The Meek Seat...an analysis. By Geniusofdespair

Once in awhile I get permission to re-print an article. This one is far better than I could have written...it is about a Congressional race we should all be watching: The Meek Seat!

They’re Off and Running! by Mark Sell for Biscayne Times
The crowded race to win Congressional District 17 could end in a fluke

It is barely April, but already we have a free-for-all in the Democratic primary battle for the 17th Congressional District. The race is shaping up to be one of the most compelling in America -- and not for the usual reasons. (Election day is August 24.)

The district’s 18 years as an exclusive family franchise are about to expire. Kendrick Meek, who inherited the seat after his mother Carrie Meek retired, is stepping down to wage an uphill campaign for the U.S. Senate. He will face either archconservative Republican (and Tea Party darling) Marco Rubio or Gov. Charlie Crist. At the moment, Rubio is favored over Crist, and both are widely favored over Meek.

In a wide-open race defined by a depressed economy, foreclosures, and rising joblessness, a remarkable lineup of 11 striving Democrats are fighting to succeed the House of Meek. Some have been running for more than a year. Four are Haitian Americans (the winner would be the first Haitian-American member of Congress), and six are African American. If the race stays this crowded, the one Anglo who cannonballed into the contest last month, popular North Miami Councilman (and six-year Carrie Meek congressional aide) Scott Galvin, stands a sporting chance of squeaking by with a plurality of votes to become the white, gay representative of Florida’s “blackest” congressional district. (Hit Read More)

The primary winner (there is no runoff) will likely face Republican Corey Poitier, an African-American schoolteacher from North Miami whose prospects are dismal in a district that went 87-12 for Barack Obama in 2008. Even after redistricting in 2011-2012, Florida’s 17th will remain among the nation’s most Democratic, meaning the Democratic primary winner will almost certainly go to Washington.

This year economic pain trumps partisanship and ethnic identity in this often-gritty district, which runs along the west side of U.S. 1 from downtown Miami to Hollywood. Voters will be seeking solutions while candidates wish to be known more by what they do rather than by where they come from.

“The problems are first, jobs; second, the rate of foreclosures; third, economic development; and fourth, health care,” says candidate Phillip Brutus, a former Florida state representative, in a typical response.

“I’m a problem-solver,” says André Williams, a Miami Gardens City Councilman, son of a schoolteacher, and grandson of Georgia cotton-pickers. He’s a real estate lawyer with Harvard College and Vanderbilt Law pedigrees who has recently gained some fame by running foreclosure clinics. “I have tried to create jobs, attract economic development, and keep people in their homes with foreclosure clinics,” Williams says. “We need people to rise above political rancor.”

The candidates generally offer discipline, ambition, and manic, Type-A achievement. Among them are successful entrepreneurs, determined and effective activists, accomplished professionals, and seasoned politicians. Although all would likely vote a similar liberal line in Congress, each seeks a unique identity through experience, originality of insight, empathy for the suffering, or any combination of the above.

The leading fundraiser is Haiti-born Rudy Moise, a successful health-care entrepreneur and osteopath with 500 employees. Moise has never held elective office but boasts an MBA and law degree from the University of Miami. He also holds the rank of colonel as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force reserve. As of December 31, Moise had raised $213,000, much of it from health-care enterprises. His fundraising goal is $1.5 million, and he has retained Cornell Belcher, who was one of President Obama’s four pollsters. He appears set on a savvy, relentless campaign.

Says Moise’s campaign manager Anastasia Apa:

“With this electorate and at this time, if a green Martian could bring better jobs and health care, the Martian would be elected. There aren’t any huge issue disparities. The issue is how to differentiate ourselves. Rudy Moise is a businessman, physician, father and husband, and military man. He has a strong internal compass and wants to serve. Crossover appeal will be key. This will be a very expensive campaign and ground game. You have well-known candidates who are liked. But that does not translate into votes. People are hungry for ideas.”
[Some of the candidates (left to right from top row): Marleine Bastien, Phillip Brutus, James Bush, Scott Galvin, Shirley Gibson, Rudy Moise, Yolly Roberson, Frederica Wilson.]

Some of the candidates (left to right from top row): Marleine Bastien, Phillip Brutus, James Bush, Scott Galvin, Shirley Gibson, Rudy Moise, Yolly Roberson, Frederica Wilson.

State Sen. Frederica Wilson -- she of the trademark 300 cowboy hats, matching colorful outfits, and reliably liberal votes -- is the No. 2 fundraiser. She’s collected $160,692, with notable contributions from powerful plaintiffs’ law firms allied with the Florida Justice Association ($7000 from the Haggard law firm of Coral Gables; $4800 from the Hialeah firm of Alexis Izquierdo, P.A.), followed closely by Dosal Tobacco, a family-owned Opa-locka cigarette manufacturer, Flo-Sun (the Fanjul family sugar enterprise), and Blue Cross-Blue Shield.

The No. 3 fundraiser is Miami Gardens Mayor Shirley Gibson, a minister, former police officer, and community activist who led an eight-year fight to incorporate the city and became its charter mayor in 2003. Her $103,368 in contributors, centered around Miami Gardens, include car dealer Warren Henry ($3400), Southern Wine & Spirits ($2500), and for the gentlemen in the audience, Tootsie’s Cabaret ($2400). In a gesture of mirrored sisterhood, attorney Evelyn Greer, who led her own fight to create Pinecrest in 1995 and became its charter mayor, also donated $2400.

Gibson’s occasional Miami Gardens sparring partner, André Williams, follows at No. 4 with $88,315 in contributions, much of it from his fellow professionals, followed by state Rep. Yolly Roberson, activist Marleine Bastien, attorney Roderick Vereen, and Phillip Brutus, who also happens to be Roberson’s ex-husband.

This district at the historical center of black Miami defies conventional stereotypes. Its densely textured population is officially 56.9 percent black, 32.9 percent white, and 22.1 percent Hispanic, with a 2000 median income just above $30,000. Roughly 39 percent of its 639,000 residents are foreign-born.

The 17th District starts in the northwest at Pines Boulevard and Flamingo Road in Broward, jogs east to U.S. 1 in Hollywood, funnels all the way down to the hard-bitten blocks of Overtown on either side of NW 2nd Avenue, and reaches its narrow southern border in west Brickell.

In between it encompasses the West Indian neighborhoods of east Miramar; Jewish enclaves in Highland Oaks and Aventura; the middle-class reaches of Miami Gardens (population 108,000), the minarets of Opa-locka, unincorporated areas east of NW 27th Avenue, which are sprinkled with African Americans, West Indians, Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, Hondurans, and the occasional stray Anglo; Liberty City, where 18 died in the 1980 McDuffie riots; and the ascending Haitian diaspora spreading from Little Haiti through North Miami and into Broward; not to mention the mixed professional enclaves of Miami Shores, Biscayne Park, and El Portal. (The district’s boundary strays east of Biscayne Boulevard in just three places: down NE 10th Avenue in Miami Shores and Shorecrest, part of Belle Meade, and a sliver of Morningside.)

While the 17th includes the densest Haitian-American concentration in the nation, it would be an oversimplification to call it a “Haitian” district. Numbers are difficult to pin down, but estimates of the Haitian population range between 100,000 and 125,000, perhaps 20 percent of the population, and likely a far lower percentage of the 390,000 eligible voters.

Marleine Bastien, child of a Haitian village and divorced mother of three teenage boys who leads the organization Haitian Women of Miami, knows the limitations of being known as a “Haitian” candidate amid such an ethnic jumble. In the past two months, she has visited Haiti for earthquake relief and recently returned from the Organization of American States meeting in Washington, where she was a delegate. “People associate me with Haiti,” she says, “but for 28 years I’ve been intimately involved in every major struggle in this community: small class sizes, universal education for four-year olds, affordable housing, and universal health care. That’s why we need someone like me for the people, because I believe we can make a difference. I have been there every step of the way.”

The immigrant experience has rubbed off on Scott Galvin, born 41 years ago in a very different North Miami. He stayed home as the community underwent a demographic transformation. “North Miami is a wonderful melting pot and representative of the district,” Galvin says. “I’ve been thrilled to be here my whole life, and I’d rather be here now than when I was a kid, because children exposed to different cultures and backgrounds are making new friends.

“I’ve been an elected official in North Miami for over a decade and have been elected and re-elected and re-elected in a community that is majority minority. I think the electorate doesn’t want this to be about race. Voters want and expect a person who is going to work hard, and they want to select the best person for the job.”

Yet even in a post-Obama age, race and ethnicity lurk as poorly buried subtexts in the discussion. Suppose, the chatter goes, that Galvin wins by default in a crowded field? Suppose the knives come out again in 2012 from the vanquished this year? Or suppose, for that matter, that a restless Kendrick Meek comes back to reclaim his seat if he loses his senate bid?

“I hope God blesses me with the re-election issue in 2012,” Galvin responds. “For now, I’ll focus on getting elected in 2010.”

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