The Florida Elections: A Missed Opportunity for Haitians? By Stanley Lucas

The August 24 Florida primary was an historic opportunity for Haitian-Americans to enter national level politics in the United States.  Representative Kendrick Meeks (D) vacated his Congressional seat in District 17, home to the biggest concentration of Haitian-Americans in the country, to run for the Senate.  Four Haitian-American candidates emerged as candidates for the District 17 Democratic primary.  While their enthusiasm was admirable, several analysts (myself included) warned that if four candidates stood for elections, they would split the Haitian vote, and undermine the chances of a Haitian-American victory.  There were calls for them to come together for the greater good, and coalesce around one candidate with the most support in the Haitian-American community and the best chance to win.  We noted that our countrymen in Haiti needed the Diaspora support more than ever.  Unfortunately, the candidates were unmoved by these calls, and insisted on proceeding with their campaign.  As predicted, Haitian-American candidates cumulatively won the race, but split the vote and squandered this rare opportunity.

 

The division of the Haitian-American vote resulted in the election of a popular African-American candidate, Fredrica Wilson (68).  Frederica won 34.5% of the vote and is expected to win the November election in this strongly Democratic district.  Haitian-American Rudy Moise came in second place with 16.12%, and the three other Haitian-American candidates received 10.21%, 8.45% and 5.99% respectively.  In other words, Haitian-American candidates earned 40.77% of the vote -- enough for a comfortable win.  If there were only one Haitian-American candidate, it is likely s/he would have won by an even larger percentage as we could have consolidated resources and mounted an even strong campaign.

 

Prior to the election, on my blog www.solutionshaiti.blogspot.com  , I conducted four informal polls asking which of the four candidates had the best chance to win.  To be sure, my polls were unscientific; however, they very accurately that Rudy Moise would get the most amount of support in the primary among the four candidates.

 

Unfortunately the dream of having national level representation is now over.  Haitian-Americans only make up a majority of the vote in very few communities and nowhere more prominently than in District 17.  It is incredibly difficult to challenge an incumbent as we also saw last night as the establishment candidates throughout the country beat their challengers even in this atmosphere of “anti-incumbency”. 

 

On the state level, the results were mixed.  Unfortunately Alix Desulme lost in District 108 by a mere 356 votes.  Better turnout would have certainly edged him to victory.  In District 104, John Patrick Julien won with 39.96% -- congratulations to him!

 

So what are the lessons learned from this experience?  If we can get behind one Haitian-American candidate, we have a good chance of winning – and winning handily in areas that are Haitian-American.  We also need to turnout to support Haitian-American candidates.  They often lose by very small margins, as we saw in District 108, while thousands of Haitian-Americans fail to turnout to vote.  Additionally, if we had a truly unified coalition of Haitian Diaspora in the US, this group could be a powerhouse for endorsements and fundraising for Haitian-American candidates.  And finally, we have relearned the lesson of our founding fathers:  “In Unity There is Strength”!

 

On a separate note, the Florida elections remind us about what elections should be:  free and fair.  Unfortunately, our country is now heading into the election season without any hope of free and fair elections.  The huge toll on the electoral infrastructure from the earthquake and the totally partisan composition of the CEP (Provisional Electoral Council) have opened an avenue for President Preval to put in place an electoral coup (for additional information see: http://solutionshaiti.blogspot.com/2010/08/will-us-act-to-promote-free-and-fair.html ).  The Haitian Diaspora can play a huge role in promoting democratic elections by joining with their countrymen in demanding a non-partisan and upstanding CEP to oversee these critical elections.  We can also work together to encourage the United States to hold funding for the elections unless certain changes are made in country, including a reshuffling of the CEP.  These measures would go a long way to promoting democracy and transparency in our country.

FLORIDA CONGRESSIONAL RACE: A historic opportunity to elect the first Haitian-American to Congress …but will too many candidates blow the opportunity?

by Stanley Lucas  

September 23, 2009 
 

With the retirement of Rep. Kendrick Meeks in southern Florida, there is a historic and very real opportunity to elect the first Haitian-American to the U.S. Congress in 2010.   However, with a too crowded field of candidates, divisions and personal ambitions threaten to get in our way and prevent us from galvanizing our community.  In order to succeed, we absolutely must consolidate our resources and focus our energy behind one candidate.   

Unfortunately, four Haitian-Americans have put their hats in the ring.  Obviously, this not only divides precious – and scarce – financial resources, but it also divides and dilutes the Haitian vote.  We cannot afford any division because there are several tremendously strong African-American candidates and talk of Hispanic candidates entering the race as well. 

We have a real opportunity here, but we must make a real choice.  If we work together to identify and support a strong Haitian-American candidate, we have an excellent and real opportunity to succeed.  This Congressional district is about 39% foreign born.  Almost 60% African-American (30% actually are Haitian and another 25% are from other Caribbean nations), 22% Hispanic, 17% Caucasian, and the rest is classified as other. The district has the largest concentration of Haitian-Americans in the United States.  

Winning a congressional seat would be tremendously impactful for our community as we face significant policy issues such as TPS and immigration.  There are approximately 2 million Haitians living the United States concentrated in Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Boston, Maryland, and Michigan.  Haitian-Americans hold local offices around the United States in Illinois, Florida, Boston, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey.  In fact, Raoul Kwame, a Haitian-American, took Obama’s State Senate seat in Illinois after Obama was elected to the Senate.   This would, however, be the first time a Haitian-American would be elected to national office. 

THE HAITIAN-AMERICAN CANDIDATES 

Rep. Phillip J. Brutus

www.brutusforcongress.com

Attorney practicing for 24 years; First Haitian-American elected to the Florida Legislature; Webpage community service; Associate General Counsel to the NAACP; Legal Adviser, Caribbean-American Democratic Club; Legal adviser, Conference of Minority Transit Officials; Vice-Chair of Banking and Finance and Claims Committees during legislative service; initiated the Phillip Brutus Diversity award in 2001 to chronicle the historic election.  Accomplishments include: raised $2.3 million for clinic in Little Haiti in 2001; sponsored a bill allowing aliens with cases pending before immigration courts to keep their driver's licenses until their cases are resolved; introduced legislation banning nepotism on the school board; sponsored a bill mandating fingerprints for all teachers; had several Miami streets named after Haitian independence heroes; and spent three weeks in Guantanamo in 1992 to assist Haitians with their asylum claims. Ex-spouse of Yolly Roberson. 

Rep. Yolly Roberson

http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Representatives/details.aspx?MemberId=4283

Attorney since 1991; Nurse since 1989l Elected to the Florida legislature in 2002; Term limit ends in 2010; Served on several committees while in office, mostly related to health; Member of Haitian Nurses Association; Ex-spouse of Phillip J. Brutus; Replaced Senator Frederica Wilson in State District 104 -- Senator Wilson is also running for District 17; District 104 is 90% African-American.  

Mareleine Bastien

www.mareleinebastien.com

Social worker; Never held public office before; Runs the Haitian Women of Miami organization; Very active in refugee issues; Does not speak fluent English. 

Rudolph Moise

Holds an MBA and law degree, but practices medicine; Has contributed monetarily to Haitian causes and community causes; Never held public office; Used to run radio carnivale before it went bankrupt.  

THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN CANDIDATES 

Senator Frederica Wilson

Served on School Board and State House before being elected to Senate in 2002; Terms ends in 2012; Has raised the most money thus far among all the candidates; Former school principal, strong on education issues, but weak on others;  Runs 5000 role models of excellence that awards scholarships to young people every year; Has acute health issues. 

Mayor Shirley Gibson

She literally created the City of Miami Gardens; Prior to being elected mayor she was a Police Officer; She also served on Community Council 3 in the mid-90's; Very strong in debates and well versed on the issues. 

Rep. James Bush

Previously served in the House of Representatives; After a few years hiatus, he was re-elected to his seat; A minister with strong support from the churches; A strong debator who enjoys a positive reputation from his previous service. 

HOW TO MOVE FORWARD? 

Clearly all the candidates bring strong credentials to the table.  It will be critical though to identify a candidate that can connect with all constituents in the district, including the Haitian-Americans.  Their agendas and platforms must be responsive to issues facing the majority of the voters.  Obviously, Haitian-Americans will make up the bulk of their support and fundraising efforts.  One possible solution could be to have a several Haitian-American groups join together to hold a debate among the candidates to assess their positions and ultimate electability.   Perhaps this could culminate in an unofficial on-site poll that could give the candidates an immediate indication of their level of support among their targeted constituency.  Hopefully this would also indicate which candidate the Haitian-American organizations would support.   

This is one potential path to choose the best Haitian-American candidate.  There are no doubt other creative thoughts as well that we should all entertain.  What is certain though is that going forward with four Haitian-American candidates is a recipe for a missed opportunity.