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Palm Beach Post
5/23/99
Slamming Republicans and warning each other that their political future depends on unity, black Democratic leaders met Saturday to plot strategy for the coming election.
Stung by the fact that 9 percent of black voters voted for Republican Gov. Jeb Bush last year - more than double the number of black votes that have historically gone to the GOP - Democrats, black and white, say the party must stop the erosion of black support.
"We can't just sit on the sidelines," said U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings of Miramar. "We have a voice that must be heard and I think the Democratic Party is starting to do a better job of listening. We still have a long way to go, but for the first time in a long time I can see us getting there."
Worried about being shortchanged in the 2000 Census and getting fewer congressional and state legislative seats in 2002 when the state redraws district lines, black leaders said it is imperative to make certain that Democrats have a stronger voice in the GOP- controlled legislature.
In addition, Democrats need a high black turnout next year to help the party win the open U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Connie Mack of Cape Coral. And there are 55 open state House races and 11 state Senate races.
"We don't have a majority in the House and Senate and we don't have the Governor's Mansion. To top it off, we don't have the money we need to stay with the Republicans," state party chairman Charles Whitehead told the gathering of more than 150 black leaders. "And probably, most important of all, Democrats have yet to completely join together all our constituencies including African- Americans, women and labor.
"To abandon Democrats right now and hand over the state to Republicans would mean it could take decades to undo the damage," Whitehead warned the group.
Promising a vigorous fight for Mack's seat, Whitehead ridiculed the two GOP candidates, calling Education Commissioner Tom Gallagher "playboy Tom" and U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum of Altamonte Springs "J. Edgar McCollum." McCollum was one of the House prosecutors during President Clinton's impeachment trial.
Black Democrats are also concerned about state Rep. Willie Logan of Opa- locka, who may run for Mack's seat as an independent. Democrats worry that a Logan candidacy would take black votes away from the party nominee, most likely Insurance Commissioner Bill Nelson, and give the election to the GOP.
"I'm still a Democrat," Logan said outside the hall where the private, daylong meeting was taking place at the Orlando Marriott. "My candidacy is not about partisan politics. I'm not trying to hurt the Democratic Party."
Most of those attending the meeting said they would oppose Logan running as an independent.
"I don't see any major movement toward the Republican Party from African- American voters," said Washington, D.C., pollster Ron Lester. "Bush is a smart guy and he did better among black voters than any other Republican in Florida, but there is no evidence that there has been a major shift."
Still, there is enough concern about the potential for such a shift that much of Saturday's meeting was aimed at targeting black voters, encouraging them to vote and finding new voters.
"I'm glad we're having this meeting but unless we leave here determined to registered more African-Americans to vote and to get more of our voters to the polls, it will all be a waste of time," said state Rep. Addie Greene, D-West Palm Beach. "We can't just be here talking about it. We have to go home and do something about it.
(Copyright 1999)
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