Wasserman Schultz Still Has Her Knives Out For Annette Taddeo (And All Progressives)

Who remembers when Debbie Wasserman Schultz, then just the lowly head of the DCCC's Red to Blue program, moved in to torpedo the candidacy of progressive Democrat Annette Taddeo (and two other Democrats) on behalf of her Republican pals, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and the notoriously corrupt Diaz-Balart brothers (who, like Debbie, are subsidiaries of the Fanjul sugar empire)? She's a much bigger shot now; Obama appointed her head of the DNC... and Pelosi allowed her to jump over dozens of more worthy Democrats for a clear path to the speakership in a few years. (Her dream, like her mentor Rahm's: First Jewish Speaker-- and she'll kill for it... literally.) And she's up to her nasty old tricks again.

There's a big battle brewing between the Old Guard and the New Guard for the top leadership position of Florida's Democratic Party. Several South Florida Hispanic Democrats are voicing their displeasure with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz's move to support Tallahasee's Allison Tant in next month's election for the party's state chair.

They feel the Democratic National Committee chairwoman is trying to block Annette Taddeo-Goldstein, a Colombian-American who was recently elected Miami-Dade Democratic Executive Committee chairwoman, from winning the same position at the state level.

"People are upset," says Alfredo Duran, a Miami lawyer who was state chairman for the Democratic Party in the 1970s. "They think Debbie should remain neutral. Annette was a very effective spokeswoman for the Obama campaign. The 2014 election is very critical for the Democratic Party and its ability to get Hispanics involved. There is no one better than Annette to accomplish that."

...According to a close ally of Taddeo-Goldstein's, who requested anonymity, she was offered a seat on the Democratic National Committee and a seat on the state Democratic committee if she stepped aside to make room for Tant, a close friend of Schultz whose husband Barry Richard was one of the lawyers who represented George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election recount. Sen. Bill Nelson is also backing Tant.

The source also claims that in order to make sure Tant had a seat on the Leon County Democratic committee, Schultz and her surrogates asked committee woman Alma Gonzalez, another Tallahassee Democrat, to step down. Gonzalez was also offered a seat on the Democratic National Committee. Gonzalez did not return a phone call seeking comment.

But Schultz abandoned that strategy. Instead Jon Ausman, a popular North Florida Democrat, gave up his bid to become chairman of the Leon Democratic committee so that Tant could run for that seat unopposed, the source claims. Under party rules, a candidate for the state committee must sit on a county committee to qualify.

If Tant wins the state chair seat, it will mark the fourth consecutive time the party's state leader will hail from north of Orlando at a time when the most growth in the Democratic Party is occurring in the I-4 territory of Hillsbourgh and Osceola counties, as well as south Florida, primarily because of Hispanic voters.

...Sam Feldman, a Venezuelan American who chairs the Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus, says party members are upset with Schultz occasionally making wrong choices, such as her decision in 2008 to not support the three Democrats who ran for Congress -- Taddeo-Goldstein, Joe Garcia and Raul Martinez.

"Hispanics in Dade are disturbed that she is supporting a North Florida Democrat over a South Florida Hispanic woman who worked very hard for Obama and has tremendous fundraising abilities," Feldman says. "It is about time South Florida gets recognized and it is about time a Hispanic gets the opportunity."

Wasserman Schultz, who takes funding from the private prison industry and any shady group who will write her a check, is widely considered the most corrupt Democrat in Florida politics these days-- and those are mighty big shoes to wear. She isn't commenting to the press now-- just using all her poison to force Annette Taddeo to drop out of the race. I shouldn't say "all her poison." Plenty of it has been reserved for turning the House Democratic caucus into a virulently anti-progressive vehicle for her allies among the corrupt conservatives who call themselves the "New Dems." Those are her people-- Blue Dogs minus the KKK sheets and hoods. She claims she is all about recruiting Hispanics for the party-- as long as they're lapdogs and do what they're told. When it comes to real Hispanics, Debbie... is more Blue Dog than New Dem. Tant, by the way, is a Republican contributor-- so of course Debbie loves her! And Debbie's calling and brow-beating every Florida committeeman for each county-- and insisting on meeting with them if they don't give in to her "charms" and blandishments.

She's also working nonstop to clear the field of real Democrats so Charlie Crist can have a clear shot-- no primary-- when he runs for governor. The mantra is "we have to defeat Rick Scott," which sounds pretty good-- as long as you don't think about what she insists we replace him with. And although the party apparachiks and financiers are lining up neatly behind her, there's still a problem-- grassroots Democrats, the bane of Debbie's existence. The Political Hurricane explains why:

To many of the rank in file, Crist appears to be a combination of an opportunist and a sore loser. Whether this is a fair assessment of Crist is up for debate. But no question exists that the former Governor must show a significant change even from his 2010 positions as an Independent US Senate candidate to win a Democratic Primary.