QUOTE
Internal disputes shake unity of GOP
Simmering disagreements among Miami-Dade Republican legislators are spilling out.
BY BETH REINHARD AND MARC CAPUTO
Posted on Tue, Jun. 27, 2006
From the alleged use of racial epithets to charges of back-stabbing and backroom deals, the bad blood in Miami-Dade's Republican legislative delegation spilled out Monday when six lawmakers threw their support to embattled Sen. Alex Villalobos and blamed some of their colleagues for his troubles and their own.
Villalobos was ousted as future Senate president this year after blocking some of Gov. Jeb Bush's education plans, and now -- for the first time in 14 years in office -- faces a political opponent in a race that has sent shocks across Miami-Dade's long-standing political fault lines.
The aftershocks of Villalobos' race against Miami-Dade School Board member Frank Bolaños could rumble through the state Capitol, affecting the race for Senate leader, the Republican contest for governor and Miami Rep. Marco Rubio's agenda as House speaker, a post he is to assume this fall.
Adding to the drama: Rep. Gus Barreiro's first public admission that Hialeah Rep. Ralph Arza left him a cellphone message using the n-word to describe Miami-Dade's black schools superintendent.
"This delegation is fractured like never before," said Barreiro, the chairman of the Miami-Dade delegation who's leaving office because of term limits. "It was unity that gave Rubio the opportunity to be speaker."
Arza, who couldn't be reached Monday, has denied making any racial slurs. He has acknowledged he has a foul mouth, and said he might have been taken out of context by eavesdroppers when he spoke in Spanish about schools chief Rudy Crew.
Barreiro said Arza's "lie" is almost as disturbing as the racial epithet itself. He said Arza shouldn't serve in a leadership post under Rubio, who also couldn't be reached for comment Monday. Barreiro said he's considering filing a complaint against Arza with the House Rules Committee, which summarily dismissed a complaint from Crew on the grounds that the school's chief did not personally hear Arza use the slur.
For his part, Crew said Barreiro's confirmation of the racial slur was "a very, very courageous thing." Meantime, Crew supporters worry that Arza, a skilled political operator, will cause trouble for the schools chief.
Arza is already closely tied to the campaign of Villalobos' opponent, Bolaños, who was appointed to Miami-Dade's school board by Bush in 2001 before winning election outright. Bolaños told The Miami Herald in a previous interview he's "closer to good conservative ideals" than Villalobos, and objected to the incumbent's votes opposing Bush's "legacy issues" -- steering more public money to private schools and scaling back a class-size reduction law.
Villalobos said he was representing his constituents.
"They call us troublemakers," Villalobos said. "We're bad Republicans. We're bad Republicans because we supported our community."
But Villalobos' supporters say Arza is not the only one causing Villalobos trouble.
State Rep. Julio Robaina of South Miami said Miami Rep. David Rivera was involved with Bolaños' candidacy. Robaina said Rivera has also tried to recruit an opponent against him because he didn't toe the party line on class-size votes. Rivera denied the allegation.
Miami Rep. J.C. Planas leveled the same charge against Rivera, and Miami Rep. Marcelo Llorente stopped short of blaming Rivera for being behind a telephone push-poll asking people if they would vote for Llorente even though he had opposed the governor.
"It's about time we spoke the truth," Robaina said. "We're trying to defend our districts but we're being run over at times by our own."
He added later: "This is not just about class size. It's about people who are cutting deals to be in power. . . . The ill will has been building for a couple of years but it's gotten worse in the past year."
Rivera said he has had some clashes with his colleagues, but said their claims are off base. "I challenge anyone to find a candidate I have tried to run against any of my Republican colleagues," he said.
Rivera said he's staying out of the Villalobos-Bolaños race. But that could become an increasingly tough task.
Some Villalobos supporters are opposing the upcoming leadership of Sen. Ken Pruitt -- a move that could bring about internal party warfare, which nearly erupted when a Villalobos rival, Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla of Miami, helped engineered Villalobos' ouster this year as 2008 Senate president.
Diaz de la Portilla's other rivals, congressmen Lincoln and Mario Díaz-Balart, threw their support to Villalobos. Villalobos' and his supporters are allied with Republican governor candidate Charlie Crist. Arza and Rivera support Crist's opponent, Tom Gallagher.
And Bush himself might become involved in Villalobos' race as well.
Two of Villalobos' supporters, Rep. Rene Garcia of Miami and Sen. Rudy Garcia of Hialeah, said Monday they didn't feel any pressure to back away from Villalobos, but they felt the delegation could rip apart if the race spins out of control.
"There's a lot of bad blood, or at least the perception of bad blood," said Rep. Garcia. "And if something's not done, the perception can become a reality."
Simmering disagreements among Miami-Dade Republican legislators are spilling out.
BY BETH REINHARD AND MARC CAPUTO
Posted on Tue, Jun. 27, 2006
From the alleged use of racial epithets to charges of back-stabbing and backroom deals, the bad blood in Miami-Dade's Republican legislative delegation spilled out Monday when six lawmakers threw their support to embattled Sen. Alex Villalobos and blamed some of their colleagues for his troubles and their own.
Villalobos was ousted as future Senate president this year after blocking some of Gov. Jeb Bush's education plans, and now -- for the first time in 14 years in office -- faces a political opponent in a race that has sent shocks across Miami-Dade's long-standing political fault lines.
The aftershocks of Villalobos' race against Miami-Dade School Board member Frank Bolaños could rumble through the state Capitol, affecting the race for Senate leader, the Republican contest for governor and Miami Rep. Marco Rubio's agenda as House speaker, a post he is to assume this fall.
Adding to the drama: Rep. Gus Barreiro's first public admission that Hialeah Rep. Ralph Arza left him a cellphone message using the n-word to describe Miami-Dade's black schools superintendent.
"This delegation is fractured like never before," said Barreiro, the chairman of the Miami-Dade delegation who's leaving office because of term limits. "It was unity that gave Rubio the opportunity to be speaker."
Arza, who couldn't be reached Monday, has denied making any racial slurs. He has acknowledged he has a foul mouth, and said he might have been taken out of context by eavesdroppers when he spoke in Spanish about schools chief Rudy Crew.
Barreiro said Arza's "lie" is almost as disturbing as the racial epithet itself. He said Arza shouldn't serve in a leadership post under Rubio, who also couldn't be reached for comment Monday. Barreiro said he's considering filing a complaint against Arza with the House Rules Committee, which summarily dismissed a complaint from Crew on the grounds that the school's chief did not personally hear Arza use the slur.
For his part, Crew said Barreiro's confirmation of the racial slur was "a very, very courageous thing." Meantime, Crew supporters worry that Arza, a skilled political operator, will cause trouble for the schools chief.
Arza is already closely tied to the campaign of Villalobos' opponent, Bolaños, who was appointed to Miami-Dade's school board by Bush in 2001 before winning election outright. Bolaños told The Miami Herald in a previous interview he's "closer to good conservative ideals" than Villalobos, and objected to the incumbent's votes opposing Bush's "legacy issues" -- steering more public money to private schools and scaling back a class-size reduction law.
Villalobos said he was representing his constituents.
"They call us troublemakers," Villalobos said. "We're bad Republicans. We're bad Republicans because we supported our community."
But Villalobos' supporters say Arza is not the only one causing Villalobos trouble.
State Rep. Julio Robaina of South Miami said Miami Rep. David Rivera was involved with Bolaños' candidacy. Robaina said Rivera has also tried to recruit an opponent against him because he didn't toe the party line on class-size votes. Rivera denied the allegation.
Miami Rep. J.C. Planas leveled the same charge against Rivera, and Miami Rep. Marcelo Llorente stopped short of blaming Rivera for being behind a telephone push-poll asking people if they would vote for Llorente even though he had opposed the governor.
"It's about time we spoke the truth," Robaina said. "We're trying to defend our districts but we're being run over at times by our own."
He added later: "This is not just about class size. It's about people who are cutting deals to be in power. . . . The ill will has been building for a couple of years but it's gotten worse in the past year."
Rivera said he has had some clashes with his colleagues, but said their claims are off base. "I challenge anyone to find a candidate I have tried to run against any of my Republican colleagues," he said.
Rivera said he's staying out of the Villalobos-Bolaños race. But that could become an increasingly tough task.
Some Villalobos supporters are opposing the upcoming leadership of Sen. Ken Pruitt -- a move that could bring about internal party warfare, which nearly erupted when a Villalobos rival, Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla of Miami, helped engineered Villalobos' ouster this year as 2008 Senate president.
Diaz de la Portilla's other rivals, congressmen Lincoln and Mario Díaz-Balart, threw their support to Villalobos. Villalobos' and his supporters are allied with Republican governor candidate Charlie Crist. Arza and Rivera support Crist's opponent, Tom Gallagher.
And Bush himself might become involved in Villalobos' race as well.
Two of Villalobos' supporters, Rep. Rene Garcia of Miami and Sen. Rudy Garcia of Hialeah, said Monday they didn't feel any pressure to back away from Villalobos, but they felt the delegation could rip apart if the race spins out of control.
"There's a lot of bad blood, or at least the perception of bad blood," said Rep. Garcia. "And if something's not done, the perception can become a reality."