that included $20 billion in disaster relief, funding desperately needed by a state reeling from Hurricane Ian.

In doing this he also once again defied the Senate Republican leadership, which supported the bill. And as though the potential injury of his negative vote was not enough, he added insult by calling President Joe Biden “a raving lunatic” just before the president came to Southwest Florida to see the damage for himself and pledge full support for the region’s recovery.

Then, in the past two months as Republicans began engaging in fiscal brinksmanship over raising the national debt ceiling and appeared to jeopardize vital programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Scott’s “American Rescue” plan came back to bite him. That 6th point sunsetting all federal programs after five years was the chief Republican threat to the key trio of social safety programs.

President Joe Biden, Scott’s “raving lunatic,” hammered the Republicans for menacing the programs, using the American Rescue plan as a wedge. First, he did it in his State of the Union speech last Tuesday, Feb. 7.

Then, when he came to Tampa last Thursday, Feb. 9 he had copies of the plan placed on the seats of attendees at the University of Tampa.

“The very idea the senator from Florida wants to put Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block every five years I find to be somewhat outrageous, so outrageous that you might not even believe it,” said Biden. “But it’s what he…I won’t do it again,” he said of reading Scott’s plan, then changed his mind, “but, well, I will,” and he pulled the pamphlet out of his jacket.

“Twelve-point American Rescue plan,” he read. “One of the points: ‘All federal legislation sunsets every five years. If the law is worth keeping, the Congress can pass it all over again.’ Look, if it doesn’t get reauthorized, it goes out of existence. If Congress wants it, they got to keep it and they got to vote on the same thing. And then, in case there was any doubt, just yesterday, he confirmed that he still, he still likes his proposal.”

Biden continued: “Well, I guarantee you, it will not happen. I will veto it. I’ll defend Social Security and Medicare.”

In addition to these blows to his policy proposals and standing in the Senate, Scott had harbored presidential ambitions in 2024, although he said these were contingent on Trump not running. On Jan. 26 Scott announced he would not be seeking the presidency, would seek re-election to the Senate and would remain neutral in the presidential nominating process.

To add it all up as of this writing: Scott failed in his mission to elect a Republican Senate, failed to unseat the Republican Senate leader, failed to vote for aid to his state, failed to advance his presidential ambitions, provided a weapon for Democrats to hammer Republicans, became the face of Republican callousness, may have lost all of America’s senior voters—and he did all this while personally insulting the president and his own boss in the Senate.

That’s a pretty deep hole.

Digging deeper

Fox News host John Roberts challenges Sen. Rick Scott on his “Rescue America” plan. (Image: The Lincoln Project)

Most people, having failed in their pursuits and offended their friends, colleagues and the world at large, might draw back a bit, quiet themselves, contemplate their failings, ask forgiveness, humbly seek redemption and try to make amends.

Not Rick Scott. He has doubled down and dug deeper.

The morning after the State of the Union speech, Scott issued a statement arguing that he wasn’t advocating ending Social Security.

He stated that while “Last night, Joe Biden rambled for a while,” and was “confused,” Scott argued that accusing him of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare was “dishonest” and a “lie” resulting from Biden’s “confusion.”

“In my plan, I suggested the following: All federal legislation sunsets in five years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again. This is clearly and obviously an idea aimed at dealing with ALL the crazy new laws our Congress has been passing of late,” he stated.

Implying that Biden’s assertion was the result of senility, Scott stated, “Does he think I also intend to get rid of the U.S. Navy? Or the border patrol? Or air traffic control, maybe? This is the kind of fake, gotcha BS that people hate about Washington. I’ve never advocated cutting Social Security or Medicare and never would. I will not be intimidated by Joe Biden twisting my words, or Chuck Schumer twisting my words – or by anyone else for that matter.”

He argued that, to the contrary, Democrats in essence cut Medicare when Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act gave the federal government power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices.

“They lie about it and the liberal media covers for them,” he complained. “If they think they can shut me up or intimidate me by lying… I’m here for it… I’m ready to go. I will not be silenced by the Washington establishment.”

But even conservative media hadn’t bought Scott’s plan when it was unveiled. The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump, pro-democracy media organization, gleefully released a March, 2022 sound bite of Fox News host John Roberts arguing with Scott that his plan cut Social Security and Medicare.

Scott dismissed Roberts’ assertion as a “Democratic talking point,” to which Roberts forcefully responded, “It’s not a Democratic talking point, it’s in the plan,” and kept repeating “it’s in the plan” despite Scott’s denials.

Not content with denials and arguments, on Feb. 7, Scott announced on Twitter that he was releasing an advertisement to run in Florida, calling on Biden to resign. “I’m Rick Scott. Biden should resign. I approve this message,” it concludes.

That suggestion is not likely to go far.

Analysis: Channeling Trump and digging deeper

Sen. Rick Scott and then-President Donald Trump listen to a briefing on Hurricane Dorian on Aug. 31, 2019. (Photo: White House)

In this give-and-take over whether he wants to cut essential social safety net programs, Scott has clearly chosen to take the Trump approach to criticism: never apologize, never back down, attack your attackers and discredit the media that reports your failings.

Using this approach, Trump bulldozed his way through scandals, two impeachments, a failed coup and even, arguably, treason.

Scott is trying to do the same thing, only he’s not driving a bulldozer, he’s pushing a spade on the end of an idiot stick and the only place he’s going is deeper into the hole he’s already in.

As chronicled before (“Rick Scott meets the Peter Principle”), Scott, who has been able to essentially buy his elections in Florida, was out of his depth on the national stage when he tried to win the Senate.

Now he’s denying that his “Rescue America” plan implicitly endangers Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. However, as Joe Biden, John Roberts and a host of other commentators and critics have pointed out, it does precisely that by jeopardizing all longstanding, duly legislated programs.

In fact what this whole affair really shows is that Scott, in pursuit of broad-brush, politically advantageous slogans was and is unable or unwilling to truly think through the full implications of his policy proposals. In this he is also like Trump—and that’s not a good attribute for presidents or senators.

As previously noted, Scott is not a natural politician, either in his approach to people or leadership. His policy prescriptions are shallow, extreme and unimaginative. He’s not a deep thinker. In his challenges to McConnell and the Republican Senate leadership he’s demonstrated ineptitude and insensitivity and an almost total lack of self-awareness. Outside his own MAGA cheerleading section and whatever voices are in his head, his own statements and actions are coming back to haunt him.

Not to be forgotten in this is his friction with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a leading Republican presidential possibility. The two have never gotten along and their antipathy is likely to intensify as the presidential nominating process proceeds. His protestations of neutrality aside, Scott will no doubt remain a Trump partisan and there is always the possibility that he could be primaried by a viable DeSantis loyalist.

Florida Democrats should welcome Scott’s run for another term in 2024. By his arrogance, blindness and incompetence, Scott is making his Senate seat available. It’s an opportunity for the Florida Democratic Party to reconstitute itself and recapture a statewide office. Like all Scott races it will be expensive. Scott spends whatever it takes to buy votes, but he nonetheless offers Democrats a ray of sunshine after an otherwise dark season.

How deep a hole will Scott dig? He shows no signs of slowing down or changing course. But as anyone who has ever dug a pit knows, the deeper you dig, the more dangerous and unstable it becomes—and when you’re in over your head, that hole just may become your grave.

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Rick Scott meets the Peter Principle

Has Florida’s junior senator reached his ‘level of incompetence?’

What has become the iconic photo of Rick Scott, taken in 2012. (Photo: Joe Skipper for Reuters)

Oct. 8, 2022 by David Silverberg

In 1969, Canadian educator Laurence Peter published the book The Peter Principle. In it he put forward the idea that capable people in hierarchical organizations tend to be promoted until they reach what he called their “level of incompetence.”

The Peter Principle has been a management byword ever since.

Today Floridians can see the Peter Principle in action in their junior senator, Richard Lynn “Rick” Scott.

After repeatedly laying out massive amounts of cash to win election as governor and senator in Florida, Scott has now reached a position in the United States Senate and the Republican Party where his judgment, his ideas and his results are questionable, to put it mildly. He’s proposing very extreme measures for the country that are being roundly rejected by his fellow Republicans, his prospects for success in guiding Republicans to a Senate majority dim by the day, and in the wake of Hurricane Ian he’s not even voting to help his state.

It certainly has all the markings of the Peter Principle in action, Florida Man version.

What’s more, despite all this, he clearly has his eyes on the presidency in 2024, which also marks the last year of his Senate term.

So, has Rick Scott reached his level of incompetence?

The cash cushion

Like so many Floridians, the 69-year-old Scott is a Midwestern transplant, having been born in Bloomington, Ill. He received his Bachelor degree at the University of Missouri and his law degree at Southern Methodist University in Texas.

After a stint in the Navy in the early 1970s he worked as a lawyer. In 1989 he was a co-founder of the Columbia Hospital Corporation to provide for-profit healthcare. With Scott as its chief executive officer (CEO) it merged with another company to become Columbia/HCA, the nation’s largest for-profit healthcare company.

But in 1997 Columbia/HCA became mired in scandal when federal agencies accused it of defrauding Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs. Scott was questioned and invoked the Fifth Amendment 75 times. As a result of a federal lawsuit, Columbia/HCA admitted to the fraud and was forced to pay $1.7 billion in fines to the government. It was the largest settlement of its kind in American history. Although there were no criminal charges against him, Scott was forced to resign as CEO four months after the charges became public.

After a period as a venture capitalist Scott ran for governor of Florida in 2010 after Charles “Charlie” Crist chose to run for the US Senate rather than seek another term as governor.

Scott’s spending on his first political race broke all previous state campaign records. He poured $85 million into the race, more than $73 million of which was family money. The prior record had been held by Crist himself, when he spent $24.6 million in his 2006 gubernatorial bid, a sum that now seemed like a pittance.

Yet for all that spending Scott only narrowly defeated his primary opponent, then-Attorney General Bill McCollum, by 46.4 percent of the vote. His general election victory was even closer: Scott garnered 48.92 percent to Democrat Alex Sink’s 47.67 percent, a difference of only 61,550 votes. It was the closest Florida gubernatorial race since 1876.

In 2014 Scott’s re-election race against Crist cost him $12.8 million of his own money. Campaign finance laws in Florida changed after the 2010 race and so had national campaign finance laws in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision allowing unrestricted issue-oriented campaign spending.

Between Scott’s contributions and outside spending groups, a study, “Campaign Spending and the 2014 Florida Gubernatorial Race” in the Journal of Florida Studies estimated Scott’s spending at $79 million, or $27.58 per vote, while the Crist campaign effort cost $47.74 million or $17.04 per vote.

Scott won this race too, by a narrow margin: 48.1 percent to Crist’s 47.1 percent, a difference of 64,145 votes.

“While this [spending] would win Scott the election, it would not do so by a larger margin than he won in 2010,” notes the study’s author, Harold Orndorff.

A full policy review of Scott’s term in office is beyond the scope of this essay but suffice to say it featured mostly extreme Republican conservative orthodoxy with a few Scott idiosyncrasies thrown in. Most notable was Scott’s absolute rejection of the idea of climate change to the point where the term was informally banned from use in his administration—and this in an environmentally sensitive state subject to the worst effects of global warming. The full impact—mostly deleterious—of his tenure is a book yet to be written.

Limited to two terms, Scott decided to run for the US Senate against incumbent Bill Nelson in 2018. Once again, he brought out the big bucks to do it, spending a record $64 million of his own money.

After an election so close it was in dispute for weeks and took two recounts, Scott was declared the winner by 50.1 percent to Nelson’s 49.9 percent, a hairsbreadth difference of 10,033 votes.

The lesson of this electoral history is that while Scott has won, it has always been at great expense and by very narrow margins.

Scott is not a natural politician. He doesn’t evoke feelings of warmth or goodwill. He doesn’t inspire great loyalty or allegiance. His policy prescriptions can be idiosyncratic but are mostly conventionally far right. In the days before Donald Trump he was the Donald Trump of Florida, winning over fringe conservatives but also getting enough votes of dutifully traditional mainstream Republicans to just barely put him over the finish line.

A flawed Florida model

There’s no denying or disputing Scott’s victories, no matter how narrow or expensive. He won the elections he entered. But these victories also seem peculiar to Florida, with its fragmented media markets and its distance and popular alienation from the federal government. It’s a land where most people are indifferent to policy, where retirees want to freeze time and where, as political consultant Rick Wilson once said, “everything north of I-4 is just Alabama with more guns.”

As Scott has shown through his vast cash outlays, a politician can buy elections in Florida. But now he’s also showing that his Florida model doesn’t necessarily translate into national success.

In 2020 Republican senators elected Scott to be chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He was charged with managing all the mechanics of electing a Republican Senate including finding candidates, raising money and aiding their campaigns.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the Senate Minority Leader, was looking to Scott to make him Senate Majority Leader in 2023. With the party holding the presidency traditionally losing congressional seats in its first midterm election and with President Joe Biden having a low approval rating, Scott seemed to have the wind at his back and an easy path ahead.

Instead, as of this writing, Democrats are narrowly favored to keep the Senate (the website FiveThirtyEight.com puts their odds at 68 percent). Republican Senate candidates are foundering (every day seems to bring a new scandal or gaffe to Georgia’s Herschel Walker).

Even McConnell has complained. “I think there’s a probably a greater likelihood that the House flips than the Senate,” he said at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Kentucky in August. “Senate races are just different—they’re statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.” It was widely seen as a swipe at Scott’s performance.

Scott for his part seemed to see the NRSC as just a springboard to the presidency. Wags have joked that NRSC really stands for National Rick Scott Campaign.

In defiance of McConnell, Scott, in consultation with Donald Trump, unveiled his own 12-point agenda in February called the “Commitment to America.” It would impose taxes on the poorest Americans and subject Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to five-year reauthorizations, with the possibility of termination. This directly threatens Florida’s many seniors dependent on these programs.

At a time when American states, counties and cities are still recovering from the COVID pandemic and natural disasters, Scott’s plan would cut off their federal funding. It would slash jobs for police, firefighters, teachers and other local public employees. Nationally, there are an estimated 795,000 police, 317,200 firefighters and 3.2 million teachers. All their jobs would be jeopardized. Ironically enough, Scott’s plan would defund the police.

At a time when pro-choice forces are energized and alarmed over the loss of the right to choose and are flocking to the Democratic Party, Scott dodged questions about his support for a proposal to impose a national abortion ban introduced by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

But beyond the national campaigns and the future of the presidency, Scott has actually turned on his own state—and in its greatest hour of need.

After capably handling the onslaught of Hurricane Irma as governor in 2017, Scott failed abysmally as senator after the catastrophe of Hurricane Ian in 2022, which made landfall in Southwest Florida on Sept. 28.

Just two days later, on Sept. 30, when the Senate voted to fund the government until Dec. 16—which included roughly $20 billion in disaster relief funds for the country as a whole—Scott voted against the measure.

Not only was Scott’s vote striking given Florida’s distress, it was at odds with the rest of the Senate’s Republican caucus. The measure, the Continuing Appropriations and Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2023 (House Resolution 6833), also known as a continuing resolution or CR, was endorsed by McConnell and the Senate Republican leadership. Along with all the Democrats, 22 Republicans approved it and it passed the Senate by a lopsided vote of 72 to 25. (Florida’s other senator, Marco Rubio, was absent for the vote. The bill also passed the House by 230 to 201, with all 16 House Republicans from Florida voting against it. Biden signed it into law that day, just before the end of the federal fiscal year.)

It’s worth considering what would have happened had Scott’s negative vote succeeded. The federal government would have shut down. The Federal Emergency Management Agency would have halted operations just as it was getting into gear to help Southwest Florida. There would have been no urban search and rescue teams from other states flying into Florida to save people trapped under the rubble. There would have been no Coast Guard operations to help victims stranded by storm surge. There would have been no federal aid for housing, food, safety, security, or communications.

This is the kind of apocalypse Scott was voting for with his negative vote.

On Sept. 7, well before Hurricane Ian made landfall, Scott forcefully urged Republicans to reject the continuing resolution.

“Today I am urging every Republican to demand that Congress pass a clean CR that simply maintains current federal spending levels,” he declared in a statement. “We cannot cave to the demands of the Democrats carrying out an agenda led by a raving lunatic in the White House.”

That “raving lunatic” visited Southwest Florida on Wednesday, Oct. 5, to see the damage for himself. He pledged the full faith, credit and resources of the United States to help Florida—and especially Southwest Florida—recover and aid the people hurt by the storm.

Revealing the man

Now, all the doubts and criticism of Scott may be rendered moot by a smashing Republican Senate victory on Nov. 8 that vindicates his senatorial efforts.

Perhaps Republicans will win the Senate. Perhaps McConnell will become majority leader. Perhaps Scott will be hailed as a political genius. Perhaps 2022 will pave the way for Scott’s 2024 nomination as president and his ultimate election to the White House. Perhaps Florida and Southwest Florida in particular will fully recover and rebuild without any federal help at all. Perhaps the disgrace and stigma of the Columbia/HCA fraud will be flushed down the river of history and Scott will be washed clean by the purifying waters of political power.

It could happen.

However, with exactly one month to go until the election that’s not the way it’s looking.

Instead, what appears to be happening is that a man who bought his elections in Florida has now come up against a much more complex political task than he ever faced before. Rather than easily manipulating a disinterested Florida electorate through television ads, Scott is fumblingly trying to juggle diverse and aroused populations throughout a vast country that he doesn’t really understand.

First Lady Michelle Obama once observed: “Being president doesn’t change who you are, it reveals who you are.”

The same could be said for any high office. Each step up the ladder reveals a bit more about the person you are. With each step upward there are more people scrutinizing your flaws, more people critiquing your moves, and more people watching to see if you fall.

Rick Scott has climbed pretty high. Each step has revealed more about his capabilities and character. It’s been a very enlightening ascent for those bothering to watch. Scott obviously hopes to climb higher. But the ladder is swaying and there’s the pesky possibility that at his current step he may have reached as far as he’s able.

Has he reached his “level of incompetence?” It certainly seems so. However, on Nov. 8, with every vote for every Senate seat throughout the nation, Americans will decide for themselves.

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Jim Huff, Congress and the courage to be civil

A new kind of Republican challenger is taking on Rep. Byron Donalds in the 19th Congressional District primary this August

Jim Huff on the job with the US Army Corps of Engineers. (Photo: Jim Huff for Congress campaign)

July 8, 2022 by David Silverberg

These days it takes courage to simply be civil.

It takes even more courage to run for public office and do it in a civilized way—a way that respects voters of all persuasions, avoids insults and hyperbole and relies on reason, rationality and professionalism.

And it takes enormous courage to do this as a Republican in Southwest Florida in a primary race against a sitting congressman who exploits fear and paranoia and extremism.

But Jim Huff has that courage.

Huff is seeking the Republican nomination for Congress in the 19th Congressional District, the coastal area from Cape Coral to Marco Island. He is on the primary ballot against Rep. Byron Donalds (R-19-Fla.).

His candidacy, he says, was the result of a culmination of factors. “In particular, I’d watch TV interviews with politicians where they were acting like they were in a high school drama. They were calling out other parties and calling out other people for their mistakes but never providing a solution.”

As he states on his website, “We cannot afford to sit back and watch any longer. We have to stand up for our freedoms before everything America stands for is squandered away.”

Huff, 38 and single, is a civil engineer who has been working on infrastructure and water-related projects in Florida his entire professional life. No candidate of any party has come to the political arena with the depth of technical knowledge and environmental expertise that Huff possesses. He not only understands the district, he understands what flows through it and what lies beneath it—literally.

Candidate Jim Huff. (Photo: Author)

In person he’s friendly, open and polite. He’s clearly new to politics but that also means he lacks the slick veneer of career politicians. Instead his bearing is that of a professional and his federal service has given him the experience of accomplishing a mission when assigned it. When he disagrees on a point, it he does so rationally and civilly.

Until deciding to run for the 19th Congressional District seat Huff was a civil engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). As such he was prevented from engaging in political activity under the Hatch Act, a 1939 law prohibiting federal employees from partisan political activity. It meant he had to leave the Corps and couldn’t build a campaign before becoming a candidate in April so he has a lot of catching up to do.

He’s been doing that by walking through the neighborhoods he hopes to represent. “When I go door to door you get people who don’t want politicians,” he said in an interview with The Paradise Progressive. “Even within the Republican Party people tell me that we need to get back to core values and our politicians are out of touch.”

Huff is not intimidated by Donalds’ fundraising and incumbent advantages, observing: “Among the people I’ve talked to, the loyalty to Donalds is maybe 10 percent.”

He also thinks he can beat Donalds, saying: “If I didn’t think I could beat him I wouldn’t have spent $10,440 to get on the ballot.”

Florida transplant

Jim Huff during his days as an Eagle Scout. (Photo: Campaign)

Huff is originally from rural New Jersey, where he grew up, participating in the Boy Scouts and rising to the rank of Eagle Scout. He started working as a farm hand at age 15 and continued working while going to school before heading to Florida to attend the University of Florida at age 18. He didn’t stay there but during the summers began working for USACE starting as a laborer in the Field Exploration Unit.

He ultimately earned an associate degree in engineering from Santa Fe Community College and stayed with USACE, which brought him to Florida to work on Corps projects like the Hoover Dike around Lake Okeechobee, the Kissimmee River restoration, the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and the Picayune State Forest restoration.

His USACE experience prompted him to complete a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida Gulf Coast University, where he graduated magna cum laude. He also became involved in the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers where he oversaw community cleanup programs and reached out to students with STEM programs (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

When he decided to run, he went in all the way: he quit his job, sold his house and dedicated himself to campaigning full time.

Mission-oriented

Huff with FGCU students at an Army Corps of Engineers project in Florida. (Photo: Campaign)

Huff’s engineering experience gave him an appreciation for the role of the federal government and especially federal funding in managing Southwest Florida’s environment and infrastructure. It was another factor in his decision to run.

When there’s money available, “Why shouldn’t we take that opportunity to establish pilot programs and studies?” he asks. Since federal funding is not for private businesses but for schools like FGCU’s Water School or USACE infrastructure improvement, there’s no reason not to get it. “If we don’t start with these pilot programs, how can we ever get there?” he asks.

He is particularly scornful of a bill Donalds co-sponsored, Protecting Local Communities from Harmful Algal Blooms Act (House Resolution 74), “I feel it was a cop-out,” he says. “It was a great title but it doesn’t do what the title says; it’s a reactive measure and will cost the taxpayers more money without providing improvement.”

That bill is in keeping with a past Donalds practice of introducing bills with elaborate titles but then never following up with content that actually does something. “In my personal opinion, that is a lot of what our politicians have turned to for popularity for their next election without following through,” Huff observes.

Huff was also disturbed by Donalds’ refusal to seek federal funding for district needs. “It gave me the realization of how much we’re losing in this community.” If elected Huff is determined to get every penny the District is entitled to receive from the federal government.

Republicanism and rationality

Huff is a lifelong Republican and his positions reflect the Party’s traditional mainstream approach and attitudes.

He says he has three main priorities as a candidate.

The first is to make politicians accountable. A key element of this is imposing term limits on members of Congress and enforcing existing ethics rules, which he thinks have been too laxly pursued. “If we allow people to get a pass, then essentially we do not have any rules,” he argues.

The second is to fight for clean water and bringing it to Southwest Florida either through ongoing efforts or new initiatives.

The third is to maintain a sense of professionalism. As he puts it: “I won’t say that’s something that every politician has lost but I will say as a whole, especially the ones we see on TV, we have lost our professionalism.” Examples of unprofessionalism he cites include House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-12-Calif.) ripping up a copy of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech and Trump refusing to attend President Joe Biden’s inauguration.

“You can go to any politician going on national TV and berating another politician or another party for their beliefs. So when I say ‘professionalism’ what I honestly think it is, is ‘know when to bite your tongue,’” he says.

On other issues, he supports law enforcement, a strong military, meeting veterans’ needs, reforming the immigration system and securing the borders, upholding free enterprise and protecting individual liberties.

Although a Second Amendment and lawful carrying supporter and an AR-15 gun owner, Huff is not a member of the National Rifle Association. As he puts it, he believes in taking steps in a reasonable direction to protect Americans without their having to surrender their rights to gun ownership.

Huff says properly administered “red flag” laws that enable law enforcement to take guns from people deemed a danger to themselves or others can protect the public. “It’s not a popular cause,” he acknowledges. “But it’s also something to consider, with education, that our own state has already implemented. Speaking to law enforcement, and also people who have gone through the red flag process themselves, it is effective [used] in the right way. Is it a bit of a nuisance for some? Yes, if falsely accused, sure, but in general we know it is helping our imperfect system.”

Huff is also avoiding being tied to corporate or industry political action committees (PACs).

This is based on personal experience. Like all candidates, Huff has received questionnaires from PACs asking about his positions in exchange for their support. To get PAC endorsements and money, a candidate has to accept the PAC’s position on issues.

“There’s always a line at the bottom with a pledge to support the PAC’s position,” he recounts. “The pledge ties my hands throughout my term. Even for the right cause, it’s too vague. I don’t want to open this up. I believe that interest groups are the problem.”

He explains: “My focus is to speak to the people. We need to support ourselves as a community first, and then take those principles and ideals to the federal level, not take our special interest groups and then feed that down the opposite direction.”

Huff has encountered numerous questions and challenges about his position on Trump’s contention that he won the 2020 election and the events of January 6, 2021, an event he missed watching on television in real time because he was working.

He stated his position in a Facebook post on June 23.

“To this day, I do not believe Donald Trump broke a law because it is likely he would have been arrested or indicted already and tried in a court of law for the law(s) he broke,” he wrote. “HOWEVER, I KNOW LAWS WERE BROKEN THAT DAY AND THOSE COMMITTING THE CRIMES MUST BE HELD RESPONSIBLE. I do believe Trump’s actions contributed to the mistaken expectations of those who did storm the capitol, that Trump would continue being President after their actions. I support the prosecution of every individual found guilty of breaking the law that day, not to the fullest extent but to a reasonable extent given each’s specific circumstances. You know what that’s called? Justice.”

He’s also skeptical of the proceedings of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, which he calls bad politics and more reality TV than a hearing. “I believe we all deserve the truth of details as to what happened factually, without bias to one point of view or the other,” he stated.

Restoring civility

One of the most voluntary acts a person can commit in life is running for public office. No one is forced to do it and the immediate reaction of most people to a new candidate is discouragement: the incumbent is always too entrenched, the cost of campaigning is always too high, the opponent’s coffers are always too full, the odds of winning are always too long.

So it takes courage to take that step and declare a candidacy, whether for dog catcher or school board or Congress.

Whether one agrees with Huff or not, he is undeniably showing courage by stepping forward against an incumbent who plays to the lowest common denominator.

He says that people have told him that even if he doesn’t win the Aug. 23 primary, he will be well positioned to run again “next time.” However, he says, “There is no plan for a next time. It’s always been a plan to get in, make an improvement and then go back to my career as an engineer, as a normal citizen. And I do believe a lot of people recognize if we had more people running for those reasons we would have a more effective government.”

Whatever one thinks of Huff’s candidacy, in a Southwest Florida district whose past Republican primary election campaigns have been awash in gunplay and insults and dirty tricks, it is definitely refreshing to have as a candidate someone who is a professional and a civil engineer—in every sense of the word “civil.”

Liberty lives in light

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‘No mas’: Democratic lawyer Adam Gentle takes on Diaz-Balart in Florida’s 25th District

Democratic challenger Adam Gentle announces his candidacy for Congress against the backdrop of the Everglades. (Image: Adam Gentle for Congress campaign)

June 1, 2021 by David Silverberg

–Updated June 2 with inclusion of Golden Gate in district description

Last year Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-25-Fla.) ran for re-election unopposed and—no surprise—won.

That jolted lawyer Adam Gentle.

“He’s an active threat to democracy,” Gentle says of the sitting congressman. “He voted to overturn the election. He’s not even protecting the fundamental form of our government. Having him run unopposed is unacceptable.”

On Monday, May 24, Gentle announced he was challenging Diaz-Balart to represent the 25th District in Congress.

At stake, says Gentle, is nothing less than the fate of democracy.

“This is an inflection point in our history,” he stated in his campaign announcement, issued in both English and Spanish. “Our failure to act now to address the causes of the January 6th insurrection will lead this nation down the same path as Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.”

The 25th’s constituency knows whereof he speaks.

The District

The Florida 25th Congressional District.

The 25th District stretches from roughly Route 75 in Collier County and Golden Gate in the west, includes all of Hendry County and the towns of LaBelle, Clewiston, Immokalee and Ave Maria in its center to Hialeah and Doral in the east.

Of the 796,422 people in the District, 76 percent are Hispanic. While there are communities of immigrants from Nicaragua and Venezuela, 44 percent are Cuban-American, the highest percentage in the country. It’s one reason Diaz-Balart has held the seat since he took office in 2003.

But that doesn’t faze Gentle. “The vast majority of voters are bilingual,” he says. “I take it as an opportunity to connect.” He said he had good results when he addressed a group of Cuban American students. They were open to his message and moreover, “they told me that in their lives they had never had a Democratic candidate open a street office in Hialeah,” (104 Hialeah Dr.) where most Cuban-Americans are concentrated.

Gentle also believes that “kitchen-table issues” count for much more than ethnicity, particularly healthcare. As he puts it, “one party is doing much more for healthcare, while the other one just wants to get rid of it.”

The 25th District has a very high number of enrollees in the Affordable Care Act, according to Gentle. It’s a program that was particularly important to people during the worst months of the COVID pandemic—and as Gentle points out, “meanwhile, the current representative tried to eliminate it. Under this administration [the Biden administration] he’s tried to do it.”

Gentle believes that healthcare is a fundamental human right and no one should be forced to choose between paying for medications and affording food. Good healthcare is also important for safeguarding the people of the district from COVID and ensuring that everyone gets vaccinated.

Especially after the COVID pandemic he sees health as important for much more than just a basic commitment to wellbeing because, in his view, “healthy people create healthy democracies.”

But only the living can stay healthy and with the spate of gun violence in the country, life is at risk from random shootings. It all came home to the 25th District shortly after midnight on Saturday, May 29. Hialeah was rocked when three gunmen blasted a gathering there, killing two people and wounding over 20.

Three gunmen exit a car in Hialeah in a surveillance camera video released by police.

“After hearing the news out of Hialeah this morning, my heart is breaking for the families of those involved,” Gentle said when the news broke. “I’m praying for a swift recovery for those in the hospital. We must do more to help protect our communities from these needless acts of violence.”

As part of his platform Gentle was already calling for common-sense background checks for gun purchases and red flag laws to prevent the unfit from accessing guns. He supports a 14-day waiting period before gun purchases, investing in mental health care services and banning assault weapons with high capacity magazines.

As of this writing, Diaz-Balart hadn’t issued a statement on the shooting of any kind or even a tweet.

The candidate

Originally hailing from Essexville, Mich., Gentle is a 39-year-old lawyer whose career has taken him all over the world.

A graduate of Columbia University in New York and George Washington University in Washington, DC, where he earned his juris doctor degree, he worked for four years with the law firm of Baker Mackenzie in Washington.

Initially, Gentle pursued a career in the arts, traveling to Los Angeles, Calif., within days of his high school graduation and working with The Young Americans, a charitable group that seeks to promote international goodwill and understanding through music and the performance. It was an experience, he says, that exposed him to numerous cultures and peoples.

That international experience helped him in his law practice where he specialized in helping American companies comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. That law prohibits American companies from engaging in bribery or other forms of corruption when doing business overseas. Gentle gained experience in fighting corruption—and keeping American firms out of trouble—in countries like Russia, China, India and areas like Central Asia.

“Corruption,” he says, “is a force that destroys democracy.”

His experience, from running a paper route as a student to his work as a lawyer, made him a confirmed capitalist and determined to support business in the district. “It’s essential that we take action to protect our small businesses, our environment and our tourism industry,” he stated when he announced his candidacy.

Having seen real socialism overseas he’s dismissive of the favorite Republican tactic of smearing any opponent with the “socialist” label. “They’ve just weaponized words. I’m a capitalist who supports the free market,” he says.

He’s also a democrat with both a small and big D, having seen autocratic governments elsewhere. He was horrified by the mob attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6 and Diaz-Balart’s support for Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of a legally conducted and fairly counted election.

“I won’t stand on the sidelines and watch elected officials repeat proven lies to further their corrupt scheme,” he says. “They’ve tested our Constitution and the will of the American people. No mas.”

Gentle is openly gay and married to a Portuguese-speaking husband. He doesn’t see this as an impediment to his candidacy and he’s unafraid of his opponent trying to use it against him.

“I think if my being gay affects my performance in this race it will say a lot more about the other side’s attitudes than about anyone’s way of voting,” he says. “I was born at a time when I couldn’t imagine the life I have today. I have rights and privileges that I didn’t have when I was born. I think that unites us rather than divides us.”

The road ahead

Like all Florida Democrats, Gentle has a tough path to victory. The district is rated R+8 by the Cook Political Report Partisan Voting Index, meaning that it’s eight times more Republican than the national average.

Moreover, Trump made serious inroads into its population in the last election. In 2016 Trump barely edged out Hillary Clinton in the district, 49.6 percent to 47.4 percent. In 2020 he extended his reach, defeating Biden there by 61.4 percent to 37.9 percent.

But Gentle is determined and he’s not without resources. He is already fundraising for the long race ahead. He has a strong and knowledgeable senior advisor in Evelyn Pervez Vadia, an experienced political consultant and strategist who specializes in combating disinformation and reaching Latino voters.

He is paying attention to the western side of the district, which is often overlooked by Diaz-Balart. In February he attended a black heritage festival in LaBelle, the first time a candidate had appeared there. “Mario Diaz-Balart has never shown up there,” he pointed out. “You have to show people that you care about them.”

He regards the sugar industry with skepticism but not outright hostility: “My main concern with any industry is that taxpayers are not left holding the bag for their practices. If big sugar is polluting then it has to be cleaned up. We do need to make sure that the proper parties are held responsible.”

He supports the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and its funding, which he notes “needs to be reviewed constantly.”

When it comes to immigration, Gentle promotes the idea of American Migration Service Centers to prevent unmanageable migrant influxes. These would be attached to US consulates and embassies so that potential immigrants could be treated in an orderly and legal way. He argues that such centers would provide local jobs while freeing up border security resources so that border agents can concentrate on real threats like smuggling and crime.

Above all, Gentle is convinced that the district’s population is ready for a change, especially given the assault on democracy that he believes Diaz-Balart aided and abetted with his vote.

“It’s a fact that my opportunities and privileges have allowed me to travel all around the world both personally and professionally. I think there’s something awesome about the 25th and I’m excited to engage with different cultures and ways of life,” he says.

“My number one focus in Florida is that we’re protecting people to make sure they have food on the table and they’re treated with dignity and paid a living wage and have access to healthcare. This country has turned away from uncomfortable aspects of its life that we need to address. We need to get really honest, really fast.”

The only promise he makes is one that’s both hard and easy to fulfill at the same time: “I will never vote according to party dictates,” he says. “I will always vote in the interests of the people I represent.”

Visit Adam Gentle’s website here.

Adam Gentle’s announcement video can be viewed here.

Liberty lives in light

Maureen Porras: Persisting for the neglected and forgotten

Maureen Porras (Photos: Maureen Porras campaign)

Sept. 25, 2020 by David Silverberg

It was July, 2018 when Maureen Porras, an immigration attorney, went with a client to the office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Miramar, Florida.

The client was a Nicaraguan immigrant father of two young children, married to an American citizen with medical conditions. As required, he periodically checked in with ICE. He had been informed that he was subject to deportation but wanted to request a humanitarian stay because of his wife’s condition, which was why Porras was with him that day.

Porras and the client met with the ICE agents, who were surprised to see an attorney there.

“I started to speak on his behalf,” she recalled to The Paradise Progressive. “They asked to take him to another room for questioning without counsel. I knew that if he went through that door alone, I would never see him again and he was going to be deported.”

Porras objected; she was going to be with him no matter what happened. Five uniformed ICE officers surrounded her. A supervisor was summoned. The atmosphere was grim and the officers demanding. At that time ICE was reputed to have physically abused attorneys.

But Porras persisted. “I refused to leave,” she recalled. “I caused a real scene. I felt the fear and the intimidation that immigrants are now facing. I knew that I had to stand up for my client. If I, as an attorney, couldn’t stand up for them, then who would? That experience, where you’re vulnerable, really made it clear that we need a change.”

Ultimately, they both left the ICE office together. Porras won a motion to reopen his case and it’s currently active before the immigration court—with a final hearing scheduled for 2022.

Porras called the incident “one of the most defining moments of my life.” It inspired her to run for the Florida House in the 105th District—to make the changes she says are needed.

The 105th District

Florida House District 105

The 105th stretches almost completely across the southern part of Florida. If it was mapped demographically, it would look like a barbell: population centers in the west (Naples Manor, Golden Gate and Lely Resort) then a long stretch of Everglades and population centers in the east (Miramar, Doral, Sweetwater and The Hammocks). It includes pieces of Collier, Miami Dade and just a bit of Broward counties and is mostly bounded on the north by the Alligator Alley portion of Interstate 75.

Based on the 2010 Census, the population of 157,369 was mostly Hispanic (69 percent) with a median age of 35 years and split evenly between men and women.

For the last two years, the 105th has been represented in Tallahassee by Ana Maria Rodriguez, a Republican who is now running for state Senate in the 35th Senate District.

Running against Porras is David Borrero, who describes himself as a “conservative Republican,” and serves as a commissioner of the city of Sweetwater.

Porras and her husband Caleb Johnston, a Florida state’s attorney, live in Doral on the east side of the district. While it’s a long trip from one end of the 105th to the other, Porras travels it at least twice a week to meet with voters and political groups.

“We’ve put in a lot of work in Collier County,” she says.

An American journey

Maureen Porras (center, in blue jacket) addresses a group on naturalization along with law enforcement officers.

Porras, who will be 32 years old on Oct. 23, was born in Managua, Nicaragua. Her mother left for the United States when Porras was 7 months old. Maureen followed when she was 7 years old. She received her US citizenship in 2008.

She attended public schools, which she says gave her a great appreciation for public education and made her a strong supporter of the institution. Indeed, she lists support for public education as a top issue.

“We have to support funding for public education and stop diverting money into charter schools,” she says. “My opponent proposes expanding charter schools.”

She graduated from Florida International University in Miami with a Bachelor degree in political science in 2010, graduating cum laude. She then earned her Juris Doctor degree from the Florida Coastal School of Law in 2014 and passed the Florida Bar the same year. While in law school, she worked in the Human and Immigrant Rights Clinic. There, she represented clients before the US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency and the Immigration Court. She was also president of the Immigration Law Society.

It was her immigration work that inspired her run for office. “I’m running to bring a voice to issues and people who are often neglected and forgotten,” she says.

Her platform could be characterized as mainstream progressive. On her website she lists support for public education, criminal justice reform, environmental protection, reproductive rights and immigrant protection as her top issues in that order.

In Tallahassee she says she’ll work to fix the broken unemployment benefits system.

When it comes to dealing with coronavirus, Porras says she would have supported calling a special session, which Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) opposed. She favors help to small businesses hurt by the pandemic and “making sure that loans and funds are spread equally across the state – not just in the governor’s backyard.” She characterizes DeSantis’ performance as “poor” given his lack of transparency in reporting COVID-19 infection rates, his failure to enforce public safety measures like mask wearing and social distancing and his early dismissal of the dangers of the virus.

As Porras campaigns around the district, she says she’s finding that her Nicaraguan origins are a considerable advantage. Sweetwater has the highest population of Nicaraguan-Americans in the country. “I’m making inroads with the Nicaraguan community,” she says. “I believe I would be the first Democratic Nicaraguan-American official elected to office.”

But she’s reaching out across the board, well beyond her ethnic community. “Most of the registered voters are independents. I’m not just reaching out to registered Republicans and Democrats; I’m reaching out to independents. You really do have to persuade them and I’m making progress.”

And she adds: “We have a good chance to win here.”

To learn more about Maureen Porras visit her website, Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Liberty lives in light

Rachel Brown: Powering to the polls

Rachel Brown (Photo: Rachel Brown Campaign)

Sept. 10, 2020 by David Silverberg

Like many people, Rachel Brown’s politics and understanding of the world has evolved—but she’s had a lot further to go and started at an earlier age than most.

Born in 1994 and raised in Naples, Fla., Brown’s father made money selling guns at gun shows. She was raised in a house without air conditioning with Fox News blaring in the background. Until the third grade she was home schooled but then her mother, a teacher by profession, worked three jobs to afford the tuition to send her to private school at the Evangelical Christian School in Fort Myers.

It was an upbringing that might have produced a woman with narrow expectations, a limited perspective on the world and conservative political views.

Instead, today Brown is the progressive candidate for the Florida state Senate in District 27, determined to protect the district’s natural environment, ensure a decent life for its people and tackle the challenges that face them.

“I’m a liberal who comes from conservative roots,” she says. “I’m tired of my legislators ignoring issues like harmful algal blooms, the growing numbers of COVID-19 cases, and the massive homeless crisis on the rise.”

Center of gravity

State Senate District 27 includes Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Pine Island, Sanibel and Captiva. It is the center of population in Lee County. The Caloosahatchee River runs through it to its shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico.

Florida Senate District 27

The District is currently represented by Republican Sen. Elizabeth Benaquisto, who is term-limited and stepping down.

Benaquisto’s retirement set off a ferocious primary battle to succeed her between state House Reps. Ray Rodrigues (R-76-Fort Myers Beach) and Heather Fitzenhagen (R-78-Fort Myers), a battle so bitter they appeared in dueling TV ads firing guns, with the barely disguised implication they would gladly turn those guns on each other.

By then, Brown was already a declared candidate for the seat. She was approached by state Sen. Gary Farmer (D-34) the designated Senate minority leader, who urged Brown not to run so that Democrats could vote in an open Republican primary and elect the more moderate Fitzenhagen.

However, Brown refused, saying “How can I tell people I’ve marched with that I changed my mind, I’m not going to run, and they should go vote for a mediocre Republican instead who’s just going to take their taxes and use it for corporate handouts? And how can I take a backroom deal that represents the behavior I’m fighting to end?”

On Aug. 18 Rodrigues decisively defeated Fitzenhagen.

Given the past Republican nature of the District, the conventional wisdom is that it will remain the same.

Brown is determined to prove that assumption wrong. As her campaign slogan puts it: “Defy the norm!”

“Incredibly urgent”

After three years in private school, Brown attended Palmetto Ridge High School in Naples for a year and then began going part time to Florida Gulf Coast University, where she is still studying.

“I wasn’t planning to run for office before I got my degree,” she says. “But it’s incredibly urgent that I do it now.”

Brown is training as an environmental engineer and it was her sensitivity and understanding of the environment—and particularly the relationship of the District with its natural setting—that powered her run for office.

“Water quality is the big issue for everyone,” she observes. “Anyone in Southwest Florida has seen the degradation of our water and the algae blooms. My whole life I’ve heard folks that have been around longer than I have say that the water used to be a bright, beautiful crystal blue, not like the brown and black plumes we see today.”

“I believe every person should have a legal right to clean air and clean water; a right that citizens of District 27 do not currently have,” she says, adding that she’s ready to fight for that right in Tallahassee.

She’s also angry that important environmental legislation has repeatedly been put off or deferred by the state legislature.

“Every time they see an environmental group trying to do something good they try to stop it,” she says.

She’s particularly incensed by what she calls the deceptively named Clean Waterways Act, which has been signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

While the law puts in place a variety of water purity regulations and procedures, it also takes away the power of local governments to extend legal rights to plants, animals or bodies of water, so that their purity or health can be protected in court. Brown believes there needs to be an environmental bill of rights and says she will work to repeal the Act in order to pass a better alternative.

It’s mainly on these environmental issues that she most disagrees with her opponent. During the primary, Rodrigues was painted as a tool of the sugar industry around Lake Okeechobee, earning him the nickname “Sugar Ray.” Water from the lake is blamed for much of the pollution that flows down the Caloosahatchee River and dumps into the waters of the 27th District, clogging the canals of Cape Coral with algal mats and causing blue-green algae blooms along the river’s shores.

“He’s everything I am not,” says Brown. “He doesn’t seem to put the people of Lee County first.”

Stress tests

While the natural environment is critical to sustaining life and the 27th District’s economy, that life is under stress from the pandemic and the economy has been badly battered.

Nonetheless, Brown is optimistic: “I truly believe that a combination of individual and community efforts can make everyone’s lives better,” she says. “There are so many positive changes to be made when we work together.”

She points out that in Lee County the average cost of rent has increased by 19 percent since 2001 while the average income has gone up by only 4 percent, meaning that working people cannot keep up. She favors increasing the minimum wage to a livable level of $15 over six years. “If people aren’t making enough to live they’re going to need help,” she says.

She has seen homelessness in Lee County in person while working food service jobs. With the pandemic and economic crash she fears that homelessness is likely to increase and the county has to be ready for it.

People also need their healthcare, which she vows to protect, and she wants to expand Medicaid in the state.

Will she be branded a “socialist” for all this? Ironically, she points out, Rodrigues himself praised socialized healthcare. It came during a League of Women Voters forum when he commended Sweden’s approach to the COVID crisis by trying to develop herd immunity—covered by its socialized healthcare.

Brown also supports mask mandates to protect people from coronavirus.

Given her father’s past gun dealing, Brown says she’s comfortable with gun ownership as long as owners behave legally and responsibly. However, she feels they should be held liable for the use of their weapons. She really takes issue with Florida’s “stand your ground” law.

“Stand your ground as it is doesn’t do the job it was intended to do,” she argues. “It shouldn’t be allowed to be used in an offensive way.”

One issue that is close to her heart is that of infrastructure—good public transportation and safe streets—and for a very personal reason.

In 2004 her 12-year-old brother Eric was killed in a hit-and-run incident while he was riding his bicycle in Golden Gate Estates. Brown believes the culprit—who was never caught—was drunk or on drugs.

The incident made her determined to work for greater road safety. “We have a lack of city planning,” she notes. “A lot of the county is considered a rural environment but that’s just a way to excuse the lack of planning. We need better planning because then we’ll have safer roadways and fewer emissions.”

Her stance on infrastructure has won her an endorsement from Thomas Kanell, creator of ABetterLeeTran.com, a website advocating improved public transportation in Lee County. He called her “a courageous activist whose focus on the needs of everyday people and on preserving the environment is a fresh alternative from the money-driven politics that have characterized elections in our state.”

Her brother’s death also convinced Brown that alcohol and drugs need to be gotten off the streets. “Drug possession in and of itself is not the issue,” she maintains. “Driving under the influence of drugs and reckless driving in general is. Rather than busting people in their homes for drug consumption, we need to keep it off the roads.”

A public servant

Brown is fully aware that running as a Democrat in what has to date been a Republican district is a long, difficult battle against heavy odds. Her opponent is deep-rooted, backed by the Republican establishment and well-funded.

“At the start of my campaign, I innocently imagined a full paid staff; leaders of volunteer crews, managers, and social media people,” she recounts. “Now I realize that’s not going to happen.”

Instead, small donations have enabled her to order and distribute a hundred face masks and face shields. In addition to using social media she’s purchased yard signs and been able to produce a 30-second television advertisement. She’s planning to send out mailers.

In what she calls a game-changing development, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee organization called Red to Blue is helping her with software and text message campaigning.

She’s been endorsed by other candidates like congressional candidate Cindy Banyai and Anselm Weber, running for the Florida House in District 76.

Interestingly enough, she’s also getting Republican help from supporters of Heather Fitzenhagen who were disgusted by Rodrigues’ primary campaign.

“Many women are angered by Ray’s vicious campaign against Heather which ultimately lost her the primary,” she observes. “In order to win, I need support from all women and I’m delighted by those who have joined me.”

She acknowledges that “It’s hard being a grassroots candidate,” but adds, “I’m powering to the polls.”

Among the many promises and pledges that are made on the campaign trail, there’s one Brown is absolutely determined to keep: “My biggest celebration when I win will be to finally pay for air conditioning for my mother,” she says.

To learn more about Rachel Brown, visit her website, Facebook page or follow her on Twitter.

Liberty lives in light