I sincerely hope that all of the "leaders" (both elected and self-appointed) of the Florida Democratic Party who forced the rank-and-file to accept the Republican Party's recycled garbage as our "best hope to win back the Governorship" will learn from their HUGE mistake.
Not only did they discourage candidates from challenging Charlie (and treat Nan Rich -- a true Democrat -- so poorly when she did not step aside), but also they mad sure that Charlie sucked out all of the campaign contributions from major donors, leaving the other cabinet candidates to fend for themselves. If it wasn't for these "leaders", George Sheldon -- another true Democrat -- would have had enough money to purchase television ads, allowing him to easily defeat the weakest Republican in the cabinet: Pam Bondi.
The time has come to make the Florida Democratic Party democratic again. Encourage candidates to enter primaries. Encourage debates and discourse. Listen to Floridians -- not just to pollsters.
The way the election was run and the elections results have done nothing to move the Republican Party of Florida towards the center. I do not look forward to the changes that will take place over the coming years because of the strategy embraced by the "leaders" of our party, and imposed on all Floridians.
— Rand Hoch
LGBT Florida Democrats, in the next few months, the Florida GLBT Democratic Caucus will be electing its leadership. As a member of the board, I'm sadden to report we did so little as an organization to help get out the vote and its time for a change of leadership in the organization.
It was only 2 weeks ago when the Board of Directors learned that our Caucus President Sally Phillips abandon ship sometime ago and took a leave of absence to manage a loosing county commission race in Hillsborough County. Our Caucus vice president failed to step up and provide the leadership necessary and throughout the election, only one message went to our membership about the race and that was prompted after I notified Florida Democratic Party leadership of the Caucus failure to even engage and message to LGBT Floridians. No notice went out to remind Floridians of critical voter registration deadlines or how to engage races around the state.
I am also sad to report we did little to nothing to support the re-election of openly gay State Representative Joe Saunders. The loss of Joe in the Florida State Legislature is devastating to our community. He served with dignity and gave it his all while in Tallahassee fighting for us.
If you want to participate in our upcoming elections, please make sure you join the organization as soon as possible to ensure you can vote in the upcoming election to support fresh new leadership.
— Michael Emanuel Rajner
