While state house legislators and challenging candidates scramble to move into convenient or out of inconvenient newly-redrawn districts (more on that next), the clock ticks on a final Senate district map that has been accused, and rightfully so, of still protecting some incumbents, including Sen. Gwen Margolis (Dem., District 35) in these parts.
It will be up to the Florida Supreme Court and the federal government, which has to give the final green light, to decide if the tiny changes from the first, discarded map are 
enough. They have until mid May. The feds have up to the end of May. Qualifying is June 4-8. And Ladra is pacing. Because the lines could decide the next path of one of Miami’s most prodigal political sons, former Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla, who everybody knows is one of my favorite subjects. (We have this love/hate thing going, depending on what I write and how dismissive of it he is). And who has filed to run against Margolis (but will likely withdraw if the maps don’t change).
Most insiders and observers have told me that they think it’s a 50/50 shot at whether the Supreme Court accepts the map or not. A couple of respected, long time campaign professionals told me they don’t believe the court will get into the business of drawing maps. I agree. I think they will take this opportunity to pass the buck and pretend that the Senate did as they were instructed when they went back to the, er, drawing board. It’s an easy out.
But a couple of people smarter than I am, including the Dean and State Sen. Nan Rich (Dem., District 34), say it could and should happen. “The Supreme Court didn’t just tell us what we needed to do. They gave us the road map to get there, and their directions were ignored,” Rich was quoted as saying in the Sunshine State News. “When the people said they wanted fair districts, they meant it. Unfortunately, it seems they will have to wait for the Supreme Court to get them.”
Senator ADDLP told me that it would be ludicrous to think otherwise. “No court in it’s right mind would ignore the will of the people and allow a community to go unrepresented,” he said. “It would be a sad day in Florida.”
But, of course, it’s not a simple matter of creating yet another Hispanic-majority district to join the three that are already there – despite what the Dean of South Florida politics and his brother, Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, and their friends in Tallahassee want us to think.
Before I start getting snipy text messages about Ladra’s “fiction,” let me assure the Dean and the DLPs that I totally buy into their argument to change the district so it more fairly represents the community. That’s the law. It’s what voters intended when they passed fair districts two years ago. And, of course, being a Spanish-speaking dog (en Cuba, yo era pastor Alemán), Ladra doesn’t consider Hispanics third-class citizens, as somebody said in a knee-jerk reaction to my open-mindedness. That’s as ridiculous as Sen. Margolis’s straight out assertion that Cubans are not really a language minority because we speak English. “The Cubans came in 1960. Believe me, they can speak English,” Margolis was quoted as saying in The Miami Herald. “They prefer not to, but they do speak English. They went to school in Miami-Dade, their children go to school in Miami-Dade, they’re English-speaking people.”
¿Que QUE? Did she really say that? Out loud? Que papelaso! Insensitive, indeed, as Sen. Miguel — who served with Margolis on the county commission — was quoted in response. Ladra, who does not have to get re-elected and can be far less diplomatic than he is, would go so far as to say Margolis was offensive. For some reason (read: what do they know that we don’t?), he withdrew an amendment that would make the district 66 percent Hispanic, rather than 49, after catching heat from the media (likely at the prodding of La Gwen and her supporters) that he was trying to help his brother get in rather than speaking for the people’s will, as he was elected to do.
But La Gwen has a point, too, somewhere lost in all that lack of cultural understanding and fear of losing her power or, worse, becoming irrelevant. If every district is Hispanic majority, then isn’t there still some discrimination going on against the poor white, vanilla folk? It’s easy to say that Anglos are not a federally protected minority and that the structure of power and history still gives their demographic an unfair advantage over groups that have been traditionally oppressed and un- or underrepresented. It’s easy to say let them move to Broward. But aren’t they being de facto disenfranchised?
Ladra has an idea, a challenge, rather, for ADDLP: Go for it anyway. Take La Gwen on, no matter where the lines may fall, and make her eat her words. I mean, she lost to some guy named Pedro Garcia for property adjuster a couple of years ago. Pedro who? Exactly. Sure, it won’t be an easy coast, like your back-up plan B to run for the house seat in district 112 — being vacated by the term-limited House Speaker Sen. Carlos Lopez-Cantera (who is eyeing to possibly unseat Garcia) – but you are bored easily and this will be a far greater challenge. Only someone like you can break that Hispanic/Anglo ceiling (your English is fantastic, as La Gwen might say). And wouldn’t it be sweeter to beat La Gwen in her protected turf, even with less than 50 percent Hispanic vote, than winning Little Havana again? I know you want to. You’re licking your chops, aren’t you? In fact, I dare you, Senator Sir, to move to Brickell or Aventura anyway, leave your beloved home in Little Havana, and run in 35 regardless of how the drawing turns out. Maps, schmaps. Courage cannot exist in the absence of adversity.
Alas, I don’t think el maestro will indulge me. It would be an especially big feather in his cap, but still an unexpected victory if he could swing it. And I’m pretty sure the Dean doesn’t like to be the underdog. He hasn’t lost a race since he was first elected to the house in 1994 at a tender 29. That’s some swag and he ain’t going to let it go just like that.
And besides, an easier race in 112 will allow him to spend more time where he really wants to: on his brothers’ races. In addition to Sen. Miguel’s re-election, ADDLP will be front and center in the campaign for Miami-Dade School Board member and former State Rep. Renier Diaz de la Portilla in his bid to return to Tallahassee in district 103. If he has to devote too much time to his own campaign, he can’t spend every waking hour – which is almost the whole day — and half his REM time on big bro and baby bro. (Here the three of them are photographed together in Tallahassee, where they could all serve together if we get a trifecta). And for all the faults that he may
have or may only be perceived to have – as he claims and can, indeed, happen with misunderstood geniuses who do not care what people think – one of his most admirable and endearing traits (or perceived traits) is his loyalty to and love for his family, which he makes a priority.
In fact, he may not run at all. Despite all the peanut gallery comments from jealous people, the Dean really doesn’t care about the title, except that it affords him an avenue to affect change. He would likely be happier hanging out with his precious pooches — which he finally got to keep in his divorce settlement, thank God — and running campaigns and ruling that world from behind the anonymity of being a strategist and consultant. He’d rather be the catalyst.
Or he could just take off to Europe for another few months. Who knows?
So Ladra is pacing.
Run, Alex, run! Ladra has a dare for Dean DLP added by Ladra on
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