Posted on 11/13/2001 9:08:55 PM PST by kattracks
IAMI, Nov. 13 Manny Diaz, a political no-name who became a central figure in the Elián González episode, shook up the local political establishment today by easily winning the race for mayor of Miami in his first campaign for elected office. Mr. Diaz, a 47-year-old Cuban- American lawyer who became publicly known last year as a representative of the Miami relatives of Elián, the young Cuban survivor of a boat sinking, defeated Maurice Ferre, a former mayor who could not gain enough support among African- Americans and non-Cuban whites to overcome Mr. Diaz's lock on the decisive Cuban-American vote for the runoff election. Mr. Diaz, an independent, had 55.3 percent of the vote to 44.7 percent for Mr. Ferre, a Democrat. "Forty years ago my mother and I arrived as poor immigrants in this city and lived a couple of blocks away," Mr. Diaz said in his acceptance speech at his headquarters in Little Havana. "And 40 years later here I am as mayor of the city. God bless America." In many ways, the election of the political newcomer was vintage Miami politics. In a familiar election theme here, a campaign that initially focused on taxes, city services and other municipal issues shifted in the last week into a battle dominated by race, ethnicity and Cuban-American ideologies. The shift highlighted the deep divisions among racial and ethnic groups in a city that prides itself on its international reputation. The candidates were forced into a runoff after they came in first and second in the election on Nov. 6 in which no one received more than 50 percent of the vote. In qualifying for today's matchup, the candidates defeated Mayor Joe Carollo. Almost immediately after eliminating their opponents, the front-runners began accusing each other of pushing ethnically sensitive hot buttons for political gain. Mr. Ferre, who is Puerto Rican, accused his opponent of spreading a rumor in the Little Havana section that he supported Janet Reno, the Democratic candidate for governor who has been vilified among many Cuban-Americans for ordering the federal raid that returned Elián to his Cuban father while she was attorney general in the Clinton administration. Mr. Diaz's supporters, meanwhile, pointed fingers at Mr. Ferre over pamphlets placed anonymously on cars in a black neighborhood that showed Mr. Diaz with Elián and suggested that he used the boy to advance his political agenda. Both candidates denied the other's accusations while accusing each other of waging a divisive campaign. "There's been a lot of dirty stuff here," said Mr. Ferre, who was mayor from 1973 until 1985 and campaigned on his experience, which included presiding over the city during the Mariel boatlift and the race riots in the Liberty City section. "I think what has happened is that what keeps popping out is Elián and Janet Reno and, you know, the right- wing fanaticism in the Cuban-American community," Mr. Ferre said this afternoon. "It is the lock-step blind fanatical rejection of anything not within the purview of what they think is right," he said. "There is no middle ground in the minds of many of these people." Mr. Diaz's supporters said Mr. Ferre had simply run a negative campaign at a time when voters were looking for positive change. "People are upset at the way Ferre handled his campaign," Alberto Lorenzo, Mr. Diaz's campaign manager, said this afternoon. "He's doing what he likes to do, which is divide and confuse." Some voters, however, emphasized the need for political experience in a city that has been plagued by scandal and embarrassment. More than a dozen Miami police officers are awaiting trial on federal charges of brutality and corruption. And Mayor Carollo has had his own legal troubles, having spent a night in jail in February after being accused of throwing a cardboard tea container at his wife. Prosecutors later dropped a misdemeanor abuse charge against him. "Manny Diaz has never had this kind of job and has no political experience," said Marina Vazquez, 37, who voted for Mr. Ferre, saying he made her feel "a bit more secure." Despite Mr. Carollo's troubles, his endorsement of Mr. Diaz seems to have been a factor. "Running against a Cuban-American is always difficult here," said George Gonzalez, a political science professor at the University of Miami. "Cuban-Americans here do vote along ethnic lines." In his concession speech, Mr. Ferre again emphasized the ethnic and racial divisions that he believes helped to determine the outcome of the race. "The time will come in America when we can look and deal with each other based on our value and our worth and not on the color of our skin, our nationality or our ethnicity or our religion," he said. But he added on a hopeful note: "Today Miami seems to be a divided community but from a divided community to a united community, the change can be very quick and very short."
"It is the lock-step blind fanatical rejection of anything not within the purview of what they think is right," he said. "There is no middle ground in the minds of many of these people."
He's such a sweet talker!
well, screw 'em!
dep
And a very bad loser. Democraps aren't doing so well. Hope it stays a voter trend.
The smug Democrats thought they could spin the Elian story to their advantage. Shows how wrong they are.
Something about Democrats... They always accuse others of what they or members of their party do. Did I hear Ferre accuse the Blacks of lock-step blind fanatical rejection of anything not within the purview of what they think is DEMONCRAT???
What if your mother had fled a communist country to raise YOU in the USA for she wished for her child to be raised in a FREE country and she died as Elian's mother. Now, let's say that you had never lived with your father and that you had relatives in the USA. This in my opinion was not a normal custodial case. I don't even believe that the father was interested in the child as much as he was "FORCED" into the situation by Castro. That's my outlook.
Elian is getting popular in FL as times passes, because last November he only won the state of FL by 537 votes.
This is bad news for Hino( reno)
That's only because the Dems hadn't yet figured out how to f**k with the new ballots like they did with the old butterflies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.