Incoming House Democratic Leader Darryl Rouson (D-St Petersburg) has made a mess of his few months on the job as the leader designee of the minority party. Elected by a razor-thin two vote margin at a caucus meeting in February, Rouson has proceeded to flush any goodwill he may have inherited down the drain in a relatively short period of time. Most of those originally aligned Rouson fit two categories- they have largely been frozen out of the process through the years by an arrogant party leadership or are simply malcontents. (more on both sets of Rouson supporters later in this article)
With the track record of Florida Democrats in state elections worse than that of any other Democratic Party east of the Mississippi since 2000, those who backed Rouson could make a strong point about the need for new leadership, with new ideas, new alliances and new energy. But what ended up happening is that this group got on board with a flawed messenger. The message about reform in the party and the need to take out the trash in the way of entrenched consultants and ideas that have cost the Democrats seat in election after election may have been sound, but Rouson himself was always far from perfect as a vehicle for this change.
By June, Rouson was already in the process of losing the support of multiple members who had supported him in the February election.The St Petersburg Democrat survived the Jefferson-Jackson weekend where rumors were beginning to circulate about an effort to oust him but the theory I circulated at the time that he would grow stronger due to beating back some of the concerns were in retrospect ill founded. As the summer dragged on, Rouson found himself in more hot water when he formed a slush fund permissible under the campaign finance law changes of 2011 the Democrats across the state universally opposed. Rouson could argue that it is unwise for Democrats to “unilaterally disarm,” but the concept of leadership slush funds is such an abomination to most progressive like myself, it is really quite shocking Rouson would create one. The fact that he failed to inform large elements of his caucus about the creation of his “slush fund” further creates the perception that he was trying to hide something that would be offensive to most progressives.
The personal agendas of many who opposed Rouson is based around political influence and maintaining consulting business. The chosen instrument in the Feberuary election for that group was Rep. Mia Jones of Jacksonville. Jones is a strong progressive but proved ineffectual and ineffective as a campaigner and her inability to help other Democrats running for election in 2012 the way Rouson did eventually led to her defeat. I like the idea of Jones as a leader based on policy where she’d be better than Rouson whose views do not reflect the majority opinion in his caucus or his party, but not based on her associations and alliances within the party itself. The reality is that many who backed Jones did so strictly for political reasons, to continue a pattern of losing combined with self-interest.
A significant number of people backing Rouson did so because they saw him as a well-connected outside who could break through the stranglehold entrenched yet ineffective political consultants and party leaders had on the FDP. Another set of Rouson backers were simply malcontents who have caused problems in the party before and surely will again after this leadership situation is decided.
No House member wanted to go on the record with me on this matter but from my private conversations I can confirm multiple members who supported Rouson are now disappointed in his leadership and lack of honesty on several matters. While I made the point of Rouson changing consultants and keeping Jeff Ryan on board (until he was fired by FDP Chairwoman Allison Tant) being positives I was refuted as the name Barry Edwards was brought to my attention. For those who do not know, Edwards is a former Tampa Bay area Republican (much like Rouson and Charlie Crist) whose own past is badly checkered. I don’t want to get into specifics about Edwards as this isn’t the place for that type of material but many Democrats are concerned about his alleged involvement in the House campaigns under Rouson.
From my vantage point, Darryl Rouson is badly damaged and his supporters many of which are dissidents within the party would be wise to let go of him next week. However, it is critically important the Democrats do not simply replace Rouson with a status quo type individual as leader. As I have discussed above Rouson’s rhetoric and some of his actions were positive steps forward for a party caucus that has specialized in losing elections through the years. It would be wise if Rouson’s closest backers came up with an acceptable replacement before next week’s caucus meeting. I must state though I find it somewhat admirable that Rouson hasn’t battled his opponents in the press but from what I can gather, some of the private reassurances he’s given members are not working.
The Florida Squeeze 
Didn’t the FDP give Jones money for her re-election even though she did not have a strong challenger? Many other candidates did not get any help from the FDP.
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Rouson had great potential but in the end proved to be a sneaky charlatan. He needs to be gone.
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This piece is well balanced and you seem to hit all the right notes here. While DR has been bad news we must look forward and not go back to the same group that has ruined our chances of winning elections.
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The definition of leadership has been infected. The new definition of leadership is based on 1) how much money you can raise and, 2) your ability to bs a lot of people and sway them. It says nothing and its never brought up of ones ability to actually LEAD.
Good leaders don’t necessarily have to be good fundraisers. We’ve got to decide if we want our leaders because they can raise money (some on false pretense) or we want leaders who can impact a fluid, convoluted, and confusing system in a positive way. Mia Jones is an effective leader who may not care for campaigning and/or scrounging for $$. I don’t know if that’s fact, just maybe. But I DO know she is an outstanding legislator who listens and ACTS. That’s leadership.
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A well-intentioned piece that is lacking some key information.
You missed a third group of Rouson supporters, and perhaps the most important: freshman legislators who just simply didn’t know any better. They hadn’t had a chance to operate and see what Rouson was all about (mostly, himself). They were concerned about self-preservation and were convinced that, despite all his flaws, Rouson could raise money, because he had no moral center. In other words, he votes however those who give him money tell him to.
The problem was that lack of a moral center led directly to his downfall, be it through choosing a leadership team more concerned about protecting themselves than supporting good policy, or through depositing checks to his slush fund that were made out to the Democratic Party.
Rouson is his own greatest enemy, because he fails to understand that what he thinks is perfectly normal and acceptable, other people view as unethical. Again, no surprise to those that watched him in the House.
We can give the freshman a pass for not knowing any better. But veterans like Rader, Slosberg, Berman, Rehwinkel-Vasilinda and Cruz should have know better. They were more concerned about themselves than what was right for the caucus.
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Good points here that I missed regarding the Freshmen members. I actually did think about them but again none of them would go on the record with me although without mentioning names I will state that more than one of my sources were freshmen members.
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the PBC losers and Cruz are still thinking that picking Rouson will help Aaronson, Wexler and Deutch with Crist. I dont know about you but if Slosberg had any sense….he will let the cat out of the bag. It is going to come out sooner or later.
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Rouson was a loser all along. A former Republican with an anti-gay history, a close associate of Charlie Crist and gay pedophile Barry Edwards two other former Republicans as you note, and some self centered yet intellectually incapable of doing anything but shake down people for money, the sooner he is gone the better. Hope he’s done and resigns his seat in shame also.
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with the way the liberals have treated Rouson it is no small wonder the democrats are losing so badly.
when someone joins your team and comes around on your views you should embrace him rather than chasing him away.
also those who think fundraising is unimportant forget it. Rouson was the best hope you dumb dems had of competing for the big lobbyists money.
because he is not as liberal as the crazies in your party you had a chance to raise real money from the people who make tallahassee work and are the most important and influential business and political leaders in the state.
keep dreaming about winning in south florida and among liberal activists. the money matters and the money is all in the center of power in tallahassee and especially after ryan has been let go you guys are done there.
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[…] BLOG POST OF THE DAY: DISSIDENT DEMOCRATS CAN DO BETTER THAN ROUSON via Kartik Krishnaiyer of the Florida Squeeze […]
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We need to focus on helping Amanda Murphy pick up the House seat vacated by the departure of Fasano. We must GOTV for her!!
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Good point.
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Kartik, Very disappointing. Your piece is not well researched. It reads as a summary or thoughts from individuals that do not understand the facts.
Members of the House should be thanking him for attempting to take back control of THEIR money.
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[…] Rouson (D-St Petersburg) was ousted tonight as House Democratic Leader designee after a series of serious mishaps. Rouson needed to be removed but the issues within the Democratic Party and the way House elections […]
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