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| Miami Dade Chairwoman Annette Taddeo and Ana Rivas Logan |
Miami Dade Democratic Party Chairwoman Annette Taddeo has
enthusiastically embraced Ana Rivas Logan as she switched her party affiliation
from Republican to Democrat. The local chair ushered Ms. Rivas Logan
around various media outlets citing her newfound discovery that the Republican
Party is anti-immigrant and in particular anti-Hispanic.
On the surface this does look like a good move on Rivas Logan’s
part; after all she’s a politician seeking her own survival and self-interest.
The question however is what the local party is thinking? Even a passing
glance through Google would have revealed the hard core, Tea party values
espoused by Rivas Logan since her days on the School Board and throughout
her two year stint as state representative .
Let’s give Rivas Logan the benefit of the doubt and concede that
she has just now discovered the anti-immigrant stances the Republican Party has
been pushing for the past DECADE (cough, cough), even though
in 2012, she endorsed Mitt Romney on Twitter:
Where did she miss that Mitt was anti-immigrant? Did she think
that “self deportation” was an olive branch to the Hispanic community? And what
about her anti-choice, pro-voucher, gay-baiting also RECENT voting history?
There’s something to be said about our local party leaders-
Chairwoman Taddeo and her brain trust; particularly Juan Cuba who have lied and
attempted to hide the truth from Democrats. Ms. Rivas Logan is not a moderate
Republican who was disgusted by the Tea Party’s extreme policies. She was
actually elected as a Tea Party conservative to the state legislature in 2010
and voted that way when in office!
Let’s take a look:
2012
HB 277 - restricts when abortion may be performed in 3rd
trimester or after viability; provides certain physician & location
requirements; prohibits instillation abortions; requires physician to have
specified training; prohibits abortion in 3rd trimester in location other than
hospital.
HB 1191 – Parent Trigger bill
HB 1205 – require drug testing of state
employees, exempting State House Reps.
SJR 1176, SB 1174 - reapportionment of
State House, State Senate and Congressional districts
2010 & 2011
SB 2144 - would remove bedside care for
seniors by reducing the number of nurses who care for patients
HB 7107, HB 7109 - would place Medicaid's
3 million recipients into private, for-profit managed care. This bill would
also make it more difficult for recipients to sue Medicaid doctors and
hospitals who commit malpractice.
SB 1546 – pro school vouchers
SJR 2 - proposed an amendment to the State Constitution to
prohibit laws or rules from compelling any person or employer to purchase,
obtain, or otherwise provide for health care coverage (that would be the ACA)
HB 1127 - required that ultrasound be
performed on woman obtaining abortion. She also championed HB-1143 in
2010, the bill vetoed by then Governor Crist that provided the same
requirement, so she voted for this TWICE!
She then went on to receive an
award from the American Conservative Union, you know the
organization that hosts CPAC every year and helps lead the call for draconian
immigration laws. Check out her tweet about how proud she is about the
award:
And then there’s the larger point about her record, after all
this is someone who was the poster child for the Christian Family Coalition’s
anti-gay campaign in 2010.
We realize that people change and views change but when the
change is so sudden and there is but one issue of disagreement with the party
they are leaving cited, something smells fishy. Add in that it happens just in
time for an election cycle and call me cynical, but it raises a few
suspicions as to motive. And you’d hope those motives should be questioned by
our party leadership BEFORE they start cheerleading for another right wing
conservative who wants the label of Democrat to help them get elected to
somethin’.
I know the Democratic Party is supposed to be a big tent and
welcome everyone, but to quote just a few of the comments that genuine
grassroots progressives are posting:
When the tent is so big that there is no meaning, no commitment to principle, no conviction... Until the Democratic Party claims an identity with boundaries: the real "swing" voters - the Independents - cannot commit. They decide the outcome of elections. They will to commit to a Party of Principles. For Democrats to Make the difference, they have to Be the difference. To See the Change, Be the Change. Kent Bailey
Please don't think I'm unwelcoming to people who want to switch parties and join the Democrats. I just think you shouldn't do it unless you believe in our principles. I don't appreciate your switch if you're only doing it because your chances of winning elective office are better with a D next to your name. Susan Smith
I should also mention when Rivas Logan was on the Dade School Board she was a BIG voucher advocate. I know people evolve and change but we are seeing too many of these "evolutions" from politicians after electoral loses using a party that has done nothing but lose itself for a decade plus. It's really quite embarrassing. We could have a whole Jeb Bush caucus at the next J-J at this rate. Kartik Krishnaiyer
What happens if these newly minted "democrats" actually win office and continue moving the party in a soulless immoral direction? I know people keep saying "we want to win" (partly because some of them stand to profit financially from a Crist campaign and Governorship) but what is winning if you don't have principles? Are the Democrats like a sports team you simply cheer for because they are "your team?" Kartik Krishnaiyer
I could not agree more, and I suggest that Democratic party
leaders do a little bit of research before supporting and glorifying new party
converts, and use our generous resources instead to support longtime
progressive grassroots REAL Democrats who are currently running for office.
Or if they’re doing the research, then I don’t appreciate the
fact that we’re being hustled.
We welcome all new Democrats, but in this instance, the recent
voting record contradicts Ms. Rivas Logans’ statements of why she switched.
But, hey, maybe I’m just too much of a skeptic to believe in unicorns.
