“The public sees Democrats … as being elite and more
concerned with the donor class than we are with them,” Ryan said.
That’s certainly true for the Florida Democratic Party,
which has had a lack of leadership for years. The state of the Florida
Legislative Black Caucus (FLBC) during the 2014-2016 term reflected that problem.
The FLBC was once one of the most consistent sources of
advocacy that Florida A&M University had. But in the 2014-2016 term the group
simply ignored a number of attacks against the university.
That FLBC’s decline in commitment to defending FAMU came at
a time when news reports were raising serious questions about its operations,
especially when it came to its relationship with the Florida Conference of
Black State Legislators (a nonprofit foundation).
A 2014 Tampa Bay Times article took a look at the
foundation’s Scholarship Gala, VIP event, and Scholarship Golf Tournament. It
reported that “the caucus foundation raised nearly $800,000 over the past three
years.” According to the story: “Records of past years' fundraising and
interviews with caucus leaders indicate that less than 10 cents of every dollar
raised actually go to college scholarships for the students whose names were
projected on large screens at the gala.”
The article added that: “In recent years, caucus foundation
spending has focused on keeping staff paid and lights on in the office.”
A January 2016 article by the Florida Times-Union reported
on a FLBC-coordinated visit to the Wind Creek Casino & Hotel in Atmore,
Ala. Then-FLBC Chairman Rep. Ed Narain, D-Tampa, was among the five caucus members
who participated. The story said:
The lawmakers, all Democrats whose trip this month was coordinated by the Florida Legislative Black Caucus, didn’t pay for their transportation, meals or hotel rooms. All of that will be reported as in-kind donations to their re-election accounts and political committees. The legislators also received campaign contributions and a donation to the Black Caucus foundation.It does not sit well with everyone that Narain and the others stayed overnight and were feted by the Poarch Creek Indians, who are lobbying hard for the Legislature to approve slots in Gretna.
That news report about the casino visit led the Orlando
Sentinel editorial board to name Narain its “Weekly Chump” on January 27. It
editorialized that the trip “was technically legal, but optically terrible —
like the hunting trips Republican leaders took in 2013 on Big Sugar's tab. If
Narain et al. wanted to add to the cynicism about state government, they hit
the jackpot.”
Narain failed in his attempt to win the Democratic
nomination for the District 19 Senate seat this year despite of having the
endorsement of incumbent Sen. Arthenia Joyner, who was also the Senate minority
leader.
The FLBC and Florida Democratic Party failed FAMU and the
entire state by making big donors their #1 concern.