Ladra never though
t she would see the day when a 305 politico would actually campaign on the fact that he or she is not Cuban. You avoid bringing attention to that, don’t you? In fact, I’ve seen it used against non-Cuban candidates or even just not as Cuban candidates. As in, “I’m more Cuban than the other guy.”
Remember the “Cubano vota por cubano” campaign? I do.
Typically, Anglos add a Latino sounding surname or nickname to their literature to give the appearance of diversity and muddy the waters.
Not if you’re Cutler Bay Mayor Ed “Mac” MacDougall, the only Anglo running in the Republican primary for congressional district 26 against four other candidates who — by the way, in case you need reminding — are all Cuban.
He is, as Ladra has called him, the old white guy in the race.
MacDougall has actually handed out a flyer that makes that distinction far too clear and actually embraces it. In a shocking break from Campaign 101, he actually named all of his opponents in the flyer and then had a little blurb about them and their, well, Cubanness.
- “Carlos Curbelo is the son of Cuban exiles. He is a lobbyist for Genting who is pushing for new casinos in Miami.”
- “David “Nine Lives” Rivera is an advocate for the Cuban Embargo who shamefully lost to Joe Garcia while under FBI investigation.”
- “Joe Martinez championed the creation of the Cuban Memorial, and lost his bid for Dade County Mayor in 2012.”
- “Lorenzo Palomares wants to be a strong voice for tightening restrictions on our dealings with the Cuban government.”
He might as well have had a big red stamp that emblazoned the word “CUBAN” on top of each picture.
At first, I gotta admit, Ladra was taken aback. She is a Cuban watchdog, after all, and this looks like a pretty obvious attempt to appeal to Anglo voters who gripe about the Cuban community’s monopoly on political power.
But after some thought it occurred to me that MacDougall wasn’t the first one to make this an issue. Political observers and the GOP establishment have written him off because he is running in a predominantly Hispanic district with a non-Hispanic surname. Curbelo supporters have told me for months that he shouldn’t waste his time — simply because he is not Hispanic. I myself have called him the old white guy on this very blog because, well, that’s what makes him stand out. He’s the only old white guy in the race. I’ve said to his face and on this space that he is an underdog precisely because his last name doesn’t end in a vowel or a Z.
But, also, three of the other candidates have made their heritage a focal point of their campaign:
- That he is the son of Cuban exiles is the first line on the “about me” page on Curbelo’s website and it only took him seven seconds in one of his Spanish language video ads — curiously omitted, by the way, in the English language version.
- Martinez, who campaigned like the king at the Cuban Memorial during it’s unveiling in February, has said he is proud of that achievement during his 12 years in county office.
- Rivera, who built his career on Cuban politics, invited journalists to follow him (this was before he sort of dropped out of the race) as he spoke to voters at Cuba Nostalgia, which is sort of a Cuban American convention of culture and cubania.
Palomares is the only one who has not really trumpeted his Cuban credentials. In fact, he’s kinda gone the other way. But how come nobody said a peep when he changed his name from Lorenzo Palomares to Lorenzo “Larry” Palomares-Starbuck in what seems like a blatant attempt to appeal to non-Hispanic voters? Isn’t that at least as “racist” as MacDougall pointing to the 800-pound gorilla in the room and saying, basically, what everyone was already thinking anyway?
Read related story: First Congressional primary campaign a dud
“For me, what was important is that we have a discussion about politics. My opponents want to talk about their heritage, and I want to talk about the issues,” MacDougall told Ladra Tuesday.
“I didn’t point out that all my opponents are Cuban. They’ve been pointing it out for weeks. Listen to their speeches at the debate or events and look on their website or at their literature. It’s the first thing out of their mouths. They are singling me out and saying I have no chance as the one unCuban candidate and what I’m doing is I’m saying ‘So what?'”
“What we have in common is that we are all Americans. Whether we are Colombian-American or Cuban-American or Venezuelan American or, like me, Scottish-American, we have the same dreams, the same hopes for the future of our country,” MacDougall said.
Wait a minute, Mac! Are you telling me that as a Congressman you would not be bothered with Cuba or Venezuela?
“Of course I care about Cuba and Venezuela. You cannot be a part of this community and not care about what happens in those countries because it happens to our neighbors and our friends,” MacDougall told me. “I agree that the Cuban Adjustment Act needs to be revisited because it has turned into a revolving door for tourism that only fuels the oppressive Castro regime with American dollars.
“Believe me, I am no friend of the Castro brothers. I remember ducking for cover during the Cuban Missile Crisis when Fidel Castro had Russian nukes pointed at our heads,” said MacDougall, who was 12 in 1962. “The Cuban people have been repressed for far too long and their families have been divided by that repressive regime. It is unacceptable that they are still in power.
“I fought in Vietnam to defend democracy and we need to demand democracy in Cuba and in Venezuela, too,” MacDougall said. “But when I knock on doors and talk to Hispanic constituents in my district, they all care about the same things — education, healthcare and the economy in this country.”
Reached on the phone late Tuesday, Martinez said he was not expecting that kind of campaign. No kidding! When does any candidate focus on how unCuban he is?
“I respect Mac because we both are former police officers, we come from the same place. But I was very surprised by his flyer,” Martinez said. “Especially considering I was born here in Miami.”
Martinez said he was proud of having spearheaded the effort to get the permanent Cuban Memorial in West Dade, but that he had sponsored around 1,500 pieces of legislation in 12 years and was proud of everything he has accomplished.
“I guess that’s politics.”
Palomares — or is it Starbuck? — told AmericaTeve’s Erika Carillo that it was “sad” that the campaign had turned to this. But isn’t it sad that, Mr. Whatever-Your-Name-Is, that you are suddenly using a hyphenated name you have never used before?
Curbelo was a bit harsher in his quote in the Miami Herald, saying the MacDougall flyer was, basically, pulling the race card.
“He is attempting to use the politics of race and ethnicity for personal gain,” Curbelo said in an email to the Herald. “I doubt our community will respond favorably to this.”
Well, it depends on the community he was targetting.
MacDougall laughed at the notion that he would be racist. “That’s ridiculous. Absurd,” he said, adding that he has Hispanic grandchildren and that more than half of his company’s employees speak Spanish in the office.
And, he added, the race card was pulled a long time ago.
“I’ve been called the old white guy in the race,” he said. (Oooops!). ” I’ve been told that I can’t win because of my surname and because I don’t speak Spanish very well. Pero eso no es lo que importa. Los votantes quieren saber de los temas,” he said in not too bad Spanish.
In a statement to Spanish-language TV, Curbelo said that campaign pieces like MacDougall’s divide the community. But he is also the one who waits only seven seconds to bring up his creds as “son of exiles” in his ad. Isn’t that divisive?
“Really, if you look at it, it is one opponent who is making a big deal about this because he has nothing else to run his campaign on. He has no track record — or actually a record of flip flopping on everything — so he doesn’t want to talk about the issues. And I do,” MacDougall said.
“We have an immigration problem with no real, comprehensive bi-partisan solution in sight. We have a $17+ trillion debt that keeps climbing, putting our future at risk. We have an economy where the cost of living keeps rising for the average American — and Cuban American, and Colombian American, too — while salaries are not keeping apace.
“These are the things we need to be talking about. Not where my parents are from. That’s not important.”
Ladra can’t help but wonder if voters will feel the same way. That would be a new thing in Miami politics.
Congressional race heats up with Cuban credentials critique added by Ladra on
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