They have plenty of time the rest of the year to fight over the governor’s race and Congressional 
District 26. But, this month, local Democrat and Republican leaders will join forces on behalf of “one of our community’s most vulnerable populations” — victims of child sex trafficking.
Not a sign of Armageddon.
“This shows that Democrats and Republicans can be nice to each other and work together to solve real problems,” Miami-Dade Republican Party Chairman Nelson Diaz told Ladra last week.
Diaz and Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chairwoman Annette Taddeo-Goldstein issued a joint statement Jan. 15 — first time I’ve seen that — to show “bipartisan support” for Kristi House and against human trafficking.
“While we may not always agree on certain policies… There is no such thing as partisanship when combatting the most insidious crimes, like child sex trafficking,” the statement said. “We must all work together to ensure these victims receive the treatment they need and that the criminals who traffic in children spend their lives behind bars.”
To be sure, both Taddeo and Diaz see a big news story opportunity when they see one, and this joint statement — which coincides with January’s Human Trafficking Awareness and Prevention Month — makes mention of the recent headlines about a 14-year-old girl was found stripping at Club Madonna and may have been forced into prostituting herself by adults.
“After what we saw recently at an adult club in Miami Beach, no one can afford to sit on the sidelines; we must all do what we can to protect our children,” the statement said, urging people to join both of them at Kristi House’s 2nd Annual Walk the Blue Carpet event Jan. 24.
“What happened at Club Madonna was just appalling,” said Diaz, who is also president of Kristi House, which finds these lost children and directs them to needed services.
According to the joint statement, the organization became involved in the human trafficking 
movement in 2007 as advocates recognized that sex-trafficked children were victims of the severest form of child sexual abuse. These children were referred to as “child prostitutes” rather than victims.
Kristi House helped write and introduce legislation and achieved passage of the Florida Safe Harbor Act in 2012 with bi-partisan support so that children once viewed as criminals are recognized as the victims they are and get services they desperately need to make their lives whole again.
According to some figures, at least 100,000 child sex slaves are sold in the U.S. every year.
There are several Florida bills working their way through committee that would further help efforts to stop child sex trafficking, Diaz told Ladra.
And he also said that he might consider joining with Democrats on other nonpartisan issues.
“Why not?”
Said Taddeo: “Absolutely. Maybe we start something for others to follow.”
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