Dear Florida Democratic Party,
I really can’t anymore. Day after day, my Twitter feed, email inbox, and Facebook newsfeed are covered with constant attacks from you against our Republican Governor Rick Scott. Whether it’s bashing him for a weak economic recovery in Florida spearheaded by the creation of minimum wage jobs, his lengthy list of administration officials that have resigned, been fired, or left the administration, to bashing his well-known fraud filled corporate career before he became governor, every day seems to bring forth another attack. Yes Florida Democratic Party, we get it. Our governor is arguably the worst and least popular in the country and an even worse human being with a track record marked with failure after failure, embarrassment after embarrassment, and top down economic policies that leave middle and working class Floridians in the dark.
Throughout this entire election cycle thus far, specifically since former Republican and self-proclaimed pro-life, anti-tax, pro-gun Reagan Conservative and Jeb Bush Republican,Charlie Crist got into this race, the FDP’s entire strategy has been to remind Floridians of the reasons why Rick Scott and his Republican minions are the wrong choice for Florida. The problem is that strategy hasn’t worked in the past (see: Alex Sink 2010) and isn’t working now, as the latest polls tell us. As we’ve reported at The Florida Squeeze, Charlie Crist’s numbers have been slipping ever since his announcement. The latest poll out of St. Leo University has Crist’s lead down to just four points, while back in December it was up to twelve. While Crist has at times tried to talk about issues, the party simply has not.
We’ve already had a failed gubernatorial candidate attempt to focus their statewide campaign on negative campaigning in Florida. In 2010, Alex Sink ran from her base, attempting to capture the middle and moderate voters in Florida. She focused her campaign on lecturing Floridians why Rick Scott was the wrong choice, instead of telling us why she was the right one. In 2012, Governor Mitt Romney ran a presidential campaign devoted to telling America and the world that President Obama was the wrong choice for America- that his socialist policies were going to ruin the country, hurt the economy, and bring down the republic without explaining to the American people what exactly he would do differently or in the least, what policy ideas he would bring to the table to spur job growth and restore our economy. The American people resoundingly rejected Mitt Romney, and Floridians elected Rick Scott, a corporate criminal, whose company received the largest fine for medicare fraud in American history.
I have a simple request FDP. Would you please do us a favor, that is if winning the Governor’s mansion is your actual goal rather taking any and all sorts of corporate dollars (Disney, Sugar, Gambling) and start talking about SOLUTIONS, IDEAS and POLICIES that separate us from the Republican overlord and his minions that have had a stranglehold over the Sunshine State? Issues like, holding the line against school vouchers, fighting for a living wage, paid sick leave, HSR, medicaid expansion and repealing Stand Your Ground. Or might you be afraid to travel down that road because, at the this point, the presumptive Democratic nominee for Governor, was a once a Republican, who was then funded by the same corporate interests that you decry daily? In fairness, Crist is trying to re-position himself as a “populist” but his prior record doesn’t match his rhetoric and the party itself doesn’t have any positive rhetoric of the sort. The FDP is rapidly becoming the party of no ideas, just empty rhetoric telling us how awful the other side is without attempting to present any evidence that shows we are better.
When given the choice to vote for something or against something, the Florida voter has repeatedly proven they choose the former. It is about time Florida Democrats learned this lesson.
Signed,
Disgruntled Democrats Fed Up With Losing Statewide Elections
The Florida Squeeze 
Great piece. The Democrats in Florida are as corrupt as the Republicans. All one needs to do is look in PBC or just their votes.
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Well look no further than the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party. She has zero experience in fundraising at the state level and zero experience in policy and simply thinks putting out infographics and Twitter posts attacking the governor will win an election.
What does the press shop at the Florida Democratic Party do exactly? They certainly don’t define the message. They certainly don’t show proactivity in issues. Often times they are woefully late in reacting to news. They aren’t consistent on what they react when when they react. You can get a flurry of mail from them one day and nothing the next even though events may dictate otherwise.
The party is an embarrassment and is being run by losing consultants more concerned in making money that actually winning elections. That is a fact. Almost every election cycle has proven this.
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Thank you. This article hits the nail squarely on the head. The blame starts from the top. I bet 75% of the democratic voters don’t know who is running for the other cabinet seats. The only picture shown on the FDP web site is Rick Scott. I can’t under stand why we are using our resources to showcase his face and not the face of the other democrats running for state office.
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FDP is supporting Charlie Crist, that is obvious. They’re not giving Nan Rich a shot at all. So they’re just as guilty in promoting a candidate that they themselves do not think can beat Scott. And that’s the truth. They’re telling people to put money behind a candidate who they don’t think can win. Truly sickening. FDP needs to be addressed in a big way.
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NAN RICH is EXACTLY the True Democrat we NEED as Governor of Florida right now! Crist has A- NRA rating. NAN has F rating. She wouldn’t be putting guns in all of our schools because of NRA pressure. She owes NO special interest groups and will WORK for the PEOPLE OF FLORIDA! We NEED her. She believes in Public Education and will fight to make our Public Schools the best they can be instead of doing Vouchers and funding Private & Charter schools AND she is Pro-Choice and for Women’s Rights, which ANY Democratic candidate running should BE plus she believes in ALL people being able to vote, not trying to SUPPRESS the vote!
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Not productive.
Neither this article or the party is particularly productive.
We all need to have a come to Jesus meeting.
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How is this not productive? Explain please!
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Come to Jesus about what?
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We owe Justin a lot. It is not always easy speaking truth to power, ask Nan Rich. She tells it like it is. She will never get the special interests money. She will not get the support she needs or deserves from the party she has dedicated her life too until we the grassroots demands it. This party is for the people and by the people. It is time for the people to Stand with Nan, send her a few bucks and tell both parties we are mad as hell, and like Nan, we won’t be bought. Let’s go Dems. It is time to show this state and country who we are.
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Lot of people working very hard to share the message that Florida has a fantastic, strong Democrat campaigning to be the next Democrat to be the Governor of the State of Florida.
Her name is Nan Rich.
By logging in you’ll post the following comment to The Pulp: An Open Letter To Florida Democratic Party- Where Are The Policy Ideas? Where Is The Grassroots Organization? :
Here is a Democrat that has been campaigning since 2013 to be the next Governor of the state of Florida, Democrat Nan Rich a former Fla Senate minority leader (term limited out) and much, much more.
Myself and others in a grass root movement have been telling Floridians about this great woman only to meet obstacles laid out so no one really gets to see her as they should. Even though she makes frequent speaking engagements, the media has not covered her as she deserves to be covered.
The other Dem candidate has refused to debate her thus far, stating twice he has no intention of debating her.
Mr. Crist has plenty of time to push & sign his book at bookstores across Fla but no debate with Ms Rich and no clear stance on important issues.
Please check Senator Nan Rich website @ http://www.nanrich2014.com/home
She also has several face book pages and a twitter feed.:https://twitter.com/senatornanrich
We have 2 petitions being passed around so we may get Mr Crist to debate Ms Rich. Here is a link to one of these:
http://www.nanrich2014.com/node/6366
http://www.nanrich2014.com/home
This is a link to her website which has the information to contact someone & to check out where she stands on the important issues facing Florida & Floridians. Ms Rich can beat Incumbent Governor of Florida Rick Scott (R) tea bag.
Please give her a look & share with others and hopefully, someone will give her the attention she needs to get her message out and be the nominated Democrat after the August primaries to run against Incumbent Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) and be the next Fla Governor (D) and the 1rst woman to be Governor of the State of Florida.
Sincerely,
Melody A, Heilmann
(863) 602-1714
If you need further assistance you may call number on website or call me & I will get you to whom you need to talk to about this great, strong, Florida woman Democrat.
Thank You,
Melody A. Heilmann
863 602-1714
WordPress.com / Gravatar.com credentials can be used
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Lot of people working very hard to share the message that Florida has a fantastic, strong Democrat campaigning to be the next Democrat to be the Governor of the State of Florida.
Her name is Nan Rich.
By logging in you’ll post the following comment to The Pulp: An Open Letter To Florida Democratic Party- Where Are The Policy Ideas? Where Is The Grassroots Organization? :
Here is a Democrat that has been campaigning since 2013 to be the next Governor of the state of Florida, Democrat Nan Rich a former Fla Senate minority leader (term limited out) and much, much more.
Myself and others in a grass root movement have been telling Floridians about this great woman only to meet obstacles laid out so no one really gets to see her as they should. Even though she makes frequent speaking engagements, the media has not covered her as she deserves to be covered.
The other Dem candidate has refused to debate her thus far, stating twice he has no intention of debating her.
Mr. Crist has plenty of time to push & sign his book at bookstores across Fla but no debate with Ms Rich and no clear stance on important issues.
Please check Senator Nan Rich website @ http://www.nanrich2014.com/home
She also has several face book pages and a twitter feed.:https://twitter.com/senatornanrich
We have 2 petitions being passed around so we may get Mr Crist to debate Ms Rich. Here is a link to one of these:
http://www.nanrich2014.com/node/6366
http://www.nanrich2014.com/home
This is a link to her website which has the information to contact someone & to check out where she stands on the important issues facing Florida & Floridians. Ms Rich can beat Incumbent Governor of Florida Rick Scott (R) tea bag.
Please give her a look & share with others and hopefully, someone will give her the attention she needs to get her message out and be the nominated Democrat after the August primaries to run against Incumbent Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) and be the next Fla Governor (D) and the 1rst woman to be Governor of the State of Florida.
Sincerely,
Melody A, Heilmann
(863) 602-1714
If you need further assistance you may call number on website or call me & I will get you to whom you need to talk to about this great, strong, Florida woman Democrat.
Thank You,
Melody A. Heilmann
863 602-1714
WordPress.com / Gravatar.com credentials can be used
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I will vote for anyone but Scott….but I hope our candidate will be Nan Rich…a Democrat. It is a sad state for our party to run Christ…basically a Republican all his life…as our Democratic candidate for governor.
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The point that you’re missing is that FDP has made it clear that their choice is Charlie Crist. The DCCC is supporting Crist. They haven’t given Nan Rich a chance. People have been told from the top down to throw their support & money behind Crist. This has given Nan no chance at raising the money needed to run a proper campaign. There are things going on inside these organizations that are clearly not appropriate, like shutting Nan out of fundraisers for Democrats where she clearly should be included. Is that her fault? No, of course not. Crist has been chosen by the party whether it’s been announced yet or not. This is being shown time and time again by their blatant snubbing of Senator Rich which by all accounts are simply disgusting. And I could go on. And yet Senator Rich remains steadfast and committed to this race to make real change happen in this state. She is actually the only candidate out there talking about her positions, solutions and ideas on every issue. So if you don’t know that then you just haven’t taken the time to learn about her. She’s spoken all over the state speaking passionately about solutions, on vouchers, medicaid expansion, stand your ground, raising the minimum wage, women’s reproductive rights, protecting Florida’s environmental resources, marriage equality and many other issues. And for this, I have a lot of respect for her, to continue to stand up for herself as she has given so much to this state and the Democratic party over so many years yet she continues to come under attack by folks like you for supposedly “doing nothing”. If people can’t see what’s happening here then look a little deeper. If you don’t like that FDP and the DCCC is trying to dictate to you who the candidate is then fight back and do something about it. I would have more respect for you if you did something to change it then to just sit around and complain about the state of Florida politics in your little blogs and Facebook posts that inundate my news feed. Get out there and tell people what’s going on, make change. Make some phone calls, do some organizing. Because honestly, this is getting ridiculous.
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Aren’t we “getting out there” and “telling people what’s going on” by writing about it here for the over 500,000 views over 14 months. We write for the people that want to “dig a little deeper” not troll just a little harder.
Oh. And We don’t write for your respect and we frankly don’t care if we have it. But thanks for the read anyway, clearly demonstrating what we are doing is working.
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What I mean by get out there, I mean, get of the computer, where you’re essentially preaching to the choir and start talking to targeted voters who will actually make a difference in this election. And I was merely pointing out that I have respect for folks who work in the field and don’t just complain on Facebook all day about how terrible Florida politics are. These people are out there talking to people one on one, making calls, knocking doors to make sure we don’t end up with another Republican like Crist or Scott.
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Just because we write does not mean we also don’t organize or participate in the process. All of us have worked on campaigns, managed campaigns, lobbied or participated in some fashion on races not just here in Florida but all over the country. You’re line of attack is moot. It’s our view, that it’s our responsibility to do both.
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Yes, please spread the word & tell others where she stands on issues, every chance you get. She will be a fantastic Governor and she can beat Incumbent Fla Rick Scott. (R) . We need to get her the democrat nomination in August,
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That’s great if “most of you” organize and participate in the process. From my perspective there seems to be a lot of complaining but no action towards the source of these problems – The Party. Has anyone taken any action towards FDP for their lack of responsibility in all of this? That seems to be what needs to be done. And it’s hardly a line of attack Justin. I think you can get off your high horse there and occasionally admit that the opinions of others are valid and you’re not always right on everything. You write your opinions. Let others express theirs.
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I am an American by birth, Union by choice and a Democrat by necessity. Citizens United has done nothing to unite the FDP nor has anything else. We do more good for the other guys than for those needing true representation, we the people. The money spent in the March 11 campaign proves it. The unorganized phone banking systems by three different groups making thousands of calls, many repeated, was fruitless. I was there for 6 days and the ambivalence of the campaign committee was as bad as I’ve ever seen.
My point is, with all of the money and resources of today’s modern technology, why can’t we as a party, put together winning campaign committees. We have the money to do this especially in the special elections, another coming up June 24, 2014 for FL-19 and April Freeman. We have qualified candidates, such as Nan Rich, who is not being assisted equally as others, yet we are told on the county levels of the DEC that we may not endorse a candidate before the primary elections. The FDP needs to learn and practice what they preach, People before personalities and profit and that in order to Unite, they must stop Dividing the people. The people at the bottom are not organized because the people at the top do not know how. Take a Politics 101 class and learn the most important resource in a campaign is the volunteers and by the way, they work for “Free”.
Good article JS, keep putting it out their, some get it, some never will.
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I’m sorry, but Florida Democrats who are actually involved with the party (not rank and file) get what they deserve. When you pick a leader whose husband helped Bush get elected, who lobbied for a company that purged 20,000 black voters off the voter rolls, who just accepted $20,000 from Tom Feeney, who continues to hire consultants and staffs the FDP office with people who have a proven track record of failing….honestly, you get what you deserve!
There is only ONE problem with the Florida Democratic Party…nobody is looking out for the common good of the party. All of the State Committeemen and Committeewomen who vote for chair don’t look at who is best for the party, but instead the person who will benefit them the most. This is also true of the “talking heads” of Florida Democratic politics. Why did the Randolphs support Tant over Clendenin? Because they thought they would get “in” with the party if Tant was elected, though Alan had a clear plan and was ideological closer to them. People like this look out for themselves instead of looking out for the party as a whole, and that is the ONE, fundamental mistake that has killed this party.
Seriously, this is an easy concept. It is time to ditch your personal loyalties and pick a person who is best for the party.
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The Platform on the Florida Democratic Party’s website is from 2012!
Click to access FDP%202012%20Platform%20-%20Final.pdf
Pathetic.
You can’t just yell and holler you have to do some actual work as well.
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The problem with the Grassroots comes from the fact that the locally connected (not to mention elected) Democrats do not want to hear what we have to say. They have their consulting contracts and money flow in place. It’s a business for them. We on the other hand are concerned about issues.
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Indeed. I’ve written about this revolving door of consultants, regardless of their performance, that’s holding FLA Dems back.
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This blog and comments, needs to be seen by every Democrat in the state. Somehow this frank and intelligent discussion must get out to the mainstream{corporate} media..Justin and Jane, we are preaching to the choir so I understand your frustration. Please work together to get the message out. Let’s all do what we can to get Nan elected. It will not be easy. Nothing worth doing is easy.But we can do it. We need new leadership and it starts with Nan.
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Thank you for this piece. Another thing we can do is to is follow the lead of Duval County whose DEC passed a resolution calling on the FDP to have debates. I am presenting an adaptation of their resolution to the PB county DEC and I hope others will call for similar in other DECs, clubs and caucuses. This is not about endorsing a candidate but about the democratic process and just what this article speaks of, addressing policy.
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I would just like to make/argue a few points.
#1. Nan Rich CAN win.
I have heard before “I like Nan Rich, but I’m gonna vote for Charlie because she can’t win.” Well, that’s the same thing Dems said about President Obama when he ran and WON the presidency, twice. In fact, Florida has never elected a Democratic governor who was not the underdog in the primaries.
#2. “Nan Rich should back out of the race.” What the heck?! This theory doesn’t make any sense to me. Nan could withdraw from the race, but if she did, it would not change the fact that MANY,MANY Floridians do not trust Charlie Crist and will not vote for him.
#3. Money is not important.
I agree, this is true to a certain extent. Nan has proven this, as she is STILL in this race, and only 8 points under Scott who has spent $73 MILLION to stay in the governor’s mansion. Nan is slowly but surely gaining on him, and this is because the people trust her. She has a grassroots infrastructure that is still growing.
#4. Corporations don’t vote, people do.
This is most important. Charlie can have million dollar endorsements from law firms etc etc, but that single corporation can’t vote. Therefore, Charlie could have an endorsement from such and such company, but Nan speaking to groups throughout the state. The people she speaks to truly adore and respect her. And they’re telling their friends and family to go vote. Yes, it is a long, uphill battle but we Nan Fans are ready to FIGHT. Nan is well on her way to winning this primary, and then the election. The people have the power.
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Here you go — Plenty of ideas: https://www.floridadems.org/node/2251
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Yes, plenty of ideas; the problem is that the FDP leadership is not able to carry any of them out and won’t listen to those in the party rank and file who do have a clue and could help turn things around. It’s the same old party bullshit.
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Those arent ideas, those constituency groups. I’m looking for solid, thought out, policy ideas that can help turn around Florida’s stagnating economy that is dominated by minimum wage jobs brought to us by Rick Scott’s corporate tax cuts, and decades of neglect by the RPOF controlled legislature Senate (and their power over centrist Democrats).
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[…] week, my colleague Justin Snyder called out the Florida Democratic Party for a lack of policy ideas. While we have seen the party itself slow to embrace the type of progressive agenda that moved […]
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Please sign and share our petition to call on the Florida Democratic Party to publicly, and formally call for a state wide, televised candidate debate to be held at the earliest convenience of the campaigns and candidates.
http://youpower.democracyforamerica.com/petitions/voters-deserve-answers-we-demand-a-debate
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