A fundraiser later this month for Miami-Dade School Board Member Carlos Curbelo‘s bid for Congress reads like a Who’s Who of South Florida GOP politics.
And, adding weight to arguments that the Republican Party has picked its primary candidate, it looks like practically the 
whole Miami-Dade Tallahassee red team is behind him.
But, more interestingly, look for the charter school theme thread…
Among the 25 hosts on the invitation to the Feb. 25 affair with a suggested ticket price of $2,600: Florida Sens. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, Anitere Flores and Rene Garcia as well as State Reps. Frank Artiles, Michael Bileca, Jose Felix “One More Pepe” Diaz, Manny Diaz, Jr., Erik Fresen, Carlos Trujillo and Trey Traviesa of Tampa. Fellow School Board Member Perla Tabares Hantman and former Superintendent Octavio Visiedo are also hosting, as are Curbelo’s mentors, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart and his big bro, former Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart.
Apparently, Curbelo and his people haven’t had time yet to reach out to State Reps. Eddy Gonzalez, Jose Oliva and Jeannette Nuñez to make it a full delegation shindig.
And while it is not the former governor — not yet, anyway — Jeb Bush, Jr., is also listed as a host.
But it’s not just politicians throwing the party at the Coral Gables home of Patricio and Yuri Rossi. He is a radiologist who owns an imaging company. Also on the list are Latin Builders Association’s immediate past president Bernie Navarro, Charter Schools USA founder Jonathan Hage, former Diaz-Balart staffer turned campaign consultant Ana Carbonell and MCM Construction developer Pedro Munilla.
It’s almost like sleazy lobbyists Rick Rodriguez Piña and Ralph Arza — a former state rep whose threatening voice mail messages to another state rep got him charged with witness tampering; he agreed not to run for office in 2008 to avoid a felony trial — don’t belong in this bunch. Both riffraff Rick and Ralph have their own ties to charter schools and charter school development, which seems to be the theme of this event.
Look at all the people here involved in the charter school cottage industry, which so heavily depends on favorable state legislation. Visiedo went into consulting for charter schools. Flores runs the charter Doral College for Doral Academy, where the dean, Manny Diaz, Jr., has been tapped to sponsor charter school legislation. Fresen, another champion and consultant, married into the Academica family. Hage runs the biggest charter school firm in the country. And Kathleen Shanahan, another host and former chief of staff to Jeb Bush, has joined her former boss as cheerleader for the quasi-public alternative.
And don’t forget America’s favorite “compassionate conservative,” former U.S. Education Secretary Bill Bennett (from Ronald Reagan’s days) who has since become a champion of virtual and charter school education and is listed as the special guest for the fundraiser.
Is Curbelo going to make charter school choice part of the national debate? Because even though President Barack Obama has stated and restated and restated his support for charter schools, it isn’t really in Congress’ purview.
“The federal role in education is very limited,” Curbelo told Ladra, adding that he believes it should be left at the state level.
“I’ve always been a supporter of school choice, but charter schools and traditional public schools should be allowed to compete fairly,” said Curbelo, who says that public schools should not be held to a higher standard that skews the performance results. One example he cited is classroom size limits. Public schools in Florida have an absolute cap. But charters can use an average so that some of their classes can go above the limit figure.
Curbelo said that maybe charter schools needed different rules at first.
“But now the playing field should be level,” he said.
One could almost say the same thing about the Republican primary in Congressional District 26.
GOP delegation, charter school folk back Carlos Curbelo added by Ladra on
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