Deutsch: Donations to Penelas campaign were coerced

[Freddie Stubbs]

U.S. Rep. Peter Deutsch of Pembroke Pines, who has already called Miami-Dade County mayor and Senate rival Alex Penelas a ''pathological liar'' and a traitor to his party, filed a complaint Wednesday with the Federal Elections Commission accusing Penelas of illegal fundraising.

Deutsch's complaint referred to a series of checks to Penelas' campaign from associates and employees of CarePlus Medical Centers, whose owner told underlings in March that they were each ''expected'' to give Penelas $1,000.

Coerced contributions are against the law.

Penelas' campaign distanced itself from the e-mail when it became public in March and said the mayor would not accept any contributions resulting from it.

But a Herald analysis of campaign finance data found that Penelas took at least $68,000 from the company's employees, their relatives and business associates.

more: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/6369424.htm

[mndemocrat_29]

1. Penelas

Why did he call him a pathological liar and a traitor to his party? Is it just politics or something else?

Personally, I like Penelas better than Deutsch, but the last thing I want in a Senate campaign that could be this close would be a damaged candidate. Either one would be better than Bill McCollum.

[Orangepeel]

2. Penelas is a sorry excuse for a Democrat

which of course, would still be better than McCollum, who is a prototypical neocon republican.

He's supported (even hosted fundraisers) for republicans running against Democrats (link to Herald article) and was not supportive of Gore's recount efforts after the 2000 election. In fact, he left the country on "vacation" somewhere (Spain, I think).

[mndemocrat_29]

3. Deutsch over Penelas

I'm going to look into this. I had no idea that Penelas had supported Mario Diaz-Balart (gagging sounds)

[Orangepeel]

4. What about Betty?

She's my choice.

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/06/10/State/Castor_organizes_effo.shtml

[Freddie Stubbs]

5. How about Graham?

He hasn't said that he isn't running for reelction and his presidential campaign isn't going anywhere.

[Orangepeel]

6. Of course. They'll all withdraw if Graham would get off the pot

But, IMHO, Graham thinks that he'll be the VP nominee even if he is not the nominee.

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. So you don't think that he will run for reelection?

My guess is if he were going to take that path, he would have announced it already. I think that he is going to see if he can get some traction with his presidential campaign, and run run for reelection if that doesn't work out.

[Orangepeel]

10. I think he might if none of the other dem candidates are getting traction

but supposedly, he doesn't want to.

[davidinalameda]

8. from what I've seen

she's pretty good.

I think that she'll pull Graham's support for the race.

[ButterflyBlood]

9. Guess I'm hoping for Deutsch to win then

Castor doesn't look like she has too much of a chance.

Actually the best case scenario is that Graham runs again.

[Ishkaboogl]

11. sorry, but im for penelas

2000 election aside, cubans should be voting democratic too, and having a democratic cuban as our nominee will make cubans more inclined to vote for the democrat running for president. a cuban democrat is like a black republican - they get lots of ethnic support as well as party support. studies have shown that in many cases ethnicity will play more of a factor than partisanship in voting trends. penelas will get the democratic vote and the cuban vote. if cubans are voting for him, they might as well vote democratic down the column. for that reason (and pretty much that only reason), i support him over deutsch, and definitely over hastings.

i like hastings, but am pissed off at him for breaking the rule of "do not speak ill of your fellow democrat," especially this directly and blatantly. he should drive up his positives, not drive up penelas's negatives. one of them will be our nominee (assuming graham isn't), so we better be ready for either of them.

[Orangepeel]

12. many Cubans will cross party lines to vote for Penelas

but they won't "vote democratic down the column." There is no precident to believe they will.

Maybe the necessity of gaining the Cuban vote (and, to a lesser extent, the general Hispanic vote) in the Senate race would be worth suffering Penelas and avoiding McCullum or Weldon or Webster or whoever wins the Republican primary.

But Penelas is still a sorry excuse for a Democrat. The betrayal of Gore doesn't bother me nearly as much as the support and fundraising for Diaz-Balart.