Congressional race heats up with Cuban credentials critique

Congressional race heats up with Cuban credentials critique
  • Sumo

Ladra never thoughflyerMACt she would see the day when a 305 politico would actually campaign on the fact that he or she is not Cuban. You avoid bringing attention to that, don’t you? In fact, I’ve seen it used against non-Cuban candidates or even just not as Cuban candidates. As in, “I’m more Cuban than the other guy.”

Remember the “Cubano vota por cubano” campaign? I do.

Typically, Anglos add a Latino sounding surname or nickname to their literature to give the appearance of diversity and muddy the waters.

Not if you’re Cutler Bay Mayor Ed “Mac” MacDougall, the only Anglo running in the Republican primary for congressional district 26 against four other candidates who — by the way, in case you need reminding — are all Cuban.

He is, as Ladra has called him, the old white guy in the race.

MacDougall has actually handed out a flyer that makes that distinction far too clear and actually embraces it. In a shocking break from Campaign 101, he actually named all of his opponents in the flyer and then had a little blurb about them and their, well, Cubanness.

  • Carlos Curbelo is the son of Cuban exiles. He is a lobbyist for Genting who is pushing for new casinos in Miami.”
  • David “Nine Lives” Rivera is an advocate for the Cuban Embargo who shamefully lost to Joe Garcia while under FBI investigation.”
  • Joe Martinez championed the creation of the Cuban Memorial, and lost his bid for Dade County Mayor in 2012.”
  • Lorenzo Palomares wants to be a strong voice for tightening restrictions on our dealings with the Cuban government.”

He might as well have had a big red stamp that emblazoned the word “CUBAN” on top of each picture.

At first, I gotta admit, Ladra was taken aback. She is a Cuban watchdog, after all, and this looks like a pretty obvious attempt to appeal to Anglo voters who gripe about the Cuban community’s monopoly on political power.

But after some thought it occurred to me that MacDougall wasn’t the first one to make this an issue. Political observers and the GOP establishment have written him off because he is running in a predominantly Hispanic district with a non-Hispanic surname. Curbelo supporters have told me for months that he shouldn’t waste his time — simply because he is not Hispanic. I myself have called him the old white guy on this very blog because, well, that’s what makes him stand out. He’s the only old white guy in the race. I’ve said to his face and on this space that he is an underdog precisely because his last name doesn’t end in a vowel or a Z.

But, also, three of the other candidates have made their heritage a focal point of their campaign:

Palomares is the only one who has not really trumpeted his Cuban credentials. In fact, he’s kinda gone the other way. But how come nobody said a peep when he changed his name from Lorenzo Palomares to Lorenzo “Larry” Palomares-Starbuck in what seems like a blatant attempt to appeal to non-Hispanic voters? Isn’t that at least as “racist” as MacDougall pointing to the 800-pound gorilla in the room and saying, basically, what everyone was already thinking anyway?

Read related story: First Congressional primary campaign a dud

“For me, what was important is that we have a discussion about politics. My opponents want to talk about their heritage, and I want to talk about the issues,” MacDougall told Ladra Tuesday.

“I didn’t point out that all my opponents are Cuban. They’ve been pointing it out for weeks. Listen to their speeches at the debate or events and look on their website or at their literature. It’s the first thing out of their mouths. They are singling me out and saying I have no chance as the one unCuban candidate and what I’m doing is I’m saying ‘So what?'”

macdougall
Ed MacDougall had a flurry of interviews on Spanish TV — for the first time in 500 days that he’s been running — because he was accused of being racist.

“What we have in common is that we are all Americans. Whether we are Colombian-American or Cuban-American or Venezuelan American or, like me, Scottish-American, we have the same dreams, the same hopes for the future of our country,” MacDougall said.

Wait a minute, Mac! Are you telling me that as a Congressman you would not be bothered with Cuba or Venezuela?

“Of course I care about Cuba and Venezuela. You cannot be a part of this community and not care about what happens in those countries because it happens to our neighbors and our friends,” MacDougall told me. “I agree that the Cuban Adjustment Act needs to be revisited because it has turned into a revolving door for tourism that only fuels the oppressive Castro regime with American dollars.

“Believe me, I am no friend of the Castro brothers. I remember ducking for cover during the Cuban Missile Crisis when Fidel Castro had Russian nukes pointed at our heads,” said MacDougall, who was 12 in 1962. “The Cuban people have been repressed for far too long and their families have been divided by that repressive regime. It is unacceptable that they are still in power.

“I fought in Vietnam to defend democracy and we need to demand democracy in Cuba and in Venezuela, too,” MacDougall said. “But when I knock on doors and talk to Hispanic constituents in my district, they all care about the same things — education, healthcare and the economy in this country.”

Reached on the phone late Tuesday, Martinez said he was not expecting that kind of campaign. No kidding! When does any candidate focus on how unCuban he is?

“I respect Mac because we both are former police officers, we come from the same place. But I was very surprised by his flyer,” Martinez said. “Especially considering I was born here in Miami.”

Martinez said he was proud of having spearheaded the effort to get the permanent Cuban Memorial in West Dade, but that he had sponsored around 1,500 pieces of legislation in 12 years and was proud of everything he has accomplished.

“I guess that’s politics.”

Palomares — or is it Starbuck? — told AmericaTeve’s Erika Carillo that  it was “sad” that the campaign had turned to this. But isn’t it sad that, Mr. Whatever-Your-Name-Is, that you are suddenly using a hyphenated name you have never used before?

curbeloTVCurbelo was a bit harsher in his quote in the Miami Herald, saying the MacDougall flyer was, basically, pulling the race card.

“He is attempting to use the politics of race and ethnicity for personal gain,” Curbelo said in an email to the Herald. “I doubt our community will respond favorably to this.”

Well, it depends on the community he was targetting.

MacDougall laughed at the notion that he would be racist. “That’s ridiculous. Absurd,” he said, adding that he has Hispanic grandchildren and that more than half of his company’s employees speak Spanish in the office.

And, he added, the race card was pulled a long time ago.

“I’ve been called the old white guy in the race,” he said. (Oooops!). ” I’ve been told that I can’t win because of my surname and because I don’t speak Spanish very well. Pero eso no es lo que importa. Los votantes quieren saber de los temas,” he said in not too bad Spanish.

In a statement to Spanish-language TV, Curbelo said that campaign pieces like MacDougall’s divide the community. But he is also the one who waits only seven seconds to bring up his creds as “son of exiles” in his ad. Isn’t that divisive?

“Really, if you look at it, it is one opponent who is making a big deal about this because he has nothing else to run his campaign on. He has no track record — or actually a record of flip flopping on everything — so he doesn’t want to talk about the issues. And I do,” MacDougall said.

“We have an immigration problem with no real, comprehensive bi-partisan solution in sight. We have a $17+ trillion debt that keeps climbing, putting our future at risk. We have an economy where the cost of living keeps rising for the average American — and Cuban American, and Colombian American, too — while salaries are not keeping apace.

“These are the things we need to be talking about. Not where my parents are from. That’s not important.”

Ladra can’t help but wonder if voters will feel the same way. That would be a new thing in Miami politics.

8 Responses to "Congressional race heats up with Cuban credentials critique"

  1. Mr. Publicus: Nice video response. :0) Same ol’ negative politics.

    I am thinking you must be Curbelo and are afraid to think what Mr. MacDougall does; that is—–the vast majority of the number you provide is in fact tired of the same ol’ politics.

    Mr. MacDougall gives more credit to their smarts than you do. He is the only statesman in this election cycle.

  2. La Loca Curbelo doesn’t stand a chance. Despite the backing from Jeb and the Genting delinquents, he will not be elected. This race is between Joe Martinez and MacDougall. Both are fine candidates.

  3. Curbelo, the little political puppet, claims, “He is attempting to use the politics of race and ethnicity for personal gain,” Curbelo said in an email to the Herald. “I doubt our community will respond favorably to this.”

    If anyone has used the race card, time and time again, it is Carlito. Let’s not assume anything about “our community” and it’s response. That in and by itself is a cowardly, passive aggressive attempt, so fitting of Curbelo, to point negative attention at Mac and make it race related.

    Given his ties to wanting to bring casinos to Miami, as well as his questionable business issues with his company being in his wife’s name, “our community” should not respond favorably to him.

    Curbelo, in my opinion, would be the absolute worse person to send to Congress to represent FL26. If he is the only Republican candidate, just leave Garcia there. He is a snot nosed little brat with an ego larger than his puny little body.

  4. I think Mr “brung you” misses Mr. MacDougall’s point.

    There was no doubt a time when Cuban heritage had a rightful place as an issue because of all they had been through. They clawed their way and ultimately “took” Miami from the good ol’ boy system it used to be. There was bias and discrimination until the Cuban and then continuing latin influence on the economy—transformed Miami and South Florida and the world as we know it.

    Isn’t it ironic he was too young to be a good ol’ boy but after a life time of very successful public and business experience he is caricatured as the “angry white guy”. Time to give it all a rest and remember we are all Americans no matter our country of origin. I think this is what he is trying to say—-and it took the brochure and the media to bring it out.

    The issues we face in South Florida are not much different then the rest of the country. Let’s stop being myopic and parochial and start being relevant. Of the candidates in the race there is no one with the experience and credibility of MacDougall.

    Just as law enforcement experience means something at the state and local levels of government, war time experience trumps even that at the federal level.

    The day he walks the halls of Congress for the first time he gains a status for South Florida as no other candidate can. As a Viet Nam Vet and US Army Green Beret, one who has paid his dues for the United States of America, he will be carrying a South Florida message for the Hispanic, Black and Anglo communities in a way not seen in recent years. The discerning young voting block has to be tired of the kind of redundant politics echoing the same tired story which gained little to no traction. Time for a statesman.

  5. Wrong!! Cubans will not always vote for Cubans. I am a Cuban and I’m supporting MacDougall. Why? because he shares my principles. I don’t share my principles with Curbelo. Two big issues for me. One is the disaster of Common Core which Curbelo and lead supporter Jeb Bush are for. Now he is beginning to pull back but it’s out there. http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/01/3426744/carlos-curbelo-support-common.html; Curbelo was also a lobbyist for Genting to bring casinos to Dade County. That means if he gets elected he will fight for it again.

  6. To think you can live in South Florida and as a politician avoid the issues of Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti or any other Latin American country is irrational. South Florida is a transient place and it’s economy is largely driven by tourism and immigrants from those countries. We are all aware that this is Florida and politicians should be looking out for the welfare of U.S. citizens; however, I disagree with MacDougall’s campaign tactic. Can you imagine the backlash if his opponents were of African American or Jewish ancestry and he would have identified them based on their origin? The point is, attack the issue not the place of origin. I also disagree with The Herald’s article. This type of reporting is devisive and gives racists a hickory stump to stand on and scream their nonsense. Weed out bad politicians but do not demean a group of people for simply having being born in a specific place.

    • This point is cubans have made the place of orgin the issue. It’s the lead paragraph in everyone of their stories.

      But every ethnic, religious or cutural group will appeal to their constituency based on race. The voting rights act codifies it into law. It’s the whole basis for modern day (legal) gerrymandering. People will dance with their own.

      Mac is just pointing out the hypocrisy of the whole raced based voting. It won’t work in his run, but as Gator’s head coach Steve Spurrier once said “when you’re down in the fourth quarter, try anything” . What’s he got to lose and his point is valid.

      He is also the last of the generation that knew South Florida before 1961 when good old boys ran the county and cubans were welcomed here with open arms. Now wave after wave of immigration has taken over the political process. it will be a generation before pendulum swings back towards the middle and one’s cuban purity is no longer THE salient quality to hold public office. .

      What an I saying? Cubans will always vote for Cubans… .never mind.

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