Politics as Usual: Not in Kendall, the Gloves were off! by Guest Blogger YouBetcha'

Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations took an unexpected surge towards political fame during the association’s annual fall political forum this week. It was a packed house of political rowdies complete with waving signs, chants and sharp tongued retorts.

For once, the Diaz-Balart brothers decided to take on their opponents in a public forum where they sat eye-to-eye with the audience and shoulder-to-shoulder with their political adversaries. (Two things that the brothers are not thrilled about doing.) Unfortunately, the other candidates suffered from too much congressional input and not enough opportunity to share their plans for the future of the Kendall area.

The evening started with a presentation with incumbent Ron Saunders, state representative from district 120 who is unopposed this election. Ron was typically Ron. He is our Florida Keys personality who represents our southernmost state district in Dade. He was the calm before the storm! (hit read more)

Things started warming up when Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Raul Martinez (District 21) came forward to speak. The room was filled with anticipation as they spoke. Raul Martinez connected with the audience as he spoke, paying attention to the folks in front of him and paying little attention to the ones making faces behind him.

When Lincoln got up, so did his cheering section. Rah Rah Rah. Lincoln did his stump speech to waving signs and warmed up the floor for his brother. One can’t be sure of his message, because his smugness tended to override the content. The message seemed to cause more screaming from his cheerleaders, than applause from the audience.

Then along came Mario Diaz-Balart (District 25). Now that was a treat. More signs, more noise and surprise! catcalls from Joe Garcia’s fans! Joe seemed to have a few fans of his own garnered in a corner of the crowded space.

Mario Diaz-Balart thanked the Federation and then turned to his opponent, Joe Garcia and thanked him for traveling across 4 whole congressional districts to be there for the night’s event. Ouuuuuu. Bad move. It seemed to tick Joe off a bit. Apparently, Joe Garcia hasn’t moved his family into the district yet, even though Joe is living in an apartment in Kendall and will look for a house later after he wins and when school is out. This was a move very similar to Mario’s, except Mario moved in after he won.

Some of the more laughable statements that were uttered by Mario were that he had brought lots of money back to the county and the district for public education and transit relief. He also mentioned how he had even enhanced agriculture by promoting agri-tourism through the winery out in the Redland. Oops. Mario. Your winery owners are now under Federal indictment. Did someone forget to mention that to you?

None the less, Mario supporters cheered and jumped for joy at Mario’s words. Following Mario, Joe stood to speak and he started out his comments with the fact there was “nothing funny about this election; this is the election of our lifetime”. Mario could not help himself and took another jab at Joe. Joe uttered that he was living here while Mario was busy dropping out of college elsewhere. Everyone’s supporters were on their feet. Joe Garcia’s team was shouting “Go Joe Go” and Mario’s were wildly waving both their signs and Lincolns. Moderator Frank Cobo wasn’t having much luck controlling this crew.

An angry Joe Garcia managed to take enough control to debunk Mario’s comments. He indicated that it was amazing that Mario had done so well with dollars for education since our state was 50th in the nation in educational spending. He pointed out that Mario’s Everglades Environmental record was not exactly stellar; Mario voted to support the Everglades legislation (against Bush) and then back peddled on the same issue when McCain came knocking. Every point Joe made seemed to result in a ruckus from one side or the other.

The evening ended rather abruptly for the remaining candidates who still were to left on the agenda. Michael Calderin candidate for State Representative, District 119 gave a heartfelt speech about his view of Florida’s government and what he has heard as he walked door to door in the Kendall community. He was rudely interrupted by workers who passed out bottled water from the Diaz-Balart campaigns as he spoke. (Is that like Seijas buying breakfasts?).

Annette Taddeo of Congressional District 18 ran in from another event and quickly introduced herself, spoke of her experience as business woman and the need for change. Ros-Lehtinen didn’t make the event at all; not that anyone expected her, anyway.

By the time, the moderator got around to announcing the next series of speakers, all bets were off and the congressional candidates, their groupies, the signs, and the TV cameras were all one massive blob in the middle of the room. The Kendall Federation of Homeowner Associations had finally brought the circus to Main Street.