We do it because it is the right thing to do.
Previously, I was going to make this a five part series. But because I have addressed most of the issues in the last part, I will then jump to my conclusions and why this is all very important. First, I will talk about the actual race for Florida Democratic Party chair. Then I will touch on a personal note.
So, let’s talk about the Chair’s race. Over the last few weeks, we have presented a number of facts regarding this race. Take them as you will, but I feel that knowing everything about everyone involved with the race is vitally important.
When looking at both candidates, I did a lot of research. Not only did I examine their past connections, but people they were currently connected to as well. But this wasn’t the only criteria that I considered. Because I wanted to see Democrats win, it is very important that someone has a plan to lead us to success.
First, let’s look at the plan. Mr. Clendenin has a plan while Mrs. Tant does not. Easy to see who wins on that one.
Second, I looked at the contributions of both candidates. Mr. Clendenin has been a strong supporter for Democrats as far as his contributions. While not being wealthy like Mrs. Tant, Mr. Clendenin has contributed 100% to Democratic candidates, including strong progressives like Linda Stewart, Victor Torres and Ian Whitney.
Mrs. Tant, on the other hand, does not seem to have a strong record when it comes to solely contributing to Democrats, showing that she also donates to Republicans. Even with donations to moderate Republicans like Dennis Jones, others like conservatives Marti Coley and Apryl Marie Fogel received donations as recently as 2006 and 2007, respectively. Those that support Mrs. Tant say that this is because “she was a lobbyist and must play both sides”. There are two very strong flaws with that argument. First, according to the State of Florida, Mrs. Tant wasn’t a lobbyist after 2001. Thus any donations that were made after this really cannot be contributed to her “being a lobbyist”. Second, because Mrs. Tant has contributed to Republicans after being a lobbyist, how can we trust that she would fairly contest all seats? We need to have a chair that doesn’t have any personal feelings toward any Republican candidates, which might lead to a lack of recruitment, particularly in a key district.
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Filed under: Allison Tant, Florida Democratic Party | 20 Comments »
