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CounterPunch
January
31, 2003
Rep. Corrine
Brown
A Good Fit for
Her District?
by ANTHONY GANCARSKI
What a difference two years can make. Seems like
only yesterday that Corrine was spearheading a legal effort to
investigate Duval County's 2000 Election Irregularities. But
if her conduct at the 2003 State of the Union Address was any
benchmark, the Representative seems to have made peace with the
un-elected President. At more than a few points when television
cameras found her, she was applauding the words of the man whose
ascension to the Presidency she so bitterly opposed.
But Brown would know a thing or two about
winning essentially rigged elections. The political cause closest
to her heart is protecting the gerrymandering that allowed her
election to Congress from Florida's District 3 in 1992. Her district
is drawn such that the Florida Times-Union was led to speculate
that she is unbeatable by anyone but a "minority",
before concluding that she was a "good fit for her district."
The Florida GOP apparently agrees; thwarted Republican candidate
Ishah Wright accused the Party of sabotaging her then-nascent
campaign as part of a quid pro quo deal. Wright maintained that
the Republicans protected Brown's seat in exchange for the Democrats
not seriously challenging Republican US Representative Ric Keller
downstate.
"I was told the Republican Party
is 'the same concept as the mob,' and I was asked if I want to
end up like Chandra Levy, with my head severed from my body,"
Wright wrote to President Bush. Soon after this letter went out
to the greatest President of this century, the staunchly Republican
Florida Times-Union began spotlighting various fabrications and
inconsistencies in Candidate Wright's personal record. Wright
was -- justly, perhaps -- described as "crazy" by Duval
County GOP head Tom Slade. Towson Frazier, spokesman for the
state Republican Party, likewise commented that ""I
don't know how firm her grasp is on reality. The Republican Party
would obviously never threaten anyone or make a deal like she's
talking about."
Perhaps Ishah Wright's worries of ending
up like Chandra Levy were unfounded. By the time Wright dropped
out of the District 3 race, the writing on her campaign website
evidenced an unhinged mind:
"A few weeks ago I announced that
I dropped out of the race for congress. I humbly realize that
I have no training or experience for such a task. I would like
to appologize to anyone whom I may have offended by running.
I have always been a lover, not a fighter...a peacemaker. Running
for congress helped me to be more openminded and more tolerant
of other views. In fact one view that I have recently changed
is my opinion of the Elian Gonzalez situation. Being part Hispanic,
I used to disagree with Elian being sent back to Cuba. However,
my Cuban father, who suffers from Parkinson's disease (like Janet
Reno) told me that Elian really did belong with his father. I
stand corrected. I have a new respect for all of our political
leaders, including a new respect and love for Janet Reno. It
is easy for us to criticize our leaders, however we would have
more mercy and understanding for them if we walked a day in their
shoes. I stand corrected on many issues. I am becoming a democrat,
but I have decided not to ever run for office again. My tender
heart is not made for politics. I am not becoming a Democrat
to anger my Republican friends, and I hope that the Republican
Party will forgive me for all of my remarks which may have offended
them. I publically take back any negative statements that I have
made. I don't want to offend anyone. I want to live in peace
with my family. I want to be a better mom and wife."
With candidates so linguistically gifted
stepping to the fore, GOP officials might be forgiven for claiming
Brown was unbeatable. Certainly, the five-term Congresswoman
couldn't have been seriously challenged by a neophyte politician
as duplicitous as she was addled. But it seemed that no matter
how attractive the candidate might be, the Florida GOP was unwilling
to back her.
Consider the case of Jennifer Carroll,
who decided in October 2002 that she wanted to take another crack
at unseating Brown that November. On the surface, Carroll seemed
like a standard-bearer for black Republican women straight out
of central casting. Carroll spent twenty years in the Navy, and
ran for office with every intention of rubberstamping the Bush
agenda. Despite the candidate's willingness to espouse and endorse
all manner of Republican foolishness to get elected, Republican
party officials greeted her intention to run coldly. "We've
tried and failed to whip Corrine Brown on any number of occasions,"
said Duval GOP Chairman Tom Slade. "But there's an old saying
in Southern politics that there ain't no education in the third,
fourth or fifth kick of a mule."
And indeed there ain't, Tom. Best to
put all them black folks into one district and give them their
uncontested Democratic representative, so y'all can keep that
there vote suppressed. Best to let sleepin' dawgs lie. She's
unbeatable, as your "opposition" party and its fair-n-balanced
local paper never tire of saying. No big deal that Brown has
lied to the IRS, filed false financial disclosure reports, received
payoffs from African millionaires, and ran private businesses
that stand as rank examples of embezzlement and embarrassment.
Longtime Brown associate Oliver Roster described Brown to a tee
when he said "she's always pulling a scam on someone. Somebody,
somewhere, got the money for her. What we don't know yet is what
she had to do or promise to get it."
By current standards, those words read
downright Presidential.
Anthony Gancarski, a frequent contributor to CounterPunch, is the
author of 2001's UNFORTUNATE INCIDENTS. Comments are welcome
at Anthony.Gancarski@attbi.com.
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