Debbie Wasserman Schultz Still Helping Her Republican Cronies Against Democratic Candidates In South Florida

2 of Florida's most corrupt congressmembers, Mario and #DebtTrapDebbie

Debbie Wasserman Schultz got into a lot of trouble with Democratic voters in 2008 when she was head of the DCCC's Red to Blue committee. She had the temerity to announce-- and to recruit one of her puppets-- Kendrick Meek-- to join her in announcing that she would support 3 Miami-Dade Republicans, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the Diaz-Balart brothers-- over the 3 Democrats she was charged by the DCCC with helping elect. The controversy eventually caused DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen to fire her as Red to Blue chair and sideline her with a less sensitive post. (Meek quickly bailed on her and then went on to run for the Senate, losing badly to two Republicans, Marco Rubio and "independent" Charlie Crist. But Wasserman Schultz went on to worm her way back into power within the party, ending up as the controversial and widely despised DNC head.

In 2008 Wasserman Schultz sabotaged and undermined Joe Garcia and Raul Martinez to help the reelection efforts of reactionary Republicans Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart. Mario's district had basically turned blue and when Lincoln decided to devote his energies to plotting to become president of Cuba, Mario skipped across the district to claim Lincoln's redder seat. Today he's been challenged in that seat by Alina Valdes, a physician and a dedicated progressive. And-- wouldn't you know it-- Wasserman Schultz hasn't learned her lesson and is up to her old tricks again... working against Valdes on behalf of Diaz-Balart! Outrageously, she still hasn't been removed as chair of the DNC.

Valdez has described Wasserman Schultz as "hateful and vindictive" towards her candidacy and has told me that the DNC chair is doing all she can behind the scenes to bolster Diaz-Balart. "When I first started this race over a year and a half ago," Valdes told me yesterday, "I did not know that I would be maligned by the DNC chair. I naively thought that she would be happy to have a Democrat challenging a career Republican who doesn't do much to help his district. What I have found out since then has been indeed eye opening. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, from what I keep hearing, has blacklisted me so I do not get the support of organizations and unions in order to support her friend Mario Diaz-Balart. How could a DNC chair, tasked with electing Democrats up and down the ticket, as she keeps saying every time she gets interviewed, do something like this?" Someone should ask Barack Obama, who has refused to fire her and has even, shamefully gone to Miami to campaign for her and help her raise money.

"If she wants to support Republicans," continued Valdes, "then she should not be the head of a committee responsible for electing their opponents... Democrats in South Florida are afraid of her and the amount of damage she could inflict on them by not supporting them. Mario Diaz-Balart has not been challenged by a Democrat in 8 years and I dared do the unthinkable.

Wasserman Schultz has aided Ros-Lehtinen in every single reelection battle & is doing it again this year

Wasserman Schultz, who originally helped the Republicans gerrymander Florida to their advantage when she was still just a corrupt state senator, tampered with the gerrymandering process again to assist Diaz-Balart, letting it be known that she wanted blue Broward County excised from FL-25, making the district a bit more GOP-friendly-- and changing the boundaries to put Alina Valdes' home just outside the new lines. "No one," she told me, "should have this much power and be supported by the very people she claims she wants to get rid of... the special interests, the lobbyists, the well connected, and the wealthy. The time has come to get them all out, especially this vindictive, spiteful career politician who is no different that the rest... They are in it for themselves only and couldn't care less about their constituents who are hurting and need help."

By having the district boundaries shifted to help Diaz-Balart, Wasserman Schultz had the Valdes household put into FL-23, her own district. Valdez will have to move a few blocks into FL-25 after she's elected to replace Diaz-Balart but meanwhile she's excited to be voting for Tim Canova, the progressive candidate running to replace Wasserman Schultz. Please consider contributing to both Alina Valdes' campaign and to Tim Canova's campaign here at the thermometer: