Over the last week, I have talked about the recent losses of the Florida Democratic Party, as well as the changes that need to take place in order for the party to move forward. However, it seems that Florida Democratic Party Chair Allison Tant and her allies want you to forget all about those losses nine days ago and focus on the leadership race for the Democratic House Caucus between Dwayne Taylor and Mark Pafford. But is this really a true concern, or a diversion to keep the attention off of the failures of the Florida Democratic Party?
First, let’s look at this in a practical sense. To do that, we have to turn our attention to an article written about the subject yesterday from the News Service of Florida. In the article, they quote Representative Evan Jenne saying that Pafford has “more than he had the last time he ran”. So, if he had more votes than before, and he won quite easily before, why would there be any worry that Pafford would lose this time? Getting involved with the race doesn’t seem practical.
Second, let’s look at the position of the Republicans in the House. They have a super-majority. They can ram through any legislation they like regardless of Democratic objections. And with the House Republicans becoming more ideologically aligned with one another compared to the 1990s where the GOP was quite fragmented, the Democratic impact is even less. Still, having the super-majority isn’t as important in the way of operating the legislature as it is a statement of the Democratic election failure.
So, we have established that Mark Pafford will more than likely win and control a caucus that has no say in legislative affairs over the next two years.
So why would Allison Tant want you to get mad about this race? Easy, she wants you to forget about the fact that it was under her leadership that the Republicans actually won the super-majority. Complaining that the House Democrats are being hijacked by more conservative elements (as well as people who opposed her in the race for Chair) seems to be her way of justifying that she is a good chair of the FDP.
What is even more interesting is that the attacks by Tant almost coincide with The Florida Squeeze’s attacks regarding the same manner, but attacking the consultants that are associated with this move. One must wonder if the FDP and the Florida Squeeze are playing “good cop, bad cop”, especially with the recent strong support by The Florida Squeeze for the FDP chair.
It seems as if the FDP and Tant wants those who are upset to move their eyes off the ball by going after this paper dragon issue that is basically a non-issue. Time will only tell to see if this diversionary tactic will work.
