By Jim Bleyer
When State Rep. Janet Cruz
jumped into a Florida Senate race against incumbent Republican Dana Young, she
told Tampa voters she was motivated to run because of the February school
shootings in Parkland.
The term-limited House
minority leader had previously filed to run for a seat on the Hillsborough
County Commission.
Her (in)action during the
2018 legislative session screams the ultimate hypocrisy.
Within three weeks of the
Parkland shooting, Florida’s Legislature and conservative governor had done
something Republicans had resisted for more than 20 years: they voted to defy
the National Rifle Association.
Legislators, including
Young, who had sworn allegiance to the Second Amendment voted to raise the age
to purchase a rifle from 18 to 21, extend the waiting period for all gun
purchases, and ban bump stocks. But they also used the tragedy to patch
together a plan to address weaknesses in the mental health and school security
safety nets, budgeting $400 million to accomplish that.
While the House debated the
proposal, parents who lost children at Stoneman Douglas lobbied the governor,
lawmakers and the media to get the bill approved, saying, “There is enough good
in the middle of this bill that everyone can agree on.”
Despite the pleas of Parkland
parents to pass the legislation as a first step, Cruz and all
but nine of the House Democrats voted no on the measure. Young, on the other
hand, heeded the aggrieved parents and voted for the compromise.
Gun control advocates
deemed the legislation a definite improvement though falling short of a ban on
assault weapons that have been used in most recent mass killings. For the NRA,
it was an unconstitutional abridging of the rights of law-abiding gun owners. Moments
after the bill became law, the NRA’s Washington lawyers filed a federal
lawsuit.
Then there is Cruz’
alliance with Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn who mused publicly about killing
journalists as he fired blanks from a machine gun turret on a navy vessel.
Buckhorn’s
remarks were widely circulated in the national media. Buckhorn’s
hate-fueled rhetoric made headlines in the Washington Post, the Washington Times, CNN, and Raw Story.
A year later a crazed
shooter massacred five newsroom workers at the Annapolis Capital Gazette.
But Buckhorn, who boasted
he would relish being the triggerman mowing down journalists is a major
patron behind Cruz, the politico that was so moved by the Parkland shooting.
The shots heard ‘round the country
Cruz still uses the
massacre of 17 students at Stoneman Douglas as the reason for her
decision to try and remain in the legislature.
Cruz has disappointed
fellow Democrats on other fronts as well.
She accepted campaign
contributions from a well-known predatory lender that victimizes a significant
portion of her constituency.
Cruz alienated an
influential segment of her own party when she conspired with failed
gubernatorial and Congressional candidate Alex Sink to shove progressive
favorite Bob Buesing out of the race.
Sink used the carrot and
stick approach with Buesing: no support from the state Democratic Party if he
remained in the race, but a possible appointment (with a Democratic governor)
if he bowed out.
The punchline: an
appointment possibility was viable as long as one of the Party ‘s handpicked
choices — Gwen Graham or Phil Levine — won the primary. Both are sitting at
home musing about “what ifs.”
Then there was the ultimate
insult to Cruz.
During the first Democratic
gubernatorial debate, candidate Phil Levine could not identify Cruz as the
outgoing minority leader of the Florida House. Her undistinguished record
may have something to do with that knowledge gap.
Cross Posted
with permission from: Tampa Bay Beat
This post is
contributed by Tampa Bay Beat. The views and opinions expressed in this post
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