The invincible federal Congresspeople

By
Annie Betancourt                                                               Read Spanish Version 

How
long are we going to believe that babies are brought from Paris by a
stork? Or that our first baby tooth is taken away by a little mouse
in exchange for a coin?

Those
were tales our parents told us when we were little, to conceal the
truth of life by blindfolding us and thus prolong our childhood. How
innocent we were as children!

I
ask myself the same questions in connection with the argument that
the best barometer to gauge U.S. policy toward Cuba is the reelection
last November of the three South Florida Republican legislators.

Dear
reader, this argument is nothing more than a myth, like the ones of
the stork and the little mouse. How long will we allow ourselves to
be deceived by this fable? Enough!

The
reality is that the easiest way to gain access to the U.S. Congress
is when the chair is empty, the result of either "reapportionment"
— the creation of a new chair — or the death or retirement of a
member of Congress.

Let’s
look at some examples and analyze how some of our Congresspeople came
to occupy their prominent posts:

• District
  18, today represented by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, was previously
  represented by Claude Pepper. When he died, the seat was left
  vacant. The quest for the seat was a true campaign, which
  Ros-Lehtinen won thanks to excellent credentials in Tallahassee,
  first in the state House and later in the Senate.

• District
  21, represented by Lincoln Díaz-Balart since 1992, was created as a
  result of the population growth after the 1990 census.

• The
  same happened with District 25, represented by Lincoln’s brother,
  Mario, since 2002. This was a district created as a result of the
  2000 census.

• District
  17, currently represented by Kendrick Meek, was practically ceded to
  him by his mother, when she retired in 2002.

• District
  20 has been represented by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz since 2004, when
  Peter Deutch withdrew from the House to run for senator.

• The
  District 11 seat, occupied by Cathy Castro of Tampa, was left vacant
  by Jim Davis when he ran for governor in 2006.

• Connie
  Mack holds the District 14 seat because Porter Goss left it vacant
  when he was appointed to a federal post.

And
so on and so on. To topple an incumbent is truly a heroic feat that
few can achieve. Only two candidates in recent elections have been
able to do it: Ron Klein, who defeated Clay Shaw in District 22, and
Suzanne Kosmas, who beat Tom Feeney in District 24.

At
the end, of the 25 members of Congress who represent Florida in
Washington, only five have beaten incumbents, the rest have taken the
seat when it was vacated. Of these, 17 have been state legislators
before achieving power at the federal level.

The
federal Congresspeople are invincible and it is practically
impossible to oust them because power lies in occupying the post, in
having links to special interests and previously established contacts
in Washington. And that has nothing to do with U.S. policy toward
Cuba.

That’s
nothing but a myth, like those of the stork and the little mouse.

Annie
Betancourt was a state legislator in Tallahassee and ran for the U.S.
House of Representatives in 2002 as a Democrat, against Mario
Díaz-Balart.